The GameMaker challenge was introduced this year by YoYo Games, the developers of Gamemaker Studio software. They are an International company with their headquarters in Dundee.

The challenge involves teams of between 4 and 6 members from S2 and S3, designing and creating a digital game prototype. Each team must contain at least 2 female members in an attempt to break the game playing and developer stereotype. This type of challenge involves different skills including working together as a team.           

On Friday 6th September, 24 pupils from Grove attended the launch of the Gamemaker challenge at Abertay University.  The morning session included registration, an introduction from YOYO Games, presentations from Scottish Games, SQA and Skills Development Scotland and a practical workshop. During the practical session, teams had to give an impromptu presentation, this experience and the rest of the morning session was well received by all teams.

Since that event, 4 Grove teams have been spending most of their lunchtimes and after school time in the Computing rooms working on their game prototypes. They have made excellent progress so far and should be able to submit a fully-fledged game by November 11^th when the competition draws to a close.

The 2 IDL groups involved in this project have prepared posters and flyers to help promote this important topic and have concentrated on areas of their own expertise. Research has and will take place to address other issues that arise from the survey. The aim of this survey is to find out how aware and informed people are about keeping safe when using online systems and communication. A particular area of concern is the relationship between a responsible adult and a young person when they are accessing online content.
Obtaining feedback from our wider community is vital to the review process. Let your voice be heard. All responses in this survey are regarded as confidential and will only be used to inform this community based project. We would appreciate you taking the time to complete the following survey. The survey will take about 15 minutes to complete.

The survey can be found at :-

http://consult.dundeecity.gov.uk/school/index.php?sid=66323&lang=en

If you do not have access to a computer it can be completed in the local library.
Respondents will be given priority for ticket allocation for the presentation event.

On Thursday 22^nd November, 40 second year Computing pupils visited the Sensation Science Centre to participate in Robolab Workshops, explore the exhibition and enjoy the spectacular, on the spot science shows. These hands-on workshops gave pupils the opportunity to use sophisticated Lego Mindstorm robot buggies. They focused on programming the robots to move around and respond to special light sensors and provided an enjoyable insight into control technology. Events like these are linked to the Curriculum for Excellence and it is hoped that this experience can be replicated for all second year Computing classes.. This event was well received by all pupils and the Sensation staff complimented the Grove pupils saying that “they were a pleasure to work with”!
The next Robolab workshop has been organised for January.