BOYS, in general, love video games, and left to their own devices, will sit and play them for hours upon hours. But while most boys merely play these games, Jo-Nathan Smith and Daniel Campbell have taken it a step further; they’ve designed their own.

The ten and eleven year olds, respectively, are grade five students at Allman Town Primary School in Kingston. On Wednesday, they copped the top prize in the Visual Arts category of the Lasco Releaf Environment Awareness Programme (REAP) for their video game, Apple Eaters. The game, developed on the Microsoft Kodu platform, sees the player competing against flying disks to eat the most apples, while avoiding flame-like obstacles.

In presenting it to guests at the award ceremony at the Jamaica Pegasus on Wednesday, the boys explained that the game represented the inside of the human body, and the ‘obstacles’ were represented bad bacteria in the body. The idead, they said, was based on the fact that LASCO promotes healthy eating.

“It’s like you’re moving through your own body,” Jo-Nathan explained.

In an interview with the Jamaica Observer at their school on Thursday, the boys expressed how happy they, their families and their friends were about the win.

“I can’t describe the feeling,” said an excited Daniel, expressing how proud his mother is and talking about her never-ending hugs when he told her about it.

He said that it was Jo-Nathan, the younger of the two who introduced him and his other classmates to the world of video game designing.

“He just said, ‘hey guys, let’s try this,’ and we said; ‘sure why not’ Everybody loves video games,” Daniel said.

Principal of the school Khandi-lee Crooks-Smith said the project started with four boys, from grade four with the initial intention of getting students to understand the application of mathematics. They are now in grade five.

“You have no idea how proud I am of these boys,” Crooks-Smith said. “Every time they open their mouths in front of an audience, I am amazed. I am just blown away. There is always a new dimension to what they say, and you can see that they have done additional research to make sure that what they are presenting makes sense,” she beamed.

She explained that the idea was first suggested by technology company Microsoft when the institution approached it for assistance with learning tools for Mathematics. But the school, with a population of almost 700, hardly had the resources to begin with.

“The Microsoft representative just mentioned it, and how I am, if I see something that’s different, and innovative, I’m going to run with it,” the principal said.

“The first challenge we had was that we didn’t have the correct tools; because by right, they are supposed to be using tablets. Now, my school is not on the ‘tablets in schools’ project, but we are a technology-intensive school. What we have done is to enter a lot of competitions. That is another thing: once I hear that there is a competition going on and I can win something sensible, I say ‘kids, let’s try this’,” Crooks-Smith continued.

“We were second place last year in the Lasco REAP competition and we won five computers. From that, I was able to start the computer lab. We got an additional donation of 10 computers, and I was able to re-stock the lab. We started to use those same computers to do game development, because they have to be touch-screen.”

The school’s technical support person, Kacey Crooks, trained the students in game development.

“I had to teach them about the basics of the computer: the QWERTY keypad, how to use the keyboard, and so on, before they could go on to write programmes.

He explained that the Kodu and Touch Develop platforms (which are the platforms used to create the games) by Microsoft were designed for children–to make them understand and appreciate Mathematics more, and to make programme development simple enough for kids to understand. He noted that although the paltforms were designed for students from grade five to grade seven, beginners must be guided to be able to use them.

“It was made with an instructor in mind,” he said, explaining that an average child at Daniel and Jo-Nathan’s age would not be able to design and develop a game from scratch and as well as they did without guidance.

The two boys want to become forensic scientists in the future, but thy told the Observer that if that fails, they will pursue animation.

In addition to graphic designing, Daniel and Jo-Nathan are involved in various extra-curricular activities at school, including media and service clubs, as well as the table tennis team. They belive it is important for students to be involved in both academics and extra-curricular activities, as it exposes them to new things, and gives them a chance to explore their creative sides.

“Don’t sit inside all day,” Daniel said, issuing a warning to his peers. “Go outside and play.”

“Children are not only to be warm and gingerly, children can do anything they want to do. They just have to put their minds to it, and work hard,” he added enthusiastically.

The Allman Town Primary boys noted that Apple Eaters can be sold anywhere around the world, and they can change any feature of it from wherever they are in the world.