Josh Caratelli and Liam McLachlan took out the top prize at the Australian STEM Video Game Challenge for their Unreal-based game Smog Game which earlier this week we said was worthy of playing with the big guys at PAX 2015.
The game got some pretty high praise from the Challenge Project Director Christine Rosicka who said, ‘it has wonderful graphics, well-constructed gameplay and clearly demonstrates the value of reducing pollution.’
But it’s what these Year 12 students did next that got our attention. They donated their prize money and their time to set up a five year scholarship at their school, Elwood College, specifically focused on getting girls and disadvantaged students interested in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields.
To ensure the money was used in a project that was close to their own hearts, Josh and Liam worked with their teachers to set up a scholarship that will involve an interview with the talented developers themselves and will include ongoing mentorship in developing games to go into future STEM Video Game Challenges. The aim is to win again, and to reinvest the money back into the scholarship. The boys want to ensure the scholarship recipients are as passionate about STEM as they were.
"Having a competition such as the STEM VGC with huge rewards is a great incentive for kids to experience STEM areas they may have previously thought nothing of" Josh said.
"Since I’ve started developing games my interest and ability in Maths has skyrocketed exponentially. Honestly I never thought I’d see the day where I’d actually say I enjoy learning Maths. I’ve got game development to thank for that now. This is just one of the many examples I’ve found in which STEM learning aided from game development."
Did we mention they are coming back to their old school to do this after they graduate? Liam is headed to Melbourne University to study physics and Josh has already started on his computer science degree at RMIT and along with their plans to get Smog Game into the iTunes Store, these guys just don’t stop.
Josh was the youngest speaker at PAX Australia, giving advice on his gaming career which is coming up to its fourth year. Yep, he shipped his first game at the age of 15 through Big Ant Studios: Rugby League Live 2 (XBOX 360/ Playstaion3).
He has also worked with other Australian studios such as Tantalus/Straight Right, Pub Games and in the US with Obsidian Entertainment. Josh credits the openness of the companies to move around between departments (having worked across programming, art, QA and usability) and the support of individuals including Giselle Rosman (IGDA Melbourne) and Tony Reed (GDAA) for ability to pick up such a vast knowledge of skills and experience that led to his competition win as well as his accelerating career as a gameplay engineer.
"I’d love to be the dumbest person in the room surrounded by amazing friendly people, so I can grow and become a better developer. Although I might not be able to pay back all the people who have helped me out thus far, I might be able to pay it forward instead. This is precisely one of the reasons why I’ve decided to create the STEM scholarship at Elwood College."
Josh is ambitious, driven and incredibly passionate about games. He is just what the Australian industry needs.
"My vision for the Australian games industry is for it to continue to grow sustainably and pump out world renowned titles, Fruit Ninja, Antichamber, Borderlands: the Pre Sequel, Epoch in years to come. I’d love there to be more government support behind this economically booming industry to support us along the way. At the end of the day though, as clichéd as it sounds, we’re a big family and we’ll support each other as we’re doing now to ensure this happens. It might just take a bit longer that’s all."