A.VOID

Parklands College Learner Explores Games Development and Creates “A.VOID”

Keagan Strydom, a Grade 10 Parklands College learner, has developed a free iOS arcade game called “A.VOID” and has released it on the Apple App store. Keagan found his passion for software development at the College, particularly in the gaming arena, and used Apple’s Swift programming language to create it. He is one of the lead developers in the incubator and teaches other learners how to develop applications as well.

Using advanced coding concepts way beyond his years, Keagan started working on his project in the holidays as a project that was “just for fun”. “A.VOID” allows players to share their scores over social media, adding a competitive element among players and creating a challenge-based approach to game-design.

Keagan said, “I was playing table tennis with my friends and really enjoyed the simplicity of the game, so I decided to create a fun arcade game that was classically inclined but had a modern edge for my friends. I know that this is going to be my future and I loved doing it!”

Keagan has developed many other prototype apps that have helped to strengthen his knowledge and understanding of certain concepts in programming, including a fully functional survey app related to a Robotics project conducted earlier in 2018.

In the Mobile Application Development (MAD) incubator, coding is made fun and less intimidating. It is kept interactive and exploratory, while using Apple’s App Development with Swift curriculum for foundational structure.

Parklands College runs numerous programmes to develop entrepreneurial and global competencies in its learners. This facilitates the process of learning how to research and identify a need in a market, originate ideas for an app to address the need, develop the app, release the app on the Apple app store, and finally to market it.