Fine Arts Student of the Week: Senior creates original video game

Girl sits on bench — This week's Fine Arts Student of the Week is Brainerd High School senior Emilee Ament, honored for her work in video game design.

By Dispatch staff report

February 13, 2023 at 5:57 AM

Emilee Ament

Grade: Senior.

Age: 18.

Art focus: Video game development.

Adviser nomination: “Emilee is an amazing Game Design Student. She is currently in Game Design III and continuing an amazing game project that she started last year. Her game has intricate coding, excellent mechanics, and charming visuals that were all custom made. She works hard everyday and does wonderful work,” adviser Joe Wagner said.

How did you get started in game design? Mostly, it was the fact that our school had a whole course for teaching coding that got me into it. I wanted to improve my technical and artistic skills, and I was also interested with how I could combine the two.

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Talk about the project you’re currently working on: The game is called Sayami Vale. It’s a challenging platformer game, featuring a cat that must dodge enemies made of black slime. The fluid controls and the diverse set of obstacles are the aspects I’m most proud of.

What inspires your designing the most? I always try to consider the involvement of the player, and do so in a creative way that complements the rest of the piece. Human input is the most unique element of a video game, so it’s important when it comes to making and improving the game.

What do you hope to accomplish by the end of the school year? I’m hoping to completely finish Sayami Vale, or at least get close to it. Also, as a senior, I’ll need to figure out what to do in regards to college and being a new adult.

Dream job: Embalmer.

Extracurricular activities: Theatre tech crew and Anime Club.

Favorite movie: “Bullet Train.”

Favorite TV show: “Adventure Time.”

Favorite book: “A Series of Unfortunate Events” by Lemony Snicket.

Favorite song: “B.Y.O.B.” by System of a Down.

Favorite band/musician: AJJ.

Favorite food: Mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Hobbies: Playing video games and drawing art.

Parent: Jeremy Ament.

By Dispatch staff report

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Fine Arts Student of the Week: Senior creates original video game

This week's Fine Arts Student of the Week is Emilee Ament