Harry, 10, with his Fruity Foes computer game.
A host of budding inventors demonstrated their imaginative computer programming projects at Monmouth School for Boys yesterday (Sunday).
Boys and girls travelled from across the region – one as far away as Somerset – to take part in the school’s second Computer Science Fair.
Mrs Hope, Head of Computing at Monmouth School for Boys, described the creations as ‘extraordinary’ and said it had been a hugely entertaining and successful day.
Headmaster at Monmouth School for Boys, Dr Daniel, a keen C# programmer, built his own a project and his ideas could now be adopted by a group of students.
“The projects are all driven by the students and they were extraordinary,” said Mrs Hope.
“We had a Java-built game engine, robots, lots of python and C# stuff, and fantastic ideas.
“I was thrilled by the number of children who came along – there were more than last year.
“The children had a forum to showcase what they are really good at and I was delighted lots of people came long to have a look and explore the ideas.
“We had children from Somerset, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire.”
Computer Science students (from left): James, Callum, Charlotte and Tom.
Twelve-year-olds Frankie and William played tunes on their banana piano, while Madeleine, 12, has built a Twister spinner which she made in a programming language for children.
Madeleine, a pupil at Monmouth School for Girls, said: “I loved the game Twister when I was younger and I have made a spinner with audio so that players don’t have to look at the computer screen when they are upside down.”
Edward, 15, has founded his own web design company and works alongside photographers and conservationists.
Ten-year-old Harry displayed his Fruity Foes computer game in which players are chased around a race track by fruit.
Fourteen-year-old James has built an online role playing game called Questcry, based on Dungeons and Dragons, and brought along a sword to add to the spectacle.
A level Computer Science students James, Tom, Callum and Charlotte have joined forces to programme a Zombie zapping game.
Charlotte, 16, a pupil at Monmouth School for Girls, said: “I am working on the game with my fellow Computer Science students and it’s a first person shooting game.
“I am working to create the models behind the interface. It’s a challenge because I haven’t done it before, but I am really enjoying it.
“These types of events are very important because girls can see that computing is not some sort of alien topic and they can actually get involved.”
Madeleine, 12, with her Twister project.
The fair was preceded by a WyeHack meeting, which gave the inventors time to put the finishing touches to their projects.
These friendly and productive sessions, which are also free and open to all local children interested in coding, are held regularly at Monmouth School for Boys to give like-minded youngsters a chance to develop ideas together.
Headmaster Dr Daniel, said: “As a keen mathematician we can learn a lot from computer programming.
“The Computer Science Fair was another a fantastic event to be involved with.”
James, 14, has created Questcry, an online game based on Dungeons and Dragons.
