Tenniea Martin created her first video game for her senior project. She grew up playing video games with her brothers which sparked her interest in creating her own. For her project, she developed a zombie racing game where players control zombies racing to obstacles to get upgrades. Developing the game taught her patience and that her math skills could improve. Though it was a great learning experience, she does not plan to pursue game development as a career.

1. Tenniea Martin
Senior Speech
Growing up with five brothers, I was honored to learn how to play video games at an early age.
Since I was the youngest and only girl, my brothers took it into their own hands to teach me all about
playing video games. They left me with no choice but to become a video game master. However as the
years passed my brothers found out this was not going to be an easy defeat. As I got older I started to
ask more questions. I wanted to know why they jumped and why I only saw Mario move his legs a
couple of times throughout the whole game. It took me years( and a few irritated looks from my
brothers) to discover that I not only wanted to play video games but I wanted to create them as well.
I’m Tenniea Martin and I created a video game.
When I started to do my research paper I found myself in a whole different world. A world
where video games didn’t exist and the only games were board games. To fully understand how far we
have come in the video game world, I think it’s important to know where we started.
Mr. A Douglas created the first ever documented video game. He changed the nation with his
version of tic-tac-toe. Now this may not seem like a big deal for our time, but back then this was a great
achievement. During this time computers were rare and scarcely in the American home. Now video
games are played almost everywhere, at home, on the road, and even in the classrooms. Douglas made
it possible for a teenager like myself to create their very own game.
My product is the video game itself. When I first thought of this as my senior project idea, I was
super excited. I had so many ideas that I’m pretty sure my friends got tired of me asking them which

2. idea was better. However I was determined to make the best video game out there because video
games have been a passion of mine ever since I could first hit the “A” button.
Now here comes the fun part where I get to tell you how I went from writing little notes in a
binder to playing my video game on a computer.
The first thing I did was come up with the main idea for my video game. I mean I had a million
ideas but which one was I going to turn into a whole game. So I stayed with the one topic that I knew
most teenagers were well aware of. Zombies. After I settled on basing a game off of Zombies, I had to
then figure out what was going to be the objective of the game and why people would want to play it.
This was going to bring me more stress than beating Bowser with one life left and no save points.
I finally decided my game would revolve around zombies racing each other. They would have to
reach obstacles before the other characters to be able to get upgrades so they could surpass them.
During this time I made many diagrams. Many, many diagrams. Most of the diagrams focused
on what I needed to accomplish first. Then I started to get down to the nitty gritty and started to lay out
the functions of my character, which obstacles they would encounter and what they could do to get past
these obstacle.
As I wrote down the objective and started to plan out the game, everything started to fall into
place. I would sit in class and draw out my characters and sketch out the tracks they would run on, of
course this was after I had completed all my class work. When I had enough recyclable paper to build a
house, I moved to the computer where my game would take life.
With any video game the first thing I made was the main menu. I had to come up with every
single detail that would later define my game. I had to choose which colors would keep my game
players attention and which font would show them the dark side of the game. I remember going

3. through at least a hundred different color combinations before going back to the two originals colors
that I first thought of.
For the font I actually made that myself in Adobe Photoshop. This program helped me create all
the graphics that go into the game and even the zombie characters. I would later turn them into 3d
models with unity 3D. I then inserted the code that would make clicking on the buttons possible.
After the main menu was made I started to write code for my player’s movement. This is when I
realized I should have listened more in math class. My life was soon consumed with programming books
and endless dreams with red error pop ups chasing me. I had to assign keys to represent the directions
the main character was going to move in. I chose the regular arrow keys for this game. However you
can choose between the arrow and letter keys, which ever you prefer.
Whenever you press the key I had to calculate the velocity based on which direction the zombie
was going and which key was assigned to that direction. Choosing the right velocity was a little more
difficult than I thought it would be. When I first started, my character was halfway across the screen
before I lifted my finger from the key. I finally figured out that velocity is equal to distance traveled per
frame divided by time passed. Yeah that’s how I felt when I first heard that too. Basically how fast the
frames, which are the pictures on the screen are travelling will determine how fast my character will
move.
The most challenging of this was definitely the physics within the game. My project facilitator
really helped me with this part. During this time I remembered why history was always my favorite
subject.

4. After my zombie was successfully moving around and walking at a natural zombie pace, I then
started the course design. When I started I wanted at least seven different levels, each one possessing
different difficulty levels. However the first course proved challenging enough.
I looked back at my diagrams and started from there. I knew it was going to be in the city and
from there I let my imagination take over. I used adobe photo shop to make the textures for the road
and the buildings. After I created one building it was simple to duplicate that building and make it
smaller or bigger if needed. Also with one square tile of road, I could make endless amounts streets.
This was really easy once I started to use my supporting tools.
My chunk editor proved to help me in many ways. The Chunk editor is a tool that lets me edit a
“chunk” of code, rather than manually going in and trying to make sure all the code matches perfectly.
So my character does not magically disappear while walking down the road in the video game.
I used Unity 3D for everything during this. Unity 3D is a program that lets you turn your regular
2D images into something that really pops out. So instead of seeing your character just from the side
view, you can see him from the top, bottom or any angle you prefer.
For the final process I started to put together my video game logic. This is what my characters
would do without me having to press any buttons. Also during this I put in the course logic which is
where my characters are allowed to go and where they are not. When writing the code for this, I
wanted to include many obstacles that would make the game more challenging. The process took more
time than I thought it would so I didn’t get to put in as many as I wanted.
However I did get to a good stopping point. My game is not completely finished but I think I did
as much as I possibly could in the time that I was given.

5. My project facilitator is Anthony Cuellar. I chose him because I work with him and I knew he
knew a lot about video games. He is currently working on his own game and was more than delighted
to help me throughout the process.
Most of the problems I encountered were with the math and physics of the game. I could
handle the basic math equations but when it came to the actual coding and figuring out the physics my
facilitator really helped me along. Even though I read and reread programming books it just would not
stick in my head.
During the making of this whole game I learned a lot of things about myself. I first learned that
patience is truly a virtue and I have none. Second I learned that my math skills could use a little
improving and third I learned that if I really wanted something I could get it done with a little hard work
and determination.
Even though this was a great experience and I am very glad I got to go through it I don’t think I
will be pursuing this career. I do love video games and I love the feeling you get when you see your
creation come to life, however I think my skills are better suited elsewhere.
Not everyone gets to see something they created come to life and be able to play it. Everything I
did was well worth the time I spent on it and nothing will be able to replace that experience. I think
everyone should have that experience and pursue anything they are passionate about.
Thank you for coming out here and listening to my presentation.