Thanks to our donors!

We would like to take the chance to throw out a quick thank you to our donors at the challenge. Through their support we have been able to raise $250 three days into the challenge.
That puts us 1% of the way towards our goal! Just 99% more to go. Want to help?

Please go to our official website to donate now!

Are you up for the Challenge?

Welcome to the Tribal Studios Custom Gaming Challenge Blog:

Can you help us meet the challenge?
Welcome to the TS Custom Gaming Challenge. In 2012 game design students at Palmer High School went to Mr. Wybrant and asked about forming a business for their game design projects. After a lot of research, it was found that students engaging in the kinds of legally binding contracts that a business entails is pretty difficult, but there is nothing that we found that says a teacher can not operate a business and include students in the potential projects of that business. Thus was born Tribal Studios.
Which brings us to the challenge. Students working to build a game that they would like to potentially sell have to work on that game with their own computers and their own software, if they want to have the opportunity to retain the rights to their own creations without the potential issues that come with sharing resources. That is part of the goal of this project.

What is the challenge exactly?

As a small business, Tribal Studios is looking to outfit a small group of students with the hardware and software necessary to engage in programming and game design. To this end, the goal of the challenge is to raise enough money to pay for the components of ten gaming computers complete with authoring software and capable of advanced video game design/development. Then, the students will be taught how to assemble their own computers, install the software, and will be responsible for producing a video game for distribution in the IOS and Android app stores and online through HTML5. At the conclusion of the project, assuming that students have met attendance requirements, production requirements, and demonstrated learning achievements, they will be able to keep, indefinitely the gaming machines that they have built. For more infomation about the hardware, the software, or the game the students will be developing click on the links in the navigation bar above.

What kinds of students will be involved?

Right now, the project aims to engage five boys and five girls across a diverse population (socio-economic, racial, etc.) in the process of hardware and software development.

Why have a challenge like this?

In a time of great technological change it is important for students to learn the skills they need to be prepared for a technologically rich world. Behind evey piece of technology there is code and a set of rules that control the technology's behavior. Students who understand how it works will be better prepared for the world at large. See the video to the left for more information.

How you can help

With this project not only would you be funding the creation of Psyched! a stand-alone game available for student download beginning in January of 2014 for AP Psychology review, you would be helping to solidify an interest in future game developing and computer programming by providing students with their first handmade, custom built programming/tower complete with development software. But, your dollar is going to be funding more than a review game and some hardware...you would be funding the beginning of a journey.