by Taylor Bryant
Three University of West Georgia Advanced Academy students were awarded “Best Overall” after creating the game Toast Cat at CodeDay Atlanta, the world’s largest series of educational programming marathons. The competition is a series of student programming events held worldwide that give students 24 hours to build a game or app with their group members.
Students Joseph Duda, Thomas Hightower, and Corey Wieser came up with the game idea based on the buttered cat paradox. “This paradox essentially states that cats always land on their feet and buttered toast always lands buttered side down, so if you strap buttered toast to a cats back in the right position and drop it, it can never touch the ground, creating perpetual motion,” said Joseph. “We then built this game from the ground up at CodeDay, and plan to rewrite a fully working version for sale soon.”
Within the 24-hour timeframe, contestants were required to create a single piece of software including, but not limited to, a game, mobile application, or PC utility. According to CodeDay.org, many of the successful students who have published successful apps, games, and start companies were inspired at CodeDay.
“All of the members of our team had prior programming experience,” said Joseph. “My team member Cory Weiser had actually won "Best Game" at a previous CodeDay.”
This year’s competition included an estimated 25 additional contestants with programmers of all skill levels. The UWG team walked away with “Best Overall” for their game judged the project. Additional awards included “Best Application” and “Best Game.”
“Advanced Academy students participate in many activities on campus and in the community,” said Adriana Stanley, director of Advanced Academy of Georgia. “We are so proud of our students who competed in the recent CodeDay Atlanta. These students are taking their love for computer science and their knowledge of the field beyond the classroom to make a positive impact in our state.”
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