Programmer Noah Rosenfield (left) and Illustrator Danny Rivera

BIANCA ALEXIS FOR SCHOLASTIC

STANDARDS

NGSS: Core Idea: ETS1.C

CCSS: Reading Informational Text: 3

TEKS: Science:3.3D, 4.3D, 5.3D, 6.3D; ELA: 3.13, 4.11, 5.11, 6.10

Article Options

Presentation View
Teaching Resources

Lexile® measure

The Game Guys

How two Scholastic designers bring video games to life

December 2016 / January 2017
By Jeanette Ferrara

Captain Quill has lost his hat! To find it, the pirate hedgehog must search the decks of many ships. But as the ships rock on the water, crates and other objects slide in his way. 

Quill is the hero of a video game called Tilt: Quill’s Quandary. It was designed by Noah Rosenfield and Danny Rivera. By day, Rosenfield and Rivera make games and videos for SuperScience and other Scholastic magazines. By night, they design games like Tilt for phones and tablets.

Captain Quill has lost his hat! The pirate hedgehog must search the decks of many ships to find it. But the ships rock on the water. That causes crates and other objects to slide in Quill’s way. 

Quill is the hero of a video game. It’s called Tilt: Quill’s Quandary. It was designed by Noah Rosenfield and Danny Rivera. The pair makes games and videos for SuperScience and other Scholastic magazines by day.  They design games like Tilt for phones and tablets by night.

BIANCA ALEXIS FOR SCHOLASTIC

Rivera and Rosenfield worked together to plan and build their mobile game.

In the game, Quill travels by curling into a ball and rolling around the floor like a marble. You tilt your device to move Quill and slide obstacles out of his way. To reach the next level, you roll Quill through a trap door. 

Rosenfield, a video game fan, had never seen a game quite like Tilt. “I wanted it to exist,” he says. “So I decided to make it.”

Quill travels in the game by curling into a ball. The character rolls around the floor like a marble. You tilt your device to move Quill and slide obstacles out of his way.  You roll Quill through a trap door to reach the next level. 

Rosenfield is a video game fan. But he’d never seen a game quite like Tilt. “I wanted it to exist,” he says. “So I decided to make it.”

Dynamic Duo

Rosenfield and Rivera have different jobs when they make games. Rosenfield is a programmer. He writes code, or instructions that tell computers what to do. Websites, computer programs, and apps like Tilt all run on code. 

Rivera is an illustrator. He made hundreds of rough sketches for Tilt. Then he used a computer program to draw the final images. Each final image is tagged with a unique set of numbers. The code Rosenfield wrote reads those tags. It tells the computer where each image should appear in the game.

Rosenfield and Rivera have different jobs. Rosenfield is a programmer. He writes code. These instructions tell computers what to do. Websites, computer programs, and apps like Tilt all run on code. 

Rivera is an illustrator. He made hundreds of rough sketches for Tilt. Then he used a computer program to draw the final images. Each final image is tagged with a unique set of numbers. The code Rosenfield wrote reads those tags. It tells the computer where each image should appear in the game.

BIANCA ALEXIS FOR SCHOLASTIC

Players tilt their devices to move objects in the game around the screen.

On a Roll

DANNY RIVERA

In many video games, players share the point of view of a character in a virtual world. But Rosenfield wanted his game to feel more like a physical puzzle, such as a Rubik’s Cube.

That’s why he and Rivera decided to put Quill on a surface that could tilt in different directions. To make the motion realistic, Rosenfield used the accelerometer built into mobile devices. This instrument senses how a phone or tablet is oriented in space. Rosenfield wrote code that communicates with the accelerometer. When you tilt your device, the code tells Quill which way to roll. 

It took Rosenfield and Rivera three years to build Tilt. It’s their first mobile game, but they’re excited to make more. In fact, they’re already working on a sequel to Tilt. “I didn’t realize how cool it was to make a game like this,” says Rivera. 

In many video games, players share the point of view of a character in a make-believe world. But Rosenfield wanted his game to feel more like a physical puzzle, such as a Rubik’s Cube.

That’s why he and Rivera decided to put Quill on a surface that could tilt in different directions. Rosenfield used a sensor built into mobile devices. It’s called an accelerometer. This instrument detects how a phone or tablet is being moved. It helps make the game’s motion realistic. Rosenfield wrote code that talks with the accelerometer. The code tells Quill which way to roll when you tilt your device. 

It took Rosenfield and Rivera three years to build Tilt. It’s their first mobile game. But they’re excited to make more. In fact, they’re already working on a sequel to Tilt. “I didn’t realize how cool it was to make a game like this,” says Rivera. 

Engineering
Programming
Cool STEAM Jobs
code

instructions that tell computers what to do
accelerometer

an instrument built into mobile devices that senses how a phone or tablet is oriented in space
programmer

someone who writes code for computers
videos (1)
Skills Sheets (2)
Skills Sheets (2)
Games (1)
Lesson Plan (2)
Lesson Plan (2)
Text-to-Speech