A Student’s Journey from Gamer to Creator
Meet Jordan Shin, a sophomore at Agoura High School in California. From placing first in StuyHacks X, a hackathon hosted by Stuyvesant High School students in Brooklyn, New York, to creating his own video games, Jordan has evolved from a gamer to a creator. In an interview, we got to know Jordan and learned more about his exciting coding journey so far.
Tell us all about the StuyHacks X hackathon you won.
I quit playing video games a couple of weeks before StuyHacks X, so I went on a hunt to get more thrill out of coding, and I decided to do a hackathon. I had participated in game jams before, but this was my first hackathon. I did some research and found StuyHacks X, which I decided to join because it was run by students, making it more trustworthy.
For StuyHacks X, I created a puzzle video game (titled “Puzzle Ball”) in Unreal Engine using C++. I created it based on the concept of three blocks, each with the ability to be switched on or off by being hit by a ball. The player has a weapon that can shoot balls; the player uses the balls fired by this weapon to switch the colors of the three boxes in order to recreate a pattern given to him/her at the start of each level. An important rule is that the balls cannot be wasted, and the player has to use all of them to reach the goal pattern. If the player reaches the goal pattern with any balls remaining, he/she loses the level. Some levels involve a ricochet tactic, where the player has to switch on two boxes with a single ball. In this scenario, the player has to fire the ball at such an angle that it will bounce off and hit another box, thus killing two birds with one stone. I plan to enter many more hackathons in the future, as they are extremely exciting and fun!
Back up, you quit playing video games?!
I realized that during the time I was spending playing video games, I could have been building my dreams.
If I played 5 hours of games a week, over the course of a year, I would have wasted 260 hours, which is more than enough time to create a startup or game and follow my passion. Furthermore, the addictive tendencies of video games caused me to lean more and more towards them, nearly eliminating all of my productivity and straying me away from my dreams.
What inspired your interest in computer science?
My interest in computer science is something that I have had since elementary school; I loved being around and working with technology. I never really committed to my passion until I took Mr. Keays’s Python class. During the first few weeks of the class, I just followed what Mr. Keays was teaching in class, only doing the homework he assigned; however, I suddenly realized I could do so much with Python, for instance, password encryption using the hashlib library, and I began to experiment everyday after finishing my Python homework.
Soon, I realized I could make games as exciting as Fortnite (I played that game a lot), so I decided to try developing games. The thing that really sparked my interest was when I searched up information about Fortnite’s legendary galaxy skin which I really liked. It brought me to information about how someone remade the skin shader in something called Unreal Engine, and I decided I wanted to try playing with it myself. When I shared my ambition with Mr. Keays, he was extremely supportive and encouraged me to learn more. He connected me to our high school’s hackclub and another student who was into game development, who has since become a great collaborator and friend. With these supports, I became more confident in my coding ability and started researching Unreal, which led me to C++ (which I learned from some books) and other coding areas such as web development.
“Jordan has a profound sense of curiosity and loves “connecting the dots” from one concept to the next. When you combine these two principles of learning, you get an unstoppable passion of excellence called Jordan Shin. I am beyond proud of his growth and I will always be a fan of his work.”
— Mr. Keays, Computer Science & Math Teacher at Agoura High School in CA
What programming languages have you learned? Which one is your favorite so far?
I have taken Python and I am currently taking AP CSA on CodeHS. I am comfortable with Go, Elixir, Python, C++, C, C#, Java, Kotlin, PHP, HTML/CSS, and JavaScript. Currently, Go is my favorite coding language due to its simple yet telling syntax.
Do you have an interest in pursuing computer science after HS?
After high school (or during, if possible), I am planning on creating some tech startups. I started focusing on fullstack web development and devops, and I hope to release my first startup in a few years.
I hope to create several applications aiming towards smoother user workflow. Additionally, I want to focus on environmental issues (especially global warming) and social issues caused by technology (e.g., addiction and fake news), which are the two most devastating issues of my generation.
