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April 13, 2016Local Teens Take Part in National Conferences for Development of Game Application
Participants in the Alliance for Positive Health’s Real Talk program at Steinmetz Boys and Girls Club in Schenectady recently completed development of a game app, “High Life”, focusing on the consequences of marijuana use. Through collaboration and guidance provided by RPI Professor Ben Chang and Laquana Cooke, PhD Candidate, and the Tech Valley Game Space volunteers, five youth turned the board game they originally developed into a game app. The project took ten months to complete. The youth met weekly as they learned how to playtest their original board game, wireframe a game app, learn the software, and create the app. This involved also learning a whole new language—the language of gaming and programming.
The collaboration with RPI is an example of Real Talk’s focus on leadership development. The youth in the Steinmetz “High Life” app project also began, perhaps for the first time, to see themselves graduating from high school, going to college, and joining the workforce well prepared. As part of this game app project, RPI hosted a Game Jam, which gave the teens the opportunity to see themselves in the college setting and increased their comfort in this alien world.
It was important to the youth that their game was realistic, used their own language, and was created by them and for other teens in order to help reduce the risks associated with drug use among teens like them.
The Real Talk teens will be presenting at two conferences this month to talk about their game app project to educators, community service providers, youth service organizations, and others. On April 9th, they’ll be at the Different Games Conference at the NYU Magnet in Brooklyn. This is the first time ever that youth will be presenting at this conference, which focuses on “diversity and inclusivity in games by amplifying the creative and critical voices of marginalized participants in games culture.” They will also be presenting via Skype at the YTH Live! Conference in San Francisco during the week of April 25. YTH Live is held each year to share technology that advances youth health and wellness. Attendees of the conference showcase what works, share ideas and learnings, and launch new collaborations related to youth advocacy, health, and technology. The Real Talk teens will roll out the beta version of their game and begin the playtesting phase of game app development. Look for “High Life” on their teen-developed website and in game app stores online.
This was not their first technology-based prevention project. Over the past five years, Real Talk teens meeting at this and other locations in Albany, Schenectady and Troy have created PSAs, video role model stories, music, cartoons, and instructional videos related to STDs, HIV, pregnancy, and substance use.
Real Talk is a youth-driven initiative of the Alliance for Positive Health with the goal of reducing the risk and prevalence of HIV/STDs (STIs), unplanned pregnancy, and substance use among teens, primarily urban youth of color. Real Talk strives to positively impact community norms around the related issues of HIV/STD screening, delaying initiation of sexual activity, safer sex, and/or abstinence from sex and substance use. The teens learn medically accurate HIV/STD/pregnancy prevention information and build skills related to healthy relationships, communication, self-esteem, goal setting, and decision making, all while working on technology-based project.
For more information about the Alliance for Positive Health, please call 518.434.4686 or visit the Alliance’s website.
