Estevan students win $1,000 with AI-assisted mine escape game

Two Grade 11 students from Estevan Comprehensive School won the $1,000 prize in Southeast Tech Hub’s first Game-A-Thon after building an AI-assisted cooperative video game over three weeks.

Soron Grass and Efotoboro Oylbo, competing as Team Extra Life, took the prize at Southeast College’s Estevan campus on Nov. 7. Discover Estevan reported that three teams presented completed games in a competition organised by Southeast Tech Hub and Southeast College’s Centre of Sustainable Innovation.

Their game, “Two Sides of the Wall,” requires two players to communicate to escape hazards and reach an exit. One player, the spotter, can see the traps; the runner depends on the spotter’s instructions to navigate the level. The characters have separate controls, using the WASD and arrow keys.

The game is set in a mine, linking it to the event’s community theme through a reference to coal mining in the Estevan area. It has five increasingly difficult levels, culminating in a boss stage, and requires both players to activate each subsequent level.

The pair turned to AI for early brainstorming when they were unsure how to start, including asking for game-name suggestions. Oylbo developed the levels, animation, characters and traps, using AI to answer coding questions and troubleshoot problems while learning GitHub and Godot. When the game crashed on the morning of the presentation, organised project files helped identify and fix the fault. Grass tested the game and prepared the presentation.

Teams of up to four students were asked to create games with AI tools, including ChatGPT, while incorporating the community theme. Judging assessed creativity and entertainment, functionality, use of the theme and AI, presentation and collaboration. Participants were supported by parent, teacher and community technology mentors, although Allister Watson said the students were largely self-sufficient.

The other finalists were Team Glitch, which made “Grocery Cake Run,” and Team High Score, which made “Paper Dispatch,” a game based on “Paper Boy.” Team High Score used locally run open-weight models Gemma and Z Image Turbo rather than ChatGPT, and combined function-by-function programming with hand-drawn artwork.

The programme began with a kickoff on Oct. 17, followed by a training day on Oct. 24 and an optional work session on Nov. 1. Every scheduled session was held at Southeast College’s Estevan campus, and teams registered with a coach or mentor aged at least 18. Organisers said they hoped to make the Game-A-Thon an annual event and eventually bring in teams from other communities.