25/09/2026
King's students took out 3 of the 7 award categories at this year's Techquity National High School Game Jam*, plus King's won the top 5 student spots for People's Choice Awards. The Techquity Game Jam brings together students from across the country to design, build, and celebrate original video games.
Dunedin is home to the New Zealand Centre of Digital Excellence (CODE), a national hub designed to grow the country's video game development industry. So, with coding becoming part of our DNA, it's unsurprising that EVERY Year 11, 12 and 13 Digitech student at King's submitted games for the Game Jam.
Now for the winners....
(Chosen by Judges) #1 Best Aesthetics went to Oliver Grubb & Nicholas Ross for Civic Streets, a game that stepped away from the theme entirely in favour of teaching players about New Zealand politics. Players talk with politicians and work out where they'd cast their vote, all delivered with a good dose of humour.
(Chosen by Judges) #1 Best Use of Theme was awarded to Kevin Acero and Nathan Tran for Filipinese, a restaurant simulator built directly for the jam's "Kai" theme.
(Chosen by Judges) #1 People’s Choice- Milkle 2 by Temia Reynolds, a milk themed game in the vein of Peggle.
2nd People’s Choice- Civic Streets by Oliver Grubb & Nicholas Ross
3th People’s Choice- Doughboi Adventures, built by Raymond Yang and Yahyaha Albahnesawi, a physics-based platform adventure starring the titular Doughboi.
4th People’s Choice- Killer Spud, created by Farhaad Jamil and Mac Rawat. Inspired by Killer Bean, you control a cowboy potato tasked with saving the world.
5th People’s Choice- Filipinese by Nathan Tran & Kevin Acero
*A game jam is a time-boxed event where participants design and build a playable game from scratch, usually working to a set theme. This particular jam ran over 12 weeks, structured as three four-week cycles rather than a single sprint, with students building a prototype, presenting it for feedback, then refining and expanding it based on what they learned.
