Talk about an 11 year old creating his own game! Jamaican native Dominic Darby earlier this year emerged winner of the XPRIZE Connect Code Games competition.
The competition, sponsored by California-based, nonprofit XPRIZE, in partnership with the company and video game developer E-Line Media, supported by Endless Network aims to improve lives via technology.
The talented youngster emerged one of 17 winners out of 3,000 people who joined the global competition of kids between the ages of 10-18. He was named “Best in Class,” winning $1,000 prize in the Junior Division.
Using MIT’s Scratch coding software, Darby pulled off the brilliant piece titled, “How to Fall,” which sees players moving to escape different obstacles in different levels.
According to Darby’s mother, Shellian Darby her son first learned about the platform at just six-years-old after attending a summer program held at the University of the West Indies. She added that he is also partly self-taught through his enjoyment of reading books and watching YouTube tutorials about coding.
Darby, a fan of Minecraft and Roblox in his free time loves to play chess and tennis. When asked by Jamaicans.com what he plans on doing with his prize money, the young man answered, “A lot of things!”
Currently, Darby attends the Wolmer’s Preparatory School and hopes to study and work in computer science in the future.
