Photo Courtesy of Gyorgy Domonkos
Story by: Gyorgy Domonkos, BuzzStaff Writer
Two years ago, during Christmas break, a swimmer and data science junior, Carter Gaber, watched a video on how to make video games. He always wanted to play with a swim-related game, but there are no swim-related games in the mobile game industry. Carter decided to be the first person to make a game called “Swim Coach Sim” and make thousands of swimmers’ dreams come true with a swim-based video game.
“I had an idea of a swim game, and originally, I was just going to do the recruiting process, and then I just started adding stuff.” “Swim Coach Sim” is a simulation sports game. In the game, you don’t see the actual sport happening in front of you, and you don’t have influence on what is happening during the race. “In my game, you’re a swim coach of your imagined college. At the start of every season, you recruit the new freshman class and plan the schedule for the season.”
Gaber says the game’s goal is to have the strongest team and to reach the best division. There are two ways you can develop your team: The first one is through recruitment. During the recruiting process, you need to look out for each swimmer’s statistics and attributes to get the best possible freshman. The other way is development. After every meet, you get coins. You can use these coins to develop your swimmer’s statistics or attributes.
You’re also required to do the squad line-up before each meet. This is the most essential part of the game. You need to know your team well enough to know who the best is in each event. When you’re at the lineup process, you should keep an eye on the qualifying times for the national championship. Without winning nationals, you will never get to the first division.
“I started messing around with video game development with Unity engine. At first, I was going to make a 3D game, but I couldn’t get the guy to move. Because I couldn’t get him to move, I switched to a 2D format instead.”
Fellow swimmer Joe Wileman says he thinks Carter’s game is groundbreaking. “I believe it’s very inventive. I haven’t seen this type of interactive game where if you are very well versed in the club standards of any swim group, you are already at a significant advantage while playing this game.”
Joe helped Carter with some posts on social media to advertise the game. “I’m chronically online. I like drafting memes, promoting these ideas, it’s just to get media out there, because Carter’s not the best when it comes to being associated with the new generation.”
Senior swimmer Luke Sproule, a double major in cybersecurity and math, tested the game. He says he became addicted. “I asked him about it, and I had the right operating software on my phone. Then I was like, ‘hell yeah’ I would be able to test it. I wanted to play the game. I thought it was great. I mean, it’s cool, I like the style of the game, very similar to another game about football. So, it’s cool to get to do that with swimming, a sport I do.”
Carter says the next big step is going to be adding multiplayer, so people can play with their friends. “But I’m mostly trying to take feedback from my users and apply it to the game and then continue to market it, spread it to as many people as our interest is.” “Swim Coach Sim” is already available on the App Store and Google Store.
