Two Mathews High School seniors—Cameron Proulx and Porter Seals—took first place in the category of Interactive Application and Video Game Design at the 55th annual SkillsUSA State Leadership Conference and Skills Championship, held on April 12-13 at the Virginia Beach Convention Center.

The pair won the competition for “Punch Off,” a two-dimensional physics-based video game. In “Punch Off,” players land in a spaceship on an alien world and must collect parts in order to rebuild the ship and leave the planet.

Proulx and Seals had taken the modeling and simulation class at MHS and spent this year in independent study, spending much of that time developing this video game, according to MHS technology teacher Jason Smith.

Smith said that “Punch Off” is an excellent game and he has been encouraging the two students to make it available to the public through the app store.

Proulx and Seals both plan to attend Rappahannock Community College and transfer to George Mason University which is ranked among the top 25 universities in the nation for game design, according to College Choice. GMU’s Computer Game Design Program is accredited with commendation by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design.

This is the second year in a row that Mathews High took the top prize at the SkillsUSA competition. Last year, Evan Scribe and Anthony Warinner won it for their 3D educational game, “Crab Simulator.” Seals was part of a team last year (with Nicholas Bean) who won the silver medal in 2018 for the 2D side scroller called “UnAwoken.”