The Mark You Can’t Erase

Week 7 · October 8 · 50 minutes left

  1. Spark
  2. Pre-production
  3. Production
  4. Playtest
  5. Polish
  6. Ship
  7. Launch

Describe the Drawing.

Mr. Neet is out today. First: sign in and start your AI. Then paper, pencils, and a whiteboard. Then your own game.

Nobody gets this perfect. That’s what we’re measuring.

First · Get your AI working

Sign in now. Start the AI. Then we do the activity.

  1. Chromebook open: jeffneet.com/7paThe sign-in word is at the top of this screen.
  2. Open your gameYour folder says what you were in the middle of.
  3. Send the AI your first instruction for todayIt works while we do the activity.
  4. Push the Chromebook to the sideLid open. Hands off until work time.

50 left · Round 1 · Three words at a time

Back to back. One describes, one draws.

  1. Describer: three-word sentences onlyGrades 3–5: five words.
  2. One sentence, then stopWait until the drawer says “ok.”
  3. Drawer: no questionsOnly draw, and say “ok.”
  4. Describer: no peeking at the drawing
  5. Both of you: count the sentencesA tally mark for every one.

50 left · Round 1 · What we are measuring

How many sentences did it take?

Not how fast. Not how good the drawing is.

Stick figures and boxes are exactly right.

50 left · Round 1 · The ones with the lowest count

What did you say first?

The ones who finished fast didn’t talk faster. They said the important thing first.

40 left · Round 2 · The mark you can’t erase

Everyone gets the same words. Everyone gets a mark first.

The mark can’t be erased.
The mark can’t be ignored.
The mark has to be part of your finished drawing.

40 left · Round 2 · Look at the drawings

You all got the same words.

So why are these all different?

40 left · Round 2 · Two of you had a secret

Two of you got the same words and the same mark.

Did you make the same drawing?

40 left · Round 2 · The extra squiggle

Same words and a different squiggle: a different picture. And nobody decided what changed.

40 left · Round 2 · What it is called

That mark is called a seed. Same words plus the same seed gives a computer the same picture, every single time.

Change the seed and you get a different picture from the exact same words.

Key word

Seed
A random number the AI starts from, like the first random squiggle on a whiteboard. Same words plus the same squiggle gives you the same picture. Same words plus a different squiggle gives you a different one – and nobody chose what changed.

40 left · Round 2 · The good question

The two of you had the same words and the same mark, and you still drew different things. A computer wouldn’t have.

So what did you bring to it that a computer doesn’t have?

25 left · Studio · Your folder first

Before you touch anything, read your folder.

  1. What was I in the middle of?
  2. What did I write down that I still want to try?
  3. What am I doing first today?Grades 3–5: tell the person next to you.

25 left · Studio · Go build

The AI says it fixed it? Don’t tell me it works. Show me. Press Preview.
Save often. Click 💾. A dot on it means unsaved work.
Stuck? Ask your AI. The Ask AI button is at the top right.

Learn tab

Home icon, top left. Then Learn, on the left.
Videos and lessons for everything.

History

Next to Save.
Broke it? Go back to a version that worked.

You can’t permanently ruin your game.

5 left · Spec Check

  1. Take out your My Game ContractRead your circled specs to yourself, and the F and T boxes.
  2. Pencil: mark each one✓ solid · ~ shaky · ✗ broken
  3. Shaky or broken goes to the top of next timeFix before you add.
  4. All solid? You may pick one morePen: circle the code, write today’s date.
  5. Cut listWhat did you decide today that you’re not doing?
Before you leave

Did anybody get a bad answer from the AI today? Write it in your Failure Log.

Contract and Failure Log in your class folder. Folder back on the cart.

Before you go · Log out

  1. Save💾 at the top left.
  2. Home buttonRight next to Save.
  3. Your user nameTop right.
  4. LogoutBottom left. Then close the Chromebook.

0 left · Next time

No class next week. Fall Break.

See you October 22.