Substitute guide · Thursday, November 5, 2026 · 50-minute class · Making Games in the Age of AI
Thank you for covering. Today is a relaxed one. Students spend most of the class adding sound to the video games they have been building, and the last twelve minutes writing one paragraph on paper, which you collect and leave for Mr. Neet. You don’t need any background in games, computers, or AI.
Open the room screen ↗ put this on the class monitorEvery time is minutes left in the class, not minutes gone. “42 left” means the part that starts when there are 42 minutes to go. The room screen has a countdown timer at the top that you set to whatever is actually left, so the plan works even if class starts late.
| Minutes left | What happens | Your part | Runs for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | Today’s focus: sound | Read the script. One quick answer from each student. | 6 min |
| 44 | ⭐ Spark Break | Read three lines. | 2 min |
| 42 | Re-entry read, then building | 90 seconds of silence, then walk around and ask your one question. | 28 min |
| 14 | ⭐ Back-of-the-box writing | Hand out paper, read the script, let them write, collect. | 12 min |
| 2 | ⭐ Spec Check | Read four lines. Folders back on the cart. | 2 min |
Try to keep the opening brief, since building time is a little shorter than usual today.
Please don’t tell students what happens to their paragraphs next week, or guess at it. Mr. Neet has something planned that only works as a surprise. If asked: “He’s bringing them back next week.” That is true, and it is enough.
A semester-long elective in which students build their own video game in a program called GDevelop, and learn – by running into it themselves – where the artificial-intelligence helper built into that program gets things wrong, and why trusting it blindly is a bad idea. Games are the medium. Working alongside an AI without giving up your own judgment is the subject. Most students build alone; a few pairs share one game. You may be covering the grades 3–5 class or a grades 6–12 class; differences are marked Grades 3–5 class.
| Word | What it means here |
|---|---|
| GDevelop | The program they build games in. It runs in a web browser. |
| The AI, the assistant | The AI helper built into GDevelop. The only AI these students use in class. School rule. |
| Preview | The button that runs their game so they can play it. |
| Sprite | A picture in the game – the player, a coin, a tree. |
| Event | A rule the student wrote: if this happens, do that. |
| Variable | A named box holding a number – score, lives, time. |
| Juice | The small extras that make an action feel good – a sound, a flash, a shake. Today’s word. |
| Feedback | How the game tells the player that something happened. |
| Roll back | Go back to an earlier saved version of the game. Students learned it early in the semester. |
| Spec | A promise a student made about their game, like “every important action makes a sound.” It either works or it is “not yet.” |
| My Game Contract | The one-page sheet in each student’s folder listing the specs they picked. They mark it in pencil at the end of class. |
| Spark List | A student’s own list of things they noticed and want to come back to. |
| AI Failure Log | A student’s list of times the AI got something wrong. |
| Cut list | Things a student has decided not to build. |
| Polish | Fixing and improving what already exists – not adding new things. |
“Today is sound. And sound is not decoration – it’s how your game tells the player that something worked.
Think about picking up a coin with the volume off. Nothing happens. It’s just a picture disappearing. Now the same coin with a little sound on it – now it’s a reward. The game didn’t change. Only the feedback changed.
So: what happens in your game right now that doesn’t make a sound? Getting a point. Winning. Losing. Jumping. Hitting a wall. Starting. Pick the most important one and start there.”
“Name one thing in your game that should make a sound and doesn’t.”
After this, every student knows what to do first, so building time starts with everyone working.
A student with no sound in their game at all is normal and not a problem. Their first one is the most important one: the sound on the thing the player does over and over.
Skip going around the room. Ask them to point at their screen and tell you the one thing that should make a noise, then let them go. They are usually eager to get started.
As written. If the round is dragging, stop at five minutes and move on – anyone who did not answer gets asked at their desk.
1. “Anything from today you want to come back to? Write it down – what it was, and where you saw it.”
2. “Look over your list. Anything from before that today just answered?”
3. “Anything you want to ask Mr. Neet about one-on-one? Star it – he’ll get to it when he’s back.”
Then: “Okay – go build.”
Students write on their Spark List, which is in their folder. You do not collect it or read it. Grades 3–5 class: take two or three answers out loud instead of waiting for writing.
Students open their folder and read what they wrote last time before touching the computer. They know this routine. Put the slide up and give them a quiet minute. If nobody moves, one line: “Folders open – read your sparks first.”
“What happens in your game that doesn’t make a sound yet?”
Almost every student will name something straight away, and that becomes their task for the day. Ask what they are working on, and listen. Students like showing their games.
| Situation | Say |
|---|---|
| Doesn’t know how to add a sound | “Look it up – the links are on the screen. The sound one is the first one.” |
| Broke something and is upset | “You can’t permanently ruin it. Roll it back to a version that worked.” |
| Wants you to decide something about their game | “That’s your call. What do you think?” |
| Says the AI fixed it, or added the sound | “Don’t tell me it works. Show me. Press Preview.” |
| Still stuck after looking it up | “Put it on your Spark List and star it. Then work on a different sound.” |
| Finished a sound and wants more | “Does anything in your game sound wrong? Not missing – wrong.” Or: “Is there music? Does it match how the game is supposed to feel?” |
Students were asked to bring headphones today. Without them the gym becomes thirty sound effects at once, which is hard to work in. If a student has none: “Keep the volume low and test in short bursts.” Before you speak to the whole room, say “Headphones off” and give it a moment.
GDevelop has a library of sound effects and music built in, and students browse it from inside the program. There is no need to download sounds from the internet. If asked: “There’s a library built into the program – go look.”
Screens stay on the project. Ask before touching someone else’s work.
Even if building is going well, since the writing needs its twelve minutes. Say “Headphones off, lids down,” and hand out the “Back of the Box” sheets.
“Last twelve minutes, and it’s on paper. Pencils, not keyboards.
Imagine your game is in a store, in a box. On the back of that box there’s a paragraph telling somebody what this game is. That’s what you’re writing. Four or five sentences.
Two rules. Your own words – no AI, and no asking a neighbor to write it for you. And make it sound like YOU. If you’re funny, be funny. If you write short punchy sentences, write short punchy sentences. I want to be able to tell it’s yours.
Mr. Neet is going to bring these back next week.”
Then let them write. Nothing more needs saying about what happens to the paragraphs.
Next week Mr. Neet shows the students something about their own writing, and it works best if they meet it without warning. A student who knows what is coming writes differently. “He’s bringing them back next week” is true, and it is all you need.
| Rule | Why |
|---|---|
| Paper only. No keyboards. | The whole point is writing done without help. |
| No AI, and nobody writes it for them | Same reason. |
| Four or five sentences | Grades 3–5 class: two or three. Helping a young student spell a word is fine; telling them what to say is not. |
| Their own voice, oddities included | Odd spelling, jokes, strange phrasing – leave all of it. The oddities are exactly what Mr. Neet is looking for. |
“What would you tell a friend this game is?” Then: “Write that.”
“Read it back to yourself. Does that sound like you, or does it sound like a commercial?”
Put them all in the envelope and leave it on the desk. Papers go in the envelope, not in student folders. Mr. Neet uses the whole set next week, so a note of who was absent helps.
Each student has a one-page sheet called My Game Contract in their folder. It lists the promises they made about their game. At the end of every class they mark each one in pencil: ✓ solid, ~ shaky, ✗ broken.
1. “My Game Contract out. Read the specs you picked.”
2. “Pencil: mark each one – check for solid, squiggle for shaky, X for broken.”
3. “Shaky or broken goes to the top of next week. Update your cut list – what did you decide today that you’re not doing?”
4. “Anybody get a bad answer from the AI today? Failure Log.”
Then: “Contract in your folder, folder on the cart. See you – Mr. Neet is back next week.”
There is a box for the teacher’s initials. Only Mr. Neet initials it, when a student shows him the thing working. If someone asks: “Show him next week.”
Grades 3–5 class: do it together out loud – “Look at each one you circled. Is it working? Mark it.”
| If… | Do this |
|---|---|
| A student can’t log in | No need to fix it. Hand them paper: “List every action in your game, and write the sound each one should make.” That is real work for today. Write their name down for Mr. Neet. |
| A student’s game partner is absent and the game is on the partner’s account | Same as above – the sound list on paper. Do not have students share or type passwords. |
| A student is upset that something broke | “You can’t permanently ruin your game. Roll it back.” If they are still upset, note it for Mr. Neet; you don’t need to solve it. |
| A screen isn’t on the project | “Screens stay on the project.” The class rule, and the students know it. |
| The room gets too loud to work | “Headphones off.” Wait. “Volume down, short bursts.” Then carry on. |
| The room screen won’t load | Run the class from this page. Every line you need to say is here. Read the help links out loud from the Questions section below if someone needs them. |
| You are running behind | Trim building time rather than the writing, which needs about twelve minutes. The Spec Check can shrink to one line: “Pencil on your contract, folder on the cart.” |
“Do I have to do the writing part?” Yes. It takes twelve minutes, and Mr. Neet is counting on having everyone’s.
“Can I type it?” No. Paper and pencil.
“What’s he going to do with them?” “He’s bringing them back next week.” That is all you need to say.
“Is this graded?” The paragraph is not graded. Students are evaluated on their logs, lists, and contract – not on whether their game is good, and not on handwriting.
“Do we have homework?” None, ever. It is an elective and nothing is required outside class. Anyone who wants to keep working at home is welcome to.
“Where do I get sounds?” From the library built into GDevelop. Not downloaded from the internet.
“Can I use a song I like?” “Use the built-in library for now, and ask Mr. Neet about that one.” Songs from outside are usually someone else’s property, and these games get shown to families at the end of the semester.
“Can I record my own sound?” “Good question – ask Mr. Neet.” Don’t rule it out; it is his call.
“Is sound even important?” Yes: sound tells the player “that worked” faster than anything you can show them. Suggest they play their game muted, then unmuted.
“Where do I look up how to do it?” The links are on the room screen: wiki.gdevelop.io/gdevelop5/all-features/audio/ for sound and music · wiki.gdevelop.io for anything else · wiki.gdevelop.io/gdevelop5/tutorials/ for step-by-step guides · youtube.com/@GDevelopApp for short videos · forum.gdevelop.io to read, not to post.
“Can the AI make me a sound?” No. The AI inside GDevelop does not create sounds or pictures. It builds starting layouts and helps with the rules. That surprises students, and it is a fine thing for them to learn.
“Can I use ChatGPT to write my paragraph?” No. Students use only the AI inside GDevelop, and today’s writing has to be their own.
“Can I put my name in the AI?” No. No personal information of any kind, theirs or anyone else’s. This is the one rule with no exceptions.
“Does the AI know what my game is about?” No – only what they tell it, every time. Most students can explain this well; let them.
Thank you for covering today. Next week’s class is built on these paragraphs.