Design a level

Every card, a six by six board and your own Your cards: study three worked levels, then write one for another group and prove its par.

Grades 6 to 8
Three challenges
A 6 by 6 board
Fewest cards wins
36 cards in play

Print this pack's cards See the challenges Download the pack file

Cards in play.

Only these. The pack's own rows never lay the same card twice, so one copy of this pack's cut sheet for each group covers them.

Walk
Walk forward
walk_forward
- Studio
- Pad: L stick
0
Walk
Walk back
walk_backward
- Studio
- Pad: L stick
1
Walk
Turn left
turn_left
- Studio
- Pad: R stick
2
Walk
Turn right
turn_right
- Studio
- Pad: R stick
3
Walk
Stop
stop
- Studio
4
Speed
Slow
slow
- Studio
20
Speed
Fast
fast
- Studio
21
Look
Look left
look_left
- Pad: Y
40
Look
Look right
look_right
- Pad: Y
41
Look
Look up
look_up
- Pad: Y
42
Look
Look down
look_down
- Pad: Y
43
Look
Straight ahead
straight
- Pad: Y
44
Trick
Kick, left
kick_left
- Studio
- Pad: LB
60
Trick
Kick, right
kick_right
- Studio
- Pad: RB
61
Trick
Sit or stand
sit_or_stand
- Studio
- Pad: ▼
62
Trick
Roll
roll
- Studio
- Pad: X
63
Trick
Peck the ground
peck_ground
- Studio
- Pad: A
64
Sound
Hello
greet
80
Sound
Chirp
chirp
81
Sound
Coo
coo
82
Sound
Alarm
alarm
83
Sound
Wheee
wheee
- Pad: LT
84
Control
Start
start
100
Control
End
end
101
Control
Repeat
times
repeat
102
Control
End repeat
end_repeat
103
When
When it falls
when_falls
120
Your card
Draw it here
Name it
card_1
It does
200

The one Your card drawn here stands for nine blank cards, each with its own code.

Your cards this pack uses

Write the name on the blank card with that number. In the pack file, the card carries the row it stands for.

Your card 200

Stair step

Walk forward, turn right, walk forward, turn left: one step up a stair.

Walk forward
Turn right
Walk forward
Turn left

Your card 201

Side of the pond

Walk forward five times, then turn right.

Repeat 5
Walk forward
End repeat
Turn right

How it is scored.

Fewest cards wins. Count every card between Start and End: Repeat and End repeat, and every card under another. A Your card is one card. This is where a loop pays off.

Par is the shortest row the pack's author found. If your class finds a shorter one, the par was wrong, not the class.

A row solves a challenge when the duck ends on the goal, has walked through every tunnel the long way, and has not bumped into a wall or the edge of the board. When a challenge names a card to finish with, that card is last. Every Repeat needs its End repeat.

The board.

Every challenge card below draws its own board. Here is how big a square is.

The board rule

One Walk card moves the duck one square. One Turn card is a quarter turn, where it stands. That is the rule on paper and in Studio, and every par is counted by it.

A real duck

Walk and Turn cards on a duck are timed for now: two seconds each, and the duck does not land on board squares. Measured cards are being tested. So for now the board is played by people and in Studio, and a duck beside it is a trial.

Measured cards

Measured cards walk until the duck's own odometry says one 30 cm square and turn until it says a quarter turn. They are being validated, in Pollen's simulator and then on testers' ducks, before they are switched on.

Squares for people

Tape the board on the floor in 30 cm squares, so a student playing the duck can stand in one. Or draw it on squared paper and walk a finger.

The challenges.

Easiest first. Print this page and it prints these cards and nothing else, four to a sheet, ready to cut. Choose Actual size or 100%.

Design a level 1 of 3
Stairs to the nest
Par 3 cards
Card 1, Stair step, is four cards in one. How many stairs are there?
Grades 6 to 8. Duck Cards, CC BY 4.0, microduckstudio.com
Design a level 2 of 3
Round the big pond
Par 3 cards
Card 2, Side of the pond, walks one whole side and turns the corner.
Grades 6 to 8. Duck Cards, CC BY 4.0, microduckstudio.com
Design a level 3 of 3
Kick from the island
Par 4 cards
The class that wrote this level first said par was 9: three stairs to the bridge, then along the top. Look at where the stairs would go if they kept going.
Finish with
Kick, right
Grades 6 to 8. Duck Cards, CC BY 4.0, microduckstudio.com

Lessons.

Each one fits a class period with paper only.

Your cards

Name a routine

Study Stairs to the nest. Stair step is a Your card: four printed cards saved under one number. Write out every card that Repeat 4, Stair step, End repeat stands for, and count how many cards it saves.

Ask: what makes a run of cards worth saving as a Your card?

Authoring

Write a level for another group

Each group draws a six by six board on squared paper: a start square and facing, a goal, up to six walls, one or two gates, and a finish card if you like. Write a row that solves it and count its cards. That count is your par. Trade boards with another group and play theirs.

Ask: what did the other group find hard about your level that you did not expect?

Checking par

Prove your par

Kick from the island was first written with par 9; another group solved it with 4 by letting the stairs keep going. Before trading a level, try hard to beat your own par. If someone else beats it, the par was wrong, not the players, so change the number.

Ask: how could you be sure no shorter row exists?

Steps par by hand

A steps par can be found for certain: from the start, mark every square the duck can reach in one step, then two, then three, like ripples on a pond, until the goal is marked. Do it for one level on paper, then compare with the par the pack's checker computed.

Ask: why is a steps par easier to be sure of than a cards par?

Events

When it falls

Add a When it falls row to your solution: what the duck does once it is back on its feet. The board does not play it, but a duck running your row would. Test it by having the student playing the duck sit down when you say fall.

Ask: should the duck carry on after a fall, or go back to the start?

Take the pack.

The whole pack is one file in the open duck-pack/0 format. Duck Cards, from microduckstudio.com, CC BY 4.0.