Cold Open: Michael’s Big Idea

[Idea: Video game-making challenge between Dwight and Jim]

Click Here to Just Play the Games

[Scene: "The Office." Michael Scott bursts into the conference room holding a stack of hats—fedoras, cowboy hats, even a Viking helmet.]

Michael: “Alright, team, listen up! I’ve done it. I’ve cracked the code. Literally. I made a game about us—about small business heroes, nonprofit warriors, and anyone who wears too many hats.”

Jim (leaning back in his chair): “So… it’s a game where everyone is you?” 

[🤣🤣🤣]

Michael (ignoring him): “It’s called Too Many Hats! You’re an association pro catching hats as they fall from the sky. Each hat you catch? +1 point. Each hat you miss? -1 point. If your score goes negative, you lose. Just like in real life.”

Pam: “Sounds stressful.”

Michael: “Exactly! That’s the point. It’s realism. And guess what? I used TWO AIs to make it—Gemini and Replit. It’s like having two Dwights, but one is forgetful, and the other is… well, also confusing.”

Dwight (offended): “I am neither forgetful nor confusing.” [🤣🤣🤣]

Jim (to the camera): “This should be good.”

 Act 1: Gemini—The Forgetful Genius

[Cut to Dwight at his desk, furiously typing on Gemini.]

Dwight: “Gemini is like a loyal assistant who keeps forgetting what you just told them. It’s great at debugging and fixing errors—when it remembers to give me all the code back.”

Jim (peering over Dwight’s shoulder): “Looks like Gemini’s ghosting you again, Dwight.”

Dwight: “It’s not ghosting—it’s… strategizing.”

[Flashback to Dwight arguing with Gemini.]

Dwight: “No, Gemini, I said give me ALL the code! Not just half of it!”

Gemini (via screen): “Processing…”

Michael (walking by):

“Dwight, maybe you need to use its ‘experimental mode.’ It’s like me—bold and unpredictable.”

Dwight (to the camera): “Gemini is useful but needs constant reminders. It timed out so many times I started timing it out myself. But hey, it got the job done… eventually.”

 Act 2: Replit—The Slick Enigma

[Cut to Jim casually working on Replit.]

Jim: “Replit is like Ryan—slick, polished, but you need a manual to figure him out.”

Pam (looking at Jim’s screen): “How do you even upload your own images?”

Jim: “That’s the thing—it’s powerful but not exactly user-friendly for beginners. It’s like trying to explain TikTok to Michael.”

[🤣🤣🤣]

[Pam laughs as Kevin tries playing an early version of Too Many Hats on Replit.]

Kevin: “I caught three hats! Does that mean I get cake?”

Michael (appearing out of nowhere): “No cake, Kevin. But you win my respect. Which is better than cake.”

Angela (rolling her eyes): “This game is chaos—just like this office.”

Act 3: The Final Showdown

[The whole office gathers around as Michael presents the two versions of Too Many Hats.]

Michael: “Alright, people! Here it is—the culmination of my genius and two AI tools that are almost as smart as me. Gemini gave us a buggy masterpiece—it struggles with memory but has heart! Replit? Slicker than Jan at a dinner party but harder to figure out than Creed’s tax returns.”

Creed (playing the game): “I don’t pay taxes.”

[Everyone stares at Creed.]

Michael (ignoring him): “Anyway, here are the final features of Too Many Hats:”

- Controllable character movement.
- Randomly spawning hats with collision detection.
- Scorekeeping (+1 for caught hats, -1 for missed).
- Five levels with increasing difficulty and changing backgrounds.
- A sound effect when you miss a hat.
- Win condition: Complete all five levels.
- Game over condition: Score drops below zero.

Stanley (half-asleep): “Does it come with coffee?”

[🤣🤣🤣]

Michael: “No coffee, Stanley—but it comes with FUN!”

 Act 4: Lessons Learned

[Cut to Jim typing on his computer while Dwight hovers over him.]

Jim (to the camera): “So what did we learn? AI tools like Gemini and Replit are great for small projects—but they’re not perfect.”

Dwight: “Gemini needs constant babysitting, but it can debug like no one else. Replit feels more professional but takes longer to figure out. Together? They’re like me and Jim—a dysfunctional dream team.”

Pam: “And Michael learned… nothing.”

Michael (popping into frame): “Wrong! I learned that making games is just like managing this office—it’s messy, unpredictable, and sometimes you end up with more hats than heads. But that’s what makes it fun!” [🤣🤣🤣]

CLICK IMAGE TO PLAY EACH VERSION OF THE GAME!

Jim's - really Brian's - Replit Game (above)

Dwight's - really Brian's - Gemini Game (immediately above)

This adaptation was created with the assistance of AI.

Images Source: https://giphy.com/

We hope you enjoyed that little screenplay!  Here's the actual story of IRL activity that eventually evolved into a fun made up episode from "The Office."

Here is what Brian did...

I attempted to build the Too Many Hats game I made up in my head using two different AI tools to serve as coding, debugging, and launch tools.The concept of the game is simple: an association pro working for a small org has too wear a lot of hats, and catching them is hard. The user has to slide the pro from side to side, catching hats as they fall…caught hats are +1, lost hats -1. There are 5 levels, each gets faster as they go up. A negative score at anytime is a loss. At least, that was the concept lol. 

I used Gemini and Replit, here is what I found...

• Gemini is a useful companion for coding and debugging. It struggled with remembering what it had done inthe past, and it really struggled with remembering to provide all the code back to me after it made fixes. It would time out with longer code, and it would need sometimes several reminders to give me all the code. There were a few challenges it didn’t seem to be able to overcome, and I had to bounce between Gemini tools (experimental, flash thinking, etc.). Each came with different approaches, and I found that using them to debug or review each others work was helpful but gets confusing to toggle and keep your wits.
  
  
• Replit is much slicker and easier to use for coding, but it is a deeper learning curve and user interface. I feel like it could be extremely useful and powerful, but it was hard to get an understanding of how to get my own images into the code etc. 

Introduction: This article chronicles the collaborative process of creating a simple yet engaging browser-based game called "Too Many Hats." Starting with an initial code structure, the development journey involved debugging, refining game mechanics, and overcoming hosting environment challenges to bring the game to life.

The Game Concept: "Too Many Hats" is a classic catch-em-all style game where players control a character to catch falling hats, earning points and progressing through levels. The game features increasing difficulty with each level, changing backgrounds, and a game over condition for missed catches.

The Development Process: The creation of "Too Many Hats" was an iterative process involving...

• Initial Code Review and Debugging: The journey began with a review of the initial HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code to identify potential errors and areas for improvement.
• Syntax Error Correction: Early stages involved pinpointing and fixing JavaScript syntax errors that prevented the game from running correctly.
• Logic Issue Resolution: A key step was identifying and correcting a logic error related to the initialization of an array that manages the falling hats.
• Asset Loading Troubleshooting: Ensuring all game assets, including character images, background images for each level, hat images, and a sound effect for missed hats, were correctly loaded from the specified URLs was a crucial part of the process. This involved checking console logs for loading errors and verifying file paths.
• Navigating Content Security Policy (CSP) Challenges: A significant hurdle encountered was the hosting environment's (HubSpot) restrictive Content Security Policy, which initially prevented the inline JavaScript from functioning correctly. Workarounds were explored to enable script execution within these constraints.
• Implementing Core Game Mechanics: The development focused on getting the fundamental gameplay loop working, including character movement, hat spawning, collision detection, and scorekeeping.
• Level Progression and Difficulty Scaling: Features like increasing game speed and hat spawn rate with each level were implemented to make the game more challenging.
• Adding Game Over Conditions: Logic was added to end the game when the player completes all levels or when their score drops below zero after missing too many hats.
• Sound Integration: A sound effect was incorporated to play when the player misses a hat, enhancing the feedback during gameplay.

Final Game Features

The resulting "Too Many Hats" game features:

• Controllable character movement.
• Randomly spawning and falling hats.
• Scorekeeping for successful catches and missed hats.
• Level progression with increasing difficulty and changing backgrounds across five levels.
• A "You Win!" condition for completing all levels.
• A "Game Over" condition for a score below zero.
• A sound effect when a hat is missed.

Conclusion

Through a collaborative effort of code review, debugging, and iterative refinement, the "Too Many Hats" game was successfully created as a functional browser-based experience, demonstrating the process of building a game from initial code to a playable state while navigating common web development challenges.

Image and File References

• bighead_character.png (Character Image)
• level1_bg.png to level5_bg.png (Level Background Images)
• hat_1.png to hat_11.png (Hat Images)
• missed_hat_sound.wav (Sound File)