Critical Tinkering

Build a Roblox Game with AI

Your kid already plays Roblox. Now they can build their own.

Six Saturdays. Eight students. One playable game they designed and built themselves.

Skybreak.rbxl
Workspace.Obby.Platform
60 fps
OutputCheckpoint 4 reached → Maya

They finish with a game people can actually play.

Each student starts with an idea and ends with a finished, playable Roblox project they designed and built themselves. In the final session they present it to families at the showcase. Publishing to Roblox is supported where Roblox's account and platform requirements allow, with a parent's approval.

STAGE 4 / 91201:42.8

Skybreak · a nine-stage obby with checkpoints, a laser gate, and a portal · example of what a student builds in six Saturdays

  1. 01

    Idea

    What does the player do, and why is it fun?

  2. 02

    Design

    Sketch the world, the rules, the win.

  3. 03

    Build

    Roblox Studio, Luau, and an AI they direct.

  4. 04

    Test

    Watch people play. Fix what breaks.

  5. 05

    Showcase

    Present a finished game to families.

What they learn

Students learn to prompt an AI for code, inspect what it produces, catch its mistakes, debug the result, and improve it themselves.

The AI is a tool they direct, not a substitute for thinking. Knowing when to trust it and when not to is the judgment we're teaching, and it's part of the critical-thinking curriculum, not a shortcut around it.

Student prompt

Make the coin disappear when a player touches it and add 1 to their score.

AI

coin.Touched:Connect(function(hit)
  local player = game.Players[hit.Parent.Name]
  player.leaderstats.Coins.Value += 1
  coin:Destroy()
end)

Student, week 4

Crashes when a crate or the lava touches the coin, because those aren't players. Swapped the lookup for GetPlayerFromCharacter and added a nil check.

- local player = game.Players[hit.Parent.Name]+ local player = game.Players:GetPlayerFromCharacter(hit.Parent)+ if not player then return end
CoinScriptLuauWorkspace › Coins › Coin
1local coin = script.Parent
2local collected = false
3
4coin.Touched:Connect(function(hit)
5  local player = game.Players:GetPlayerFromCharacter(hit.Parent)
6  if player and not collected then
7    collected = true
8    player.leaderstats.Coins.Value += 1
9    coin:Destroy()
10  end
11end)
Game design and systems thinking
How a loop of goals, obstacles, and rewards makes something fun.
Roblox Studio
The real tool. Terrain, parts, lighting, physics, and Luau scripting.
AI-assisted programming
Prompt for code, read it, catch the mistakes, fix them, make it better.
Debugging and iteration
Things break. Learning to find out why is the skill.
Creative problem solving
Constraints, trade-offs, and choosing what to cut.
Turning an idea into a working product
From a sentence on a whiteboard to something other people can play.

Founding cohort · 6 Saturdays · 8 seats

$950

Full tuition. Covers all six sessions, weekly parent updates, and the family showcase.

Reserve one of 8 seats

Small on purpose. Eight students means every kid gets unstuck within minutes.

Founding families get first pick of seats in the next cohort.

Dates
  • Sat, Oct 17
  • Sat, Oct 24
  • Sat, Nov 7
  • Sat, Nov 14
  • Sat, Nov 21
  • Sat, Dec 5

Six Saturdays. No class on Halloween or Thanksgiving weekend.

Time
Saturdays 10:00 am – 12:00 pm, 2 hours
Where
Downtown Brooklyn. Exact venue confirmed before the program begins.
Refund
Full refund any time before the first session, no questions asked.
Ages
10–13, 8 students maximum
Bring
A Mac or Windows laptop
Includes
Weekly parent updates and the final family showcase

You'll know how it's going every week.

A short note each Saturday: what your child built, where they got stuck, and what's coming next. No portal, no app.

The final session ends with each student presenting their game to families. Bring the grandparents.

FromCritical Tinkering

ToMaya's parents

SubjWeek 3: Maya's first script that works

Quick one from Saturday.

Built: the jump pad works and she wrote the coin-collection script herself after one nudge.

Stuck on: making the lava send you back to spawn. We'll fix that next week with the AI, and she'll check its work.

Next: scoring and a proper finish line. Showcase is Dec 5, 11:30 am.

Six weeks

Each Saturday builds on the last. By week four they're fixing the AI's code, not the other way around.

  1. Week 01

    Game idea and core loop

    Pick an idea, define what the player does, sketch the loop that makes it fun.

  2. Week 02

    Build the world

    Model the map in Roblox Studio. Terrain, parts, lighting, and a place worth exploring.

  3. Week 03

    Mechanics and scripting

    First Luau scripts. Make things move, react, score, and reset.

  4. Week 04

    AI-assisted development and debugging

    Prompt an AI for code, read what it wrote, find where it's wrong, fix it, and improve it.

  5. Week 05

    Playtesting and iteration

    Watch other people play your game. Take notes. Decide what to change and change it.

  6. Week 06

    Polish and showcase

    Final pass on the project, then present it to families at the showcase.

Week 04 · the Output window, before and after the fix

OutputServerPlaying

13:42:07 Players.Platform is not a valid member of Players "Players"

13:42:07 Stack Begin

13:42:07 Script 'Workspace.Coins.Coin.CoinScript', Line 2

13:42:07 Stack End

— edited CoinScript, restarted playtest —

13:46:22 Coin collected → Maya (1)

13:46:25 Coin collected → Maya (2)

13:46:31 Platform bumped a coin, ignored

Week 05 · playtest notes

Playtest 2 · Skybreak · week 5

4 testers

  • Leo, 11Jump pad sends you over the towerFix
  • Priya, 12Didn't notice the lava was lavaFix
  • Sam, 10Wanted more coins on the towerKeep
  • Ava, 13Spawn is too far from the actionCut

Portrait · 4:5 · set instructor.photo

Who's teaching

Your Name

Founder and lead instructor

Two or three sentences on who you are, what you have built, and why you teach kids to build. Mention any teaching experience, shipped products, or technical background a parent would recognize.

  • Background-checked and certified in youth safety
  • Roblox Studio and AI-assisted development
  • Add a third credential parents would recognize

The best way to learn how things work is to build them.

Critical Tinkering is a play on critical thinking. Kids don't get better at thinking by being told to. They get better by making decisions, hitting problems, testing solutions, and improving what they made. A game is a good place to practice because it's honest: either it works and it's fun, or it isn't yet.

Two hours a week of creating instead of consuming, with a finished thing at the end that they can show people.

Think critically. Build creatively.

Parent questions

Something else? Email us and you'll get a real reply.

Does my child need coding experience?

No. We start from zero. Students who have coded before will move faster on the scripting weeks, but the design, building, and testing work is new to everyone.

Does my child need to already play Roblox?

It helps but isn't required. Most students arrive as players. The first week is about switching from playing games to thinking about how they're made.

What computer do they need?

A Mac or Windows laptop they can bring each Saturday, made in the last five or six years, with a charger. Roblox Studio does not run on iPads or Chromebooks. We install everything together in the first session.

How is AI used?

As a tool the student directs, never as a substitute for their own thinking. Students learn to prompt an AI for code, inspect what it produces, catch its mistakes, debug the result, and improve it themselves. That judgment is part of the curriculum, not a shortcut around it.

Is this safe?

Instructors are background-checked. During class, students work inside Roblox Studio, the development tool, not the public game. No chat with strangers, no in-game purchases, and no public listing without a parent's say-so. We'll walk you through the account settings we use.

Will my child's game be published?

Every student finishes with a playable project and presents it at the final showcase. Publishing to Roblox is supported where Roblox's account and platform requirements allow, and always with a parent's approval.

How will I know how it's going?

You'll get a short progress update each week with what your child built, what they got stuck on, and what's next. The program ends with a family showcase where students present their finished games.

What happens if the cohort doesn't fill?

If we don't reach a minimum of five students, the cohort won't run and you'll receive a full refund within a few days. You'll hear from us either way at least a week before the first session.

Where in Brooklyn will it be held?

The founding cohort will be held in Downtown Brooklyn. Exact venue will be confirmed before the program begins.

Bring Critical Tinkering to your school

The same guided game-building studio, run as after-school enrichment or an in-school block. Parents welcome to start the conversation on behalf of their school.

Talk to us about a school cohort

Eight seats. Six Saturdays. One game they built themselves.

Reserve a seat

Full refund any time before the first session, no questions asked.

Know a family who'd want this? Send them this page.

Showcase · Saturday December 5