How to tell if Scotty understood youRead the guide
Creator Academy · Lesson 1
Your first game, in four messages
A real session: three vague words in, something playable out — and the two habits that get you there faster.
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Nothing exists until you send your first message, and nothing is built until you tap Build it. In between, Scotty asks one question at a time. A vague opener works — it just spends turns. Saying what the player does, rather than what the game is about, is the biggest single time-saver.
The shelf is optional. The verbs are the point.
Sixteen starting points, each with the shape of its game underneath.
- Platformer
- run · jump · collect
- Flappy
- one tap · glide
- Merge
- combine · combo
- Defense
- lanes · turrets
- Stacker
- drop · balance
Got your own idea? Just type it — the shelf is optional.
- Platformer
Every tile is a pair of verbs. That is the shape of the answer Scotty wants from you: not what your game is about, but what the player does.
- Stacker
Steal the format even if you don't take the tile. One sentence with a verb in it beats three describing the world.
Four messages, start to finish
A real session, opened as unhelpfully as possible — three words: "a game about a cat".
Scotty asks what the cat does
Four options to tap: jump and dodge, solve puzzles, explore and collect, chase or catch prey.
I answer with a situation
A stray cat knocking things off shelves while the owner tries to catch her. Scotty plays it back as a game and asks what the core is.
I correct one thing and name a feeling
Top-down rather than side-on. Chaotic and funny.
Scotty offers to build it
The whole game, agreed, from three vague words. Every question asked was one I could have answered before it was asked.
Watch the status, not the spinner
The line under the name is the fastest read on the screen.
- Waiting
- itching to build
- Asking
- quick question for you
- Working
- thinking it through…
- Ready
- say the word
- Asking
There is a question waiting for you, usually with options you can tap instead of typing.
- Ready
This is the one to wait for. Scotty has everything it needs and the next move is yours.
Two habits worth forming
Does my first message contain a verb?
"A game about a cat" is a subject. "You're a cat knocking things off shelves while someone chases you" is a game — and it skips straight to turn three.
Am I answering the question that was asked?
Scotty asks one at a time. Answer it and volunteer the next detail, and the conversation moves two steps instead of one.
Before you tap build
The build offer arrives as a card with the game's name and a short summary of what will be built. Open the summary once — it is the whole brief in a paragraph, and much cheaper to disagree with there than after.
Next lesson: read the sketchpad, the panel that tells you whether Scotty understood you. Or just start a game — ten minutes is the whole commitment.
Frequently asked questions
No. Nothing exists until you send your first message, so opening the create screen and looking around leaves nothing behind in your profile.
No, the shelf is optional. It's there for when you have no starting point; if you already have an idea, type it straight into the chat instead.
It depends how much you say up front. The session here took four, from three deliberately vague words. Describing what the player does in your first message usually removes a couple of rounds.
The build offer has a "not yet" option, which keeps the conversation going. Nothing is built and nothing is charged until you choose to build.
Yes. A title is suggested as you talk and marked as a suggestion — you can rename it at any point, before or after the game is built.
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