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"Split Decision"
Episode 7 ・ Recess Galaxy
Get Ready!
Part 1
Last time on
Star Stuff!
We traveled to Video Game Galaxy, where Wolf revealed his plan — by live streaming 24/7, he'd make everyone his fan!
LUZ
Thankfully, we met Brick! As a popular MyBlox creator,
he had a great idea on how to stop Wolf...
JAZMIN
We set up our own live stream! People were really interested to see us solve puzzles and restore stars!
BRICK
Yes! During our stream, we even learned about a new code block called "jump to" — it lets us repeat code over and over!
EMILIO
jump to
In the end, everyone was excited to see what new star we'd make — we recreated one of the designs sent through MyBlox!
LUZ
With no one watching him anymore,
Wolf gave up and shut down his stream.
VALERIA
WOLF IS
OFFLINE )':
After Brick joined us, we headed to the next station.
But the situation here is more chaotic than I thought...
VALERIA
Our story continues...
Valeria, watch out!
BRICK
—Wha?! A soccer ball?
VALERIA
Sorry! Can you kick that back?
STAR-MAKER A
Hey! You almost hit me!!
VALERIA
My bad, my bad! Wait a second...you're those star-makers from
the live stream! The ones fighting back against Wolf!
STAR-MAKER A
What?! Hey, that gives your side an unfair advantage!
STAR-MAKER B
Advantage...? In what?
LUZ
About that...we're pretty split here at Recess Galaxy.
Half of us support you all, and think we should try making our own stars...
STAR-MAKER A
And half of us support Wolf! He's doing all the work for us,
while we get to sit back and watch! It's great!
STAR-MAKER B
Urgh, you...! As you can see, neither side is backing down, so we can't decide what to do. Can you all convince the Wolf fans they're wrong?
STAR-MAKER A
No fair! If they're here, then we should get to call over Cordy and Lem!
Maybe they can make you see that you're wrong!
STAR-MAKER B
Um...can we all just talk it out...? No?
LUZ
Psst! This won't end any time soon...follow me!
ED?
Phew...thanks for helping us escape, Ed. We keep running into each other, huh?
LUZ
Hm? We've never met before! But you did know my name...
maybe you met my triplets!
ED
This again? You're definitely hiding something...anyways, not important right now. What should we do about the situation here?
VALERIA
Honestly, I recommend you leave as soon as possible. Cordy and Lem have been on the move again, so they'll show up here soon enough.
ED
Hm...yeah, I agree. Let's restore the stars quickly, then get out of here.
VALERIA
What? I wouldn't expect that from you, Valeria...
I'd rather stay and try to settle the arguing here.
LUZ
I agree with Luz! I wanna help the people who support us —
let's try to convince the Wolf fans to change their minds!
BRICK
Hm...I'd rather take the safer route. If we get caught by Cordy and Lem,
we won't be able to help anyone!
EMILIO
...Um! I actually agree with Luz and Brick. This reminds me of the arguing at Garden Galaxy, so...I don't want to leave them behind!
JAZMIN
Looks like we're split...you really don't want to stay, Valeria?
LUZ
I just don't want to see any of you get hurt.
But we should get moving soon, so how about we do this...
VALERIA
We'll split up into two teams to restore the stars.
If you three can think of a good plan to help this station, we'll do it your way.
VALERIA
...But if you don't come up with a plan, we'll leave immediately.
VALERIA
...Fine. Jazmin and Brick, let's do this! Star Transformer, make me a star!
LUZ
Okay, here we go!! I bet we can think of a plan while solving these puzzles! Right Jaz?
BRICK
R-right! I see this puzzle has a Laser and a rogue Grabber. Let's start by reading the rogue bot's code!
JAZMIN
Hm...this code has a loop, but it looks a little different.
Which lines are repeating, exactly?
LUZ
Oh, you're right...if we read the code closely,
I think we can figure it out!
JAZMIN
Explore!
Part 2
Think about
this question while you play...
Which lines of code is
the Grabber repeating?
Be ready to vote then discuss
how you know after time is up!
Lines 1 – 2
4
1
Lines 1 – 2
2
1
Lines 1 – 2
4
3
1.
2.
3.
Play!
Vote before Discussing
Polling...
Responses
Which lines of code is the Grabber repeating?
3
2
1
Lines 1 – 2
4
1
Lines 1 – 2
2
1
Lines 1 – 2
4
3
1
2
3
4
Which lines of code is the Grabber repeating?
Let's Pair Share!
1
2
3
4
3
2
1
Lines 1 – 2
4
1
Lines 1 – 2
2
1
Lines 1 – 2
4
3
Which lines of code is the Grabber repeating?
Let's Pair Share!
1
2
3
4
3
2
1
Lines 1 – 2
4
1
Lines 1 – 2
2
1
Lines 1 – 2
4
3
Learn!
Part 3
I see. Everything wrapped between the arrow and the
"jump to" block repeats. So only lines 3 – 4 are repeating!
JAZMIN
jump to
E
3
4
Got it, so lines 1 – 2 only happen once.
I didn't know you could write code like that.
LUZ
E
1
2
Yes! You can have code outside of a loop as long as it's before the loop.
JAZMIN
E
Since a "jump to" loop repeats forever,
any code that comes after the loop would never run!
JAZMIN
jump to
E
Makes sense! So after the first 2 lines of code, the Grabber here will "pick up at B" and "drop at D" forever?
BRICK
B
pick up at
D
drop at
E
Yep. Now that we've read the code, let's look at how all the objects in this puzzle are connected.
LUZ
E
To start, I see that counter D will power the bridge
to the Starpad. It needs 3 cubes to turn on.
LUZ
E
Hey, there's 3 cubes right there on the launcher!
We can power that on by hitting target E.
BRICK
E
I'm guessing the cubes would get launched up to position B!
JAZMIN
E
There's also the bridge next to the Grabber...
we can power that on with target F.
JAZMIN
E
Finally, there's button A — it's not connected to anything,
so not sure how we'll use that yet.
LUZ
E
That's everything — let's start coding! I notice the Laser has
a line limit of 4, so we might need to use a loop.
JAZMIN
E
Let's solve puzzles the same way as last time! Code the bot's sequence while asking ourselves: When do we repeat?
BrICK
Sounds good. In that case, what's the first thing
the Laser should do?
LUZ
Well, the Grabber's first line is waiting for target F...
JAZMIN
E
1
In other words, it's waiting for that bridge to turn on.
JAZMIN
E
Then as the first step, let's make the Laser turn towards F.
I'll add a turn clockwise.
LUZ
E
F
What's next?
LUZ
What if we make the Laser turn again, to power target E?
BRICK
E
Hmm...but that might turn off the bridge before
the Grabber's done crossing it.
JAZMIN
True. That means we need the Laser to "wait for" something...but what?
LUZ
wait for
...Oh, I got it! Looking at the Grabber's code, the first thing
it does after waiting is go to button A.
BRICK
E
2
...That's on the other side of the bridge! So once button A
is pressed, the Laser can turn away safely!
BRICK
E
Makes sense. I'll code the Laser to "wait for A" then.
LUZ
wait for
A
Now we can make the Laser turn again, like Brick suggested earlier. We need to hit target E to power the launcher...
LUZ
E
So I'll add another turn clockwise.
Then, I'll run the code to check our progress.
LUZ
Great, we got one cube in the counter! But we're almost at
the line limit...is it time for us to repeat?
JAZMIN
Aw yeah, it's looping time! If we make all the code repeat,
the Laser should launch all 3 cubes eventually!
BRICK
Right! I'll add the "jump to" block...
LUZ
jump to
...Then I'll move the arrow to make everything repeat!
Now let's run it and see what happens.
LUZ
Hm...that didn't totally work. But no worries, we can debug using the 4 steps Emilio taught us!
JAZMIN
Good idea. First, we have to understand the bug.
What happened?
LUZ
Problem-Solving Steps
1. Understand the problem
We launched the first cube...
but then our Laser stopped moving!
BRICK
Right. And why is that a problem?
LUZ
If our Laser stops there, the Grabber doesn't have enough cubes to power the counter!
BRICK
Okay, next step: let's plan a solution. What do we want to happen instead? How can we do that?
LUZ
Problem-Solving Steps
2. Plan a solution
We want the Laser to keep turning and launch all the cubes. As for how to do that...
JAZMIN
I'm not sure. I thought repeating everything would solve that.
JAZMIN
Hm...maybe we actually shouldn't repeat everything! You know, like how the Grabber only repeats pick up and drop!
BRICK
You might be on to something. What code needs to repeat? Or, what code doesn't need to repeat? Let's think.
LUZ
What code doesn't need to repeat?
Think independently before starting poll
Poll Preview
1
2
3
Vote!
Polling...
Responses
3
2
1
Line 3
Lines 1 – 2
Line 1
What code doesn't need to repeat?
1
1
1
2
3
1
2
3
Vote!
Polling...
Responses
3
2
1
What code doesn't need to repeat?
3
2
1
Line 3
Lines 1 – 2
Line 1
1
1
1
2
3
1
2
3
I see the problem. Look at where the Laser stops when we run the code — on line 2, "wait for A" .
LUZ
A
wait for
2
Oh! It's stuck since the Grabber only goes to button A once.
So the Laser only needs to "wait for A" once as well!
JAZMIN
A
wait for
2
The first turn doesn't need to repeat either — it's only there to make sure the Laser hits the target it needs to wait on.
LUZ
1
Plus, looping one turn makes a Laser spin forever. So we can launch all the cubes just by looping the turn on line 3!
LUZ
3
So lines 1 – 2 don't need to repeat, got it! That means the arrow block can go below both of those lines!
BRICK
1
2
Yep. I'll move it below "wait for A" .
Then we can try our solution and see if it works.
LUZ
A
wait for
Awesome!! After making sure the Grabber crossed the bridge, the Laser turns forever!
BRICK
All 3 cubes got launched, and the Grabber moved them all to the counter. That turned on the bridge to the Starpad!
JAZMIN
We did it! Good work team!
LUZ
Reflecting on that bug we just fixed...Luz, I think the questions you asked earlier were super helpful!
JAZMIN
"What code needs to repeat? What code doesn't need to repeat?" Let's keep those questions in mind!
JAZMIN
Sounds good. Now we know that if a line of code only needs to happen once, it should go before the loop.
LUZ
Yeah! By the way, let's share ideas for how we could
settle the arguing at this station!
BRICK
Oh, right. How could we try to convince
the Wolf supporters to change their minds?
LUZ
Hmm...maybe relate to their interests somehow?
JAZMIN
...Ooh, that just gave me an idea. Let's talk as we keep going.
LUZ
Just you wait, Valeria...this time, I'll be the one to say,
"I told you so!"
LUZ (THINKING)
Keep Going!
Part 4
Keep this in mind as you play...
wait for
A
jump to
turn
turn
In today's puzzles, some code will need to go before the loop.
Ask yourself:
What code needs to repeat?
What code doesn't need to repeat?
Play!
Check In!
Part 5
Alright, the team's back together! Since we're at Recess Galaxy, there's only one way to settle this argument...
BRICK
A soccer match!! Whoever wins gets to decide how the station moves forward!
BRICK
That's the plan your group came up with?
I gotta say, it's not what I was expecting...
VALERIA
After all, isn't it possible that the Wolf fans will win?
VALERIA
I guess it is...but I feel like things will work out somehow.
Plus, we have Ed on our side, don't we?
LUZ
Teehee! I'll bring us the victory, no worries!
ED
Heh...well, you got me there. Alright, I like this plan. Let's do it!
VALERIA
I'm game! We're gonna win!
STAR-MAKER A
Nuh uh! The Wolf supporters will take you down!
STAR-MAKER B
Listen up, everyone! I'll be referee, so no foul play!
EMILIO
W
H
I
S
T
L
E
!
!
!
H
A
H
!
!
H
A
Y
!
!
A while later...
Gooooal! And that's another point for our side, oh yeah!!
BRICK
...And the match is over! Sorry Wolf fans, but we win!
EMILIO
Ugh...when did you all get so good at soccer...
STAR-MAKER B
Well...we actually practice and play together! Meanwhile, your team's
been sitting around watching the bots make Wolf stars!
STAR-MAKER A
Fair point....okay, that's it!
We're gonna get better at soccer AND star-making than you!
STAR-MAKER B
Haha...finally, I've been waiting for you to get competitive again! You're on!
STAR-MAKER A
...Looks like your plan worked out, one way or another.
VALERIA
Yes, I'm glad they're getting along!
Should we all try making a new star together?
JAZMIN
Yeah!
STAR-MAKERS
Woah, we made a bubble wand star!
Hope that inspires more people to play and have fun together!
LUZ
We hope so too. Sorry for being rude to you all earlier...
and thanks for reminding us about why we love recess!
STAR-MAKER B
You're welcome! We have to go now, but good luck in all your star-making!
LUZ
I can tell you want to say something, Luz...just go ahead and say it.
VALERIA
Okay, just this once...I told you so!
LUZ
Yeah yeah, I admit I was wrong for wanting to leave them like that.
I just can't help but want to protect you and everyone else.
VALERIA
Hey! You can rely on us too, Valeria!
BRICK
Right...oh, we're already at the next station.
VALERIA
Well well well. I see you were able to restore peace at the last galaxy.
???
But you were too slow. We followed you here...
CORDY
And this time, we won't let you get away!
LEM
Until
next
time...