Chương 27: Book 2 - Chapter 4 C

I told Grandma where I was going, but she insisted I had to have someone go with me, so she came too.

"These 3D images are so cool," Mike said, as Jeff held one up and tried to see what everyone else was seeing. It took a bit, but eventually even Jeff saw the images. I gave them copies of the software, documentation and user manuals. Just as we were finishing up, an assistant popped her head in and told Mike he had a call. He came back with a big grin on his face.

"That was the software company in Dallas. They'd like you to visit, and bring all your software with you."

"Excellent. I'll be down there in a couple of days. Do you have their phone number?"

"Just why are you going to Dallas?" Grandma asked. I gave her a small smile.

"It's the chess championship tournament."

"Will you win?"

"Of course!" I told Grandma.

"Good. Come home with the trophy," she said. Mike had been listening and had an odd look in his eyes as he handed me the phone number. I just gave him my best 'perfect angel' smile. As I left, I noticed one of the computers had a game of Civilization going, so I asked, "Playing games during work?"

"It's product testing!" he said, as believably as he could. Grandma and I laughed all the way to the elevator. On the last Friday in July, I had my weekly meeting with Grandpa. I went over my plans for my trip to Texas. I made sure Grandpa knew what stocks to buy and sell while I was gone and gave him some advice on closing the purchase of the hotel management and training company. He was leaving the next day to meet with them over the weekend.

"Chat up the guy next to you on the plane. He's the future CEO of your hotel management division," I told him.

"How do I just chat him up?" he asked.

"Just tell him about where you are going and exchange business cards. He'll call you later and you can go from there."

"I don't have business cards!" he said. I smiled and set a box on his desk. He opened it up and pulled out a nice quality card. Reading it aloud he said, "Joseph Carpenter, Chairman of the Board, Carpenter LLC, Tulsa, Oklahoma." Then he asked, "What phone number is this?"

"That's the number that's being installed by the phone company next week," I told him. He started to ask 'How!?' but stopped himself in time.

"Thank you, John. I retired this year, you know. I was wondering how I was going to keep busy. I like golf at the club in California but I couldn't see that being all my retirement life was going to be."

"Love you too, Grandpa. Now, any more new business?" I asked.

"I've been thinking about those tile 3D murals of yours. They are going to be very expensive. Will one little mistake by the tile installer ruin the effect?"

"That's exactly the problem," I said, leaning back.

"One misplaced tile, and the 3D image breaks. The cost for a dozen laborers to manually place hundreds of thousands of tiny tiles accurately is insane. That's why I'm working on the 'plan' I mentioned."

"Which is?"

"It's a machine. I'm going to work with a mechanical engineer at the University to build a tile printer." Grandpa raised an eyebrow.

"A printer? For tiles? How does that even work?"

"It doesn't print ink. It prints tiles," I clarified.

"Think of the huge grayscale printouts I gave you for the mural. The machine is loaded with all the different colored tiles. It uses the digital file to read the pattern, selects the correct color for a specific point, and then automatically glues that single tile onto a large, flexible screen."

"So it builds the mural on a flexible backing, in pieces?"

"Exactly. The machine ensures the alignment is mathematically perfect. It creates the mural in massive, pre-tiled chunks. Instead of the installer setting tiles one-by-one, they just hang a four-foot section of the screen, and boom—it's done. Much cheaper, much faster, and perfectly accurate." If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"That is... incredibly clever. It solves all the labor and error issues in one go."

"And," I added, "Once it's patented we can sell the machines for other uses too."

"Good, because I've been thinking about the plan to do them in all the elevator lobbies. I'd like to do them all over the hotel. They can be on the floors too."

"As long as I get credit in the hotel brochure as the artist."

"Deal," he said.

"Now show me this game that Beth said has the law office playing computer games during working hours." Grandpa played for two hours before Grandma made him go to bed so I could go to bed. Matt drove everyone to the Airport for Grandpa's big trip. On the way he turned from the front passenger seat.

"Is that game an education game or not?" he asked.

"Did you know what a phalanx or trireme was before last night?" I asked.

"Not really," he answered.

"It's educational to a point. But really it's a class of games called simulation. It breaks down something into bits that can become a game. While you can turn most learning exercises into a game, which is called 'Gamification,' a simulation is designed to let people play with things that grow and change over time, but according to set rules. It creates a lot of replayability as random chance changes what happens each time."

"Your typing game is educational," Grandma added from beside me.

"Well let me know how your talks with the software company go. That game of yours makes me want to get a computer of my own," Grandpa said.

"Just wait until I make a solitaire game. Dad will sit and play all night," I told him. We said goodbye at the airport to both Grandparents. Matt and I headed out for pizza.

"Are you going to be okay living in the hotel all by yourself?" Matt asked as we waited for our order.

"It's just for a few days. We won't starve to death. I'll have you get take out each night for dinner, your pick," I offered.

"Good choice. Cooking isn't a skill I picked up in the Marines, but anybody can make cereal or a sandwich," he said with a chuckle.

"So, how's Alphabet Invasion going? Still on Easy Mode?" Matt grinned and straightened up in his seat.

"Are you kidding? I finished Easy Mode this morning. I'm hitting Intermediate now. That thing works! I tested myself and I'm pushing twenty-five words per minute."

"Twenty-five? That's incredible," I said.

"See? Turning a chore into a game works."

"It does. It got me thinking about what you said in the car—about simulation and 'Gamification.' Could you do that for other school stuff? Like, could you make a math game?"

"Absolutely," I replied, grabbing a napkin and sketching a small maze.

"Imagine a game where a little character has to run through a maze, and the only way out is to eat the correct answer."

"Like what?"

"Say you're on a level teaching multiplication. You've got four doors, each with an answer: '48,' '56,' '64,' and '72.' A problem flashes up—'8 times 8.' The character has to run to the '64' door before the clock runs out." Matt pointed to a section of the maze.

"What if there were little enemies? Like, if you take too long or hit the wrong answer, a monster chases you. That's the part that gets the heart pounding when you play Pac-Man."

"Perfect. Or maybe you have to divide the path into two equal portions before you can cross it—that teaches division visually. We could call it Math Maze or something simple." We spent the rest of the time sketching out ideas. Matt was thrilled with the concept of making math fun. On the way home we swung by the computer store.

"Mr Cook, perfect timing. Your second floppy drive has arrived!"

"Wonderful Mr Gordon," I said, looking around to see if there was anything new.

"Hey is that the new three point five drive for the Apple?"

"It is! Would you like that too?"

"How much is it?" I asked.

"The drive is the same price as the Mac external drive. Unfortunately you have to buy and install a controller card to make it work. I can give you a deal for the whole bundle. You save money if you can install it yourself."

"Just take my money, Mr Gordon," I told him, reaching into my pocket for my wallet. He laughed and rang up the second purchase. The first drive had been paid for when I ordered it. I walked out of the store happily carrying three boxes. Matt held the door open.

"Are your parents going to be upset that you just spent an extra six hundred and twenty five dollars on top of the four hundred ninety five you already spent?"

"I won't tell them if you won't. Don't worry, our take out budget is still back at the hotel," I said with a big grin. That night, back in my room, I set the napkin sketches aside and began coding the teaching software for both the Apple and the Macintosh simultaneously. The Mac version required building a whole new graphic engine to handle the higher resolution. That only took a few hours as the machine was built for it from the ground up.

Getting the graphics engine for the Apple //e to handle the animation smoothly took two continuous days of drawing bitmaps, writing software and optimizing the code. By the evening of the second of August, it was finally done, and I went straight to Matt's room.

"Time for product testing, Matt." With that done and Matt busy playing games, I took a day off from programming and spent the day with Dad. He had finally arrived late on August 1st. Today he was working with the foreman to plan out the utilities for the hotel. I made sure he knew that I needed some serious electrical power in my lab. Then when he was most distracted I changed the subject.

"Dad, I need a ride to the airport tomorrow."

"I saw Beth and Joe, they got back days ago. Nobody needs to pick anyone up at the airport."

"No, Matt and I need a ride to the airport. I'm signed up to play in the Chess tournament there. If we drive ourselves, we'll have to pay for long term parking, and the hotel will be short a van."

"Just have your Grandpa drive you," he said distractedly.

"Okay, I'll tell him. See you when I get back."

"Okay, good luck," he said as I skipped out of the room. Poor Dad. He had no idea what was coming.