META24 WORKFORCE LAB · GRADED TO THE CORE · PROJECT-BASED · ESPORTS & GAME DEVELOPMENT · THE LAB'S YEAR · MIDDLE SCHOOL · UPPER SCHOOL · GRADE 6–12 · 1 CREDIT · META24 LAB COMPETENCIES
Esports & Game Development · the year
Level Up · Esports & Broadcasting · in Level Up · Esports & Broadcasting
Get better · Build the game · Go live · Run the bracket
This year is laid from the lab’s own calendar — every course inside the lab end to end, then its floors — not written quarter by quarter. The weeks are the lab’s; the quarter windows are the catalog’s.
THE MIX · HOW MUCH OF EACH CORE SUBJECT THIS COURSE CARRIES · IN ORDER
CODING & AISCIENCETECHNOLOGY & TRADESBUSINESS & ENTERPRISEREADING & WRITINGMATHART & DESIGNHISTORY, GEOGRAPHY & HUMANITIES
The squares are a picture of a course — how much of each core subject its own rooms carry, read from the rooms’ text — never a score of a student. Every course in a lab is graded to the core across the board; the squares say which columns it feeds most.
WHAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO DO
- Train like an athlete (VOD, aim, wellness)
- Design a game + go live safely
- Run a real bracket + its economics
AT A GLANCE · 36 WEEKS
Q1 The World · foundations → The World · script — A game design doc
Q2 The World · script → The World · studio — A run tournament
Q3 The World · studio → The World · the world — A game design doc
Q4 The World · the world → The Build · a game by genre — A run tournament
THE COURSES INSIDE THIS LAB · 5
THE ROOMS · 14 · BEHIND LOGIN
Semester 1
WEEKS 1–18 · QUARTERS 1 AND 2Quarter 1 · The World · foundations → The World · script
WEEKS 1–9THE WEEKS · THE ROOMS EACH ONE OPENS
WK 1Account Done RightTHE WORLD · FOUNDATIONS
Before a single part is placed, you set up the safe way — real birthday, consent on file, display name only, and the report flow in your fingers. Play the Safe-or-Sus game first, then we’ll name why.
WK 2Parts & the First Obby
Everything is made of parts. Two checkboxes cause 90% of beginner bugs — play the Part Playground until you can predict what each does, then build your first obby.
WK 3Terrain & Light
Parts make the structure; terrain, materials, and light make it a PLACE. Play the Mood Lighter until you can light a zone’s feeling on purpose — that’s the real skill.
WK 4What Makes a Map FUN
You can place perfect parts and still build something boring. Play the Fair-or-Cheap game, then go DERIVE the rules of fun from three real courses — a rule you found yourself is a rule you own.
WK 5Physics Is a Parabola
Every jump you’ve tuned by feel is a math problem with an exact answer. Play the Jump Arc: drag the two dials and watch the apex and airtime fall straight out of the equation — then size a real jump on purpose.
WK 6First Scripts
A script makes your world DO things. This week you touch real code — place a working script, change a value, break it on purpose, and read the error like a doctor. Play the Print Doctor game to get the diagnosis habit.
WK 7Build to Spec
Anyone builds what they feel like. A pro builds to a SPEC someone else set, checks their own work against it, and proves each requirement with evidence. Play Spec Check, then build a mini-obby to a real spec.
WK 8Publish, Playtest, Defend
The finish line, the real way: publish private, put it in front of three real players, WATCH (don’t defend), find the signal, fix it, re-test, and defend the changes.
WK 9Variables — a Script Changes the WorldTHE WORLD · SCRIPT
Last course you touched scripts. Now you write them — starting with the one idea everything is built on: a variable holds a value, and code can change the world by setting a part’s properties.
THE PROJECT · WHAT THE QUARTER IS FOR
A game design doc
The question. Can you train like an athlete (VOD, aim, wellness)?
The make. A game design doc
The evidence. Handed in through Level Up · Esports & Broadcasting’s own surface and kept in My Work; the Report reads it from there.
Quarter 2 · The World · script → The World · studio
WEEKS 10–18THE WEEKS · THE ROOMS EACH ONE OPENS
WK 10Conditionals — the Keycard DoorTHE WORLD · SCRIPT
A game that never makes a decision is boring. Conditionals are how code chooses — if this, then that. Play the Condition Door until “and” vs “or” is obvious, then build a door that checks a keycard.
WK 11Loops — Do It 100 Times
Never write the same line 100 times — that’s what loops are for. A for-loop can build a whole staircase in four lines. Play “Trace the Loop” to predict exactly what a loop does before you run it.
WK 12Functions & Events
A function is a named action you can reuse; an event is “when something happens, run that action.” Together they’re how every real game is wired. Play “Wire It” to connect triggers to responses.
WK 13Tables & the Leaderboard
One variable holds one value — but a game needs to track many players’ scores at once. That’s a table. Build the classic: a points leaderboard. Play “Look It Up” to read a table like the game does.
WK 14Debugging — the Print Doctor
Every script breaks — a lot. The difference between a beginner and a developer isn’t fewer bugs; it’s knowing how to HUNT them. This week you become the Print Doctor. Play the game, then debug a broken script for real.
WK 15Client, Server & the Shop
Here’s the idea that separates a hobby scripter from a real one: the SERVER decides what’s real, not the player’s device. Build a shop the safe way — where the server, not an exploiter, grants the item.
WK 16The Scripted Mini-Game
Everything comes together: build a small game with ONE mechanic that’s yours — then walk METTIE through your own code and explain WHY each piece is there. Understanding your code is the real proof.
WK 17The Roblox EconomyTHE WORLD · STUDIO
Your earnings in our world are real. This week you learn the actual economy — Robux, what you can sell, and the real math of turning it into dollars. Play with the DevEx Calculator and see the honest numbers.
WK 18Pricing & Ethics
You can make more money in the short term by manipulating players — and it’s banned here, for real. This week you learn to NAME dark patterns so you can refuse to build them. Play the Dark Pattern Detector.
THE PROJECT · WHAT THE QUARTER IS FOR
A run tournament
The question. Can you design a game + go live safely?
The make. A run tournament
The evidence. Handed in through Level Up · Esports & Broadcasting’s own surface and kept in My Work; the Report reads it from there.
Semester 2
WEEKS 19–36 · QUARTERS 3 AND 4Quarter 3 · The World · studio → The World · the world
WEEKS 19–27 · IN THIS OFFERINGTHE WEEKS · THE ROOMS EACH ONE OPENS
WK 19Read the NumbersTHE WORLD · STUDIO
Running a live game means reading its real numbers — but numbers can fool you. This week you learn the few metrics that matter and the discipline of reading them honestly. Play “Read the Dashboard.”
WK 20Run a Live Event
A live game lives or dies on reasons to return — and an event is the biggest one. This week you design, promote, and RUN a real event, then review how it went. Play the event-design game.
WK 21Run the Bracket
A tournament is an event with stakes — and running one well is a real skill: fair brackets, smart seeding, live casting, and prizes that don’t break the bank. This week you run the bracket. Play the seeding game.
WK 22Community & Cadence
A game with a community you belong to keeps players for years — but for kids, community has to be built SAFELY. This week is comms, cadence, and the moderation that makes a community healthy. Play the comms-safety game.
WK 23The Pitch
An idea isn’t a plan until you can PITCH it — with numbers. This week you propose a monetized feature and back it with projected math, the way a real developer asks for a green light. Do the math, then defend the pitch.
WK 24The Revenue Experiment
The finale: not a pitch, a REAL test. You ship one small monetized thing, watch the actual numbers, and present the real P&L — wired to your venture. This is where all four courses become a business you ran.
WK 25World ArchitectureTHE WORLD · THE WORLD
Building one obby is one thing; building a campus other people also build is another. This week is how a big world is organized so a whole crew can work in it without stepping on each other.
WK 26The Zone Spec
You don’t build whatever you feel like — you take a TICKET off the build board with a written spec, and every zone ticket has the same non-negotiables baked in. Play Spec or Scope-Creep to learn the line.
WK 27Team Build
A World zone is built by a TEAM — which means the hardest part often isn’t the building, it’s the working-together. This week is how a crew builds one thing without chaos. Play the collaboration game.
THE PROJECT · WHAT THE QUARTER IS FOR
A game design doc
The question. Can you run a real bracket + its economics?
The make. A game design doc
The evidence. Handed in through Level Up · Esports & Broadcasting’s own surface and kept in My Work; the Report reads it from there.
Quarter 4 · The World · the world → The Build · a game by genre
WEEKS 28–36 · IN THIS OFFERINGTHE WEEKS · THE ROOMS EACH ONE OPENS
WK 28Sprint I — Greybox FirstTHE WORLD · THE WORLD
The rookie move is to detail one gorgeous corner. The pro move is to GREYBOX — block out the whole zone in plain gray parts first, playtest the layout, and only THEN make it pretty.
WK 29The Playtest-Gate
This is the law of the whole lane: nothing merges into the live World until it survives a hostile 10-kid playtest. This week you run one for real, log it, and learn to treat a brutal playtest as a gift.
WK 30Sprint II — Detail to the World
The layout passed the gate — NOW you beautify it, but not any way you like. You detail it to fit the World’s shared look, and you add detail that reads clearly instead of cluttering. Play “Fits the World?”
WK 31Wire the Signature
A zone isn’t just a pretty room — it has ONE signature interactive that makes it worth visiting (the welding bead-run, the breathing sync, the store shelf).
WK 32Sprint III — Bug Bash
The zone is built and detailed — now you POLISH it on purpose. A bug bash is the team hunting problems before the gate does. Play the triage game, then bash your own zone.
WK 33Accessibility & Performance
The World is for every kid — including the one on the oldest device and the one who can’t tell red from green. This week is the accessibility + performance pass that no zone skips.
WK 34Ship It
The finish line the real way: your zone passes the gates, merges into the live World, and your crew’s display names go up in the Credits Hall. Then you defend the whole journey — because shipping is a skill too.
WK 35PlatformerTHE BUILD · A GAME BY GENRE
Run, jump, reach — game feel is everything.
WK 36Shooter
Aim, fire, feedback — the loop of tension + release.
THE PROJECT · WHAT THE QUARTER IS FOR
A run tournament
The question. Can you train like an athlete (VOD, aim, wellness)?
The make. A run tournament
The evidence. Handed in through Level Up · Esports & Broadcasting’s own surface and kept in My Work; the Report reads it from there.
A course is a quarter, a semester or a year — nine, eighteen or thirty-six weeks — a project a quarter. Offered as the year, a semester or a quarter, it is the same course seen through a window. A lab is a family: its year, each of its tracks as a course, and its rooms. The evidence is what a student hands in through the room; the Report reads it from there. Nothing in the catalog is a grade.
THE PASS · THIS COURSE AND EVERY OTHER ONE
One pass includes Esports & Game Development · the year and every course in the catalog. Pick a pass, or enter a school code; checkout stays on this page.