Game 1 Unit 6 of 7 1 hr learning time

The Title

A title screen names the program and frames the experience — it stops being a script and starts being a thing.

86% of Story Builder

The program works. But it has no name. It starts with a question, not an introduction.

  10 BORDER 0: PAPER 0: INK 7: CLS
  30 PRINT AT 3, 6; BRIGHT 1; "*** STORY BUILDER ***"
  40 PRINT
  50 INPUT "What is your name? "; n$
  60 INPUT "Name an adjective: "; a$
  70 INPUT "Name an animal: "; b$
  80 INPUT "Name a place: "; p$
  90 INPUT "Name a food: "; f$
 100 CLS
 130 PRINT "Once upon a time, "; n$
 140 PRINT "found a "; a$; " "; b$
 150 PRINT "hiding in "; p$; "."
 160 PRINT
 170 PRINT "They fed it "; f$
 180 PRINT "and it followed them home."
 190 PRINT
 200 PRINT "The end."

Two new lines drop into the gap we left back in unit 1: 30 PRINT AT 3, 6; BRIGHT 1; "*** STORY BUILDER ***" and 40 PRINT. Nothing else moves — that is what the reserved space was for. AT 3, 6 places the title near the top of the screen and BRIGHT 1 makes it stand out; the blank line on 40 keeps a little space beneath it.

Run it. The screen clears, shows *** STORY BUILDER ***, then asks for your name. The title stays visible while you answer questions. After the last question, line 100 clears it all away for the story reveal.

The Spectrum title screen reading STORY BUILDER above the first question
The program announces itself before it asks anything.

Why a title matters

A title turns "a program that does something" into "a thing with a name." It is the difference between a script and a product. When you show this to someone, the first thing they see is the name — not a question. That framing matters. It says "this is something I made" before it says "type your name."

The asterisks are decoration. They frame the title and make it look like a header. You could use dashes, equals signs, or nothing at all. The point is: the program announces itself.