From Lurker to Challenger: My Wild Ride Through Tim Slade’s eLearning Challenge

After years of lurking in Tim Slade’s eLearning community—watching from the sidelines, admiring the creativity, and always telling myself “next time, I’ll join”—I finally did it. I dove into one of his monthly challenges. And this one? It was about beer. 🍺 Naturally, my brain went straight to Homer Simpson and his beer-loving antics. That image stuck—and it ended up setting the tone for everything I created.

Tossing Aside the Corporate Hat

This challenge gave me something I didn’t realize I was craving: creative freedom. No corporate tone to match. No stakeholders to please. No mandatory templates. I took off my usual instructional designer hat and let my inner chaos designer take the lead. And from that chaos came a wild mix of:

🍣 Diner Dash-inspired gameplay – quick-paced interactions, timed responses, and that frantic “just one more customer” energy
🐭 Pokemon-style UI – clean, character-focused, and designed for discovery
👨‍🦲 Simpsons art style – bold lines, yellow characters, and pure nostalgia

Yes, it was weird.
Yes, it was a mash-up.
And YES—it was ridiculously fun to build.

Bringing Baillies Brewery to Life

The course I built was set inside Baillies Brewery, a fictional craft beer spot welcoming new beertenders. Learners played as a newly hired staff member, guided by a senior beertender (aka the MKO of the game). The goal? Get to know the beer menu, consult with customers, and pour the right pint.

To build it, I used Articulate Storyline, dove into Storyline’s JavaScript API, and even added GSAP animations for that extra layer of polish. I wanted the course to feel like a game, not a training module.

But the real MVPs? The AI tools I used to create my visual assets.

AI = Chaos + Comedy + Creativity

Using ChatGPT and image generators, I created the characters, the taproom environment, and other assets. But let me tell you—after dozens of prompts, I swear ChatGPT started getting tired of me. 😅

Every now and then it would throw back something hilariously cursed, and I’d be crying-laughing during late-night development. Those moments made the whole process feel even more alive.

Final Thoughts (and a Surprise Twist)

This challenge reminded me why I fell in love with learning design in the first place: not for the templates, not for the checklists—but for the chance to tell stories, build worlds, and make people smile while they learn.

And fun fact? I don’t even drink beer. Never have. But after this, I absolutely went out to find a local brewery and ordered my first sour—because I had to try what I spent weeks obsessing over.

So cheers to that. 🍻