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Diner layout sprint

I spent part of an afternoon directing a diner instead of building one. I marked up screenshots. HAMAR, a Grok-powered Unreal agent I direct, built every change.

  • 7rounds of markup, in under an hour
  • 71 minfor the whole sprint, cleanup included
  • 280meshes audited at the end, 18 strays hidden
  • 0deleted. Every stage has its own backup.

Before and after

Entry aisle after round 1.
Entry aisle after round 7 and cleanup.
Round 1Round 7 + cleanup
Entry aisle. Drag to compare.
Top-down floor plan after round 1.
Top-down floor plan after round 7 and cleanup.
Round 1Round 7 + cleanup
Top-down. Same camera, same diner, seven rounds apart.

The rounds

My notes, HAMAR's builds

Each round started with my markup on the last build. These are my notes as I wrote them, typos included.

  1. Top-down of round 1 with three red pins: entry room and one coat rack, too many stools, wrap the counter into the nook.
    Round 1 → 2

    Entrances too inviting, stools too uniform

    My notes:

    “Entrances too large and inviting.”

    “Too many stools and way too uniform.”

    “Need a little more entry way room and only 1 coat rack.”

    HAMAR built: Doors narrowed to about 36 inches and recessed. Stools cut from 13 to 7 and varied, plus 2 in the nook. One coat rack.

  2. Top-down of round 2 with a red circle around the end booth and the note to cut it.
    Round 2 → 3

    Cut to 4 booths

    My notes:

    “Cutt this booth we only need 4 booths and then bring in the walls of the entrance to read properly.”

    HAMAR built: One booth cut, leaving 4. A trial wall went in at the entrance.

  3. Top-down of round 3 with red pins on the counter, a future props spot, and the entry wall.
    Round 3 → 4

    Kill the wall

    My notes:

    “No wall obscuring the vision from the entrance.”

    “Extend counter a bit to fill in the dead space … we do not want to change the size of the window.”

    HAMAR built: The entry wall came out. Counter extended about 1.5 m. Windows left alone.

  4. Top-down of round 4 with four red pins: counter length, stool spacing, kitchen, jukebox.
    Round 4 → 5

    Pull the counter back 60 cm

    My notes:

    “counter a little too long, go ahead and pull it back a bit.”

    “Plan and build a fully functional kitchen using the space we have with the current props we have.”

    HAMAR built: Counter pulled back 60 cm. Stools redistributed, uneven but no big gaps. A working kitchen line built from props already in the level. Jukebox moved toward the window.

  5. Round 6

    Jukebox back on the wall

    HAMAR built: The jukebox went back flush on the west wall, between the restroom door and Booth A.

  6. Entry-aisle view of round 6 with a red pin by the jukebox and a note about dead space next to the plant.
    Round 6 → 7

    Dead space by the jukebox

    My notes:

    “Use this frame as ref … too much dead space between the plant and the jukebox.”

    HAMAR built: Jukebox slid 40 cm toward the booths, with the fern tucked in beside it. This became the layout lock candidate.

Top-down comparison: round 1 on the left, round 7 plus cleanup on the right.
Cleanup pass

280 meshes audited. Nothing deleted.

After the layout lock candidate, HAMAR audited 280 meshes. It hid 18 strays, like a crate pile in the nook, floating trim, a rail across the door, and a sign covering the door glass. It moved or snapped 6 more. It deleted nothing.

Last fix: the EXIT sign went flush above the door, and the player start moved about 70 cm inside the entrance.

Honest status

Far from playable. Built fast.

This diner is a layout testbed. There's no gameplay and nothing to ship. My last pin on the board says “Future densify pass,” and that's where it sits.

What surprised me is how my job changed. When trying an idea costs a few minutes, I try a lot more of them, and I spend my time on the part that's mine: does this place feel lived-in?

Directed by Paul. Built by HAMAR.

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Still from the Short: on-screen text reads 'I gave an AI 7 rounds of notes on my diner.' over the diner interior.
The ShortA 14-second cut of this sprint. On its way to YouTube @Sagnamenn.