GDG Coding Jams
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Track 02

Avatar Studio

Photo (you OR your pet) + pick a style → one stylized avatar.

✅ Drop-in friendly2-hour jamShips in 45 min
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The demo

What it looks like when it’s working

In the room · 45 minutes

What you’ll build

Upload a photo — your face OR your pet's face. Pick from four preset styles (e.g. Pixar, anime). AI returns one stylized avatar.

The moment it clicks

My cat looks like a Pixar character.

Things to think about

While you build

  • Your input rules are the design — faces only? full body? pets too? Pick one rule and stick to it. It shapes every prompt you write.
  • One avatar at a time. Bulk generation, animations, multiple sizes — all polished version.
  • Assume people will share these — your output is the marketing. Pick styles that screenshot well.
The 2-hour Jam rhythm

How the night flows

Every Coding Jam follows the same five-phase shape. Talking is short, building is long.

  1. 0:00 – 0:15
    Intro

    Grab a name tag and a slice, say hello to the instructor, and meet the people either side of you — you'll be asking them things later, so it pays to know their names now. Low pressure, high creativity, ship something messy. Then a quick word on what the room is building tonight, and you're off.

  2. 0:15 – 0:30
    Credits & setup

    The instructor shares the Google Cloud credits with the room. Everyone gets their environment ready — whichever tool they brought. Nobody should be installing anything once the build starts.

  3. 0:30 – 1:35
    Build

    Heads down, and enjoy it — this is the part everyone came for. The agent does the typing; you decide what it's making. Ask the room when you get stuck; someone two seats away hit the same wall ten minutes ago. Want more structure? The codelab walks the spec-driven route — Setup → Plan → Review → Build → API → Verify — but nobody has to follow it.

  4. 1:35 – 2:00
    Share & submit

    Show the room what you made — two minutes, screen-shared from your seat. Half-finished is welcome; the wobbly ones are usually the most interesting. Say what surprised you along the way, and cheer for everyone else while you're at it. Then submit your build before you leave. This is the one thing not to skip — it's what puts your name and your chapter on the showcase, and it takes about two minutes.

Polished version pulls in

Where to take it after the jam

The 45-minute build is the win in the room. These are the ideas you can pull in over the next week — your homework isn’t homework, it’s the polished version.

  • Generate multiple avatars at once
  • Animated avatars (subtle motion)
  • Full character lore generator (name + backstory)
  • Social media format presets (Twitter PFP, Discord, LinkedIn)
  • User-defined style prompts
If you get stuck

Open one of these in the starter — safety nets, not requirements.

  • context/image-gen-stylization.md
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All independent — start anywhere.

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