Finished reading: Game Design Deep Dive: Platformers by Joshua Bycer š
Finished reading: Game Design Deep Dive: Platformers by Joshua Bycer š
Currently listening: The Sandman Vol. 4: Season of Mists by Neil Gaiman š
This is my favorite storyline in the whole Sandman series– probably because it’s Lucifer-heavy, and I love Mike Carey’s Lucifer spinoff (maybe more than Sandman itself).
Finished reading: The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll š
I skimmed or skipped some of the more philosophical material (like a chapter on “radiance”), but I have some good ideas about how to reinvigorate my bujo practice:
Currently reading: The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll š
I’ve been using a bullet journal for a couple of years now, but lately, it’s been… I dunno. It’s a to-do list. I think I need to reconnect with bujo as a mindfulness practice, and not just a task tracker. When it was working well, I felt more effective, not just productive. I want to get that back.
I’ve never read the book before. Maybe it’ll help?
I was thinking about watching Midsommer, but reading the Wikipedia article was just enough horror for me.
Finished Listening: The Creative Act by Rick Rubin š
Spending the evening at Fairfax County Government Center, shuttling election materials between the loading dock (where I found this sign) and offices upstairs.
Currently reading: Game Design Deep Dive: Platformers by Joshua Bycer š
Finished Listening: The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll’s House by Neil Gaiman š
One thing I’ve learned about myself after participating in a couple of game jams: I like having deadlines.
So, I’m going to try setting a deadline for a personal project that I’ve been meaning to make progress on: a game about spoon theory. I want to have something playable (not necessarily done) by the end of March.
My aim here is:
… with a bonus goal of the game being somewhat relaxing and not too taxing. The game should be a good stim. It should restore spoons, rather than take them away.
I’ve done a round of post-jam tweaking on Brakes Escape. The game no longer simply stops generating new platforms (and walls!) once you hit a certain level, sound effects have been added, and some bugs have been fixed. To make things a little more difficult, I’ve introduced “solid” platforms that you can’t jump through, and made the rising water gradually increase in speed.
There are still some things I’m unsatisfied with:
So, what’s next? I think I want to adapt the game for mobile, while working on the above items.
I do plan to update the itch.io web version at least once more, to generate a single-threaded version once Godot 4.3 is released (soon?).
Currently listening: The Creative Act by Rick Rubin š
Surprised that, for a published-this-month technical book, Thrift Books had more inventory on hand and a better price than Amazon.
Results are in– I was hoping for higher scores generally , but I’m pleased with getting #14 in the “fun” category.
I am working on an update that fixes the most glaring bugs, and adds audio, a score, and other refinements, which I hope to upload next week.
“Flash of light-mode content” is the new flash of unstyled content.
Some lessons learned from my recent game jam experience:
Godot features I attempted to re-create (poorly)
Godot features and nodes that I had never used before (besides Path2D/PathFollow2D and one-way collisions)
The only add-on I used was Godot State Charts, which continues to be the bees knees.
Brakes Escape, my submission to Godot Wild Jam #66, is live on itch.io. There are a couple of bugs, half-baked feaures , and other compromises made in the name of having something shippable by the deadline, but I think it’s a promising start to a more complete game.
Previously, I posted two ideas for Godot Wild Jam 66. I ended up spending a few days on the first one and realized I didn’t like where it was going and I didn’t feel good about getting it into shape for the end of the jam. So, I switched gears to the second one (a variation on an idea I’d already been tinkering with).
It’s going better, but I’m not sure it’ll be shippable by the deadline (4pm tomorrow). Still, it’s nice to have some momentum. I’m really happy with how the player character moves, but the game definitely needs more.. game. We’ll see how for I get it tomorrow.
I’m the PTA volunteer keeping an eye on our elementary school’s “tech club” again this session, and this time they’re going to be programming drones with Python.
I’m… a little jealous?
I’ve been pretty lazy about static typing in GDScript - but it’s pretty cool to see that there are performance benefits.
Want to read: My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Book Two by Emil Ferris š
The first book was great, and I’m excited to read what happens next. Maybe I’ll re-read the first one before May.
Nah I’m good Samsung
Current thinking for the jam, either:
I’m signed up for Godot Wild Jam #66, with a theme of “Escape”– which is pretty straightforward, as far as game jam themes go. I do think it’s quite cool that GWJ has accessibility as a rating category, and I’m going to try to see how much of the accessibility guidelines I can meet.
The jam goes for nine days. My current thinking on timing is: have something basically working by early next week, then use the rest of the time to polish the graphics, UI, and audio.
This post from @manton prompted me to finally try out Bluesky– so far, it feels kind of like the uncanny valley version of Twitter? I’ll keep poking around. I’ve turned on cross-posting from micro.blog.