I decided after the last post that I’m not going to sweat the deadline. I’m not going to submit the game to the jam, which ends in 15 hours. This weekend, I decided I’d rather relax. Instead of staying up late working on the game, I watched Lower Decks.
I haven’t given up on the game, though– in fact I’m quite enjoying the process. I just didn’t feel like scrambling to complete it by the deadline, or submitting a version I’m not proud of.
Finished reading: The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 3 by Ryan North π
progress
The deadline is fast approaching, and I haven’t made a ton of progress– but now there are mobs that actually chase you. There’s no combat or death yet. That’s next.
The graphics and colors here were meant to be placeholders, but it’s honestly growing on me. With the black shadows and bright light, I find it kind of pleasing in a brutalist way. Perhaps I’m rationalizing laziness, but I think I’ll lean into abstraction here. Colors and shapes, without any traditional genre references.
It’s not a game yet, but I can move a blue dude through a procedurally generated map. The brown square would be the exit, if such functionality existed yet.
I started working on some ideas yesterday for Roguetemple’s Fortnight game jam. I’m not sure if my current concept will survive, but I am pleased with the map generation script so far.
Volume 11
I’ve got my 11th bullet journal set up for September.
Even when I fall out of using it as a sort of daily productivity/mindfulness practice, I’ve benefited from simply having one notebook active at a time, with dated entries. Pre-BuJo I would jot things down wherever, including digital tools like OneNote, etc, and often those notes were never to be seen again.
Currently listening: Empire of AI by Karen Hao π
Finished reading: The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 2 by Ryan North π
I don’t love it yet, but I added a simple search widget to DC Tech Events. There’s no backend, it just filters the list on the page.
Finished reading: The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 1 by Ryan North π
soaking in it
I know, a few weeks ago I wrote “the internet doesnβt need more words about AI”.
Since then, I started working at a company that considers AI as part of it’s toolkit for helping customers, contributed some code to an internal project that uses the Google Gemini API, and my first client project?
Helping write LLM policy.
Β―\_(γ)_/Β―
I’ve tried and failed a couple of times to write some sort of position statement in this space, that would capture a mix of hope and fear, while giving myself permission to keep learning and experimenting. I could probably have ChatGPT write it, but I’m not so far gone as to subject readers to machine-written prose.
I am giving myself that permission to learn and experiment, though. Program or Be Programmed seems newly relevant, and I think the closing words of LLMs Are Weird Computers captures the moment pretty well:
But I will say that if you don’t want to be caught with your pants down when your workplace does expect you to do more and different things with this technology, there’s no better time than now to start learning how to use it.
Finished reading: Powers Book Two by Brian Michael Bendis π
Finished reading: Powers Volume 1 by Brian Michael Bendis π
It’s hard to read stuff like this and not think, maybe the internet was a bad idea after all.
All of the Marvels π
I’ve finished listening to All of the Marvels by Douglas Wolk.
From the premise, “man reads 27,000 comic books”, I expected an A.J. Jacobs-style story about how attempting a ridiculous project impacts the author’s life and relationships, with some tidbits about the comics thrown in. That would have been OK with me!
This is not that sort of book, though. Wolk spends each chapter pulling on a thread of the Marvel story, either for a character or team (Spiderman, Thor, The X-Men), or a theme (film, music, Presidents), highlighting specific issues that are notable. It’s one man’s highlight reel of the Marvel universe, and I enjoyed the journey.
If I had been reading this book on paper or device, I would have dog-eared a lot of pages, or taken notes. I listened to the audiobook, mostly while driving or walking, so I couldn’t note as much. I was still able to remember or jot down a few things. Here are the comics ‘All the Marvels’ has added to my reading list:
- Hickman’s Fantastic Four
- Priests Black Panther
- Simonson’s Thor
- Ryan North’s The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl
- Warren Ellis Thunderbolts
- Some amount of the Dark Reign saga
It’s nice top see that Sound Blocks shipped! I spent a few minutes playing with it this morning, and it seems to be what I hoped for: midinous for someone who doesn’t want to have to figure out all the MIDI stuff.
My first song was… nothing worth sharing. But maybe I’ll be able to make some game music with it.
Currently listening: All of the Marvels by Douglas Wolk π
Ad Hoc
Today is my first day as an Ad Hoc employee. I’ve watched from the sidelines over the years as they’ve hired a number of my favorite people, both former CFPB colleagues and “internet friends” whose work and careers I’ve taken an interest in. I’m looking forward to being part of the team!
The actual client I’ll be working for is… a different civilian federal agency with a financial focus. You might be thinking “out of the frying pan and into the fire”, and aren’t completely wrong about that. My discussions with folks from Ad Hoc, the “prime” contractor subcontracting to Ad Hoc, and the client agency have convinced me that the work is necessary and should be funded for some years to come. I think it will be stable at least through the length of the contract, so long as I do good work.