Finished Listening: The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle 📚
Done with Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Collection!
Benjamin and I have started a game jam: Crazzzy 4X Jam!
Become a Solution Architect looks promising: free training over 8 weeks, starts this weekend.
Yesterday, I spent a little time polishing my resume and applying to jobs, and took another AWS Security practice exam. The rumor mill says the hammer might fall today, but for the moment I’m still being paid to not work.
Today, I think, is for gamedev stuff.
Cease'ed
So far it’s been four days since I and most of my colleagues were ordered not to work. I started the week getting over a cold, so didn’t do much of note Monday or Tuesday. Yesterday, I registered to take the AWS Security exam in April (my certification expires in May) and took a practice exam.
Will this last days? weeks? months? I have no idea.
Rolling is Spinning
Benjamin’s recent game jam entry is Rolling is Spinning. It gets pretty tricky at the end!
I did the coding, following his concept and directions. He also did the art/animation for the ball that represents the player.
The theme of the jam is “spinning”, hence the name, to remind the judges of that rolling should count as spinning.
Game dev-ing lately
- I’ve been helping my son on an entry for the Boss Rush Jam 2025– the concepts are his, most of the art is royalty free stuff from a humble bundle, and I do most of the coding and Godot-wrangling.
- I’m on the last project of Compete Godot 3D, which is a first person shooter. I’ve got a world to run around in, an enemy that follows me if I get too close, and a gun that can shoot then enemy and recoils when fired, and has a muzzle flash. There’s more to do, but it’s a satisfying project.
Finished Listening: His Last Bow by Arthur Conan Doyle 📚
I’ve been checking out some older games in my Steam library that I haven’t played much. I’m not sure exactly what Jazzpunk is about yet, but I got to degauss some pigeons, and that was fun.
Just a little bit of Barbarian Blaster, the 2nd of 3 projects taught in Complete Godot 3D.
I was surprised that the first two projects are basically two dimensional (movement happens in two axis, and the camera is static). I hadn’t really considered using “3D” like that. I am now.
It turns out, I don’t have to use the “rawhide” version of Fedora just to get an updated kernel– so now the new machine is on Fedora 41, and I’m getting the kernel from the vanilla mainline repo.
If you’ve made a resolution to create your own website or blog (or have just been thinking about it) micro.one is a great way to get started. $1/month, and supports a custom domain name.
new year, new rig
Every three or four years I get the urge to build a PC. Most of the time, the urge passes and I move on to other ideas/projects/what have you.
This time, I built the dang thing!
Component-wise, the most interesting part is probably the GPU– I was able to get my hands on an Intel Arc B580 (Battlemage!) and it’s spent the last two weeks sitting in my office, unloved. Last night, I trekked down to Microcenter to buy the rest of the computer and, after some drama (it took me a while to figure out where all the screws were, how to attach the CPU cooler, and that the motherboard wanted the 8 pin OR 8+4 power connection, but not BOTH), I have a nicely specced little PC next to my desk.
Dance like no one is watching, love like you’ve never been hurt, sing like no one is listening, and never give Brian Krebs a reason to call your mom.
2025: the year of 3D
Somewhere along the line, I told myself a story: Before making 3D games, I needed to learn 3D, as in get a handle on 3D graphics as a general topic, and perhaps develop some expertise in something like Blender.
From talking to people at gamedev meetups, it seems like maybe that story is nonsense?
To test that theory, I’ve been working on a Godot 3D tutorial and finding that things generally makes sense. Coming from 2D, I was surprised that:
Finished listening: The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle 📚
I really enjoyed this one! It makes me want to learn some more about the Molly Maguires and the non-fiction events the Pennsylvania portion story is based on.
I’ve finished the Inkscape course I was working through. I think it was worthwhile– the biggest aha! moments were: shape builder, the mesh tool, clipping shapes, symbols, and clones. I don’t think I’ll ever quite grok bezier curves.
Here’s a quick recreation of the character from Brakes Escape!
It’s unfortunate that itch.io got taken down because of an escalating set of automated processes and overreactions– but it’s got me thinking about hosting games myself. Own your data should apply to everything, not just blog posts and photos.
Finished Listening: The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle 📚
Currently reading: Game Magic by Jeff Howard 📚
Finished reading: Light It, Shoot It! by Graham Chaffee 📚
Honestly this felt a little rushed, it was over before I had a chance to really care about these characters.
Finished reading: The Arab of the Future 3 by Riad Sattouf 📚
I decided I was tired of faking my way through Inkscape, so I grabbed this course on sale a few days ago. I’m about an hour into the course, but feeling pretty good about it. Grids, guides, the Align & Distribute tool were all minor epiphanies.
Finished reading: The Arab of the Future 2 by Riad Sattouf 📚
Nora Reed says you should have a website
If you don’t want to learn to use technology, other people will use it for you, and they will use it to place you under their thumbs in a way that makes it as impossible to switch to something else as they can. Making a website is a great way to experiment with getting agency over your relationship with the internet, your phone, and computers.