0rangeyougl4d

[0rangeyougl4d]

Story time!

Originally I was working on a game called Arbalest. It was going to be a fairly slow-paced first person roguelike shooter where every shot mattered, but those shots hit HARD.

Now, I had done a bunch of little game jams and tech demos here and there, but Arbalest was going to be my first actual real published game like on Steam.

Despite this, I wouldn't have considered myself a newbie game developer - I'm a professional software engineer at my day job so it was straightforward for me to pick up all the new engines, math, etc. Plus it's pretty easy to modify existing assets (3d models, music, etc - all with the proper licensing of course) to make them fit your own style and not feel like a shitty asset flip.

Big mistake. I of course playtested all of the individual components - upgrades, shooting, map generation, etc, and they were all pretty fun! But when it all came together, it was just... mediocre. It wasn't a bad game by any means, but I couldn't say, "yeah, my game does XYZ better than any other game out there". I wasn't proud of it.

And so, after a year of work, I scrapped the whole project!

I had already gone through Steam's developer onboarding and purchased the app page thingy for it (it costs $100, which gets refunded as players buy your game). I didn't want to waste it, so I decided to make something else super quick to publish instead, just so I could be done with it.

If I can't do shooters right, how about literally the simplest genre in existence? Dice games are essentially the first ones ever invented (oversimplifying, but the history is fascinating if you wanted to read up on it). It's just random chance and basic addition, after all.

So I made astragali in about 3 months after work and on weekends. Did thorough bug testing so I'd never need to update it ever again. Cannibalized the old store page, published it, and that was that.

Anyways, now I'm back to more ambitious projects again!

You make RAD AF games and you're really talented and also super funny and I'm very grateful we exist at the same time and that I get to talk to you!!!!!

[0rangeyougl4d]

You make RAD AF games and you're really talented and also super funny and I'm very grateful we exist at the same time and that I get to talk to you!!!!!

[0rangeyougl4d]

No such thing as too much saturation.

(WIP of the Broken Lighthouse section of the map)

[0rangeyougl4d]

My cat sleep weird

[0rangeyougl4d]

The clamps move!

Looking for early alpha testers for FRAMEDRAGGER

It's a movement/parkour game with its roots in Kirby Air Ride, Ultrakill, and Zineth!

This is a 5 minute long alpha demo. Right now mostly trying to get feedback on the movement system itself so only the tutorial section is included.

Requires a mid spec gaming PC since there's a lot of prototype/debug/unoptimized assets and code.

Comment below and I can send you the link :)

[0rangeyougl4d]

Looking for early alpha testers for FRAMEDRAGGER

It's a movement/parkour game with its roots in Kirby Air Ride, Ultrakill, and Zineth!

This is a 5 minute long alpha demo. Right now mostly trying to get feedback on the movement system itself so only the tutorial section is included.

Requires a mid spec gaming PC since there's a lot of prototype/debug/unoptimized assets and code.

Comment below and I can send you the link :)

[0rangeyougl4d]

One must imagine Sisyphus popped a can of pringles

[0rangeyougl4d]

Oh my god this is actually the smartest life pro tip I've ever heard before.

The good news about commissioning a VA to do a reminder for you to eat: Positive associations between food and the Character ^tm. Food is getting easier. The bad news: Gianni jumpscare ;u;

[0rangeyougl4d]

I think one of my favorite Clove fun facts is how polarized your taste in games is. You practically only played Animal Crossing before and now you're jumping straight into like intense violence stress games like Bayonetta and GTA. Am I a bad influence? Dark Souls when?

Started GTA V tonight. It's a game practically made for me, as I'm someone who's played one game in its entirety and finds any precise controls near impossible.

My initial take? I failed the same mission repeatedly until I had to pause the game and close my eyes. I repeated "I'm fine" to my wife a few times, then added "I'm furious, but it's fine". I ultimately decided to take a break for the night and roasted some broccoli with garlic and shallots to cool off.

It was 10:30 pm. I didn't even eat the broccoli I just cooked it and put it in the fridge. I don't know why I did that.

[0rangeyougl4d]

LIKE MOTHS TO A FLAME, THE SCAPE DRAWS IN ANOTHER ASPIE

Desperately planning a project in between books two and three, but every time I try and consider a more serious artistic pursuit a little low-poly goblin in my brain says Old School RuneScape crossed with NPR.

I tell the goblin hey what if I spend some time on that other short form, more abstract story that I had to put on the backburner?

The goblin says what if it's This American Life but it's on the plight of those cave goblins in Dorgesh-Kaan.

Please, I beg of the goblin, this is an unbelievably niche premise. I am not certain if there is any overlap between people who play Old School RuneScape and people who listen to NPR. How much could there possibly be to that idea?

The goblin falls silent. Then it responds. Planet Money would probably look absolutely fucked given the state of the Old School economy, it says.

[0rangeyougl4d]

I poured La Croix on your HEAD, it's not my fault it dripped down into your ears.

Reminding myself about the marriage and partnership between Stephen King and Tabitha King made me want to publicly state that Songbird Elegies would not exist without my wife Riley.

I've written around 11-13 books before Blind Trust. The number changes because I keep forgetting and remembering ones. At least 11, upwards of 13. I had really no thoughts of publishing, because I found the industry confusing and considered my writing pretty unmarketable. My wife was the one to suggest I self-publish a novel, and then she continued to push me through the MANY points where I tried to give up.

If you have an emotional response to any of my writing, if any of it makes you laugh or comforts you or just sticks in your brain, any words of gratitude should be directed first and foremost to @0rangeyougl4d. If you enjoyed anything I've ever said on this blog, that's also thanks to Riley, because I only made my Tumblr to market the book she insisted I published. If not for her, I'd be doing what I'd done for years, which is working a series of food service and event gigs to get by while quietly writing novels I just automatically assume no one would want to read.

[0rangeyougl4d]

Tumblr has decided to award me with the number "1", the most prestigious number they can give to a civilian!

[0rangeyougl4d]

Ayy he blocked me!

there is a special place (derogatory) in my heart for the ways people dance around admitting "i did not write this, an AI did"

"i use [AI model] to organise my ideas"

"[AI model] adjusted some of the pacing and grammar"

"i've always loved storytelling and was able to use [AI model] to flesh out an actual novel"

bonus if their defense includes "AI is a tool; the story, ideas and characters are mine"

[0rangeyougl4d]

Just read the Microsoft/Apple/Google documentation on their respective spellchecks/autocorrects.

It seems like Microsoft, at least for Bing (no mention of usage on their other services) use a noising approach for their training data. Which, kind of weird, but I suppose it does give a good-enough solution that's extensible to other languages.

Apple doesn't really go into any detail on Cocoa.

For Google, I was reading their Using the Web for Language Independent Spellchecking and Autocorrection paper which, in fairness, is a few years old at this point. They seem to have a really fascinating approach where they use traditional fuzzy string matchers to create a set of misspellings, and combine that with LM predictions to score possible autocorrections based on context. Really fascinating stuff! Appreciate the suggestions.

It seems like outside of web search autocorrection, the most popular library seems to be Hunspell, used by e.g. Google Chrome, Libreoffice, Firefox, etc. which seems to be built on top of Ispell as the base.

So it still seems kind of disingenuous to say that modern LLM models are nearly identical to spellcheck systems though.

there is a special place (derogatory) in my heart for the ways people dance around admitting "i did not write this, an AI did"

"i use [AI model] to organise my ideas"

"[AI model] adjusted some of the pacing and grammar"

"i've always loved storytelling and was able to use [AI model] to flesh out an actual novel"

bonus if their defense includes "AI is a tool; the story, ideas and characters are mine"

[0rangeyougl4d]

"I have never written Anything creative with AI" - my brother in christ you literally have a post where you use deepseek to get feedback on your poetry

(also no that's not how spellcheck works they're fuzzy string matchers, maybe read a textbook sometime before you try explaining stuff at people)

there is a special place (derogatory) in my heart for the ways people dance around admitting "i did not write this, an AI did"

"i use [AI model] to organise my ideas"

"[AI model] adjusted some of the pacing and grammar"

"i've always loved storytelling and was able to use [AI model] to flesh out an actual novel"

bonus if their defense includes "AI is a tool; the story, ideas and characters are mine"

[0rangeyougl4d]

I wish. I fuckin love lemon bread

whats your favorite landmark/touristy visit location in portland? (ie what should i have been to if i actually drove down instead of taking Hell Train Hours Part 2)

also any more model photos of bobert? the elegance of the last one still lingers in my brain

Come in like October, it'll be rainy and all the people who were born here will get sad and stay inside and complain. All the people who decided to live here, however, will be out living their best lives!

Straight up skip downtown. There's some really cool stuff there, sure, but you could almost always get something on par over the river without the hassle of parking or navigating the weird roads. Also skip Beaverton, it's just knockoff Portland but with Best Buy and Ruby Tuesdays and whatever the fuck chains.

The only exceptions to both downtown and Beaverton are the excellent farmers markets.

Definitely eat at a random ass food cart for each meal. There's always one within a few blocks and they're all so unique. Same goes for cafes if you like coffee. Ooh, and Rose City Book Pub if you enjoy literature and/or intoxication!

Portland is a great bike city as far as the US goes, so if you can bring or rent a bike that'll be so much nicer. A bike ride down the Eastbank Esplanade is fuckin beautiful. There are some hills though so be warned.

Laurelhurst Park is a great spot to chill for a bit, see some ducks, and you'll be right near Belmont/Hawthorne if you want to play "is it gentrified? it feels gentrified but I can't tell?"

If you drive for another hour west, there's also some really beautiful forests and beaches. Not beaches for swimming, just the kind you look at and think, "...Yeah."

Also here's Bob we can't stop him from eating our food he's learning to open doors please send h

[0rangeyougl4d]

Rimsky-Korsakoffee is haunted

Keeper Coffee is mid but they're located above Wyrd Meadery if you want to get caffeinated and larp

Dutch Bros is basic but solid

Sunset Highway Coffee is great if you're driving to the beach

Avoid Blackrock like the plague

Slowbomb is alright but out of the way

Flying Cat Co is incredibly chill and cute but the food is mid. Coffee is phenomenal though

Case Study is okay I guess but overcrowded

Stumptown sucks ass

One of my favorite cafes that I have only visited once is Red Square Cafe. I'm not allowed to go there anymore because @goodluckclove says it's depressing and gives them anxiety and everyone who works and goes there has a perpetual scowl

There are NO dunkin donuts in Portland. I repeat, NO. DUNKS.

Speedboat is aight

Honey Lattee is good for larger groups and vegans

Triumph and Worker's Tap are both great and right next to each other if you can figure out the labyrinth of 1-way roads

Tons of others too I could go on for a while

whats your favorite landmark/touristy visit location in portland? (ie what should i have been to if i actually drove down instead of taking Hell Train Hours Part 2)

also any more model photos of bobert? the elegance of the last one still lingers in my brain

Come in like October, it'll be rainy and all the people who were born here will get sad and stay inside and complain. All the people who decided to live here, however, will be out living their best lives!

Straight up skip downtown. There's some really cool stuff there, sure, but you could almost always get something on par over the river without the hassle of parking or navigating the weird roads. Also skip Beaverton, it's just knockoff Portland but with Best Buy and Ruby Tuesdays and whatever the fuck chains.

The only exceptions to both downtown and Beaverton are the excellent farmers markets.

Definitely eat at a random ass food cart for each meal. There's always one within a few blocks and they're all so unique. Same goes for cafes if you like coffee. Ooh, and Rose City Book Pub if you enjoy literature and/or intoxication!

Portland is a great bike city as far as the US goes, so if you can bring or rent a bike that'll be so much nicer. A bike ride down the Eastbank Esplanade is fuckin beautiful. There are some hills though so be warned.

Laurelhurst Park is a great spot to chill for a bit, see some ducks, and you'll be right near Belmont/Hawthorne if you want to play "is it gentrified? it feels gentrified but I can't tell?"

If you drive for another hour west, there's also some really beautiful forests and beaches. Not beaches for swimming, just the kind you look at and think, "...Yeah."

Also here's Bob we can't stop him from eating our food he's learning to open doors please send h