#programmer's life

[pixiedust111]

Mentor: You'll be replaced by AI if you can't innovate.

Me:

[tapakah0]

[casino-lights]

so we have confirmation that veilguard was made in a year and a half. that's understandably such a time crunch and must have put unimaginable stress on the dev team, especially with the mass effect team coming in partway through. I do have empathy for the writers. no one deserves to lose their job at a time like this, especially not after such a roller coaster of a development cycle and after working on this series for so many years.

however.

obsidian made kotor 2, a game praised for its writing and many fans' favorite of the pair, in 14 months. they then proceeded to make fallout: new vegas, again praised for its writing and hailed as a shining example of video game storytelling, in 18 months. a lot of content was ultimately cut from both of these games, but in kotor's case, it was lovingly added back in by fans over the years despite not being especially easy to mod because the fans were so passionate about what they already had that they wanted to enhance it. these games are both known to be kinda janky as well. but the games at their core have satisfying stories, characters, and an incredible overall narrative that feels satisfying and fits with their respective universes, maintains respect for the established lore and characters, and is tonally consistent with the atmosphere and themes of previous games. hell, dragon age 2 was also made in about the same time frame based on what I could find, and as much as the assets were reused there and it could be occasionally glitchy, it remains one of the best bioware narratives with some of their most memorable characters, and it accomplished that while both keeping to the lore and vibe of the dragon age series AND expanding it into new territory.

I am aware that there are differences like engines, era, expectations, pushes from management, etc, but I'm mostly focusing on the writing and the narrative team's priorities. I wouldn't care if they reused assets to save time and money. I wouldn't care if a couple side quests had to go, or some character arcs were a little less polished, or some side characters were cut entirely. honestly I would have preferred it if some of the characters WERE cut entirely. if you're just going to spit on all of her character development, don't bring morrigan back. cut some of that banter in the lighthouse and let me talk to my companions properly. cut that goddamn arena and put those resources toward fleshing out the lords of fortune. even if the rest of the team wanted that entire faction cut so they could focus on other things, cut the fucking faction.

I will never apologize for rightfully criticizing the choices the writers made while making this game. the game talks to you - both you as the player AND you as the character - like you're stupid. repeating things over and over again just to make sure you Really Get It, dumbing down so many aspects of its own lore, reducing any kind of conflict to therapy speak or an HR meeting, etc. rook has no characterization to speak of and their dialogue and tone is wildly inconsistent depending on which npc you're speaking to at the time. why is rook clever enough to do playful, flirty hunter/prey banter with davrin but also too awkward to properly flirt with harding? the one canonically nonbinary neurodivergent companion frequently expresses themselves by growling and roaring and their individuality and competency are repeatedly undermined by their own writer's narrative decisions and banter. the game disregards its own lore and at times straight up contradicts itself. it's pretty, but lacks substance, and fails to live up to the standards a lot of us had for a dragon age game.

I won't pretend I know everything that went on behind the scenes but I think a year and a half is more than enough time to write a better narrative than what we got, even with some pushback from another dev team. I've seen countless thinkpieces by fans who have come up with solutions for plot holes and fixes for the overall narrative, and these are people who came up with this stuff in a matter of a few days or weeks, or sometimes just a few hours. you can't blame me for thinking veteran bioware writers - who SHOULD know their own lore by now - could have come up with something better than this in that amount of time, regardless of the limitations. choices were made and things were prioritized that shouldn't have been. I do not forgive the writers, EA, or bioware execs for this, and I will continue to criticize the responsible parties for the product we were sold, which includes criticizing the writers for shoddy work.

tl;dr: I don't believe the writing team made the best of the time they had and I fault them for that. but maybe that's on me for hoping that a game with its narrative led by weekes and epler would have actually been good in the first place.

[mrbreaknfix]

Other people follow rules. I follow results

[calversstudy]

Sunday, 29.09.2024

The physics test is on Thursday, so I've studied some orbital mechanics. I've also written my EE, but I'm not even near the end.

[nixcraft]

[futureheartzs]

born to code, forced to learn theory 💔💔💔

[heart-ghost-studyblr]

I found myself surrounded by companions daring to tackle a real software architecture challenge. We shared a good wine and cheese to conquer it together! (Unfortunately, there’s always something waiting to be dealt with on Monday.)

The glow of my Neovim terminal in Monokai theme reflects my rhythm — a guy who doesn’t stop on weekends but knows that balance isn’t about being all-in, all day.

The setup screams character: a seamless fusion of productivity and comfort. Lazygit commands at my fingertips, a Ghibli-esque avatar paired with Neofetch adding a touch of Tumblr aesthetic, and a playlist of Korean indie OSTs playing in the background to add depth to every keystroke.

This is how I drive — in code, creativity, and moments that are unapologetically mine.

[pixiedust111]

Me, testing blocked users.

Me, blocked myself.

Me, can't login anymore.

Me,

😑

If you ever feel stupid, just remember that I exist 😑

[archituck]

in another life maybe :(

[calversstudy]

Saturday, 5.04.2025

The photo’s from last week, but long story short—I’m finally done with all my mock exams and submitted all my IAs. Basically, I’ve got some free time for the first time in a month. I’m super tired, but finals are in about three weeks, so I can actually rest a bit now.

[fishwolfcrow]

Silo door good ending

I'm really tired it's 1 am

Also Wilson, my new persona/little guy!

[heart-ghost-studyblr]

"He is back and he is seeking revenge!!" That’s what one of my teammates said after we wrapped up a big performance upgrade on a server that was… let’s say, not performing its best. Highs and lows, right? Complex, data-heavy, fast, reliable, and done for the best 'top dogs' in the game (me included).

And then another kind of thing... I was talking with a friend who’s been struggling to find a job in his field (he's studying management, which is a solid and common path). So, why not help a little bit? (That is what is in the image, do not call me a click baiter*)

I strongly believe that if you're struggling to get into any area, a nice way to present yourself is by having a page—it can be pure HTML/CSS or a cloned repo with some kind of "personal website template" using all the NodeJS you want.

Then, turn it into a DNS like "yourname-myprofession.com" so you can show a clean, well-designed QR Code with your avatar during interviews. It’s a cleanest way possible to present your résumé and experience. Tech skills are like magic, especially for those who haven't seen it before.

[pixiedust111]

September commits 🤯

[nixcraft]

kids who would run dos defrag utility and sit and look at the little squares change colors are either {developers, sysadmin, devops} now or retired farmers

[calversstudy]

Sunday, 16.03.2025

mock exams. that's all what i've been thinking of since the beginning of this week. first was geo sl which i think went pretty well. i'm also writing chem on monday and it stresses me out a little bit. the good news is that i am almost done with all of my IAs.