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Levels in Disguise

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Anti-User Interface

A gamedev update blog about making UI designed to kill its user.

Hello! Welcome to the blog. I don’t really feel like spending time on an intro to this one, so I’m just going to hop into the developer update. Yeehaw! Back at the end of May, I’d just finished setting up a rough prototype for my first level involving “combat”. I polished off the scripts that controlled enemy attack patterns, stuck them in the level, and… hated it. The idea was fun, but I…

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I, for one, do not believe in the usability of my interfaces.

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May Mileage May Vary

Hello and welcome! This is going to be a short little update, possibly the shortest I’ve ever written. The reason? I’m writing this in an airport terminal as I await my impending flight, and doubt I’ll have time for much of anything else. So, without further ado… here’s what I did. Doorways 9 God I hope this thing loads properly. In my previous, tragically several-week-old post, I talked…

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I Like Big Lasers

An update on my game development. Guest starring: giant death lasers.

Hello. Welcome to The Blog: Irregular Update Edition. I said back in April that I was going to try to do more small, frequent updates on my progress again. Then, I immediately fell down a rabbit hole writing about strategy game design. Whoops. Anyways, this post is one of those updates I talked about. At the end of April, I was finally able to finish up a lot of my more under-the-hood stuff on…

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Peekaboo.

She saw you.

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My Life as an Upjumped Cursor

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The Juggling Act

There are so many things that happen all the time. Hello! Welcome to March’s April’s irregularly-scheduled gamedev update. I was originally going to write this thing in March, but I ended up being busier than expected. Sort of. That’s what this post is about. Is it going to turn into an essay on the struggles of part-time work halfway through? Maybe. (Yes.) In the name of not delaying this…

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Sass.

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Card Souls: An Essay on Mechanical Flavor

An essay on the flavor of game mechanics, Balatro, and Dark Souls.

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I wrote about this earlier this week!

A 100% real and normal terms of service in its natural habitat.

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Tasks & Temptations

I'm back! And this time, I've got a blog post about creation - the ups and downs of making games, and the ways the little details can change your entire process. And maybe some relevant 2024 tech stuff in there, too.

“I’m hoping next week will be back to the standard gamedev posts. I’ve been making good headway on Doorways 9, but this idea kind of wedged itself in my brain over the weekend. That stuff is coming, I promise.“ The Four Horsemen of the Emailpocalypse – January 11th, 2024 I really gotta stop trying to put dates on things. Hello! And welcome to my regularly-scheduled blog. I’ve been plugging away…

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A little preview as I continue writing today.

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I am 95% done writing a fake Terms of Service for a single level of my silly game and I'm losing it

Nothing like staring into the abyss of boredom to make you almost understand why the A.I bros do what they do. Not really.

But I am losing my mind.

I want to write a blog about this but I haven't been able to because I'm busy writing the fake ToS ahhhhhhhh

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The Four Horsemen of the Emailpocalypse

I wrote something about spam emails, the internet, and the impending dysfunction of everything online. Enjoy!

Good afternoon, everyone. I’ve got something a bit different today. There’s nothing really worthwhile in this post – just some things that I find extremely funny. And then some stuff that isn’t. Let’s begin. A Journey to the Heart of My Spam Inbox A few nights ago, I cracked open my spam folder for the first time in… well, months, at least. Not sure why, really. It was pretty late, and the…

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Welcome Back, Gamedevs

A welcome-back to gamedevs, and a microblog to start 2024!

It’s that time of year again. The winter holidays are well-and-truly over, which means it’s time for me to get back into the swing of things. Back to working my day job, developing games, and hunting for a job in-industry. (Hire me.) Judging by the the posting dates on literally every job-board I’ve seen today, it seems like everyone else out there is doing the exact same thing. …

Well, I suppose those of you doing the posting aren't job-hunting, by definition, but still! There's a small crater in every job board between December 20th and January 10th, which I imagine was occupied by celebrations until very recently.

Or just sleep. That's good, too.

The point is: I see you there. All of you. Hello. Welcome back.

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Progress Complete: A New-Year's Ode To Loading

Happy new year! My last bit of writing before things change over!

Bonjour! And greetings from Montréal, where I’ll probably be when this goes out. And, hey! Would you look at that? The end of 2024 is nigh! At least, according to this progress bar on the site forever to be known in my heart as Twitter. I suppose that means there’s not much time left for me to do… anything, really. But, before the next year begins, there’s one more design-adjacent topic that’s…