Resting, #30

This is it: the end of the 30 days. In these end-of-series posts, I usually showcase the things I’ve made. This time there isn’t much to show. I’ve made progress toward learning how to rest, but that isn’t something I can photograph or turn into a looping GIF. I think that’s a good thing, though.…

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Resting, #29

I’m slowly starting to make stuff again. I’m in a new groove. The experience of creating isn’t as draining as it was before. I’m a lot more relaxed and less focused on results. When I have fire, I burn through every problem. But when I step back, sometimes the problems take care of themselves.

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Resting, #28

Today I tried playing Composition 37 with my friend Blake and the online features still work! There’s nothing quite like that “Aha! It’s working!” moment. No spoilers, but if you’d like to run Composition 37 yourself, the best way I’ve found is with Gameload. Download the unity3d file and open it in Gameload. There’s black…

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Resting, #27

Today I thought more about passenger motion in games. Passenger motion is amplified when you play with friends. I always like the feeling when all my friends are in a car and I’m driving. I get to take them places. I especially like the feeling when my friends are driving. I get to look out…

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Resting, #26

Today I found a lost game. I was scrolling through my browser bookmarks and I stumbled upon a Twitter thread. Here’s the gist: Pierre ran a blog reviewing indie games for 8 years and later went back to archive them. A bunch of them were missing from the internet and he had screenshots of the…

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Resting, #25

Today I rode a swing and a unicycle. I’m thinking more about motion in video games. I’m especially interested in passenger motion, when the player isn’t deciding where to go. Like riding in a car, being in an elevator, or on an escalator. Things where you’re going somewhere, but not moving yourself, and not actively choosing which direction you’re headed.

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Resting, #24

Today was very restful. I went for a walk in the park. I thought about motion. I don’t climb, crawl, or swim. I don’t ride swings, bikes, or merry-go-rounds. I don’t scramble through tunnels or cling my way up slides. My daily motion is boring. I walk and drive. Maybe I look for novel movement…

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Resting, #23

Today I recreated Spray Paint in Godot. I know, it’s not resting, but it didn’t feel like work. It’s like Godot clicked with my brain and now I’m zooming. I spent 20% of the time being stuck and the rest just cranking out features. The user interface still needs work, but it’s 80% done.

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Resting, #22

Today I started a game prototype in Godot. It was restful and fun! Godot is making sense and it didn’t feel like work. Maybe the other times I tried to learn Godot, I was too focused on understanding the explanation of Godot rather than Godot itself. Anyway, things are looking good for using it on…

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Resting, #21

This new place I’m in is very quiet. My mind is clear of noise and I’m figuring out where I’m going. I’ve found a song/video which perfectly encapsulates where I’m at. I haven’t watched Jimmy Neutron and I have no idea what relevance this has to the story, but I can relate to Hugh. Okay,…

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Resting, #20

I’ve been too obsessed with making things. I put my passion to create before my relationship with God; I had built a wall between us. So God commissioned me to make a game about solitude. He said that He’s going to use this project to teach me a new way to create.I have permission to…

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Resting, #19

I didn’t rest much today. I discovered that I can get almost perfect spray brushes in Krita. Almost perfect because the pixel distribution is center weighted. I found the relevant code and then spent way too much time trying to compile. In the end, nothing worked. I installed dependencies, googled, went back and forth, tried…

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Resting, #18

I was tired today, so I rested. Pro tip: staying up late is an easy way to stay tired.

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Resting, #17

I had a fresh thought today: when I return to making things, it doesn’t need to be full steam ahead. This entire time I’ve had it in the back of my mind that at the end of the thirty days, I’d go back to doing almost exactly what I’d been doing before. However, I can…

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Resting, #16

Today I recorded some rain and wind chime sounds. It was very peaceful. I’m so used to taking photos that I often under appreciate sound. Recording sounds is different from taking photos. There’s no composition, framing, or focus. It’s just the sound and my desire to keep it.

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Resting, #15

Not making things is starting to feel like a weird limbo. I didn’t realize how much of my daily routine revolved around it. Earlier today I wanted to download my saved memes from Pinterest and I couldn’t find an easy way to do it. So I was like, “I’ll whip up a quick Python script…

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Resting, #14

During the last two weeks, I’ve had more ideas for things to make than in the past few months. It’s odd because it’s a reversal: I normally have one idea, make one project, and grind in the interim between ideas. Now I have a pile of ideas and I can’t act on any of them.…

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Resting, #13

I’ve been reading my early blog posts and it’s funny that I always say “See you tomorrow!” I guess it felt natural then. I mostly stopped saying it because, well, I’ll always see you tomorrow! At least for the foreseeable future. I’m almost at one year on this blog and it feels good to look…

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