Vroom Vroom!

May 22nd, 2025 - Thursday Afternoon, Post-Lunch Slump

Found a bit more time to tinker with Godot this week and made this funny little top-down driving prototype:

It's funny, I'm not a car guy at all, but the more I've thought about a little game I'd like to make, the more I'm drawn to a simple driving game.

It's a combination of factors, really. I don't have to animate them, I do enjoy the aesthetics of 70s concept cars, and it feels like I could make just traversing the world fun.

So for now I'm going to push on this and see if I can make a lil' car and a lil' world to drive it around in. I'm calling it "WheelLands" for now. The goal would be to make "Mad Max" but with "Out Run" aesthetics and vibes.

We'll see.

-e

New Musical Finds of the Week

May 11th, 2025 - Sunday afternoon coffee time

Found some really fun new music this week trawling the internet.

Welly: "Big in the Suburbs" (2024)

First up is the band Welly; a bunch of thrashy lads from Southampton, UK making fun thrashy music. Kind of punk, kind of Talking Heads... Their album "Big in the Suburbs" from last year is great and has been on rotation for me quite a bit this week. I particularly like their single "Shopping":

Eli Winter: "A Trick of the Light"

The other album I've been listening to a bunch is Eli Winter with his new album "A Trick of the Light." Kind of hard to describe this one other than its jazz but with strong Americana vibes; think freewheeling jazz but with banjos and slide guitar. It's really cool and makes great atmosphere when writing.

-e

Personality of Pour-Over Coffee

April 25th, 2025 - Third morning coffee.

In Seoul I picked up the novel "Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop," which was an incredibly charming little slice of life read about a woman who leaves her old life behind to start a bookshop. She accumlates a cast of characters including employees, regular customers, suppliers, who create a wonderful little community.

One of my favorite characters was the barista, who takes the job at first just because he needs the work, but who then becomes incredibly invested in learning how to make the perfect cup of coffee. He learns from an experienced roaster this notion that pour-over coffee "reflects the personality and mood of the barista.

It's an idea that sounds metaphorical and New Age-y at first, but the more I've thought about it the more I'm absolutely obsessed. A pour-over coffee is most affected by timing and precision; amount of grounds, speed of pouring, time to wait between pours, staying focused and concentrated... These are all things that do, in fact, reflect mood (were you feeling impatient? angry? peaceful?) and personality (are you patient? precise? careless?). Pouring inconsistently can make the coffee bitter. Too quickly makes a cup that's far too dark. Letting the grounds sit out too long makes a weak cup. Now I find myself paying more attention to making my own coffee.

If a cup of coffee reflects who you are and how you interact with the world, I would like all my cups I make to be nothing but delicious.

-e

Back from Seoul

April 22nd, 2025 - 10am on the dot.

First day back at the office and I am definitely having trouble locking in. The trip to Seoul was absolutely incredible; great food, wonderful sights, amazing wedding... We went to a Buddhist temple for a guided meditation session and - corny as it may sound - it was kind of a transformative experience for me? First time (possibly in my life) that I've reached that level of peace and stillness. Incredible. Also spent WAY too much money between clothes, gifts for people, etc... but how often do you go to Seoul?

Hopefully it won't be my last trip there, because I loved it. Definitely want to go back someday.

-e

Heading to Seoul on Wednesday!

April 8th, 2025 - Mid Afternoon Snacktime

Spending some time today planning our trip to Seoul on Wednesday - Very excited. Been to Japan twice, but never to South Korea. We're going for a friend's wedding, but there's also going to be plenty of time for shopping, food, sightseeing... It's been a while since I've done a proper trip, and I'm really looking forward to this one.

Just need to get a ton of work done between now and then - Eeeesh.

-e

What I'm Listening To:
"Bittersweet Memories" by Takashico Music

April 3rd, 2025 - A little after 11am

Busy and weird week at work, but I'm still trying to keep up my New Year's Resolution of spending a little time every day researching new music. Today's fun find was Takashico Music's Bittersweet Memories. He's a musician working in a genre I'm seeing some called "Japanese Neo-Technopop;" basically a revival of the Yellow Magic Orchestra synthpop/technopop of the post-Bubble 80s and 90s. Really fun little album; give it a listen!

Does that embed work? I hope so!

Tinkering Tinkering

March 24th 2025 - Pre-Lunchtime

Started tinkering with Godot this morning and trying to set discrete goals for myself in making a game.

I loosely want to adapt my Short Circuit Sleuth characters and story into a side-scrolling adventure game, but I'm also not locking myself into that - for now I just want to get the Sleuth working as a basic template I can use to make lots of games.

I'm starting simply for now, trying to make something that can do the following:

• Run and jump
• Pick up items in an inventory
• Talk to characters, make dialogue options
• Have VO
• Track basic world logic

If I can do that, I think I could make about 75% of the game ideas I have in my head; especially when combined with finding a simple enough art style that I can just make stuff.

So first things first, getting that platformer controller working...

-e

Spring is Finally Coming

March 20th 2025 - A bit before lunch

Finally starting to get some sunshine here in Helsinki - Sun coming up around 6:15a or so, and it's amazing how good it's been for my mental state. I don't feel quite as terrible all the time, I'm feeling more positive about life and work in general, and I'm feeling cautiously optimistic about the futre.

I managed to resurrect my beloved 2012 Retina Macbook Pro as a machine running Ubuntu and it's made me incredibly happy - that's what I'm typing on now! I love this computer and it's amazing how much I now enjoy working on a computer again. It's got its quirks and problems, obviously, but I'm trying to work around that.

I'm trying to embrace the idea of taking control of my tech life again - going open source, moving away from big Silicon Valley social media companies, etc.

More to come...

-e