Saturday’s GHDR Goal reflects my recent desire to slow down the pace…accepting incremental progress on website updates! I deliberately picked something to do that was more incremental, and for once I was actually OK with not finishing it. Instead, I felt good about making a good chunk of progress that would likely resolve in a couple more days of work. In the past, I would have been incredibly impatient and displeased with the lingering work. I don’t know what’s changed…maybe I’ve finally worn myself down, or listening to The Bird and the Bee on endless loop put me in a good mood.

In addition to the incremental progress on the website, I’ve made a few process improvements that are worth sharing. (more…)

I’ve been feeling a vague sense of unease all this week with regards to my general productivity. While I technically have been managing to post something every day, I have been also thinking that I’m somehow failing to meet the “spirit” of the challenge. So instead of trying to hit something on the goals list, I took some time to write down my thoughts in a new VELA series-A2b compact engineer research notebook away from the home office. My tentative (and still uncertain) conclusion is that I should try going even slower. (more…)

Wednesday was a Social Day, catching up with a friend I hadn’t seen in years. Eric recently released an escape game, a subgenre of adventure game, which you click around a virtual room to solve puzzles so you can leave the room. Eric demoed the game at the always-excellent Southern NH Game Developers Meetup and shared some of the story: it was originally a short project that grew into a year of weekend polishing, which was well received by the escape game community. You can check out Strange Magic Escape and experience it for yourself! The wonderful thing about today’s visit was that it got me more excited about games (which is one of my 2024 goals), but reminded me how great it is to be among creative people who share the same interests, what some of my friends call PLU: “People Like Us” :)

It was especially heartwarming to see Eric’s side project connect him with the possibility that he could perhaps start focusing on this more because the world responded to something he made with enthusiasm, which unlocks all manner of possibilities that did not exist before!

Stuff Learned and GHDR Points Earned

Today’s lesson: “Yay, people!” in the context of my “Game Making” goal. I am re-energized (and in hindsight, I really needed this boost).

PTS	DESCRIPTION
5	I helped a friend with a past result. Sharing some of the community stuff I know about helped an old friend connect with new possibilities!
3	I talked face-to-face with people about my goals!
2	Posted words about the work! (this post!)

That’s only 10 points, but points are points. And I feel pretty good about having remade connections with an old friend and the greatness of finding people who are like me.

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