Linear Potato

Update Post #3:
Ugly UI Warning! You Have Been Warned!
5/19/2022

Another month and a half has already passed! I've been quite busy between job applications, game dev, and practicing guitar.


Game Dev

Ugly UI warning! You have been warned!

My game dev progress has been a little bit slower than I would like (of course). Progress has at least been fairly consistent of late. I try to make sure I accomplish progress in some of my other goals like job searching beforehand. I had a conversation recently that actually pointed out a fatal mistake I may be making and that's that I have no visual aids to document my progress! I'll try to post at least some images to go along with my progress.

I have some base mechanics down, with a system in place to allow me to add puzzle elements with configurable interactions between them all. For example, I could make a rock that pushes pebbles, but not boulders.

My most recent step was adding in a main menu, pause menu, and binary serializer for saving the game. I am currently spinning my wheels on deciding when and how progress should be saved (savepoint, after puzzle completion, via main menu, when the game exits).

I also have some very ugly, but usable UI that I can build off of.

I guess it has been kind of bugging me how my game is going to be different from other similar games. I'm not sure if I should be worried about that at this stage or ever for this specific game given the fact I have not yet released a commercial game.

I've also decided to aim to participate in the 2022 GMTK Game Jam. I've felt very apprehensive to do any game jams as I tend to doubt my skills especially in situations with a lot of pressure. I think it may be best to bite the bullet, or rather jump into the cold pool and just do one. I have been working in Unity for a little over two years after all.

Just before posting I saw the video David Wehle posted on his departure from Youtube. Although I am of course sad that there will not be more Game Dev Unlocked videos for the forseable future, I am glad he is putting priority on his own well being. That should always come first! I hope maybe if he ever feels comfortable doing so, if he could drop just a life/game dev update every once in a while. I'll alwyas return to his videos The #1 Miskate New Indie Devs Make and How I Finished My Indie Game (Even When I Hated It). I hold those videos very dear to me.

Best of luck to you, David.


Music

Something Has just really clicked with me recently when it comes to guitar. The weirdest thing was, I was distracting myself from game dev by trying to finally sit down and learn a fighting game. I ended up trying to really dig into the game Skullgirls. The game is great, but I had this moment where I was like "I'm memorizing all these crazy combos, it's almost like I'm playing an instrument" (This could have been emphasized by the character Big Band). So naturally, I was like "Why don't I just learn to play guitar if I'm gonna memorize a 20 step looping combo".

Well I got my very under used electric guitar re-setup and I guess the rest is history. I've been playing a ton of songs by Interpol and Asian Kung Fu Generation.

That brings me to my next point, the full albums I've listened to.

Turn On The Bright Lights - Interpol (2002)
Antics - Interpol (2004)
Our Love To Admire - Interpol (2007)
In Utero - Nirvana (1993)
Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes (1983)
Humbug - Arctic Monkeys (2009)

Well that's all for now!

Made by Eric Furukawa, 2022