Brains Are Weird

I am typing this post on my new split ergonomic keyboard and man am I having a hell of a time. That previous sentence took me over a minute to write.

Given the new layout of the keyboard, I suddenly feel as if my brain is getting muscle cramps. I keep feeling the battle between my muscle memory, gliding my fingers to where they “should” go and the unexpected jolt of seeing an unexpected character show up.

I did a typing test to gauge the speed difference between my normal keyboard and this new one and oh man, it’s embarrassing to say the least.

Though I will admit that there is a certain level of fun to learning this new keyboard as I type. However, for the sake of my sanity, I am going to keep this post short.

Game Updates

I’ve added a number of changes and improvements since the last update. Most importantly, I’ve created a basic system that handles the bulletspread (as shown by the aim reticle) based on different player states.

Most of the work was reworking the existing way I had handled linetraces. For a variety of reasons, my initial attempt was largely correct, but had serious issues when trying to adapt it to a variable bulletspread radius.

Meta Game Dev Thoughts

Changing the underlying system took well over 7 hours of my time. However, the vast majority of that time was spent understanding why it wasn’t working. The actual change was maybe 45 minutes.

I suppose that’s how these things go.

Also, I found a great video about solo game dev processes known as “Production Point”

I will certainly try and incorporate this into my own processes.

Mental Musings

It still feels like there is just so much out there for me to do. I suppose I need to accept this feeling.

I sometimes wonder what exactly it is about games that makes them so captive to people like myself. Then I like to ponder about what I could accomplish if I had the same interest / drive I have for these types of games but applied to some real life goal.

In some ways, I’m trying to do it with my game dev. Perhaps that day will never come where my interest wells up to the level that a well made game makes me feel, but as I’ve not sincerely pursued something with all my heart for some time, I won’t be able to say for sure until I’ve tried.