February was quite an intense month for weather. It went from very cold in January to very warm (the Bay Area got to over 80 degrees in some areas) and then back to chilly weather again towards the end of the month. So cold that my area even saw some incredible (and beautiful) frosted roofs a few mornings. This seems to be the last effort of this stubborn winter, reluctant to leave. Yet Spring is for sure on the way.
The US seems to finally be getting into the next phase of COVID coexistence and the new normal seems to be closer to the old one, as various states and areas are getting ready to get rid of the masking mandates. I am personally excited for that, yet I recognize our privilege since other parts of the world, like Hong Kong and other parts of Asia for instance, continue to experience new waves of mass infection and lock-downs again. I hope that peace will come soon to the whole world.
Speaking of world peace… there’s no way not to mention Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. I can only say that… war is ugly and really we as human beings should avoid it at all costs. My heart goes to all the people impacted by this crisis. Hope peace and safety will be with them soon.
Here are the things that kept me busy this past month, aside from the day-to-day ‘job’ related stuff…
Creating and hacking stuffs
- Game dev
- This month I signed up and participated in my 1st game jam (also the 1st for GDevelop, the game engine I’ve been using) . I tried to create a game from scratch in 10 days. I got pretty far but eventually failed due to lack of time as well as the wrong implementation path (don’t try to make a Tetris clone with physics and collision rules, you are on the wrong path) But it was fun and I hope to have some time to post separately about the learnings.
- ‘Qin’ – Milestone 1 (M1) prototype reached! The game now kinda has a full game loop. Adding more next month into M2.
- Drawing – I continue to develop my skill and style, for both drawing and calligraphy.
- Writings
- After stopping the weekly newsletter, I am also running out of old games to review 🙂 So this month, I’ve published part 1 of a 3-part finale of the ‘Nostalgic Game Review’ monthly column. If you play any pc games back in the late 80’s or early 90’s you may resonate well with some of the titles in this month’s piece.
- I am moving forward to inking my 1st storybook… about half way through now. I can’t say that I know what I am doing, but hey, it’s all about getting it out there, and learning from doing!
- Merch Store – yeah… no update here, but please do check it out!
Consuming Stuffs
- Reading – continuing slowly on the Chinese history epic ‘帝國前夕’ (東周); started this awesome book ‘Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less‘ by Greg McKeown about half way through now.
- Gaming – definitely didn’t play as much game this month, only the 2008 reboot of ‘Prince of Persia‘ (and it’s been lots of fun…)
- TV/Movies – finished Book of Boba Fett (it’s OK… perhaps 6.5/10); continue ‘Doom Patrol’; two heavy, serious movies ‘Silence‘ and ‘Prisoners‘
If you really finished reading the above, I thank you, and wish that my sharing would either entertain you, or inspire you (if you’ve been thinking about your own creative projects).