{{ Welcome Tumblr refugees! }}
I'm still alive, though a bit bruised and broken. Trying to claw my way back to a good place. Wishing I could make everyone happy. Still hoping for the best. Definitely not angry, though I've caused plenty of that it appears.
I took a loooong break from social media, and still haven't really gone back. It was taking a toll on me and it's felt restorative to get some "negative space" (a song where I'm not the singer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMMIT-d6WI8) going on that front. Someone told me I never follow through on my talk about quitting social media, so I stepped up to the challenge. ;-)
My new job and commute are putting a HUGE damper on my gamedev exploits, but me and @luis did eek out some time over Thanksgiving to pick back up our current project. It's a ton of fun so far, and we spec'd out some cool additions that I think people are gonna love... that is if I can find more time to work on it... hopefully over Christmas.
I decided to go totally METHOD on this game ;-P :
I'm reading (and listening to) a bunch of REALLY good books right now, I'll probably make a looong post about them when I'm done:
- Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_trilogy)
- Godel, Escher, Bach - By Douglas Hofstadter (https://www.amazon.com/G%C3%B6del-Escher-Bach-Eternal-Golden/dp/0465026567)
- Le Ton Beau De Marot - Also By Hofstadter (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Ton_beau_de_Marot)
- Saints (https://history.lds.org/saints?lang=eng) [ just finished this actually ]
- Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software (https://www.amazon.com/Design-Patterns-Elements-Reusable-Object-Oriented/dp/0201633612)
- And still chewing on Anti-Fragile (https://www.amazon.com/Antifragile-Things-That-Disorder-Incerto/dp/0812979680)
I wish I could curl up and read for the rest of my life. I also dipped my toe in writing a novel during November... didn't get a lot done, but I'm proud of what I did churn out... still lots of gaps to fill in, but it was a soul-stretching exercise. Maybe when it's done I'll share it here.
I'd also like to make a post sometime about what I'm learning at my job about the javascript framework Angular. It is actually REALLY cool and I think captures some of the magic of old-fashioned "no load" Flash sites while still being 100% HTML5 and mobile compliant. (https://angular.io/docs)
I discovered a bunch of symmetry tools on my i-Pad and have been toying around with art in that vein. The symmetry stuff tends to make things that feel very t-shirty. I'm too lazy lately to use reference, so it's all kinda stream-of-consciousness stuff.
My mouth is watering over the new i-Pad with the magenetic snapping Apple Pencil and auto-recharging... I'm experimenting with a newish art-style and I really loved the Venom movie (movie was cheesy-horrible fun, but the character is SO intriguing!)
I've been drawing a lot of amorphous forms (Organic pencilwork) lately and I hope my brain isn't subliminally sending me the message that I have cancer...
I should really post these (and my Inktober stuff) on the Newgrounds art portal... especially now that the "Tumblr Exodus" has begun and there will be a lot more artists on here...
Finally, @matt-likes-swords finished his next Epic Battle Fantasy installment for Steam and my character Super Chibi Knight makes the CUTEST cameo. Best of luck to him on the launch of his latest project!
Leave me a comment! Something about my books or art or games look interesting to you? Comment!
I'd love to hear from you.
--Nick
Luis
That's cool you're learning angular. It's been one of those I'll read something useful while I'm on downtime things but there hasn't been much downtime.
This year has been kind of hit or miss. Probably most years are like that but it's good to reflect on wins and losses. It's ending on a bit of a bummer. My boss got laid off last week and some people have shitty bosses but I really appreciated her leadership and that it sucks being laid off close to Christmas or what have you. Learning what new stuff I have to do to pinch hit while waiting on a new creative director kind of sucks so today was rough cause I won't deny I woke up bitter. Did work a little on cctb during lunch to get my mind off stuff which did help not sure how unbusy I'll be in the current climate but we'll see.
On the positive side, I feel like creatively and professionally I'm at the top of my game. I might do something 'crazy' soon. Thanks for the update!
BoMToons
Sorry to hear about your boss, that sucks when good people get let go. Maybe you can take over her job! ;-P
We'll get CCTB done, no pressure.
Angular is pretty impressive, but I'll leave the details for a future post.