Playing Games, Making Games

Oh man we're actually going there I'm tired, let me take a nap Oh god we're actually here Oh god there are old-timey planes with propellers on the nose Okay, other people survived their dive, that's good Why am I paying hundreds of dollars to jump out of a plane this is the dumbest thing I've ever done This waiver is listing all the ways in which I'm gonna die You know what, I'm okay with dying here - I had a good last meal, and this is a badass way to go, we had a good run I'm gonna be a statistic "SKYDIVING IS NOT SAFE YOU ARE GOING TO DIE YOUR INSTRUCTORS ARE GROSSLY NEGLIGENT sign here" Okay waiver has been signed, I need to take a shit Poop's not coming out Okay now watch this video that says the opposite of what the waiver was saying Now lie on the ground and demonstrate how weak your core muscles are Time to put on a harness Oh god I really need to take a shit Poop is coming out How many times do I need to wipe holy

DISCLAIMER: Everything I talk about here is my experience. It may not apply to everyone who suffers from scoliosis. I am only describing my own experience. In the past I've talked about my scoliosis. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, here's a picture of my x-rays. Yes, that is my spine. That is what it looks like when I'm standing perfectly straight. If this picture makes you feel uncomfortable, imagine having to live with it. It was discovered late in my life, at 25. At that age, it is too late for correction. If discovered during childhood, it can be corrected via bracing. At my age, nothing other than surgery can fix it. The surgery is called spinal fusion . Here's a brief description: "Spinal fusion is a surgical procedure used to correct problems with the small bones of the spine (vertebrae). It is essentially a "welding" process. The basic idea is to fuse together the painful vertebrae so that they heal into a sing

If you haven't played this game yet, go play it. You can get it right here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/303210/ It'll take you about 90 minutes. Go do that now. This post assumes you've played it and spoils basically the whole experience. --- Did you play it? Good. This is an email I wrote to the developer, immediately after playing through it: Hi. I just finished playing through A Beginner's Guide. I knew nothing about it going in. I was completely sold on the fact that it was being made by you, and that was enough for me to want to pick it up and give it my time. So I did. And for a while, I believed your story. Early on, the story seemed genuine. I knew in the back of my mind that I couldn't implicitly trust the person responsible for something as subversive as The Stanley Parable, but everything you said was plausible. And being an independent game developer myself, the story rang true, especially when I saw the "made by a newbie wit

It's now been over a month since I've had my operation. The eyedrop regimen is over, although I still occasionally put in a few on occasion to soothe my eyes when they get dry. Not being allowed to rub my eyes is as maddening as ever, and I do it anyways (lightly) from time to time. On my last visit, it was confirmed that I now have 20/20 vision. My right eye still has a bit of scarring that should heal over the next few months, resulting in cleaner vision. I took a medicine ball to the face today, so I need to go in tomorrow to make sure it didn't cause any damage to my eyes. Overall, I feel pretty good about the whole thing. I still attempt to adjust my nonexistent glasses from time to time. Looking back at old pictures of myself feels strange; my face looks much more natural without glasses. Would I recommend the operation? Probably, with a few caveats: -Don't do it if you can't afford it. It's not worth going in debt for. -If you can already fun

Warning: This post has virtually nothing to do with video games. Some time around the age of 10, it was decided for me that I had to wear glasses. Between that time and today, I decided getting my eyes fixed via laser was a good idea. I finally went through with it and I figured it would make an interesting blog post. Glasses are a mild annoyance; they're fairly un-invasive, but they start getting in the way as soon as you start doing anything physical, anything involving water or anything that can end with you getting punched in the face. The idea of contacts never appealed to me; something about sticking a piece of plastic onto  your eyeball freaked me out. Getting bits of your eye burned off by a laser seemed like a much more palatable solution. I liked that it was a permanent solution; glasses break, contacts get lost, but it's very hard to undo laser surgery. I also liked that it removed a material dependancy; suddenly I didn't rely on a tiny piece of plastic t

Back in July 2010, when I made YHNL, I made a habit of posting in the contest's forum thread every day. I posted regular updates on my progress, usually with a new build showing off the game's new features. A few years later, I can look back at these posts and see the game take shape, little by little. It's an interesting read, and I'll upload it here for posterity's sake. Posts are pulled from http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3310460&userid=139715&perpage=40&pagenumber=1 Commentary will be in red. Context: the contest's theme was announced on may 29th. The contest ran from July 1st to July 31st. Theme : This year's theme is  "You can't ______"  - and you fill in the blank. You can't eat, you can't sleep, you can't fart, you can't shoot, you can't whatever, this concept (and lack of ability) has to be core and painfully noticeable in your game. All entries need to adhere to the t