Looking Back a Week

I’ve been out of it since roughly Thursday before last. It’s annoying. I, basically, felt shitty, tired, coughing and with a pounding headache. This is something that shouldn’t last a week. And now it’s about a week and a half since and I still feel pretty bad. The doctor said it’s a bug. But I don’t think it’s just a bug. I think stress has something to do with it. Stress is hard to measure and I am very impervious to outside stress, very good at stressing myself out and exceedingly good at ignoring the effects. Until they bring me down. I’ve said before that I don’t know when to quit. I still don’t (i.e. The time I stayed at work until 23:00 just because there was stuff to do. Not even urgent stuff). And so Maayan suggested something I’m seriously considering. Maayan is working now. It’s just us and a pup. We live modestly. We don’t need much. And even moving to a new place a year from now won’t change much. Our situation is stable and quite ok. We don’t really need two full high-tech size paychecks. So, to reduce stress, I might want to dial it back a bit. About a day. With another day a week, I could focus on the last course of the degree I just can’t seem to finish. I could work on personal projects. I could branch out a bit. Learn more. Improve my skills. And mostly, do something without a deadline. Hopefully, Continue Reading →


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Sick.

Staying home. Will try to not die.


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Don’t You Just Love it When a Plan Comes Together

Yesterday was interesting. I was doing my thing, as usual. I knew there were problems with the latest store version we uploaded but I was practicing not shoving my nose in to things I probably shouldn’t. It happens to me quite a lot that I try to help but I really shouldn’t, for various reasons. So, this time, I did that. I don’t know exactly how much time has passed but I noticed the rest of the team wasn’t getting any progress. So, I joined in, took a look at what they were doing, suggested some things that didn’t quite help, and then decide to investigate it on my own. I pushed some breakpoints in the flow and spent about 15 minutes looking at exactly what was happening. Then I said: “I can tell you exactly what is happening!” Then everyone crowded around my station while I explained why it happens and what I think we should do to fix it. The response was stunned silence. So, I said “No objections or suggestions? Ok, I’ll do what I said.” Then some stayed to watch. :) It doesn’t happen all the time. But it’s fun when it does.


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Global Game Jam 2016

7:19 – Soon, we will start. Feeling: Excited. 11:14 – Got there. Heard the keynote. Got the theme (No, not telling). Now Brainstorming. 11:42 – Getting to work. 00:31 – Home now. Was a busy day. The venue itself isn’t that great; the air conditioning is brutal, the separate spaces are nice but it’s tough to even stay properly hydrated. Took out the pup. Going to go to sleep soon. 10:51 – Back in the saddle again. 7 Hours to demo. 12:43 – Finished the basic system. Now starting to write content. The peckishness has begun. They said pizzas are forthcoming. 13:37 – Refueled and ready to go again. 18:14 – Wrapping up. Getting ready for the presentation. 20:34 – Presentations completed. Some really nice games. Mine felt inadequate. Maayan’s looked very nice. They both, one Twine based, one completely console, definitely turned some heads in a room mostly composed of Unity developers. 00:57 – Concluded with a family dinner at Maayan’s parents and a viewing of Gav HaUma. Now, finally, going to sleep. Tomorrow, a full workday awaits.


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אתמול היה יום טוב

שלשום בערב הגענו למסקנה שיש משהו שצריך לעשות ושחייבים לדחות בגללו את הגרסה. התאפסנו על ההגדרות המדויקות, ידעתי מה צריך לעשות, אבל גם ידעתי שזה ייקח בערך יום אז אני לא אתחיל את זה ב-19:00. אז כן התחלתי את זה אתמול בבוקר. ומה הייתי צריך לעשות? היה חלון במשחק, שבגלל המאפיין החדש שאנחנו רוצים להוסיף, דורש שכתוב כמעט מוחלט של הזרימה שלו. אז התיישבתי והתחלתי לכתוב. וזה היה הרבה שכתוב, הרבה עריכה, הרבה כתיבה של דברים חדשים ואני צריך לסיים את הכל לפני שאני יכול להריץ משהו או לבדוק משהו בגלל שזה שובר את ההידור. אז במשך שעות, אני יושב וכותב. רק אני וה-Visual Studio. לא היו הפרעות, לא הייתי צריך להתעסק עם דבר אחר. היה כיף ממש.


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מה המצב?

מה קורה? מה שלומכם? אני סבבה. יופי. אז מה הולך עם החיים שלי… מעין התחילה עבודה חדשה. חלק מהחבר’ה שהיא מכירה מהחברה הקודמת. חלק חדשים. משרדים יפים בבית רובינשטיין ובינתיים היא מאוד אוהבת את המקום. אני מקווה לטוב. ב”7 יסודות” אנחנו ממש לפני גרסה חשובה ולכן עובדים קצת עד מאוחר. לפי מה שמוסרים לי מההנהלה, המספרים שלנו טובים. המשחק מתפקד סבבה ויש הרבה שחקנים. אנחנו כרגע מתפקדים קצת מעל מה שמצפים שזה נהדר. אבל זה קצת מפחיד אותי שהולכים לדרוש מאיתנו יותר, משהו אולי לא כל כך מציאותי שלא נוכל לספק. אבל לדאוג לזה לא יעזור לי. אז ממשיכים. ה-Global Game Jam 2016 הוא עוד שבוע וחצי. התכנון שלי הוא לבנות סוג של סיפור אינטראקטיבי ב-Twine, מין 80 Days רק עם גודל שיותר מתאים ל-Game Jam. כי Twine מאפשר לכתוב סיפורים אינטראקטיביים אבל יש לנו גם הרבה טווח לעשות דברים מתוחכמים יותר. אפשר באמת לתכנת בו, הוא תומך ב-JavaScript ו-CSS ואני חושב בעיקר על פונקציות האקראיות שלו ואיך אני יכול להשתמש בהן כדי לזרוק על השחקן אירועים שונים בכל פעם. פירסמו כבר את ה-diversifiers ואני חושב כבר שאני יכול לקלוע לכמה מהם. את העיקר של המשחק אני אבנה סביב הנושא אבל זה אני כבר יודע שאני רוצה לעשות. אני מחליט את כל זה מראש כי אני רוצה הפעם לעשות משהו משלי, משהו שאני אעבוד עליו בלבד (אולי אם קצת עזרה חזותית או קולית אם אצטרך) כדי לראות מה אני מסוגל לעשות רק בעצמי וגם כמה אני מסוגל למתוח את השימושיות של Twine. נתראה ב-Wix, מי שמגיע.


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Sound of Your Voice Linked to Emotions

In about the same way smiling is linked to happy feelings. That is, the connection is bi-directional. This is the results of a recent study. They found out that there is also a connection between liking and enjoying the sound of your voice and being in tune with your emotions. Which might explain a thing or two as I really don’t like the sound of my own voice.


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I Watch Roleplaying Shows

Currently, I follow ‘Rollplay – Mirrorshades‘, ‘Rollplay – Swan Song‘ and ‘Critical Role‘, I watch the Acquisitions Inc. PAX games every year, I tried ‘Turn Order – Edge Runners‘ but didn’t quite like it, I, of course, watch the RPGs on TableTop when they happen and I just finished watching ‘Titansgrave: The Ashes of Valkana‘. Why? Well, it’s fun. That’s the first thing. Secondly, I think there is a benefit to roleplayers from watching others play. Whether it is to get a different perspective, see what they’re doing right, what they’re doing wrong and probably change your style accordingly, especially if you enjoy what you see. I started watching Mirrorshades because it’s Shadowrun and I love Shadowrun. Even if it’s first edition (which is weird) and I stayed because the players are very engaged, the GM is incredible, in preparation and performance, and it’s touching at times, has good action and mostly just funny and fun. I stopped watching Edge Runners because that was almost the complete opposite. The GM was new and inexperienced. While I might fault the language use of the Mirrorshades crew, they know what they want and what they mean. They don’t fumble. That was not the case here. The players seem not that engaged and not that interesting and everyone seemed like they were trying too hard. And the story itself didn’t hook me. Watching Critical Role is like watching the X-Games. The cast is all engaged with the story, they care about what happens. Continue Reading →


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Status Update

So… What’s up with me? Well, obviously, I’ve been busy. So busy that I was working 10-12 hour days and was so tired coming home that I barely had the strength to do the things I wanted, let alone the things I needed to do. But we’re officially world wide now. The game is open on all territories. Which means, sans marketing, our server load doubled and tripled. Which means, bugs came out that are only relevant under heavy load. Also, the stress is on, we are officially competing now. And we haven’t even rolled out our more competitive features. So, before any of the big ones notice us and pull out the big guns, we have to roll out our secret weapons. This means, everyone onboard, working as hard as they can, to deliver those feature ASAP. And after those days, I’m tired. Even writing this, the weekend after an iteration is finished. I can barely muster enough brain power to write more than 200 words. On top of this, the 2016 Global Game Jam is almost upon us and this time, I want to try to write something all on my own. So, I’ve been catching up on Twine knowledge as much as I can. And I’ve been roped into a Secret Santa game which I am so very bad it. I’m also still trying to work on my personal projects; I’m running two games in the Pundak forums, one of them is already using THF, and I’m Continue Reading →


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Status Update

Current Status: Extremely busy. We’ve had a stressful past few days at work. Lots of things getting more complicated than they should, deadlines being pushed and pretty much everyone staying late. Hopefully it will end soon because I haven’t really had a chance to write something and there’s an article about Game Progression vs Game Victory I would like to discuss. In the mean time, I’ve been watching Adam Ruins Everything (and it’s awesome!) and I’ve been wondering, is it legal for employers in Israel to forbid employees to talk about their salary?


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