Posts

I’ve written several in-person text adventures modeled after Parsely games over the past couple of years. Through persistent effort, I’ve managed to improve them and recently began to notice a particular style develop. Since I’m finally pleased with where they are headed, I figured I would document my journey in writing them: Why I write them, how I find ideas, how I develop those ideas, and the actual mechanisms of making a document as reference. This whole set of posts will probably be four parts over the next month. So we start off at the beginning: Why did I start writing these, and why am I still writing these? ...

Twine is a wonderful editor that lets you create interactive fiction. It auto-builds a big flow chart, and has some programming paradigms that allow adding many involved paradigms that wouldn’t be possible in a Choose Your Own Adventure book, for example. I recently took my text adventure Recurring Nightmare and rewrote it slightly as Dream Sequence, which I’m going to run as an “in person” text adventure over the computer for my company. When I did that, I decided it would also be fun to try and write it up with Twine, since it’s a fairly simple map and game. ...

After significant pestering from Netflix, I began watching The Umbrella Academy. It gripped me immediately, and I’ve enjoyed watching it. I’m nearing the end of Season 2 and so far the twists and turns have been handled deftly in my mind. I’m sure some could find some faults, but it’s been an amazing ride. Since last week I’ve known I wanted to write some brief thoughts on it, but I needed something to say. When comparing it to other superhero and supernatural shows I’ve seen, I realized it’s the show Heroes could have become. ...

A while ago I wrote my most recent text adventure, Recurring Nightmare. I think it’s my best one yet, with a clever puzzle hidden within it. It’s definitely the first I’d actually recommend other people try playing with friends. You can listen to the play-through of it on OHAC 27. I’ve attached the PDF of the adventure below. Recurring Nightmare

On Saturday of this past weekend, I was able to check out the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. It’s a truly beautiful place. What struck me was a description of what the designer, Bernard Maybeck, intended to create when forming this area. First, he wanted to make sure that it was using the natural landscape. To that end, there is the large pond, trees and bushes growing all around it, and no desire to reform the landscape. Second, the intended feel was that of well-preserved Roman ruins. I think he nailed that. It’s gorgeous, and although out-of-place in the broader scope of San Francisco, walking around it really makes you feel like you’re in another world.

What an amazing show. Of all the nostalgic cartoons I have from elementary and middle school, I think Avatar and Spongebob are the only two I will continue to watch for years. While Spongebob is simply a feel-good show for me, which helped establish my sense of humor over the years and always puts a smile on my face, Avatar deals with issues more sincerely and deeply, in a way that is accessible to its younger audience. ...

I’m planning on making the best use of this long weekend that I can, since it’ll likely be the last one I get until Thanksgiving. To that end: https://xkcd.com/157/

Erin and I embarked on yet another cross-country road trip from Minnesota to California this past weekend. It’s the third we’ve had, and each one has proven more successful than the last. ...

After several months back in Minnesota, I’m finally preparing to head back to California. There is a lot to be said for a change in scenery. It’s become a bit difficult to focus in my current set-up in Minnesota. There are more distractions than I’ve been used to prior, and I no longer have the same desk situation from the past couple of months. I’m looking forward to getting a reset. ...

This post is a little late since I was camping this past weekend. A good chunk of my time was spent sitting in a chair (or in a hammock, or on a diving platform in the water) reading some books. While camping for about 3 days, I was able to finish 3 books. Managing to read that much was an excellent starting point for my brain. I felt focused and calm while reading, and was able to ignore my phone (particularly since there’s no service where I was.) ...