Game Update
Moving away from making new features and switching my focus to level design has been difficult. It’s a different mentality to start going through a process to build each stage. I need to be more intentional with getting it done. I need to set aside time to work on it each day.
I’m getting my oldest son more and more involved. He has a lot of great ideas, but a lot of them would require new features. Still it’s good to see him show an interest. It’s something we can share together. I think it will be an important step to help him understand the construct that we have and how to work with it.
Often we think, “if I only had this thing, then this task would be so much easier!” Most of the time having lots of options just leads to analysis paralysis. If I only had more colors, or more sounds, or more tools, etc… I find it’s a lot easier to create with a more limited palette. It pushes me to get more creative with what I’m doing to make something work.
Personal Update
I took a couple of days off work to have a bit of a “staycation” with my girlfriend. I’m so happy for her continued support for me. We did some local traveling when the weather was cooperating. She wanted this weekend to be a weekend of firsts for us.
She took me to a couple of restaurants that I hadn’t tried out before close by on Orange Beach. Very picturesque being on the coastline for lunch. We also spent some time watching a dating elimination show on TV. She said she liked how I would analyze the social dynamics of the situations. Of course I know a lot of times reality TV is highly produced and not real at all but it was a fun indulgence.
I introduced her to Dungeons and Dragons, running a fun game for my friends and her. We worked through the first six scenarios in the Dwarven Forge “Caverns Deep!” modules. I’m happy to say that everyone survived for now, and I think there is enough interest to run the next couple of encounters. It’s been a long time since I have run a game, but I feel like I did a decent job. It’s kind of interesting because it’s a lot of prep work and I’d say they only saw about one quarter of what they could have found. Still I think it was a lot of fun, and my girlfriend did a great job getting into it by adding a lot of flavor to the game.