2022 Projects Update
Overview
It’s August, and I’m taking some time to take stock of where all of my current projects are at as I vaguely plan out the rest of my year. First up is a general overview of how I’ve been spending the past 7 months.
So uh… The Fab Cube has taken up pretty much all my side project time this year. I’d been burning out on Wizard Tactics near the end of last year, and diving back into a web project this year has been really enjoyable, even if it’s come at the cost of… pretty much all my other projects.
My current goal is to get The Fab Cube’s cube feature released, and then start splitting up my time more evenly between The Fab Cube and Wizard Tactics. However, I’ve been neglecting music in favor of programming for the past year, so starting very soon I’d like to start spending a bit of time every week just playing music again, even if it’s not for the purpose of releasing anything. I also need to start taking steps to get work on the L.A.M.P. album going again because… wow it’s been so long since we started recording that.
Programming Projects
Aeon’s End Randomizer
On Hiatus • Project Link
I haven’t touched my Aeon’s End Randomizer much since I prototyped it last summer, for multiple reasons.
- I haven’t been playing Aeon’s End as much ever since I started playing Flesh and Blood (although I’m very excited to play through the new Legacy expansion with my friends).
- I started using the Board Game Stats app, which fulfilled my desire to track my games.
- I’ve just been having more fun working on Wizard Tactics and The Fab Cube.
I’m back on an iOS project at work, so I might poke at this app to brush back up on iOS skills after a year or more working primarily on web and server projects, but this is unlikely to be released to the iOS App Store anytime soon.
Flesh and Blood Cards Repository
Active • Project Link
I have a few big tasks on this project to finish up (namely updating a lot of sets to use higher resolution images that I found from the devs of the game and figuring out how I want to handle the translated versions of History Pack 1), but otherwise the data is in a pretty good spot until the next set drops! So… I have a few months of data entry reprieve, unless Legend Story Studios drops a new product before Dynasty in November.
The Fab Cube
Active • Project Link
The Fab Cube has been my main priority this year. As mentioned above, I want to get the Cube feature out for people to use and give feedback on! Once that’s out, I have more features I’d like to implement, but my focus will likely shift towards iterating on the released features while spending some time on other projects. But hey, if the site blows up maybe I’ll just keep my focus on it for awhile, who knows!
Wizard Tactics
On Hiatus • Project Link
This is the current short-term roadmap as of the release of this post:
- Version 0.6.0 - Spells
- New Spells and bug fixes
- Version 0.7.0 - More Wizards
- Attempting to add more than 2 wizards in a fight
- …
- This may go very badly…
- Allow Teams?
- New Spell
- Version 0.8.0 - Tidying Up
- More code clean up
- Figure out code signing
- New Spell
- Version 0.9.0 - Sound and Music
- Background music
- Sound effects
- Version 0.10.0 - Code Signing and Final Bug Pass for Beta
- Making the game be recognized by computers as not a virus!
- Fix up any pressing bugs
- Prep for beta release
As you can see, I’m actually pretty close to an Open Beta release! (If 5 updates could be counted as “close”). My somewhat loose internal goal was to make sure each element had 2-3 spells. Outside of that, the systems I wanted in the game for Open Beta are all pretty much implemented, and I just need to add sound and polish to the game. Having a detailed plan has always made jumping back into developing the game relatively easy, and hopefully the long break I took will give me a lot more energy to put into pushing the game over the Beta finish line.
Programming Projects
L.A.M.P.
On Hiatus • Project Link
So, L.A.M.P. is pretty much done as a band, but we were in the middle of a very prolonged recording of our first and last album when the pandemic hit and interrupted us, and I’d like to finish it.
Looking at my spreadsheet, we have 33 of 56 tracks recorded. Out of the 8 members playing on the album, 1 is completely finished with his tracks (and has since moved away), 1 is almost completely finished (and has since moved away), and everyone else who still has tracks to record is still in Grand Rapids and thus within range for me to wrangle into recording again (except for 1 member, who I very much need to message to find out what he’s up to nowadays, oops).
So… there’s still a good amount of work to do, but once we can get the rest of the tracks recorded, the rest of the work will be on Adam and I to mix the album. The only caveat is we have lost access to the place we were recording in, so… if anyone has ideas on cheap places to record in Grand Rapids, lemme know! Otherwise I guess I’m gonna have to turn a corner of my house into an impromptu studio.
Loose Leaf Tea
Active • Project Link
For the past year, I haven’t been working much on music composition, covers, practicing my instruments, or working on my mixing skills. My keyboard and most other instruments have been living in my basement, and I think they’ve been out of sight and out of mind. So, to fix that, I’m moving all my music equipment up to my bedroom, and hoping that seeing them sitting sad and lonely in my room every night will spark enough guilt to stir me into actually using them. I’ll report back on how that goes!
Wrap-up
I have come to the conclusion that I have too many projects. This is unlikely to change, and will likely get worse. I like making stuff! But I would like to finish some projects up instead of just starting more, so for the rest of the year, I’m going to try to be a little more intentional on working towards that goal. And if that plan doesn’t work out, hey, I’m having fun working on all this, so it’s not the end of the world.