Irons in Fires
I feel some strange compulsion to make tools. So what are some of the tools I'm working on currently?
- Emprise:: A tool I'm working on to help me manage all the data about worlds, game systems, other stuff relevant to my hobbies. It's in alpha State right now. This one's been rebuilt a half dozen times now, first as 'data manager', then 'lattice', then 'lathe', 'cosmographer', 'cosm'... Each time I learn something new but I don't know if I'm making progress. The curse of making things is that by the time you've made the thing you've learned enough to want to try again.
- Dockyard: A tool for kitbashing images of ships, frames (mechs), space stations and other modular creations for my setting. Only my second visual tool, most of what I create is about databases. Interesting challenge, but definitely harder than just dealing with data. Functional but I'm struggling with scaling image components and actually building the library of parts.
- Sarok: A solo poker-like game with characters, AI, custom art. Based on my Aeldos setting and tied into the mythology of it. A fun challenge that's taught me about game loops and both app and game design.
- Manifest: Interactive character sheet for Praxis TTRPG. Version 3 of this I think. Still very much in-progress but coming along well enough.
- Lifepath: A choose-your-own-adventure style character creation tool and tool for creating choose-your-own-adventures.
- Spark: Sort of a spinoff of Lifepath, but with full RPG mechanics. Open world text/visual novel style RPG tool and tool for making worlds/content within this context.
- MemoryPalace: A vague idea I have about creating nested, annotated image maps. Drill through/down/across images to explore ideas.
As is the case for most, for each tool I make I learn something that makes me want to make or remake some other tool. And for each week I take off of the endeavour I feel like I've lost the plot entirely. It doesn't help that I feel a constant tension between the the stuff I want to keep in my head for my own creations and the stuff I have to keep in my head for my job.