This year, I fully came out as a bona-fide non-believer. I can't say it was an easy or quick decision. I have spent many a Christmas full of guilt and doubt. Nonetheless, this year I finally threw in the towel and admitted to myself and my family that God is nothing more than a bit of indigestion, some uncooked potato, a load of humbug. And while watching the Polar Express, and getting way too…
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I haven't posted in a while and im sure that the army of webcrawlers that visit this site on a weekly basis really missed me.
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The Bike is "Almost" Done! We have been working pretty hard on finishing this project. I figured now is a good time to post an update on the project. What is done: Motor is mounted, The bike is reassembled, and most of the parts are either ordered or on the way. In Progress: Battery pack, battery housing AKA the fuel tank, chains and sprockets, and wiring To Do: 12V system, seat reupholstering…
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We learned a lot about mechanical engineering from our first project, and we used it to springboard us into a much more ambitious conversion. The Bike The bike we will convert this time is a circa 1970s Rokon Trailbreaker. Before the 3hp 2 cylinder engine stopped working, this thing was a beast. This bike features a two-wheel drive system and a very torquey gearing configuration, allowing it to…
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Long before I went on a creativity bender onset by the lockdown, I wrote code in my spare time. Back in December of 2019, we bought our first EV. A 2019 Chevy Bolt in a beautifully mysterious dark grey. I went all in on the EV life, but also had a really bad case of range anxiety. That coupled with the Bolt's UI gamifying efficient driving led me to the idea of tracking my driving efficiency on…
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I wanted to do a quick day project this past weekend to utilize my 3D printer a little more than I already do (which is not at all). I asked my parents for a Printrbot simple metal as a graduation gift after High school. As far as 3D printers go, this thing has proven to be a solid tool. Coincidentally, I also got a cheap drone from radioshack as a graduation gift, and it's not bad for what it is…
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There isn't much to say about this one. I was given a motorized standing desk from my office when they closed during the lockdown. The tabletop was cheap Ikea particleboard and it wouldn't fit in my tiny car anyway. I threw it out and made my own table top surface with a couple planks of poplar wood. My TV stand's finish was not nearly as professional as it could have been. For this, I really…
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We Converted a Minibike to Electric Why? Well we had the idea last year to try an EV car conversion. But we didn't have money, garage space, the correct tools, the experience, any automotive training or really any of the things required to even change a flat tire. We instead decided to take on a smaller project and convert a go-kart. Turns out, there aren't a whole lot of cheap options for go-kart…
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Last year, I read Adam Savage's Book Every Tool Is A Hammer and it would be an understatement to say that it fundamentally changed how I thought about making things. I had a sudden explosion of creativity that happened to coincide quite nicely with the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. My obsession with all things space hit an all time high, and my overwhelming urge to create caused me…
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We made a cool game, but due to just... picking the wrong mechanics, and we finished a game that ended up just not being that interesting to play. Generally speaking, the three team members did great work individually, I just think we were unable to come to a good place regarding the gameplay itself. Anyway, I might do a full post mortem later, but here is the link: https://taterhater.github.io…
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With the stay at home jam quickly coming up, I wanted to put together a quick guide to hosting your game for people to play. I'll make it quick. First, I am assuming here you are using Unity. Other game Engines work similarly, but I don't know exactly how to get this process working in Unreal or Construct. Step 1: Build the Project With your game done, It's time to build it into an exportable and…
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I really don't know why I decided to pick up woodworking and carpentry. It is never something I really had any interest in. I think it came down to 2 things: it was a hobby that wasn't digital, and it would help me learn to be ok with precision. I also decided to start this hobby after downsizing from a Ford Explorer to a Chevy Bolt. I love the Bolt, and electric cars. I have had such a good time…
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkACXFFcQ-I It's time for a little Throwback Wednesday. One of my first VR projects came from working at a Wifi company back in 2017. I was customer support, and I was getting taught a lot of network security stuff on the side. One day, my Co-worker introduced me to wireshark. If you aren't familiar, it's a tool that captures network packets and displays the…
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Planning The theme for LD 45 was "Start with nothing". I decided not to get too meta with it and think more inside the box. I had made a list of game types I was interested in making, and the cookie clicker and multiplayer keywords really stood out. It's relevant to point out that this jam took place in October 2019, after the first starhopper hop, and obviously that was all I could think about. I…
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Jam In Place: My first attempt to make Quarantine better When Colorado came out with the Shelter in place order, I had the idea to try and make a game jam. To me, there is no better way to spend a weekend. I couldn't leave my house and there were going to be a lot of people looking for something to do. I didn't think that quarantine would last long... So I rushed it. Even with minimal advertising…
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Its been about 2 weeks since the Ludum Dare and it came at such a good time. Quarantine was driving me to madness, and my only escape was the 48 hours where I would have to do nothing but make a game. In the 8 or so jams I'd done in the past, this was the first time I had been given a government issued order to sit at home on my ass and make a game. Almost every year, Something comes up the…
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We went walking around the local farmers market the other day, taking in all the sites, sounds, the smells of produce and CBD infused deodorant. It takes place every Saturday over summer, and is close to a neat little store called 'The Local' which sells goods made by local craftspeople. While looking at whipped honey and handmade shopping bags, it hit me as a cool idea to have a single store that…
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