Work Out Loud

Once Upon A Time I’ve updated a small interactive game I wrote, you can play the Lost Key game in a browser window. There’s a feedback form at the end, but any constructive thoughts are welcome on Twitter or similar platforms where I know you. Why? Why a fairy story? I can save space, which helps maintain the player’s interest, because the tropes are so familiar. Also I can save time by not doing any research, because there’s very little I need to explain to the player, but also the setting is so vague. As for the “lost key” theme… ...

Last week Continued thinking on a “mashup” game ( maybe manual, online, or megagame ) about the American War of Independence… but that has expanded to include a magic system Bought a copy of the Dune board game, I’m more interested in the mechanics than the lore. If you’re interested in the lore check out Nerd Cookies on YouTube. Discussion with a customer on running a megagame, I’ve some ideas already I attended an online meeting of the Foster community. They’ve some very interesting ideas around tokens, there was a great Q and A, and I’m really interested to see where this goes. I do, however, think failure is as likely as success - which considering the nature of the community, I ought to write up… My work laptop seems to handle video calls badly while doing something simultaneously, for example running OBS to obscure the background. It was useful to work through Smart Choices to determine the best way to fix the issue rather than just buy a more expensive problem. I’m not quite there yet though. This was further evidence of the “law of repulsion”, soon after wondering if I want to spend my working life fighting technology I received a great call out of the blue I played and enjoyed Monopoly Deal, it has an interesting mechanic, which led to a few game ideas; but similarly, some intriguing gaps in the simple rules when edge cases occur. Monopoly Bid is less good, but still an interesting game that’s quick to pick up and play. I watched a couple of good videos on the Vietnam War on YouTube, both intriguing and horrifying Read this short article on being an “Uncertainty Killer”, which explains what I want to achieve with my business, and why my approach needs refining This week While realising how useful weeknotes are in seeing what I’ve achieved, also looking at the unchanged set of plans brings home how over-ambitious I am Still 90% done with a new layout for my company website, but still with what feels like 90% of the work left to do. Keep fighting software, mainly rdiff-backup I expect. Those work opportunities are still “hovering”, this is the best and worst aspect of freelancing. Condense the scribbled set of “to do” lists next to me into one list, preferably by doing some of the things on it Actually read a book, again Update that Inky game, make it a little easier: Lost Key

My further attempts at “working out loud”. I realised this should be called “weeknote”, learnt from Matt Ballantine’s latest post; I appear to be three years behind the trend. Last week 90% done with a new layout for my company website, but still with what feels like 90% of the work left to do. Looked for a new office chair, but I appear to be the wrong shape with the wrong height table Apparently random things starting to fail due to age, my Xbox360 and my lower back being the most notable this week Looked again for a new keyboard, my requirements don’t feel that unusual but I can’t find anything that matches; I’ll blog about that at some point A few nice chats with new contacts and new customers; I appear to have been carrying out “relationship marketing” by accident over the last few years I’m still amazed, thinking about a couple of communities I belong to, on how such smart people can under-estimate or downplay their own abilities I’m still surprised, even after so long, on what smart and useful friends I have if I just make the time to ask them something Ostensibly to relax, I played some Rocket League and Spellbreak for free on Nvidia’s GeForceNow service. Doing so is partly just a break, but it’s always interesting to see how well or how badly ad-hoc teams work together, I’d love to see some statistics. Similarly, I wonder how well teams co-operate in Hell Let Loose under more organised conditions. Contined playtesting of an online game set in the Vietnam War, interesting to see how far the game has diverted from the direction I expected already This week Keep fighting software, mainly rdiff-backup I expect. Those work opportunities are still “hovering”, this is the best and worst aspect of freelancing. Condense the scribbled set of “to do” lists next to me into one list, preferably by doing some of the things on it Actually read a book, again Update that Inky game, make it a little easier: Lost Key

Looking forward and back, 9th August 2021 I’m very wary of journals and journalling, but “work out loud” keeps being recommended more and more, and I’ve seen friends and contacts manage to navigate the line between self-promotion and bluster successfully. Last week Kept fighting software, won as often as I lost this week I think. Contined playtesting of an online game set in the Vietnam War, had to change my initial plans immediately. Continued discussions of what a general course on strategy would look like with some contacts. Continued thinking around bots, either written in code or “card based”. These would be for my own games, or as an unauthorised addition to other’s games. But this looks like a deep area that should be a sole area of study, and I’m not sure its financially viable. Discussions of applicability of traditional Business Continuity Management and Disaster Recovery principles to a modern organisation based on cloud services. Had that weird freelancer thing when opportunities look bleak, and then three people contact you in the same morning ( and therefore laughed at the Law of Attraction once again ). Moved and resized some logical volumes and re-learnt just how easy that can be. Learnt the difference between microboredom and existential boredom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEQTrW9NP68 Watched Alita Battle Angel, which was underwhelming, but I was temporarily intrigued by how the sport of Motorball would work - for example, how to stop it just being a fight but on a track, what strategies teams would use, how to balance teams but allow variation, and so on… I’ve an initial idea together. Watched Ted Lasso, still too dangerous to watch while eating. Finally finished a little “game” in Inky: Lost Key This week Keep fighting software, mainly rdiff-backup I expect. More chats with the consultancy umbrella. Other work opportunities are “hovering”. Try to take off more items from my “to do” lists than I add - that didn’t go so well last week. Read a book, again

Looking forward and back, 2nd August 2021 I’m very wary of journals and journalling, but “work out loud” keeps being recommended more and more, and I’ve seen friends and contacts manage to navigate the line between self-promotion and bluster successfully. Last week Fought backup software - rdiff-backup - ongoing Fixed, mostly, Manjaro blanking a screen by default Continuing playtesting of an online game set in the Vietnam War, I particularly like the double-blind play Being an “external security brain” for a customer Put in some technical restrictions to stop me playing “just one more game” until too early in the morning Mashed my sleep schedule because of how Linux handles fonts Fought Linux and poor IO handling… still fighting Started discussing red team thinking with a new-ish contact, I have my usual doubts that organisations are interested in this kind of service without it being bundled with many others, if at all Continued thinking around bots, either written in code or “card based”, for either my own games, or as an unauthorised addition to other’s games. But this looks like a deep area that should be a sole area of study, and I’m not sure its financially viable I learned that YouTube advertising is in-stream now Spent far too long trying to make some old hardware useful Finished all of Ape Out… at the “softer” level. If you’ve played it, you’ll know how important that last level is Tried the Long Journey Home, an interesting idea but really dissauded by the training mode before I even started the game Replaced some hard disks on a server like some kind of 20th Century IT version of the Sealed Knot This week Keep fighting rdiff-backup More chats with the consultancy umbrella Catch up with some old friends online Try to take off more items from my “to do” lists than I add Read a book, again

Looking forward and back, 26th July 2021 I’m very wary of journals and journalling, but “work out loud” keeps being recommended more and more, and I’ve seen friends and contacts manage to navigate the line between self-promotion and bluster successfully. Last week Tried to figure out the antonym of terrorism Thought about a “kind insurgency” organisation and how it would work Made inroads into an umbrella consulting organisation Had a great conversation with a CISO about their career plans, and where the cyber security industry is going Caught up with an old friend who’s a CISO now, and the difficulty of finding the right position, even when you’re in demand Helped umpire an influence modelling wargame, impressive in terms of Control and attendee engagement Attended DSTL’s “Supercharging Science” event, which confirmed a few opinions, and led to useful conversations Attended the CardStock meetup, thought provoking and useful Been rather impressed at the creativity in the Masters of the Universe release Caught up on a lot of newsletters, closed a few tabs This week Act as an “external security brain” for a customer Various dull technical projects Slightly more interesting technical projects, looking at automating some things More chats with the consultancy umbrella Catching up with others… I’ve taken a step back recently and, as naff as it sounds, realised just how many really smart people I know…