What's going on? Well, I think I'm done with finals.
I gotta write that again. I'm done with finals. Hell yeah. It feels good. One year left.
I'm working again on my game, called "Chops" now (I don't know what it's called on here, probably "Music Game" or something strange). All it really took was successfully implementing one good mechanic to get me excited again.
Honestly, I hope every piece of art I create has that "one good mechanic" that I manage to put in.
But hey, how are you doing? You healthy? You drinking water and taking time to eat? Take things slow if you have to!
Love you always. - Tyler
2/3/2021
Recently, I moved out to Salt Lake City, closer to the U of U. It looks pretty out here. I don't know if I'm more productive with my writing or more creative, but I appreciate the effect it's having on me.
As for learning, recently I've been trying to be more open-minded with my thoughts. Open-minded as in, more questioning of my habits, opinions, and circumstances, not just myself, but society and the world. This is mostly for a Critical Theory class, but I feel like it can help my life as well. There's so many things we take for granted as humans. We have these... bodies. We can touch feel, smell, see, grab, grasp, throw, and listen. And that's not just something I'm saying to sound cool - I'm being serious. If you can, take a second and really think about it. You are a strange flesh contraption who can think thoughts and stand on two feet. Why? How? What can you do? What do we call these things? What would you call them? After you're done, think about how this whole time you've been reading pixels on a screen, and somehow creating strange and complex meanings out of it. Unless this is printed, you're looking at some sort of digital screen, invented not long before this writing. Different lights and abstract symbols are giving you all of these ideas. The world's big. You're small, but that's okay, because your mind seems big and we're both being open-minded and taking it all in. It's all crazy eh?
10/11/2020
This semester has been one of the hardest, but luckily, also one of the most fruitful. I've learned a lot this year, and my writing is improving in strides. I've even gotten better at poetry, which I'd say is most likely my weakest link. Here's a link to a poem I made recently, copying the style of "O Captain! My Captain!" "Oh Boss! Hey Boss!"
I thought I'd end with an interesting question: Will face masks affect how we physically express emotion? I've read about how people who constantly wear masks often have less expressions. Perhaps this will happen to us too, to perhaps a lesser degree?
5/19/2020
I'm on a bit of a metaphorical road bump in life at the moment. Compared to myself last year, in 12th grade, I have a lot less going for me. I don't have as many friends, I'm not as close to any of them, and I don't have a school full of peers to walk through anymore.
Honestly, I'm not worried about being lonely; after all, I am a bit introverted at heart. What tears at me more is the thought of losing any of the cool people I've come to know from High School.
But, come on! Moping isn't cool unless it comes with some hope and plans afterwards. So my next plans are to write a bunch of reviews/analyses for games I've played and think deserve more praise/attention. I want to make some drastic changes to CEDA (possibly resulting in even a change of the name) and rush it out, because I hate thinking about it sometimes, if I'm coming clean. Finishing it will clean my palate and make me feel free again.
And y'know what, the home page feels a bit cocky, so how about a change?
As always, stay cool and frosty and keep ya head in the game!
5/10/2020
Ah, it's been a bit, hasn't it?
I've been game-writing a lot more as I neared the end of the semester. I'm proud to say that CEDA is definitely ambitious but controllable with the large amount of excel planning I've been doing.
As for what's new, I'm really close to finishing Persona 5 Royale and I just started Danganronpa V3. They're both great but I'd have to go into detail to say what I like and don't like.
If you're not too afraid of blood, the game I recommend at time of writing is World of Horror, a beautiful RPG inspired by Junji Ito artstyle and HyperCard old school software. There's really nothing else like it.
As always, have a good day and thanks for having me.
4/9/2020
I've been doing more research into writing and I'm happy. I recommend to anyone that wants a fun, free game to play online, to play Ultra Business Tycoon 3. Probably my favorite game of all time, and it's completely text.
Link to Game
And have a well-written day!
3/29/20
I mentioned it before, but I miss the U. I don't miss the hour long train commutes or the early time I had to wake up, but I really miss the people and places. Girls and guys at the U were a lot more concious of their outfits. Thrifted fashions, corduroy, and darker clothes with brands and companies they supported replaced the usual: jeans, plain dresses, and modest coats. The library was also fun to read and drink coffee at, but I admit, I've never been used to doing either, especially in public.
Lately I've been working and playing a lot more video games than usual. Right now, I'm addicted to Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Yakuza Kiwami. Eventually, I want to get DOOM Eternal, but I want to upgrade my PC first. I've been slacking on the CEDA game, but I'm planning on turning down around, reviewing what I've planned, and watching more YouTube videos on pacing. As always, stay optimistic and I hope you have a fun day!
3/19/2020
One of the main mechanics of the CEDA game I'm developing was a hidden statistic called "The Downward Spiral". The Downward Spiral was a sort of "Karma" way of balancing many wrongful actions. Your player character, a High School senior named Shelly, could act immoral if the player chose so. They could choose to fail their classes, do an excessive amount of drugs with friends, or even steal from a local supermarket. However, all of these actions would raise The Downward Spiral. This stat would raise the chance of more, terrible events happening, such as nightmares or a friend's mental health deteriorating; these events would also increase The Downward Spiral stat. In essence, one terrible action can cause an endless series of increasingly awful reactions from the world, leading you to a darker conclusion.
Why did I mention that? Yesterday there was a 5.7 magnitude earthquake in Magna, a city not far from where I live. I can't lie, I was driving during the main quake and I didn't feel it, but that doesn't mean I wasn't worried.
Out of all the times where Utah could have its biggest Earthquake since the 90s, did it have to be in the three month period where there's fears of potential war with North Korea, locusts eating at Africa, a wildfire burning through Australia, and Covid-19 shutting down almost every large gathering outside of the home?
Yeah, I guess it does seem like the end of the world. A lot of us are just waiting in our homes, typing on our computers, playing video games. Quarantine and social distancing. It's almost like the idea of social distancing implies possible damage to social health. I miss seeing my friends, the beautiful fashions up at the U, and the Red Butte Garden. It's annoying, but I'm still optimistic. I'm going to see them all again, and so are you. So remember, you'll always need a reason to be sad, but you'll never need a reason to be happy.
3/12/2020
Classes from the University of Utah all went online starting today. If I had to be honest, I started out not seeing COVID-19 being that big of an issue. But it's true that it has spread extremely fast with such a short time frame.
While this is good for me, since I get more time to create the "CEDA" game and update this site, I can't help but feel terrible for all of the lives affected by this. Not only is it certainly taking lives, but I wouldn't doubt that many people who rely on their jobs are getting laid off or sent home.
To everyone out there, I hope you have a better day and I wish you luck during this hysteria!
3/6/2020
I'm a BIG dummy who slacked BIG time.
For almost two months now, the website gave a privacy error because the SSL certificate expired. Today, for no reason whatsoever, I woke up early and made sure to fix everything. So if you're reading this, welcome back. :)
To catch up:
I learned how to print large posters at the UofU and burn music onto CDs, so if you ever need a mixtape, you know exactly who to email.
I may move out with my friends, soon. While I know doing that will inevitably shoot my expenses through the ceiling, I can't help but envy the freedom and amount of growth I would go through.
Speaking of growth, I realized yesterday that I'm at a very developmental part of my character; it gave me a hop in my step.
Well, that's probably enough word garbage for now. If you ever want a cooler, more specific story, it's fine to ask.
Oh! Hold on, there's one last thing I just thought of. I'm going to start posting my "Writings" on the "Writings and Games" page. After all, I have been writing a lot these past two months.
Anyway, I hope whoever is reading this has a fantastic day! :)
1/8/2020
Yesterday I started my second semester at the U of U. One of my most unique classes was "EAE 1010, Survey of Games." In that class I got a list of video games to play, and was told to play one for two hours and write about it by Sunday. I did it five days early, and played it for five hours, it was Persona 5. I really liked the game, it has a unique artistic direction that I haven't seen anywhere else. However, five hours is nothing compared to the minimum of 100 hours I would need to finish. As a busy college kid, I don't know if I have that time anymore.
1/6/2020
This is the start of my web journal. Why make this? Well for one it's great writing practice. But in my opinion a web journal also makes a fun to digest platform to share with others how you're doing.
So how am I doing?
Honestly pretty good. I'm excited for school, for scanning more photos, and for seeing bigger pictures of life in general.
This website isn't doing so well though. Not a single person contacted me and this has been up for almost an entire year now. Which is pretty funny.
Well no use moping now, huh? I'm here to make it as good as it can be. My first action back is to declare that Giovanni Potupchik is a rude friend who only wants the destruction of this website.