Forem: MousePotatoDoesStuff

Vim: BackSpace - because VIM Adventures isn't worth the license cost

MousePotatoDoesStuff — Sat, 31 May 2025 08:09:30 +0000

I've been learning Linux stuff lately - both for work reasons and personal purposes. (I intend to install Linux on my next laptop from the get-go.)

One of the things I've been learning is Vim, and the motions are nothing short of (V)impressive.

(I don't really care for HJKL that much, though, and would prefer IJKL. My middle finger naturally sits between the I and K keys when my index and ring finger are on J and L respectively, and it fits better with WASD/arrow keys muscle memory, home row be damned.)

Now, I've also discovered VIM Adventures.

It's just a cute little free game for learning Vim, right?

WRONG. 35 DOLLAR LICENSE BEAM.

I don't know what pricing standards are like for educational materials, but by video game standards? This is daylight robbery even Electronic Arts would be ashamed of (or inspired by).

And the game itself has the graphics and gameplay quality of a free itch.io game or something that was made in the last century.
Not to mention it's an online-only live service game that will go down once the servers are shut down. And the game logic being handled server-side means that the game handles with the grace and elegance of a Stegosaurus in a gift shop.

So I've decided - you know what? I'm going to make a Vim game myself. And it's going to look and play like something that was made after 2001.

And it's going to be free - both gratis (you don't have to pay to play it) and libre (the code is under GPL and you can already download what little I've made so far from Codeberg).

I might set up some fundraising methods later, but for now this is just something to do instead of scrolling FB/YouTube/etc. for hours on end.

You can follow me on itch.io to keep up with development of Vim: BackSpace and my other projects.

Thanks for reading!

What I learned from doing my first proper game jam

MousePotatoDoesStuff — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 16:44:44 +0000

Mouse Potato's log, entry 3, yamdate 54.250.

Last month, I managed to successfully participate in my first proper game jam, having only participated in one non-game jam and a few casual ones. It was a game jam about reflections... and it's time for me to reflect on what I did right and what I can do better next time.

Here's the end result of my efforts, and here are some tips I wish I knew before I started.

1. Scale down to succeed

Actually, if you can, start small. But even if you try starting small, you'll probably realise you need to start even smaller. And if you start really small and work up, it will be more motivating than starting big and being forced to cut down on content.

My first idea was a game about reflecting and refracting sunlight, and it would involve wide sun rays that you would be able to reflect and refract parts of... and this task ended up requiring a lot of complicated geometry and is hardly suited for a game jam, let alone a first-time one.

So I scaled down to using laser rays, but this brought a whole other set of problems.

2. Use tutorials

While easier to handle than a wide light beam, a laser ray would still have to reflect, refract, and do so in real time within a dynamic environment. I tried to do it myself, but experienced one issue after another.

Thankfully, someone else already made a tutorial on this - but I needed to scope down again.

3. If you can, team up with someone.

Honestly, this one is probably going to be tough for me for a while still, but I still want to recommend it. (and I couldn't think of a better #3 at the moment)

Do you have any questions or tips? Let me know in the comments!

You are already doing great, you just don't know it yet.

MousePotatoDoesStuff — Sun, 18 Aug 2024 19:34:07 +0000

And How Measuring How Much You Get Done Already Can Help You Get Even More Done

Mouse Potato's log, entry 2, yamdate 54.230.

If you are like I was - and still am at times, but not nearly as much - you probably feel like you don't get anything done despite trying your best.

This feeling reached its peak while writing my MSc thesis. I felt like I was getting nothing done, wasting my limited time until the deadline.

And then I started tracking my time - and I didn't try using some complicated time-tracking system right off the bat.

No - I started with tally marks.

Most of you are familiar with tally marks made by prisoners to track for how long they have been inside, and how long they have left. Ironically enough, these same tally marks were the key to my liberation from self-doubt, and they could be yours as well.

For every 10-15 minutes of work done, I marked a tally in a small notebook. (I've actually started with 30, but that wasn't granular enough. I recommend experimenting a little to find out what interval fits you best.)
At first, I didn't make a lot of marks every day. But that was okay because I now knew I was making non-zero progress every day.
I have, however, managed to increase this amount slowly but surely over time. Yesterday's peak became today's average, and today's average became tomorrow's low.

Eventually, I replaced a tally system with a color-coded table in which I roughly marked what I did and when I did it. And this helped me finish my MSc thesis and graduate.
I'm not currently using this system because I'm taking it relatively easy on my well-deserved summer break, but I intend to pick it back up soon.

What time management system would you recommend, if you have one?
Let me know in the comments!

You can do anything. But if you try to do everything, you'll end up doing nothing.

MousePotatoDoesStuff — Sun, 11 Aug 2024 11:24:16 +0000

Mouse Potato's log, entry 1, yamdate 54.224.

I'm going to keep this one brief, because:

I intend to take a break starting tomorrow
This is my first blog post
If you are reading this, you probably don't think you have a lot of time. (Spoiler alert: You're wrong.)

This post was supposed to be a post about me making an absolutely audacious and arguably asinine attempt at learning SQL better by making a program that can parse and execute SQL commands.

However, I realised I was trying to do too many things at once.
I wanted to make an SQL parser, an SQL command runner, and possibly some kind of user interface to pack this all up with.

And alongside this, I wanted to start working on a project portfolio, a resume, a personal website, a major modding project, a time management tool, and at least five different video game projects.

In the end, I barely managed to begin with the SQL project.

And I've decided to scrap it - at least for now - because I realised I need to think about fewer projects - ideally a binary (0 or 1) amount - at a time in order to get more done.

And I'm guessing you either have a similar problem. (Or you managed to solve it, in which case I'd appreciate some advice in the comments... does dev.to have a comment section? I'll have to check after posting this.)

That should be it for now. See you next week at the soonest, best of luck to all of you, and thanks for ~~all the fish~~ taking the time to read this.

Mouse Potato's log, supplemental

There is, in fact, a comment section on dev.to. That's good to know.