So I've handcoded and released a couple dozen games in the past, but I'm now old with responsibilities and a day job of coding, and my brain just doesn't have the energy to mess about with it like it used to after a day of work, so I have started experimenting with letting A.I. agent code some things (and been surprised at how well it can work).
I'm aware of the gen AI stigma but it's either that or this damn game probably never gets released at this point (I basically let the game sit dormant all year last year, only recently picking it back up again), and I have a full graveyard full of unreleased projects the past decade and would like to finally get something out there again.
That being said, at least for the forseeable future, I won't use any A.I. generated art or music in the game (unless I inadvertently hire an artist that does use it, I guess), because there is still a huge (and somewhat justifiable) stigma against A.I. generated art and music assets.
So instead I'm just doing what I did in the past, and creating the art and music myself as best I can with Illustrator or Logic Pro, and keeping my games fairly simple and abstract so it doesn't seem too much like programmer art (I might at some point pay an artist or musician to improve things just before it gets released though).
I also have a personal stigma against AI art (for commercial purposes) because I don’t see the cost vs the value doesn’t add up to me. I am trying to see if my own bias was negatively effecting my progress or if staying hand drawn was what the average age dev was doing. As for programming, I find it does help aid when I know what I want but can’t quite find the syntax, it’s the balance between that and still learning that I struggle with.
I miss my fast food job (and especially my retail job), to a certain extent. I also worked in a warehouse and a factory for a bit, and there are certain things I miss about those as well. I don't miss the low pay though. And my health is no longer good enough (in part because I've been too sedentary in office jobs the past 20 years) that I can no longer stand for hours at a time (not even that, I can no longer stand in place for more than a few minutes at a time).
I could completely forget about my job when I got home, didn't have to somewhat keep a framework of some giant corporate spaghetti code soup in my head to a certain extent for months or years on end, and interacted with people way, way more than I do now, and made deeper friendships with my coworkers.
Also there was no risk of me working on something for six months and it get cancelled or shelved before it gets used by anyone. At least in fast food and retail jobs you're helping multiple people (sometimes hundreds of people) every day. In my corporate career I've often ended up working on software that only has a handful of high paying clients, or only used internally and not client facing.
If I could justify the insane pay cut and could manage it physically I'd probably do something like be a barista nowadays. Or be a teacher, maybe.
Flipping burgers really isn't that difficult. It was my first job, and I even have nostalgia for it at times.
If I had to go do that again, the main problem would for me would be that I don't think I could stand in one place for that long anymore, my thigh and lower back start stinging and want me to sit down (at least they do when I cook at home).
I interacted with way more people at a fast food restaurant than I do now, and got to interact with customers as well. Which wasn't always positive, but it was at least interesting to see all the various people that came in.
Also it was a lot more laid back and less serious than what I do now (which is work on web apps for large corporations).
Also at least I knew what I worked on was going to get used. I've been on too many projects that end up getting cancelled, or only used by a small handful of (high paying) clients, etc. Or specific features that end up getting cancelled or delayed indefinitely, etc.
Too bad it pays so little, or I'd actually consider it for a change of pace (well, more likely I'd want to try being a barista instead, that seems more enjoyable and a lot less walking on greasy floors).
I have 'unlimited', but I work for a consulting firm, and I'm expected to maintain a certain percentage of billing hours throughout the year, so if I dip too far below that it gets hard to get PTO approved.
Even still, it hasn't been difficult to take 20 days off plus a few sick days each year. The only year I dipped below my target was a couple years ago, where I was in between client projects and sitting on the bench for a month and a half.
Thankfully they had a new client project in mind for me pretty quick, it just took some time to get the approvals and make the transition, or else I might have been on the bench long enough to be at risk of being laid off.
I basically took the last year off from creative projects and just played solo board games in the evenings for most of the year, on nights when I didn't have other plans.
Marvel Champions in particular is a lot of fun, although may be a bit overwhelming at first if you don't play a lot of board games already.
I also got into Legendary deckbuilding games recently, and those are a bit more approachable, although not all of them play solo unless you manage two hands of cards (which isn't a big deal for me, but I've played hundreds of different board games).
They have those based on various IPs (Game of Thrones, James Bond, X-Files, Matrix, Alien movies, Buffy, Marvel, and in a few months DC comics) and play somewhat similarly, so if you learn one it would be easy to learn another one.
I also picked up a solitaire variant called Hoki just last week and really enjoyed it. You upgrade your cards over multiple games (that are each about five minutes to play), and then once you've completely upgraded all the cards you can play the game daily and then consult a book that will give you a fortune based on the final state of your game.
It took me 53 games to unlock the final state, and I did all of them in just a couple of days, I enjoyed it so much. Now I'm playing a game or two a day to see what the fortune is and then writing a journal to reflect on what that could mean, for fun.
Slowly getting back into my creative hobbies this year (which include board game design and writing), although coding I still feel is hard to do in my off time (even when it's making games, which I've historically really enjoyed doing).
I've messed around with A.I. agent coding a bit, and I'm a bit more impressed with it than I anticipated, but I'm not sure how deep down that rabbit hole I want to go and not code myself. But I really don't feel like I have much energy left in the tank for coding more after doing it for my day job lately.
LOL, I meant for a living but I enjoyed reading this nevertheless :D
But ya, I was out of work for 9 months and enjoyed pretty much every minute of it up until I realized it was not as easy to find a job as I thought it would be (well, it played out a bit differently but for the sake of brevity I'll stick that story)
We usually stop by Michigan City every time we're driving through the area (usually on our way to somewhere in Michigan or on our way back), mainly to make two stops: Cool Runnings Restaurant and Bar (excellent jerk chicken and catfish) and FLUID Coffee Roasters (really good coffee). Both highly recommended.
The city itself seems like a relatively quiet city. There's some parts of town that seem kind of run down but not too bad, and the downtown area (where FLUID is) is nicer.
We went to their outlet mall once (which is all I knew about the place ahead of time, people would say how it's a great place to shop) and while there's a decent number of stores there, the courtyard was surprisingly bland and undecorated at the time, like it was never finished. We haven't had the urge to go back since. I've been more impressed with shopping centers in the Chicago suburbs (where I'm from), like the Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook, or the Chicago Premium Outlets in Aurora.
Also stopped by their beach once, and it's fine, but I think other beaches not too much further away in SW Michigan or the Indiana Dunes are nicer (especially the Dunes).
If/when we get to the point where my job is automated out of existence, then so will a large enough categories of jobs that there's going to have to be some sort of universal basic income system in place, so hopefully I'll just be on that and work on one of my creative passions, like writing or music or board game design/development, and supplement that with what I've managed to sock away so far.
I could see myself doing teaching also. Or just become a barista or cook, but I'm not sure I can handle standing for that long at a time anymore, the front of one of my thighs starts tingling and bothering me (when walking it doesn't really have a problem, it's mainly when I stand mostly in place, like when I'm cooking).
I wouldn't mind doing some sort of research but I've don't have any experience with that, outside of research projects in college a couple of decades ago.
It doesn't necessarily mean not working. Just only showing up for a little while and still working from home otherwise. Like maybe only go in for a few hours in the morning until lunch, go home at lunch, and then work from home the rest of the day.
Also they might actually be more productive going home for most of the day than if they stayed in the office. Some people aren't very productive in office environments, comparatively.
I'm aware of the gen AI stigma but it's either that or this damn game probably never gets released at this point (I basically let the game sit dormant all year last year, only recently picking it back up again), and I have a full graveyard full of unreleased projects the past decade and would like to finally get something out there again.
That being said, at least for the forseeable future, I won't use any A.I. generated art or music in the game (unless I inadvertently hire an artist that does use it, I guess), because there is still a huge (and somewhat justifiable) stigma against A.I. generated art and music assets.
So instead I'm just doing what I did in the past, and creating the art and music myself as best I can with Illustrator or Logic Pro, and keeping my games fairly simple and abstract so it doesn't seem too much like programmer art (I might at some point pay an artist or musician to improve things just before it gets released though).
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