Game Developers Refuge

carra wrote: ↑Tue Mar 22, 2022 6:57 am

Sirocco wrote: ↑Mon Mar 21, 2022 11:45 pm I have another two weeks of raw hell before things slack off again (at work). I've been in on-off crunch mode for almost 6 months now :[

That sucks! As someone who wants to do personal projects out of work I wouldn't handle that well.
Have you thought about changing job?

Not that I'm *that* old, but retirement is an option I'm considering. Or semi-retirement where I consult for a few months out of the year.

Sirocco wrote: ↑Sat Apr 09, 2022 3:31 pm Not that I'm *that* old, but retirement is an option I'm considering. Or semi-retirement where I consult for a few months out of the year.

Well if you can afford early retirement, that would be a great option as well!

carra wrote: ↑Sun Apr 10, 2022 9:48 am

Sirocco wrote: ↑Sat Apr 09, 2022 3:31 pm Not that I'm *that* old, but retirement is an option I'm considering. Or semi-retirement where I consult for a few months out of the year.

Well if you can afford early retirement, that would be a great option as well!

Outside of occasional travel, I live a modest lifestyle. Lots of reading and low-cost entertainment. So... yeah, I've been seriously planning for early retirement for quite a while. Started saving heavily and investing in my early 30s. The only bad part, is that living in the States usually means retardedly expensive health insurance (since it's not being subsidized by your employer), or going without and risking one serious illness bankrupting you.

That, and obviously the longer you contribute to social security, the more you get back at retirement age. So if I retire at 47 I lose ~16-18 years of contributions. But I could get hit by a truck and die tomorrow, so early retirement sounds just fine to me.

Heat plz go away. Kthx FFS.

I think it's about time to reboot the off-topic thread.

Also, I've got a little travel coming up for work, and I've been busy prepping for it (and trying to get my 4x4x4 entry in on time). When I get back I'd like to reset the board theme (JUST THE THEME. DON'T PANIC) and get all the non-HTTPS links ironed out.

Board maintenance complete!

I got all the non-HTTPS links removed from the board code, and have updated the default phpbb scheme. You can always go back to the old scheme from your user settings. The board database and all files were backed up as well (I need to start doing this more often lol, before I have a FrozenEmu moment).

I've been absent from the forums for a while (but quite active over on the Discord); haven't been giving any priority to coming around. Hopefully that'll change in the coming weeks.

I notice we have this off-topic thread for "Q1" -- but it only has two pages and it's been nearly a year! So, next off-topic thread will be a yearly one and we shall see how it goes. :]

I was reminiscing a bit about the previous iteration(s) of GDR/the podcast -- thinking about past contributors that we've lost along the way.

Does anyone know where NyanNyanKoneko(sp?), Ninkazu, and Slazer can be found these days? I feel like we are missing a bunch of other old regulars, too.

Would be nice to get in touch and see if they can be convinced to come back and hang out here. :]

I dunno about NNK, Ninkazu, or Slazer specifically, but a bunch of the folks we used to chat with have transitioned, which has made it difficult to find or reach some of them. It's different for everyone, but most go by new handles in addition to their new meat-space names. Out of respect I don't want to dead-name anyone, but I did recently reconnected with our old friend that runs Hadrosoft, and they seem to be doing well.

That said I have been keeping up with a bunch of folks over on Twitter (Madgarden, Mandrake, Dan MacDonald, Truck, etc). Recently though Twitter has been a shit-show, so most of us have found ourselves taking to the Fediverse instead. For professional/reach reasons I'll continue run Twitter accounts, but I'm most active on my Mastodon server:

https://jammer.social/@mike (or @mike@jammer.social, which isn't an email address lol)

If you're not familiar with Mastodon or the Fediverse, in a nutshell it's like Twitter if Twitter was distributed like email. Anyone can run a server, anyone can talk to or follow anyone on other servers. And because it's all independently operated, you're not constantly being spammed by advertisers. You only see who you follow, and what they share.

The Fediverse isn't limited to just microblogging. Real+proper blogging can also by federated, as can videos, podcasts, and games (something I'm working on). Functionally it's as if RSS was bi-directional.

If folks are looking for an entry-point, I highly recommend signing up at https://mastodon.gamedev.place. That server is what finally sold me on the idea of a distributed social network. It's mostly filled with game creators, which is nice. It means the local server's public feed is actually worth browsing, with game screenshots and cat photos . I've also heard good things about https://mastodon.art for artists. Ideally, pick a server populated with people with a shared interest. Anybody can follow anybody on any server. It's nice.

I did know some folks had done so, yeah. Haven't really gone spelunking for people or anything, just missing folks.

Mastodon certainly seems interesting. I checked it out a long time ago. Ultimately social media sites like that just aren't for me. :]