Another blog then eh....

So, I have yet another blog. 

Not blogged in a long, long time, so why create a new one now?

Well, blogs were sort of superseded by social media for me, and now social media seems to be going down the pan (Twitter/X, all of them really). 

I use to have a few blogs (you can see them or archives of them if you click on my profile) all of them dedicated to indie game development, first with Microsoft's XNA, then I played with Unity 3D for a bit, then MonoGame. I was awarded an MVP by Microsoft back in 2009 and was an MVP for 4 years in all. It was a great time with a great XNA community, I miss it.

I guess I am falling back on what I know, and going back to where I started, as far as me showing what I am learning and working on in my spare time goes.

Not sure all my posts are going to be about coding and computer game development. I may throw in some TTRPG (Table Top Role Playing Games) stuff along with miniature painting. I may even include some retro computer game stuff too. I picked up an old Atari ST a while back and intend to get that refurbished and up and running too, as well as my A500 Mini (Amiga emulation) got some great old games on that.

Pretty much all my code here will be Microsoft based, that is to say C# and .Net more than anything else.

All RPG and miniature painting stuff will be quite eclectic I hope, maybe more GW (Games Workshop) than other stuff, but you never know ;)

Getting back into reading too, might even cover some of the book I am reading and or re-reading. I love going back and reading a book I have not read for a while. Sometimes I find I don't enjoy them as much as I did first time around, sometimes I find they are better than I remember. So, might end up posting my thoughts on the books I'm reading too.

What will my first post be?

I guess now, I need to think about what my first content post will be, or not, and just post the next thing I play with lol

I have not had much chance lately to really get my teeth into anything, so not sure what I am going to get into at first. 

I could do a series of blogs getting back into Unity 3D going over the trials and tribulations of the engine as I try ever to bend it to my will. 

I could cover some MonoGame topics I guess. I had started writing a book I intended to self-publish on the basics of geometry using MonoGame, I guess I could look at moving that content to this blog maybe. 

I might look at picking up something new, maybe GoDot Engine or Unreal, or both, have a look at what I can do with those engines as well.

Sticking to it...

I think as I get older (and more anti-social), I will be 52 this year, I’m looking forward more and more to retiring from full time employment. I know I am lucky in that my wife and I have been able to work pretty much all our lives and accumulate pensions and a home that should support us in our later years. 

To keep my mind active I am hoping to keep up my game development projects. I am hoping to be able to throw a lot more of my time behind them once I have retired.

So, I think this blog, if I can curate it well over the next few years before I throw the towel in with paid work, will serve as a great outlet for my festering old brain to vent and flex as it grows older too.

Anyway, whatever I post, and how ever long I post for, I hope those that read and follow, get something from it. Either an idea on how they may do things, or a very clear way on how not to do things lol. As long as others benefit from my ramblings, that's all I can ask really.

Comments Welcome!

As ever, please feel free to comment on all posts, there is nothing better than getting constructive feedback, or questions to clarify elements in the post(s) always happy to explain my self, and even happier to find out better ways of doing things. Sometimes these sites get hit with bots, so if I think a comment is a bot (normally ads) I will nuke it. All I ask is you be constructive.

Hope you come back and find what I post of interest or some use,

Charles.