September 26

It makes the most sense to me when magic in fantasy is described as invisible threads that one manipulates in order to shape reality...
When I'm teaching kids, I try to explain that computers aren't mystical all-powerful machines, but they are the sum of many small simple components, interweaving layers of communication and interpretation.

I have played the role of a homeschool daughter, knitting a scarf as my mom read out loud Little House on the Prairie to the family. I wasn't very good at knitting. But regardless of dropped stitches and varied knot shapes, I would still at some point call it done. It would still be a scarf by function and form.
Now I weave code as I design it and fashion it into video game logic. My heart glimmers at beautiful, clean, woven logic. I feel a sense of pity, that in the end a scarf is a scarf regardless how much care the crafter puts into it. No art is appreciated quite as thoroughly but by the creator themself. My brothers paint miniature war game characters, and I know they're very skilled but it's hard for me to know how to appropriately appreciate them. Only the artist sees every miniscule detail, stroke of the brush, and memory of emotion that they put into the work of their hand.

Humor me for a moment though, if I can hold your attention. I added a relatively boring thing to the game; put a thing on the screen that tells the player what the active quest is. But maybe I can explain a bit of why this is so gratifying to me, breaking down how the game handles this logic.

This code starts when
The player walks up and talks to another character,
And then:

#That dialogue script uses a flow chart to determine the next step in the conversation.
#The user interface manager grabs the next step listed and displays speech text or choice buttons depending on the dialogue state.
#The dialogue state declares a quest name and closes the conversation.
#The player manager script looks up the correct quest information from a library definition, stores it in their quest manager, and tells the user interface manager to update the display.
#The user interface manager will change the quest title and description to match the active assigned quest

And this feels like it's still brushing over the complexity.

Could I have done all that with one step? I could, but I could also knit a scarf with one knot. That's not to say that more work is better, but that measured, concise, and consistent woven threads make for a better use of effort for the creator and better outcome for the user.

Stay well, drink water.
Play more games.

Try these really unique short ones:

Loved
https://ocias.com/works/loved/
I Fell in Love with the Majesty of Colors
https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/474519

That's all I have for now. Feel free to reach out via email if you have any question

Bunnycadets@gmail.com