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Q1 2024, Miscellaneous

· 5 min read
Admer456
Admer456
Le me

8th of January, 2024​

Sretna nova! (or srećna as our eastern neighbours would say it)

2023 was full of ups and downs and ups and downs, and I'm finally feeling a little more stable now. A short overview of what happened throughout the year:

  • January: started the Elegy Engine project, wrote some raymarching shaders
  • February: worked on a secret lil' GUI tool project
  • March: cemented the Elegy Engine project, played with Veldrid, ported Unreal-style water to Godot
  • April: got a job, started working on my college game project (in Unity ;w;)
  • May: got used to the job, started working on a commercial Source game on the side - Amygdala
  • June: got the Logi G29 steering wheel and a 165 Hz monitor, stuff I've never seen before, let alone touched
  • July: HL software-style water shader, presented my college game project
  • August: designed a little sketch of the attic project in TrenchBroom, baked my first pizza dough, came up with the double-grid idea for Elegy
  • September: made a couple minor contributions to Dreamshot Fantasia, bought a VR headset
  • October: got into VRChat, researched Valve's ssbumps and how I could incorporate the concept into self-shadowing day-night lightmaps
  • November: witnessed the Half-Life 25th anniversary update, got Elegy to a point where it can load my idTech 3 maps, played some Gloomwood
  • December: 3-day boat trip to Croatia, played DiRT Rally 2.0 quite a bit, hanged out in VRChat, played The Long Drive...

Some of this stuff I didn't mention in the previous blog entries, for obvious reasons! But now you know, I was involved.

And of course, throughout all these months, I've been occasionally working on my HL SDK tutorial videos, helping out people on TWHL, and generally just surviving and trynna stay healthy enough.

For 2024 I do have a few major goals:

  • ensure my mental health is in tip-top shape - November-December were a little rough
  • get Elegy into a pretty usable state
  • renovate the attic so I can have a lil' studio up there
  • start a Half-Life mapping tutorial series on YT

And then some smaller goals:

  • try dropping a few more kg
  • start making videos in 1080p instead of 720p
  • find a new chair
  • get a real good microphone & audio interface

Overall 2023 had a good start, good middle, got horrible in the 2nd half, but then had the most spectacular ending I could ever ask for.
See y'all hopefully in a couple weeks.

24th of January, 2024​

So, I recently went to an ergonomic chair company in Mostar and, wow, I've been missing out. I've only now realised how inadequate my "CEO chair" from JYSK is. I've tried out a couple Sarajevo-made chairs but also some Herman Miller chairs. The latter is a tad too expensive for me but WOW is my back is gonna thank me when I get one of these.

I also got a Scarlett 2i2 4th gen audio interface, and a Rode NT1 Signature Series mic. They are awesome. Reverb is reduced by 90% and with just a little bit of EQ and extra de-essing, it's great.

I plan to get an Ibanez AZES40 in a couple months... hopefully it'll still be in stock by then. I was quite indecisive between the AZES31 and 40, but TBH I really want that whammy bar.

Other than that, I've been trying out something called HyperTimer for productivity. It seems to be designed for folks with ADHD and such. Now, I don't know if I have it, I probably do, but either way this has helped me stay focused quite a bit.

10th of February, 2024​

I started editing the remade Half-Life SDK Programming #1: The initial setup and it is, indeed, in 1080p now. What an amazing milestone.

I have observed that I am spending considerably more time in public VRChat lobbies now. It is really fun in some aspects, and I just love how lively it feels.

A few months ago I was looking for a used dune buggy, and on OLX (Bosnian eBay) people usually don't bother to post details, like the brand name, the model, the year even... but last night I had a revelation. It turns out that many of the buggies I'd seen are related to or are exactly the Dazon Raider Classic 250D from 2007. I really wonder how that stuff got here! And it's almost exclusively the northerners that have them.

My goals for February include finishing at least 1 guide on TWHL, finishing HL SDK Prog #1 v2, and doing some work on the first Half-Life Mapping video. This is gonna be exciting.

16th of March, 2024​

I started editing Half-Life Mapping. Voice is recorded and processed. It's Ramazan which means I finally have an excuse to not eat again! 6 days in, not even feeling anything. I'm confident I'll make it to the end of the month.

I recently replaced my guitar's strings and wow, it's so much better. There's a bit less buzzing, the strings look shiny as heck, and it's easier to slide on them. They just feel good. I also polished the fretboard, so I can actually do bends.

I also ordered some furniture. A 160cm wide work desk, cuz' I'm really, really running out of space. And a 5-level corner shelf, so I can put some things on it, that way they don't have to lie on the floor. Oh I also got some electronics and am slowly building an analogue synthesizer.

Life is being lived again, I suppose.