I made a Downpour…game?

I've been playing with Downpour recently. It's a lot of fun. You could explain what Downpour is by comparing it to something like Hypercard. By combining text, images with some basic interactivity you can create little packages of hypertext that you can publish for anyone to use. You could also explain Downpour as a tool … Continue reading I made a Downpour…game? →

Doom WAD Bot

I like to follow bots on social media. Not the ones posting spam, misinformation or trolling replies. The ones that post algorithmic art, content and other fun things that brighten up your timeline. Twitter used to have a great community of bot builders but they destroyed that when they changed the API access. I used … Continue reading Doom WAD Bot →

TTRPGs and Me

In January I tweeted this: https://twitter.com/ldodds/status/1351293034093285382 Six months later and I'm now in two weekly TTRPG sessions. And I'm thoroughly enjoying it. For a long period TTRPGs were a big part of my life. Like many people of my age, my introduction to TTRPGs was through the D&D "red box" set. When I got my … Continue reading TTRPGs and Me →

#TownscaperDailyChallenge

This post is a bit of a diary entry. It's to help me remember a fun little activity that I was involved in recently. I'd seen little gifs and screenshots of Townscaper on twitter for months. But then suddenly it was in early access. I bought it and started playing around. I've been feeling like … Continue reading #TownscaperDailyChallenge →

The multiverse in which we play

If the Many Worlds hypothesis is true then we are living in a multiverse of parallel realities and alternate histories. Everything that could have happened did happen. At least somewhere. There are different views of how these parallel universes might differ from one another, forming complete taxonomies of universe types. It's interesting to consider what kind of … Continue reading The multiverse in which we play →

Minecraft Activities for Younger Kids

So earlier today Thayer asked if I had any suggestions for things to do in Minecraft for younger kids. I thought I might as well write this up as a blog post rather than a long email, then everyone else can add their suggestions too. Of course, the first thing I did was turn to the … Continue reading Minecraft Activities for Younger Kids →

Second Screens, Asymmetric Gaming and the New Multiplayer

The Second Screen concept has been with us for a while but interestingly the idea still seems to be largely associated with TV. And largely as a means of adding a social dimension to the on-screen events. But there are many ways in which a second screen could potentially enrich other forms of media. Whether its via … Continue reading Second Screens, Asymmetric Gaming and the New Multiplayer →

Lego Minecraft Building Tips

The official Lego Minecraft set looks really good and does a great job at capturing the feel of a Minecraft environment. However having looked at various pictures of the set, I realised that apart from the couple of custom pieces with faces printed on them, we had the majority of the pieces for the set … Continue reading Lego Minecraft Building Tips →

Custom Lego Sets

For a couple of years now I've tried to do something a little different for Christmas presents for the kids. I'm not particularly good with my hands but I've always wanted to be able to make them things: something that will hopefully mean a little more than the average gift. For example one year I … Continue reading Custom Lego Sets →

Life With Playstation

Earlier today I was playing with the new Life with PlayStation which is available as a free upgrade to the older "Folding @ Home" application that originally shipped with the PS3. The new application looks like it is a step towards generalizing the existing interface, which is a "Google Earth-lite" style zoomable, pannable, 3D globe … Continue reading Life With Playstation →