End of an Era

October 21, 2026 by Adam in Adam's Games

I just heard the news that EA shut down the Bioware studios.  They made Baldur's Gate long ago.  I remember playing that D&D game years ago, a brand new kiddo sleeping away on my lap.  Years later was Neverwinter Nights, followed by ten years of modding and brief Internet fame.  I remember when Bioware flew me up to the Edmonton studio and being able to meet a bunch of the big names at the time.  Most of them had already left to go to other studios or make their own.  I still have some Bioware swag - a backpack that's turned into my library book bag, and a coffee mug I break out occasionally.

I suppose all things must end, but I'm taking a few moments to reflect on all the memories I have around the studio.

Monday again

October 19, 2026 by Adam in Family

It's not a bad Monday exactly.  I just wish the weekend went another day.  Some days I feel like I'm flailing around more than normal - trying to get approvers to my PRs, talking to other teams about their experiences, and doing weird AI experiments to see if I can accomplish our team's goals.

As for the weekend, it generally felt fun and productive.  Saturday was a great Delta Green session, leading the agents down various rabbit trails and throwing handouts at them left and right.  There's something magical about the players asking for the schedule for a dentist office and to be able to hand them a piece of paper.

I went over in the afternoon to help mom with some more rental management company paperwork.  Hopefully we're really, really good to go now.

Sunday started with picking up desk stain, sanding the pillars, and applying stain.  I finished up not too late after lunch, and the end result is pretty nice.  Next year is the much harder rest of the balcony, but hopefully we can get that done too.

Later that afternoon I wandered over to the Fairgrounds where Jo was tabling at the comic convention.  It was generally a good time and I picked up a local artist's cryptid comic, mostly to support the local scene.  Eventually I wandered home to indulge in video games and prep for the next Delta Green mission.

Mocha Friday

October 16, 2026 by Adam in Family

I've sadly finished my mocha, the caffiene giving me a burst of work enthusiasm.  So many chats, experiments, and explorations - hopefully one day we'll have a firm plan.

It's been a relatively chill week, moving quickly by at a rapid pace.  Date night was walking down to1960 Cochina. The leaves are turning and fall is in full swing.

I've spent the evenings playing the occasional game or getting AI to make something for me.  My latest experiment is a Battlestar Galactica style game with a giant spaceship launching fighters and shooting massive weapons at other ships.  I'm playing around with radio chatter as a storytelling device - this ponderous massive ship slowly trading blows while command officers yell out damage reports or fighter pilots punch out of their destroyed ships.  These weird things that entertain me.

I've got Delta Green tomorrow, the first Saturday in a long while.  Sunday Jo is tabling for work at a comic convention.  I'll stop by to show moral support.  Somewhere in there I have a long list of house projects.  Maybe I'll actually finish work on the balcony supports.

Midweek Update

October 14, 2026 by Adam in Family

I completely forgot to do my usual Monday morning update.  When I get to work I hit the ground running - there are so many things to learn and explore.  I've been having flashbacks to the browser wars of my early career when everyone implemented standards a bit differently in the world of AI.  Plus they seem to change monthly, so it's going to be a bumpy ride for awhile.

I wore myself out over the weekend.  The downsizing continues, removing my old computer hutch that was filled with odds and ends, hiding behind the tv.  I somehow found places for the family bible, my old Traveller collection, and assorted treasures.  Plus even more weird things to donate.

Most impressive was starting work on a house project I was supposed to complete nearly 20 years ago.  When we had the balcony added, there were these supports I was supposed to put on the base of the pillars.  Well, I got around to it, though they need some cleanup and staining.  Maybe next weekend.

I've got Delta Green this Saturday to look forward to - can't wait to show off some of the fun things I've planned for that group.

Making Games

October 11, 2026 by Adam in Adam's Games

I continue to have fun making games for my own amusement. The latest batch includes a vehicular combat game inspired by Car Wars of my youth, with destructible cars and terrain that falls apart as machine guns, missiles, and lasers blaze across the battlefield. At this point I'm just playing it for fun - I like the tiny little fights that are over in less than a minute. That's how I remember most of our Car Wars games going - we spend an hour designing our cars and then it's over in a few seconds.

The other game is far more of a prototype. I've played way too much Slay the Spire and love the genre. Jason mentioned an idea for a game months ago and I wanted to see if I could at least get the general feel what he was looking for. It turns out getting animated 2D characters is surprisingly hard, but I cajoled all the various tools to put something together and hand edited a few frames myself. It's not perfect, but there's something about the 80's city scrolling by that brings out the nostalgia in all the right ways.

Mocha Friday

October 09, 2026 by Adam in Family

I very much feel like it's the start of the gray months.  I'm hanging on to my t-shirt and shorts a little longer, but it's getting a little chilly.  I've got my happy light going in my shed and the mocha warms my bones.  Spring will come again.

Emma had some excitement this week when a car tried to pass one of the farm tractors on the road next to the field where she was working.  The car took out the squash being hauled and knocked the tractor wheel off, crashing through the fence.  The car ended up on its side in the field where Emma was working, shaking her up a little.  Fortunately everyone is okay and the tractor has since been repaired somehow.

Mom and I got the agreement signed with the rental management company this week, hopefully getting us into the home stretch of the farm house project.  The retaining wall remains, but fortunately Seraph is taking that on.  I'll just feel better once it's actually rented.

I continue to putter around with my assorted hobbies.  Tuesday D&D was a good time, getting everyone into Barovia for the Curse of Strahd campaign.  We'll start up again in a few weeks.  I'm having a good time with my 80s themed car combat game, which I find myself playing for fun still.

As for the weekend, I've got the endless house projects but I'm also hoping to get out of the house and do something fun.  Maybe I can convince Jason to play board games tomorrow or something equally entertaining.

Sniffly Monday

October 05, 2026 by Adam in Family

I came down with a cold yesterday - nothing too terrible, but I slowed way down and did more puttering than housework.  That being said, the weekend felt generally productive.  I finished the Little Free Library refresh project - painting it and replacing the door that was falling apart.  I continue to downsize, wistfully putting the board games into the donate pile after realizing that no one really plays them with me anymore.  Fortunately I can always invite myself over to Jason's house and his wall of boardgames.

I continue to play around with ai-generated everything.  I've made a few more custom miniatures for very specific characters in the game that turned out well.  For some weird reason I decided to build a Car Wars style game, where voxel cars do battle in a destructable arena.  It's surprisingly fun.

And today it's back to the work week.  I made myself a mocha for medicinal purposes.  I've got tons of meetings, mostly one-on-one's where I'm introducing myself to the new people on the team.  I've got to get some real work in there somewhere - hopefully I can get a PR approved and another put together today.  Plus I've got this experimental thingie that might turn into a real thingie.  How strange software engineering is these days.

Mocha Friday

October 02, 2026 by Adam in Family

I continue to settle in to my new team, finally feeling somewhat competent as I build things that might actually be used one day.  We're all in prototype mode, so what we're building is in flux, but I remind myself that the thing we're working on didn't exist a year ago, so feeling incompetent is normal.

We're waiting on the rental management company to get back to us.  Hopefully we can get the final steps done and leave it in their hands to find renters.  Mom asked if I wanted anything for my efforts and I jokingly asked for a pony.  Sure enough during our weekly tea she handed me a wrapped present and I'm not the proud owner of a toy horse Sparkles who is my new best friend and will love me forever.

Jo's also working with various mold mitigation companies, getting quotes and such.  It looks like we'll have a fair amount of work to do in the basement in the months ahead, though the scope is still a little fuzzy.  Probably the laundry area and basement bathroom.  Ah, the joys of home ownership.

For fun I keep playing around with Delta Green and D&D.  I made a new "Long Rest" video for the D&D party, complete with 80's gothic ballad.  I had the need for a couple miniatures that I couldn't find a match for the creature anywhere, so I ended up creating a 3d model from an image and then printing it - the result was really impressive.  A later model clogged up my printer's extruder but after some careful disassembly, cleaning, and reassembly I have it working just fine again.

As for the upcoming weekend, I have my long list of tasks I hope to work through - exciting things like mowing and renewing my DMV registration.  Hopefully I can sneak in some game playing somewhere in there.  Jo and I have been playing a cooperative Lego cop game that's way more fun than it should be - already we've come across Dirty Harry and Shawshank Redemption references to spice up the supposedly kids' game.