> blog

I’d procrastinated building my own website for months. Every example I found was the same header, footer, scroll template that’s been the norm for at least a decade. Then, while I was banging my head against the wall, my phone buzzed with a sound effect from Final Fantasy 8.

My mind started to race. I loved those games growing up. They shaped a huge part of who I am, so why not reflect that in a website built by me, about me, for me?

I used AI to sketch ideas fast. The obvious one: make the landing page a start menu you navigate with the arrow keys, replicating the look and sound of a 90s RPG. Seeing how well it worked spurred me on.

I had two screens left. An about page that fit perfectly as an RPG character screen, complete with Class, Level and an HP/MP bar. And a blog, which was trickier. Cycling through menus gets boring fast, so I went further: I built a fully interactive RPG, with a character, NPCs and objects to find and collect.

This was the most fun I’ve had building anything in a long time.

So don’t build the rote site. The weird, personal web of yesteryear is still yours to make. As Eames says in Inception;

You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.

Go make something strange. I really want to see what you dream up.

Well, here we are. First post on the new version of the site. If you’re reading this, CONGRATULATIONS! you’ve found the part of the internet where I keep the stuff I write about.

Why a site at all

Honestly? Writing things down is good for me. I have a terrible habit of skips from A to G while talking at a normal Irish pace, which turns out is about two-hundred times faster than normal. So putting pen to computer keyboard helps me get my ideas across better, not perfect but definitely better.

What you’ll find here

• Thoughts on Ai: Worries and praise for this clearly hyped-up but still slightly useful bit of technology.
• Philosophical viewpoints: I read a lot and sometimes you need to breakdown and build back up those thoughts you had about something you read.
• Standup Comedy stories: Strange tales and even stranger jokes are abound so there might be a few stories worth telling from all that.
• Project updates: I have a habit of starting projects and then never keeping track of their

Oh, and there’s a little guy

That’s you. Well, it’s meant to be me but now he’s controlled by you.

Go on bump into things, explore, see what’s hiding in the corners:

• Arrow keys or WASD to walk around.
• Enter to interact with stuff

That’s the whole tutorial. There is no starting fight…. yet.

More soon.