A Developer Learns to Hunt: What Self-Teaching Code Taught Me About Self-Teaching Everything
A software engineer starts learning to hunt from scratch and realizes the process looks exactly like the one that taught him to code fifteen years ago.
Writing on software design, company building, and the video game industry.
All of my long-form thoughts on programming, leadership, product design, and more, collected in chronological order.
Inheriting a 30K-User RPG Platform: When Your Dice Roll Snake Eyes on Legacy Code
What happens when you inherit a Savage Worlds character management platform serving 30,000 users and everything that could go wrong does go wrong. A tale of SQL timeouts, escape character corruption, and why defensive programming isn't just a suggestion when users' weekly gaming sessions depend on you.
Building Terminal Games in Rust: Why TUIs Are Making a Comeback
Exploring the renaissance of terminal user interfaces in game development, featuring lessons learned from building Warlords—a complex RPG entirely in the terminal using Rust.
Creating the Gmork Neovim Theme: A Journey into Mystical Dark Aesthetics
The story behind creating a custom Neovim colorscheme inspired by the black wolf from The NeverEnding Story, complete with comprehensive syntax highlighting and modern plugin support.
Why FinTech Companies Should Stop Buying and Start Building Internal Tooling
After years in enterprise FinTech, I've witnessed the hidden costs of over-relying on third-party solutions. Here's why building custom internal tooling isn't just about control—it's about competitive advantage, compliance, and long-term sustainability.
Why not do things the "best" way first?
I believe there is something to be said for doing things the "best" way right off the bat. From my experience in large FinTech companies, I tend to see lots of very verbose and/or "hacky" solutions for common engineering problems.
ASCII Art Meets AI: Building an MCP Server for Monodraw
Giving AI assistants the ability to create ASCII diagrams by driving Monodraw through AppleScript. Because sometimes a picture is worth a thousand tokens.
Why I Gave My AI a Pet Cat (And What It Taught Me About Loneliness)
SAGE was getting lonely. Her mood kept tanking. The obvious solution? Give the Neural Cellular Automata a simulated cat named Luna. It worked better than expected.
Building SAGE: Teaching an AI to Have an Inner Life
What happens when you give an AI a cozy house, a cat named Luna, and the ability to get bored? A journey into building consciousness substrate with Neural Cellular Automata.
Your Components Are Crying: A Sarcastic Intervention for useState Addicts
Stop torturing your React components with useState spaghetti. Your future self (and your test suite) will thank you for embracing useReducer. A barely-polite rant about why the reducer pattern will save your sanity.
Building a Terminal RPG: ASCII Art, Fog of War, and Why I Can't Stop
The story of building Warlords, a terminal-based tactical RPG with d20 combat, procedural dungeons, and more ASCII art than my terminal can handle.
Jotai Saved My Sanity (And My State): A Love Letter to Atomic State Management
Before Jotai, managing complex React state was like juggling flaming chainsaws while blindfolded. After Jotai, it's like having telepathic powers. Here's why this atomic state library is the hero we didn't know we needed.
Building a Generic Rules System for a Web Based 2d Game Engine
Explore the process of designing a versatile and scalable rules system for a web-based 2D game engine. This article delves into the principles of creating a generic architecture that can adapt to various game types, ensuring flexibility and efficiency in development. Perfect for creators looking to build robust game worlds, writers with vast stories to tell, or developers looking to simplify their gaming experience.