Hey my fellow amigos,
We’ve crossed the halfway point of 2024—the Year of the Dragon. These past 7 months have brought intense changes, shaking the very foundation I’ve worked hard to maintain. Balancing finances has been my primary focus, but month by month, I’ve struggled to keep many of my old pet projects—especially Valerius—afloat. Unfortunately, the core of Valerius suffered a major blow, leading to the closure of our business account. It’s been tough, but as they say, the show must go on. Even during these challenging times, I’ve put in 7-day workweeks to keep all systems running.
Becoming more financially aware, I’ve realized that subscriptions, old experimental hobbies, and other expenses add up like an ocean wave, slowly drowning me. My energy recovery time is low, affecting my performance in hobbies like gamedev. Despite this, I’ve clung to my creative energy, even as I fall behind on movies, shows, and technology news. Frustration and feelings of missing out have crept in, but I try to jot down ideas in my sketchbook or phone whenever I can steal a moment from exhaustion.
Work life has given me motivation and perspective. I’ve integrated my hobbies into it, like a snake curling around a stick. Yet, sacrifices persist. Shedding layers of myself, like a snake’s skin, feels endless. The biggest sacrifice looms ahead: time away from family. This year’s disappointment? My inability to balance finances for a visit to my parents. With just $7 to my name last weekend, it’s been bewildering. My partner and I support each other, but bills keep us on lockdown.
Enter technology—the ultimate ally. AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and co-pilot allow me to create on the go. My iPad becomes a gamedev pipeline, lighter and more convenient than a laptop. Challenges await, but the excitement of making things happen keeps me going. Time management remains crucial, even during mentally exhausting moments.
And now, the good stuff! 😊
Navigating Creativity, Technology, and Dreams
This week, fueled by whatever ounce of energy I could muster, I delved into Rodin—an impressive generative AI web application that transforms images into 3D models like no other tool available online. Rodin’s approach relies on geometry fed to the LLM model, boasting a whopping 3B size. But technology, my friend, is a different beast altogether. Designed with game art asset creation in mind, Rodin produces equidistant, clean meshes—far more accurate than other options out there. I’m particularly blown away by the 3D model of my avatar/G character; no other image-to-3D generator achieves this level of fidelity. It’s mind-boggling—I can illustrate something, and it’s at least 90% accurate to the original image. In contrast, CSM’s cube yields a derivative projection, riddled with inaccuracies and issues. I even attempted to redraw my figure in a T-pose, but alas, no luck. Fortunately, this momentary marvel is part of technology’s rapid evolution. For now, my go-to 3D generator is Rodin. Texture editing and animation? Covered—I’ve got other tools on my trusty iPad. Kudos to Hyperhuman for this gem!
Now, about that model—it’s a rudimentary base, serving as my reference tool for drawing dimensionally correct compositions. Later, I’ll refine the texture work to achieve cleaner results.
But wait, there’s more! I’ve been tinkering with GDevelop lately. My plan? Develop a few browser games before diving back into Dark Zeta—a project I’m revamping with mobile controls this summer. Phones are the new gaming frontier, and porting the Dark Zeta demo to mobile is paramount. While I wavered between GDevelop and GameMaker Studio, practicality won out. GDevelop allows me to work on the game—even during my work breaks—using just my phone.
And speaking of dreams, Valerius, my company, will have its day in the sun. I toil relentlessly, determined to overcome challenges and turn those dreams into reality. Amidst it all, I ache for my family—I hope to reunite with my parents soon, after what feels like an eternity.
Thank you for joining me on this journey, dear reader. May your day be nothing short of excellent! 🌟
-G-