So here's what I've been up to lately...
Okay, that's enough of that last Subpar Journal Wittiness.
If it seems like I'm not doing very much right now, it's mainly because I'm doing a lot of different things simultaneously, and that makes everything take forever.
For example, here's a partial list of what I've currently got in progress:
- A browser script that'll make long random hard-to-hack passwords using just the name of the site you're on plus a shorter keyword of your choosing. It will work like more advanced "password manager" addons, without storing anything at all on your computer.
- Learning how to write music using "Deflemask", a rather interesting tracker for retro chiptune music. I'm about 90% done with my first piece of YM2151 music. (I'm gonna put it in a demo! I've already got my own parser/converter for VGM files and a corresponding music player routine that works rather nicely.)
- So yeah, I'm also experimenting with programming for a new system called the X16, which is a lot like an overclocked C64 with tons of memory, a YM2151 chip for some interesting sounds, some extra graphics abilities (like a SNES in some ways, except 640x480 and it's got a VGA port) and other crazy features. It's very retro and very weird and it's still under development and the specs keep changing and that keeps me on my toes!
- That old Commodore 64 game I've been working on intermittently for over a decade still gets poked every now and then.
- A version of a rudimentary C64 emulator that traces program execution and displays graphically which memory locations get read, written, and executed. (I'll mainly be using it to find parts of old programs that are never used and can be removed.)
- Oh, I'm also experimenting with C64 music. And a few other weird little programmy things. Possibly eventually actual demo things.
- A thing in Node.js that'll workaround Outlook Express's sudden inability to connect to Microsoft's email servers. (There's probably only like 5 people out there who'll find this useful, but one of those is a close friend and that makes it worth it... That and there's an implied "screw you Microsoft" in the whole idea of this project and I just can't resist that!)
- Examining some video streaming formats in detail, so I can program a server that receives streaming MP4 video and can parse it into a form that can be played in web pages without relying on HLS (which really means "Hangs, Lags, Stops", especially on Picarto) or similar protocols. If I can get this working the way I think it'll work (and I admit that's a pretty big "if"), I can eventually create my own streaming site that, at least video-performance-wise, will totally kick butt.
- So many unfinished short stories...
- Also working on a JavaScript version of one of my old unfinished MS-DOS games. Should be interesting!
- Is there art too? Yes there is! Or at least ideas for art things that I want to get done relatively soon. And also art I've gotten from others that I intend to color and post eventually.
- Still worrying about money after 20 years of unemployment. Yes, that slows things down a bit.
And that's just the things I can remember at this particular moment. There's more, there's lots more.
I don't even have any idea if I'll finish half the things on this list in my lifetime, or which I should prioritize. I'm busy enough without having to look at everything I'm doing and trying to guess which should actually be ranked higher or lower on the importance scale, and/or the appeal scale, and/or the income potential scale, et cetera... Indecision is an awful thing!