Hi guys and girls! I hope you’re doing well and getting through the tail end of this long winter with a smile and plenty of soup and toast. I’ve been keeping busy with a bunch of projects here on the water and thought it was high time I bring you up to date.
First of all, Puddle Jumper is doing very well. Still hooked up on the mooring in the Mahurangi Harbour, this lovely little vessel has given me shelter through numerous stormy nights and some wonderfully sunny days already.
Sporting a whopping 155watts of solar juice with around 100amp/hours of battery capacity, PJ is ready for off-grid, electron fueled action. Her 5-horsepower Tohatsu two-stroke outboard starts easily, and has been run for about 20 minutes total while sitting here in the bay. This ultra noisy power unit pumps out three blak saks of smoke in just under ten seconds, making it the perfect backdrop for pirate battles and tall ship adventures. Love it!
Similarly, our littlest companion, the rather humble yet mighty inflatable dinghy known as “Chloeroa”, gives me daily visits to the onshore loo in style and comfort. Her trusty 2-horsepower four stroke Suzuki motor runs like a swiss watch as long as dad remembers to put the key in first (*cough* NOOBIE *cough*).
Disastrously though, this ultra-reliable-under-normal-conditions inflatable dinghy has been dragged across something pointy up on the beach and is leaking air from one of the side pontoons (those long balloony things that makes this thing float). A repair kit has been procured but still needs to be installed in the appropriate area to rectify the unhappy condition generally referred to at sea as “oh f*ck, were sinking!”. Happier news on this matter may yet be received at some point – stay tuned…
I’ve had quite a few days stuck inside the cabin due to rough weather. These have given me time to have a stab at a number of creative pursuits in addition to several cosy afternoons lying in my bunk alternating between reading an interesting book about the grain trade, and sleeping. On other occasions I’ve turned my hand to a bit of creative writing, developing characters and storylines for a series of sci-fi books, creating various themes and characters for a fictional video series, and a bit of drawing and sketching. Gripping stuff – I know!
After a few weeks of running with every new idea for a while I decided to focus on one project, and went through a process to decide which area I would spend some real time in. With my electric power supply now running adequately for the purpose, I have chosen to focus on computer programming, in particular – creating browser games.
I’ve been working on plans for a few epic games over the years but until now haven’t given them 100% effort to get built. The games I’m working on are designed to run in a web browser like many other casual games, and require a mix of html, css and javascript. I’m fairly well versed with these three although figuring out the javascript can cause my brain to hurt so I try not to spend too long working on it in one session. I’m not out here trying to have a stroke LOL!!
Incremental clicker games are a very simple genre of browser game that allow a person to practise their skills and learn new tricks. I’ve uploaded one to this site which you can try out here. The game page has only been roughly set up for playing on my laptop without any responsiveness built in. You will need to hold CTRL and scroll out on your mousewheel to get the game to fit your screen properly with the background image filling the screen, and the shop, upgrade and achievement areas all stacked up in the right-side column, and all images displayed properly. Try resizing to about 80%. I don’t intend to create settings for other devices or screen sizes on this game as it is mainly a testing ground for expanding my javascript skills. I promise later games will be a lot more user friendly 🙂 **Edit – As I was saying, I will be working around the clock to make the game work on all screen resolutions and devices. Sheesh :/
Make sure you click the button to play the soundtrack. I spent a few hours trying out a synthesizer program to create some beats. It’s a rather basic track but I find it creates a mind-numbing mood that adds playability to the game. Without it, there is no joy LOL.
Anyway, time for me to head outside and see what the seagulls and fish are up to. I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s post and will stay tuned for another update in a couple of weeks.
Peace and best wishes to all.
Mike.
