Remember passion projects? Those mythical creatures whispered about in hushed tones, like unicorns or uninterrupted sleep? Yeah, me neither. It feels like centuries since I last wrestled one into existence. It’s not for lack of trying, mind you. My digital graveyard, affectionately labeled ‘Projects’, is overflowing with the skeletal remains of once-bright ideas. There are backend frameworks begging for an API call, half-rendered 3D models gathering virtual dust, frontend experiments abandoned mid-CSS tweak, and app ideas that never saw the light of the App Store.
So, what happened? Life, mostly. The kind of life that involves navigating the beautiful chaos orchestrated by a four-year-old whirlwind. These days, ‘screen time’ is less about coding sprints and more about the playground and reading kids books. My passion projects haven’t died; they’ve just been gently escorted to the land of ‘Maybe Someday’, right next to ‘Doing Taxes’ and ‘Learning Japanese’.
But lately, there’s been a shift in the Force… The little whirlwind is mastering the art of independent play and even hosting tiny diplomatic summits (aka playdates). Suddenly, slivers of time, precious and rare, have started appearing. And what does one do with such newfound freedom? Naturally, dust off those old passions and see if they still spark joy (or at least, don’t immediately crash).
For me, that meant diving back into the glorious, pixelated world of the demo scene – a love affair dating back to flickering CRT monitors and questionable techno soundtracks. The dream? To finally create an entry for one of the big parties, maybe even Revision next year. But how to tackle such a feat with limited time and, let’s be honest, slightly rusty 3D programming skills?
Enter the new wave of tech: AI and coding assistants. Tools like Cursor and the helpers in VS Code have become my unexpected pair-programming buddies. They’re like brilliant interns who’ve read every textbook on the planet but need a bit of guidance applying it to the real world. Perfect! This led me to the current grand plan: building a 3D engine from scratch, complete with its own editor. The goal isn’t just to crank out a single demo, but to create something reusable, avoiding the tangled, hardcoded messes of my past project attempts. It’s ambitious? Absolutely. Slightly mad? Probably. But isn’t that what passion projects are all about?
So, the journey begins (again!). It’ll be slow, probably involve more head-scratching than heroic coding montages, and will definitely be squeezed in between bedtime stories and playground duty. I’ll try to share updates as things progress (or hilariously fail). For now, here’s a glimpse of where we stand, thanks to my new digital apprentice!
