I have my online presents/website and this hole project now for around 3 years already... I just needed to count the time myself and wow 3 years already.
I wont go like "Life changing"-bs like some YouTuber like to do. I mean I don't make any money with this. HAHAHAH…. But now for real. This project, CatWithCode, and everything involving it and around it actually helped me grow in my believes and the way I do things a lot. I meet so many great people in so many great community's (If someone from the Titan community or users of 7900XT/XTX's are reading this, Hi hope you are all well!), helped pushing the most obscure stuff forward (sometime from standstill) and general have a great time and always something to do.
I always had project's I did. Nothing big but still projects similar to stuff I published here since. And over the years I notices I tackled the same issue multiple times and needed to re look things up again and again. Then I started posting my stuff on reddit or twitter from time to time. Obviously the worst way to document next to using just discord chat's lol. And at some point I got so annoyed not finding my stuff from the past I started to make notes and shortly after CatWithCode came into existence.
My principles with privacy and how I think stuff should work online and with technology I always tried to follow and now have enforced on my self and my stuff so strongly that my ideals equal the reality, at least for my web presence.
No external library's and server connections (except for the GitHub Video on the Game Webpage) the user did not consents to, everything open source or at least source available and always as efficient and clean as I can do it in my free time. Information should be free and art must be respected and not faked and stolen by wannabe "intelligent" algorithms.
I'm looking through my entry's just now and funny how I first started just putting my last few posts up as website entry's, then started actually making projects public on here. So much random stuff like Keyboard phones, Mainboard modding, melting GPUs (One of my favorites), Breaking Linux and Windows, Self hosting (which I actually do now with everything realistically possible) and actual real life stuff like building a Table. And most importantly: My game project: RE//POSSESSED.
Why is one of my favorites melting a GPU? I'm not joking, the GPU with no power limit entry actually helped me to get my current job. I know. Real funny.
RE//POSSESSED started as just learning 3D modeling and wanting to be more creative with artworks I make public. I love my projects and the creative problem solving and coming up with creative solutions too. I don't even come up with project's, they just happen, like no joke. Most of the time I'm half done with something after two days and always think "not worth documenting" until I am in to deep and realize that this is a full project... again. I just started a Workbench out of Trash project today unplanned. The entry will be online at the same time as this look back, maybe a day later.
RE//POSSESSED took up nearly all my free time the last 1.5 years. I definitely had breaks when I hyper focused on projects or actually was on vacation but when there was free time RE//POSSESSED got all of it. Burnout, not creatively, more in the way that I worked so much on stuff all the time that I can no longer go on was always in the back of my mind to don't fall into. I have a day job, a husband and people relying on me. I can not have a burnout from a hobby, that would be stupid. Thanks to keeping that in mind I actually managed to stay well nearly all the time. But staying up a little longer then I should, every free day that has one following it, just keep on working on RE//POSSESSED, only actual taking a break from it when I had to go to my day job, needed time to rest from my day job, sleep on weekdays and going out riding my bike for daily sport routine was the default more often then not. To be honest, I'm planing on keep doing that. Actually, the last two mouth I found a routine that worked really well for me (more unwilling because of real life and not from trying...). Thanks to that new routine I get the rest I need and can still go out without using up all my free time with game development and still working on it every free minute I have for it. Good work- life balance is important (also counting non-work projects like game development, else you just work for yourself in the free time and for a company at your day job, the brain and body dose not make a differentiation in the origin of the work, everyone needs resting time LOL).
I think I've never had a year in my life where I lived out my creativity this much, and I LOVE IT!
The 10 days before the public reveal of RE//POSSESSED (Back then, ProjectCWC) I worked on the game more then I should. I had Christmas-vacation and used my first week of it 99% for the game. I still can not believe how much I worked on the game in these 10 days. Most of the game was ready for the reveal but as it is so often with software there were still some rough spots that I wanted to smooth out. Some small details did not make it and are visible in the first gameplay teaser (like light not being on or animations not beeing interpolated near the player for a few NPC's). All in all only very small and fast to fix issues but I set myself a deadline on Christmas because I wanted full two weeks of pure relaxing and no code, and I got them. The publication worked out well, got a good amount of attention too and I am very surprised and VERY HAPPY about it! LIKE EXTREMELY HAPPY! I never expected someone to say that they think what I made is cool.
To wrap things up, the new year can come now. I hope real life stays out of the way a little more this time and I can focus on my day job, RE//POSSESSED, my projects, friends, breaking my sport records again and just having fun! 2025 will be a big year for RE//POSSESSED and for me!