Comment by scruple

I'm fine today but the decade following high school graduation was really rough for me. Stints of homelessness, substance abuse, depression, run-ins with law enforcement (some deserved, some not). I ended up enlisted in the military to escape my situation and it worked out for me. I'm in AAA games today but have had a good career in software engineering and we could probably retire today if we were willing to move to a LCOL area. But we aren't, because...

Today we have a rich and deep group of close friends, mostly formed around our children, and I pour myself into my family obligations. I'm trying to develop small communities where I live and it's starting to pan out. Again, it's primarily based around our children, but we've developed some lasting connections with a couple of other parents.

I'm currently building a 2D 16-bit platformer with my (twin) daughters, who are 5. I let them pick out some asset packs to use and, once I get this level editor finished, will have them help build levels. My aim is to get it running on a SteamDeck (will just copy the required files over) and let them play it on the TV via the dock. They've seen a bit of Mario and Zelda so far and are curious for more. I figured this way would be a bit more hands-on and they could get some sense of how the sausage gets made.