wschlender's comments

wschlender | 2 years ago | on: Ask HN: 9-yo son wants to build a game, I'm lost. What can I do?

You could start with a text adventure.

It's how I started back in the 90s, and it's so simple he could do most of it himself.

It'd let him focus on story, basic programming (if-statements) and if you wanted to add 3d you could generate some 3d images with one of the cool new AI tools.

wschlender | 6 years ago | on: Ask HN: How can I pick a side project and stick with it?

What happens when you play video games?

For me video games are fun and easy to focus on day after day.

I realized that this is because video games have done a very good job of defining a goal --> FTL (my current favorite) == get to the final sector and destroy the rebel flagship. The goal is clear and you 100% know when you're done.

I've learned that I used to be really bad at defining goals. I'd say things like... 'I want to make an XYZ sort of thing'... but that's not a great goal. It's kinda vague... have you 'made' the thing when you put down 10 lines of code as a prototype? When will you be done?

If the goal is unclear I feel --> 1. like I might be signing up for an everlasting slog 2. like I'm not really sure how to win

So I find that I need 'delivery' goals --> 'my app is in the app store' or 'my article was published'. When you work for someone else this is the kind of goal they give (when will you ship XYZ) and you probably always make those.

Hope this helps!