Hi!

Wow!

Woahhhh!

Woooooahhhhhhhhh!!

Wooooooooooaaaaaaaaahhhhhoohhhhhohhhhhooooohwooow!!!!

Alright. That's enough of that.

Well...

I'm finally writing my first post! And, that's all for now!

See ya!

.

..

...

Jk. I'm sure I'm not the first blogger person who has done that...

So, I have no idea what I'm doing (in case that isn't obvious). I've never really blogged or done anything quite like this before, so yeah. 🤔

All I know is that one minute I didn't own the domain sidericestudios.com, then the next minute, I owned sidericestudios.com, had a GhostCMS blog, and now I'm here!

Well, that's what it feels like. 😆

I suppose I COULD lookup "how to blog" on Google or something, but I'm doing this purely for fun. So, I see no need 🤔. If I were trying to make a slick, professional blog, I'd probably do that.

Perhaps I should answer some questions to clear up some "uncertainty" (why did I put that in quotes?) (perhaps for a dramatic effect) (like rotate your shoulders back and forth a small amount when you say "uncertainty" and you'll see what I mean) - like "who/what/why" kind of stuff. I bet that's probably important. So, let's dive in, shall we? Yes!

Who/What/Why

I'll answer these questions in the order that makes the most sense to me. Starting with "what",

What is SideRiceStudios?

The goal/idea/concept of SideRiceStudios is to be a personable, approachable community for video game developers of all skill levels, from "first day of trying video game development" to "professional video game developer", to build, share, learn, and prosper within their art(s), and fundamentally "enjoy the process" from/for all disciplines - programming, art, design, writing, music, sound, etc. Perhaps with a bias toward programming only because I'm a programmer. But, I do enjoy and appreciate all disciplines behind video game development! I'm just not good at them... But, I'd love to be, though!

I made a motto for SideRiceStudios that I think is quite fitting,

"Fun building" vs "building games"

In other words, the intent is to focus less on "building actual games" and rather just focus on "having fun building". It could just be one little feature/idea of something you are playing with. It could be as simple as a prototype for an "axe throwing" mechanic, for instance (I just made that up... But, maybe I'll actually do that 😆). Or, it could be a sound effect for an axe as it whooshes through the air that you're working on.

In essence, I believe that building video games can be a game in itself. It's challenging (the fun), it gets progressively more complex as you get deeper into it (the levels), and there is a goal (the win condition) - which is, of course, successfully building the game. So, if building a game is a game in itself, why not have fun with it? After all, is that not the point of games in the first place?

So, that's what SideRiceStudios is all about!

It's also a great place if you enjoy both incomplete and run-on sentences and lots, of, unnecessary, commas!

Is it a game studio?

Nope. I just thought it sounded cool.

Does that mean we won't ever build video games? Not at all! It's just not the main focus.

But, would that be awesome? I'd say so! Haha. Someday, maybe!

Why did I create SideRiceStudios?

This is a tricky one as there is no one/single "why", but rather many "whys", and furthermore, somehow, I discover new "whys" all the time 🤔. Here are some,

• I feel that game development is such a "alone" activity. Like, we go into our caves, read books & documentation, watch tutorials, focus in, and make cool stuff. Which is awesome! There is no doubt about that. But, perhaps the process itself is a bit underrated... And, I believe that the best experiences are shared experiences. Maybe we can share and enjoy our dev experiences together and not just the final product, ie the produced video game(s)?
• I've found that communities tend to be around some specific "thing". Like, a specific tool, a specific library, a specific game engine, etc, etc. I would simply like a community that is "tool agnostic" yet still "about tools", but it's hard to find. 🤔
• I find that many communities feel so "corporate". Like, everytime I share something on the internet that I think is meaningful or valuable and I just want to share it, I ALWAYS get a corporate suit shutting me down, literally deleting my post as if it's a crime, then saying, "Post this in self-promote. This is your first warning."... 🤦‍♂️ Like, isn't the whole point of communities to share? I didn't understand this for the longest time, but I finally realized what was going on. The kind of people/places who say that kind of stuff are just trying to sell something and they don't want "competition" - and, they confuse "genuine, useful sharing" with their own agendas. In psychology, this is called "projecting". This became a reason to want to start my own community. At SideRiceStudios, sharing is appreciated. Even if it is a game that you built and you want to promote it a little bit. Why not? You worked hard to give people a new experience and to express your art form. It's something beautiful, not to be shut down. The "agenda" at SideRiceStudios is you, and me, and all of us! It's just a community...
• I wanted a community with just a bit more personality to it. Something that feels more like "friends" than "followers". Not to say one can't simply "lurk" - I know there are many people who prefer to lurk! (I too lurk in a few communities myself 🙂) Also, I can't help but feel that many online communities are somehow "ranked" - like "new members" are somehow "pawns" and the "senior members" are somehow "dukes" of sort. I think people just like to feel powerful. But, hey, more power to them! Just not here!

Why the name?

Because everything is better with a side of rice. 🍚🙂

Particularly, short-to-mid grain, long grain depending on the vibe, mostly milled (ie, "white" but with some nutrients, why not), perfectly cooked - the kind you can eat with chopsticks effortlessly, fluffy, steamed rice. 🤌

Who are you?

At a high level, perhaps one could say that I'm a nobody who enjoys video game development and good company! 🕹️🍵

I learned how to code in Macromedia Flash 8 + ActionScript 2 by reverse engineering any/all working/functioning "tuts" (tutorials) I could possibly find on FlashKit (it took lots of time and trial and error 😆), I later studied computer science specializing in something called "human-computer interaction" which is more or less the academic word for what is commonly known as "UI/UX". Then, I ended up working in web application development!

... So, a nobody! Haha

In this context, I've decided to go by the alias "SideRice". Mostly because GhostCMS asked me to enter a name and it was the first thing I thought of. I could have chosen any name like "DragonMaster4", but yeah, I guess I'm not that creative...

SideRice, as a character/persona, is nothing more than a reflection of me that embodies everything I love about video game development.

I intend to use the SideRice character as a means to represent the "base vibe" of SideRiceStudios - I bet there's tons of people who have the same story as SideRice (perhaps with different specifics, but the same flow), and I find that quite special - but, within SideRiceStudios, I want to be me haha not a character/role.

🍵

And, I think that's everything I can think of!

Whew! That was a lot! We're REALLY gonna need a matcha after ALL THAT!

Maybe two. Or, three, even. 🍵🍵🍵

Up next

I'd like to start off SideRiceStudios, the blog aspect of it anyway, by talking about two and a half "topics". I even went ahead and created semi-clever names for said "topics" 👀. Here they are,

• SideQuests - Where I treat "building things" as if they were "side quests" in an adventure game and talk about my "adventures" using tools, building things, etc. Really, I guess it's just me talking about building things, tools, libraries, engines and things of that nature... But, hey! Maybe our game dev adventures will cross paths someday! 🧙
• FireSide - Where I talk about things that have inspired me as a video game developer. Some of which things can go as far back to when I was young chap while other things can be as recent as yesterday. I think we video game developers likely have similar inspirations. It might be cool to see the similarities & differences!
• Music (this is the "half topic" and it has no clever name 😝) - So... Low key, I used to listen to quite specific music almost every time I worked on video games 😆 - it was a small handful of my favorite power metal songs. If you don't know what power metal is, it's like as if rock music and epic adventure game music were combined. It's considered "cheesy" to some, but I absolutely love it. Anyway, today I now have more music genres worth of songs in my "music repertoire" for different moods that I may be in. I think it could be cool to share the music that I like, particularly, particular songs for particular moods 👀. Maybe you could find yourself in some mood, and you could find a song that makes that mood a little better. Maybe you have certain songs for certain moods, too! And, I'd love to hear about them! 🎶

I also need to make an actual "community place" haha. I'm like 90% sure I'm going to utilize Discord for this just because it's so popular and works quite well. So, perhaps I'll make a Discord as well!

Well, I think that's ACTUALLY all for now!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you around! 🙂

SideRice 🍚