Rust Featured

How I Want to Build (Web) Apps

Over the past year or so, I have been tinkering with a lot of ideas involving (web) applications. This post explores some of the opinions that I developed during this time and the conclusions that I am taking from the experience.

Designing My Own To-Do App

For years, I've searched for the perfect task management system. But after countless experiments and iterations, I've decided to take matters into my own hands. Introducing my dream app: Otterdone.

DevOps

Designing a New Home Server

It's time to set up a new home server! But before jumping into the work, let's take a moment to consider how to manage the server and what to run on it.

Leaving the Cloud

The past few months have made me reconsider my relationship with social media and cloud services. And I think that I'd be happier if I felt more in control over my digital life.

Devlog

Creating a CLI to Improve My Focus

I am trying to improve my focus and rediscovered the Pomodoro Technique. But because I struggle to form new habits, I decided to make it more interesting by building my own productivity tool.

DEVxBOTS

DEV x BOTS

After years of experimenting with automation and developer tools, I am starting DEV x BOTS to create an automation platform for developers. We all have tasks that could just be automated, if that was easier to do.

GameDev

Auto Traffic Control – Version 0.3.0

Version 0.3.0 introduces a new Node SDK to play the game with JavaScript or TypeScript. And a new in-depth tutorial about playing the game with TypeScript is available on the website.

GameDev

Auto Traffic Control – Version 0.2.0

Version 0.2.0 is the first public release of my video game Auto Traffic Control. This post introduces the release and its most important changes, and describes the plans for the game's next release.

GameDev Featured

Automate Building and Publishing a Game on itch.io

Automated builds are a great way to produce consistent results, and to make a developer's life easier. In this post, I show how to use GitHub Actions to first create a release for a game, and then push that release to itch.io.

GameDev

Designing an API for a Video Game

I am working on Auto Traffic Control, a video game for programmers. The game is played by writing code that interacts with the game through an API. This post explores the design of the API that connects the player's code, the API layer, and the game simulation.

GameDev Featured

Auto Traffic Control – A Video Game for Programmers

Auto Traffic Control, fittingly abbreviated ATC, will be a video game for programmers about safely routing planes to an airport. It takes inspiration from the old school hit Flight Control, and adapts its game mechanics for programming.

Devlog

Four Weeks of Experiments

At the beginning of 2022, I set the goal to experiment with different project ideas and technologies. I want to learn new things and build something, and after four weeks it is time to pause and reflect on the progress.

Devlog

Day 4 – Adding Tech Debt

Yesterday, I was following along with the book Zero to Production to set up a web server in Rust. Today, I went rogue and added a background job system. All code quality metrics have dropped as a result.

Devlog

Day 3 – Productive Procrastination

After two days of mostly theoretical work, I felt like writing some code today. So I got my copy of the book "Zero to Production" and worked on the app's web server. As a result, the project is built with Rust now...

Devlog

Day 2 – Exploring an Idea

Yesterday, I brainstormed ideas for a project that I can build in a few weeks. Today, I am exploring one of those ideas in more depth. The goal is to develop a better understanding of the product and its constraints.

Devlog

Day 1 – An Empty Source File

The new year is here and I have some time to experiment. It has been a while since I had the opportunity to explore new technologies and build something. I have a few ideas what to do and what to learn, but I still need to figure out the details.

GameDev Featured

godot-logger – A Rust Logger for Godot

While building a game with Rust and Godot, I wanted to see log messages in Godot's editor. Because I could not find an existing solution, I went ahead and created godot-logger, a crate that prints to Godot's output console.

GitHub

Hacktoberfest '21

Hacktoberfest is an annual event that celebrates open source, and I will be working on my video game for programmers this month.

GameDev

This Month in Lunaria – July 2021

Lunaria is now using the Godot engine, updates can be streaming to clients through the gRPC API, and camera controls have been implemented.

GitHub Featured

Fully Automated Dependency Upgrades with Dependabot and GitHub Actions

Dependabot is an app for GitHub that automates dependency upgrades through pull requests. When maintaining many or large projects, manually merging these pull requests can take quite some time. Luckily, the process can be fully automated with the help of one or two GitHub Actions.

GameDev

gRPC

Lunaria is a video game for programmers, in which players write code to interact with the game through an API. This post introduces Lunaria's API that is built using the gRPC framework.

GameDev

Announcing Lunaria

Lunaria is an ambitious open source project to create a video game for programmers. Write code to build a base, launch into space, and explore an infinite universe shared with other players.

GameDev

Turtles All the Way Down

Four weeks ago I wrote a lengthy post about why I want to build a video game for programmers [https://www.jdno.dev/why-i-want-to-build-a-video-game-for-programmers/]. Since then the foundation for the project has been laid, I joined forces with my good friend Rob, and it is now time to develop the

GameDev

Why I Want to Build a Video Game for Programmers

As an avid gamer, I love the structured challenges and feedback loops that video games provide. Especially when there are clear goals, but a lot of flexibility how to achieve them. Can we make practicing programming more engaging by combining it with gaming? Challenges with Programming I love programming. Enough

For a Readership of One

The beginning of a new year is a great opportunity to reflect and set new goals. Writing is one thing I want to dedicate more time to in 2020, and this article summarizes my motivation, thoughts, and feelings about this goal. The Motivation Writing is an essential activity in my