al2f's website

Fun and games

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Fun and games
Resized to 1500x1060. View original (3508x2480)

Transcript:

A comic in 4 panels.

A login screen with a drawing of a castle under attack. The heading: The Group Chat That’s All Fun And Games. Caption: To continue using your account you will need to verify it. There are two buttons: Verify by Email, and Verify by Phone.
A panel split into two halves
- Left: An email: “Thanks for registering and account! Before we get started, we just need to confirm this is you. Click below to verify your email. Button: Verify Email”. Below, the program is insistently showing the login screen. This time there is no “Verify by Email” button.
- Right: An email conversation.
  - From: alto@example.com. To: Support. Subject: I do not have a phone.
  - From: Support Team.
  - A lengthy reply in a rigid, monospace font contrasting the previous handwritten panels: I just checked with my team and upon review of your account, it appears our system’s detection system has triggered succesfully and we will not be removing the phone verification requirement on your account, and you’ll be required to register a phone number to your account in order to continue the use of it. It’s possible that our system detected that you were using a VPN or proxy that was shared by other bad actors, which is why our system flagged your account. However, for privacy reasons, we are unable to share the specifics of the inner workings of our system. On the other hand, if you’re seeing an invalid number error, would the number you’ve attempted to confirm be a landline or VOIP phone by any chance, or have you already tried to verify this phone number recently for a different account? If you’re currently using a VOIP or landline number, unfortunately, VOIP and landlines are not compatible with our verification system.
A panel split in two.
- Left:
  - (A smiley face profile picture) An alt account #2847: I need some help with drawing. I’ve tried drawing people, but all I can draw are stick figures.
  - (A cheeky smiley face with a tongue out) Some user #2854: Are you like 5?
- Right: A system message: Some user #2854 broke the rule for minimum age requirements. What This Means For You:
  - One or more pieces of content you posted was removed
  - Your account has been permanently suspended
A login-wall once again preventing the user from using their account.
- (!) We need to verify your age
  - Use Your Id - Confirm your age by showing a valid, government-issued ID which is used for verification and then deleted.
  - See also: We are rolling out an experiment where data we said would not leave your device may now leave your device
- In the bottom right corner a newspaper headline with a drawing of a hooded figure
  - BREAKING NEWS. Company says hackers stole government IDs of 70,000 users.
- Addendum: The only way to ensure your data is not leaked is to not provide it to companies and organisations in the first place.

Pixelmania 2026

Fri, 01 May 2026 18:06:00 +1030

Pixelmania 2026 Artworks

Created as part of Artindi’s Pixelmania challenge, for 2026. The goal is to make one artwork per day(or every day that you are able to), given the following themes and optional constraints.

Ask for permission before uploading or using. See the Contact section of the home page.

This year I decided to base all of my artworks on the two games I am currently working on: The 3D JRPG, and the untitled puzzle platformer.

BIOS updates of disruptance

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

BIOS Updates
Resized to 1500x1060. View original (3508x2480)

Transcript:

A comic in 8 panels.

A laptop open with a window displaying power options: Shut Down, Restart and Log Out. The “Restart” option selected.
A medium shot with the back of the laptop, a person, and a door to the toilet. Person: “Alright, should be done when I get back”
2 minutes later
The person has returned. A close up shot of the laptop and a black screen. Person: “?”
A montage of the laptop screen as it turns on, split diaognally into 3 parts. First, a black screen and a finger on the power button. Second, a green logo of a mint leaf and the text “Starting up”. Third, the laptop turned on with the desktop visible. Person: “Huh. That’s odd. It should have restarted”. It seems the laptop chose to ignore the command to restart, and instead chose to power off!
Somewhat earlier…
A close up of the laptop. Laptop: “BIOS Update found” “Updating…” “100% Complete”
A close up of the laptop. The screen is black as in panel 4, this time the blackness is leaking slightly out of the screen, and an ominous black fog surrounds the edge of the screen.

An Almanac of Assorted Atypical programming languages

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 12:00:00 +1030

There are certain features that are almost expected to be in a programming language these days - numbers, characters, strings, mathematical operations, objects. For people who grew up programming in python(or worse, javascript), any non-object-oriented programming language will feel unusual and strange. While I have included some functional programming languages, they are not the main focus. Here, I mostly document programming languages which require a really unusual approach to how you structure algorithms and organize your data.

Trine fan-art

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 13:25:00 +1030

I recently played through Trine Enchanted Edition - an interesting action platformer with puzzle elements. Here are some sketches of most of the main characters.

Zoya the Thief in the Ruins of the Perished
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Amadeus the Wizard in the Crystal Caverns
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Frogatto music

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 23:02:32 +1030

A table for listing the music which was used in, or composed for Frogatto & Friends.

The page layout and table alignment shows some signs of Suboptimal Design, so it is skewed for the time being. :\

You can download the original csv here.

Key/Legend (click to expand)

Filename - the name of the file in the game files
OST Name - the name of the music in the OST(Official Sound Track)
OST Number - the number of the track in the OST
Used in-game? - Whether or not the track is used by Frogatto:
- no - The track is not currently used by Frogatto
- no, but it was - The track is not currently used, but was present in a previous version of the game
- no, but I was sure it is! - A track which I could not find in the game files but sounds waaay too familiar for me to write down no
- no, but planned - A track for which either the developers have voiced plans for, or a track which is used in the Unused levels.
- variant - The track is a variation of another tune. See the notes section for that track
- yes - The track is used in v4.2 of Frogatto. See the In-game appearance section for details
- yes, apparently - Tracks which are found in the game files and play in game, but ones which I do not remember hearing
- may resolve to an existing file - Tracks which I could only find in the OST and have not found the corresponding game file for. It is possible that the corresponding game file simply does not exist
In-game appearance - the location or situation in the game during which the music plays
Leitmotifs - The leitmotifs(bits from other melodys) which appear in the music
Notes - My notes regarding some of the songs. Sometimes they reference plans on where to include the songs. Other times, they’re cheeky complaints.
Game order - A tag for roughly sorting the songs based on the order in which they appear in a usual playthrough

Filename	OST Name	OST number	Used in-game?	In-game appearance	Leitmotifs	Notes	Game order
FrogTech.ogg			no, but was	Arcade: long haul, In v1.1 Crevice Village Houses			-1 Arcade
HappyForest.ogg			no, but was	Arcade: Wild new wonder			-1 Arcade
FrogattoSymph.ogg	Dungeon Symphony (dramatic storyline)	19	no, but was	Arcade: Arcade Blocks			-1 Arcade
FrogattoStage1Arcade.ogg			no, but was	Arcade: Upper Deck, Maintenance Shaft			-1 Arcade
ChipSneak.ogg			no, but was	Arcade: Coin Race			-1 Arcade
MilgramChip.ogg			no, but I was sure it is!	I’M SURE IT IS, BUT GREP CAN’T FIND IT			00 Title/Other
	Frogatto Title Theme (unused)	31	may resolve to an existing file				00 Title/Other
FrogattoTitleTheme.ogg			variant	A variation of ‘Main Theme Modular’			00 Title/Other
FrogattoStageCycle.ogg	Frogatto’s Theme Cycle	2	no				00 Title/Other
FrogattoMusicBox.ogg			no				00 Title/Other
FrogattoTitle.ogg	Frogatto Title	36	yes	Title screen			00 Title/Other
beach.ogg			no, but planned	`level/Unused/Seaside-WIP/seaside-cliffs.cfg`			00.5 Seaside
FrogUnderWater.ogg			no, but planned	`level/Unused/Seaside-WIP/cove.cfg, level/Unused/rain-test.cfg`			00.5 Seaside
peaceful-village.ogg			no			Maybe for a seaside village?	00.5 Seaside
FrogattoTownFinal.ogg			no				00.5 Seaside
RainyDayTrainJazz.ogg			yes	Cragland			00.5 Seaside
frogattoHouse.ogg			no, but planned			For dreamy Chrono Trigger-like opening. Ask Jetrel and MaestroMayhem	01 Grotto
	Wake up, Frogatto!	1	no				01 Grotto
FrogattoMorning.ogg			no				01 Grotto
FrogattoVillageOrChillOrWhatever.ogg			no, but I was sure it is!				01 Grotto
WellPut.ogg	Put ’er There, FrogFace	7	yes	Frogatto’s room and surroundings			01 Grotto
FrogattoStage1.ogg	Main Theme Modular	33	no, but was	In v1.1: Burn and Bubble, tutorial levels			01.2 Grass
WorldMap2.ogg			no				01.2 Grass
	Jazz Theme for Map and Guitar	20	may resolve to an existing file				01.2 Grass
	Alien Jammin’ Theme	16	yes			see alienjamyes	01.2 Grass
alienjamnew.ogg			variant	seen alienjamyes.ogg			01.2 Grass
alienjamyes.ogg	Alien band Jammin’	11	yes	Burn and Bubble, tutorial levels			01.2 Grass
WorldMap.ogg	Frogatto Map	17	yes				01.2 Grass
Chipperuni.ogg			yes, apparently	Secluded Hut, Crevice Bridge			02.0 Pre-Crevice
MinimalWhyNotSad.ogg	Minimal Cares, Lots of Stares	8	no, but I was sure it is!				02.0 Pre-Crevice
DumDuhDee.ogg	I got those Duh Derp Blues	15	no, but I was sure it is!				02.0 Pre-Crevice
NeoShop.ogg			yes	Chopple Shop		Was NeoItem.ogg	02.0 Pre-Crevice
WellWhyNot.ogg			yes	Wandering Passage, Crevice Bridge		Not secret of the forest from Chrono Trigger, despite a similar start.	02.0 Pre-Crevice
FrogattoChill.ogg			yes	Nene’s House			02.0 Pre-Crevice
FrogattoDreamAdventure.ogg	Dreams of Adventure	18	yes	Berd Cutscene after defeating bridge boss		Also only used for one level	02.0 Pre-Crevice
	Milgram’s Evil Introduction	3	no, but I was sure it is!				02.1 Crevice
FrogattoBossBattleSpastic.ogg	Boss Spastic	4	yes	Elder’s house Ralph fight	Frogatto theme		02.1 Crevice
NeoTown.ogg			yes	Crevice Village			02.1 Crevice
Hmmmm.ogg			yes	Crevice Village Houses			02.1 Crevice
	A Very Frogatto Fanfare	10	yes	Victory!		sfx	02.1 Crevice
neoBoss.ogg			yes	Bosses: Kitty Robot, Killer Bunnies, Airplane Boss, Crevice Village Cave			03 Crevice
ElderChief.ogg			yes	Elder (during Ralph interrogation?)			03 Crevice
8bitness.ogg	Givin’ him the Bitness	12	yes	Crevice Village Houses, Arcade Rabbit Haul			03 Crevice
FrogattoJungleThemeElder.ogg			no				03.5 Crevice?
	Milgram Incidental music	13	no, but I was sure it is!				03.7 Cutscene/Other
WalkingAlongfin2.ogg	Hoppin’ Right Along	25	no			Reminds me of Beneath a Steel Sky	03.7 Cutscene/Other
MilgramThemeChip2.ogg			no		Milgram	chiptune	03.7 Cutscene/Other
	Frogatto Music Box	26	may resolve to an existing file				03.7 Cutscene/Other
Frogatto_Boss_Mischievy1.ogg			no			see Frogatto_Boss_Mischievy2.ogg	04 Forest
Mysterioso.ogg	Mister Rioso (Forest of Bloody Mystery)	6	yes	Gnarled Knoll, Foreboding Forest			04 Forest
Frogatto_Boss_Mischievy2.ogg			yes	Turgid Turn	Frogatto theme		04 Forest
FrogForest.ogg	Frogatto Forest (unused)	32	no, but I was sure it is!			Maybe for unused forest levels which are vertical and with lots of logs	04.5 Forest
forest-village-theme.ogg			no				04.5 Forest
DrumBeat.ogg	A Drummin’ Beat	30	yes	Gloomy Galde, Twisting Treetops, others			04.5 Forest
FrogBeachTown.ogg			yes	Starlit Cave		Only used for 1 level. Jeeeetrel!	04.5 Forest
frogattoBossThing.ogg			no			Reminds me of ‘Confronting Myself’ from Celeste. Could be used for further encounters with beings basked in eternal darkness	04.7 Mines
IntegerRobotBoss.ogg			no			Could fit for further encounters with beings basked in eternal void	04.7 Mines
TerrestrialFortitude.ogg			no				04.7 Mines
GazerBoss.ogg			yes	Iralchtahne of Essikoria boss fight			04.7 Mines
TheWomb.ogg			yes	`tempo-mines.cfg`			04.7 Mines
GazerBossPrelude.ogg			yes	Musty pit			04.7 Mines
CavenessReprise.ogg			yes	Musty Mine			04.7 Mines
DrumJazz.ogg			yes	Conveyance Crossing			04.8 Tempo
RandomInteger.ogg			no			eerie modem sounds	04.9 Sand
	Chillin in the Village, proper	5	no, but I was sure it is!				05 Tempo
prospera-sombre.ogg			no				05 Tempo
FrogattoChill2.ogg			no				05 Tempo
Bouncy.ogg			no				05 Tempo
specialitem.ogg			yes	Item Pickup		sfx	05 Tempo
prospera-theme.ogg			yes	Prospera’s Workshop			05 Tempo
FrogForestVillage.ogg			yes	Tempo Village			05 Tempo
TheGrotto.ogg			yes	Blind Alley, Glowing Gate, others			05 Tempo
SavedGame.ogg			yes	Watercrust?		sfx	05 Tempo
CrispDrum.ogg			yes	Roadside Retreat, Tempo, others			05 Tempo
TurnedIntoAFrog.ogg			yes	When Prospera turns you into a frog			05 Tempo
DangerSwampCemetary.ogg			no, but I was sure it is!				06 Swamp
MushroomMetal2.ogg			no				06 Swamp
MushroomDub.ogg			no				06 Swamp
SwampForestCreepy.ogg			yes	Corrosive Climb and others			06 Swamp
DangerSwamp.ogg			yes	Putrid Pools, Bothersome Bog, others			06 Swamp
MushroomBossIntro.ogg	Mushroom BoomBasticBoss	14	yes	Mushroom Boss			06 Swamp
	Frog-stomp in Danger Swamp	21	may resolve to an existing file				06 Swamp
	Danger Swamp Cemetery	22	may resolve to an existing file				06 Swamp
wind.ogg			maybe				07 Autumn
Suitcasey.ogg			no				07 Autumn
SwampForestTriumph.ogg			no				07 Autumn
TTNF3.ogg			no				07 Autumn
DreamlandJourney.ogg			yes	Bon Bosque, Golden Glen, others			07 Autumn
Frogatto_Moth_Boss_Battle.ogg	Moth Boss Battle	24	yes	Moth Boss			07 Autumn
TemplateFrogFinal.ogg			yes	Frogotten Falls, Celadon Clearing			07 Autumn
CavenessRepriseShort.ogg			no, but I was sure it is!				08 Caves
CavenessFight.ogg			no		cave theme		08 Caves
GunEtCetera.ogg			yes	Bug Mining			08 Caves
PointBreak.ogg			yes	Limestone caverns			08 Caves
Gunslinger.ogg			yes	Bombing fools/darkness central			08 Caves
Frogatto_Generic_Boss_Battle.ogg	Plain old Boss Battle	29	yes	Subterranean Scuffle	Milgram		08 Caves
PepUp.ogg			yes	Fast Lane, Hanging Platforms			08 Caves
Caveness.ogg	Into the Caverness	9	yes	500 Feet, 200 Shoes	cave theme		08 Caves
AncientCave.ogg			yes	Hidden Depths			08 Caves
ChipJazz1.ogg			no			Mysterious. Reminds me of “Howl’s theme” from Howl’s Moving Castle	08.1 Caves Expansion
Dungeon.ogg			yes, apparently	Dungeon Blocks, Dungeon Entrance			09 Dungeon
TTNF2.ogg			no, but I was sure it is!				09 Dungeon
BedTimeStoryFugueWithMilgramTheme.ogg			no		Milgram	chiptune	09 Dungeon
Rockability.ogg			no				09 Dungeon
DungeonBaroque.ogg			yes	Dungeon Blocks			09 Dungeon
SkyDrummin.ogg			yes	Suboptimal design, north tower			09 Dungeon
MilgramSwagger.ogg	Milgram Swagger	34	yes	Milgrm cutscenes, first Berd landing?	Milgram		09 Dungeon
MilgramDungeon2.ogg			yes	Kitty Factory, Central Services			09 Dungeon
MilgramChamber.ogg			yes	Milgram Throne Room	Milgram		09 Dungeon
MilgramBossBattle.ogg	Milgram Boss Battle	35	yes	Milgram Boss Battle	Milgram		09 Dungeon
FrogReggae.ogg			yes	North Courtyard, Kitchens			09 Dungeon
100hrtemp.ogg			yes	Dungeon Crawling, Dark Corridor, Burning Stone, others			09 Dungeon
	Harpsichord Finale (end credits?)	27	may resolve to an existing file				09 Dungeon
	Church of Milgram - Baroque organ	28	may resolve to an existing file				09 Dungeon
FrogattoHarpsichordFinale.ogg			no, but I was sure it is!			tea for 2?	10 Credits
FrogattoBedtimeStorylineSegment.ogg			no		Frogatto theme	chiptune	10 Credits
Frogatto_And_Milgram_End_Credits.ogg			no			synth	10 Credits
	Frogatto Fugue	23	may resolve to an existing file		Milgram		10 Credits
TeaForTwo.ogg			yes	Credits (`tea-with-milgram.cfg`)			10 Credits

Re: It won't happen to me

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 01:07:43 +0230

A list of cases proving that even if you “have nothing to hide”, you will still be affected by privacy-invasive laws and companies.

A second list which shows that tech companies push updates against the user’s best interests, without their consent, and without caring about the harm it will bring to users:

google removing support for many extensions, including tracker blocker UBlock Origin:
- https://www.sweharris.org/post/2024-09-12-manifestv2/
- https://www.howtogeek.com/google-chrome-kill-manifest-v2-browser-extensions/
windows 10 updating to windows 11 without user consent, leaving their system in a non-functional state:

Linux installation guide

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 10:08:28 +1030

Option 1: Q4OS (The most beginner friendly)

Prerequesites:

A windows computer
Administrator permissions
~50GiB of free space
20-30 minutes of free time for a basic Q4OS desktop. Additional time is needed for a Full featured desktop.
A network connection
Recommended: A backup of important files.
Curiosity

Downloading installer

Go to https://www.q4os.org/, and navigate to the ‘Downloads’ section. From there, go the the ‘Installer for Windows’ section, and click on Q4OS Aquarius, WinSetup.exe - 64bit / x64 to download the installer. For the next steps, there is an installation guide available on the website. It skips over some details which lead me to writing this guide.

firefly

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 11:52:46 +1030

A Firefly 03-K64, from the TV series firefly.

The website banner is a variation of this image. It was widened and downscaled, with extra black added as padding. The extra width was added with brushes in GIMP.

Watered watercolour
Resized to 1500x1076. View original (2291x1643)

Dry watercolour
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Phoenotopia Sheet music

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +1030

A collection of sheet music for Phoenotopia and Phoenotopia Awakening that I could find.

I couldn’t find a version of the world map theme with the non-simplified flourishes, so I transcribed the theme from the ‘Piano Arrangments’ album. Once transcribed, I tried to play it on the piano, but it proved too difficult. I later found the sheet music for rev3rsor’s arrangement which was still hard to play despite the simplified flourishes/arpeggios! It’s a fast song, and many parts don’t sound right if you play them slow.

ANOVA fan-art

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 19:01:20 +1030

To continue my trend of drawing fan-art from niche and/or obscure games, I drew Violet (no, not that Violet) and Tink from ANOVA. A short point-and-click adventure which is “full of puzzles, pirates, robots, and more pirates!”. The art, music, and puzzles really fit together really well. You can tell a lot of care was put into it! You can play it on newgrounds here.

This is probably my first piece which I used line art for, and I like how it turned out. (Though following existing lines is easier than drawing your own). [This is] also, [my first time somewhat properly drawing] boots!, and knees!

Happy (late) Easter!

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 12:11:21 +1030

An idea I had in my head for a long time. The whole gang from Chrono Trigger celebrating easter. Drawn using led pencil, then coloured in. Frog was quite hard to draw. I have an extra page full of frog drawings, and have drawn something resembling Pepe the meme frog two times.

Pixelmania 2025

Mon, 05 May 2025 10:37:24 +1030

Pixelmania 2025 Artworks

Created as part of Artindi’s Pixelmania challenge, for 2025. The goal was to make one artwork per day, given the following themes and optional constraints.

Ask for permission before uploading or using. See the Contact section of the home page.

1. Sword

Inigo Montoya holding his sword, praying. A scene from the movie The Princess Bride, which is based on the book of the same name. With the constraint ‘include the sky in your image’

Captain Harlock artwork

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 12:11:21 +1030

Captain Harlock and Daiba playing chess aboard the Arcadia.

Based Captain Harlock by Leiji Matsumoto. Created on: 2025-03-05 to 2025-03-07. Total time: 8 hours (3:48 for draft, 4:07 for colour)

Resized to 1500x844. View original (5000x2813)

Restoring GIMP settings after the 3.0 update

Sun, 30 Mar 2025 10:55:35 +1030

After updating my system I was greeted with the amazing release of GIMP 3.0. The interface was ported to GTK3 which matches the program nicely with my system theme, and I’m very excited to try out non-destructive filters. As happened with many GIMP releases, some default settings were changed, and there’s going to be some people who prefer the previous settings, and would like to change them back. I’m one of those people.

Resources

Tue, 25 Mar 2025 15:15:57 +1030

Various useful and not-so-useful links. Some of the links are an attempt to clean up my ever-growing bookmarks list.

https://tinytools.directory/ “✨ Open source, experimental, and tiny tools roundup”
- A gigantic list of different tools: Can also be found in its repository

Mathematics

Math is Fun - a website with very good explanations of mathmatical concepts

Art

See also Art programs I use
Software – Morevna Project
- A list of free software covering 2d/3d animation, 3d modelling, and drawing

Drawing

https://ashido.com/ashidooutlinks.html#tools “Ashido Tetrisu - Art-related Tools or References”
- A similar list of useful links for art tools
https://blambot.com/en-au/pages/lettering-tips “Better Letterer – Blambot Comic Fonts & Lettering”
- Tips for letter typesetting in comic books
https://www.creativeuncut.com/ “Creative Uncut - Video Game Art”
- A website featuring concept art from various video games

Cool references/artists/art styles

https://www.creativeuncut.com/art_sea-of-stars_a.html “Sea of Stars Concept Art & Characters”
https://www.davidrevoy.com/ “David Revoy”
- The artist behind the webcomic Pepper & Carrot
https://nexreonart.carrd.co/ Author of the “It’s dangerous, just… Make sure not to overheat the core. Alright?” drawing from Artindi’s 2024 pixel maynia art challenge
https://saitoki.itch.io/
https://www.slynyrd.com/gallery-animated/zu4ha2d2a7wol13l24ywk6vfe9viy2 SLYNYRD, Author of “Cliff Top Save Point”
https://www.happyspork.com/about
https://www.paperdemon.com/app/art-rpg-landing

Comics I read

Comics I should read

Pixel Art

https://saint11.art/blog/pixel-art-tutorials/ “Pixel Art Tutorials - Saint11”

Hiding walls which cover the player in a 3D RPG

Mon, 03 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction

This year I started a 3D rpg project in godot. Choosing to make the project both in 3D, and multiplayer lead to some quite interesting new ideas and problems to solve. This is one such problem.

Taking a scene from an RPG such as Chrono Trigger. There is some floor, some walls, some furniture, and the main character - Crono. The measurements aren’t hard to make as the game uses a 16x16 pixel grid, and we can quickly get a rough idea of what the 3d level will look like:

Phoenopia Remake - 3a - Keep your commits tidy! - Why git is not bulletproof.

Fri, 14 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I launched up my project to find that Gail is now stuck in the floor when loading from a save.

I use git version control for this project. For every step of progress I make, I select the important files that have changed, and I group those changes in what’s called a commit. Here’s an example of adding a few lines to make a crate destructible:

Merry Krismas

Wed, 25 Dec 2024 15:50:05 +1030

Merry Krismas!

Pico8 Undertale Sprites

Wed, 25 Dec 2024 15:20:51 +1030

Found these in my folders. An adaptation of UNDERTALE’s sprites for the PICO-8 game console. The project didn’t go anywhere besides the sprites, but I figured other people might find it interesting. As usual, please ask before using.

I found 3 different versions, with various levels of polish.

As PICO-8 supports sprite rotation and flipping, I got really creative with the sprite packing. Here are the monsters that I managed to unscramble from the above sprites.

Pixelmania

Sat, 21 Dec 2024 17:10:24 +1030

Pixelmania 2024 Artworks

Created as part of Artindi’s Pixelmania challenge. The goal was to make one artwork per day, given the following themes and optional constraints.

Ask for permission before uploading or using. See the Contact section of the home page.

1. It’s dangerous

2. Yuck

3. Over Time

Based on the game Chrono Trigger

4. It’s broken

Braid

5. Glitch

OneShot

6. Apocalypse

Chrono Trigger again

7. Opposites

A scene from the Good Omens TV series

Phoenotopia Remake - 3 - Maintenance, Inventory; Switches, Gates, and Bats

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 12:32:32 +1030

Automatic conversion of Tiled objects

Phoenotopia uses the Tiled map editor. Within the level, (almost) each object has a type property. Previously, I used the YATI tiled importer, and specified for each object, the type of object it should be imported as, and the path of the godot scene.

The steps to tell YATI/Tiled that a new type exists are as follows:

Go to ‘View->Custom Types Editor’ in Tiled
Press ‘Add Class’

Phoenotopia Remake - 2 - Backgrounds, Bats, Saves and Menus

Wed, 02 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Backgrounds

A few days ago, I finally solved the mystery of the backgrounds. In addition to the scroll_x and scroll_y properties in the Tiled object, the position of the rectangle in tiled is also taken into account when drawing backgrounds. I randomly stumbled across this piece of information when looking through the original code. I also fixed some other problems with how backgrounds were drawn. I reversed the backgrounds so that the layers were drawn in the correct order. I also doubled the size of each background in-game as some backgrounds, even when repeated, did not cover the entire screen.

Phoenotopia Remake - Blog Post 1

Fri, 30 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Context

A while back, I worked on my (fan) re-make of the flash game Phoenotopia in Godot. Before reading further, I suggest you take a look at the original game on Newgrounds for some context, and the official remaster Phoenotopia Awakening.

I started the project in October of 2023, and worked on it slowly through to January of 2024. By that point, I had a working level import system thanks to the YATI Tiled Importer, an oddly-made, but somehow functioning ladder system, and boxes that could be pushed around.

Projects

Sun, 04 Feb 2024 15:47:13 +1030

Projects I've made

Dreadful Multicoloured Tile Maze

Re-creation of the Coloured Tile Puzzle from UNDERTALE

Download - Dreadful Multicoloured Tile Maze by al3f - itch.io

LINC Space File Manager

An unconventional and quirky file manager based on Beneath a Steel Sky

Download - LINC Space File Manager by al3f - itch.io

Umbrella

A platformer metroidvania game

Source: al2f/umbrella - umbrella - Codeberg.org

Frogatto & Friends map viewer

A map viewer for Frogatto & Friends

Source: al2f/frogatto-map-viewer - Codeberg.org

Sea of Stars save editor

A save viewer(and editor) for Sea of Stars

Source: al2f/sea-of-stars-edit - Codeberg.org

Audio Re-looper

A python script to detect when (video game) OST music loops.

Source: al2f/audio-relooper - Codeberg.org

Projects I've contributed to

Frogatto & Friends

Frogatto & Friends is an action-adventure game, starring a certain quixotic frog.

Source: GitHub - frogatto/frogatto:
Documentation: Wiki page Home | frogatto/frogatto - GotHub (original)
Website: Frogatto & Friends

Taskcollect

A web server that multiplexes functionality from educational web platforms for students. Allows students to use all supported educational websites as if they were all merged into one intuitive web interface.

Source: kvo/taskcollect - taskcollect - Codeberg.org
Website: TaskCollect

OpenNox

NoX is an action adventure RPG. OpenNox is a re-write of the NoX game engine with multi-platform support.

Source: GitHub - noxworld-dev/opennox: OpenNox main repository.
Documentation: OpenNox :: OpenNox documentation
Screenshots: Funshots | Hecubah.com

Programs

Sun, 14 Jan 2024 05:14:00 +0830

When searching online for programs that do a certain thing, the majority of the links on the first page of the search results look like “23 Best Free certain thing Programs for [Insert Current Year]” which contain at least 1 paid option, despite having “free” in the page title, and overall contain little information of value. I hope this list helps find more programs that just do the one task they’re made to do, don’t collect unnecessary data without your permission and don’t try to slow down the system.

Scripts and Tricks

Sun, 24 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

A collection of small scripts and tricks I’ve come across or wrote. Quite a lot of these intersect with my dotfiles.

Linux

Finding missing disk space

A long afternoon is spent cleaning up my disk. From 3GB free to 22GB free, a massive achievement! Then, I come back to my computer the next day, and find there to be only 16GB free. ‘Alright’ I say, let’s remove ~/.cache. Still only 16GB free. Where did the other 6 go?!

Home

Mon, 04 Sep 2023 18:40:12 +0930

About

I’m known online as al2f, as well as al0f and al1f. I’m a free/libre software advocate and game developer, and write programs for fun. I often get distracted by the Godot Game Engine, so I do not have (m)any non-game software projects released. From time to time I draw or play the piano. The banner image is of a Firefly 03-K64.

Thoughts

Dislikes:

Most modern technology. See Technology isn’t fun anymore - Drew Gooden (youtube
Error: An unexpected error occured
404 pages which redirect to the websites home page
Lack of borders on UI elements

Likes:

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

On user modern “user-friendly” interfaces.

Almost always when I see a “modern” interface, I know it will be annoying to use. These are examples of what not to do if you want to make a useable interface.

Icons,large font size, and rounded corners do not a user-friendly interface make

Different devices and screen sizes exist. Not all users use a phone. A UI designed for phones does not work well on computers
Do not expect the user to know what icons represent. Use labels.
- More reading on the matter of poor user interfaces and incomprehensible icons:
  - [https://cadence.moe/blog/2020-06-13-icons-suck](Icons suck - cadence’s weblog (personal blog))
  - [https://axesslab.com/icons-ruining-interfaces/](How icons are ruining interfaces)
  - The smiling cyclops: [https://datagubbe.se/iconmeaning/](The Meaning of Icons: Cryptic Ideograms and Stylized Squares | datagubbe.se)

Thou shall not break established UI conventions or re-invent the wheel (unless thou has a very good reason for doing so)

Many conventions exist on how to structure certain parts of a UI. Breaking these conventions, and creating custom widgets more often than not leads to highly frustrated users. Please stick to them.
- Menu bars allow you to very quickly skim through a lot of options to find the one you are looking for.
  - Here are some useful features of a menu bar:
    - Before hovering over a top-level menu, you know where the submenus will show up
    - It does not take up much screen space
    - It is always present at the top
- Dropdowns can be typed in to quickly find an option
- Text boxes have many widely-used shortcuts
- Text which is not part of a button, menu bar or check-boxes can be selected and copied
- In web pages links can be interacted with in multiple ways. Do not break them.
  - Left click - Open the link in the current tab
  - Middle click - Open the link in a new tab
  - Ctrl-click - Open the link in a new tab
  - Right-click -> Open the browser’s menu to show options like “Copy link location” or “Open link in new tab”

Thou shall clearly indicate which UI item is currently focused

I should hope this one is self-explanatory

Thou shall not hide information unless it makes sense

Do not create hamburger/caterpillar/snowman menus which house a single item
Only hide text under “Show more” sections if the text which is hidden takes up at least as much space as the rest of the paragraph.

Not-so-well-designed UIs

A few examples of confusing user-interfaces and ideas on what to do better