I’m trying to find the balance between being passionate and being human. I’ve experienced what it’s like to not be able to turn off and working myself at the expense of my relationships, and I don’t want to do that.

Yesterday, I did make some progress, but not on the course itself, but on a simple playing card. I managed to render a ColorRect background and created two RichTextLabel nodes for a value and suit. The root Node2D script isn’t going to win any awards:

Yesterday, I restarted working my way through the GDQuest Learn 2D Gamedev from Zero with Godot 4.

One of the lessons talked about approaching this with a learning mindset, and included suggestions like a learning plan and a Pomodoro timer.

I interpreted the learning plan as the need to document my journey; this was something I had been planning on doing anyway, but this was an explicit push.

I had originally called this a blog; that’s from muscle memory, reflecting my emerging experiences on the Internet. More accurately, this is a dev diary, and I’ve named it as such. Names are important; they set clear expectations.

Hi there, my name is Jon Peck. I’m a software engineer, author, educator, and musician. I also love video games.

I’m formally starting my journey into game development, and I’ll reflect, share, and discuss my progress. By publishing this in public, I’m holding myself accountable, and I hope my experiences can help others.

This first entry is a bit long, but I’m looking to give context.

Over the past couple of decades, my professional career has been focused on custom software development. I worked my way up from IT and customer success positions through college, into coding as my primary responsibility.