July 2022

Blaugust Incoming

stargrace July 19, 2022 0Comment

August is quickly approaching, and for a number of years now I’ve participated in Blaugust in various degrees, and hopefully this year will be more of the same. I know my blog posts tend to come in waves, but Blaugust has always been a great motivator. Belghast has all of the details over on his blog, and don’t forget to join the discord too if you’re into that sort of thing. You absolutely don’t have to if it’s not your thing. I’ve always loved watching the community that has evolved from this event, but I also tend to feel a bit on the outskirts of things. A part, but not a part.

The idea is to try to post on your blog as much as you feel comfortable doing. Some folks use it as motivation to post all 31 days, others have a more relaxed approach. There are little mini goals this year, along with the regular schedule for some post motivation. If it’s something you’ve never looked into before and you’re curious about it, I highly suggest checking things out. Blogging might be ‘dead’ but there are those of us who continue to carry the torch.

Happy writing!

Real Life

Motivation

stargrace July 6, 2022 0Comment

One thing I’ve wanted for quite some time is a fitness tracker. I’ve had a number of fitbit products over the years, but they never lasted longer than a year, whether it was because of poor quality or maybe my lifestyle was just too rough, I’m not sure. I decided enough was enough. I knew I was going to either go with an apple watch (let’s face it, I’m already deeply vested in apple products, we have 3 iPads, an iPhone, and a MacBook Pro), or I was going to go with Garmin. In the end I decided it was more important for me to have a fitness watch with smart watch capabilities, than it was to have a smart watch with fitness capabilities. I went with the Garmin 245 – heavily discounted from $479 to $299 (probably because they’ve just released the 255, and want to get rid of stock).

Setting it up was daunting but simple. It’s highly customizable, everything from the watch face to the screens that show to what activities you track. It gives health and fitness statistics like a heart rate monitor and oxygen. It can determine your sleep stats (though people say Garmin does not do this well, I think that can be said for most devices, they’re just not really there yet). It has GPS, can let me know if I have a call or messages on my phone, and so far I’m quite pleased with the device over all. Whether or not it stands up to the test of time is another matter. For the price I paid, I’d like it to last at least three years with constant use. It’s also just plain strange to be wearing a watch again, I haven’t worn one for many years.

I’m hoping this motivates me to move more, and to get healthier. I love statistics and have had good experiences in the past – so we’ll just have to see. On a side note, it’s hilarious that this also tracks stress levels. Let me tell you, as a parent to a 3 and 5 year old, those stress levels are ping ponging all over the damn place and bedtime is a zone you can effectively see on the charts.

Gaming

Keplerth – Surprisingly Fun

My husband surprised me by gifting this game to me yesterday, and honestly I had never heard of it before. It is a 2D Sandbox RPG with online co-op (and LAN co-op), a steam workshop, and achievements. The graphics look VERY similar to RimWorld, which caught me off guard. The gameplay is NOT RimWorld at all, but it is a whole lot of fun.

I created a dark elf, I’m not even sure what the husband was playing. We found ourselves in a broken down base, and vaguely followed tutorial prompts to build some basic tools, armor, and head to a laboratory where we found a trade shop. The game is a lot more complex then it looks initially, there’s all sorts of mutation and gene events going on, there’s pet breeding, mounts, farming, exploration, randomly generated maps, and dungeons.

The team who made this game is just four people, so if you find bugs you have to bring it to their attention so they can work on them, but so far, I completely understand why this game has a very positive review, having released back in May 2022. I’m looking forward to exploring further, and seeing what trouble I can get into.

The only ‘downside’ or complaint I have so far is that although the game can be played co-op, there’s very little ‘group’ interaction. The tutorial only updates for one person, and there’s no grouping up (that I have found at least). You can see other people on the map and you can trade with them by dropping on the ground or putting it in a chest, but it’s not really customized for actual full co-op play (IMO). Still, it was a great way to spend an evening. I donned my stone club, my husband made a bow, and together we lured out the zombies and mutant monsters to make short work of them.

Then survivalists started showing up at our base, and making use of our amenity. It just got more fun from there.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Gaming

Factorio (Or Maybe Dyson Sphere Program)

stargrace July 2, 2022 2Comments

I recently picked up a few games from steam that I’ve had on my radar for a while. One was No Place Like Home (which I refunded, because as much as I wanted to love this game, the controls were just so bad), Keplerth, and Factorio. I’ve watched others playing Factorio for some time, but I stayed away from it myself, thinking it would be too complicated. The thing is I do enjoy those types of games (I also feel like my game library is already quite large) so I knew sooner or later I was going to pick it up. Then someone commented, and mentioned Dyson Sphere Program. This game is one I haven’t really looked at, but it’s very similar to Factorio. Now I sort of want that one too. There’s just so many games, and not enough time.

I’ve been playing through the tutorial of Factorio, and one thing I don’t like is the bad guys that keep putting pressure on you (and growing in strength) as you’re trying to get things done. Of course eventually you get better guns and automate some processes to keep things safe, but that extra layer of stress is one I could do without. I know there’s a creative mode, but I really wanted to finish making my way through the tutorial first before branching off.

Have you given either of these games a look? What are your thoughts? Let me know in comments, and as always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Blaugust Incoming

Motivation

Keplerth – Surprisingly Fun

Factorio (Or Maybe Dyson Sphere Program)

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