photo of dog in forest

My dog on a walk in the woods.

i miss this place

For months, I have been trying to find the right "home" for myself on the internet.

click to expand rant (optional) Social media sites feel both oversaturated and isolating at the same time––feeds are constantly refreshing with whatever's most popular, while the stories I'd like to see get buried by ads and suggested posts (and always videos, videos, videos). I rarely exchange words with anyone in a meaningful way. The value of art is measured by "engagement"––which is more about follower counts, likes, and reposts, none of which require actual engagement with the art or artist. I often see artists bemoaning not being productive enough to keep up with the algorithms. Even better-intentioned(?) sites like Bluesky are not exempt from this. It's not restricted to social media, either: big-chain blogging sites and website hosts seem tailored for building brands and growing businesses, and they all seem eager to push their own generative AI tools on users. Everything is about marketing and self-promotion, and it sucks. Thank you for reading my rant.

I miss old-fashioned blogs. The good news is, I'm far from the only one who feels this way. Someone told me about Neocities (the website hosting service that I use to host this site), and then I saw a post about Zonelets (the blogging engine that I used to make this site). Zonelets is perfect for people who miss the older processes of HTML blogging. I've enjoyed revisiting what little HTML I once knew, and learning things in the way I used to learn things: looking at code that someone else wrote, editing a bit and seeing what happens. It's a deeply satisfying reprieve from modern web design's trends of automation, ads, and AI––all things that I'm trying to avoid. And it feels so much more like the quiet, personal experience of self-expression on the internet that I miss from before social media became the default.

walking the ruins

The hardest part of blogging is actually blogging. I have a tendency to hate my writing whenever it gets too personal. I also have a tendency to get too personal with my writing. I'm not an academic, or a teacher, or a journalist. I like storytelling. I figure myself out through fiction.

While I was putting this blog together and trying to decide what to write about, I had another tab open to work on the game I'm making with Bitsy. It's a game where you play as two companions, human and dog, exploring a desolate landscape and searching for supplies. It was inspired by my love of exploration areas in post-apocalyptic games, and the walks I take every day with my dog when the neighborhood is quiet. It is also, in a way, a story about finding home: attempting to build something lasting, despite knowing that nothing can last.

traveler and dog in field with broken-down car

A scene from the game I'm working on.

a big field

I decided that I want this blog to be a place for me to write about the games I'm making: what inspires them, how they're going, how I try to make them work. Other things I might write about or post:

Maybe I'm getting too ambitious. The bottom line is that this blog is for game stuff.

I chose the name (and renamed my itch page) Big Field Games for no particular reason but I like the image of a big, open natural space, both as a playing field and a blank field on which to create. I hope to continue my journey of learning the basics of game design and development, and slowly build a big field of games for you to play in.

Check back every now and then for new posts! In the meantime, check out the links at the top of the page for more to see.