Part 2 --> Okay, now that we know how to set up logical replication between a publisher and a subscriber. So far, so good. But still… something doesn’t feel right, right? It kinda feels too magical , kinda too good to be true. For example, what happens if either one of those instances goes down? Database instances go down all the time. You know, crashes, infrastructure issues, a bad…
Part 1 --> Sync systems can get super complex pretty quickly. Fortunately, there are plenty of solutions to choose from. Unfortunately, each one comes with its own set of tradeoffs. 😢 You can call an API, add a caching layer, build an ETL pipeline, send webhooks, or reach for something like SCIM, Redis, RabbitMQ, etc. All of these can make sense depending on the problem, but sometimes things get…
Another year has flown by 😭 2025 feels like it ended before it even began 😭😭 Table of Contents ❄️ January 📷 Pic of the month ☔ June Aqours Finale LoveLive! ☀️ July Mr. Robot 🎃 October The Martian (book) 🪵 November Final Fantasy IX 25th Anniversary The Exhibition 🎄 December KAWAII LAB. SESSION vol.17 @ K-Arena Yokohama Misc 🌐 Top 10 Visited Posts 2025 🎵 Apple Music Replay 2025 ❄️ January…
I survived 30 days offline. Here's how it went. Key Takeaways 🔑 Thoughts finally stick. Without constant interruptions, my brain could actually hold on to ideas long enough to develop them. Everyday life got richer. Slowing down made ordinary moments feel surprisingly full and meaningful. Exploration over optimization. Stepping back from the internet freed me from trying to optimize everything,…
That's it. I had enough. Happy Halloween! 🎃 I’ve decided to quit the Internet for a whole month. My brain is constantly being hijacked by random online crap, and it’s starting to affect me personally. I can’t focus or do shit without having YouTube on in the background, and the first thing I do in the morning–and the last thing before going to sleep–is waste hours on…
It was Dec 2024 and I had so many ideas/resolutions for 2025. What should I do first? Do an art study? Or garden peppers? Rereading the end-of-year review drafts just last month, it occurred to me that I had done very little gamedev. I’m still in the midst of evaluating various tech choices for my next project → except for a game jam for Ludum Dare using UE, I did shit. I liked Unreal 5 and…
A random collection of events and peculiar moments that shaped my 2024 As 2024 comes to a close, it’s time to chill for a few and look back on the year. ✨ Table of Contents 🖥️ Built a New Desktop PC ✨ Push Golf and Unreal Engine 5 Petit Contest 21 🎮 Metaphor: ReFantazio 🎮 FANTASIAN Neo Dimension 🎵 Hikaru Utada’s SCIENCE FICTION TOUR 2024 at Saitama Super Arena 🎵 BRA★BRA FINAL…
Today marks the 30th anniversary of Mother 2 , a game that was released on August 27, 1994, for the Nintendo Super Famicom in Japan. This game has profoundly shaped my formative years, compelling me to write this blog post to share my thoughts and memories. This post is a random collection of thoughts on what I love about Mother 2 . I strongly recommend experiencing the game yourself before diving…
On Monday, August 12, 2024, I attended the grand finale of the BRA★BRA FINAL FANTASY 2024 tour at Shibuya’s Bunkamura Orchard Hall . The concert was produced by the legendary Nobuo Uematsu , the composer behind the iconic music of the Final Fantasy series. Hirofumi Kurita , a renowned conductor known for his dynamic performances, led the Siena Wind Orchestra , one of Japan’s premier…
I just got home from the Saitama leg of Hikaru Utada ’s HIKARU UTADA SCIENCE FICTION TOUR 2024 at the Saitama Super Arena (also known as SSA or TamaAri), and oh boy, what an experience it was! I’m writing this blog post while my impressions are still fresh in my mind, on the train home. This concert tour was named after her first greatest hits album, Science Fiction , released on April 10, 2024,…
Unreal Engine 5 Petit Contest is a video game creation contest based on Unreal Engine. There are not many rules to follow to participate in the UE5 Petit Con except participants must create their entry using Unreal Engine. This contest is being hosted and managed by Historia Inc. It’s an Unreal Engine-based game development company based in Tokyo, Japan. You may know them for games like the…
Unreal and I I was born in a small city but always had big dreams, especially when it came to computers and games. One day, I remember reading in a game magazine about a new FPS called Unreal , which promised to blow everyone’s mind with groundbreaking tech— Unreal Engine . I was excited . When Unreal finally came out, I grabbed a gaming magazine with a demo, but my old Pentium 120 MHz with…
This time around I didn’t included any items of equip because I felt like a short experience like this game wouldn’t need them and they would be a distraction for the player, and me trying to design them. But wat if those kind of rewards are actually beneficial for the player? what if those rewards don’t need to be actual of any value for the player to enjoy them? Like when…
2023 went by so fast that I barely had time to catch my breath. Time to wrap up the year, highlighting some random stuff I found interesting to share. Table of Contents Tearful Heart GameDev: Next Steps for 2024 Diving Deeper into Game Engines and Tools Leveling Up My Art Game Learning Game Design (For Real This Time) Art Exhibition Blog Performance Unreal Fest Tokyo 2023 Indie Developers…
Remember the excitement of playing Super Mario on your Nintendo as a child in the 80s or 90s? The thrill of jumping on Goombas and rescuing Princess Peach from Bowser’s clutches was unmatched. When the live-action Super Mario Bros. movie was announced, fans eagerly anticipated seeing their favorite Italian plumber brothers on the big screen. However, the 1993 film adaptation bombed at the…
Let’s embark on my journey through 2022 as I dive into game jams, tackle coding challenges, nurture my digital garden, and experiment in the kitchen. Discover the highs and lows of the year as we reflect on the lessons and experiences that shaped it. Table of Contents Game Development RPG-2021-b Progress Update Ludum Dare 50 Advent of Code 2022 Digital Garden Art Struggle Radio Silence iPhone 14…
Ludum Dare was celebrating its 20th anniversary . I hadn’t been able to participate in LD for a while, so I decided to take the opportunity and join the celebrations by taking part in the anniversary event – Ludum Dare 50. Ludum Dare is an online event in which game developers from all over the world simultaneously try to create games in 48 hours. Each Ludum Dare is based on a theme, and…
As 2021 draws to a close, it’s the perfect time to look back on all the accomplishments and challenges of the past 12 months. From working on multiple game projects to participating in game jams, it’s been a busy and rewarding year. Lands of Ambustio After completing work on Symbols last year, I embarked on my next project: Lands of Ambustio , an 8-bit role-playing game created with…
I just published another game, Lands of Ambustio, which is an 80’s 8-bit style role-playing game made using RPG Maker MV. You can play it for free on Itch.io . The project took me about four months to complete, from May to August 2021. Making Lands of Ambustio was almost as much of an adventure as playing it. The beginning of our heroes’ journey Motivation I was almost done making…
I have been working fully remotely from my apartment since May of last year. It’s been 12 months now. I started my current job in the middle of Tokyo’s COVID-19 state of emergency, so everything from job interviews to onboarding was conducted almost completely remotely. I only went to the office for my final interview and to grab my work laptop. It was my first time working remotely…
After I finished my ray tracer back in August last year, I was ready to tackle a new project. This time, I really wanted to make something that I could easily share with friends and family. After thinking about what to do for a few days, I decided to try and make a smartphone game. I hadn’t created a game in ages (I started working on this before making a game for Ludum Dare 47 ) and was…
Intro What if I told you that this October, I and thousands of other game developers from all over the world spent a weekend (3rd-6th) making tons of small games from scratch? I’m going to recount here my experience participating in the Ludum Dare Game Jam and how I created my entry: Loopy Boy . What is a Game Jam, Exactly? A game jam is an event in which participants create games (usually based…
Intro Starting this year, I decided to dedicate some of my spare time to a few personal projects I never got around to actually doing due to various circumstances. The goal of this particular project is to be able to create a simple ray tracer software tool that will be able to produce some cool images. Ray tracing is a technique used to generate a two-dimensional image from a tri-dimensional…
The first time I heard about BitSummit was a few years ago when I was watching Branching Paths – an excellent documentary about Japan’s indie game scene. Initially founded by James Mielke, an ex-game journalist turned game developer, BitSummit is all about giving a voice to the myriad of small indie game developers from Japan and beyond. This year, the seventh BitSummit, officially titled…
Introduction The Pixar exhibition I waited for has arrived in Japan! As a Pixar fan and 3D graphics enthusiast, I’ve waited for this exhibition since it was first announced in the US and am excited to finally get the opportunity to experience it firsthand. The exhibition was held in the Tokyo City View Observation Deck located at the top of Mori Tower in Roppongi Hills . The observation deck,…