Here’s a link to a really, really well-made video about UI layout engines and how they actually work - specifically, the Clay UI layout engine. Anyone who has tried making their own UI system in a game engine will get a kick out of this, I think! Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by9lQvpvMIc

It’s been a slow and meandering winter, amidst a backdrop of unfortunate chaos from overseas. Let us instead turn our attention to the interplay of light and chemicals! I’ve got a few tasty snaps I took during December last year. I travelled to Saltburn-by-the-Sea to spend Christmas with my girlfriend’s family, so I wanted to capture some of the various sights and sounds of the seaside town in the off-season. Read on and enjoy the sights!

You know what rules? Hot chocolate. And with a recent cold snap, that’s exactly what has been keeping warmth in my beslippered toes when I shuffle through to work at 8:00am on the weekdays. My freelance game optimization work has been chugging along nicely, and I’m currently working with a really lovely client based in mainland Europe - so I’ve been keeping an earlier schedule than I usually do this time of year. It’s been nice seeing the frost on the grass outside, as I warm up my brain and body for the day. But, as I’m prone to do, I’ve been planning for the year ahead. Here are my schemes laid bare for all to see:

So I’ve been slowly picking through the HL2 anniversary update commentary and, uh, this happened:

It’s my birthday again! That means it’s time for my now-yearly tradition of writing a big celebratory blog post about what I’ve been up to over the year! Also, I’m 32 this year - which is, at this point in my life, a lovely and comforting round number. Being a power of two, I’ve become incredibly familiar with it with my years of game development and general computery nonsense. It’s like seeing an old friend! And with that, read on for the year in review!