Category Archives: Tech

Tech related posts, mostly computers and programming

Launched a new game: Cr1ckt

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Direct link to game: https://sinisterstuf.itch.io/cr1ckt

On the 1st of December Tristan, Rowan and I released the first version of Cr1ckt, a tricky platformer where you need to jump to avoid water and get to the fruit. It’s our submission for the GitHub Game Off 2021 game jam, an annual challenge to make a game based on a secret theme within the month of November. The theme this year is “BUG” so apart from playing as a cricket it also has some fun, intentional bugs.

It’s got downloads for major desktop platforms Windows, Linux & Mac, as well as Android. They’re quite small so you should be able to download and play quite fast. You can get the downloads or play online in your browser on the game page at sinisterstuf.itch.io/cr1ckt.

As hobbyist game developers in our free time this is one of the Continue reading →

3D-printed caps for protruding bolts

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When I attached our children’s swing to the ground there was still a significant piece of sharp-ish threaded metal sticking out above the bolt head and I was worried about them falling on it. Grinding the end off might still leave some sharp parts, so I thought it safer to print plastic covers for them.

Sharp bolt end protruding from the ground
Screenshot of bolt cap design in OpenSCAD
Screenshot of gcode printing plan
Photo of 3D printed bolt cap

I designed the caps with OpenSCAD, using the ScrewsMetric library for the bolt-shaped inset.

You can see the source code for Continue reading →

3D modelling replacement knobs for back massager

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small wooden knob

small wooden knob

There’s this fantastic device we have at home that I’m fairly sure is for giving back rubs, or maybe massages in general, like on your legs or something. I’ve tried it a few times but mostly the kids play with it. However it bothers me that there’s holes in it where the little knobs are supposed to be, so it doesn’t roll properly. I think the kids pulled them out, but maybe Continue reading →

First time in Hacktoberfest

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This year was my first time participating in the online Hacktoberfest event.

I often use code from GitHub and occasionally publish my own projects there but I realised I rarely contribute to other people’s code. Hearing people talking about the event on the Ladybug Podcast, I was inspired to make a small pull request. The boost I got from something so insignificant being merged lead me to look through my favourite projects’ issue lists to see if there was a bug I could fix or a missing feature I could implement.

Continue reading →