DEV Community: TJ Stoll

Alas... Tetris

TJ Stoll — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 18:43:12 +0000

Hey! Do you remember in my last post, I mentioned I was working on Tetris? Well, here it is:

You can find it on my Code Pen or GitHub!

The code is a mess
It's a little janky (as the subtitle suggests)
Controls for mobile are a sham

But for the most part it's playable!

I used pure JavaScript because I'm too lazy to learn any library or framework. But, honestly, I like it better this way! Part of the fun of coding is figuring out the logic and putting together a solution that works. And there were many times it did not work... But when it did, the satisfaction was unmatched!

This is a big achievement for me in my game development journey. And despite being lazy, what better way to celebrate than to learn an actual game engine like Phaser JS or Unity?

To Be Continued...

A Fun Game Dev Journey :)

TJ Stoll — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 06:05:19 +0000

Recently, I rekindled my passion for web development. I even bought a series of lectures on Udemy teaching me all the ins and outs of full-stack web development. It's going great.

But over the holidays an old flame within me started to rekindle. I partook in the age old tradition of watching my brother play video games. He started off with Red Dead Redemption and then switched to Elden Ring. Both fantastic games. And as I watched, I remembered the exciting days when I used to fiddle around with the Unity 3D engine. That trip down memory lane led me to discovering the magic of

<canvas></canvas>

I didn't even know I knew this tag. But I researched it and found a tutorial on the MDN explaining how to make a 2D breakout game. I already got the idea in my head to build Pong so I used this tutorial to build a version of it.

It's definitely more like squash... But I had a blast building it!

I went on to make another game called Harvester where a "farmer" (white block) has to go around harvesting all their "fruit" (red block) before it disappears. It's a bit janky so I never posted it to my Codepen, but it was also fun to build.

I was on a roll though. So I built another game: Guess The Word. It's basically Hangman, but with no hanging man and a very limited array of words to guess. It's simple and beautiful. I had actually built a console based version of this game before in Python. But it was nice to finally build it with some nice UI.

And the momentum keeps going. Now I'm working on Tetris. Did you know that the shapes in Tetris are actually a very specific subset of geometric shapes generally labelled as polyominoes? Check out the Wikipedia, it's fascinating! Anyway, this one is a challenge for me. But I'm learning a lot about JavaScript and geometry. I have a basic skeleton version just focusing on some game mechanics, but no graphics.

My Tetris won't be built in a day like the others were. But it's the next step in a hopefully long and interesting journey into the world of game development.

Back In The Saddle

TJ Stoll — Tue, 06 Dec 2022 06:10:04 +0000

Hello, world! Good to see you again!

I've been out of the the coding game for well over a year now. And out of web development for much more than that.

A Bit of History

You see, I taught myself web development in university as a distraction from my actual class work. It turns out I loved it! Fast-forward to graduation in 2018 and I was applying for jobs in that very field. Unfortunately, I could never make it past the coding challenges because I was slightly more amateur than I thought. So I opted for a job in a field that was more tailored to my degree: data science.

I ended up hating that job. It paid well, but I couldn't shake that undeniable feeling of unfulfillment. Maybe it was the company, maybe it was the work, but I could never deny that web development was and still is my true love. After nearly two years I ended up leaving the job for good in search of something different.

And "Something Different" I Found!

In all that time away from computers I:

WWOOFed on a ranch in the Yukon
was retired (okay, unemployed actually) for a bit
worked a year in landscaping (my other dream job)
and backpacked all of Vietnam

I learned a lot about myself. I learned what a crazy, creative, strong, and brave person I can be. I also learned that I can do anything I put my mind to! So, I've decided to give my dream another shot! But this time, on my own terms

Wrangle That Wild Pony!

Today, I'm getting back to it! I have a renewed spirit and a renewed energy. And to kickstart and help guide my journey, I've signed up for an online course that teaches the basics of web development. Some of it I already know, but there are lots of topics covered I never gave myself the chance to explore.

I'm picking up where I left off. I'm pushing my limits. And I'm not taking "no" for an answer! :)