Why does this exist?
This is how I am relaxing at the moment.
There’s something about the mix of graph plotting and text-based adventure gameplay that I am finding very soothing at the moment. I make no commitments to updates or completeness; this is a hobby project I am making to relax, just for me. If other people get something out of it, that’s a bonus.
I enjoy watching the graphs populate as I play, and can never stop tweaking to make improvements to the visualisation tool.
How is this made?
A blog using Quarto’s slate theme. Visualisations created using a combination of R packages:
| package | purpose |
|---|---|
| tidyverse | workhouse datasci toolkit |
| tidygraph | transform dataframe to ggraph input |
| ggraph | plots ggraph |
| gganimate | when I get to animation |
todo: add links
Why R?
I wanted to be able to plot graphs with the customisation options of ggplot.
I have been in love with graphs for many years
At some point will write up with links to that slide deck from my abstract algebra work, and the paper.
Me and text-based adventure games
My love of this genre goes deep. Things I should nostalgia about at some point
- Lone Wolf RPG choose your own adventure
- Sierra Online games of the mid eightes to early nineties
- fantasy and scifi novels
Point is, I’m primed to fall in love with Zork.
From the depths of solitude
I am spending time exploring where I arrive when I’m intentionally spending time in solitude. Been listening to things like Solo: The Single Person’s Guide to Living a Remarkable Life.
I’m in early career, still counting on one hand years since I submitted my doctorate; and this was a second career, so I am older than most graduates. It’s hard fought that finally I love my job, my neighbourhood, my city, my lifestyle. I decided to open up lots of space in my life to see what I’d do with solitude. I felt like I’d lost creative spark towards the end of my doctorate. So, I decided to remove all expectation of professional betterment in my spare time and just see what I felt like doing.
This is what I end up doing on weekends. All week, I’ve looked forward to coming home to do this. Go figure.