So, what did I do this year?
Code and Tech
Svelte 👎
I discovered Svelte (back then in version 3) when I started working on Omnisearch. I liked it because its syntax was truly magic, even though it had some glaring issues that would probably be fixed in later versions.
This year, I used Svelte 5 to write SCRABEUL, a small daily word game, and I must say I’m not impressed. They totally changed their philosophy — with reason —, but doing so they changed their framework into what I feel is a subpar Vue copycat. It also doesn’t help that I disagree with several design decisions taken by SvelteKit.
I’m honestly disappointed they didn’t try harder to iterate on their original philosophy, because now they’re just another JS framework with almost nothing to set it apart.
PocketBase 👍
I needed a backend solution to store SCRABEUL leaderboards, and I found PocketBase to be an excellent solution. It’s a self-hosted Database-As-A-Service that gives you authentication, migrations, a customizable REST API, hooks, …
It’s meant to be used and called “as-is” by the client app, and not hidden behind your own backend, though the latter is obviously possible (just not recommended). The only downside is that while you can totally write your code in JavaScript, it’s executed by an embedded engine and comes with pretty strong caveats.
Copilot 👎
After using it for nearly two years, I finally cancelled my subscription. A small explanation here.
Rust 😶
Not much code written in Rust this year, unfortunately. I just need a good idea to take advantage of Tauri. In the meantime, I’ll try to find small enough projects that I can whip up in a weekend or two.
Gaming
Dwarves ⛏
According to Steam, my most-played genre this year is… “Dwarf”. I actually played a lot of Deep Rock Galactic and its Survivor spin-off. That, and Warhammer Vermintide II. Coop FPSes are the perfect genre for gamer dads.
Automation 🤖
My love story with Shapez was short and intense. I played for 30h in something like 4 days, and then uninstalled it before getting more addicted. The sequel is in my wishlist, but I’ll wait for it to get out of early access.
Satisfactory was not satisfying at all. I want to automate stuff, not walking back and forth to craft a goddamn Minecraft mechanical mansion.
I’ll also throw Oxygen Not Included in the “automation” category. I’d like to like it more, but each time I play it, I spend a whole afternoon without accomplishing anything. I have fun, but I feel like I do not progress at all. And then I forget the game for a few months, start a new colony, rinse and repeat.
Roguelikes and Roguelites 🎲
Only sure values here.
Caves of Qud is a delight, and I should play it more. It also runs and plays great on the Steam Deck but the sprites wayyy too tiny. If you’re looking for a lighter traditional roguelike that is made to be played with a pad, Jupiter Hell is right here. It’s literally a turn-based Doom.
Dead Cells and The Binding of Isaac with their respective DLCs are probably the two games I’ll never uninstall. I also certainly won’t ever finish them.
Balatro came and went. Big numbers go brrr for the first 20 hours, and then you understand that playing pairs is the safest winning strategy.
Nova Drift is an interesting shoot-em-up with a large variety of possible builds. Not too dissimilar of ARPGs, actually. Speaking of which…
Action-RPGs ⚔
Just like Diablo 3 was my comfort game on the Switch, Diablo IV is my comfort game on the Steam Deck. It’s dumb fun, fluid, pretty, and there’s always something to do to get bigger numbers. I don’t need to think, I just smash demons. Now if only it could support being put into sleep mode without disconnecting or crashing, that would be perfect. At least I can do that with D3 on the Switch 🙄
So as a slower-paced and offline alternative, I just bought Last Epoch. The build and crafting systems are nice to play with and allow for a ton of customization, but the game definitely needed more time in the oven before reaching 1.0. But at least it’s not a blatant “game-as-a-service”.
I tried to like Grim Dawn. I really tried. But as rich as it is, it just feels antiquated, and is a pain to play on the Deck.
Others
I still have to finish Strange Horticulture, Forza Horizon 4, and Batman Arkham Knight.
Tiny Glade is a pretty toy in the same vein of Townscaper. I got 6 relaxing hours out of it, and will probably relaunch it in a few months when it’s a bit more fleshed out.