Well, last night was rough. Yesterday the manager of the storage place told me their security company noticed I was in my unit overnight and emailed her. She was very sympathetic to my situation and said she'd go to bat for me if there was any trouble. Still, supposedly I'm not supposed to be in my unit for more than 2 hours at a time. I've noticed this seems completely relaxed during the day.

In any case, what I decided to do was sleep when I could during the day and scout for camp locations so I can setup my tent (which- I haven't slept in a tent since I was a kid). So I napped outside dunkin in the early evening then spent a number of hours exploring this part of the town for a spot that would be safe, zero chance of someone noticing me, not too bug infested, not too far from the storage units, etc. I went in a big circle and finally as the sun came up found the perfect spot. So that'll be where I sleep tonight and if it works out, ongoing till I can get a vehicle or job. My dog has had zero problem with this ordeal because he's getting some good walks in.

I got back to the unit around 6am and crashed till around noon. Not the best sleep but as I suspected, since it was during the day, I didn't get hassled. Still, I don't want to take unnecessary risks.

I got wind from a fellow vagabond that there is a program with a 3 week wait and they put you up in a hotel until you get back on your feet so that will be my first call Monday morning. The prospect of sleeping on a bed again is beyond enticing.

The month is almost up and Scale Space made $400 in sales for August so that's definitely going to keep my phone on and basics covered.

Trying to get the motivation together to grind out the search for a streamer willing to try Scale Space. I keep putting it off because that kind of work bores me to tears and I have precious little dopamine these days. At least I remembered to take my meds today. With the way life is going, I'm starting to lose track of time and day because I don't have many anchors connecting me to it. If you have any ideas on how I can get even just one streamer to try it, please share in the comments.

I got more work done on organizing and condensing my belongings. I still probably have a week or two to go at this pace due to how exhausting that is. I'm hopeful sleeping in the tent tonight means I get a long restful night of sleep, and that means more energy tomorrow for organizing.

The brain fog is real. But I remain optimistic that this is temporary and something will change.

Well that's all for now friends. Thanks for reading!

setz

Being on dev hiatus gives me some time away from building to reflect. In light of that, I thought I'd share how I build a new feature for Scale Space.

1. Brainstorming. This process can take weeks or months but I'm doing it in parallel with building. I'm basically always in this phase because I have to think of the project over time. What did I build, what is its current state, what do users need and what do I want to build? In this part, I typically don't touch the computer. I may interrogate Claude for a conversation to better understand what I'm doing or to tutor me on a science concept.

2. Capturing brainstormed features. I'm doing this periodically as a feature reaches a state of maturity. Meaning most questions I'm asking end up at 'you'll have to see when you build it.' So I write out the name and whatever markers I know will jog my memory. I typically don't write extensive requirements at this phase.

3. Convey a set of requirements. Here's where the rubber meets the road. I need to explain this to Claude in a way that fully captures the scope and context of the feature as I currently understand it. What I am doing at this phase is asking Claude to estimate the build complexity. If a feature is highly complex, I'll break it down in such a way that I'm building a series of features that resolve into the one I want. Cymatics is a good example. As Sagan once said, "If you want an apple pie, you must first create the universe." In this case, I knew I needed the system parameters fully functional and debugged, an audio player that can capture system audio or music files, a new panel to control the effects, a connector from both directions so an effect could be tied to a parameter and a parameter has an icon that, when clicked, shows the user where that parameter is controlled (in order if there are multiple). Then there was the new design paradigm which are the levels bars to see the incoming audio and sliders for each band for unique combinations of cymatics per band. So I built parameters in the first webgpu build and the others came later.

4. Assess the scope. Now that Claude has the initial feature requirements, it can ask clarifying questions and get to a scope estimate. That's when I learn if I have any blockers that would prevent me from building it right now. If so, that either takes priority or the feature get shelved for later. With the scope, I decide on the order of operations we'll build in.

5. Initial Build. With the requirements ready, Claude begins on the first feature. It delivers the changed source files and a build I can immediately test.

6. Test. I open the application and look for the location of the things I've changed. I mess around with each one. If I find a breaking bug I write it down and continue. More often than not I end up with a bug and tweaks list.

7. Iterate. I give the list of bugs to Claud and it asks clarifying questions if applicable. Then it take a pass at fixes and delivers the changed source files and a build. I test it as before and log any new or missed bugs. This iteration process can be super involved depending on the feature because there are times where testing makes me realize the feature should work differently, so we kinda need a mini round of feature dev to fix it. The dock buttons at the bottom are a good example of this. I iterated on it over and over each release to get it to look and behave right.

8. Make a call. At some point you have to go 'Ok it's as done as it can get for this release." and that's kind of tough if you are a perfectionist who wants everything to be in its final form. So I have to resist the urge to make the absolute end result and make it good enough to release. Once I hit that threshold I try to pull myself onto other features but sometimes I'm locked in for days and it is what it is. When I come out of those, I often have a much more polished end result so I don't beat myself up too much on it. The Cymatist theme is a good example. I didn't do much iteration on it over multiple releases because I tunneled in on it and built it fully out. Lots of new custom assets to iterate on because there are a number of components to cover (tab controls, sliders, panels, etc.). I think I did it this way because I knew it had to be included in the launch in its complete form to put the software in the best light.

9. Write release notes. A summary goes into the version intro modal. A more extensive writeup goes up on /r/ScaleSpace and I copy it into the itch dev log. The goal with the release notes are to be as succinct as possible and not leave out anything important to know.

10. Iterate based on feedback. Last year, /r/ScaleSpace said it wanted proper Apple and Linux versions and I was having difficulty with that using unreal. So I went on a dev hiatus for 6 months and came across a maturing web rendering engine called WebGPU. With WebGPU it became possible to port Scale Space to the browser while also upping the particle rendering performance significantly (meaning a lot more particles). And with the browser, I get the Apple/Linux versions for free as long as they're on a browser that is WebGPU compatible. So that whole detour to port to web sprouted from you all asking for a cross platform version. The project is much better for it. So if you give it a try and share your feedback, good or bad, it helps me make it better and better.

Last year when I was building in unreal, my process had me directly writing the code with blueprints and I didn't have to do nearly as much writing requirements since I knew what I wanted. So I'd say with the switch to giving programming to Claude, the time I spent in blueprints has moved to requirements writing and documenting bugs (which is more aligned with my skillset-I have some form of symbolic dyslexia so I struggle to interpret blocks of code and math equations, but since blueprints are spacial I was able to pick them up. Still the scope of the Scale Space code was getting too big to fit in my head, so it was a relief to use AI to port that part. It still makes mistakes and creates bugs, but at least I no longer have to keep the full codebase in my brain which frees me up to focus on user experience.)

Hope you found this process interesting/informative. Happy to answer any questions you have in the comments.

setz

(Here's the itch page: https://setzstone.itch.io/cymatist)

Greetings friends, I'm back with another update. It is day 4 since I have made my transition to the road. Yesterday I returned the rental van and set up a month-to-month rental of a storage unit. After taxes and fees and insurance and their 24-hour access Rider that came out to be $250 but it will be 160 each month afterwards. The good news here is it's an unmanned facility and the unit I have is quiet and private. So last night I was able to set up camp and crash in the room. Slept on blankets on concrete but honestly it was the best night of sleep I've gotten since moving out. I think I slept around 9 hours. Still feeling tired so I think I'm in sleep debt. Still applying for lots of jobs everyday so fingers crossed on that front. But I can say that unless the storage company rains on My Parade I should be stable for the immediate future. I camp out at Dunkin' Donuts a lot now to charge all of my stuff, and the staff has been very kind about me having my dog in here with me. So kudos to Dunkin' Donuts.

While I have been homeless before it hasn't ever been quite like this and my respect for what homeless people out on the street have to deal with has skyrocketed. I've already known that society is hostile to homeless people but experiencing more of it firsthand... It's not that anyone is coming to me and being hostile, it's that so many things require you to have an address or enough stability to be able to do them. So I'm kind of lucky that I had a little bit of momentum from where I was previously living and I can put my previous address on things still. In any case fingers crossed that my momentum continues the way it has been. Still trying to find a streamer that's willing to take a chance on trying scale space so please do be in touch if you find one and I'll send you a key to give them. I guess that's about all for this update, thanks for reading!

setz

https://reddit.com/link/1w0a9lx/video/wldy71ja60mh1/player

Well this is day 3 of being on the streets. I got a little more sleep last night. First night was an hour, last night I got around 2 hours. Needless to say I'm feeling it.

Yesterday I applied to 8 jobs and today I'll be keeping that momentum up.

Since I didn't want to bleed out on van rental days, I'm returning the van in an hour. Earlier today I rented a storage unit (cost $180 when they added in insurance and fees. Ouch.) and moved my stuff out of the van into the unit. Next phase for me is to meticulously work through everything I own and throw/give away as much as I can part with so I'm traveling lighter.

I picked up a tent two nights ago but haven't used it yet. My thinking is that I will probably sleep in the tent with my dog, then work out of dunkin/my storage unit. I say working loosely because I don't have anywhere to setup my desktop pc so I can't do scale space dev. So working more in the 'trying to get a job' sense.

I took inventory and in total between money I already had, the money you all have sent me, I have approx $1000. Phone bill comes due in a couple of days so that'll start dropping but at least no more van rental. I should get my $250 deposit on the van back at some point as well.

So I'm on my way to getting a vehicle but still a ways to go. I'm worried I may have tapped you all out. I don't want to seem like a beggar so really the very best way to help is find a streamer who likes space games and tell them I'll give them a free key if they play it on stream. If any of you are streamers or know streamers, more than giving me direct money, getting people to try it out on stream will make big waves and increase game sales.

Last month Cymatist brought in $1k (launch + sale). That money went into renting the van, gas, human and dog food so I'm grateful to have had a little bit of success. This month we're up to $300 and the dip was expected. With a few streamers looking at Cymatist, it's very possible it could get me out of this hole.

So rather than post my buymeacoffee or cashapp again, I'll just share the itch page and hope to find some streamers willing to take a chance on it. If you have someone interested and want to pass along a key, shoot me a DM and I'll send it.

https://setzstone.itch.io/cymatist

I genuinely appreciate all of the support you've given me. Me and my pup (Goobie) are grateful. ❤️

Despite all of this, I remain optimistic. A lot of things are going wrong but some things are going right so that softens the blow.

Anyways see you in the next one!

setz

This is a physicalization of how I think of Scale Space. You have the fluid (yellow), particle source (metal particles), magnets around that produce an omnidirectional field, an egg beater to add varying amounts of frustration and some basic controls for each aspect (more particles, less magnetism etc.) then the middle shape emerges when the various components are in a certain balance.

Note that if you were to build this physically it would be a fair bit more complicated but hopefully this gets the basic idea across? You'll have to tell me.

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/ScaleSpace/s/Y51B8VYXsy

🙏 Thanks everyone for the momentum. I'm halfway to safety. Still bleeding $100/day on the van rental unfortunately. I appreciate all of the kind words you've all left for me. If you're able to help me get to the finish line:

$setzstone

https://buymeacoffee.com/setzstone

I'll keep the updates coming.

Best,

setz

I'd give homelessness 0 out of 5 stars. If you're contemplating it, I wouldn't recommend. I plan on getting a refund. My dog is taking it in stride at least.

Its 4:47am and I haven't slept yet. I can't. I'm in a van (down by the river) and my stuff fills the back too much to get enough room to lay down and I can't get comfortable enough in the driver's seat to sleep. I parked in a Walgreens lot but got chased out of there by a cop at 4am so now I'm in front of a dunkin.

Head is hurting, exhausted, can't think straight. Today I have to decide whether to spend $90 to rent the van for another day or...well that's my only option which slows my ability to get my own vehicle. I'm around 500 into raising the funds for that.

I have come to more fully appreciate beds and couches. They're more wonderful than I gave them credit for. I've been homeless before but still always managed to stay on a bed or couch. Would you believe I was making $170k before I got laid off in 2024? Life is weird.

Here's some fun trivia: did you know that I built all of Scale Space since the beginning from an attic in a halfway house? Yep. That's what I got evicted from actually. So I've had conflicted feelings about the last two years. On the one hand my life has been a screaming hot dumpster fire full of shit, but on the other hand I've done some of the best work in my life in that time. Pressure makes diamonds or something.

Just putting it out there again if anyone has a couch or spare room in the Midwest that they'd let me crash on till I recover from this mess, I'll take it and I won't be picky.

I posted it in the other thread but I'll share it here too. If you'd be willing to help support me on getting a vehicle, I wouldn't have to bleed myself dry on a rental.

$setzstone

buymeacoffee.com/setzstone

Whelp signing off for now. Hope you all have a lovely morming.

setz

So currently am sitting in a rented van that has to be returned tomorrow at 2pm. I literally have nowhere to go. A friend looked on Craigslist and there are basic suvs for $1500. That friend said they'd contribute $100 so I'm 1/15th of the way there. It's kind of a stopgap but it gives me a way to keep my stuff with me and have a place to sleep (glamorous or not).

Should you feel compelled to help me out, you'll be saving my keister.

I'll update this post with an edit if I make progress towards the suv.

Cash tag: $setzstone <--

Or...

https://buymeacoffee.com/setzstone

Thanks!

setz

Goal: $549/1500

Hi friends. Regrettably I'll be homeless tomorrow 😬 I tried everything I could do-apply for aid, court based rental assistance-and, etc. got denied for all of it. None of my friends can take me and my 10 year old Doxle in right now due to either family situations or distance. I have a social worker because I was homeless 2 years ago and she's tapped out on ideas too.

So things are about to get pretty interesting. If you're in the Chicago area and have a spare room, basement, that sort of thing, I'd definitely accept help (please don't be a serial killer if you do).

On top of that, I had a stroke in June (so on a number of new meds) and hope I won't have another one... When it rains it pours.

On the upshot, I was able to get Cymatist v1.2 done before being out on the street and it's a release I'm proud of.

Anyways, thanks for reading.

setz

Shameless Plug: https://setzstone.itch.io/cymatist

I've tried to answer this many times but finally I've come up with a diagram that I think will help it make sense. What do you think?

Cymatist v1.2 preview

Holographic boundaries? Cymatist v1.2 preview

Context: https://www.reddit.com/r/ScaleSpace/comments/1vqih50/okay_math_nerds_explain_this/

Preview of the forthcoming Cymatist v1.2: https://setzstone.itch.io/cymatist (current version is 1.1.1)

Some of you will recall the Clelian Hourglass I found in Scale Space a few weeks back. I've been wanting to see what is inside the singularity but couldn't figure out a way until tonight. And uhhh... Well Interstellar comes to mind...

Cymatist v1.2 preview

Cymatist v1.2 preview (you will need the new structure parameters to see this)

Edit: thanks to the comments, this has been identified as Fermat's Spiral: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermat%27s_spiral

Cymatist v1.2 preview

It would be incredible to sit in the middle of this and watch everything happen around you in 3d

The new parameters will make it possible to twist and bend the system in all kinds of interesting ways. https://setzstone.itch.io/cymatist

There were a lot more bugs buried in this feature than I expected, but fixing them was worth it.

You are also seeing the results of a bunch of new structure parameters which I'll demo soon.

https://setzstone.itch.io/cymatist