</2012> Year in Review
- published:
- 2013.01.01
It's that time again! Time to reflect on the past year and the year ahead. Although, if I'm being perfectly honest, I'm writing this right now over two years later. Turns out 2013 started really busy and got even busier, and I rather neglected to write this post in January 2013, and I'm writing it in January 2014 but post-dating it for posterity.
Anyway, I do like to do these posts for my own benefit. Besides that natural XMas/New Year's seasonally inspired need for self-reflection, it is helpful for me to make a list of things I did in the past year to remind myself that I am actually getting things done. It helps maintain sanity for somebody like me who always has a lot of irons in a lot of fires. It is also a great way to capture some of the non-work-related events and new memories I made in the past year.
Here's some things that happened in 2012!
January
Collaborated on iPad app for medical sector client
Created an open source web template for the SOPA/PIPA Blackout protest
Corey Doctorow at Boing Boing helps get the word out about my template
Zachstronaut.com goes dark on January 18
Over 4,500 websites also use my blackout template
Mashable and Fast Company run stories about the protest and my template
Protest SUCCESS! SOPA / PIPA legislation is DEFEATED!
Minnesota Daily runs a story about the protest and my template
Created the game Protoboros in 48 hours for Global Game Jam / IGDA-TC
Prototyped several automata-based map generators
Created tools to compare performance of HTML5 Canvas vs CSS3 transforms
Added a responsive SVG classic arcade cabinet bezel to my game Re-Infiltration at Dusk
February
Published a JavaScript library on GitHub for recording and playing back HTML5 Canvas
Made a video bug report for Twitter's website
Developed a mobile-friendly parallax experience for a client
Finished front-end development of local artist's website
Worked with client to resolve HTML5 Audio problems on iOS
March
Prototyped automata-based island map generator
Prototyped procedurally generated island-terrain video game
A little fun with the stutter method of stereoscopic 3D
Worked on an extendible template for 3D CSS3 cubes
Trip to Boston, MA. Ate many delicious oysters.
Submitted 3D CSS3 blocks, galaxy, and spark shower to Mozilla Dev Derby
Began working on title screen pixel art for Legend of Equip > Pants
April
Attendee and Planning Committee Member for 5th annual MinneWebCon
Developed the "PFA" jQuery Mobile website and iOS/Android App for U of MN's School of Public Health
May
First year anniversary of Zachstronaut LLC
Lovely trip to Hawaii with family
Made this pixelated animated GIF for Dropbox logo contest
Worked on Node.js and Socket.io based multiplayer game library
June
Melted in Chicago's 100° heat. Visited the fishes in the aquarium.
Went camping in Minnesota. Saw a black bear. Fed lots of deer flies.
July
3D CSS3 fireworks for the 4th of July!
Created an HTML5 Mobile Web App budget calculator
Spelunking with flashlights in Mystery Cave, MN
August
Created a script to apply a WebGL CRT effect to 2D HTML5 Canvas games
Created a puzzle game in 48 hours for Ludum Dare 24
Visited a North Dakota farm for the wedding of dear friends
September
Labor Day in Hayword, WI. Climbed into the mouth of giant musky.
Debugged some JavaScript for Eric Meyer
October
Worked on a sequel episode for the Legend of Equip > Pants
Gave a presentation about Node.js to the Code People group at the University of Minnesota
November
Collaborated with friends to create the multiplayer game Narwhal Knights in 48 hours for Node KO
Narwhal Knights is awarded winner of the Fun/Utility category for Node.js Knockout 2012!
Developed responsive mobile-optimized website for Los Angeles-based SLAQR
December
Created a train game in 48 hours for Ludum Dare 25
Celebrated the datetime 12-12-12 12:12:12
Had a wonderful trip to Milwaukee, WI. Ate small meats.
Brought some wintery CSS3/JavaScript fun to Skillcrush
Made this JavaScript automata maze generator in honor of a BASIC language one-liner
Appendix
Shared a number of helpful gists during the year
The year 2012 marked the one year anniversary of my company Zachstronaut LLC, and I had the opportunity to work with some truly awesome clients and collaborators! In particular, there was a high demand for my JavaScript skills in the mobile iOS/Android space. This was pretty much what I predicted for the year.
And 2012 was also a great year for personal creative projects. It started out with an enormous bang when my interactive SOPA Blackout template went viral. It felt pretty amazing to make a political impact with my art and also to reach so many hundreds of thousands of people. I'd say I successfully met my goal of learning more about myself as an artist and doing personally meaningful work!! It's rather interesting that I set that goal for myself in a blog post just six days before making it happen.
I released four video games in 2012, each made in 48 hours, and one of them won a significant competition award! I also began beta testing a second episode for my RPG game The Legend of Equip > Pants. Oh, and I worked on a prototype for a procedural island game, too. That's a ton of game making productivity!
I had a great time hanging out with the IGDA-TC and JavaScriptMN communities in 2012, and I really appreciated the invite to speak to the Code People group at the U of MN.
I think 2012 must have been the peak of my Minecraft addiction. Luckily it was motion sickness that eventually set me free! heh. Probably a good thing for my productivity.
I'd say I was right when I guessed that Node.js and multiplayer/WebSockets stuff would be big in 2012. It wouldn't really be fair for me to now make predictions for 2013 because I'm actually writing this recap in 2014! That'd be cheating.
I hope you all had a wonderful 2012 and 2013. (I've got to recap that year next!)