Cognitive Observation #21

True statistics can still be misapplied.

2011 retrospect

I was going to do a write up about site stats. Then I decided to turn it into a 2011 retrospective. Then I noticed that this will be the 100th post on this blog, posted on my birthday. Crazy how things work out huh?

So what did I accomplish this year? I finished a 3D screensaver, reviewed a number of games, started a webcomic, created two music albums, started a webshow and finished the first season, moved to this new blog, and made quite a bit of headway in a new game project.

Now the stats are interesting. Things started pretty slow, with a normal build. Then, two months ago, traffic started climbing like crazy. I have about 1000 views a month now, and still climbing. The one thing that orks me, is why I have so many silent viewers. I get comments from time to time, but yeesh. Talk about the silent majority...

Now I have to look back and see what I learned I guess. After all, what is age, if not a measure of experience? No, I don't make resolutions. I'm already more awesome than the average person the way I am.

So, I learned many things. The first thing I learned is not to start a project without being willing to commit serious amounts of time to it. Something that just takes an hour a day is a huge investment. Secondly, try to make very specific goals about the end product of any project at the beginning, to avoid confusion later on. Third, try to be realistic about what projects you choose to start. It's okay to be ambitious, but make sure you have the time, skills, and resources to complete your project before you start. It seems generally  best to choose a project that's just a bit out of your comfort zone. Something where you'll have to learn new things, but something you can still finish. Fourth, school should NOT be taken for granted. It's not safe to assume that your school will take care of itself while you work on something else. Last, under promise and over deliver. I've never been 100% accurate on how much time or other resources it would take to complete a project. It's much better to assume it will take more than you think. That way if it does, you''re ready for it, and if not, you just come out ahead of schedule(which is a good thing.)

I'm sure I've learned plenty more, but these five seem to stick out the most. Anything else I need to mention that's important... Oh yeah. Start writing blog posts early so they don't have to cut o-

    --LazerBlade

Posting schedule

I've been holding this blog together with no real schedule or discipline. I recently decided to change that. From now on, I'll be posting probably three days a week, on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I may have to dig a little sometimes to come up with content for you, but I'll settle into it.

One thing I'll probably be doing is having more reviews, programming and tutorials, and less philosophy and humor. I know some of you like philosophy, so don't worry as it's not going away completely by any stretch of the imagination.

As always, leave comments telling me what you want me to write about. Maybe a there's game you'd like me to review, or some nifty new programming language you want me to talk about, or maybe you just want me to quit jabbering and work on my 3D game projects. Whatever the case, you can let me know with comments.

        --LazerBlade

Comments on comments

So, how long have I been doing this? My old blog tells me the first post was on September 4th, 2010. Thats not long, but it's long enough to have learned a lot. Anyway, lots of gooshy stuff about doing blogging. Blah, blah, blah, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. You aren't here to listen to a speech about my experiences.

I'm here to talk about comments. I've always worked better when I had people showing interest in my projects. For example, I was having trouble getting myself to knuckle down and finish my Gibson screensaver. Then I posted about it on the Irrlicht forums. Only a few people expressed interest, but that little spark of publicity was enough to help motivate me all the way to the finish.

This blog serves two purposes: let me have fun practicing writing, and generate entertaining content for readers. I have trouble getting anything out when I convince myself that nobody would notice whether I wrote up that article I'd been thinking of tonight or next week.

What am I getting at? Well, it's simple. I'm encouraging you to comment. Especially if you want more content from me, comments will help motivate me to generate it.

If you are a regular reader, but don't have anything special to say,  fell free to comment on this post or any others indicating your interest and telling me what things you want more of. This will not only help me shape this blog into something people will enjoy more, but it will also motivate me to post more often.


          --LazerBlade

Welcome

I've been ranting forever about needing to move my blog, and I finally have. I won't be bringing my posts with me unfortunately, but there are plenty of new improvements over my old one.

You now have the power to post comments, the inability of which was a huge drawback of the old system. This one probably scales to your screen better, I get stats faster, etc.

My website is still there at https://sites.google.com/site/lazerbladegames/, my blog is the only thing that has changed.

So, welcome to the new blog.

--LazerBlade