Welcome!
The limits of my language are the limits of my world. — Wittgenstein
We have no limits here. The only limit is our imagination. — Bob Ross
talk less and draw more. — Goethe
Hi, I’m Patrick. I’m interested in creativity. Specifically, creative uses of technology. Web technology, to be specific. To be even more specific, I believe that WebGL, WebGPU, Web<Whatever>s offer exciting opportunities for developers (and players!) of games and interactive digital media. I think about this an unhealthy amount.
Also, I:
- have a background in Software Engineering and a degree in Computer Science.
- draw comix and make 2D & 3D art.
- am interested in games that are enriching, perhaps even educational, and also fun.
- pursue some things that might be unattainable. To only go after what can easily be had, what a dull existence!
- made this website (source code) using Astro, an “islands architecture” framework. It’s hosted on GitHub Pages.
You may contact me at pscale01 at Gmail dot com.
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoy your visit!
Zomboban
A game inspired by Chip’s Challenge. You control a character that can push blocks around, collect items… Standard fair for a tile-based puzzler, but with zombies! The zombies also interact with the tiles. Though their behavior is predefined, the cumulative effect of their movements can be hard to predict.
Play in your browser
(Still in development as of April 2025)
Now with touch screen controls!
Techno-babble
Written in TypeScript using THREE.js for rendering, Blender for 3D assets. A simple Node.js Express backend facilitates the level editor.
Though essentially a 2D game, I’m using a 3D graphics library with an orthographic camera because of it’s superior capabilities and performance compared to available 2D libraries. It also gives me the flexibility to use 3D models or sprites implemented as billboards. I use a post-processor to make everything look like pixel art.
At the core is a reactive state manager/ECS that I wrote from scratch which plays well with the editor backend.
I also devised spatially message passing system to allow entities (e.g. the player and a block) to communicate with each other without being tightly coupled.
Socratic Garden
I’ve been lucky to be able to contribute both illustration and programming to a project called Socratic Garden. The basic idea is to leverage LLM technology to allow instructors to ghostwrite “textbooks” that can engage in dialogues with students, facilitating active, constructivist learning. This seems to work especially well for STEM subjects. Perhaps this kind of technology will not only improve learning outcomes, but take some burden off of overworked teachers. That’s the hope, at least.
If nothing else, the ability to have things explained by a pirate might make dense topics a bit more approachable.
Playshop
I’ve been wanting an opportunity for all kinds of game designers and game players to come together and explore the art and craft of games. I wanted something more low-key than a game jam, less formal than a play testing event, and more playful than a networking event. Inspired by a now defunct event called Sandbox Open Mic, I decided to start hosting a similar monthly event.
I hope for it to become a place and time where game design is done in public, with a radically inclusive ethos. I hope that it helps strengthen the local game development community, and in particular, reinvigorates the live games scene which seems to have all but disappeared during the Covid-19 pandemic. The reason I’m interested in live games is that they have an inherently inclusive, and even contagious quality. They tend to not require a lot of expensive or delicate materials, and they tend to scale well. This lowers the barriers for both designers and players.
Art
I took a 2D design class at City College. One of the projects was to create a facsimile of a photograph using only 2 colors of construction paper. I choose a photo used in the promotional materials for the movie Dogtown and the Z-boys.
It’s like those refrigerator magnets with words written on them, but 3D! And gravity, instead of magnetism…
I created these, with the help of a few other artist friends, for an art show in which the theme was collaboration, allowing guests to collaboratively create towering works of poetry.
Some party fliers I made. I also have to take some responsibility for the concepts behind them.
It was summer, so we wanted a beachy theme. But also, cows from outer space.
Spring-themed masquerade.
Halloween party, with the conceit that there was just a big conference in town: World wide witches and warlocks. What’s scarier than witches? The masks and performances we have to put on at professional conferences and networking events.
Some portraits from my sketchbook.
It’s going to get weird now.
