July Updates

For those who have been watching this blog, you have undoubtedly noticed I have announced various projects being in the works, be it the videogame we have in the works, the various art-centric projects from our youngest founders, etc., and that in the months following said announcements, very little if anything is said to follow-up. The follow-up is something I, as the acting PR manager for Rolly Dino Studios, am working on and learning how to be more consistent at - one of my admitted failings in this area is following the mantra of Neut Gunray from Star Wars Episode I: "There is no need to report until we have something to report." I.e., I am hesitant to make blog-post updates on things that are "too small," and inevitably that leads to dead-air on our blog-schedule instead of simply sharing the little things. So, in the spirit of putting lessons into practice, here are a few updates:

• Tele-Marmot-er (the videogame) development is currently on hold specifically to allow me to complete a professional certification in the Python computer language. That said, we still have merch ideas in mind, the design of which is also on-hold for the same reasons. Once the Python Professional Certificate is in-hand, work on both aspects will resume in earnest until or unless unforeseen circumstances dictate otherwise. To stress a point, this game is being developed by a single developer, and there is only so many hours in the day to do a day-job, be a dad, be a husband, be a manager, be a homeowner, be an active-student, take care of pets, and be a dev. Scheduling and time management make all of this easier, but then

• Speaking of that certificate, the benefit of making the game the best it can be is only a short-term goal for the course; a medium term goal would be to give myself tools for additional future game projects and/or a basic working knowledge of computing from which I can expand into other languages with professional certificates of their own as well; the long term goal of this is to put a concrete foot-in-door statement on my resume to allow me to begin exploring the IT field for day-job employment, in addition to my current fields: construction, facility maintenance, and retail.

• Being that our artists are kids, therefore their interests are fickle, there isn't really much to report on the various projects the two of them are either pursuing or wanting to pursue, individually or collectively. They'll pursue an idea so far, decide they don't want to anymore, and change direction. This is admittedly bad for business for adults, but for children they are still learning and exploring. In the words of Alfred Pennyworth on one episode of Batman: The Animated Series, "Play is the work of children." As they grow older and mature into young ladies, we will be giving them projects with more-ridged expectations and timelines, but now isn't really that time, especially for the younger of the two.

• Now, in contrast to that last point: colorized version of the mermaid line are in the works! A few different palettes have been experimented with thus far, but still very much in the experimental phase both for that and the style of colorizing. More announcements to come, by or before the 1st blog of August.

• Finally, as a slice-of-life item, we have a micro-farm/urban-farm in our back yard! Late this winter, the city approved the keeping of hens within the city limits (roosters, unfortunately, either have to get rehomed or turned into dinner), and thus we have chickens! The primary purpose for this year is allowing my eldest to show chickens at the fair as part of her 4-H membership, and for next year for us to have readily available eggs.

On that last note, enjoy some selfies taken by/of Rose, our star bird.