Updates
May 2025 Update
May 1, 2025 at 8:22 am
Took a bit of a pause as the day job required more attention. However, in about a week, my next 4-week dedicated Synekism-vacation will start. This time, I plan to return to the original game, Synekism itself. Learned a lot from trying to make those other game ideas (that I thought were simpler) but it's time to get back. My hope is to have something similar to the original release (still available to download on this site) but running in the new engine. See you on the other side.
April 2025 Update
April 1, 2025 at 4:25 pm
Daily routine continues. No skips yet. Still on outomation (shell) scripts. Also, started planning my next dedicate full-time month for Synekism.
March 2025 Update
March 1, 2025 at 4:35 pm
Still keeping up with the 20min of Synekism per day routine. Still working through scripts and automation todos (like adding zsh support). I'm trying to get it to a level of done that won't require attention for a long time. The plan is still to get back to Synekism (over the other game ideas).
February 2025 Update
February 1, 2025 at 9:09 am
For this new year, as is tradition, I (re)started some daily routines (ie. draw, exercise, reddit, etc.). One of those routines is to spend 20min on Synekism work. So far, I haven't missed a day and usually end up spending more than 20min. So, that's good. Working my way through my automation script todos.
January 2025 Update
January 1, 2025 at 11:45 am
Another year, another increment. 2024 saw major changes in Synekism's codebase/engine: the rise of a third alternate game idea, real-time multiplayer, and deeper Steam and Steam Deck integrations. Still, way too many distractions, both external and within the Synekism project itself.
For 2025, my plan is to return to the original Synekism design, close to what is already released here on this site for so many years, 0.5. First task is to re-implement the original version on top of the new engine. Then, finish the play loop, add a bit more depth and features, polish, and release it properly on Steam.
Happy new year!
December 2024 Update
December 1, 2024 at 2:28 pm
Still quite on the Synekism front, but weekends are slowly opening up. Getting a lot of misc stuff (like doing company taxes, yes, even with no income) down before the holidays to have some focus time on the game.
November 2024 Update
November 1, 2024 at 9:00 am
Still another quiet month. At least, I got that 1.0 game well out of my system now. A different factory game had a major update but I won't let that one take my weekends. I should start having more coding time as we get closer to the holidays.
October 2024 Update
October 1, 2024 at 8:32 am
Not a lot to update this month. Been distracted by day job and a certain 1.0 factory game release. I'm only human. Should be out of my system before the next update.
September 2024 Update
September 1, 2024 at 7:36 am
Here we are again, the 14th year of this journal (and game project). Still going. Progress had been made. Hope continues. Could be faster.
August 2024 Update
August 1, 2024 at 9:19 am
Did I say "back to routine"? That's what I get for trying to predict the future. Had a minor security incident at home which triggered a bunch of research and implementation work on the subject of security. It's calming down again but I won't predict the future this month, though I do hope to return to code sooner than later.
About
Synekism is an attempt at a modern city simulator rooted in procedurally generated content. The project was started in 2010 to address some frustrations with the city simulation video game genre. It is actively developed on and currently in a purely alpha-experimental stage. Updates on the project are posted on the first of every month. Note that work on this project is more or less done by one person so progress will be slow, but steady.
The game is a sandbox where control is not explicit but indirect. The player can designate residential, commercial, industrial, and government zones and watch them grow, instead of explicitly plopping each building manually. The game tends to lean towards macro-management.
The key features of Synekism include grid less 3D environments and procedurally generated buildings. The lack of a grid results in total freedom when zoning and building roads allowing for more realistic looking cities. Procedurally generated buildings allows for more visual variability. Instead of querying a finite list of static models, a building is generated uniquely upon creation using local as well as city-wide conditions.
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