Maverick Learns

React – TicTacToe and Wordle

August 16th, 2025

Over the past week, I’ve been learning React to widen my programming knowledge. The syntax is a bit weird to me, especially with the addition of the return values being JavaScript. That being said, I’m getting the hang of it, and it’s been a fun challenge overall!
The reason for TicTacToe is the Official React Documentation page has a tutorial to teach users through making TicTacToe. Naturally, I followed this tutorial, attempting to make each next part before looking at the tutorial.

Now, I didn’t know how to adjust the button sizes at this point, but don’t you worry, I learned that during Wordle. In the tutorial, they never set the sizes, they just used the default size. However, these buttons auto-size when theirs did not. I simply assumed this was a version difference and moved forward.

Next we have Wordle. Basic, simple, right? Wrong. There’s a lot more complexity in Wordle than many may think. If you notice, none of those previous guesses were real words. This is a limiter I had to add later on. As well, you need to pull from a list of words to randomize what word the player must guess each time. I did that nearly last, right before the word guessing limiter. Fortunately, I had a txt file from my Programming 1 class that contains all the Wordle words they had us download. I simply used that.

As for guessing, you can’t forget the ability for the player to deselect letters. This didn’t take long, but was a hard requirement that could not be missed.

Win conditions. You can’t forget these, as it wouldn’t be a game at that point. This required checking after confirm is pressed, and then changing the return value based on that check. Overall this might have been the easiest change to make, but once again was a hard requirement, and thus I couldn’t leave it behind either.

The opposite of a win condition, a lose condition. Wordle gives you a set number of guesses. Beyond that, and you lose, game over. Can’t forget that.

And with that, Wordle was completed! Now, there were obviously smaller pieces, harder to notice. This included the seemingly obvious piece, that still needed to be programmed. Once the player has chosen 5 letters, clicking a 6th letter should do nothing. However, in my version it was still changing the last letter instead. A simple change, adding a check at that point. Naturally, I had to do it, otherwise the game would not be complete.
Unity, Lyrics, and Memes

July 29th, 2025

I was casually watching a CaptainSparklez Subreddit video, where he reviews the top 19 reddit posts, this month, from the CaptainSparklez Subreddit, where he came across this post.

That’s nice
byu/MountainJudgment8762 inCaptainSparklez

Immediately, my mind went to, “I could easily create something in Unity real fast that tells me how many there are to confirm this.” Thus, I did exactly that!

I can confirm that there are NOT 69 L’s in the TryHardNinja/CaptainSparklez song, Revenge. I did test Fallen Kingdom, however, where there are 69 S’s.
The fun part is that I did all this in under 100 lines of code, with a few comments thrown in! That wasn’t necessarily a challenge I was trying, but a neat detail nonetheless!

As for the video, be sure to give it some love with an extra view! Also, no, he is not dead, but there is a great reason it has that as the title!
Game Release and Upcoming Graduation

February 21st, 2025
This is a longer post, as I am writing on multiple topics, please enjoy.

Over the past 20 months I have spent most of my attention focused on being a full-time student at Full Sail University, working toward a Bachelor of Science in Game Development. I am proud to say I am only 5 weeks from graduation at this point, and I am excited as can be! Full Sail is an incredibly difficult school to keep up with, due to their quick deadlines and difficult homework requiring a strong work ethic to keep yourself motivated to succeed! With only a month per class, many months being two classes, most classes have multiple full assignments per week that you have to work on as you attempt to absorb all the information quickly. On top of all that, they have a 90% attendance policy! With each class only being 8-12 days, many classes you can only miss 1 excused day, being that excused allows you to miss slightly more, without failing. 1 unexcused absence in many classes means failing for attendance.

I am excited to be ending with a 3.94 GPA and perfect attendance!

I still have this month and next month’s class to change that GPA, but the only change would be up, as I should be getting 100% in both of these months, due to the nature of these classes. These final months are dedicated to what they call “Open Portfolio,” which is when the student works on their Capstone Project. This gives the student two full months to work on whatever they are wanting to create, whether that be solo or in a team.

My idea was already created for my Capstone Project, but first I felt the need to finally release the game I had been working on in private, Spokes! You can see it in My Portfolio Page, where I officially released it on ItchIO and Google Play. I plan on releasing on Apple and Steam as well, when I have the time. Now to discuss my Capstone Project plans.

For my Capstone Project, I decided to work on something that is a mix between a game and a tool. I have a board game, named Zombicide, that is a large box with many tiles of many sizes. If I want to plan ahead, I have to pull the tiles out, set up a map, take a picture, and prepare any balancing that may be needed for the friends I am playing with. However, this requires a lot of time for setup and cleanup, for when I want to plan ahead. Due to this, I set out in my own free time to create a tool that allows me to take the tiles I own, and place them on the screen, thus eliminating the need to open the box up, setup, and cleanup. I very quickly realized I would need assets, and went on a search for official Zombicide assets. In this search I learned they released official zip folder, and found it was due to someone else who created a similar tool! Great, this means I don’t have to make mine! However, I immediately found flaws with their version and decided I still wanted to create a better version. This is where we get to Open Portfolio, and my Capstone Project. I figured when better to work on this, than two months where my full time job is to create something I am passionate about? Once I began creating, I came up with the idea of adding a way for users to create their own packs, officially, through my tool, which is the feature I’m working on as I type this post! Not only will the user be able to import packs to design a layout for the game they want to play, but for users who create their own board games, this tool will give them a way to simply create a zip folder fully ready for other users to download and import on their own!
AI – A Powerful Tool

October 5th, 2024

I have always been a fan of watching AI become more powerful and more useful. This interest began back when Cleverbot was released, and my friends and I had far too much fun seeing all the ways we could confuse it to get weird responses. ChatGPT is the main AI bot that I have been paying attention to recently, as it is an extremely well-rounded AI that can help with an extremely wide variety of topics. I’ve asked it to explain math concepts to me, I’ve asked it to explain Vulkan concepts to me, and I’ve even asked it to create recipes for me, to which is succeeded with a recipe I found to be extremely delicious, and extremely easy to make! Now, we have round two of recipe requests! This time, for some salads to try!

Starting out, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to ask for, but I know I like spinach, so I figured I would start from there, and this already sounds delicious! However, I like to have chicken in my salads, so naturally I continued the request.

I was genuinely curious if ChatGPT would alter the current recipe or give me a whole new recipe. As well, I was curious if it was simply going to add chicken in and not even consider the other items in the recipe.

I wasn’t too surprised to see it simply added the chicken and gave me a quick addition of “roast the chicken,” however, I was intrigued that is included a recommendation of seasoning the chicken with herbs and thyme or basil!

Now, one cannot simply eat the same thing every day, and I would likely not eat is every other day as I would likely get tired of it. However, I was curious if ChatGPT would understand how to contrast flavors and make a decent option for the opposite days as the first salad.

To my surprise, it seems to have done exactly that! The first recipe seems to be a lighter, fruitier option due to the strawberries, while the second recipe seems to be focused on a more earthy flavor from the kale, with some sourness from the lemon juice.

However, I am not a fan of kale or quinoa, so the requests must continue!

The dressing of this salad is nearly identical to the first, but I am very interested in seeding the roasted carrots and bell peppers, and how they will combine with the cherry tomatoes and pine nuts! Now, one of the biggest problems with a recipe is keeping everything organized, trying to make a shopping list for the store, and inevitably you are sure to miss something, because recipes are great for cooking, but not for shopping. However, what if I simply ask ChatGPT to do that for me, as well, while it already has the recipes right there waiting for me?

And there you have it! A fully functional shopping list, organized by type! Now, obviously there are bound to be issues, such as the store I commonly go to might arrange things differently than, say, the store you go to, and therefore it’s hard to guarantee that they will have it in the order they were given, and I doubt any of you are grabbing the meat and produce before the canned good anyways, unless your store is specifically set up that way. However, most stores are set up to have the dry good with other dry goods, meat with other meats, and so on so forth, so this at least helps narrow it down, so I can simply go to the dairy section and know exactly what I’m looking for!
Color Customization

June 8th, 2024

This week I’ve been hard at work on accessibility features. Specifically, in this case, I’m referring to color options. When creating Spokes, I added an option to show when a circle has the correct number of active lines or too many active lines based on the coloring, but my teacher reminded me of an important detail. I was using Green as Correct and Red as Too Many, as green is commonly “good” and red is commonly “bad.” The detail I was reminded of was the commonality of red-green colorblindness, meaning some people would struggle to see the difference between these two. Thus, I began working on an options menu where the player can change the colors. While I was at it, I figured I would simply add options for all other colors, as well, giving the user the ability to change any color excluding the menu itself.

As well, I added the ability for the board to zoom in and out. I implemented two versions of zooming for this. One where the player scrolls, for PC, and one for when the player pinches or spreads, for mobile.

My next planned task was to work on the win event, for when a player completes a puzzle. However, given the new color options menu becomes increasingly small depending on the screen, I am planning on editing the current zoom function. My plan is to make it so when the player pinches and spreads, or scrolls the mouse-wheel, the entire game zooms in and out, not only the puzzle. This way the player can zoom into the menu as well as the puzzle, making the smaller buttons in the options menu much easier to use.
Unity Spokes Update

June 1st, 2024

I’ve been hard at work, but in my free time I’ve been hard at work recreating Spokes in Unity, as mentioned in my last post! I am nearly at the point where this version will actually surpass the Unreal version!

The logic has been created, and was much easier in this version thanks to the concept of the GameManager, to check for win scenarios. With this, my next step it to add extra options, such as a color system to tell the player hoe close to winning they are, and to decide what I want “you win” message to be changed to. Overall, I’m happy to have tried remaking this in Unity, as I’ve been enjoying it more than when I created it in Unreal.
Everything Old is New Again

May 25th, 2024

Despite the reference to an amazing title, this post is not about Red Vs Blue. This post is actually about the game I made in Unreal Engine a while back, Spokes. I thought I would give a shot at recreating the same game in Unity, given everything I have learned over the past couple months. I have not completed it yet, due to a busy schedule involving not only Full Sail Hall of Fame, but also meeting important people I hope to work with in the future.

I’ve spent roughly 8 hours working on this, split into portions of free time, and I have the basic setup created. As well, I added the ability for the board to move out of the way of the menu, and for the menu to move out of the way of the board, respectively. This allows the game to be centered when the player is focused on it. I am currently working on the functionality of the board setting itself up as a possible puzzle, then I plan on fixing the currently temporary placement of the board pieces, as they are offset slightly from where I want them to be. As well, I need to work on the dynamic resizing of pieces as the player chooses larger boards, allowing them to fit more easily.
21 Years, and a Sad Fairwell

May 18th, 2024

With a heavy heart, I finally force myself to write this blog post. I have been watching an extraordinary group of people for 11 years of my life, and they have been around for a full 10 years before that, making the collection itself old enough to drink in the United States. This group came up with one of the worst names imaginable, according to them, but a name that made its way into my heart and will be forever remembered as a core memory within me. This group began when five friends decided to make a small silly Machinima, and came up with the name RoosterTeeth, for their new show, Red vs Blue.

I didn’t learn about this group until 10 years into their adventure, but as soon as I learned of them, I went back to see where they started. This was when they immediately made their way into my heart. As of May 16th, 2024, the RoosterTeeth website no longer contains the vast amount of content it once did, with the stark contrast of a single post, a single imbedded YouTube video, and no other pages outside of that main page, replacing what used to be an amazing place to go.

I wasn’t entirely sure what to say regarding the end of this era, and I still don’t have the words, but what I do know is that I am simply in a state similar to mourning. Once again, this group has been around for a very large chunk of my life, and has even been IN my life for over a third, but now I simply have to move on knowing there are no longer videos on the website for me to view.

If, for whatever off chance reason, any of the RoosterTeeth founders are reading this: Gus Sorola, Geoff Ramsey, Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum, and Joel Heyman, you will be forever missed. I’ve been here for the love, the fun, the controversy, and more, and I will be sad to no longer be able to go find new videos when you all release them. You have all been inspirations to me, each in your own way, and I hope to one day have a title next to my name that compares to the title of “RoosterTeeth Founder” or for my name to be as well-known as any of yours. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for not only 21 years of content, but more specifically the 10 years of content you all made after I began watching.

I couldn’t possibly name every member at RoosterTeeth, but for a few groups that I tried to make time for when new videos came out, I just wanted to say thank you, as well, for all your hard work, all your laughs, and all the entertainment you brought me. Achievement Hunter, made up of legends including Micheal Jones, Gavin Free, Jack Pattillo, and so many others, even with some of the older members who have left over time, such as Ray, thank you. You content made me laugh, introduced me to new games, and brought me and my friends together through the joy of gaming. Always Open, with Barbara Dunkelman, who is also the voice of Yang in RWBY, thank you for bringing me emotional wealth. Many questions answered in your podcast helped me through challenges I didn’t even know I was going through, and I will forever be in your debt for this. Speaking of RWBY, thank you to everyone on the RWBY team for making an amazing show, of which I can only dream of seeing the conclusion currently. Lindsay Jones as Ruby, Kara Eberle as Weiss, Arryn Zech as Blake, and Barbara Bunkelman as Yang. This group of voices have made their way into my heart as well, anticipating the next episode, the next chance to see these characters progress. As well, I want to thank everyone behind the scenes, including the film crews, the animation crews, the sound crews, the production crews, and easily more that I’ve missed, you all have made amazing content over the last 21 years, and I hope you all can continue making amazing content wherever you all end up going forward.

As a final thought, I wanted to add this. As I continue through classes, one of the ideas that crossed my mind was to make a fan game based around one of the many RoosterTeeth IP’s, similar to the creator of RWBY Grimm Eclipse, and later Bendy and the Ink Machine. RoosterTeeth has been an inspiration throughout over a third of my life, and even after their closing, RoosterTeeth will continue to inspire me.
Animation For Game Design

March 2nd, 2024

I have been busy at work in school, finishing more and more difficult projects for more challenging classes. However, I have still made sure to find time to work on my own projects when I can! On top of that, I’ve been on a bit of a slump trying to decide what I want this tower to look like. On I figure it out, I can use that style to continue to the next tower. That being said, I have decided on a base concept that goes along with my previous post!

I have started work on an Ice Crystal, though I am not entirely happy with its current extremely simple design. I also learned how to create two animations through the Non-Linear Animation option in Blender, which I am very happy with, as I can alter the spin separately from the hover. This ended with the clean animation you see above, allowing the spin to be at a slightly different speed and interval, causing a more natural feel.
Learning Blender

February 17th, 2024

This week has been busy with classes, but I was able to find some time to work in Blender for a bit and try something new! For the Tower Defense game I was working on, I’ve been trying to decide what theme to go with, and then I found one that looks like a fun theme to go with. A pillar, hovering above a base. I immediately went to work to learn how to man animations in Blender, which was surprisingly easy! Then, I had a cylinder floating nicely.

Now to work on modelling. I’m not entirely sure what I want this tower to look like yet, but that’s half the fun. I’m trying things out, seeing what looks good, and moving forward! The current shape makes me start thinking of a Queen piece in Chess, which was one of the options I was considering, though I’m not sure what I would do for the attacks if that were the case. Either way, it’s back to the fun of finding out what shape I will end up happy with and learning new things within blender to try out!