Dear reader. We wanted to start off by offering a message of support during these unprecedented times. Whether you or your family are working on the front lines of the NHS, or holding up the logistical backbone of the country delivering packages or food, simply collecting the bins, or ushering people at the local Tescos, thank you. Your determination and courage are inspiring and we feel more indebted to your services than ever before.

As I am not a key worker, and certainly no expert in the current times, I won’t pretend to offer much in the way of medical advice or attempt to predict at what length this pandemic will last. All I can presume is that our best path to recovery is through self-isolating. So allow me then, dear reader, to offer you the words of Dumas. Pertinent as always but even more so during these times.

-Greg

Remember those things called Pubs? Often deemed the anchor of a community, they were social hubs for the working folk. Packed with things to do. You could share a drink with your friends, watch the footy on the TV, play drinking games with the darts.  Yes, after a long old week of work, a trip down the local tavern would really revitalise ones spirit. Though you’d pay the price should you over indulge too much…

In Landlord’s Super, we look back to this time. What better way to unwind after a hard days graft, than heading down to the Anchor Tavern to see what the “craic” is.

“I needed to start work on the house, and I saw someone had left some bricks over by the Anchor Tavern. I though cor’, my lucks changing. So I set off to fetch them and began patching up the brickwork on my house. There were a couple hiccups, and some mental drivers about, but I think all in all I did a splendid job.”

You can watch my progress here.

Rag-and-bone men typically lived in extreme poverty, collects unwanted household items and sells them to merchants. [wikipedia]
Though perhaps considered a relic of Britain’s past, due to the soaring price of scrap metal, the blow of the rag-and-bone man’s horn can still be heard amongst the morning haze of some UK communities.

We’ve added a Rag and Bone Man to the world of Landlord’s Super. He’ll collect any junk you leave in your Skip then pay you for it the following day.
We wanted a more involving way to earn money in Landlord’s Super that wasn’t so reliant on the Job Centre being open.
The rag-and-bone man system also adds a really great loop of tottering about Sheffingham, looking for scrap to chuck into your Wheel Barrow to be taken to your Skip to sell. Who knows, maybe in the future you’ll be collecting scrap in your car to take home to sell, sounds awfully familiar though…

So during Jalopy, I used Toggle to record all hours working on the game. I only ever ran the timer while working on the game, which helped discipline me and keep my time focused towards actually making the game and not farting around on Twitter. It’s a great approach that I can highly recommend (if you like feeling that you have a manager watching over your every action), with the added benefit of being able to view all your tasks broken down at the end of a project.

For Landlord’s Super, we’ve been working from the Yogscast’s offices. Being surrounded by other developers meant that the accountability factor wasn’t really needed anymore, and so the timer has slowly lost it’s purpose. I also wanted a change of setup. So to achieve that, I’ve set up a Discord bot that posts each SVN commit I push, automatically.

This should also highlight to people what I’m currently working on with little need for me to interact. I hope it also quells any fears that the game is DEAD, but we’ll see!

Join the Discord if you haven’t already, to check it out.

Way back in the early 2000s, as a young teen, I was privileged enough to be a member of Tamworth Amateur Boxing Club. The Charity, run by Claire and Alan Keast, is now in need of our support due to the current crisis.

Tamworth ABC taught me that, while a big right hand might take you round the block, a smart head, respectful manner and good work ethic would take you round the world. The charity, which is more than just a boxing gym, helps to guide youth back to the path, which they can so easily stray from. They give people the tools they need to rise up from the grips of drug addiction. They consistently accommodate for and care for the disabled with regular sessions. They allow for and create safe spaces for those who identify as women. And they even manage to penetrate through my thick skull in order to teach me the difference in nutrition between a chicken breast and a KFC leg… Sorry I could never make lightweight Alan…

With Covid-19 threatening to destroy our pubs, cafes, and community spaces, this is the one place that I believe is paramount in ensuring that we don’t fail the next generation. We’ve donated a small amount to help out, but we humbly ask that you donate a little, only if you’re able to.

Thank you for allowing me to rattle the tin cup, now here’s a very old picture of me as a junior welterweight with my old boy. Back when he still had colour in his hair, and I still had a full set of real teeth.