*Senkusha materializes in the middle of the room...*

[Senkusha]

I'm an ancient Otaku (GenX). I love many of the newer anime classics within the genre of romantic comedy, science fiction, and absurd humor. Some of my favorite titles include Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Ah! My Goddess, Tenchi Muyo!, Ranma 1/2, All Purpose All Cultural Catgirl Nuku Nuku, Negima!, etc. My favorite character is Fate Testraorssa, and has been since 2011, (and yes, that's her in my Avatar pic). Why? Because I identify strongly with many of her personality bits, and share quite a bit of similar trauma-- that ironically enough, I was able to release with her help (yeah, lots of creative writing and fan fiction).

You'll notice that I tend to ramble, and say a lot. I'm old school, grew up with forums, so I'm more comfortable with long-form content, lack of algorithms, and I prefer smaller communities. I'm also an addict for role playing games. As of now (Feb 2026), I have purchased 200+TTRPGs (Table Top Role Playing Games), and many of them have a strong anime focus. Big Eyes Small Mouth is a favorite system of mine, but I've also grown recently to adore Traveller as well. (Science Fiction is my preferred genre-- with a heavy dose of absurd comedy.) Speaking of absurd comedy, in case you're confused as to what that mean, just reference any 80s comedy movie, like Spies Like Us, Space Balls, Airplane!, The Naked Gun, or Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

But I have other cool hobbies too! I'm not just a geek, nerd, and dork! Besides creative writing, I love to cook. I'm always trying out new recipes that I trip over while cruising the fast lane of the Interwebz (that's what the kids call it, right? Lately, I've been mastering Indian cooking. Butter Chicken is certainly a winner. But I also vaguely remember how to write computer script. Create databases, write PHP code. Even rudimentary HTML code using nothing but a basic Notepad-- okay, now I'm showing off, and probably nobody cares about that.

But can I dance? Well, no not really. Sure, I can show you some moves on the dance floor, after I'm sufficiently intoxicated with Grog (or is it Groggggg-- that stuff typically served out of a cleaned, preferably unused toilet bowl?), and I'll end up stepping on your left big toe, or punching myself in the face at some point. (Trust me, there is a reason why I'm called "Captain Destructo". Yes, I'm a klutz.) Anyway, I totally forgot why I brought this up?

So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get lost in an alternate reality for a while

 

[Zack]

I liked your humour. I am not much of a talker tho. Could you share your experience on doing programming using just the basic Notepad?

 

[Senkusha]

Thank you! This is what happens when I've had four 15-oz cups of coffee and no job (THANK YOU Mother Nature for this most epic Blizzard you have graced us with! LOL)

As far as programming, I'm not really sure what there is to explain. I can use Notepad, I just type out the commands by memory. I did it this way the GW BASIC, QBASIC, and Turbo C+ many years ago. We didn't have those fancy IDE's in High School when I was learning how to program computers. anyway, for something small, I'll use Notepad, like a PHP script or something. But I do have Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition as well, and I've also worked with Unreal Engine 4.x and 5.x using their Visual Scripting "language".

Sometimes, I've found that automation can get in the way of getting a task completed quickly.

 

[Zack]

What's your advices and guidances for someone completely new to programming, but decided to pick up to learn software engineering and web development, and game design? I'm dabbling with Godot and RPG Maker

 

[Senkusha]

Start simple and small.
Game development can become overwhelming quickly. An example: In the 90s, there was a little tank game called Scorched Earth. Just two tanks on a random background (elevations), and you have many, many options of weapons to fire at each other with, doing different effects. But to start out with, master one weapon. The simple cannon. Master the physics of the arc, gravity, speed, etc. Then work on movement controls-- nothing fancy just up, down, left, and right.

Before you get into writing the first line of code. Take out a piece of blank paper and draft your idea. Refine it. Figure out a basic logic flow. That becomes your algorithm, your blueprint. That will help you from getting lost adding more junk to the project.

With regards to programming itself. Be comfortable with the ultra basics: Conditions, loops, basic mathematical operations. Grab a good book. Yes, the Internet is powerful, but sometimes, it's faster and easier (and less distracting) to just open a book on whatever language your learning.

Oh, and COMMENT YOUR CODE! Different languages have different syntax for it, but write a short sentence above each block of code, so that you can quickly know the gist of what that code does without having to evaluate it mentally. Trust me, it'll make revisions easier, and if you ever get to the point of adding helpers to your project, you won't have to constantly explain everything.

(Yeah, I kinda answered all these in backwards order.... )

 

[Zack]

Okay, I'mma just start simple and small then :>

 

[Nous]

Love the intro, great to see another Otaku join the forums. Interesting list of hobbies you got there, I love programming too specifically web development. Being a self taught programmer since my schooling years. Getting myself into React/NextJs programming now, seems to be the new way forward for webdev, also dabbling with sysadmin stuff on Linux.

I love cooking too!! nothing like a nice home cooked meal and using instinct to get the the taste just right.

Welcome onboard @Senkusha glad to have you here!