One of my favorite hobbies is hacking. I mean that in a “build something for fun” sense, not a “compromising other people’s systems” sense.
I’m always on the lookout for platforms that make for fun weekend projects. These are some of my favorites.
1. Make art in Java with easy tweaking
Processing has one of the best-designed APIs I’ve worked with. The reference fits in one page. They’ve almost completely eliminated boilerplate. Most of what you need is already imported. It’s pure bliss.
Its most jaw-dropping feature is Tweak Mode. I can’t believe they made adjusting number literals this fun and easy. I’m sure they made Brett Victor happy when he saw this.
Unfortunately, sharing your Processing creations has become more and more difficult. (Running Java on the web isn’t a thing anymore.) If you’re willing to sacrifice Tweak Mode, there’s a pretty great JavaScript version, though.
You can download Processing for free here.
2. Stop picking libraries and start writing Lua games
PICO-8 doesn’t give you much extendability, and that’s a blessing in disguise. I hate when I end up shopping for libraries on GitHub instead of hacking.
PICO-8 gives you a subset of Lua, a simple graphics API, and a pixel, level, and music editor all in one. So stop procrastinating and go!
One limitation that bugs me is the 20-character-wide text editor. You need to use single-letter variable names to make it usable. I’d also like for the framework to have built-in support for collision detection.
You can by PICO-8 for $15 here.
3. Super shareable sketches in JavaScript
People tend to use Codepen to share CSS animations. I find that it’s super fun to write JavaScript with it — especially when you add something like Three.js to the mix.
My favorite features are:
- Vim bindings
- One-click installs of common libraries
- Dead-simple sharing via link
My only real complaint with Codepen is their premium pricing. Spending $9/month to keep some JavaScript sketches online doesn’t make sense for me. I’m glad that the free version is pretty great, though.
You can get started for free at Codepen.io.
Hacking with ❤
Do have a favorite platform for fun projects? Hit me up on Twitter and let me know about them!
