Ashley Freels

To monetize or not to monetize: Making money as game dev

One of the debates of being a solo game developer is monetization. This can vary by developer so I don't want to generalize every game developer since I do not think that is fair. A game developer can have any reason or view about monetization of their game.

Gaming dev newbie - The benefits of being a new indie solo dev

I previously posted about the challenges of being a solo indie game developer and wanted to write a short article sharing the highlights of being a solo dev. As of writing this, I'm still a new game dev, having released my first game a few months ago. I

Making cool art with Sass and CSS

Taking, a break from my more intensive projects I decided to create a small project showcasing front-end skills. This was originally for a previous challenge at the DEV Community to make art using CSS. It has been a while since I have worked with graphic design and programming. To ease

1st anniversary: Blogging on a new platform

It has been a year since I switched to Ghost from DEV Community to publish content. In my 4 years of blogging, I started my site instead of relying on free platforms sharing content and I have had my fair share of getting familiar with the platform. Since I started

Software Developer to GIS Developer: A roadmap to learn GIS with existing skills

Here is a post to explain a watered-down approach to becoming a GIS developer. Good news if you already have previous experience as a developer you will have most of the skills needed to become a GIS developer. However, don't get too happy, there is more to learn.

Using GIS for good: Creating a GIS Story Map

I have been researching and working on a project to solve a problem and create solutions. I started this project because I want to help the community. I chose a problem in the community and decided to act on it by having an independent research project. What is GIS and

Tech detox: Having non-tech hobbies as a developer

As a person who spends most of my time staring at the computer screen, it is not surprising I need to have other hobbies. Being a developer and writer equates to me being on the computer and sitting down for 8+ hours a day. To prevent me from going insane I have a few hobbies I enjoy doing.

Starting small: working on my first video game from start to finish

I started working on my first video game at the start of this year. I tried to make a video game a few years ago, but I was in over my head and I was at my last semester in college before I graduated. When I started I had plans

Creating an app for mountain biking using Mapbox in React

I decided to start a project about two years ago I wanted to create a map for mountain biking in my local area. During my youth, I used to bike and walk on trails. I created an app that shows me parks with mountain biking trails. I used Mapbox again

Project Interitus Trailer

0:00 /0:34 1× The trailer for Project Interitus the Game releases on May 24th. Project Interitus by codingFatale

Project Interitus release date announcement

Hi, I'm writing my latest update on testing Project Interitus pre-release. The date of release will be May 24th, 2024 on itch.io. I have made significant progress in the visual novel by fixing mistakes and formatting the audio files. Counting down to the release date. I'

Project Interitus log#3

Here are my progress updates of the game features. Morality system and updates I decided to add a morality system for the endings of Project Interitus. It's going to be a simple one. I didn't want to overcomplicate it for my first game. Clips and demo

Clickbait to Listicles: The continued rise of low-quality articles in the age of AI

Not surprising that AI tools are taking over the market and are increasingly becoming more common. Content creation in general will take the biggest hit. I use AI editing tools for my writing. I will go in and edit and make corrections if need be and AI does speed up

"How to build this?" How to ask better questions as a developer

I want to make a disclaimer for this post. I want to state that I am not against asking or answering questions. Asking questions is a great way to learn when building a project. However, most questions do not lead anywhere, which is not a good thing. What does that

Project Interitus #log 2

I have been working on adding graphics and audio to my visual novel. As I'm finished writing the story. The next part is adding the features and correcting grammar and spelling errors. Follow me on itch.io!

Projects of the past: looking at old code in personal projects

In my sophomore year in college, I decided to create my first personal project. It was a chatbot. I used ChatterBot, an open-source chatbot library. This project was my first time using Python and wanted to create a simple application that answers interview questions. It does not come as a

Pull them all ! : Examining basic probability in Gacha games

DISCLAIMER: I am not sponsored by any of the games listed in this article. Unsurprisingly, microtransactions and add-ons have been popular in mobile games for over a decade. Whether you are a Whale or a F2P (free-to-play), you have played a Gacha mobile game. What are Gacha games? The first

Project Interitus log#1

Hi! I decided to write my intro post into the new game I created for a game jam on itch.io. It is an NVL visual novel created with Ren'Py. It is going to be a short text-based game. Progress, I created the GUI for the main menu,

Understanding licenses in open source

As my journey into open source continues. I realized there are various types of licenses. The ones I was familiar with the most were MIT and Apache but I did not know about the other licenses. It would be perfect for me to learn more about the various licenses when

System design topics and concepts to ace

I wrote in a previous post on the purpose of a system design interview. In this article, I will discuss the most common system design interview problems that will likely show up based on my observations and experience. I started by watching videos of various mock system design interviews on

Learning Pygame by writing a basic program

In this article, I will show you how to write a basic program that uses movement. Pygame is an open-source library that allows users to create video games.

Why everyone should learn about ethics in AI [opinion]

Unsurprisingly, there is growing concern about ethics in artificial intelligence and machine learning, with AI currently used by millions daily. Users need to know the ethical concerns with AI. I use AI most of the time now and would like to give my opinion on the issue. AI ethics is

Understanding the developer advocate and relations roles

Over the last few years, I became more interested in developer advocacy and relations roles. I was introduced when researching ways to contribute to the open-source community. I found the concept of developer evangelism to be engaging and wanted to expand my skill set. As a developer, coding scripts, finding

Surviving the system design interview

If there is one thing that I showed the most improvement on is system design interviews. As you apply for roles, chances are you will have a system-design interview at some point during the interview process. System design interviews use real-world applications to test your experience in designing systems. Here

Writing a story for a visual novel

Originally posted on Dev.to. The story is one of the core aspects of visual novels. This article will focus on the early planning stages of creating a visual novel. Why planning is important In the early stages when developing a visual novel it is best to have an idea

Moving and coding - Getting physical as a developer

It is not a surprise that being a developer is a sedentary job. Physical health is just as important as mental health. I aim to get some physical activity every week and take a break from watching the screen. I managed to develop a routine and have hobbies that keep

Why I Failed my first game: Harsh truth of being a game developer

Why I wanted to try out game dev When I was a computer science major, I started personal projects to experiment with what I would be interested in the realm of tech. In college, I tried out a wide variety of things from Cybersecurity, data science, web dev, and system

How to write good technical documentation

In the realm of software engineering, documentation holds a position of utmost importance. As software systems grow in complexity and scope, relying solely on the ability to retain information in one's memory becomes impractical and risky. Documentation serves as a comprehensive and structured repository of knowledge, capturing the

Why you should have a code of conduct on GitHub

Originally posted on Dev.to. I decided to add a code of conduct to my current and future repos on GitHub. Based on my personal experiences I made my choice when I asked these questions: * What is the purpose of a code of conduct? * How can I prevent negative behavior

My Linux journey: 1-year later after the switch

It’s been over one year since I fully made the switch from Windows to Linux for my personal computer. I was nervous at first switching to a different operating system. I have made the step and decided to look back on my decision. Why I switched? I have a

First post!

This is Coding Fatale, a tech blog with some nerdy pop culture sprinkled in every once in a while. Things will be up and running here shortly, but I will publish soon after I finish. If you want more content from Coding Fatale, you can subscribe and get notifications for