About me
Who I am and what I do
Hi, I'm Arsalan, or Aeri. I'm at least 20 years old and I write games, software, fictional writings, non-fictional writings, and other such things. I also draw sometimes.
I live in north west London, and I'm currently a student at the University of Hertfordshire, studying Software Engineering (Hons).
Computers
HP Victus 16-e0xxx - ArchInFreefall
Operating System: Arch Linux ← Fedora Workstation 40 ← Linux Mint 21 ← Windows 11 Home
Stats: 256 GB NVMe SSD, AMD Ryzen 5 5600H, 8 GB (4 GB × 2) DDR4 RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile
My daily driver, development rig, creative and academic writing studio and on-the-go drawing hub, originally bought for university.
It went through several different Linux distros simply because I wasn't happy with Microsoft's forced AI integration into their products and services.
And of course, Secure Boot locked out any chances of a Mint or Arch dual-boot, and by the time I decided on Fedora, I was already sick of Windows.
Nowadays, I try to steer clear of Microsoft where possible.
Steam Deck OLED 1 TB - Aeri-Deck
Operating System: Arch Linux w/ Bazzite kernel ← Bazzite ← SteamOS 3.0
Used for gaming and other portable PC stuff, such as serving as a handheld web browser.
It uses the Maliit Keyboard for touchscreen text input, since Steam's virtual keyboard is not substantial and requires Steam to be running, but that's about it.
One annoying thing is that I have to give Steam access to control KB/M inputs - since I use Wayland, this is the default behaviour, since Steam doesn't send the signal to let me mark it to always allow. Which is great, I love that for them.
iMac (27-inch, Late 2013) - Ubuntised-iMac14-2
Operating System: Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS ← macOS 15 Sequoia + Windows 10 ← macOS 12 Monterey + Windows 10 ← macOS 10.15 Catalina + Windows 10 ← several broken installations of Arch Linux ← macOS 10.15 Catalina ← every macOS version from 10.11 to 10.14 ← OS X 10.10 Yosemite
Stats: 1 TB Apple HDD, Intel Core i5-4570, 8 GB (4 GB × 2) DDR3 RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M Mac Edition
Formerly a paperweight with a broken macOS Sequoia and Windows 10 dual-boot, now serves a new purpose as a Ubuntu-ised media centre, video player, drawing hub and web, Git and SSH server.
Out of all my computers, this is the one with the most OS history. It went through several macOS/OS X versions, a few Linux distros, several Windows 10 installations, and I think even FreeDOS at one point.
It runs Linux now because a) I'm a Linux nerd and b) I don't care for macOS and also c) dual-boot setups suck tbh, especially Linux-macOS ones.
Software
My primary programming language is Rust - I use it for practically every non-game project I write, and that's only because I make games using Godot Engine, which Rust is not inherently compatible with. (Yes, I know about godot-rust and GDNative, shut up)
For creative writing, I use whatever format is most convenient at any given time, but it's usually a lightweight markup language like Markdown or a proper typesetting format like LaTeX.
My go-to text editor right now is Zed - I used to use VSCodium, but that, as an Electron app, was far too heavy and resource-intensive for my not-very-powerful laptop. I don't use any of the AI features in Zed, because honestly frick making a computer write crap for you, write the crap yourselves, you lazybones
Philosophy
I'm vehemently anti-DRM and pro-consumer, and I'll always opt for free/libre and open-source software over proprietary garbage.
I believe DRM to be a scourge on the wider gaming community, and I'm tired of paying for games and not even fricking owning them.
That's why I fully support Ross Scott's Stop Killing Games movement - I strongly believe simply ending support for a game people pay money for as a good is an unjustifable act of greed and publishers who do so will not see the light of heaven.
Games
Admittedly, I haven't made a lot of games. They're a lot harder to make than just plain old software. I have a lot of game ideas, for sure, but I don't exactly have the time, budget or resources to actually do all of them.
- Sonic: Lock & Load, a Sonic the Hedgehog stylish action first-person shooter DOOM mod and fan game, which uses the GZDoom source port. My passion project.
- Not An Illegal Game, a satirical OS simulation puzzle game heavily inspired by MS-DOS and Windows 95, set in the 1995 era of computing. Written in Godot Engine. This'll be the first game I plan to sell for money.
- Sonic Re;Velocity, a 2D Sonic fan game with a focus on high-speed momentum-based platforming built using Godot Engine.
- Variable Weapons, a DOOM gameplay mod for GZDoom which modifies the weapons and adds some new mechanics.
Software
These are ordered in terms of which is the most important to me personally.
This also doesn't include absolutely everything, just the stuff I care the most about.
- sued, a stateless vector-oriented command-based text editor written in Rust, with focus on speed, simplicity, ease of use and staying the hell out of your way.
- Astrion, a text editor built using Tauri, Svelte, CodeMirror and Lua, intending on combining the best of Visual Studio Code and GNU Emacs in a simple, lightweight, easily-extensible package.
- DOOM On-Deck, a multi-engine launcher for idTech 1 (DOOM, Heretic, Hexen, Strife) games built with the Steam Deck in mind, built in Godot Engine for easy controller support and Linux compatibility.
- Clarice, a natural-language-syntax functional/declarative programming language written in Rust, inspired by Python and Haskell, using English words to replace symbols.
- TOML To Makefile, a tool which converts Cargo-style TOML files into C(++) Makefiles, intended on streamlining the build process. Current implementation is somewhat naive, especially since my C-fu is not really all that great.
- For a more comprehensive list of my projects, visit my Codeberg or GitHub pages. Keep in mind my newer projects are on Codeberg, and my older projects are on GitHub, since GitHub is Microsoft and Microsoft is stinky.
Articles
Yes, this is different to writings. Articles are writings on this site.
Writings
I've actually written a frick of a lot more stuff than this. Problem is, they aren't very well-organised. TODO: clean up this section.
- Aeri's Characters, a document listing and detailing various characters (mainly protagonists) of my game projects, conceptual or otherwise. It mostly is conceptual, since none of those games have been made yet.
- Programming is Easy, Actually, a beginner-focused programming guide aimed at demystifying programming for new programmers, focusing on Python and Rust. Currently unfinished, actively being written.
- Take it and Like it Public Licence, a non-legally binding, not-accepted-by-any-courts super permissive software licence for works that you don't care about. Basically an informal version of the MIT/X licence.
Planned Projects
Game
Placed in order of conception, earliest first.
- Swordlink: Glitchfall Chronicles, a 2D stylish action hack-and-slash roguelite game built using Godot Engine, starring Joel and Avery Nolasstnam, two siblings with an eye for programming and mechanical engineering respectively. An early demo exists where you can only play as Joel, but this is very old.
- Seraph's Rapture, a 3D stylish action hack-and-slash game with a fantastical story set between the celestial, human and infernal realms, with heavy inspirations taken from the Devil May Cry and Neptunia games. Stars Caeliana and Victoria Serenitide, two angel-devil hybrid siblings with a complicated family history and angelic/demonic heritage.
- Divergence of Chronos, a hack-and-slash/turn-based RPG hybrid inspired in part by the Persona/SMT games and the Devil May Cry series. Stars Xavier Continuus in the Continuum Timeline, and Yvonne Eternis in the Eternity Timeline, two young students who are two sides of the same mystery.
- Persona ε (epsilon), a Persona fan game intended to be a "mirror" of Persona 3, with inspirations taken from the overall franchise, starring Yurina Minori, a young woman who transferred to Gekkoukan High School (the one from Persona 3) and discovered the ill-effects of the Gates of Hades.
- Questioned Ethics, a gritty brutalist 2D hack-and-slash with themes of unethical human experimentation and the escape thereof. Stars Subject 2809, named "Eden" by one of the sympathetic scientists, a woman who was taken in by the research facility at a young age and subject to experiments that unnaturally heightened her speed and enhanced her strength.
- Haven Skyline, an exhilarating high-speed platformer crossed with a cosy social simulation game, starring Nebula Rider, a transmasculine protagonist with a love for speed and community, heavily inspired by Sonic the Hedgehog and Animal Crossing. This game was conceived as a counter to the darkness and edginess of Questioned Ethics.
Software
- Rexsh, a cross-platform hyper-extensible command-line shell environment written in Rust and implementing an embedded Lisp, heavily inspired by the Emacs family of text editors. In active development, serves as my university final year project.
There are no planned writing projects. Actually, there are loads, but I'm too lazy to include them. TODO: include them or whatever :P