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).
Hardware
My main computer is a HP Victus 16 gaming laptop, running Fedora Linux 41. It came with Windows 11, but I swapped it out with Linux Mint and then later Fedora, simply because I wasn't happy with Microsoft's forced AI integration into their products and services. Nowadays, I try to steer clear of Microsoft where possible.
I also have a Steam Deck for gaming and other portable PC stuff. It's still got SteamOS 3 on there, which is based on Arch btw.
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.
- 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.
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.
- 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. CC BY-SA 4.0.
- 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. Licensed under itself. Considered "finished".
- Subjective Programming Introduction, a subjectively introductory guide to programming in Python and C. Currently unfinished and dormant, effectively replaced by Programming is Easy, Actually. GFDL-1.3.
Planned Projects
Game
- Swordlink: Glitchfall Chronicles, a 2D stylish action hack-and-slash roguelite game built using Godot Engine, starring two siblings. Not presently in development, though an early demo exists.
- Persona ε (epsilon), a Persona fan game intended to be a "mirror" of Persona 3, with inspirations taken from the overall franchise, starring a female protagonist. Conceptual, with ideas.
- 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. Conceptual, with ideas thrown about sometimes, but most of them are internal.
- 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. Conceptual, with notes and lore snippets planned and written here and there.
- This is not all my game ideas. I have loads more, that I'm presently too lazy to include.
Software
- Rexsh, a cross-platform hyper-extensible command-line shell environment written in Racket, heavily inspired by the Emacs family of text editors. Conceptual, serves as the idea for my UH 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