It starts with an @

Today I participated in a so called mokumoku-kai (もくもく会) for the first time - a Japanese style of meetup where people just come together to silently^[1] work on their own projects. Basically being motivated to work on something by seeing other people busy working.

Each meeting is probably slightly different but basically it consists of three steps:

1. Announce what you are planning do to during the meeting
2. Do the work
3. Share your progress and your impressions with your group

I used the opportunity to start yet another roguelike and hopefully stick with it - and as usual it starts with an at sign moving over the screen.

And with DragonRuby that is just as simple as:

def tick(args)
  player_position = args.state.player_position ||= { x: 20, y: 12 }

  keyboard = args.inputs.keyboard
  if keyboard.key_down.up
    player_position[:y] += 1
  elsif keyboard.key_down.down
    player_position[:y] -= 1
  elsif keyboard.key_down.left
    player_position[:x] -= 1
  elsif keyboard.key_down.right
    player_position[:x] += 1
  end

  args.outputs.background_color = [0, 0, 0]
  args.outputs.sprites << {
    x: player_position[:x] * 32, y: player_position[:y] * 32, w: 32, h: 32,
    path: 'sprites/zilk-16x16.png',
    source_x: 0 * 16, source_y: 11 * 16, source_w: 16, source_h: 16
  }
end