Habitat: One Man's Space Junk is Another's Kinetic Weapon

In the future, everyone wants your junk... in SPACE!

Habitat is an upcoming space building/strategy/defense game from indie developer, 4gency, and it looks like it is gonna be pretty damn awesome! The premise is thus: The Earth is no longer inhabitable. Humankind has relocated into orbit around the planet. Near Earth space is full of both space junk and trash from the surface that somehow got blasted out of the atmosphere. You play as a team of space engineers tasked with rebuilding a home for humans using the junk you find. However, you must balance your building with defense of your orbital junkyard colony.

Sound fun? It is!

The game is currently in pre-alpha, and they are getting ready to launch a Kickstarter tomorrow next week to fund further development. I managed to get my hands on a development copy yesterday, and took it for a spin. Right now, the game is pretty basic. In it's pre-alpha form, it is entertaining in a way similar to intentionally unleashing Godzilla in Sim City. They are working on the strategy elements, but right now you can enjoy the fun of tearing down your own creations in a whirlwind of lasers, grappling hooks and rockets.

Anyway, I put together a little video of some of my gameplay last night to give you a feel for how this all comes together. Check it out!

You can learn more about the game at the official website Jointhe509th.com
If you want to back the Kickstarter, keep an eye out here: http://jointhe509th.com/kickstarter/. I will definitely be backing it!

Splodey

Being my fifth submission to Alex Cavanaugh's Insecure Writer's Support Group

This post was originally supposed to go up on Wednesday, but due to a whole lot of anxiety over posting something anxious as my first post of the year, I bumped it to today. Better late than never, right? Right!?

Anyway, recent events at work, the holidays and a bout with a nasty bug have left my sense of order and creative impulses all caddywampus and/or akimbo.

When my department at work decided to take it easy during the week between Christmas and New Years, I thought "Fantastic! If people are only going to be in for a couple hours during the afternoons, things will be quiet and I can get tons of writing done!" So, I elected to just slightly relax my work regimen in hopes of being productive. Alas, it turned into a situation where I did a lot of work but felt like I got nothing done. The couple hours in the afternoon turned into a string of meetings which required both preparation and post-meeting thought-gathering. As a result, I didn't have time to really sink into a writing Zen. Though my thoughts on the project became clearer in certain areas, very few jams were kicked out.

Towards the end of the week, as we discussed the schedule moving forward, I mentioned to the Boss that writing is a process that works best with big chunks of time unhindered by interruption or distraction. He said he agreed and gave me his blessing to do some work from home if it would help. "Oh, and BTW, next week, we should have a series of meetings each day to discuss this, that and the other. KTHXBAI"

So, that's my story. I'm hoping to finally reach the productivity Nirvana of "not in a noisy office" next week, because my schedule is open... so far.

How do you write best, when it comes to work? Can you do it from home or do the TVs and home projects lure you with their siren song? Coffee shop? Library? I'd love thoughts and recommendations.