Hey there,

I hope you had a nice weekend. Over Easter we decided to make our own large, hollow chocolate eggs. We bought some moulds and chocolate, melted it down, and poured it in with our own fillings. It was a lot of fun, and slightly "healthier" than shop-bought eggs since we could use better quality chocolate. I filled mine with cornflakes and peanut butter, which turned out excellent.

There’s something quite nice about making things from scratch, even when it’s a bit messy. That mindset has carried over into what I’ve been working on this week. It’s messy, but that’s half the fun.

Over the past week I’ve been working on an update to Brush Ninja, improving the drawing tool I call Paint Ninja. It’s a lightweight alternative to Photoshop, or more closely Procreate. A simple, fun drawing app that runs in your browser. I’ve collected a lot of feedback over the years, and the main request has been layers, which I’ve now added.

Hey there,

These last couple of weeks have been a bit of a blur, but I want to keep a consistent schedule, so here we are with another issue of Ninja Sparks.

I’ve been trying to finish off Splatter Balls, my new (old) game. I thought it would be quick since it’s been running nicely on Brush Ninja for a while. However, there are far more ideas, tweaks, and improvements needed to make it commercially viable than I expected, so it’s taking longer than planned.

On the plus side, I’ve added a bunch of new features, and with my son’s help we’re now at over 100 levels, which is fantastic.

Hey there,

Two weeks have flown by and it’s time for a new issue of Ninja Sparks. It feels a bit strange writing this considering everything happening in the world at the moment, but I want to maintain a small sense of normality, so I will keep doing my thing as much as I can. I hope you and your loved ones are doing well.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been working on two main things: small updates to Brush Ninja and a larger update to finish my game Splatter Balls.

At the encouragement of a couple of friends I’ve decided to try releasing it on some game portals. That means adding new obstacles and levels, tidying up the logic, and finally adding music and sound effects.

Hey there,

I am writing this whilst watching the closing ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. I’m not into sport, but I found myself watching a surprising amount of it over the last couple of weeks. I think I prefer this to the regular Olympics. A lot of the events are about skill rather than strength or speed, which makes them more interesting to watch. The ice skating and snowboarding events in particular were really fun.

This last week was also half term, so I spent a very enjoyable week with my boy. A lot of that time was spent doing Pokémon-related things, including him competing in a Pokémon Cup.

We also spent last Friday searching for the new Pokémon cards in the shops. This was the first time we’d been able to go out on release day when the shops opened, and it was fascinating seeing all the scalpers queuing up and then running from shop to shop trying to buy as much as they could, whilst real Pokémon fans like us were left to pick up the scraps. Fortunately, we’ve learnt over the last year the best places to get cards and were able to get what we wanted, but it’s very frustrating seeing scalpers making this harder for those of us who just want to enjoy the hobby.

Hey there,

Welcome to a new issue of Ninja Sparks. I’ve now been writing this newsletter for over a year, and it’s been a fun way to collect and share the things I’ve found along the way. I hope you’re enjoying it. As always, please let me know if you have any feedback or suggestions for future issues.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been doing some work on Brush Ninja, mostly tidying up user interactions to make it nicer to use. They’re all small changes that will hopefully go unnoticed, but together should make the experience feel smoother and more considered.

Away from the computer, something else has been quietly unfolding. My son has recently started getting into Lego. He’s 9 now, and although we introduced it years ago, it never really stuck until recently. A couple of weekends ago he adopted a “pet” pebble and decided it needed a house. What began as a single room has slowly grown into multiple rooms, a garden, and even a balcony.

Hey there,

A couple of weeks ago I went to a reunion for my former employer Miniclip. It was a party to celebrate their 25th anniversary (and also the original CEO’s 50th birthday). It was great seeing friends and colleagues that I haven’t seen in over a decade.

I was Miniclip’s third employee and saw it grow from a small room near St Paul’s Cathedral to a multinational company with offices all over the world. It was a special evening that made me very nostalgic for the early days of the internet and online games, when everything felt a bit more experimental. Miniclip is now a mobile-focused publisher making games for iOS and Android, but back then it was all about publishing browser games.

That nostalgia stuck with me because I’ve since seen a few other companies that we worked with celebrating their 25th anniversaries too. In particular, we had close relationships with RuneScape (a browser-based MMORPG), and Raketspel (a Swedish game developer) who both turn 25 this year and are still going strong. It’s not just games either. Wikipedia also turns 25 this year. It’s amazing to think that it’s been around for that long, and it’s still such a valuable resource for information; I still use it all the time.

Hi there - welcome to 2026!

After a bit of a break over the holidays, I’m pleased to be back writing this newsletter.

I had a lovely holiday break with my family. We had two Christmas celebrations with different groups of people, so I’m well and truly stuffed full of indulgent food.

I was planning to take a bit of a break from “working”, but I really enjoy what I do, so I ended up spending quite a lot of time on BeepMini anyway. I’m now working on AI enemies. It was overwhelming at first, but I think I’m getting somewhere. I have a basic enemy that can patrol or move around randomly. It also runs away if it catches on fire (fire is also a thing now). Next up is making enemies chase the player, and then attack.

Hey there,

This is the last issue this year! I’m amazed that I’ve managed to consistently publish a newsletter every two weeks all year! Thank you for reading along and sticking with it. I really appreciate it.

Rather than sharing apps or tutorials this time, I thought I’d end the year by looking back at some of the fun, creative things that stuck with me.

Hey there,

It’s the 1st of December already! We put up the Christmas tree this weekend and started making things more festive.

I’ve been working on BeepMini this last week. I wanted to make a path editor to help with my stealth game. I originally planned to have an interactive tool that allows you to place waypoints and draw paths, but that was going to be a lot of work. Instead I realised I could use a simple text-based language to define paths. This turns the act of creating paths into a game of its own, so now I can define paths quickly without needing a complex UI.

This means I now have characters walking around my levels, which is a big step forward. There’s lots to do to make this more usable in games. The characters don’t collide with the environment, the player, or each other yet. But it’s a start!

Hey there,

Last week I joined a game jam for fun and tried to make a small BeepMini game. I got the basic idea working fast, but making lots of levels by hand felt painful. That pushed me to think about a level editor.

At first I planned a quick and messy tool. Then I realised my adventure game editor already did most of the work. So I’m turning it into a general editor that uses config files and can handle different types of games.

The first step is adding worlds and levels. This means I can build separate areas for each game and bigger spaces for adventure games. After that, I’m adding paths, which I need for my stealth game so guards can patrol. This will also help NPCs move around in adventure games.

Hey there,

Welcome to a new issue of Ninja Sparks! It’s been half term here in the UK, so I took a short break with the family. We went away for a couple of nights, did some trick-or-treating, and enjoyed the slower pace for a bit. It’s amazing how much clearer my head feels after a few days away from screens.

Back at work, I’ve been deep in the Brush Ninja accessibility review. It’s taking longer than I expected, but I’m learning loads and the site’s improving with every tweak. It’s satisfying work, even if it’s a bit of a rabbit hole.

The break also gave me space to think about what’s next. I’ve got a few new game ideas for BeepMini bubbling away that I’m itching to start on once Brush Ninja’s update is done. These last few days I’ve been watching student animations from Gobelins, and that’s what I want to focus on in this issue.

Hey there,

I’ve been super creative the last couple of weeks, working hard on my new 3D engine and trying to finish off BeepMini so that I can properly launch it. Plus I’ve had an email from someone asking about the Accessibility of Brush Ninja, so I’ve been filling out a VPAT form, which is a whole new thing for me.

Amidst all this I’ve also been doing a lot of things with my son who is really into Pokémon. He’s been collecting for years. Now we go to a weekly Pokémon club where he plays the games and trades cards, and has even competed in his first tournament. He’s quite shy but he’s been loving this and it’s been great to see him engaging with new people and making friends.

Outside of my own work and family time, I’ve been spotting a few new creative things online worth sharing. A new 3D game builder (which I’m a little jealous of), a video about the importance of boredom for creativity, and some interesting links I found recently.

Hey there,

Over the last couple of weeks I have been working on quite a few different things. Firstly, I have decided to rename beep8 to beepmini. This is a relatively small-sounding change but it means rebuilding the website and merging it with the beepmini.com domain.

I still think beep8 was a good name, but about 6 months after I bought the domain, someone else released a project with the same name. I reached out but didn’t hear back. I was first, but I don’t fancy a fight, so I’ve decided to change it. Fortunately, when I bought beep8.com I also grabbed beepmini.com. At first I thought I’d use it as a games arcade, but now it just makes sense to keep everything together.

Merging the two sites, updating the code, and rewriting the copy is taking a while. Hopefully I’ll have it sorted in the next week or so.

Hey there,

Last week I had the chance to work during the day instead of evenings and was so much more productive. Less tired, more focus. I’m going to try that a couple of days each week so evenings can be for unwinding — or drawing my comic 😊.

Talking of which, I had a bit of a breakthrough in the story of the comic, but it means I’ve had to rejig things a bit so the story flows better. Fortunately I have been able to re-arrange the pages and keep a lot of the things I had planned, so there’s not a huge amount of re-drawing. Overall it feels like it’s coming together well and I’m excited to start drawing everything.

Beep8 and the map editor are coming along really nicely too. The first version of the map editor is almost done, and I now need to add a preview button so you can test the games in the editor. After that I will make a web page where you can play the games (a virtual console) and then you will be able to download and share them with friends or on social media.

Hey there,

I hope this finds you well, it’s time for another Ninja Sparks newsletter!

I have spent the last couple of weeks working on my beep8 game making app. It’s a map editor that allows you to create simple little adventure games, and it’s getting close to a version 1 release! I’m really looking forward to getting the game making element ready so that other people can easily make games with it.

The first version will allow you to make small games like Key Kwest and then share them with your friends and family. Once I have this working and released, I plan to add all sorts of extra features, non-player-characters (NPCs) to talk to and enemies are top priorities. Combat and an in-game shop to use your currency on. Eventually you will be able to make your own little adventure games really easily.

Hey there,

Welcome to issue 17 of the Ninja Sparks newsletter!

Over the last few weeks I’ve been stepping away from the computer and doing more analogue things. I just finished the Crookhaven book series, which I picked up at the library with my son (he’s the real bookworm in the family). The final book has just come out, so the timing was perfect.

I also read a graphic novel and thought, why not make one myself? So I’ve written an outline, sketched thumbnails, and started designing characters — all on paper with pens and pencils. I even found a printer, so this might actually get finished. My wife has been telling me for years to make smaller projects that don’t spiral out of control. So instead of a 20-part cartoon series, I’m making a short comic. Probably sensible.

Hey there,

Welcome to issue 16 of the Ninja Sparks newsletter!

I’ve just got back from a couple of weeks away with my family. It was a relaxing holiday and I barely used the computer at all; quite a change for me. I took my laptop with me, but it didn’t get much use.

Fortunately I had some links prepared for this issue, so I can publish it on time (he says with only a couple of hours to go before the self-imposed deadline). I hope you enjoy this issue, and if you have any feedback or suggestions for future issues please let me know.

Hey there,

Hello - welcome to issue 15 of the Sparked newsletter!

It’s been some wild weather here in the UK, rapidly switching between hot and humid, and wet and windy. So a classic British summer then! I hope you’re all doing well, and managing to stay cool and dry.

I’ve been working on the Beep8 game engine quite a lot recently - specifically the game-making tool. I have a whole map editor now that lets you create almost an entire game! I don’t currently have a way to signify the end of the game, but you can create a map with a start point, locked doors (and keys to open them), pushable crates, and collectible coins. Next I want to add switches that trigger events, or characters you can talk to. Maybe even enemies to fight, but that will also involve adding combat which is not something I have thought about so far.

Hey there,

Hi there! Welcome to Issue 14 of Ninja Sparks, my fortnightly newsletter where I share interesting, creative things I’ve found online.

Next week marks the start of the school summer holidays here in the UK, so I’ll be spending more time with my wife and son, including heading off on holiday. I might miss or delay an issue or two, but I’ll still be working on my projects (like Beep8 and Brush Ninja). I’m also trying to prep some newsletters in advance so I can keep them coming.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been building a map editor for Beep8. It’s really helping me define how I want the game maker to work, and I’ve got some cool features planned. Right now I’m working on an ECS (Entity Component System) for the engine, which will make it possible to build much more complex games. It’s properly geeky, but I’m really excited about the possibilities this will open up.

Hey there,

It’s been 2 weeks so it’s time for another issue of Ninja Sparks, my fortnightly newsletter where I share interesting things I’ve found on the internet.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve spent some time polishing Photo Edit Tools, the app I featured in the last issue. The day after I sent the email I realised there was an error that meant you couldn’t load the modified images because the app removed the file extensions. Not ideal. I fixed that and added a few more tweaks and improvements.

I have also been working on a new editor for Beep8. One of the games I was making for Beep8 is a top down adventure game called Key Kwest. I got quite far with it but I was editing the levels by hand in a text editor. Cumbersome, but it worked, until I changed the screen size for Beep8 and had to start again.