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.

Hey there,

I’m currently writing this in the evening of Father’s day in the UK. I had a lovely day with my family, playing video games with my son, and seeing my wife’s parents for dinner.

I hope you had a great weekend too!

The last couple of weeks have been spent working on a whole new project. It started off as a small editor for Key Kwest, the game I have been making for beepmini.com. I just wanted to make a way to draw the levels and export them to the game, but it is now turning into a full-fledged game editor (albeit in very early stages).

Hey there,

Last week was half term so my boy was home from school for the week, which is always fun. One of the best things we did was go to a comic drawing workshop where we listed to an author make an amusing presentation about how they got into writing and drawing, and then we all got to draw our own comics. I posted my son's comic on BlueSky.

So I spent the last couple of weeks finishing off the anti-capitalism game I have been working on. It took up a good chunk of the month but I was able to make all sorts of updates to beep8 in the process. These updates will make it much easier to reach my long term beep8 goal of making a game creation app! More on that in the future.

The finished game is called Prime Time and you can play it in it's entirety on beepmini. It's a darkly humorous game about creating a capitalist company that sells anything and everything, whilst abusing the employees and planet it's profiting from.

Hey there,

It's that time of the week again, and I'm only 20 minutes late this time! I've spent the last couple of days working on Brush Ninja - mainly tweaking and fixing small bugs I've spotted recently. Nothing major, but it's satisfying to get them sorted.

I also added a few "How to Animate" videos to the Brush Ninja video channel. These aren't made by me and aren't specific to Brush Ninja, but they're solid introductions to animation skills. I think they're a great addition to the channel and should help people new to animation.

I've also been working on the Beep8 game I mentioned last issue. It's coming along nicely, and in the process, I've made various tweaks and improvements to the core Beep8 library, which should make future games easier to build. If you're interested you can try an early version of Prime Time (name subject to change) on beepmini.com.

Hey there,

Hope you made the most of Star Wars Day yesterday! Just me? Never mind 😀 I built some Star Wars Lego with my boy and then we went out and bought some Pokemon cards because he's not really into Star Wars.

The last couple of weeks I've been improving Brush Ninja, fixing some bugs, and generally doing some spring cleaning. I also updated the TShirt store. It seems the old one had stopped working (thanks to Amy for letting me know) so I changed platform to a UK company focused on sustainability.

I have also started working on a new game using Beep8. It's for an anti-capitalism game jam. I have no idea if I will finish it but I'm trying to keep the feature list small so I can get something done. I'll let you know in a future issue how I get on.

Hey there,

I hope you're doing well! I've been poorly the last few days, just a cold but it's annoying with all the sniffling and coughing. I went away with the family over the Easter break, and also had my birthday so I'm feeling old and tired, but I have so many things I want to do.

Work wise I've been trying to get beep8 to a stage where I can start properly promoting it (although it's all live beep8.com and beepmini.com). I've also been thinking about doing some work on Brush.Ninja and NinjaPuzzles.com since I have been focused on beep8 for a while and they need some attention.

It's fun working for yourself, but it's also hard when you juggle lots of different things. But I don't like the idea of relying on a single project so I have a few things going at once. It keeps things interesting and provides a bit of security.

title: "Pixel Art and Animation" date: 2025-04-07

Hey there, it's that time of year when we celebrate the arrival of spring, and in the UK Easter - which normally boils down to chocolate eggs and a long weekend. Easter this year falls between newsletters so I hope you had a good time, and if you don't celebrate Easter, I hope you had a nice weekend anyway!

Hey there,

Over the last couple of weeks, I've made some great progress on my retro game engine. So much so that I've even mentioned the name on social media. It's kicking off with two websites: BeepMini.com and Beep8.com.

BeepMini is a fantasy video game arcade that will feature a collection of games. There are currently four in various stages of completion. If you want to play them, I recommend using a keyboard. Mobile controls exist, but they're not quite perfect yet.

Beep8 is the developer site, home to documentation, examples, and some tools.

Hey there, Happy Mario Day!

Today is March 10th (Mar10), and for videogame geeks like me, it’s the perfect day to celebrate everyone’s favorite plumber. Super Mario Bros. on the NES was my first-ever console game, and I've played (and loved) pretty much every Mario game since. Nintendo is a huge part of why I chose my career path, and I’m genuinely grateful for all the joy their games have brought me over the years.

I've spent the last couple of weeks deep inside my JavaScript game library - trying to create something that's both fun and intuitive for making games. Building games with it helps me find all those hidden pain points, and honestly, I’m having a great time!

If you follow me on BlueSky, you might have already spotted some sneak peeks. So far, I’ve made a Sokoban-style block-pushing puzzle game, a Tetris clone, and a small adventure game. Each explores something a bit different, and they’ll all be free to play once the site goes live.

Hey there,

I just got back from a half-term holiday with my family, feeling refreshed and full of ideas. I brought my laptop along but only used it a couple of times for Brush Ninja customer support. Otherwise, I stayed away from screens; except for playing Pokémon Go with my son and jotting down ideas for Brush Ninja and my other projects.

Luckily, I had most of this newsletter prepped before we left, so getting this issue out hasn't needed too much work.

Hope you’ve had a great couple of weeks and are feeling suitably creative!

Hey there,

I’ve been deep in the world of procedural music, experimenting with different ways to generate melodies and rhythms dynamically. Procedural music is created using code, maths, and random numbers to try to create rhythms and melodies. It’s something I’ve been working on for a while, aiming to make it easier for users of my upcoming JavaScript game library to add music with minimal effort. While it won’t replace custom compositions, my goal is to lower the barrier to entry, letting people build games faster.

PicoCAD

Welcome to the second issue of Ninja Sparks, your bi-weekly dose of creative inspiration, tools, and ideas!

After a few days of working through my taxes—never fun or inspiring—I'm thrilled to have them finished for the year. To celebrate, I treated myself to some Pokémon singles. There's something about the artwork on Pokémon cards that feels like collecting tiny art works. One day, I'd love to create my own Trading Card Game, but that's a distant dream at the moment.

For now, I'm diving back into my JavaScript game library. I started it last October and can't wait to get it online. I'm a big believer in releasing early and often, so I'm hoping to share a preview soon. That's when things get really interesting for me—collecting feedback from real people and building something even better.

Welcome to Ninja Sparks! This is the first issue of what used to be the Brush Ninja newsletter. Over the past few months, I’ve been busy exploring creative projects, experimenting with tools, and figuring out how to share them in a way that inspires and excites you.

One big update: Ninja Sparks now has its own website! It’s a dedicated space where I’ll gather all the apps, tools, and resources I feature. Think of it as a growing hub of creativity—a mix of recommendations, personal insights, and handy resources to spark your imagination.

Recently, I’ve been juggling a few projects, and one of the most exciting is a game-making library. With my background in gaming, I’ve always wanted to get back into making games, but I also wanted a faster way to bring ideas to life. This library is my solution—a tool to help create retro-styled games with a modern twist. If you’re curious, you can check out some screenshots of my progress on Bluesky.

This issue is a bit of an experiment as I settle on a format, but I hope you’ll enjoy what I’ve put together. Inside, you’ll find a fun tool for making music (even if you’re as musically challenged as I am), a video about tiny living that got me thinking about storage solutions, and a few musings on creativity. I’d love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to hit reply and let me know what you think or what you’d like to see in future issues.

Hi there, welcome to December!

With the Christmas holidays rushing toward us at full speed, this is not only the last newsletter of the year but perhaps the last Brush Ninja newsletter... at least in its current form!

Introducing Ninja Sparks

Starting in the new year, I’m rebranding the newsletter as Ninja Sparks—a fresh, bi-weekly dose of creative inspiration.

Hi there - I hope things are well for you!

I'll be honest, I've been putting off writing this newsletter. I tend to do that with things that I find hard. I've not been sure what to say, and it's been a feeling I've had for a few months now. I don't like the idea of sending newsletters that don't provide anything of interest or value but I now have a plan to address this.

New Newsletter Format

I am planning to rebrand the Brush Ninja newsletter. It will still cover Brush Ninja news, but it's also going to have a focus on creative technology.

Hello there,

Hope you're doing well! As I mentioned in last month's email, I've been thinking about what I want to do with Brush Ninja this year, and I've got some exciting plans for the next few months.

First off, I'll be taking care of the usual bug fixes and improvements—keeping things running smoothly is always a top priority.

I'm also planning to do a bit of work on my art app, Paint Ninja, adding a couple of new features. More news will come as I make some progress!

Hi - welcome back to Brush Ninja!

My son is now back at school and things are starting to settle down again, so I want to start thinking about Brush Ninja once more. I had a great summer break - travelling, seeing family, and going on lots of day trips with my son and wife.

In that time I also started thinking about another project that has been on my mind for years. A system for making simple videogames in a web browser, and I even started working on it. Brush Ninja is still the priority for me, but this will be my side project for the time being.

So back to the little ninja app.