kbrecordzz company blog (formerly known as "This Is (NOT!) A Car Club - Blog")

250901: trying to find a way to "scale up" creativity. and since i can't afford to hire anyone, i end up scaling down my own process instead. so i can do what many people in a normal company would do. and it always comes down to just creating good things and making it better, and ignore all other distractions. all the side things like marketing, "scaling up", etc, also get solved if you just create better things. so, i guess i'll just continue doing that...

and the more i think about what having a company or a team means, the more i see the advantages of not having it. it would be cool to be a group of people doing something instead of just me, but it isn't better just because it's cool. while being a team would give some benefits, it would remove some benefits too.

250831: More video game hot take:
*Remade versions of games on newer consoles never look or feel better. The original game's idea was designed with the console and its hardware specifications/limitations in mind, and you can't just replace graphics and ideas here and there and think the game will keep its original feeling. All those quirks you polished away for the remake had a reason for being there, they were necessary at the time and the rest of the game was then built around those quirks. A newer remake may look "better", but not actually better. It may have more pixels, polygons and polish but it won't have the summarized feeling and immersion as the original.

working solo vs working in a team vs working in parallell without communication
vs... working in parallell without communication, on many projects simultaneously to get optimal use of the space in between working on the projects? (that's where the ideas and opinions appear)

250830: Video game "hot takes":
*The main appeal of video games specifically isn't the actual game (like rolling dice and stuff), it's the immersion.
*Realism isn't the point of any art. Animated movies understand this, so they don't try to make their characters and environments look 99% photorealistic. Games don't get this and that's why we graphically peaked in the PS2 era.
*Controller "rumble" is overrated. Bumped into something? Brrr. Brutally crashed with your car? Brrrrr. Got killed by a demon? Brrrr. It breaks immersion more than anything else.

2 biggest problems with culture/art today:
*no one dares to be original (it's too risky??), probably because of the big backlog of music, movies, games & stories we can rely on and copy and reference in eternity
*art & entertainment companies put business before art, instead of using business FOR art (this one may be eternal and not just today). and those who actually care about their art are too small too break into the mainstream.
summarized: being creative isn't mainstream (anymore?), but it really should be. what's the point of popular culture and big entertainment companies if they don't contain any creativity?

working solo vs working in a team vs working in parallell without communication

250828: integrated image editing software into my game workflow on my server. no more downloading, uploading and copying files back and forth. i climbed past the mountain of Modern Javascript and made it bow for me.

a tool should be general, if you want it to last, which you want because then all the hassle getting it to work will be worth it.
a tool should be self-dependent, so it can last long, and not just until the other tools it depends on change. having a tool that's dependent on other tools on the internet isn't acceptable.
tools should remove things and not add things. there's no need in adding a bunch of image editing programs if you get more work from handling everything in the program than the result you get out of it. the purpose with this integration wasn't to add a new program, it was to remove the step in between different programs i used to do before. or, it can be about adding things if you want to do something you weren't able to do before...

this is also why the hard threshold is worth some pain to get over. because, it was only a few days of pain, and now those days seem very insignificant when you look back on them. and, since the whole purpose was to get a new tool that's self-dependent and on my own server so it can be used for longer than the other tools i were dependent on can, and which lets me do things easier, quicker, more, with less energy, i will regain the loss from the days of pain in a matter of days. in a year the win will be ridiculously obvious.

this, all y'all, is the power of tools (or, the power of reducing them).

250827: i'm finding open source stuff and building my own stuff on top of it. integrating it into my own tools. i need other people for making more complex stuff (sometimes i need something more than simple. simple i can create by myself more easily. right now i want a really good, flexible and complete image editing software that can save directly into my game, so i don't have to download and upload files from different places all the time).

doing this is a large threshold to get over, but everything will be easier after. the road to something great is hard, it seems like... if only people could write really good, flexible and complete image editing software in C. then i wouldn't get anxiety from looking at and trying to understand and modify their code. even the best software out there is often written in 1000 layers of nothing where neither I or the author understand what _really_ goes down. people program this way because "it's easier", but i don't get it, aren't things easier when you understand them? not understanding what you do is a shortcut that never pays off in the long term.

at the start of kbrecordzz, i spent a lot of time creating my own tools to not have to compromise on anything. now after i've mastered this way of doing things, it seems like the next step is to be really really good at compromising, but only where it's really needed. then after that i'm done with improving (probably not...). maybe compromising is the only way to collaborate.

250825: published ROUGH version. have no intent of testing it or fixing any bugs, because i need time for making the actual game the right way. and that is without distractions

250824: finishing up ROUGH version

250823: making the game. trying to balance between adding stuff and making the stuff make sense together.
i accidentally created gambling. i have to restrict my own game from demoralizing society.

250822: added a Selma on the ground

250821: collecting ideas and thinking about them. not all are good. many are bad. and too many random ideas becomes too messy when connected as a whole. i have to be careful and thoughtful when choosing what to pursue further.

250820: preparing for production. will end preparation soon because it feels a bit ridiculous to just prepare all the time.

250819: preparing for doing something at some other time

250818: waiting for ideas

250817: ideas

250814: secret game project?

250813: added a stack of Island Dollars that you can pick up.

250812: created variable "pengar"

250811: not doing anything on bankrupt

250810: production. and thinking about the phase of streamlined production. the main idea is to not think about it too much, so i'll stop now.

250809: production

250808: production



250807: Hornöga haunted island



250806: Pol'and'Rock?

250805: thinking about sponsoring

250804: nothing

250803: Disappeirce's printing house




250802: started up bankrupt game production. Starting up feels incredibly hard, but it's the easiest part. Now I'm done with that. Next comes the hard part, which is creating something actually good, but that part feels easy so I'll just do it.

Focus on the fun. Not on the gameplay or the technology

Take breaks for inspiration, etc

Get back and add more

Don't think too much about things

Then... done (except for everything else that needs to be done that I ignore in this optimistic "plan")



250801: tested second episode in BooN. didn't get past level 2 here either.

250731: put together Manago's website. trying to do one minimal thing related to bankrupt game per day. just to get into the habit. then it'll have to flow naturally and not forced.
tested first episode in BooN. didn't get past level 2

250730: watched a music video by Suicideboys (here) and found inspiration.

250730: I will in a month start putting together all ideas, thoughts and material into the notacarclub spiritual sequel. I don't want to plan too much, but I want to be prepared. Notes are scattered all over the place(s) and I want to use them all and not waste anything. Making this game is complex, there's a threshold to get back into the work every time, so I want to be in it for 3 months and have the project top of mind. But i also don't want to overwork because it won't help the result. I'll use the Nordic darkness to motivate me to stay inside, and focus on getting much done every second weekend or something. Every such weekend will be for some specific thing or have a specific theme, so I don't end up doing the same chore all the time. It must be fun and varied and not feel like work. Then I'll make small changes on the evening after my job, to just keep the habit. Maybe I'll just write something here every day and nothing else.

Or maybe I'll start slowly in August. Here are some ideas for a couple of weekend tasks:

1. Finish Manago HQ inside (rooms, objects, NPCs?)
2. Finish island's nature, from my ideas in photos and notes
3. Implement random ideas I've written down, those that aren't very connected to the story
4.

Preferably I'll do one of these or come up with something else, and then scrap the rest. I'll probably come up with something better at the right time. I don't want rigid plans, but I want suggestions for getting started. Then everything else will follow.

(Now for the hard part: Stop talking and start doing)

250729: Went out in Sweden to get inspired by Sweden, but realized I don't need to see anything new to get inspired. Even more local and personal are the places I already know and see all the time, where I've experienced things, those places I never think about because they're the default. Those can create the best art because I know exactly what it means to experience those places.
Also studying MrBeast's production manual from 2021. A clear focus, learning from mistakes to develop, remove unnecessary obstacles and bottlenecks for efficiency, take personal responsibility and keep the control in your hands to leave nothing to chance, be pragmatic and expect and prepare for problems, focus on results over prestige.
SM Entertainment: charm, (visual) perfection, technically skilled execution or performance. All this meticulously practiced by the k-pop stars, so much that they lose some of their personal quirkiness because they all strive for the ideal. And a love for unique art, setting trends and shiny & bright elegance. It's the training, the ideals and the creativity that do it.

250728: thought about the source of SM Entertainment's elegance and quality

250727: getting inspired by Sweden for game locations and vibe. It feels like people don't know games can be about other places than LA (and some other famous cities and areas) and imagined places in the common fantasy and sci-fi way. Why not make it about where you live? That local "boring" place no one has ever shown? Show it for just that reason?

250726: didn't think of anything interesting. But found some nature that inspired me for game locations. You never know what will work as it transfers from a real-life experience to a game world, though.

250725: working on the kbrecordzz "manual". or at least thinking about working on it. maybe thinking about things is the work, in some cases.
when writing on a book-like product, i'm constantly being dragged back and forth between trying not to be too humble (if you've never written anything book-like before, you see yourself as a person lower than those writing books, and don't believe your views and opinions are worthy for a printed book. that's dumb, because everyone writing books were in that perspective first and then just started writing) and being too confident in my opinions. i don't wanna try to convince everyone reading that i have the one and only truth. but i want some of my propaganda to be seen and spread. i try to keep only what i'm 100% sure of (what i've been sure of for a long time) and what i believe in 100% in the manual.

250724: UPDATE - Adele's Legendary Snowboarding Camp v0.9 is out on kbz.se.
Now you can play local multiplayer, and there is one new level. And a cool menu at the beginning.

250724: UPDATE - BooN v0.8 is out on kbz.se.
Now the levels are in the right order, and I've tried to clarify some things, mostly around controls. And there are (a few) sound effects and music!

250723: i'm thinking of eventually starting to write here every day again. it would be the least effort possible to get some regular schedule on the kbrecordzz/kbz.se operations. and it wouldn't add anything to my day (which planning and structuring usually does, and adding a thing to my day when i'm just one person who also has a day-job means nothing left to actually do things), because these are the things i think about anyway.

just do something every day. and that thing could be to just write this. to prevent procrastination, and create habit. not to create productivity. by creating a sustainable habit, and not an intense habit that i grow tired of eventually, productivity will emerge over the long term.

i usually do something every day, and in the end all the random things i do turn into something cool, even if i didn't plan for that to happen. so i don't need much more habit for my own sake, if i'm completely honest. but i also want this structure and regularity for people following kbrecordzz/kbz.se as well. there should be a place where you get an update every day (or something like that). the updates shouldn't die for a week just because i don't feel like posting anything, because i don't want people to wonder where kbrecordzz/kbz.se went, i want it to be proffessional. maybe this page isn't the perfect place for this, partly because no one (?) knows it exists... but it's the only place i can sustainably update regularly without growing tired of it. and that's the main prerequisite for doing this thing at all.

March - July 2025