Live with Extra Life this Week

Preparations for Extra Life are in full swing here at the Technodabbler office, and I’d love to have you join me this Friday. Since 2016, friends, family, and readers from this community have helped me raise $3,694 USD for children’s healthcare. As I return for my eleventh year, thank you to everyone who has donated, shared the fundraiser, or spent part of an afternoon keeping me company.

This year’s stream takes place on November 6, from 1 PM to 3 PM EST, with a goal of raising $1,500 USD for Opération Enfant Soleil. I have five games lined up: Clustertruck, Suika Game, WHAT THE GOLF?, Mini Motorways, and Vampire Survivors: Ode to Castlevania. Each comes with a challenge, and every failed challenge means another $50 from my own pocket toward the fundraiser.

Donations are already open, and there are a few ways to influence the afternoon:

• $25, Second Chance: Give me another attempt at a failed challenge.
• $50, Double the Stakes: Choose a game, and a failed challenge increases my personal donation to $100.
• $200, Change the Lineup: Replace one of the scheduled games with your choice, subject to my approval.

All amounts are in USD.

If you’d like a preview, I’ve put together a short Extra Life trailer. You can donate or follow the campaign now, or join me on Twitch on Friday. Whether you’re cheering me on, hoping to see a few expensive mistakes, or simply dropping by to say hello, I’d be glad to spend some of the afternoon with you.

Building the RPG I’ve Always Wanted to Play

Between preparations for Extra Life, I’ve also been working on something a little more personal: an RPG inspired by the games I grew up with, from Final Fantasy and Diablo to the shared adventures of the BBS era. I’ve wanted to build my own RPG for years, both to make something I would enjoy playing and, hopefully, to share it with my daughter. I’m keeping the full reveal for another day, but an upcoming article will explore where that ambition began, which ideas from those older games have stayed with me, and how AI is helping me turn them into something playable. There’s still work ahead, and I’m looking forward to sharing what I’ve learned along the way.

I Discovered a Community with MeshCore

My earlier experiments with Meshtastic hadn’t been especially useful in my area, but trying MeshCore led me to an active community of people building and using a radio network together. With a handheld device, I was able to connect and communicate, and I eventually set up a repeater of my own to help pass traffic along. In an upcoming article, I’ll share how I got connected, a few setup surprises along the way, and why finding other people on the network made such a difference to the experience.

Starting the Second Year of Hack Pack

I’m also getting started on my second year of CrunchLabs Hack Pack, after a first year spent building everything from a foam-dart turret to a self-balancing robot. Those projects gave me plenty to explore, especially where the mechanics and code came together, and I’m curious to see how the next round builds on those lessons. The next article might arrive a little later than planned, though, as I may need to get a motor replaced before I can finish exploring the kit.

I'm Building a Skylander

There’s one more project on my workbench: I’m building a Skylander. I’m not sharing details yet, but if you enjoyed my earlier look at the hardware behind Skylanders, this is one to watch. You’ll have to wait a little longer to see what I’m putting together.