Hello, and welcome to 5–9.dev. I am Alex Rowan, a fictional independent developer created for this starter template. This little site is an example of the home I would want for my projects: a workbench, a notebook, and a door that is easy to open.
Why another little website?#
Some projects benefit from having a place of their own. A browser game is especially well suited to a simple address: visit, understand the idea, and eventually press play.
I also want somewhere to write about how the work happens. Finished screenshots leave out the experiments, the discarded ideas, and the small decisions that make a project manageable.
Those notes can be useful even when a game is unfinished. A bug explained clearly is a contribution. A tiny prototype is something another person can learn from.
What you will find here#
There are two shelves in this small studio.
The games shelf collects projects and sketches, with a clear status for each. A concept is a concept, an unfinished build is unfinished, and a released game should be ready to try.
The writing shelf holds technical articles, development notes, and occasional thoughts about making things for the web. The posts live in plain files so they are easy to revise, share, and keep.
A slower kind of publishing#
I am interested in a rhythm that leaves room for actually making things. That means writing when there is something to say, keeping projects small, and letting a useful note be shorter than a grand announcement.
RSS is a good fit for that approach. You can follow the site in a feed reader and come back when a new post catches your attention. There is no account to create and no inbox to hand over.
The first few experiments#
Orbit Courier starts with a one-button timing mechanic. Mosslight starts with a quiet forest and a pattern to notice. Both are fictional concepts in this template, and both represent the kind of small, browser-friendly project I want the structure to support.
For now, the website is the first finished piece. The next milestone adds a playable game and the basic infrastructure around it.
Thanks for stopping by. Take a look around the games shelf or read the note about starting small.
