Setback

At nap-time I had an amusing dream:

I went to a cafe and Javier Cañada was sitting in a corner. It seemed he had appropriated the space, because many of his Braun classics adorned the shelves behind him. He was very focused on the computer and I didn’t want to interrupt, so I sat nearby and looked at him intently, but his attention ended at the screen. Finally I mustered the courage to break in:

—“Hola Javier!” —“Hombre! Que tal tío”

We were both delighted to see each other. After exchanging pleasantries I explained that I had been working like crazy for the past month on The Boolean Game, and I had two questions for him:

—“Is there any Braun product that can gracefully be vectorized into a single monochromatic shape?”

and…

—“Would you mind if I send you the beta for feedback when it’s ready?”,

—“Hmmmm…”, he looked towards the ceiling to collect his response, and said:

—“The answer to your first question is: no, don’t even try. And before answering your second question, I need to know if the game has sound”.

—“I’ve thought about it, there’s some dragging so it could be helpful, but it’s undecided”.

—“Well, if you do add sound, make it so that the dragging can be used as an instrument”, and he put a hand to his ear and with the other he scrubbed on an imaginary turntable, making vinyl scratching sounds.

—“With this, you can rap while you play”, and he begun beatboxing enthusiastically. I observed amused, not sure if he was being serious, but boy he was good at beatboxing.

Then Gabriela arrived and there were some urgent matters which he had to attend, so we bid farewell.

After my nap I head to the library to work, but I ended my session early because I had a horrible realization: the way I had set up the entire interaction wouldn’t work on phones. I could see a solution which would work, and vastly simplify the code, but it would mean rewriting a lot of code. I felt a cold sweat, closed my computer, and head home. It was difficult not feeling defeated, but I could not help but begin implementing it. It will work and it’s the best thing in the long run, but I wish I could have foreseen this before. A lesson well learned. In the back of my mind I know all the things that I explored will come back in a different form, but at this moment I’m fed up. I’m hoping some sleep will restore my enthusiasm.