I have a ok laptop but its not the greatest, i want to have something such as a creative outlet that i can do in a simple manner? Ive thought about many of things but im unsure if i should try them? Im stuck inside alot and im bored alot aswell. I just want something to do other than light gaming and watching youtube.
What would you advise and why so?
Factorio
So other than light gaming and YouTube, op can be sucked into a rabbit hole of deep gaming, spreadsheets and YouTube to figure out what the hell is happening?
I like writing stories.
With a little help of AI you can also try indie game dev. My advice - use it as an interactive tutorial and better search engine. You can learn a lot when AI gives you examples and then do your own thing.
If you like being broke, Warhammer 40000
I just got into tying knots! It’s a useful skill. You can pick it up in a couple of minutes and then improve continuously. There are a lot of books on the subject. It’s cheap. You can use cord you might already have lying around the house, or you can get paracord at the hardware store, or you can go somewhere fancy like Paracord Galaxy if you want some extra special colors or patterns. It’s soothing and leaves you with something tangible at the end.
Here’s a monkey’s fist knot I just finished! I’ve been giving them to friends to use as keychains.
Flying Dutchman is proud
Indie game development. Tons of great, free (even foss), frameworks out there these days. Try ebitengine for an awesome 2d framework.
Blender. Free and incredibly versatile 3D modelling software. Learning curve is a bit steep but YT has tons of tutorials to help you stumble along.
Ive thought about many of things but im unsure if i should try them?
You should definitely try them. What have you got to lose?
Since you’re a creative sort, why not make zines? Scribus is a free layout tool you could use to build them and there are plenty of free templates available.
I used to co-edit an indie magazine in the 00s using Scribus.
whenever we accidentally misclicked and it showed the error message “the program GIMP is missing!” the rule was you had to stand up and read the error message out loud
“The gimp’s asleep.”
“Well wake him up!”
I second 3D modeling, it’s super fun and entertaining. Blender is the software.
Thirded. If you eventually get a 3D printer, too, that can be a good time sink - as long as you are happy to spend time tweaking and fiddling with things to keep it working.
That way, your 3D blender designs can come to the real world.
I write fanfiction and make YouTube videos using a program called imovie
Learn Rust or another programming language. Useful to know something to expand your ability.
Learning rust as your first programming language sounds like a great way to learn to hate computers haha.
Yeah, that’s a good way to quit right away. Honestly, learning something which they can use to quickly build something tangible is the best way to get bitten by the programming bug. Making a web page or something like that.
Haha, tbh it’s just fresh in my head. Currently teaching myself it. My first language was qbasic.
Make music
3D modeling.
Check out Ryan King Art on youtube. Follow along with his guides.
Needs pricey software. the Freeware is shit.
Not really.
Blender?
Writing is cheap and easy to start, but with so much skill to build
Assuming you want to use the laptop for this hobby, I would suggest getting a cheap, secondhand camera, old DSLRs are like £50 with a lens and perfectly fine starting point, but you can spend as much as you want on a setup. Only recommendation I would make, is get something thats still supported today for the lens mount type, that way you know you have a constant upgrade path.
Get the camera with the right lens included for what you want to start taking, additional lenses will increase the budget significantly even at the bottom end as they can often work well with better (and more expensive) camera bodies if you decide to upgrade later on.
Then you can use Darktable & GIMP to play with the photos to your hearts content or “spend” on Light Table & Photoshop. You can do anything from basic image correction up to full blown re-imaginings of your photos. Plenty of online tutorials to walk you through the processes.
That doesn’t really work if they’re stuck inside a lot.
Macro photography is always an option for indoor
That’s an extremely open ended question with countless answers…
- speedrun your favorite game
- become a youtuber and play games while streaming
- play a game with just your feet
- play a game blindfolded
- play a game randomizer
- learn to program
- program shit
- learn an instrument
- play music and post it online
- make shitposts
- learn to draw
- draw porn
- draw not porn
- write poems
- film solo comedy skits
- do multiple of these things at once
…do anything because you want to do it.
That’s all I could think of while on the toilet.
