About the workshop
I was blessed with what other people call disabilities. Some of them are exactly that. But sometimes the same brain that makes ordinary things harder can create something fun, useful, strange, or genuinely amazing.
How this usually starts
My brain latches onto an idea and refuses to let go, much like a pit bull.
Some things get built. Some collect so many features that they have to be broken apart into entirely separate projects. Some become, “Well, that’s a little embarrassing, and I still don’t know what I did.”
Other things may take years to develop.
You know. When my attention span remembers they exist.
So, why is this here?
Groundwork Labs is here for entertainment, learning, experimenting, and showing people that not knowing how to do something doesn’t mean you can’t learn how to do it, or find the right assistance to help you get there.
This is my public workbench for software, games, systems, prototypes, and the occasional “this seemed like a good idea at the time” experiment.
How AI fits
I use AI heavily. It saves me what would otherwise be hundreds of hours of research, coding, troubleshooting, and figuring out what obscure thing I broke this time.
Is that cheating? Some people might think so. Especially people who spent thousands of dollars and years of their lives learning these skills traditionally. I get it. I’m a few grand in student debt too.
AI also has real costs. Data centers, energy use, and resource consumption are valid concerns. I may only be one person, but I try to stay mindful of how much I use and whether that use is actually helping me accomplish something.
AI-assisted does not mean AI-autonomous.
I care about what I build
My goal is to create, or at least start, things that somebody might actually use, enjoy, learn from, or play.
I get tired of playing games and eventually seeing the same systems underneath them. The same mechanics. The same limitations. The same “well, apparently that’s just how these games work.”
So I want to break them. Tear the idea apart. Figure out why it works. Add something weird. Try a feature I wish existed. Build something useful that nobody seems to have made yet.
Sometimes that works. Sometimes it very much does not.
Either way, I usually learn something.
And I’d like some company
Curiosity is allowed to be enough of a reason to start.
The good kind of useful. The kind where somebody learns, solves a problem, or gets unstuck.
That question has caused me a lot of trouble. I recommend it anyway.
I’ll do the groundwork.
You can kick back and see what happens, or, if something catches your attention, maybe get involved.
Build. Break. Learn. Rebuild.What is on the shelves