Thomas McGee

Hey TeachKit is now available on the @kit App Store! Looking forward to seeing what creators make with it: teachkit.co

I counted 13 clicks to cancel my SproutVideo subscription, excluding the click that started the process. Making it harder to leave doesn’t make a service worth keeping.

Loot filters are a usability decision. In Arrowflame, I’m designing item-type and rarity controls into the game so players can hide unwanted drops without installing another tool.

Practicing quicker shooting by holding three arrows before returning to the quiver. This is a technique I’m working on, not a timed speed comparison.

A first-person view of traditional archery practice, with the paper-target hits included. I prefer the horse bow personally, but still enjoy shooting the longbow.

Paper-target practice from the side and rear. A few shots and the reactions between them, including one that goes a little high.

A closer look at thumb-release archery: shooting footage and stacked views of the archer and target. No tutorial in this one, just the practice.

Working on a longer draw while adjusting to three-finger shooting. I’m retraining myself to initiate the shot with the bow hand; the bad shot stays in the clip.

Seeing the release and target together makes the whole shot easier to follow. I still prefer thumb release, even though this English longbow feels easier for me to shoot.

A first-person look at English longbow practice. The shots are improving, but I’m noticing the arrow nocks seem a little big for the string.

English longbow practice, including a bad shot and a better one. Even nocking an arrow takes me longer than I’m used to.

Pixel art doesn’t have to make every shoreline square. In Arrowflame’s early port map, I’m blending angular walkways with a more organic beach while keeping the overall pixel style. There’s still plenty of work to do.

A game stash shouldn’t become a pile of disjointed tabs. In Arrowflame, items are grouped by type and automatically routed to the right tab, with quick transfers between stash and inventory. Small usability details matter.

Arrowflame’s snow map is still a work in progress: a frozen lake, shoreline, trees, a cabin, and a ruined courtyard. Moving from web UI to game environments has me thinking about what makes a place interesting to explore.

An RPG’s interface can get complicated fast. For Arrowflame, I’m grouping gear, health and stats, passive gems, and active abilities into four sections. The goal is to make a growing set of systems easier to understand and use.

Character stats should fit the game. In Arrowflame, I’m experimenting with draw strength and technique to make progression feel connected to archery, rather than simply borrowing a generic set of RPG attributes.

Two Mac screenshot shortcuts worth remembering: Command + Shift + 3: the whole screen. Command + Shift + 4: click and drag over the part you want, then release. Same task. Just depends on how much you need to capture.

Putting your logo on everything does not make the brand stronger by itself. A restaurant is remembered because the food is great, the service is great, and the experience is worth repeating. The logo becomes meaningful because of what it represents. Not the other way around.

Your homepage should not treat every piece of content equally. For my site, I’m leading with deeper articles and longform videos because they carry more thought and context. Shortform still matters, but it should support discovery and freshness without burying the deeper work.

A homepage should not just be a social feed. If you create shorts, articles, and longform videos, the newest item should not automatically be the most important item. I’d rather feature deeper work prominently, then organize the rest by topic and freshness. Fresh, but not chaotic.

I do not want every shortform video on my site to become an exit ramp to YouTube. So I built individual pages where people can watch shorts directly on the site. They can still go to YouTube if they want. But the default experience stays clean, focused, and connected to the rest of the content.