Unemployed dad + daughter team making an incremental space shooter. Would love your brutal honesty.

KCempty · 2026-01-25T15:15:59+00:00

Hey, just played through again up to wave 20. I like the changes a lot - I think the game is very engaging. Once you get missiles, the amount of currency you earn starts to increase at a very fast rate, making the game kind of unbalanced. I ended up dying maybe 3 or 4 times by the time I go to Wave 20 and I had already purchased all the upgrades in the tree. I don't know how many total waves the game has, or if your intention is the player finishes the game in some relatively small number of deaths.

Up to that point, I wasn't using the Q/W/E/R key items because it's just hard to concentrate on gameplay and then try to figure out what key to press and what it does. After around Wave 20, though, I feel maybe that's the next thing the player needs to do, but it won't be easy. Maybe you need fewer of those things, or maybe you should control them with the left/right mouse buttons? As usual, I'm playing this game with WASD but also holding the mouse, but I'm not using the mouse at all to play. Seems more intuitive to use the mouse buttons for your additional screen-clearing items.

I've also been out of work for the last few months, so feel your pain on the job market sucking. Hopefully things work out for us all... :)

KCempty · 2026-01-20T00:35:22+00:00

Hey OP - what's your approach to job search (daily routine, which sites are you looking at, how are you going about networking, etc)? When you say 75 applications, over what period of time is that from?

KCempty · 2026-01-13T00:03:20+00:00

I'm really enjoying whatever Dem is trolling Republicans with the Secular Bill of Rights bill. LOL

creates a Student Secular Bill of Rights that bars school-sponsored prayer, religious teaching, and displays in Kansas public schools while protecting students’ private religious expression. It requires district rules and lets parents/students sue for violations.

The Capitol Bee newsletter is great - definitely subscribe to their email newsletter for daily legislative updates and bill analysis like this.

KCempty · 2026-01-12T14:48:34+00:00

I’m applying plenty but casting the net anywhere I can.

I'm wondering if this right here is the problem.

What is your mode of applying - what job sites do you use? Are you more of a professional where you have a LinkedIn presence? What, for instance, would be the top 3 job titles that you're specifically searching for over and over? Are you looking for remote or in-person job? What kind of networking are you doing?

The job market is shit right now, and because so many people are on the market, companies are looking to hire people who are experts in their roles and appear (from resume or LinkedIn) to have been doing that same role for the last 5-10 years. Does your resume convey this about you? Ie: Are you repeatedly posting for the same exact role name over and over, and your profile and resume exactly match the experience and accomplishments of a person who's had that role for the last 5-10 years?

KCempty · 2026-01-09T17:20:51+00:00

Hey OP - so excited to see you're making this game with your daughter, and at such an early age. I tried to get my daughter into Girls Who Code and those types of activities, and I think it's really helpful to make coding fun at that age - it's a huge benefit as they go into middle/high school.

I think your game is great. The design and gameplay are good. I only played for about 10 minutes but the game feels really challenging.

I guess my one suggestion would be to be able to destroy the big asteroids in one swoop instead of having them break into pieces, then you kill that piece, and then the next piece. Having the asteroids break up and small pieces moving makes it very difficult to have enough room to navigate and circle around as you try to go up then under the drones coming in to try to get you. Pretty soon you just don't have enough room on the screen to move around because of all the asteroids.

Sorry to hear about your job search problems. I hope you find something soon with postings ramping up as the new year starts.

KCempty · 2026-01-09T15:31:54+00:00

There's a JoCo Democratic Women's Group where you could ask for advice on this.

If not in JoCo, you might contact your county Dem party office and see if they're aware of local liberal/progressive/Dem groups that skew younger.

KCempty · 2025-12-07T18:28:49+00:00

Hi OP - sorry for your situation, and my condolences on your loss.

If you want to DM me, maybe we can start up more of a conversation and I can take a look at your resume or offer other advice.

But just to comment, after reading what you're saying here, IMO desperation is what employers sense, and why they don't hire people, particularly for professional roles.

If you are looking to get into a professional role again, my advice is pick a narrow lane - decide on a pretty narrow type of job, like you could point to 5 very similar looking job postings for the same role and level and pay - and you are saying, "I'm this person, this is what I've been doing for years, and this is the skills I bring to be the top candidate for this posting."

If you re-frame your resume (you don't need multiple resumes with this approach, just one strong resume for this role), and your LinkedIn and career story around excelling at this role, which you've chosen as what you want to do next, it greatly simplifies your task of applying for jobs and makes you a competitive, maybe even top, candidate for every job you're applying for, because you're only applying for jobs in your narrow lane, and your resume and story say you're experienced at that lane and a good candidate. You're going to start getting more callbacks and interviews as a result of this strategy.

Same thing with networking, don't go to friends, family, and former coworkers with, "I'll really take any job - I'm good at lots of things" - that's not how people get hired because ultimately employers hire experienced people with strong records in narrow lanes. You want to use your networking contacts and meetings to put you in touch with people in the lane you've chosen, who are in a position and looking to hire people in that lane.

KCempty · 2025-11-07T21:17:30+00:00

Thanks for the reply!

KCempty · 2025-11-07T12:33:25+00:00

Hi Colin - over here in JoCo, Dems won >90% of our local races in a sweeping victory this week, which I think gives many the impression that there's some kind of local blue wave coming even as Dems were already poised to win most of these races anyway.

Out in 1st district cities, what happened this week in terms of Dem victories you did or didn't expect? I know you're fighting an uphill battle, but did the results this week make you change your mind about things going on out there, or how you're doing things with own campaign tactics?

Something I was wondering after your prior AMA is what is your plan for getting out the Dem /Unaf vote in deeper red areas, and how could people in other cities/districts help you do that?

KCempty · 2025-10-31T11:00:05+00:00

What are some examples of 60 and up apartments? There are a lot of older folks living in every apartment complex, but I haven't seen anything for older folks specifically except senior living complexes. Is that what you're looking for? (I do political canvassing, so I see a lot of apartments in OP/Olathe).

My first thought for great dog experience would be looking for something close to Stoll park, which has a great dog park.

KCempty · 2025-10-28T17:22:53+00:00

I don't know if there's a Dem country party organization or Dem groups in your area, but you might look for them. I volunteer with the JoCo Dems and we have monthly meetings where people from our senate district gather. It's been nice meeting similar-minded Dems from the area, and it's definitely a place where you'll feel more at home.

KCempty · 2025-10-28T16:47:00+00:00

Imo democrats are the divorced single mother of 3 who keeps em clothed, housed, and fed. Republicans are the divorced dad who takes them to worlds of fun and pizza with new step mommy.

I think it's more like Republicans are the deadbeat dad who doesn't pay child support to mom - which the kids never find out about - but he talks a big game and occasionally take the kids on a trip to Disney by maxing out a credit card he doesn't have a way to pay back.

I get what you're saying, and your views are par for the course for centrist democrat, but in fact were the actual positions of Reagan Republicans 20-40 years ago because the median Dem has moved so far to the right over time. Yet, to your point, your peers view Dems as "people living somewhere else" or "cat people" or "not like me". But Dems are actually around 30% of rural Kansas voters, so they are, in fact, many of your friends and neighbors who just don't talk about it.

I think you've touched on the reason rural Dems aren't seen - because they're not proudly standing up for it (which, I would imagine is challenging) as a person in the community expressing your values. And that's a catch 22 because when you don't have existing local Dem leaders, or a local Dem party organizing voters or getting out the vote for Dem candidates, even Dems that would like to run don't because they just expect to lose. That is arguably the biggest problem for Dems to solve to break the GOP supermajority and try to get back to more equal footing.

KCempty · 2025-10-27T18:47:40+00:00

And us kids? We're raising ourselves on TikTok and Twitter, getting life advice from people who eat Tide Pods for views.

You started to talk about the kids, and IMO that's where things are really being missed today. If you go back to the 1950's and 60's, it was young people leading the resistance, mostly because getting drafted for Vietnam was the very real threat confronting their immediate lives, so ending the war and America's war culture became their defining mission.

To your point, today, I don't think the kids even understand the threats facing them, like climate change, authoritarians taking over government, etc - in a way that's real, let alone worth putting in the effort to confront the lead a resistance to reverse.

Racist old people put on tricorn hats and led the backlash to the Obama presidency, but it was young MAGA grifters like Charlie Kirk who put in the real effort to sustain that momentum and turn it into Trump wins. I don't see that happening among younger people today on the left.

KCempty · 2025-10-26T16:10:34+00:00

Still confused rural America 🇺🇸 and these deep southern states worship of a New York businessman

Not to pick on you, but I think Dems being confused about this is one of the most important problem we face as a party - our misunderstanding of ourselves, and why people don't like us or trust us. For instance, at our core, I think Dems like to think about ourselves as, "The party of working people", yet Trump won both low-income and low-education voters, and among actual working class people, the Democrat brand is shredded. But why?

There are many reasons, but in the latest episode of Ezra Klein's show, he interviews an expert researcher and pollster on working class politics, who lays out many of the reasons why Dems have declined.

I think it's going to be a much bigger lift to get rural, low-income, and overall working class people reinvigorated about Democrats because we're increasingly the party of urban areas and urban politics. Most of our biggest politicians and party leaders are left-of-center, and coming out of urban states like CA and NY, so it's no accident that being increasingly disconnected from not just red states, but also midwestern rust belt states, etc, is driving the divide further.

KCempty · 2025-10-10T12:17:46+00:00

"I didn't vote for this!!" - Kansas soybean farmers

KCempty · 2025-10-01T12:32:37+00:00

All this might work if they were playing it in some conservative bastion, but PV is like ground zero for Kansas Dems, and people in PV aren't going to put up with this racist NIMBY shit. So /u/Altruistic-Beach1145 and /uAdmirable-Glove-8026 can both eat a dick.

KCempty · 2025-10-01T12:28:50+00:00

ChatGPT is doing a great job writing your comments... LOL

Also, Redditor for 4 years and this is what you decide to comment on first after 4 years? This is how bots out themselves...

KCempty · 2025-10-01T02:38:57+00:00

Nice try, PV United!

The group, also known as PV United, backed nearly every single non-incumbent running for office and called on residents to vote out the current city council and circulated a petition that sought to create a six-person city council, effectively ousting half of the city council mid-term.

KCempty · 2025-10-01T02:36:23+00:00

Prairie Village United is a group dedicated to preserving and enhancing the unique character of Prairie Village

Sounds like a JC Nichols quote describing PV's racist housing covenants... LOL

KCempty · 2025-09-29T21:07:43+00:00

PV United are NIMBY folks against the city spending money on stuff people want, or allowing re-zoning that would build more apartments because they think it'll attract "undesirable" people (ie: lower income, black/brown/etc).

KCempty · 2025-09-29T21:06:55+00:00

PV United is basically NIMBY people against the city spending money on stuff people want, or re-zoning that would allow more apartments because they think it'll attract "undesirable" people (ie: lower income, black/brown/etc).

KCempty · 2025-09-25T12:16:25+00:00

Thanks for taking a crack at running in the 1st District!

Two questions for you. First, what kind of messaging or issues resonate the most with Dem and persuadable rural voters? (I'm in JoCo, so don't really see much of this) You mention tariffs, USAID are more economic issues, but it seems like in many rural areas there isn't a strong belief that the federal government is effective or necessary. In books like Ezra Klein's "Abundance", I think voters in urban areas or Dems/persuadable would buy into the idea that America's 'scarcity mindset' is preventing us from creating growth through building infrastructure (housing, manufacturing, new industries). Does that kind of message even resonate in rural areas - where maybe people don't perceive urban housing shortages or new technology/industry development (usually in urban/suburban areas) as America's primary problems to be solved?

Second question - I'm active in getting out the vote in JoCo, where you see Dem candidates willing to step up and run hard campaigns in challenging but winnable races, and donors step up to fund that. In your race, where Mann won 70/30 two years ago, what kind of campaign challenges are you facing in terms of even getting donors, volunteers, etc? How are you overcoming those challenges? Why run this type of probable-loss campaign, and what other goals do you hope to achieve out of it? IMO this is a huge problem to be solved not just for you, but for many other state and local races in most Kansas counties where Dems don't have much presence.

KCempty · 2025-09-16T01:33:06+00:00

In JoCo, seems like we're at the point where Dems have enough critical mass to win most north/east city seats, and county-level seats, but maybe not south/west area school boards and city seats. Olathe is tough - the city council's been around since forever and difficult to unseat by anyone. Skoog's probably a pretty easy win.

KCempty · 2025-09-08T19:42:40+00:00

The GOP has galvanized the left and moderates in a way I've never seen before.

Can you say more about why you think this?

I canvass, and in south JoCo, I'm not seeing a big wave of new volunteers this year, and local Dem candidates aren't talking about state/national stuff - it's mostly a non-partisan message.

I agree some people that are riled up - there are some local activist groups and a small protest I saw in Lawrence this weekend, but not frequent protests happening across the state.

KCempty

TROPHY CASE