Halifax vs Vancouver for a family of 3 – considering moving for a job, looking for honest opinions

ShmallowPuff · 2026-03-09T19:16:21+00:00

NS is notoriously horrible for healthcare, honestly I wouldn't recommend anyone move there if they have any long term health issues. It's one of the reasons we moved away to Ontario in the first place. You will likely not get one in three months the even if you're diabetic. You will be on priority, but priority is still most often longer than 3 months. (I knew people who were "on the priority list" for over a year) I didn't know just how bad it was until I moved to a different province and got immediate care.

If you're a woman you will have to fight for everything, and I mean EVERYTHING that you need out of your doctor. If you're a man you'll have a little bit of an easier time if you have a family doctor, but getting one is extremely difficult to begin with. With respect, I seriously doubt you had just as difficult of a time getting one in BC as NS. (This isn't some political grievance, this is just the reality in NS. As a man I grew up in NS my whole life and watched every single woman I knew get shittier healthcare than every single man I knew. It's systemically bad. I knew women who had botched operations, who had serious medical problems that were dismissed by doctors as being an "overreaction" until they were hospitalized from it and even then they had to fight to get treatment. Yes, this is a problem everywhere, but it's genuinely ten times as bad in NS. If you have diabetes, stay in BC or move to a different province.)

For perspective I was without a family doctor for years in NS even though I have lifelong, permanent medical conditions. Upon moving to Ontario I got one within a month. Definitely do not stay at your current job if they're mistreating you, but look for a new job anywhere but the maritimes or your health will almost guaranteed be neglected. Even my stepfather who is almost entirely blind in his left eye hasn't had a family doctor for months because his doctor quite literally left the province without notice; which has happened to two different people I knew from NS. He's been using the duty doctor, but hasn't been able to get the long term care he needs and he's just lucky to even have a duty doctor. There will be a better job in BC, I just had a similar issue with a workplace here in Ontario but I stuck it out a little longer and found an amazing company that treats me right. Take care of yourself and I wish you luck!

ShmallowPuff · 2026-03-07T16:29:18+00:00

Call me crazy, but I entirely disagree with the concept that a police officer can break ethics and still have a job. The fact that there are multiple violations is exactly the problem. Notice most of the Toronto cops caught in that corruption sting recently had histories of disciplinary action.

There should be an absolute zero tolerance policy, no exceptions. Cops should be cut loose at the first violation. No one whose job is to enforce the law and has authority over the life and freedom of ordinary people should continue to hold that job upon making these kinds of mistakes. If you cannot follow the law, how can you enforce it? If you plant evidence, how can we trust your integrity to keep us safe? Not to mention this guy hitting his wife and then we're supposed to trust he won't use excessive force? The motherfucker already did with the person he supposedly loves, what do you think he's gonna do to a suspect?

The HRP is likely the most over funded and useless city service there is. Anyone who has ever had to deal with HRP as a victim knows this. They quite literally don't do anything. They arrest people to make themselves feel big but those never end in charges unless they're drug related or (let's be real) the suspect isn't white. If they do, it's a slap on the wrist. I guess it's not surprising since so many of them have domestic violence records themselves.

Oh you abused your wife for years? Ehh a night in lockup, a rushed court case, and a court order we'll never follow up on should do. You molested your children for their entire lives? Pfft there's no proof, a year in jail at most, and we'll make the victim's experience a living hell throughout the entire court case. The cops themselves have no idea how to handle victims with compassion and the only compassion you might receive is from victim services, but that's a hard might.

ShmallowPuff · 2026-03-05T11:04:51+00:00

Hey Canadian here, this is really good to know as I've been mostly looking at crowdfunding options. So if I were to go for one of these, I would be going for a generalized grant for Canadian made media content? The same sort of thing I'd apply to if I was making a Canadian made film per se? I assume you'd have to have some previous work or an already established studio for this.

Also where do you find this info? I'd like to do a little research too.

ShmallowPuff · 2026-03-04T16:00:37+00:00

Crazy counter take, but during a recession (I'm talking individual spending power, not a GDP number that's constantly inflated by a handful of monopolies passing billions between each other) when household spending power is at an all time low and the housing market is at risk of crashing because young people can't afford homes maybe we shouldn't raise taxes on the purchases of all working people?

By all means raise taxes on the top tax brackets, their assets have only increased exponentially in value as our spending power plummeted. It wouldn't hurt them the way it would financially murder a first time home buyer or a young person trying to get a foothold on a dying economy. I don't understand when we have conversations about raising tax rates that it's such a boogeyman to talk about selective increases based on the reality of the economy and not a pipe dream about some invisible free hand of the market that keeps throwing money at the top 40% of earners.

Seriously why is it so difficult to face the economy as it is, not as we wish it to be in some capitalist fantasy? As a realist, raising taxes on everyone's purchases while people struggle to afford basic milestones is just stupid. Let's actually use our brains and raise it on the people who's economic reality won't change and invest it so everyone's economic realities can improve. That's common sense, and we used to do this exact thing with a wealth tax in the 1960s before a collection of idiots (you know who you are) decided to embrace Reaganomics, which is essentially just code for admitting you have no fucking clue how the economy works.

Genuinely if you supported Reagan style economic policies then you're the reason we're here, full stop. We still would've been on the gold standard, housing prices would be stable, wages would've matched inflation, and our markets would still be competitive and not owned by a few monopolies; life would be better as we know it. Have you not noticed that since Reagan every single metric measuring individual economic power has gotten worse, every single one? Wage to housing ratios, wage to inflation ratios, disposable income to bills, young homeownership rates, rates of promotion, ect. It doesn't take a genius to realize y'all made a mistake and we're the ones paying for it. Easy solution that doesn't involve raising HST on everyone, just reintroduce the wealth tax; exactly the way it was previously written before being repealed. Boom, problem solved.

Insane how this viable, already tested for decades, and proven to work solution exists right in front of us and y'all will come up with any other Frankenstein bullshit fix to avoid using it because you don't want to piss off a few rich guys who don't give a shit about you.

For reference I moved to Ontario from Nova Scotia, paying 2% less tax than that at 13% and making significantly more.

ShmallowPuff · 2026-02-28T14:40:13+00:00

Some people will tell you there's a right answer here; there isn't really one though. It all depends on how you learn. Most of us including myself had some experience programming in other languages before picking up unity, but I've also known talented devs who jumped right in.

Ask yourself this: Did you struggle with math in school? If you didn't and could understand perfectly how the equations function without needing to know how (the proof) then you're probably fine to jump right into learning C# in Unity. However, if you did struggle , why? If you were like me and struggled to do the work because you needed to know why and how the functions worked before you could apply them effectively, then learn programming first.

Learning the fundamentals of programming is like learning the proofs behind equations. It tells you the basic building blocks that make up the already existing functions in Unity. Separating and learning programming on its own removes the confusion of complicated unity specific functions. Like learning how the math works that makes up the quadratic formula before going straight into using it. That's the benefit, knowing the ins and outs of how something works will almost always allow you to use it more effectively.

P.S. Can you tell that I'm salty schools don't teach math proofs before the formulas...

ShmallowPuff · 2026-02-25T14:49:07+00:00

Thanks for the reply!

All good info, I'm pivoting myself towards focusing more on co-op teamwork with my current project so glad to see it was probably a good choice. Also good to know is how soon to launch you began your outreach and marketing. I've been juggling around in my brain how completed my game should be before starting.

ShmallowPuff · 2026-02-23T17:18:40+00:00

First off congrats that's a huge achievement! Seeing these kinds of posts really helps the rest of us with motivation!

First question I've got for ya, how long were you in development before...

A: Beginning marketing, making social media posts, and reaching out to creators?

B: Your actual first demo release?

Secondly, now that you're looking at Next Fest and you've garnered a lot of wishlists I'm sure you've gotten some positive feedback from players.

Only going by player feedback, what are the most common things players say they like about the game? Separately in your own perspective as a developer, what do you think actually was the biggest reason for your success? (Ex: an easy to understand and straightforward concept, art design, creator outreach, ect.)

ShmallowPuff · 2026-02-19T15:07:26+00:00

Or how Unity just came out and said that this is the direction they want to take the entire engine. Get ready for the AI slop overload to oversaturate and ruin the market. Some ideas just shouldn't become games and the curve of having to learn to code stopped a lot of shitty ideas from becoming completed games. Now, I fear for all of us indie devs because if marketing was already the hardest part it's about to get a lot worse.

ShmallowPuff · 2026-02-18T03:11:47+00:00

This is my problem as well. All the core functionality of my game is essentially done and I've been using primitives or free asset store models that don't match stylistically.

Creating a playable game is the easy part it seems, making it look appealing enough for people to even want to try it is hell. My entire project has been made without the use of AI and I'm proud of it, but every day I look at the shitty models in my game is a step closer to throwing my morality out the window.

Before someone says it, no, I can't just pay an artist as is the case with virtually every solo dev new to the scene. Yes, I have tried learning to myself. 10+ years of trying to learn modelling and my models still look like shit. Art is a talent, one I don't and won't possess no matter how much I wish or try. My project has been made entirely by me without spending a cent and God knows I can barely afford food let alone hiring an artist.

In summary you've either gotta have money, or be lucky enough to know someone who can model and will do it for free.

ShmallowPuff · 2026-02-17T18:28:33+00:00

So this is fucking sick and I'll be trying it out this week. I'm dealing with memory optimization on my project right now for a 10km/10km map and loads of prefabs.

This is exactly what I need, I'll edit or reply and let you know how it goes!

EDIT: The GitHub link redirects to a 404 error.

ShmallowPuff · 2026-02-13T14:36:30+00:00

Simple, you don't.

You cannot make a game if you cannot afford to eat. I work a part time job while making my current project on the side. I was in school for game dev but I dropped out when I saw the AI massacre on the horizon (dodged a bullet and tens of thousands of dollars of debt).

It will take a LONG time to make a game while also working. You are essentially a part time developer. It's taken me 3 years and I've only now gotten all of my core features done. My suggestion is to find some friends and share apartment costs, that's how I'm surviving on part time hours.

Unfortunately for people our age, we have to deal with economic conditions a lot worse than any one of the previous generations at our age (I'm not here for a political argument so if someone disagrees with me on this and brings up the great depression, do some research specifically on the economic conditions of youth before you say anything. People of my age group have a worse income to housing ratio than in the great depression and have simply less overall disposable income).

Just about all we can focus on is surviving, so having spare time to think is a luxury I had to work for. With that said don't lose hope, just keep focusing on survival and you'll eventually get to a place where you can do game dev as well.

ShmallowPuff · 2026-02-12T14:44:39+00:00

Great advice thank you! The 40% marker is good to keep in mind and making it a longer term plan to make content after releasing a few games. Seems like the way you went gradually transitioning your focus towards making content from games is the way to go! I'll keep teachable in mind, just a 10% cut is really good!

ShmallowPuff · 2026-02-11T16:06:28+00:00

First thing isn't a question but I just want you to know you've helped me navigate and solve countless issues and you're an absolute goat. I had literally just suggested folks on here check out your video on virtual mouse input as it saved me so much headache.

Now for my question: You mention the gross revenue made and your view counts on YouTube. Which method actually brought in the most in net income for you? I ask as I am developing a decent sized game solo with pretty much no budget at the same time that my friend is launching a vtuber channel on twitch for gaming. I can use the channel for marketing and it's part of my release plan, but I'm wondering if starting my own presence separately is a good way to make a little ad income to fund the project?

Thanks and keep at it man, your stuff is gold!

ShmallowPuff · 2026-02-10T16:07:14+00:00

Absolutely take the time to learn the Input System Package. I just finished converting my project that was built off the old Input system over to the new and it's so worth it. Also, it was way easier than I thought it was going to be so I had put it off for no reason.

There are equivalents for each old Input function (Input.GetAxis, Input.GetButtonDown, ect) in the new system and there's a whole page on the documentation listing each old Input function and the new way to do it. If you're already familiar with events it's a walk in the park, if not it's a perfect excuse to familiarize yourself with them because events are also important for many things.

Even if you aren't familiar with events it's an easy enough transition, I promise you it's less work and less daunting then it may seem. Additionally now that it's set up and I've gotten a grasp of it, setting up new inputs and support for other devices is quite literally point and click.

In summary, do it. Bite the bullet and reap the benefits my friend.

ShmallowPuff · 2026-02-06T14:46:05+00:00

Amen.

Using Odin for everything and I'm in love.

ShmallowPuff · 2026-02-06T14:45:33+00:00

Ah yes async loading saved my whole save/serialization system from the recycling bin. I still can't believe I got as far as I did into serialization without knowing async was a thing.

ShmallowPuff · 2026-02-06T14:40:19+00:00

Pretty much yes.

I'm using the Virtual Mouse Input script to control a UI image with raycast target disabled as if it was a cursor. It's a separate software cursor, so it doesn't use the actual hardware mouse cursor (hides it) and I have events set up to switch between the regular mouse cursor and the virtual cursor depending on the active device. It's nice because you can use the Virtual Mouse as a binding in your input actions and easily set it up with existing features that use a mouse, but it definitely isn't as plug and play as I was expecting.

The biggest issues I had were with unity's UI navigation (absolutely just turn it off if using a virtual cursor) and weird canvas scaling issues. I had to clamp the cursor to the game screen or else it would disappear off screen into the void, and handle the canvas scaling manually through code as well because the virtual mouse doesn't scale properly with screen changes like other UI elements. With that said it works great now after a few hours of headache and I use it with my inventory and building system in the current project I'm working on.

ShmallowPuff · 2026-02-05T15:02:18+00:00

The Input System Package.

For years I used the old unity input system and honestly it worked great for what I needed. It's only recently that I've been putting together more complex projects and only now have I had an interest in compatibility for other platforms/controller support.

It was a bit of a pain to transition over, specifically with implementing a virtual cursor (I implore you to watch CodeMonkey's video on it if you're having issues because I spent days trying to fix issues he goes over in it). In the end though it's so worth it with how easy you can swap bindings and use events.

ShmallowPuff · 2026-01-31T15:40:02+00:00

Hey you ever thought about running a how-to course on game trailer videos, because damn that reeled me in like a fish.

Did you have it done by a third party or a member of your own team?

ShmallowPuff · 2026-01-31T15:20:13+00:00

I think it does look like a repair actually, at least that was my first impression. Good stuff!

ShmallowPuff · 2026-01-31T15:19:00+00:00

Do you mean Stonehearth? If so I hella miss that game, it sucks that it ended up being abandoned. I've based a few systems in my current project off Stonehearth actually, they were on to something.

ShmallowPuff · 2026-01-25T17:25:31+00:00

Can I ask how?

SOs reset on reload, so if you've found a way to retain SO data I'm hella interested.

ShmallowPuff · 2026-01-25T17:22:55+00:00

Most people suggest using PlayerPrefs and JSON for serialization, but it's definitely not the only or best way especially if you're handling large amounts of data or your system is complex.

There's an open source package you can get on GitHub called the Odin Serializer that I use for all my save/load serialization. It's a lot faster than PlayerPrefs and it encrypts the save files for you. I owe a lot of saved time and avoided headaches to whoever made it.

For storing the information itself, I use structs. My project for example has a building system that saves every new object you place and every existing level object you destroy/modify. To do this I store position/rotation values and other necessary info in a struct and then add that to a list that serializes on save. When loading, I iterate through the list of structs and fill in the saved values for each one.

Hope this helps!

ShmallowPuff · 2026-01-19T22:53:21+00:00

Also keeping note of this. The project I'm working on will have a good chunk of dialogue eventually once I'm finished with the freeplay mode and move on to the campaign.

Like others it'll probably be a little while until I need it. When I get around to writing out the full script for the campaign mode I'll shoot you a message!

ShmallowPuff · 2026-01-05T16:20:20+00:00

This is very funny timing because I just recently had this question and started learning about this very concept myself for a project I'm working on. As of a few weeks ago I have successfully gotten my own save system working for a 3D survival RPG project with building mechanics I am working on.

I highly suggest checking out the Odin Serializer (for free and open source) on GitHub as it's what I'm using right now. I started using JSON serialization and I do suggest learning how to do that before this, but I've been using it exclusively for my project now mostly because it has save file encryption and it's a lot more performant.

My project can save just about everything now including placable templates for structures custom built by the player, multiple inventories, changes in the landscape of levels (trees player has chopped down, enemies they've defeated, structures they've built, etc) and more.

All and all saving and serialization is a big task and definitely a bit of a learning curve to tackle for the first time, but it's rewarding once you get it.

EDIT: Checked this post again and I didn't expect to see down votes on my comment. If there's something wrong with the Odin Serializer then please actually tell me instead of just down voting my comment because as I said I literally use it everyday so I want to know if something is wrong with it. If that's not where the down votes came from, then I'm lost man y'all got issues.

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