Hey. I'm Gret — a developer from Fredericton, NB who builds interesting games and puzzles under the name Astrognomical. I started this because I kept having ideas for things I wanted to use, so I figured I would build them myself. We aren't getting any younger, after all.
The name is a collision of two things I like: astronomy — big, vast, the latent insignificance of it all — and gnomes, which are inherently a little ridiculous. I like the tension. Big ideas, small execution, occasional chaos.
I like making quirky things because the most interesting software has a personality. Most apps are designed to disappear into utility. I'd rather make something that feels like it was made by a specific person, for a specific reason, with a specific weird obsession behind it.
I also paint tiny plastic soldiers and think about game balance more than is healthy. These facts are probably related.
Daily Wikipedia pageview ranking puzzle. Every day, five articles — you sort them by how many people read them. It sounds simple. It isn't. Built this because I wanted a daily ritual that made me feel dumb in a fun way.
Scan any barcode. Any barcode. The product, the ISBN, the soup can. It becomes firmware — cards you load into a cyber-deck and fight with. Asynchronous card battler for Android, taking inspiration from MegaMan with a Cyberpunk edge, built around the idea that the whole physical world is secretly data waiting to be read.
I have two college diplomas and a service desk job. I am extremely overqualified to reset your password. Making things is how I stay sane.
Astrognomical is the version of my career that exists in parallel — the one where I ship things I care about, figure out what works, and eventually close the gap between what I do for fun and what I do for money. That's the plan, anyway.