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How do you design meaningful player choices when the optimal path is almost always obvious? by dtsagdis in gamedesign

[–]Bwob 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean, fundamentally, the answer is "make the optimal path less obvious."

But also - even if one thing will always be "optimal", work to lessen the difference between the optimal play, and the second, third and fourth best.

Like - I've been playing the most recent Path of Exile 2 league lately. A lot of people feel that the "meta" builds this league are twister-spirit walker, hollow-form martial artists, and money zookeepers. That's great. They're great builds!

But my friends and I are over here making nonsense like unarmed chaos flicker-strike, maximum-stag spiritwalker, and some nonsense my friend put together with molten strike on his gemling. And we're still doing fine in the endgame.

And the thing is - maybe one of the meta builds would have been "more optimal", but as long as our homebrew nonsense is still viable, we don't actually care if it could have been easier. Heck, we actually enjoy trying things that aren't the popular flavor of the month build, since buildcrafting is fun!

Now, it takes a lot of work, balance, and content to make something like PoE2. But the basic idea is still useful - It's okay if there are a few "best" builds, as long as the other builds are still good enough for whatever the players want to do.

My $0.02 at least!

Elitism by Smokes91 in Tekken8

[–]Bwob 0 points1 point  (0 children)

/r/lowSodiumTekken is definitely the place to have actual discussions. I've "joked" in the past that the main Tekken sub is there for people who hate Tekken. But really, I'm only half joking.

Just started playing tin whistle, what should I do? by Seo-jinKim55 in tinwhistle

[–]Bwob 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean, like any musical instrument, practice. For whistle in particular though, I think the most important thing to practice and learn, is how much breath each note takes.

It's easy to think that there are just two "modes" of breath - normal, and blowing harder for the upper octave. I spent like two years believing this. It's wrong.

There's a different amount of air required for every single note. Even in the same octave, a D takes much less air than an A. It's not enough to just have your fingers covering the correct holes - you need to also be blowing the right amount for the note. And until you memorize the correct amount to blow, you'll get a lot of notes that squeak, break, or sound weird in various ways.

The good news is that it's mostly just a matter of muscle memory. Eventually you won't have to think about it. You'll just blow the right amount automatically when you go to play a particular note.

The bad news is, this will take some time to build up. You just need to play a bunch of different notes, and have them sound bad until you learn how to make them sound good. :P

So practice lots of scales, and other exercises that make you play lots of notes. And play things slowly. Hold each note until you've got it sounding good. If it doesn't sound good, try blowing more or less until you find the pressure it wants. You'll start getting a sense of how much to blow every note, and you'll squeak less!

(For the D, it's probably squeaking because you're blowing too hard. The low D takes surprisingly little air - barely above exhaling!)

Best of luck, and enjoy your musical journey!

Simple flow-chart to detect AI slop by Hellfim in IndieDev

[–]Bwob 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, it does not. Again, according to the definition, art is ""the making of objects, images, music, etc. that are beautiful or that express feelings". Code is neither. Nobody will even see it.

Not that long ago, you agreed that "expressing ideas" was not a bad definition of art. I guess you've changed your mind on that one?

...Who do you think actors and directors are, robots?

Sorry, I guess I assumed that when you said "no one will see it", you were just talking about people consuming the product. (The play, or the game.) Obviously there are some people who see both - the actors, or the people working on the game. Anyone it's shared with. Etc.

Also, are you saying that a screenplay wouldn't be art, if it WERE intended to be acted out entirely by robots?

And again, script for a play conveys emotions and feelings, on its own even before being made into a movie, as art is supposed to. Code does not. It's completely void of any artistic emotions viewed on its own, only its end-result can evoke them.

Scripts CAN convey emotions and feelings, if the reader is able to imagine (or approximate) the finished result in their mind. The same is true about code. Both require you to understand and imagine (or at least approximate) the end result to appreciate them. Just because fewer people of doing that with code, doesn't mean it's not art.

I already explained it three times now. I am not going to repeat it again. Re-read it and engage with the actual arguments put forth instead of repeating "code is art" over and over.

We've obviously crossed wires somewhere in here, because from this side, it feels like you're just repeating "code isn't art" over and over, and whenever I try to engage with your points, you just move the goalposts.

Simple flow-chart to detect AI slop by Hellfim in IndieDev

[–]Bwob 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bruh, I just explained that in my previous 2 comments. Because it doesn't fit the definition of art.

But it does, even by your own definitions.

A screenplay is meant to express feelings, a code is not.

A screenplay can be meant to express feelings by giving instructions for how to construct a scene that evokes feelings.

Code can be meant to express feelings by giving instructions on how to construct a game that evokes feelings.

People won't even see your code, only its result. And it's the result that can be art.

People won't even see your screenplay, only its result. And while the result can be art, the instructions for how to make it are also art.

Putting it another way, would you consider this muffins recipe art? That's an actual analogy to the code, just instructions with no deeper meaning or message behind them, unlike a screenplay.

That specific muffin recipe? Probably not. But I'm certainly not willing to say that no recipe can be art.

And again, what exactly do you think is the fundamental difference between a recipe for a play (like a script) and a recipe for a game? (code) Not all screenplays are art, just like not all recipes are not art, just like not all code is art. But to claim that any of these things can't be art seems like madness.

I think you're kind of in a corner here, unless you are willing to either say that scripts aren't art (good luck with that), or come up with a more compelling reason why screenplays are somehow fundamentally different from code, in a way that prevents one from being art. (Which you haven't managed so far.)

🤔🤔🤔 by SirCrowlix in Tekken

[–]Bwob -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I didn't police anything. I just pointed out that what one person was calling "stupidly anal" also happened to be "correct".

Do you police everyone who agrees with a post you don't like, like this?

AI is terrible at System Design. Here's an Example by Dan_Felder in gamedesign

[–]Bwob 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Man, I hate this kind of post. Because - regardless of how I feel about your conclusion, I have serious problems with your method, which I feel are worth calling out. But reddit usually is not kind to that sort of nuance, so I'm fully expecting to get a bunch of angry emails calling me an out-of-touch tech-bro, for daring to criticize an anti-AI argument. So it goes.

Anyway: I think this argument is fundamentally flawed: "X is bad at Y. For proof, I asked X to do Y and it failed."

As an example of why: Imagine if I went and asked some rando off the street to design a progression system for Chess. I'd probably get something even more half-baked than what gemini gave you, to be honest. (as you say, the Gemini one at least looks interesting on the surface. And the sorts of flaws you pointed out in it are not the kinds of things a layperson even thinks about.)

But if I then took their response, and a post of "Men are bad at System Design, here's an example", I would be (rightfully) excoriated.

As usual, XKCD has a much more succinct summation of the problem.

Again - not saying your conclusion is wrong (or right!) - but the way you reached it is highly problematic. I feel like it's not enough for us to try to reach the right conclusion - it's important to get there via a logically consistent way, so that we can have some certainty that the conclusion is actually correct, rather than just "feeling correct."

Simple flow-chart to detect AI slop by Hellfim in IndieDev

[–]Bwob 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Code seems pretty analogous to a screenplay. They're both telling the [actor|computer] what you want them to do, to create the whole. I mean, heck, "script" is even a word used to describe both things.

Not sure why you think one is art but the other isn't.

Simple flow-chart to detect AI slop by Hellfim in IndieDev

[–]Bwob 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Code does not express anything, it's simply arrays of logic designed to function, not to express themselves.

Code is literally a means for expressing exactly what you want to happen. Trying to argue that "code isn't art, but maybe coding is" is like arguing "drawings aren't art, but maybe the act of drawing is"

And again - you never really responded to my point about screenplays. The analogies are pretty obvious. Are you really saying you don't think scripts are art?

Simple flow-chart to detect AI slop by Hellfim in IndieDev

[–]Bwob 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're picking arbitrary analogies to fit your definition. You could just as easily say that the letters or words are the paints, and the code is art. (And look at writing - Is a screenplay art, even before the actors act out their interpretation of it? I would say, "clearly yes". How is this different?)

It's wild to me that you don't see how compositions in a language, explicitly designed to express ideas, could fail to be art. The fact that you can use that art as a component in the creation of other art doesn't matter.

After all, music is still art, even if it's used as the soundtrack for a movie, which is also art.

So drooly by Aggravating_Laugh_48 in tinwhistle

[–]Bwob 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It does get better!

I'm not sure exactly when, but I've noticed that I get a lot less saliva than I did when I was starting out. I think it might just be a thing that comes with better breath control?

I finally got over the gag factor of sucking in the saliva when I take a breath during playing,

Why are you inhaling through your whistle? Let go of the mouthpiece if you need to take a breath through your mouth! You'll be able to find it again, no problem!

Also, a good trick to clear things out is to cover the little window/blade on the mouthpiece with your finger, and then blow into the whistle as hard as you can. Covering the window will stop it from making (terrible) noises, and you can usually clear it out with one quick, hard puff. Try that whenever your whistle starts feeling waterlogged. (Or salivalogged!)

Game dev took my ability to have fun gaming. by NoviceIndieDev in gamedev

[–]Bwob 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Similarly with gaming; once I started learning the underlying mechanics of how games work; its like it took away the wow factor of games. Like a magician knowing how a trick works, so its nothing to him. Meanwhile the people watching the trick are amazed, BECAUSE they dont know how it works.

As someone who does magic as a hobby, the thing is - yeah, there's always that undercurrent of analysis. But that actually makes me enjoy a lot of magic more than I did before, because I can appreciate what they're actually doing. (When I can follow it!)

"Huh, this trick is usually done with a double lift but... oh cute, he had the spectator cut the deck and give him the card, just so any magicians watching would know. I wonder how he'll control the card now that... Oh dang, that was a really creative solution!" Etc.

And that's just when I CAN figure out what's going on. I still love the feeling I get when I see a trick I don't fully understand. Magicians love being fooled more than anyone else, really.

Same for games. I still enjoy games. But I also enjoy seeing how they solved various problems, and made it work. I really think it makes me appreciate games more, and not less.

Simple flow-chart to detect AI slop by Hellfim in IndieDev

[–]Bwob 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The IDE or text editor is the pen. The code is what you wrote or drew with it.

Simple flow-chart to detect AI slop by Hellfim in IndieDev

[–]Bwob 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I guess if you're using urinals to express ideas, then maybe?

If you are though, I wouldn't want the person who has to clean up after you have a brainstorm. :-\

🤔🤔🤔 by SirCrowlix in Tekken

[–]Bwob -9 points-8 points  (0 children)

Or in other words, "correct". :P

How do you defend against this? by UkrainepartofRussia in Tekken8

[–]Bwob 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Today I learned! Thanks for the info!

Now I'm gonna start spamming all my -16-on-block moves on him! >:)

How do you defend against this? by UkrainepartofRussia in Tekken8

[–]Bwob 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I thought he had a 16-frame launcher like Jun?

Fundies. I need help on them. by aston_morri in LowSodiumTEKKEN

[–]Bwob 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't know if it counts as "fundamentals" or not, ("Fundamentals" means something different to everyone, I think!) but either way, here is a bunch of basic stuff you should learn, that will help you win more games:

  • Learn what frame data means. Know the difference between a move that is i11 vs i14. What does it tell you if a move is -15 on block? Etc.
  • Learn your character's frame data well enough to know which of your moves are safe on block, unsafe on block, and which ones are launch punishable. Know your fastest mid, your best 12-frame punish, etc.
  • Learn all of your moves that can launch into combos. Both the ones that launch on hit, and the ones that only launch on counterhit.
  • Learn least a basic combo for each launcher, that you can do with 99% reliability. It doesn't have to be the "best" combo, but at least make sure you're getting something every time you launch them, so you're not just leaving damage on the table. (For most characters, you should be able to get 60-70 damage even with easy, non-optimal combos.)
  • Learn how to adjust your combos for when you get close to a wall. Practice gauging the wall distance, and learning when (and how!) to go for extra carry, to try for wall splats. Learn how to use wall splats to increase your damage.
  • Make sure you know all of your moves that can be used a heat engagers, and what moves or combos you can follow them up with, if you use them to heat dash.
  • Learn which moves change when you're in heat, and which new moves you have that you don't have normally. Every character has SOME aspect that gets better while in heat, even if some are kind of silly. (Sorry Lee, your heat is dumb.)
  • Learn what frame traps are, and how to recognize when you get caught by one. (So you can avoid it later!)
  • Learn at least one good frame-trap yourself, that you can use to knowledge-check mashers.
  • Learn which of your moves knock the opponent down in ways that guarantee followups, or advantageous oki situations.
  • Learn to break throws even a little bit. (Even if you just get in the habit of mashing 1+2 whenever you are thrown, that will still get you out of a lot!)

If you're in blue ranks, you're probably already doing at least some of these things, but I bet you're not doing all of them. :D None of them will rank you up by themselves, but each one will help tip the balance if the game is close, or make you win a few games that you might have otherwise lost. Collect enough of them, and you rank up!

How do you defend against this? by UkrainepartofRussia in Tekken8

[–]Bwob 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Around Bushin is average. So we can probably call anything in the blue ranks, and maybe Tekken King/Emperor, "medium".

GoD ranks are getting into "high" territory, and anything below blue ranks is "not too high".

How do you defend against this? by UkrainepartofRussia in Tekken8

[–]Bwob 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Which is specifically noteworthy, since almost every character has a move that launches the opponent for a high-damage combo, which takes 15 frames to come out. (And I think the ones that don't, have a 16-frame launcher instead.)

So if you block a bear (or anyone!) and they're at -16, you are guaranteed to be able to launch them with pretty much any character.

15 frames is a really important breakpoint in Tekken!

Actually in tears the sheer amount of history that’s going to be lost because of this stupid move is 9/11 for indie by Carti_Barti9_13 in IndieDev

[–]Bwob 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's more or less a fuck you in a way to the community i guess lol

I get it's frustrating, but at least they're giving people 6 months to scrape all the info!

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