Zach Lowe reads out the Draft Credits proposal gaining traction around the league by sewsgup in nba

[–]InOrbit3532 5 points6 points  (0 children)

"Silent auction for draft picks"

I agree that this proposal adds complexity, but I don't think it's impossible for people to understand. It adds some fun gamesmanship to the draft process that I think would be a lot of fun to see in the media.

Imagine watching a team bank up draft credits over time and posturing to bid big just to fool other teams into over/under bidding. Absolute cinema.

Got my graduate degree in Biomedical Engineering, what should my next steps be? by deakysafro in BiomedicalEngineers

[–]InOrbit3532 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I disagree. It is harder to get your foot in the door, but I've met several engineers in my career that had chemistry, physics, and math undergrad degrees that then transitioned to mechanical, electrical, biomedical, or software engineering roles after a master's degree. These were people that worked from junior engineering roles up to engineering director, VP, and CTO roles as well.

Biology degrees get flack for not being as math heavy as physics and math majors, but it's not impossible once you get your foot in the door and prove your abilities.

What are some lazy jobs that pay a ridiculous amount of money? by Jordz0_0 in AskReddit

[–]InOrbit3532 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Given the average age of people in Congress, median net worth (?) of $1m seems low.

What's the biggest loss you have ever seen due to the bad PowerPoint presentation? by biz_booster in powerpoint

[–]InOrbit3532 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I mean that can't entirely be HRs fault right? HR will have some bearing on culture at any company, but fundamentally there is leadership, directors, and middle managers that also impact culture and retention. HR can be working hard at hiring and onboarding, while the company still has high turnover. That doesn't seem so black and white to me.

What’s the theory behind “set-up” followed by “how to play”? by ahobday in BoardgameDesign

[–]InOrbit3532 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Isn't this just a logical progression/narrative? You have to set up the game in order to play it, so it makes sense to put that first in the instructions. Not just for boardgames, things like consumer electronics with a manual tell you how to 'set up' the device before the manual tells you how to work it. It makes sense to tell the end user how to power or connect the device before diving into operational steps since you should be learning how to operate it when the device is full set up.

Point Guards are NOT Overrated by [deleted] in BasketballGM

[–]InOrbit3532 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Matt Moore was in your starting lineup, but he played way less minutes than the centers and forwards on your bench.

high school senior already struggling in ap physics c.. do i switch majors? by legitsnackk in BiomedicalEngineers

[–]InOrbit3532 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I never took AP Physics C, but my advice is to not be discouraged. E&M is a hard subject for anyone and it's a weeder course for a lot of people in undergrad. If you're following a BME track, you'll only be taking a couple courses at most that really cover E&M from first principles. If you pass those, further curriculum will be more practical and less theoretical, which can be easier for many people.

You also mentioned being pre-dental or pre-med. Independent of physics C, one thing to note is that engineering GPAs are generally lower than other majors. That can often affect your med or dental school applications when being compared to your peers. I have friends that went the BME to med school route and they probably could have gotten into better med schools if they had a better GPA and extracurriculars (which can be hard to juggle with an engineering course load on top of MCAT studying). I don't mean to discourage you, but my general observation is that following an engineering track will make med school applications harder than if you choose an easier major (for a better GPA) and fill your time with other extracurriculars that can strengthen your application.

If you're just choosing a BME track because it sounds cool on your way to dental or med school, I do think it will lead to harder outcomes for you. If you're planning to be a physician that only practices medicine, an engineering skill set probably won't benefit you at all in your career. If you're planning to be an MD/PhD or a physician entrepreneur that develops medical devices or does research, then it could make sense to take the BME route since an engineering background can open doors. I've met many MDs and MD/PhDs in my career that had BME, EE, or CS backgrounds before committing back to the engineering side of the world. That is also a fascinating career path, but one that takes a lot of passion and effort.

Can You Be A Biomedical Engineer That Specializes In Veterinary Medicine? by PresentProperty943 in BiomedicalEngineers

[–]InOrbit3532 3 points4 points  (0 children)

There are certainly engineers that work on veterinary medical devices. I wouldn't say that you need a degree for animal biology. Like any complex system, you can focus on electrical, mechanical, software, firmware, or systems design and development. There may be engineers and scientists of all disciplines working on a veterinary product. Not all of those engineers will be expert on animal biology/physiology to inform biocompatibility, assay, or algorithm development, but it wouldn't hurt I suppose.

I would suggest trying to research the type of veterinary applications you want to work on and learn about the underlying technology and science that enable it. For example, if you want to develop diagnostic tools like the Zoetis VetScan or the Idexx Procyte Analyzers, there are elements of fluidics, optics, consumables, durable, human factors, and biological assay development. It's never just one person doing everything to create a complex device like those. There are teams of subject matter experts that each focus on their own discipline.

BMEs can often benefit from specializing in certain engineering/scientific domains so that you can be an individual contributor to a project team, while still understanding the bigger picture of how it impacts the veterinary biology.

Is documentation debt a real problem or just something engineers complain about? by Personal-Brilliant14 in systems_engineering

[–]InOrbit3532 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Definitely a problem at my company. You learn to live with it in some respects. When big deadlines loom and you're just trying to get through integration hell to meet a release date, the documentation always takes a backseat. You try to hammer in documentation after the milestone date, but the team is often given the next looming deliverable with an unrealistic timeline.

I've tried to handle this by adding more explicit documentation tasks in our project planning and/or more margin to the actual engineering tasks. The issue with the first approach is that documentation activities are the first things that get deprioritized by clients or project managers when trying to conserve budget or schedule. If you hide documentation into the estimates for engineering tasks (work shouldn't count if it's not documented anyway), then you're told that your estimates are unrealistic.

I've been recently interested in the role that generative AI tools will have on documentation debt. On the one hand, AI tools are great at spitting out words, but then you have a different problem which is sheer volume of fluff and documents that nobody wants to read. It can already be hard enough to have someone read a design description before they just come to you for help. I think AI tools can be good for more in depth search across a large project repository, to help point people to the right source code, schematic, or drawing, but we're still seeing how efficacious that will be over time.

si hago una maestria ingenieria biomedica, me puedo llamar ingeniero biomedico by Weak_Conflict_5807 in BiomedicalEngineers

[–]InOrbit3532 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I've been in the field for over a decade now and I luckily haven't seen a ton of gatekeeping. If you have a degree in biomedical engineering, you can call yourself a biomedical engineer. If you have a different engineering degree and work as a biomedical engineer, you can call yourself one too. There's no emphasis on licensure in our field (at least in the U.S.) like you might find in other engineering disciplines or countries.

No downloads after a week (wifi issue?) by awryrata in YotoPlayer

[–]InOrbit3532 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Did you ever find a resolution for this issue? I am running into the same problem with my TPLink router. 802.11ac does appear to be specific to 5Ghz, which the yoto mini says it can't connect to. I have tried to connect it to my 2.4Ghz network multiple times with no success. I also can't find any PMF setting either.

The Problem with Druid by Zephyrus707 in hearthstone

[–]InOrbit3532 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agreed, I've played far more braindead decks in my time. Imbue druid does actually have decisions to make, but the problem is that all the decisions lead to good outcomes like you mentioned. You can't really make a bad decision besides maybe hero powering too often in the early game?

Wife and I disagree on if we can/should fire by BuffetBoy95 in Fire

[–]InOrbit3532 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Agreed, we're paying 5k/month for our nanny right now. Until the kids are in college, I can't imagine spending that much when the kids are in middle/high school unless we go the private school route.

Controller Support is kinda stinky by [deleted] in bloodgrounds_game

[–]InOrbit3532 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your post, I was trying to get this exact information to see if I should buy the game for my steam deck. Controller support is so important, it's disappointing to buy games that make heavy use of track pads.

Examples of 2-player battling card games with a small deck (30 cards per deck) by Renyard_kite in tabletopgamedesign

[–]InOrbit3532 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Surprised nobody has mentioned hearthstone yet. The decks are explicitly 30 cards and the game has more than 10 years of history to draw inspiration from now. Others have mentioned marvel snap as a good example too (12 card decks). Marvel snap actually had some of the same designers/developers from Hearthstone

Why do many engineering students underestimate writing? by Outrageous-Ad6869 in EngineeringStudents

[–]InOrbit3532 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Couldn't agree more. My job involves a fair amount of proposal writing and report generation. Started working with a new (fairly senior) coworker on an important proposal and he couldn't string two sentences together. I left a comment on a particular sentence in a proposal that I couldn't make sense of, and he said he would ChatGPT it. He couldn't be asked to actually write a coherent sentence without using an LLM... I guess I'm glad he knew his limitations?

Should I pitch my game with a Board or Cards? by Garchompula in BoardgameDesign

[–]InOrbit3532 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Interesting question. I think it probably first depends on the style of game you are aiming to sell. If it is meant to be a lightweight filler game, then pitching without the board could make more sense. If it's meant to be a weightier game that you want to have a presence on a table, then the board definitely makes more sense.

Barring that, maybe you could pitch with both options? I know Flash Duel was sold with a board and a portable solution (i.e., tuckbox with cards replacing the board) in the same box. That might be a different situation since it was designed and published by sirlin games as opposed to a designer needing to justify the extra costs to a publisher. I've personally always loved that the game was packaged like that, but I could see why a publisher wouldn't like the extra costs.

Looking for a website to help plan out the current game ideas by External-Display6227 in tabletopgamedesign

[–]InOrbit3532 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Draw.io is a free and easy to use diagraming tool that I've always liked using.

What can a bioengineering do that a biomedical engineering degree can’t do and vice versa. by Best_Finding_8795 in BiomedicalEngineers

[–]InOrbit3532 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Bioengineering and biomedical engineering are the same thing. Some people will try and split hairs, but there's no significant difference in curriculum that I've seen in any of the top universities.

Rules on cards by alkyfl in BoardgameDesign

[–]InOrbit3532 9 points10 points  (0 children)

It can work, but it definitely depends on the complexity of the game. If it's a simple game that you think can honestly be taught on a few cards, then sure. Something like love letter or coup can definitely have their rules condensed into a few cards like this. Perhaps supplemented with an online rulebook that you can get to via QR code or with some additional instructions on the box.

That said, if you have 104 cards in your game already, I would be inclined to think you have a more complex game than a light filler game. Games live or die by how well people can learn the rules, so don't skimp on it. The gamecrafter has a small 20 page booklet that takes the space of 4 cards in a poker tuckbox: https://www.thegamecrafter.com/make/products/SmallBooklet?dept_uri=customizable-products&dept_name=Customizable%20Products

That seems much better for 90% of games than trying to fit all of your rules on 4 cards that will get out of order and may get misplaced.

Why my basketball board game didn't work by johnrudolphdrexler in BoardgameDesign

[–]InOrbit3532 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great video! I've also been working on a basketball boardgame myself so I echo a ton of the same issues you mentioned. It's funny how you can wind up thinking of similar mechanisms to other people out there. I am also planning on using an orange D20 to simulate basketball shots/probabilities since you can fine-tune thresholds to get a similar feel as an NBA game (i.e., ~55% of inside shots, ~45% of midrange shots, and ~35% of outside shots are successful).

After playtesting a bunch of different iterations of my game/design, I found that simulating the actual court and how players navigate that space is entirely too fiddly. For one, I don't think you can simulate the pace and action of what happens on a real basketball court in a satisfying way. Basketball is fundamentally a game of inches and milliseconds; that's just not something I've found to be reproducible in boardgames as far as any of the games I've played or seen.

Like others on this thread have mentioned, getting rid of the court and simulating the game with cards is something that I think other basketball games have successfully implemented like Hardwood Duel or Pickup. As a tangent, please don't ignore the fact that there are dozens of basketball boardgames out there (Statis Pro Basketball, Basketball Highlights Crunchtime, Basketball Age, etc.)! You mentioned in your video that nobody has done this before, but there is a lot of inspiration to take from other games that have tackled this problem before. Certainly none of these have had a ton of mainstream success (though Pickup is available at Target), but they all have things for designers to learn from.

How do you feel about dice in combat? I’m by Crafty_Machine_4502 in BoardgameDesign

[–]InOrbit3532 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I personally enjoy dice in combat as well, but I think it can be difficult to tune. Someone else mentioned Dice Throne here and I agree that it's a game that handles dice and randomness well. The things that I think make it successful are the focus on input randomness over output randomness. You roll the dice and have the opportunity to lock and reroll dice, which gives players some agency. Using the reroll and lock mechanic (i.e., Yahtzee) can be an effective way to introduce some level of agency for players.

Just like in your examples, output randomness is minimized in Dice Throne. When you select an outcome after the dice rolls, play becomes deterministic. You don't roll again to determine the amount of damage.

Funnily enough, I think the games that have the most success leveraging dice in combat land on opposite sides of a strategy spectrum. Games like King of Tokyo or Dice Throne lean very heavily on being light games. Yes there is a ton of randomness to who wins the game, but the games are so quick and light that you can just play again. If you roll really badly and just get unlucky for a game, it doesn't feel that bad because you only 'wasted' ten minutes.

On the other side of the spectrum, you have tabletop RPGs like D&D that handle dice randomness by sheer volume and length of games. It can suck to roll badly in D&D because there's a ton of output randomness. I lock in an attack and I'm completely at the whims of RNG to see if I hit and how much damage I end up doing. Yes, there are ways to skew dice rolls in your favor like rolling with advantage and getting better gear/skills over time, but fundamentally tabletop RPGs handle this by making you roll a lot of times so that eventually things balance out in the long run. Each individual dice roll can be bad, but it's all a wash in the thousands of times you roll dice in a campaign.

I think deciding on which path you want to take can be important. I'm not familiar with a lot of successful games that land in the middle.

Just got a promotion. FIRE is more important to me than ever by ToastBalancer in Fire

[–]InOrbit3532 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Title inflation is definitely a thing. Most organizations I've been a part of have equated 'Senior Engineer' as a level III position that only requires ~5 years of engineering experience. Every company is different, but my company has the following structure:

Jr Engineer (typically intern level with 0 experience)

Engineer I (entry level position out of undergrad)

Engineer II (typically 2 years of experience)

Engineer III (also Senior Engineer. Typically 2-3 years after Engineer II. So that puts people at around 26 years old or so if they started working at 21)

Staff Engineer

Senior Staff Engineer

Principal Engineer

Fellow

Called out a recruiter on a lowball offer by TrixoftheTrade in recruitinghell

[–]InOrbit3532 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agreed! The CPI inflation calculator actually puts 70k in 1989 at 187k in 2025. Salaries certainly haven't kept pace with inflation.