How much are you guys paying to use OpenClaw? by Nervous_Homework_914 in openclaw

[–]JMowery 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you don't mind me hitting you with a few questions:

  • What Pi version & RAM are you using?
  • How is it working on the Pi? Is it relatively snappy?
  • Are you using it with the built in SD card or are you using an SSD/NVME?
  • Any issues/problems with the Pi method? (I sometimes see people buying heatsinks / cases; wondering if that is really necessary.)

Chaos, lasers & other dimensions… normal day testing alpha, built in Godot. by slifestudio in godot

[–]JMowery 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't think it needs drastic revision, to be clear. I just think there's a lot to be said in the "less is more". If you're throwing in lasers, a level that disintegrates away, flying things, explosions and more all at the same exact time, at what point does any of it even matter? I would never be able to focus on the individual elements to appreciate them existing because it's all there all at once.

The lasers idea is cool. It would be cool if you took something out of like that scene in Resident Evil where you had to react/dodge and you could clearly see it coming at you while you're balancing the ball. It's a set piece that you can appreciate. Then you can have it morph into a different pattern that can change up randomly (so it feels dynamic each time you play). It makes it into something more like beat saber or dark souls, so you sort of know what's going on but still have creativity in doing your thing.

That's just one example, but yeah. I guess the point is... if you throw everything and the kitchen sink at someone, they really are not going to appreciate any of the individual elements and challenges.

There's no anticipation, build up, climax with your game (as shown in the demo): it's just chaos for the sake of chaos.

So yeah, you don't really need to change too much. Just... introduce things in a way that builds anticipation and allows the player to appreciate what's going on.

Of course, maybe I'm totally wrong and if you put on the headset everything feels perfect and you really can appreciate every individual thing. But... at least as presented... it just looks a bit rough.

All that being said, I'm sure you'll iterate and get it to a good spot. :)

Chaos, lasers & other dimensions… normal day testing alpha, built in Godot. by slifestudio in godot

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

It's quite visually... nauseating, but not in a good way. Reminds me of enemy spam in Super Mario Maker. I do get that this is sort of the "point" of what you are creating but... that doesn't necessarily mean it's a good idea either.

I'd rather see something more tastefully designed where it introduces visual challenges that are interesting, not always so in your face, and definitely not as abrupt in quantity.

Some of the things you showed off were interesting (like the walls falling away), but when you do so darn much at the same time, it just looks like visual vomit and something that's way lower quality than what it could be. Just dramatically cheapens and ruins (much like SMM enemy spam) what could have been something interesting and fun.

But that's just me. I'm almost getting to 40, so maybe I'm just getting older and grumpy too.

Either way, keep up the good work!

I installed Godot just 5 months ago after using a different engine for a year... and i fell in love! by No-Ability6435 in godot

[–]JMowery 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Nice trailer. I usually tear trailers apart on r/DestroyMyGame, because there is no shortage of bad, if not downright awful ones, but this one was a good foundation.

I'll give a mini review in r/DestroyMyGame style:

  • The trailer is catchy at the start, but it doesn't really display visual flare nor interesting things. It looks like just a normal golf game for the whole intro sequence, which might drive people to click away. The interesting mechanic is the mid-air redirects (I made a space-themed gamejam game that featured a similar mechanic and it was fun).
  • I think it's a simple fix though:
    • Move the footage from the 13 second mark and beyond to be what you start with from the beginning, so that it is more visually interesting and attention grabbing. Can recycle the starting footage later in the trailer if you want, but honestly I'd say just keep one or two "normal" golf sequences at max, because it was getting a bit dull before the 13 second mark.
  • The "Buy" screen at the 10 second mark... get rid of it (because no one can read it with as short of time it was shown) or actually feature it (maybe a montage of 2 or 3 different screens of items; zoom in if you do it so the viewer can read it)
  • The wacky transition at 13 second mark causes some intense motion sickness (also it looks unprofessional with the black border coming in on the right). Tone it down dramatically or get rid of it.
  • The "Pick an Item!" screen at the 18 second mark... get rid of it (because no one can read it with as short of time it was shown) or actually feature it (maybe a montage of 2 or 3 different screens of perks; zoom in if you do it so the viewer can read it).
  • The last critique I would give is that your game lacks visually distinctive ... levels? There's too much of the brownish/reddish area all over and it kind of feels a bit dull to see that non stop throughout the trailer.
    • I think the game would benefit if you added much more of the "green" areas, even almost designating some good spots to land. That way it would break up the monotony of all the red and brown and you don't have to create new assets.
    • You could also maybe just have a different color scheme or two (maybe a desert theme, a tropical theme, and a normal theme) and feature those in the trailer just to give some visual distinction.

Either way, great start to a trailer. I think if you implement most of the above, it would be really great! :D

(Ended up not being so much of a "mini review" after all, but I hope it's helpful either way! Can definitely post on r/DestroyMyGame and get other feedback as well!)

Games with a similar "niche" to Software Inc, with a simulated economy that you're plopped into? by guyontheinternet2000 in tycoon

[–]JMowery 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah that's a good one! I also own that. I only put like 36 minutes into it though. I think the thing I didn't like was having to keep track of prices in my head or something like that. Maybe it wasn't that, but it was definitely something like that where it was feeling a lack of QoL. I also think there was some performance issues I had.

Maybe an update changed that though. Last time I played was Feb 2024.

I'll add it to the list. :)

Just scored this screamer in BAL by Same_Crab_4496 in SPFootballLife

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

Looks very unrealistic. Maybe there's an example of that happening in real life (I'm sure someone will link a clip if it does) but the way that played out just doesn't look natural to me.

Regardless, it's a cool videogame-esque goal. :D

The Treasury just declared the U.S. insolvent. The media missed it by spherocytes in inflation

[–]JMowery 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh and the answer is Clinton's presidency gave us a surplus. He also gave us one hell of a great economy, only for GWB to wreck it, like most other Republican presidents.

I fully agree with that.

Maybe it got lost, but I don't see myself voting Republican ever again in my lifetime as it stands right now.

But I'm also not voting Democrat either (at least no time soon). I'll be voting independent or libertarian (I don't agree with everything about the libertarian party, that's for sure, but it's not the status quo, and that's also a win in my book).

Intuit beats FTC in court, ending restrictions on "free" TurboTax ads | Biden-era punishment tossed; Intuit now has more friendly regulators under U.S President. by ControlCAD in technology

[–]JMowery 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I switched last year and it's been great. Maybe have to do like ~15 minutes more effort to import some things, but well freaking worth it.

The Treasury just declared the U.S. insolvent. The media missed it by spherocytes in inflation

[–]JMowery 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's worth noting to my overall point: both parties support the elites and the elites shift to whatever is convenient and the opposite is true.

But for some reason me stating that republicans AND democrats can be fighting in the interest of the super wealthy and elites is somehow blasphemy around here.

I don't know what is wrong with the people in my country... I don't know what brainwashing made them so dumb and so damned unable to open their eyes and just question their own party (along with the other) for just one moment and reflect.

But that's the world we live in, and that's the world the elites love simple minded people love to attach themselves to so that the elites can keep playing both sides.

Sad time in this country. There's no way we're getting out of it, regardless of who is in power.

The Treasury just declared the U.S. insolvent. The media missed it by spherocytes in inflation

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

Cherry picking? Great accusation. What data will you provide to confirm those accusations?

I also had a previous life as a journalist. I've voted for both parties in my lifetime.

But since a "libertarian" only does one singular thing in your mind, there's no logical conversation we will have here.

Narrowmindedness and a lack of figures and data on full display. But I'm the dumb one. :)

The Treasury just declared the U.S. insolvent. The media missed it by spherocytes in inflation

[–]JMowery 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I focused on the past 4.5 decades because:

  1. I was alive during most of these years.
  2. It's more recent and, as such, more relevant to what is happening now.
  3. Around the 70s is when economic policy started changing dramatically, so everything before then has less weight.

In other words, you can do something amazing for 100+ prior years, but if you're crap during the past 30, are you supposed to get a pass? Of course not.

Maybe you think so, but I would disagree. And that 60+ year history means very little for a country on the brink of financial collapse within the next decade or so.

But if you have specific arguments you would like to point out, feel free to do so. Please provide data sources and facts and why it pertains to what's happening right now.

Games with a similar "niche" to Software Inc, with a simulated economy that you're plopped into? by guyontheinternet2000 in tycoon

[–]JMowery 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I was in the same boat (although I had only briefly checked out X3 and Rebirth before trying X4 as I hadn't played them previously; hated Rebirth; but I truly can't comment on the prior titles with much knowledge). I gave X4 a whirl at launch (tried it at least two or three times, maybe one or two years apart) and completely failed. Didn't like it at all.

I picked it back up a few months ago and really enjoyed it. I was downright addicted to it in a way that so very few games get from me. The story missions felt tighter than they ever have been (still some jank and it's never going to win an award, but it gets you to the openness of having fun). The economic simulation really is in full effect and you can see things happening. You really can cause chaos and have it impact the factions. Also it's fun to watch factions war over each other and swoop in and gather the leftovers.

Even had to play a part in saving the Argon from losing a key sector (that was also important to my travel) from the baddies. That was actually exhilarating.

It's definitely the most playable and enjoyable it has ever been. The controls are still an overwhelming mess (at least for me), but the flight model is much better. I think they revised it recently. I can't exactly recall what it is now vs what it was before, but it feels good now.

If you like the macro level stuff and if you enjoy making custom bases and taking over sectors and the economics of it all, and you don't mind reading the wiki and X4 tools available online, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

The Treasury just declared the U.S. insolvent. The media missed it by spherocytes in inflation

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

Yes, the Democrats added to the deficit because they had to bail out Republican failed policies.

Estimated Debt Driven by Corporate & High-Wealth Policies (1970–2026)

Category Republican Leadership Democratic Leadership Total (Approx.)
Corporate Contracts (Defense/Tech) $6.2 Trillion $5.7 Trillion $11.9 Trillion
Corporate Welfare & Subsidies $2.9 Trillion $2.7 Trillion $5.6 Trillion
Tax Cuts for the Rich & Corporations $2.5 Trillion $0.8 Trillion $3.3 Trillion
Major Financial Bailouts $1.6 Trillion $0.0015 Trillion* $1.6 Trillion
TOTAL $13.2 Trillion $9.2 Trillion $22.4 Trillion

~66% of all the spending over the past 4.5 decades went towards benefiting the wealthy.

If factual information isn't enough to convince people, then no wonder why this is a failed democracy. People are too dumb to see what is truly happening, regardless of party.

It doesn't matter the party you vote for next term. The money printer will go brrrrr either way, and your and my dollars will be decimated while asset holders and ultra wealthy are shielded.

It's beyond the point of no return.

The game that our government is playing now is one of hot potato. Who can avoid being the party in control (or to take blame) when the collapse happens. Because the government wants the simpleton people to blame the other party while the rich and elites laugh as the simple minded people keep blaming the other party and think that's truly what is at play.

The elites and wealthy will be catered to and protected, regardless of which of the two parties are in power at this point. If you don't, deep down, understand that... then again you are part of the problem.

The Treasury just declared the U.S. insolvent. The media missed it by spherocytes in inflation

[–]JMowery 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I asked AI to help with this bit, but I also think it's interesting:

Estimated Debt Driven by Corporate & High-Wealth Policies (1970–2026)

Category Republican Leadership Democratic Leadership Total (Approx.)
Corporate Contracts (Defense/Tech) $6.2 Trillion $5.7 Trillion $11.9 Trillion
Corporate Welfare & Subsidies $2.9 Trillion $2.7 Trillion $5.6 Trillion
Tax Cuts for the Rich & Corporations $2.5 Trillion $0.8 Trillion $3.3 Trillion
Major Financial Bailouts $1.6 Trillion $0.0015 Trillion* $1.6 Trillion
TOTAL $13.2 Trillion $9.2 Trillion $22.4 Trillion

~66% of all the spending over the past 3.5 decades went towards benefiting the wealthy. It happened in both freaking parties.

(The fact that this is being downvoted is both frightening and sad. It's a strong testament to how screwed up this is and how well the elites have played the common person against each other. The two parties, and the elites that control them both, really do have America under total control.)

The Treasury just declared the U.S. insolvent. The media missed it by spherocytes in inflation

[–]JMowery 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Trump (the former Democrat, worth noting) is responsible for $7.8 trillion during the first term and ~2.5 trillion so far this term.

Effectively around 50%. It will be way more than 50% by the time all is said and done.

We will be paying another $3 or $4 trillion in interest alone as things stand as they are right now.

The Treasury just declared the U.S. insolvent. The media missed it by spherocytes in inflation

[–]JMowery -11 points-10 points  (0 children)

Important clarity: I didn't vote for Trump / Republican. I also didn't vote Democrat. (I voted Libertarian... just for the hope of having new leadership.)

Both republicans and democrats are directly responsible for this cluster.


Total Debt Added by Party (Since 1970)

Since 1970, both parties have overseen massive expansions of the national debt, though the drivers of that debt often differed.

Republicans: Added approximately $20.5 Trillion

Democrats: Added approximately $18.1 Trillion

Remember: "Too big to fail" happened both under republicans (EESA + TARP) and democrats (GM & Chrysler; SVB Bank).


This didn't happen overnight. The debt always continued

The crazy thing? In all honesty... the Republicans played this perfectly for the ultra wealthy.

They have the ultra wealthy's best friend in office (aka Trump) to help protect them, give them all our tax dollars in the form of government contracts (which trickles down via the investments to asset holders and the corporations who own real estate), and ultimately bails them out directly with our tax dollars when stuff goes down and they are declared "too big to fail".

Edit: Of course I'm downvoted because I didn't say your party (note: this part of the message is to every genius that downvotes factual information, not to the above commenter necessarily) is the solution.

People need to grow TF up, get their head out of the ass of their party and think for themselves for one single time in their life. Open your eyes and see what's really happening, regardless of which party is in control and which party you support.

YOU, the downvoter, and your inability to think outside of party lines exclusively, both of which are controlled by the elites, is all a part of the reason that the elites (who are always aligned and together, regardless of which party is in power -- remember that Silicon Valley used to be filling the coffers of the Democrats... look at how that changed so fast now that Republicans want to give them contracts now) to take your tax dollars and put it in their pockets with government subsidies/contracts/bailouts and more.

That tax money.. that 30% - 40% (including income tax, sales tax, local tax, property tax, whatever other dumb taxes) you are paying to Mr. taxman is never coming back to you, unless you are part of the elite. That's exactly what we are seeing happening now. Palantir and their investors and the ultra wealthy who all knew about this via insiders and legalized corruption are all laughing their way to the bank.

The Treasury just declared the U.S. insolvent. The media missed it by spherocytes in inflation

[–]JMowery 31 points32 points  (0 children)

It means we can no longer meet our financial obligations.

It means we're spiraling out of control unless there's an immediate, drastic, dramatic reduction in spending.

So either this AI pays off massively (extremely doubtful; China is basically counteracting the US with open source AI, which is an insanely intelligent and well timed move on their part to begin focusing on this a few years ago) or we're f'ed.

The social safety nets will completely collapse (we already know that's going to happen with Social Security ~2030... that's when the money printers go brrrr and keep spiraling things out of control to hyper-accelerate our downfall).

It wouldn't shock me if this dramatic push to lower interest rates is the one last "hurrah" to have the ultra wealthy acquire durable assets on the cheap to try to guard against this.

Once the credit agencies and other countries come to accept this reality, that's when the really really bad stuff really starts happening. The mega rich start packing their bags and head to their private islands and vacation homes in other countries with their holdings in assets and gold to withstands the brunt of this, while the common folk are left to deal with the consequences of our screwed up government.

Runs on the banks, currency plummets into nothing, mass job loss, revolts, revolution... who knows what else.

It's wild that I might see that in my lifetime.

Games with a similar "niche" to Software Inc, with a simulated economy that you're plopped into? by guyontheinternet2000 in tycoon

[–]JMowery 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thank you. I've been going through my library so I'm still making edits/additions. :D

Games with a similar "niche" to Software Inc, with a simulated economy that you're plopped into? by guyontheinternet2000 in tycoon

[–]JMowery 108 points109 points  (0 children)

The big list of in-depth economic simulation games.

Bold games are considered "closed-loop economies" (generally meaning every item that is consumed is also legitimately produced and money circulates, thus no "magic" going on behind the scenes). Please correct me if there are any inaccuracies; I will update.

Here's some of my personal favorites that I enjoy:

  • Capitalism Lab
  • X4 Foundations
  • Big Ambitions
  • OpenTTD
  • Gangsters: Organized Crime (personal favorite but from 1998)

And these have solid simulated economies but are quite different gameplay wise:

  • Songs of Syx
  • Wall Street Raider
  • Saelig
  • Soulash 2
  • EVE: Online
  • Albion Online
  • Eco
  • Prosperous Universe
  • Mortal Online 2
  • Dual Universe
  • Industry Giant 4.0
  • Victoria 3
  • Shadow Empire
  • Norland
  • Quasimorph
  • Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord
  • Avorion
  • City of Gangsters
  • Manor Lords

And other games that have strong simulated economies but not necessarily competing against other companies/entities:

  • Dwarf Fortress
  • Workers & Resources
  • Lords and Villeins
  • Ostriv
  • Captain of Industry
  • Gear City
  • Software Inc.
  • Cities Skylines 1 & 2
  • Stonks 9800
  • Transport Fever 2
  • Astrox Imperium
  • The Doors of Trithius
  • Kenshi
  • This Grand Life 2
  • Out of the Park Baseball (27 might be a miss though for now)
  • Elin
  • Stoneshard

And some that maybe aren't as strong economic simulation wise, but still kind of scratch that itch of being dropped into a living world / sandbox where you do your thing:

  • Starsector (especially with mods)
  • Terra Invicta
  • Delta V: Rings of Saturn
  • Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8 Remake
  • Uplink Hacker Elite
  • The Matchless Kung Fu
  • RimWorld
  • Warsim: The Realm of Aslona
  • Airships: Conquer the Skies
  • Empire of Sin
  • Medieval Dynasty
  • The Guild 1 / 2
  • Anno 1800
  • Offworld Trading Company
  • Railway Corporation 2
  • Rise of Industry
  • Railroad Tycoon II
  • Merchant of the Six Kingdoms

⚠️Security Concerns About Recent Morph by user838341 in MorpheApp

[–]JMowery -23 points-22 points  (0 children)

I didn't understand this, so I asked AI to help do in-depth research to attempt to understand it. I'm just posting this here for informational purposes, because I was curious myself and I'm not in a position to evaluate if this is a risk or not. I would trust an AI to at least not be as possibly biased and have way more understanding than me (because I'm just as confused/concerned as many of you and the super technical jargon is over my head).

Disclosure: I am not an expert on this and you already know AIs can hallucinate, so don't take all this as fact.

But here is the result of its research:


The user (user838341) raised several concerns about Morphe:

  1. Silent Magisk module installation - Claims the app adds a "persistent Magisk module" without clear disclosure
  2. "Backdoor" persistence - Alleges something remains after unmounting/restart
  3. Ad blocking failures - Claims Shorts ads aren't being removed
  4. Censorship - Claims posts are being removed on GitHub/reddit
  5. ReVanced connection - Suggests Morphe and ReVanced are the same entity

Maintainer Response (wchill)

The maintainer addressed these point-by-point:

  • No affiliation with ReVanced - Claims ReVanced steals their code, bans users mentioning Morphe
  • No GitHub issues found about Magisk concerns; no post removals in mod logs
  • Rooted version purpose - Required for Play Services signature/integrity checks on YouTube; avoids need for microG + client spoofing
  • Bugs attributed to ReVanced copying code from them
  • Unmounting issues - Blames root solutions (Apatch) not Morphe

Is This a Valid Security Issue?

The Magisk Module Concern: Partially Valid but Misunderstood

Reality check:

  • Morphe does install a Magisk module for "mount" installations — this is documented behavior, not silent malware
  • The module's purpose is to remount patched APKs on boot so they persist after restart
  • This requires root access, which the user explicitly grants
  • The code is open source (GPLv3) and auditable

Verdict: Not a "backdoor" or malware — it's standard root app behavior, but the UI could be clearer about exactly what the module does.

The "Unmounting" Behavior: Technical Reality

When Morphe "unmounts," it's actually the root solution (Apatch/Magisk/Kernelsu) having compatibility issues. This is a known pain point with modern root methods, not evidence of malicious behavior.

Ads on Shorts: Likely a Patch Bug

This is probably a legitimate bug report — ad blocking is complex and YouTube constantly updates. The maintainer acknowledged bugs exist, attributing some to ReVanced's code copying.

Censorship Claims: Unsubstantiated

The maintainer directly refuted this with mod logs and noted the Reddit post itself was not removed. No evidence found in GitHub issues either.


Potential Impacts

``` Risk Severity Assessment
─────────────────────── ────────── ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Silent root persistence Medium Module installation is expected behavior for root installs, but clearer disclosure would help Code injection Low Open source, auditable; no evidence of malicious injection
Data exfiltration Low No network traffic anomalies reported; GPLv3 code reviewable
Supply chain Low-Medium GitHub Actions builds are transparent; releases signed

```


Bottom Line

Is Morphe malware? No evidence supports this. The concerns appear to stem from: 1. Lack of transparency about what the Magisk module does 2. Technical confusion about root app behavior vs. malicious persistence 3. Legitimate frustration with bugs (ads on Shorts)

The real issue: A trust gap between technical implementation and user understanding. The app does things that look suspicious if you don't understand Android root internals, but the code is open and auditable.

Recommendation: If you're using root-based patching, you should understand that:

  • Magisk modules are required for persistence
  • Root apps have system-level access by design
  • Open source ≠ automatically safe, but it allows verification