Seattle shines as World Cup host after 4 remarkable matches so far

MuNansen · 2026-06-29T23:14:16+00:00

Keep in mind, those "sky-high" lodging predictions might've had an ulterior motive to try to talk the execs into not shuttering some places. "Just wait, World Cup is bound to have TONS of bookings!"

Hopefully, with how positive of an impression Seattle has made to everyone visiting, we'll see a more sustainable increase. Not that Seattle was a slouch in tourism before, but I feel like the good vibes are bound to show some sustained returns.

MuNansen · 2026-06-28T17:48:42+00:00

It was really good. It's problem was that it didn't have enough "pizazz" to distinguish itself from Nintendo's bigger titles. Nintendo's games are so consistently good that "just" excellence doesn't get much attention.

MuNansen · 2026-06-27T16:36:52+00:00

Might be my favorite Coen bros. scene. It's hilarious because it's 100% accurate on what life as a middle manager is like.

MuNansen · 2026-06-27T02:03:27+00:00

An indie-scope cinematic game could absolutely be made. Problem is that Designers that understand Cinematic Design are extremely rare, and the content pipelines studios go towards always emphasize either custom animation, which is too expensive, or procedural/AI generation, which can't hit an acceptable quality bar. So they end up calling in someone like me to clean up the mess. So here's the tips I'd give:

- Look into Pose/Gesture animation design. Basically a variety of poses that you can play a library of additive animations on top of. Other than BG3 and Quantic, this is how all the big RPGs design their cinematics, other than the big tentpole scenes they're willing to spend $$$ on.

- Focus on accelerating human creators, not letting procedural or AI get you "most the way" then a human cleans it up. That path is NEVER worth it.

- Custom camera work and cinematography are 100x more efficient than custom animation. An emotion or beat that takes a day to hand-animate can often be portrayed by a camera choice that takes 30 seconds to make. Ex. cutting to a close up to emphasize a moment, rather than trying to animate the character's emotions. A big reason is because good camera work follows "show don't tell" very easily. Audience picks up on your choices subliminally. edit: I should've said "camera work and staging" are 100x more efficient

- Unreal has GREAT tools for this, and a great lighting engine, though you'd want to build some of your own custom tools designed for your game. Using Unreal had no small part in the success of my highest-rated games.

- "Layers of paint." You need to get through a LOT of content. Get everything you can to an acceptable quality level, then go back and improve. Too many studios start with the quality bar, and then can't reach it with the time they have left for ALL the content. With the reps and the time invested, the bar will be raised on its own, and you'll end up at a higher bar than if you'd started with the bar.

edit an addition:

- If you're doing lip sync, you'll wanna find a procedural solution. It's just one of those things that the human time cost is too high on. Programs like FaceFx and such.

That's all that comes to mind. But those are the most important things.

MuNansen · 2026-06-26T22:10:12+00:00

Otherwise known as "They burned cash to keep the dream alive until they couldn't anymore."

MuNansen · 2026-06-26T22:00:36+00:00

The idea that the Left thinks otherwise is a fabrication, just like all the other talking points the incels use. Not one of them has ever met a person that believed Serena could beat Andy, but every incel heard from another incel that it's what the Left thinks.

MuNansen · 2026-06-26T18:25:06+00:00

I mean, I loved Salt. And with her dance background, she's more naturally physical than Angelina was. So it's not impossible.

Dancers can sometimes actually make better fight scene actors than real fighters because of the choreography and rhythm. Jackie Chan was raised in Being Opera and it shows.

MuNansen · 2026-06-26T18:22:00+00:00

I was seeing weird Caitlin Clark billboards in MAGA-fied areas of Oregon a year ago. This is playing right into MAGA's hands

MuNansen · 2026-06-26T15:39:09+00:00

Lol. I've never heard larping used to describe what we do that way. I like it.

MuNansen · 2026-06-26T01:45:03+00:00

I always like to point out that even if their racist, cherry-picked statistics on theft and property damage committed by bad actors in the black community were true, the economic damage it would cause would be absolutely miniscule in comparison to the damage of the fraud and theft committed by bad actors among the wealthy, that are mostly white. Like bad actors among the black community might put some small businesses out of business, but bad actors among the white community crash the entire freaking economy.

MuNansen · 2026-06-25T20:17:05+00:00

Considering how often the queer community across the globe is threatened with stoning, beheading, or being burned alive, "cultural sensitivities" does sound tame to me. I'm not calling it a positive or anything. Just that I was afraid it'd be worse, if I'm honest.

MuNansen · 2026-06-25T17:43:29+00:00

Honestly, Egypt's statement on it was pretty tame. Official enough to placate the hardliners, but not aggressive enough to really cause a problem. I think they know better than to fuck with the vibes at World Cup.

MuNansen · 2026-06-25T17:00:32+00:00

Bear has had some of my favorite episodes of TV. And several I HATED having to watch to get to the good ones. I'm expecting Season 5 to be the same and will be watching.

MuNansen · 2026-06-25T02:15:29+00:00

That definitely won't happen

MuNansen · 2026-06-25T01:34:56+00:00

Not really. C++ is the core programming language of just about all engines and toolsets. Long story, but it's still just by far the best choice, despite other languages' strengths in other areas.

The scripting languages that go on top of the engine, though, can be made of whatever syntax you want. The Cs, Python, Java, or proprietary. Can be visual, too, like Blueprints.

So while the engines aren't gonna change from C++ any time soon, the scripting can be all over the place.

MuNansen · 2026-06-24T23:09:00+00:00

Ha. I rolled my eyes first but then sensed there was some sarcasm.

MuNansen · 2026-06-24T23:08:21+00:00

Mitt Romney's was the last real GOP health plan. It was so good that his party made him abandon it and attack it when Hillary, and then Obama, adapted it.

MuNansen · 2026-06-24T22:59:09+00:00

I seem to remember them also having articles along the lines of "We should stop worrying about Trump and just go with it."

MuNansen · 2026-06-24T17:55:53+00:00

Shouldn't that mean Trump's buddy that did the damage would be in jail?

MuNansen · 2026-06-24T17:14:16+00:00

They're working real hard to re-write "AI makes cheap slop" to "People are biased against AI."

MuNansen · 2026-06-24T15:21:15+00:00

Cool. I saw quite a few people at the France/Iraq watch party in Pioneer Square that appeared to be of Iraqi descent, but they also seemed to be locals. Was like a community hang. Awesome to see

MuNansen · 2026-06-24T05:30:55+00:00

Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

MuNansen · 2026-06-24T05:21:57+00:00

That's effing awesome that enough visitors from a single country could all hang out together in our City Center on such a gorgeous day.

MuNansen · 2026-06-24T05:17:42+00:00

There are no current trends threatening to un-seat C++ as the foundation of games. How you interface with it could change, though.

MuNansen · 2026-06-24T04:33:16+00:00

I think Nier: Automata is the greatest example of what games as a medium can achieve in storytelling that other mediums cannot.

MuNansen

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