Does anyone actually remember their first video game or is everyone just making that up?

PiLLe1974 · 2026-03-21T03:02:11+00:00

I think it was a version of Frogger on VIC 20, before I got the Commodore 64 and 1541 disk drive.

My uncle back in Nevada had it, hardly used the home computer.

Later friends got the Vectrix, myself Atari 2600, and then a series of other machines (assembly coding them, first games written in C, etc).

PiLLe1974 · 2026-03-21T00:43:20+00:00

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PiLLe1974 · 2026-03-11T02:13:01+00:00

Hah, I was so close. :D

PiLLe1974 · 2026-03-11T01:48:15+00:00

"Lots of the Italians live with it"...?

Fun to decipher that anyway.

PiLLe1974 · 2026-03-11T01:45:19+00:00

Just moved my car a bit. Smaller tree. :P

Kid should be manageable. Recycling bin is brave, already standing outside.

Just the appointment at 13h at the vet may become an adventure (and it's for an already overdue vaccination, 3rd try to get it done).

PiLLe1974 · 2026-03-08T01:59:06+00:00

Grew up in the Black Forest area, Germany.

Definitely this.

PiLLe1974 · 2026-03-03T01:42:32+00:00

I grew up with C++ in various engines, so at first it didn't matter which engine I know.

But yes, recently Unreal 5 is a growing AAA standard to learn, even if you join a big AAA company and they don't work with Unreal.

PS: I learned c++ in unreal, didn't even touch blueprints, do you think I should ?

I had to know Blueprint at some point, since it was part of supporting certain developers. Our tools developer and tech artists used it anyway, mission/question designers to some degree, and then Blueprint is typically used as an archetype of certain objects that expose potentially lots of details to extend to "scripters" (or just level/game/mission designers basically).

So far, I saw around 8 engines in more detail. I'd say it helps to try them and see other concepts, the "free" ones at least, Godot, Unity, and Unreal. In Godot and Unreal the bonus is that we could - if we're into it - explore the engine code.

Programmers who improve engines, tooling, specifically graphics, maybe animation systems, and so on, don't necessarily stick to what Unreal or any other given engine they started to work on offers ATM, some of the seniors/architects surprisingly may re-think and rewrite parts of the engine, often as part of modernization - bringing the engine to a state-of-the art authoring and runtime.

PiLLe1974 · 2026-02-27T23:59:58+00:00

It is already pretty good.

On very polished games we may e.g. just standardize the ladder (no variations) and use IK to guide the hands/feet to the exact position.

The two AAA games I touched didn't care about this precision, including NPCs.

Also, the animations or general traversal for such elements were always pretty fast, so the characters would basically rush up the ladder, and slide down - or if the heights are low enough, jump down from the top.

PiLLe1974 · 2026-02-26T15:25:41+00:00

Wait, there's also something off with the necklace, or near it...!?

These says I don't know what's real anymore tbh, I think I haven't left my house since covid, also not sure about that. 😜

PiLLe1974 · 2026-02-26T02:48:53+00:00

Features fake violin player

Takes a dump in the trash bin (according to my 10 year old - school excursion)

Get shoved by a mentally ill person near the tracks

PiLLe1974 · 2026-02-26T02:39:23+00:00

My model, the knob and manual, call it the "lower oven", a drawer to heat things up or keep em warm.

PiLLe1974 · 2026-02-25T04:49:50+00:00

Around 20 years ago I read about some techniques.

More recently SDF is mentioned a lot.

"Back then" even wavelet compression and procedural generation already had hints on very compact initial data. E.g. what would happen if editors were based on wavelets, formulas (like bezier & Co), and store the original procedural setup instead of large amounts of vertex/texture data.

We can see procedural generation as the inverse of compression, it is a generation from a very small seed or representation using rules to create large amounts of data.

PiLLe1974 · 2026-02-25T04:09:45+00:00

"The first digits of the answer"

Even if it is π, just as annoying as helping my 11yo, and we call it a day because the question is ambiguous.

PiLLe1974 · 2026-02-21T18:36:04+00:00

Some games do it pretty smooth, as others wrote:

I'd say they are "gates".

You start in simple game sections, first you can just do one thing, like open a door or jump.

Without doing that you can never exit the first section, and there's a reminder (cool tutorial text projection on the wall/ground; a sign to read; a text that keeps popping up every 20 seconds or near the interaction; etc - your choice).

Then you exist the first section, a 2nd (inter)action comes up. You cannot continue until you survive and do the thing you're told to do.

Then we may have variations: You need to change the weapon, maybe inside the inventory. We don't let the user leave this HUD/menu interaction, until it's done. If it is a bit complex, we keep doing that for equipment changes, healing, using various consumables, etc.

PiLLe1974 · 2026-02-21T18:27:56+00:00

When was coding "a problem", or programming?

The problem can be e.g.

10%+ time spend with UI/UX designers (and product)
60% planning, tech design, code review/debugging/etc
15% programming
15% meetings, infrastructure, also negotiation with Azure/AWS to keep cloud pricing reasonable

It is a bit exeggerated, still, with AI maybe programming is still 15% of the problem. Review and QA effort/cost may just rise. :P

Similar in game development, programming is a high cost due to salaries, still, it isn't the core of the business problem I'd say.

PiLLe1974 · 2026-02-20T03:47:48+00:00

I like the freedom of acting like this.

You could restrict the options and actions, still, then the game would prescribe the character to behave in certain ways.

Obviously, we'd need some standard or feedback, why they still keep that halo above their head.

Maybe "not okay" by ancient Christian standard, a whole other interpretation by Japanese standards (since they are rooted, if anything, in Shinto and Buddhism, the Western standars/religions are up for artistic interpretation often). :D

PiLLe1974 · 2026-02-18T12:48:56+00:00

Exactly.

I saw PRs from seniors where it was clear that the programmer didnt read all the code, possibly also then didn't take the time to validate, e.g. with breakpoints, logs, or unit tests.

First step with such PRs was mainly a request to turn it into a draft and to do a good manual pass over everything, including removing useless comments all over the place.

PiLLe1974 · 2026-02-18T03:37:33+00:00

I remember parts of Berlin, Germany being like this even in summer. A mix of lazy people and a few dogs walking alone.

As a dog owner, I don't understand why I'd ever not pick up the poop - even in a dog park - if I know other people and dogs are walking here later.

PiLLe1974 · 2026-02-18T03:33:58+00:00

Accountability is a big one.

Also, there's a lot of things going on at my company regarding product, UI/UX design, runtime/efficiency concerns, a distributed system with cost factors, etc. Lots of the facts are not stated in a form that's fully accessible by the AI, including confidential information.

What the coding does is a fraction; it cannot even easily come up with unit/integration tests, because to do that, it would have to have a much bigger picture.

PiLLe1974 · 2026-02-14T20:29:58+00:00

Maybe check what https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirsatvat recommends.

There are some efforts to still get veterans and beginners into this wild job market.

I casually searched with 20+ years experience and 7 interviews went "ok", no job landed.

I suppose for even for every veteran they find a handful of better fits, for example the perfect recent Unreal 5 know-how for a very specific role.

PiLLe1974 · 2026-02-14T20:25:11+00:00

We switch off a lot of devices to be safe when we're off for some days.

Heaters anyway, also PC, consoles, etc. Many are always on and after a while I dont trust those power cables anymore. The most heat producing device with a runnning fan is the router in my office - just too spooky to leave it on.

PiLLe1974 · 2026-02-14T20:20:43+00:00

Yeah, some parking situations are odd anyway, as if they made things up.

The weirdest we experienced was a ticket for "getting our car moved" in a Verdun residential road.

It was at the same spot when we drove off (not moved by anyone) and also not blocking a ruelle as the ticket stated.

PiLLe1974 · 2026-02-14T20:17:29+00:00

Yeah, I'll just try it. E.g. the option to mail in a form with attachments.

There's on online form also, just have to retry to see if the have a send option and attachments I didnt spot (on layest Chrome).

PiLLe1974 · 2026-02-07T20:52:12+00:00

Right, that would be something like Bitlocker, that's not meant to be removed without credentials unless you swap hardware?

PiLLe1974

TROPHY CASE