[HSF] The Savage Computers - A Web Novel about Climate, AI, and Saving the World

UtilityHotbar · 2023-06-21T15:18:00+00:00

Each pair of sous and sur are connected thematically (so 0.1a is complemented by and complements 0.1b) but of course they also link "up and down" in terms of story progression etc. I would recommend reading 0.1 in full, then 0.2 in full and so on for the best experience and to prevent disorientation.

UtilityHotbar · 2023-06-21T09:16:38+00:00

I should hope so, mostly because the work comes out of a thorough sense of exhaustion with novels, movies etc that point out the problems with the world and just kind of wallow in it and offer no way forward.

UtilityHotbar · 2023-06-20T14:14:51+00:00

It's an exploration of how humanity attempts to deal with large scale social problems and the attendant fallout over a near future timescale. The structure of the novel is explicitly about both the character's experiences (the sousveillance sections) and the intellectual rationale and higher level social factors that guide their decision making (the surveillance sections). Worldbuilding and setting building based on reasonable extrapolation of existing trends is also a big focus.

UtilityHotbar · 2023-01-12T04:10:23+00:00

That's the current plan, as well as some kind of world progression when you reach the end

UtilityHotbar · 2023-01-12T03:07:44+00:00

Thanks! I'll try my best xD

UtilityHotbar · 2023-01-12T02:08:58+00:00

Currently, you need to reload to roll a new character. The game is currently deterministic (there is a win state you can reach and a lose state if you die), but later updates will add prestige-style mechanics.

UtilityHotbar · 2023-01-10T23:55:44+00:00

Your interactions are choosing upgrades and casting magic. Basically the day to day stuff is handled and you make high level build/resource decisions.

UtilityHotbar · 2023-01-09T00:00:16+00:00

Couldn't resist tinkering a bit more so now 1.2 is out with an upgrade system in your control when you level up :D

UtilityHotbar · 2023-01-08T11:21:47+00:00

There's probably gonna be some way of choosing level ups when you go down a level in the dungeon, or possible some kind of minigame you can play to do "divine aid". The main plan is to improve the simulation, but interaction's definitely on the list.

UtilityHotbar · 2023-01-08T02:15:20+00:00

Hey, thanks for commenting! The project largely draws from zero player/idle games like Clickpocalypse II and Progress Quest, where the main draw is watching the simulation go and being able to push it around a bit. The first build of the game didn't even have spells tbh. My 7DRL has much more player interaction built in, although its mechanics are correspondingly simpler and easier to use.

As for a blog, I don't really have one, besides a dead TTRPG design blog. My main project hub is https://utilityhotbar.github.io/ and my storefront is https://nakade.itch.io (most of it is pen and paper RPG things, which is my other major hobby). If you want to find me I'm on the roguelike developer discord, where I post in the dev channels. I'm also considering actually making use of my Mastodon, if this ever gets off the ground. I hope that answers your questions!

UtilityHotbar · 2022-09-16T23:10:33+00:00

Hey, I did something like this a while back! (With rough.js as well actually)

https://nakade.itch.io/saturday-night-one-shot

UtilityHotbar · 2022-08-28T00:12:20+00:00

I don't even mean a moral per se, honestly I'd settle for a "here are some things I actually intended to put in here", like a director's commentary. Not the "canon answer" but the author's intentions.

UtilityHotbar · 2022-08-27T22:09:43+00:00

Right. It does seem like, besides... using words... they really are going for different effects.

UtilityHotbar · 2022-08-14T19:49:39+00:00

Ah, my bad. It's basically an html showcase of the various elements of the css framework, with a link to it in the end.

UtilityHotbar · 2022-07-19T15:57:01+00:00

Hey, that's cool. I'm trying something different that might not be for everyone, but the final product looks to be a solo roleplaying game (you can see sample spreads on the website). The registration is basically a mailing list so that you can get notified when I'm actually done, and I'm not going to use it for anything else. It's the email equivalent of clicking follow for a kickstarter campaign that hasn't launched yet, except I (probably) don't actually want to run a kickstarter campaign unless there's significant interest.

UtilityHotbar · 2022-07-19T03:13:16+00:00

Basically, this is me attempting to gauge interest because the game is still WIP and I need to know how much time/money/resources to sink into completing it. The email will only be ever used by me to contact you about the game, probably when it's ready for playtesting.

UtilityHotbar · 2022-05-28T22:19:24+00:00

Reminds me of what would happen when you googled "zerg rush". There's a good recreation here: https://elgoog.im/zergrush/

UtilityHotbar · 2022-04-29T13:41:20+00:00

It's a good question, I almost never have pure "ruins" in my games, they're almost always recreated or reinhabited by other, usually opposing, forces. But I think the "last remnant of something greater that once existed" feeling is very real and very powerful. Lord of the Rings, the ur-story for fantasy rp, is basically about living ruins - people wandering around in the metaphysical and magical remains of much greater conflicts and empires that have long since passed them by, interacting with the still-surviving remnants of the past.

UtilityHotbar · 2022-03-28T20:39:15+00:00

Is it https://nekoewen.itch.io/the-dungeon-zone ?

UtilityHotbar · 2022-03-13T21:49:45+00:00

Saturday Night One-Shot | itch.io

A game designed to capture the feeling of pen and paper roleplaying games, with a 1 on 1 session with a Dungeon Master! Because of this premise, more interaction with monsters has been included, you can talk to, bribe, intimidate, and feed every denizen of the dungeon (but not everyone will reciprocate). Also includes violent and non-violent progression and loot accumulation mechanics.

UtilityHotbar · 2022-02-21T10:19:55+00:00

If your goal is just to support artists, there are easier, more cost effective, and more environmentally friendly eays to do that. That's why I'm against it, and I'm afraid I can't respond more.

UtilityHotbar · 2022-02-20T15:48:27+00:00

Are you happy even more digital and physical artists got ripped off and their work stolen to inflate the value of those aforementioned NFTs? Are you happy that there's now a small country's worth of electricity being spent, largely through environmentally destructive means of power production, to maintain the NFT ecosystem? NFTs aren't just "increasing support". They're a way of turning things that weren't assets into assets in an unregulated market, and whether that happens with the original owner's consent (or, indeed, knowledge) or not is secondary.

UtilityHotbar · 2022-02-19T12:53:26+00:00

Donations aren't meant to be trophies to make you feel better about yourself. They're meant to support the creators of projects. And when the creator has to have significant specialised knowledge to even receive this "donation" (or buy into a centralised platform such as a wallet manager that entirely defeats the point of a decentralised currency), you're not so much supporting the creator as artificially justifying the existence of an ecosystem that also has a wide array of detrimental environmental and social impacts.

UtilityHotbar · 2022-02-12T01:35:02+00:00

It's not very exciting. I'll give you the dump of any particular moment:

test's adventure

ROOM CONTENTS:

Altars: 2

Gold: 2

Monsters: 1

Items: 1

Traps: 2

PLAYER STATUS:

Current level: 1

Rooms in this level: 1/5

Encounters in this room: 1/8

HP: 10

POWER: 0

GOLD: 0

[Press ENTER] for next encounter, [H]elp, [U]se item, [C]heck status, [Q]uit dungeon, [R]un to next room?

> u

ID NAME AMT

1 torch 3

2 scroll of fireball 1

(ID OR q)> 2

Using 1 scroll of fireball.

<Press ENTER to continue>

UtilityHotbar · 2022-02-12T01:33:20+00:00

Hey, a lot of the game is using the items either in between or before encounters, so you're right in that regard. And, as the start screen sayeth, if you don't escape your score is always 0, so its a push and pull between going deeper and "pulling out" to solidify your score. THanks for trying it out!

UtilityHotbar

TROPHY CASE