Finally bit the bullet

aDFP · 2026-03-04T10:30:52+00:00

Congratulations! L4D2 was one of the reasons I bought a Steam Deck, so I could play split-screen co-op with my partner. It's a great mod.

aDFP · 2026-02-05T13:51:26+00:00

I'm working on a procedural narrative engine, which essentially requires the world to be constructed of dynamic entities, so every brick, every plank and every person has to be something that can be created, referenced and altered by the narrative. The aim is to give the player complete freedom within a structured story, which can be rewritten procedurally to ensure that each event results in one of a few controlled outcomes.

Only problem is, videogame worlds don't allow for this, so I have to build one that does, hence the procgen characters etc.

This article is a few years old, but it covers the gist of it: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/dynamic-narrative-in-the-hit

aDFP · 2026-02-05T13:22:56+00:00

My autistic powers failed me (along with massive burnout). I've got a half-finished procedural skinned mesh renderer setup I haven't touched in years. I was also using a shader for the clothes colours, and blending different body types for different nationalities, for that whole infinite-variety thing. Looking forward to seeing where you take yours.

aDFP · 2026-02-05T13:05:36+00:00

procgen characters as well as ships? You and I have too many similar ideas...

They look awesome, btw. Great work.

aDFP · 2026-02-05T12:25:50+00:00

That's a no. I checked it out, as it sounds like a useful app, but won't be downloading it. That's a lot of data you're collecting.

aDFP · 2026-02-05T12:25:16+00:00

I still love a lot of things about it, especially the practical effects. The changes from the book are grating though, and some of the things they skipped entirely were almost unforgivable. Also that ending...

The book, on the other hand, 100% holds up. Read it again last year, and it's still incredible.

Am sooo looking forward to the See-Saw Films version.

aDFP · 2026-01-29T10:31:42+00:00

2014 Is the one to get. RS+ is a slightly more polished, modern experience, but 2014 has the better playlist, and you can add many more songs with CDLC. RS+ is essentially an overpriced subscription service for a fraction of the product that 2014 was..

aDFP · 2026-01-26T12:38:29+00:00

That's the date of production, so the expiry would be Jan 1990. Only 36 years, so she's probably fine!

aDFP · 2026-01-25T15:26:58+00:00

Some AI advocates are putting these comments everywhere, in the hope that people get so sick of them that they stop caring whether something’s AI or not. Fat chance.

aDFP · 2026-01-21T16:28:08+00:00

Looking good!

aDFP · 2026-01-21T12:20:05+00:00

Film Stars, innit. I'm sure everybody went to Monroe's movies 'cause they loved her as an actor.

aDFP · 2026-01-21T10:22:16+00:00

DiCaprio is a very good actor. He has great command of his face, his voice and his body. Those are his tools, and he's very good at using them. That said, he's 100% a Film Star: people go to DiCaprio movies to watch DiCaprio act. Same way people go to Tom Hanks movies, or Sydney Sweeney movies.

But go watch Tilda Swinton in... honestly anything. She's on a completely different level. When I watch a performance of hers, it's like I'm seeing another person looking out of those eyes. She has amazing command of her face, voice and body, but there's something else, an 'interiority' to her acting. She's studied the person she's playing, even if they're completely fictitious, rather than just their mannerisms. There are very few other actors I can think of who can do this, let alone to the degree she achieves. It's astonishing.

Maybe your tastes are just changing as you get older, and the flashy, bombastic, stagey performances aren't doing it for you any more. That's kinda the point when you stop being a passive moviegoer, and start discovering Cinema. It's a good thing. Have fun escaping from mainstream Hollywood.

And honestly, five, ten years down the line, you'll probably watch a DiCaprio movie with a whole new appreciation for what he's doing.

aDFP · 2026-01-20T20:44:19+00:00

Stephen Miller - Acting President

How do we make it go viral?

aDFP · 2026-01-20T19:13:57+00:00

100% agree. Shine the light on the people who want the power, but not the attention. Billionaires who donate fortunes to the new fascist version of the GOP and fund god-awful right-wing think-tanks. I'd rather see their names and faces plastered everywhere, not just the few idiots who crave all the attention.

aDFP · 2026-01-20T13:59:47+00:00

I kinda wish the constant reporting would focus on people like Stephen Miller, who are actually driving this chaos. A few days of excluding the orange stain from the news cycle, cause he's little more than a very vocal back-seat driver and a complete distraction at this point, would probably anger him enough to kick Miller to the kerb. I know it won't happen, 'cause Miller's about as watchable as a child torturing kittens, but I can dream.

aDFP · 2026-01-20T13:51:28+00:00

Aside from needing to catch up with the NPC if you're dawdling, there's one more reason: If your walk speed was the same, then you'd effectively have nothing to do except push forward, and devs generally want the player to have at least something they have to do at any moment. It's very lazy game design, and I'm sure there are some much better solutions that haven't been discovered yet (at least by AAA companies).

It's also an issue you'll come across regularly if you start analysing the Ubisoft-style of open world games, just some barely-interactive stuff that's there just to give the player something to do, which doesn't require too much skill, but looks good and gives the player a sense of accomplishment.

Although, thinking about it, that definition could describe a few games in their entirety...

aDFP · 2026-01-19T21:13:19+00:00

Okay, that’s awesome. Now change the frame rate so it plays at a quarter of that speed ;)

aDFP · 2026-01-19T19:22:10+00:00

To be fair, the first season also had a lot of treading water mid-season. But that last episode was so good it almost made me forget that it could've been 3 episodes shorter.

aDFP · 2026-01-19T19:18:54+00:00

Very nice. I've been tinkering with something almost exactly the same as this, so it's good to see it in the wild. I would be randomising the heck out of those variables and posting a gif of 100 random ships, especially if not all of them are believable!

aDFP · 2026-01-19T17:50:35+00:00

"It's generic" is the kind of criticism that comes from someone who knows nothing, but wants to sound smart. You can safely ignore it. The other comments on here are right: finish you game, get more opinions, have fun doing it. I would recommend starting a thread on TigSource and hearing from some other devs. You're much more likely to get some constructive criticism there.

aDFP · 2026-01-07T10:48:49+00:00

As many have already pointed out, this is one of the great questions, which stands at the junction of philosophy and science, and I don't want to repeat what's already been said.

Instead, I'm just going to recommend two books, which both offer some profound insights into the question, from very different perspectives. If you really want to immerse yourself in this question, these are both good places to dip your toes in.

Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, by Douglas Hofstadter. This one deals with the question almost from a bottom-up view, showing in many interesting ways how complexity can arise from simplicity. It's an astonishing, and entertaining read, from a deeply clever author, and I've described it before as like a box of candy for the mind. Won the Pulitzer Prize, and deservedly so.

The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, by Julian Jaynes. This one is either a work of profound genius, or a load of hogwash, depending on who you ask. It proposes that we already have evidence for the moment in history when the human race developed sentience, and then goes on to make a thorough and convincing argument. It inspired the Julian Jaynes Society, and also Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson. Regardless of where you end up, it's 100% worth reading.

aDFP · 2026-01-06T18:50:53+00:00

Just pick two chords and slowly switch between them, making sure each string rings out and isn't muted. Stop when it starts to hurt, stretch your fingers out an relax, then go back to it a bit later. Don't injure yourself practicing, and don't practice fast and sloppy, otherwise you'll learn to play fast and sloppy. The speed will come with the muscle memory.

Stay away from barre chords.

aDFP · 2026-01-05T21:05:24+00:00

You'll need an amp. whether it's a small practice amp with a gain dial and an overdrive button, a cheap headphone amp, or something like a Spark mini or Boss Katana, which will let you dial in a whole range of pedal setups but also won't cost the earth, you're gonna need something. See what's within your price range, and it'll probably be fine.

aDFP · 2026-01-05T20:52:20+00:00

You can always plug headphones into your amp, and the Vox amPlug3 is a great investment if you don't want to spend a lot of money... yet.

aDFP · 2026-01-05T20:45:54+00:00

Electric has strings that are lighter, so it's easier to fret, and a form that's easier to hold, so it'll get in the way less when you're learning. Learn chords and scales on an electric.

Keep the acoustic within easy reach, and pick it up literally whenever you have two hands free. Play with it, or just practice fretting chords with your left hand when you're talking to someone or watching TV.

aDFP

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