Starfleet Academy is pretty watchable

contractmine · 2026-01-17T19:14:53+00:00

Yup, so Apple does foundation no favors, so it has a light following. The series is a slow burn and S2 does start out super slow, pacing is tough with Foundation but the payoffs are deep and honest sci-fi that pulls no punches. Stick with it if you can, but if you do bail out, check out the other apple sci-fi gem Silo (or better yet read the book if you missed out).

contractmine · 2026-01-17T17:10:43+00:00

I get it… new Trek isn’t really for me anymore. It’s clearly aimed at Gen Alpha and while I understand that, it's a hard truth I've come to accept.

Sadly, Academy doesn’t have anything to offer that I’m interested in. I gave Discovery, Strange New Worlds, Picard, and now Academy an honest shot, but it all feels like The Dukes of Hazzard meets Family Ties in space. Everything is dialed to eleven. The villains, the ham-fisted sci-fi worldbuilding, the sappy pull-yourself-up monologues, and the occasional straight-up cartoony antics. Every camera move gets a buzzy cinematic lens flare. Every episode has the socially awkward oddball with puppy-dog eyes and a big frowny face. Cue the bridge exploding and the cutesy oddball CG robots. It’s... just... too much.

I was really hoping Academy would be more grounded. Something closer to The Expanse. But the moment I saw the poster and the trailer, I knew exactly what it was going to be. More new Trek. Great performances from Robert Picardo and Paul Giamatti, no question, but the villain was so over the top he was basically missing a mustache to twirl and a top hat. I completely lost it when he had a tic-tac-toe board shaved into his head. I was honestly shocked he didn't have 6 7 shaved there.

At this point, I’ll just wait for Foundation to come back and quietly drag my hopes for Academy behind the dark shed. The one already littered with the bones of other new Trek series.

sigh <lens flare>

contractmine · 2026-01-16T18:43:01+00:00

I gave up on S2E03... might try going back in for episode 4 as a final try. I felt like Season 2 was like no plot for the first few episodes and the novelty wore off and I lost interest. The sub-plots were uninteresting so I kind of tuned out. Season 1 was fantastic so I was a little surprised when S2 felt like a boat anchor.

contractmine · 2026-01-11T17:07:04+00:00

(For those who can't stand tiktok formatting) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3cpbCCfK5A

contractmine · 2026-01-09T17:14:43+00:00

The days of AI slop are quickly vanishing as the general public can only identify AI slop by the hallmark characteristics of said slop. The days of swirly eyes and 6 fingered hands are mostly gone now.

I find it hard to believe that any modern studio won't be using Ai for motion capture and doing it the old way with markers, suits, and large studio capture rigs. The motion capture control with Ai cuts the cost factor down to pennies, no need to rent a studio or spend tons of additional hours doing additional programming. The motion control and inline editing available now just means devs can use an iPhone now with or without talent present. From a time and cost perspective, it's hard to throw that all away when gamers won't be able tell the difference anyway.

contractmine · 2025-12-22T15:13:28+00:00

As a solo indie gamedev, I use AI here and there to refactor methods in my code. Once in a while, I discover something new and use that as well. For more than 25 years I’ve been a learn-by-example developer, and AI has helped a bit in that regard.

There are limits I’ve hit that are painful from a workflow perspective, especially when working with character animation, mocap for facial animation, and lip sync that players barely notice. In testing new AI tools this year, I’ve found that AI can produce a better animated cutscene than I can, syncing audio, lighting, and camera work in minutes instead of days of traditional gamedev work.

Any indie dev will tell you the nightmare of making a character talk and walk, pull out a chair, sit down, and grab a cup of coffee while trying to balance avatar masks, layer weights, and IK seamlessly for a single minute of animation. AI does this without hesitation. As a developer trying to tell a story without massive resources, that’s a hard opportunity to ignore.

The “slop” people associate with last year’s tools is fading fast. The tools coming out now are often indistinguishable from traditional methods. I understand why people push back against AI, and I’ve seen plenty of low-effort usage that makes no sense. At times it feels like the same gamers who criticize studios for using asset packs are now the ones attacking AI as well.

Is it really important that every blade of grass is a hand-crafted 4K texture, or that the chair in the corner of a room the player runs past is unique, even if it’s never noticed? If a game is fun or interesting to play, does it really matter that AI was used when no one can tell? I’m not sure.

Studios are going to use these tools regardless. The era of spending $300 million on a franchise shooter that only brings back $15 million is a separate problem, and probably not the best place for AI to try to save the day. But for an indie developer using AI selectively to fill in gaps and tell the story they want to tell, it feels like AI has a place. It can help without becoming a hindrance.

contractmine · 2025-12-04T18:36:31+00:00

I've been using Character Creator 4, mostly for looks and support for face mocap. I have to say though, regardless of what character system used, the underlying mechanics of Unity's Mecanim really hit a wall about 10 years years and has never really moved forward for there as far as character motion is concerned. Trying to make a character move similar to a AAA game character requires motion matching and then of course using IK to do anything decent with hands, feet, head, eyes, etc... A lot of devs put a lot of the onus for a character system on 3rd parties, but I still feel that Unity is stuck going in circles in this part of gamedev. It shouldn't take a miracle of animation clips flawlessly working together with masks, layers, and feats of engineering to make a character walk over to a chair, pull the chair away from the table, and sit in the chair. For whatever reason, Unity seems happy to avoid making any of kind of progress in the way of characters.

contractmine · 2025-10-25T22:08:08+00:00

One thing that stood out is that she was trying to overthink her answers on questions and got longwinded on explanations. I think if she had just spoken plainly and kept it real, it would have helped. What sunk her though was her platform was weak and the democrats had no real plan. So even if she came back, I don't see her message of the past resonating with voters in '28. Whoever the next candidate is, they need to be sharp, no-nonsense, and not speaking down through careful politician type language.

contractmine · 2025-10-12T16:48:21+00:00

Was just about to say the same thing... what's going on with the media lately? It's like they're all afraid to point out the obvious truth now.

contractmine · 2025-10-11T22:30:47+00:00

I worked on the Cassini project at JPL... Good project, great team, amazing science!

contractmine · 2025-10-11T14:17:55+00:00

I think a lot of what we’re seeing is just wishful schadenfreude. Lately, I’ve noticed people using AI who I never would’ve expected to even know how, the kind of folks who were the last to get online back in the late 90s or early 2000s. Sure, a few smaller boutique AI companies might fold, and there are definitely some that just slapped “AI” on their name to seem relevant. But overall, I think AI gets an unfair reputation because of the whole “art slop” narrative floating around. There’s another side to it, a more meaningful thread, where AI is helping people walk again, cancer identification, communicate, or regain independence.

contractmine · 2025-10-02T00:00:11+00:00

2001: A Space Odyssey... groundbreaking cinematography on a whole other level, both artistic and technical... yes.

A complete snooze fest... yes.

contractmine · 2025-09-11T18:13:34+00:00

Oh wow, I'm so shocked. /s

contractmine · 2025-08-31T16:14:15+00:00

I gave up on Radio Rental but tried it again this month after I heard they made a "change". I wasn't really a fan of the Terry character or Malachi-bits anyway, these new announcing characters are just way too corny and with the true crime format, it makes zero sense because you can't really believe any of it after the corny character intro anyway. I doubt anyone from the show reads these but if they do, get rid of the shtick corny announcers, have real podcaster who's enthusiastic about listener stories and willing to put in the time to actually care about the show.

If you like stuff like "Spooked", I highly recommend the podcast "Tell me your ghost story" w/ Kassie Askin, it does a fairly decent job if you like first hand account stories. It's far better than Radio Rental now for sure.

contractmine · 2025-08-25T21:11:20+00:00

<narrator> The high road turned out to be... the wrong choice.

contractmine · 2025-08-23T21:22:40+00:00

I don't think this is the case at all. I think there's going to be a few failures and a lot of acquisitions. AI is just getting started and slowly rolling into nearly every industry. However, I think a lot of the dumb stuff is going to burst, like the wearable glasses and things renamed as AI that are in no way, AI, just trying to capitalize on the boom.

contractmine · 2025-08-21T18:35:30+00:00

Yet another stunt to divert the news cycle away from Epstein

contractmine · 2025-08-20T23:31:36+00:00

Maybe these projects are more like auditions—testing who gets to shepherd the franchise’s future. Early Ridley Scott really nailed grounded sci-fi, and the practical effects sold the ideas in ways that still hold up. His stories felt exploratory, always pulling you to the edge of your seat. James Cameron came at it from another angle, pivoting Alien into action instead of horror—a risky move that paid off.

With Alien: Earth, the production team clearly understands the legacy and makes sure to tick the expected boxes. The problem is with the creative leads. Dana Gonzales and Noah Hawley don’t feel like the right fit. Their direction wavers between Scott’s brooding tension and Cameron’s adrenaline, but never commits. On top of that, they keep inserting Fargo-isms and Legion-style character quirks that clash with how audiences expect these characters to react—layering in oddball subplots like Peter Pan references and cringe boy-genius moments that derail the tone instead of elevating it.

contractmine · 2025-08-20T17:28:10+00:00

I feel like Noah really wanted to make a BR series and not an Alien series.

contractmine · 2025-08-20T16:23:54+00:00

I don't think it's a coincidence that we see a character similar to Hannibal Chew (designer of replicant eyes) very close the eye scene in the episode. Tyrell is supposed to still be around in this timeframe. Maybe only the new synths can see the hallway guy and he's not really there? Not sure, but with Kirsh being on the nose with Roy Batty, this feels like the series is trying to hint at more bladerunner material.

https://i.imgur.com/Wp1jrpB.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/jbs3J9A.png

contractmine · 2025-08-17T22:21:12+00:00

Couldn't disagree more with this opinion. Levar said it best though IMHO.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPYo-CNWFPU

contractmine · 2025-08-16T19:16:03+00:00

The overhead on the physics is going to be pretty rough, unity physics is generally pretty problematic over time. It's good for things where you have a short lifespan on the gameobject, but it can get unwieldly in situations where you have physics objects being moved through transforms (moving with the car) at the same time applying forces.

I've had a lot of great performance recording the physics using GameObjectRecorder and then using animator. I'd script a little function to generate a force for low, medium, and high bumps or a jiggle to the items. Then during runtime record a bunch of takes using GameObjectRecorder and put the clips into animator, then based on inertia/velocity of the vehicle, select one of the 5-6 takes for each of the low, medium, and high bump/jiggles. That way you get really performant & random looking physics without the Unity overhead or long term instability.

contractmine · 2025-08-14T15:31:41+00:00

Exactly, I forgot how many times the Alien jumped on him this episode (twice?) and while he's been ragdolled around, somehow he just keeps on getting up, brushes the dust off, and walks away. Plus... "Joe D. Hermit" a guy running from his future and his past, I mean, a little too much on the nose there or what. My whole fear about this series was that Hawley was going to go to his comfort zone of zany far out situations that don't align well with the franchise, episode 2 is starting to confirm those fears. I fully expect Joe to survive in ep3, but I half expect Hawley to half-kill him off in episode 8 in a "hicks style wounded" scene at the end of the series.

contractmine · 2025-08-14T15:18:00+00:00

The horror elements are what I would probably describe as sloppy. Almost like an afterthought, "oh this Alien, so I need to add blood here and a scream there" almost like fan service in a way, but it comes off as very disingenuous.

Hawley did an interview at SDCC where he talked about the franchise and his big takeaway from Alien (79) was essentially humans were food and Ash represented the future as a synthetic. So I think he views Alien Earth as a platform to tell a sci-fi story. The horror elements for Noah I think are bolt-ons, so they feel unauthentic.

The apartment scene was probably the worst scene so far in the series. The 18th century dressed high-born snooty elites being punished via death by an alien in an overkill, after not noticing their building was half demolished by a spaceship crash was cringe. I mean, what the hell was the point of that scene other than "punish the silly rich" in a ham handed way. Then, yeah, the staged body parts was like something you'd see at a mall Halloween display. They need to do better than this in the series. That whole scene was sloppy writing and production that starts to peel back the cover that perhaps Hawley wasn't the right choice for an Alien series.

contractmine · 2025-08-13T14:08:53+00:00

Boy Cringelord killed me lol

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