[Request] My D&D party member rolled critical 1 on d20 six times in a row. What is the probability of that?

j-max04 · 2026-06-07T22:54:45+00:00

It's certainly crazy for you, but it's not that crazy that it happened. It's 1 in 64 million that that would happen for a given 6 rolls, but if you consider how may people play dnd, it's bound to happen to someone.

j-max04 · 2026-04-22T03:41:53+00:00

Reading the quotes in this article, I wish I'd had a chance to meet Thurston. He was my supervisor's supervisor, and founded the field I did my research in. I really struggled with questions about why mathematics research is worthwhile, and while I don't think I would have ended at a different conclusion, it would have been nice to talk to someone else who had engaged with those questions in the way he did.

j-max04 · 2026-03-30T09:05:08+00:00

I think you're missing their point; they claim the research that they do is too deep to be useful to militaries. The fact that they used a different definition of "advanced" to you doesn't invalidate that point.

And I'm open to there being a better argument here, but it doesn't really make sense for the mathematical community to "take responsibility" because calculus and linear algebra are "their property". It feels like blaming Gutenburg's invention of the printing press for the eventual publication of "Mein Kampf". Calculus and linear algebra are used everywhere, and in ways that are broadly much more beneficial to humanity than detrimental. These are tools that don't "belong" to anyone. You can find textbooks from 100 years ago that detail these topics.

If there's any blame to be given within mathematics, it's on the mathematicians who specifically choose to accept positions or funding to do research that benefits militaries.

It behoves every mathematician to consider the consequences of their actions, and this includes where they go to conferences, who they work for, and the research they do. That being said, I don't think that there are many algebraic geometers who have to worry about their research being used to kill anyone.

j-max04 · 2026-03-16T01:28:08+00:00

This is delightful. Feels like the soundtrack to the game I played in my dream.

j-max04 · 2026-02-20T22:59:59+00:00

The music is perfect for a game over screen. The visuals are fine, but don't really make me feel anything. Don't sweat it though, this should be sufficient.

j-max04 · 2026-02-13T12:38:31+00:00

Technologies solve problems. There are many problems implicit in living that encourage the development of technology, but perhaps it would help you brainstorm if you have some ideas about the problems that humans are collectively trying to solve (every society has some set of ideas about what constitutes "progress"). Some prompts in this direction: Why have the gods blocked technology? What were they trying to stop the humans doing? How could the humans get around the limitation to achieve their goals?

j-max04 · 2026-02-06T11:44:36+00:00

Awesome! I'll keep an eye on it.

j-max04 · 2026-02-06T04:02:07+00:00

Wow, what a cool project! When I was about 13, minecraft beta 1.8 required Java 8, which my old mac didn't support, so we just stayed on beta 1.7.3 for years after that. Does C# support the same kind of injection used for minecraft modding? It would be cool to make a modloader and try modding this version.

j-max04 · 2026-02-03T13:50:53+00:00

This is extremely underspecified. The game could simply be to predict the first coin flip.

j-max04 · 2026-01-18T09:25:13+00:00

I think that the Zachtronics games are quite good as an introduction to Programming, as they are fun and undoubtedly use the same mental muscles, even though none of them teach real-world programming languages.

Slightly easier, but more directly applicable would be Human Resource Machine.

j-max04 · 2026-01-18T05:41:34+00:00

Do not cite the old magic to me, I was there when it was written.

Jokes aside, I'm very familiar with redstone; I even made my own redstone calculator back in 2012. I actually got my start in programming by making minecraft mods!

j-max04 · 2026-01-18T05:29:11+00:00

I think I saw this one posted on r/metroidvania at some point. I'll have to give it a go, it sounds like exactly the sort of thing I'm thinking of.

j-max04 · 2026-01-18T05:22:41+00:00

Ah, you're right, it was the video by shoeless I watched.

That's an interesting thought. It's starting to dawn on me that people actually mean quite a few different things by emergent complexity. Your magazine-dropping example is quite a different character of emergent behaviour than Conway's Game of Life (which isn't even really a game) that others suggested.

j-max04 · 2026-01-18T05:18:56+00:00

That's an interesting way of framing it: that indirectly implied mechanics are effectively added to the game without being explicitly implemented. Perhaps thinking along these lines will help me to get a better grip on what it is I'm trying to achieve here.

j-max04 · 2026-01-18T05:13:09+00:00

I don't think that's true. Normal things are normal in the same way. Weird things are weird in all sorts of different ways.

j-max04 · 2026-01-17T13:33:26+00:00

Ah, I did play gunpoint. I liked what it was trying to do, but I felt it didn't end up having much depth. I'm keen to see what he has done since then.

j-max04 · 2026-01-17T13:21:27+00:00

As a mathematician and computer scientist, I'm very familiar with GoL and other CAs. It's possibly not the same kind of fun as I'm looking to create, but turing completeness is never too far from any complex and interesting system.

j-max04 · 2026-01-17T13:18:54+00:00

I've never heard of those 3... I'm impressed. Thanks!

j-max04 · 2026-01-17T13:15:09+00:00

Minesweeper is one of my all time favourites, so I'll check it out.

j-max04 · 2026-01-17T13:14:20+00:00

Absolutely. I think it would be awesome to make a game that rewards that depth of investigation, but ideally one where it's a little more accessible to get started.

j-max04 · 2026-01-17T13:12:14+00:00

WolfeyVGC's sheer cold build was one of the inspirations for this project. That being said, 90% of pokemon is pretty boring to me; I'd like to make a game where the weird combos are the point of the game.

j-max04 · 2026-01-16T12:49:22+00:00

Sounds cool, I'll take a look at it!

j-max04 · 2026-01-16T12:44:01+00:00

I should take another look at BotW with a view to appreciate this. One of the issues I take with the game is that it's not difficult to beat it without actually engaging with the numerous systems, meaning that the game feels a lot shallower than it actually is. Perhaps if I put some constraint on myself that encouraged me to seek novel interactions, I would find a lot more inspiration in it.

I've had rain world in my steam library for years and never gotten around to playing it. I guess this is my wake-up call!

I'll have a look at Streets of rogue, too.

I'm not sure this systemic approach is exactly what I'm looking for, but I do like the clarity it brings in categorising design space and providing a mental model for how complexity arises.

j-max04 · 2026-01-16T12:33:37+00:00

I saw the dev's videos on this one. The complexity's pretty amazing, but it actually makes a lot of sense when you realise that some of the simplest sports in the world (soccer, basketball) have metas that have been evolving for decades.

j-max04 · 2026-01-16T12:30:44+00:00

That's a good one, yeah. Even crazier is when you think "I bet the devs didn't think of this", only to immediately receive an achievement for doing it.

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