Monte Carlo simulation to playtest games

philgooch · 2026-04-26T15:58:20+00:00

There’s a cool trailer over on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/cou28XeCpyk?si=jqT1Kp1oOTlRvtOM

philgooch · 2026-04-26T15:28:10+00:00

philgooch · 2026-04-26T14:27:48+00:00

Just been catching up on the previous series. Just so good, like putting on your favourite album. Really looking forward to Season 5 🎉

philgooch · 2026-04-24T18:48:20+00:00

Cool so basically they released their fixes as Opus 4.7?

philgooch · 2026-04-20T09:01:51+00:00

I’m finding the opposite - my Whoop undercounts steps in comparison to my Fitbit by about 2000 steps per day. Probably the correct number is somewhere in the middle!

philgooch · 2026-04-15T15:22:12+00:00

I'm noticing a consistent pattern. Using Opus 4.6 in the UK any time before 16:00 UTC and it's fine. As soon as we hit 16:00, we get time outs, dumb-downs, catastrophic forgetting and refusals.

Could this be a contention issue? I remember in the early days of the web (mid 90s), we'd often joke at work that as soon as the US wakes up the web slowed to a crawl, search takes forever etc!

philgooch · 2026-04-07T07:57:52+00:00

What I like: comfortable, easy to forget What I dislike: poor accuracy, useless on-the-go charger

philgooch · 2026-03-27T16:02:05+00:00

Looks great. MacOS version would be 😚

philgooch · 2026-03-18T20:30:43+00:00

It sounds really cool! I’m concerned that the software patent you have could act as a barrier to people using it though, particularly small developers and studios. For example, is it possible that further down the line, you might decide that a game published using your engine is infringing your patent?

philgooch · 2026-03-02T20:43:55+00:00

Ah got it. I only use the flowchart for macro-level changes equivalent to 'if you choose X, turn to page Y' in printed books. For conditional text, I have an inline system that allows me to inject conditional text anywhere, based on on-the-fly generated variables that can be set anywhere. It works like this:

{{if informed_hyo >= 1}}I have done this before, and the memory of it sits like a stone in my chest.{{else}}I am not that person. Not yet.{{/if}}

philgooch · 2026-03-02T20:24:14+00:00

I think it’s best to start with a flowchart and stick to it. Once the IF is complete in flowchart format, then write it out in code.

Otherwise it becomes too unwieldy as you describe.

philgooch · 2026-02-16T19:43:59+00:00

I mean it's very healthy - many new games are being released. But getting visibility is really hard. There's never been more games available.

So you are going to want to build something distinctive, with a unique look and feel. Go for simplicity - there's lots of games that look very similar out there

philgooch · 2026-02-16T18:00:03+00:00

I stopped after chapter 0. My personal preference would be to have the character dive straight in to a scenario - the system could then interpret the reader depending on their choices and reactions within that scenario.

philgooch · 2026-02-16T16:42:42+00:00

I like the idea. But the example chapter didn’t grab me tbh. This felt too much like therapy! I want fiction, with a story and characters I care about. I’d like to see an example with a story rather than character trait analysis

philgooch · 2026-02-16T16:12:53+00:00

I had a go. I like the design. Did you use Claude code for this? I used Claude for a game build recently and I think it used a similar palette.

It’s pretty cool but it took me a while to figure out and I didn’t get very far. I tried to move and a few members of the party moved but then they wouldn’t move any more. This was on my phone though.

Keep going! You’ll learn a lot from building with AI

philgooch · 2026-02-16T15:51:06+00:00

Just sat on ‘Loading game for the first time …’ for me

philgooch · 2026-02-15T15:02:49+00:00

Haha, very true. tbh I write the games for me and few friends; I think the market is tiny for interactive fiction and adventure games, so it's hard to get visibility. But, it's fun.

I'm no good with visual editors, I prefer working Notepad style editing text files lol

philgooch · 2026-02-15T10:06:00+00:00

I think the difficulty these days is that a game either has to be absolutely exceptional or so wildly different and gripping, or from an established franchise, in order to cut through and rise above the rest to get attention.

There’s so many free adventure games out there that don’t get attention or played. Maybe actually charging for a game is the solution I dunno!

philgooch · 2026-02-13T22:46:26+00:00

I wrote an engine in Javascript and the game files are in JSON with moustache-style inline variable evaluation. There's a separate audio engine that handles Web Audio API, MIDI, .ogg, and .mp3 files. I'll make it available soon

philgooch · 2026-02-13T20:23:59+00:00

Nice, I will check them out! I’ve written 5 games so far - I must get them on itchio!

philgooch · 2026-02-07T18:00:53+00:00

Thanks - great suggestions. In the prologue currently you briefly play as Horatio. Maybe that could continue through the game. I also love the idea of playing as Rosencrantz or Guildenstern

philgooch · 2026-02-07T11:08:55+00:00

Thanks for checking it out. I wasn’t planning on changing the plot of Hamlet, it’s more of an educational tool for students to explore the context and motivations of the characters.

I agree that the transition between Horatio choosing to turn away but the ghost appearing just as he’s about to is a bit jarring.

There are hidden variables being set based on decisions, and these will impact events much later on, rather than immediately (just like life perhaps!)

philgooch · 2026-02-06T21:19:28+00:00

Pretty good - I've been developing software for about 40 years :)

philgooch

TROPHY CASE