1338's recent activity
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
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Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 5(ish) Discussion in ~games
1338 Link ParentThanks! I ended with 407 unplayed games. Unlike last year, my number actually went down!Thanks!
I ended with 407 unplayed games. Unlike last year, my number actually went down!
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Comment on What change would make you quit Tildes? in ~tildes
1338 LinkUnmuteable polka music that plays while you type any comment. A new rule restricting conversation to only be about the regulations and publishing policies of Moldovan journals of social science...Unmuteable polka music that plays while you type any comment.
A new rule restricting conversation to only be about the regulations and publishing policies of Moldovan journals of social science
Deimos edits all comments to end with "Carthago delenda est"
The only theme is now white text on neon pink background.
You can only access tildes via Chrome
Mandatory LaTeX. Also, mandatory latex.
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Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 5(ish) Discussion in ~games
1338 Link ParentDay 31: For the final day, I decided to play some of my oldest games. I did that in two ways. The last (earliest) games on my unplayed list are games I know I definitely played at some point, but...Day 31:
For the final day, I decided to play some of my oldest games. I did that in two ways.
The last (earliest) games on my unplayed list are games I know I definitely played at some point, but probably before Steam reliably tracked play history. The first one I saw that I know for sure I never played is one called: Droplitz. Droplitz is no longer available to buy, and has been completely delisted from the steam store. It's a relatively simple game where you rotate hexagon tiles with tracks over them in order to form a contiguous path across the board. The catch is that you need to do it over and over again as fast as possible. Tiles disappear and get replaced and a timer resets when you complete a path. It's tetris energy.
The game was surprisingly well done for what it is and ran without hitches for how old it is and how long it has been abandoned. I didn't play that one for too long, for much the same reason I don't play tetris.
The other "earliest" game is one I actually got last year and have played before, like 25 years ago: Zoombinis.
I remember playing this game a million times at school when I was younger. It was definitely quite familiar, though I didn't recall there was actually a "story" to it. I was surprised to discover the premise of this game was capitalists screwing over labor and indenturing them, making the "logical journey" basically an underground railroad.
I played through and got one trip of Zoombinis through to the promised land. I lost a few Zoombinis to the fucking pizza level on my first attempt. I realized after falling into the trap of thinking "it's a pizza, there has to be cheese so surely that doesn't count as a topping" and quickly blowing through 5 guesses, that I definitely had that same issue as a kid. That left me with too few Zoombinis to get past the first rest area. My second round went better and I didn't lose any until after the second rest stop. I lost 1 Zoombini on the crystal level on my first go because I totally misunderstood what you were supposed to do and thought it would be more similar to earlier levels. I then lost most of my Zoombinis on the last level, I couldn't make out a few of what the symbols were supposed to be. I assume it was easier to see back in the 800x600 days. It was a nice blast to the past, but definitely don't see myself getting as excited to play it as I did as a kid.
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Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 5(ish) Discussion in ~games
1338 Link ParentDay 30: When I scrolled through my list of unplayed items, my eyes would be caught by a stupid broken icon for something called "Nexuiz STUPID Mode." Trying to click through to the store page...Day 30:
When I scrolled through my list of unplayed items, my eyes would be caught by a stupid broken icon for something called "Nexuiz STUPID Mode." Trying to click through to the store page wouldn't work, I'd just get taken to the frontpage, and I had absolutely no memory of what Nexuiz is and what exactly made this game STUPID. So I decided to give it a try.
Nexuiz seems to be an older school FPS, sort of HL2 Deathmatch style but with newer graphics. It's also a bit faster paced, maybe somewhere between HL2 DM and Halo 1. Based on the error message at the bottom of the screen, I take it the game was, once upon a time, multiplayer. Nowadays, with servers long gone, I was left playing with a bunch of bots. I played a few rounds. It got easier when I increased the screen resolution and tweaked the brightness so it wasn't all blurry shadows. The maps are small with a bunch of launch pads and multi level layouts. Weapons spawn on spots on the map and you get swapped to new ones automatically, all to decrease downtime and keep people constantly moving and shooting. There's mutations, like a pogo stick mutation or one that makes your allies glow, which I'm going to guess is related to the STUPID mode.
Next to Nexuiz STUPID mode was also Nexuiz BETA, which I also tried but unfortunately it would just freeze up on the main menu. After trying that I realized I had regular Nexuiz on the list, which I tried but had the same freezing bug. The discussion suggests this is related to the servers being dead and requires blocking the hosts for the servers, which I couldn't be bothered doing.
I also gave Vigil: Blood Bitterness a try. This game is enigmatic in its brokenness. You can't buy this game anymore and someone discovered that the only way to launch it is to use a magic link to install an unlisted demo of a totally unrelated game. If you don't do that arcane step, the game will just pull up the steam store's homepage. Once you crack how to launch the game, you get a weirdly blurry menu with weird windows 95 themed confirmation modals. The game itself is entirely black and white (no grey) except for a blood-red splotches that appear when you click and some inexplicable orange blob. It's point and click and seemingly a puzzle game (I got quite stuck on the first map until finding out that you had to right click while standing in specific spots to do things). It's meant to be horror vibes I guess. There's video cutscenes but they were totally broken for me. I found the game pretty inexplicable even after getting it working and gave up not long after getting it working.
I also tried out Chains, another now unavailable game. This was actually not horribly broken. In this one you have balls of varying sizes and colors and need to draw a line between 3 or more of them, of the same color and in sufficient proximity, to make them disappear. It has some basic physics that makes the whole thing feel sorta fluid-like. On each level there's a specific goal, like clear 100 balls, but after the first one it starts to introduce twists like a need to keep the "river" flowing (that is, clear large balls that block things up so the other balls keep falling) or build a single line where the balls (which each have a numeric value in this level) all add up to a specific number. The game could certainly use more polish, the graphics are weak and overall it feels like a student project than a professional indie game. Amusingly they didn't compensate for aspect ratio so if you maximize the window the balls all get stretched out.
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Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 5(ish) Discussion in ~games
1338 Link ParentDay 29: Wacky is the best word to describe the vibe of Cargo! - The quest for gravity. Your quasi-dirigible crash lands on an island of ugly, fat, naked baby mutants who are somewhere between...Day 29:
Wacky is the best word to describe the vibe of Cargo! - The quest for gravity. Your quasi-dirigible crash lands on an island of ugly, fat, naked baby mutants who are somewhere between Oompa Loompas and Minions, including with a tendency to break out in song, but with a fetish for being kicked or otherwise abused. The main mechanic is running around the island, throwing debris, and kicking the naked babies, in order to build up currency to buy vehicle parts from gods (who are giant masks on a elevated rail). You then get to build vehicles, mostly water/air, from the parts.
It's... interesting. The vehicle building is a bit rough to get the hang of and not super powerful or capable, but it's always fun to mess around in a vehicle builder like this and there is a sandbox mode. The physics engine is satisfactory for the physics heavy gameplay (unlike a certain other game I played recently) and while definitely aged, the graphics are fine. There's voice acting and effort was spent on audio in general.
But overall it seems like the sort of game my nephew (who found Goat Simulator 3 the height of comedy last christmas) would love. As for me, I doubt I will revisit. But given I purchased it in 2012 for $2.50, I don't feel too bad about that.
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Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 5(ish) Discussion in ~games
1338 LinkDay 28: At the beginning of this year I played through Mining Mechs, and enjoyed it. As you might expect, it's a mining game I got at the same time as DigDigDrill and some other mining games. That...Day 28:
At the beginning of this year I played through Mining Mechs, and enjoyed it. As you might expect, it's a mining game I got at the same time as DigDigDrill and some other mining games. That included the sequel to Mining Mechs, Super Mining Mechs, which is what I gave a try today.
Super Mining Mech has a quick lead in that provides a story tie-in to the previous game before it then introduces the main plot element, which is that now you're mining on a different planet. Honestly I could have done without that and the random bits of half-assed dialogue, nobody is playing mining games for the writing. It's mostly the same as the first game, but with new ores, revised graphics, a revamped mechanism for the passive income generating mines, and a new "mission" system where you have to get specific ores.
Overall I think I prefer the first one. There doesn't seem to be much choice in how you upgrade your ship and the new way you have to make a mine and power plant by gathering a bunch of specific classes of ore feels less enjoyable than the old mechanism where you just had to run pipes. Maybe the mechanics evolve in more interesting ways later on, but it kinda feels like they invested in the wrong areas.
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Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games
1338 Link ParentThankfully there is a fast forward buttonThankfully there is a fast forward button
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Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games
1338 Link ParentDay 27: Alt-Frequencies is a unique game. It's a puzzle game I guess, the mechanic revolves around scrolling to different stations on a radio, selecting a snippet of audio from one station, and...Day 27:
Alt-Frequencies is a unique game. It's a puzzle game I guess, the mechanic revolves around scrolling to different stations on a radio, selecting a snippet of audio from one station, and then submitting that snippet to another station (like you're calling in). So like one station has a person ranting about traffic and you capture one sentence and then submit it to a station talking about whether the mayor has done a good job. The main riddle is finding the one block of dialogue that would make sense in the context of what's on the other channels. And there's a groundhog day element to justify having the stations playing on repeat.
It's a pretty short game, I got through half of it. The worst part was the tutorial, which uses phrasing like "press the key you chose to bind to record" but doesn't say what that key is (and it's not something I chose, it was a default I was never shown). The first time I tried playing, I tried to pull up the control mapping and that caused the game to get in a weird locked up state. But restarting and trying again it worked.
The gameplay is surprisingly engaging once you get into it, but it's certainly not something that would scale. The writing is a bit cheesy but not bad.
I got this alongside a couple other games ahead of the studio shutting down and taking the games down from the store, which I think I found out about from a thread on here.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
1338 LinkI've been working on my book tracker still. Got the styling in a much better place and added in some neat features around shelves. You can now take a picture of your bookcase, scan it in, and...I've been working on my book tracker still. Got the styling in a much better place and added in some neat features around shelves. You can now take a picture of your bookcase, scan it in, and manage books room by bookcase by shelf, re-arrange on screen, plan things out/catalog. It integrates with the existing features so if you have that book already added into the system it links to it, and it'll import from google books/openlibrary if not.
Some screenshots:
https://ibb.co/mYgx1sL
https://ibb.co/KpkWHqDH
https://ibb.co/0RFf6WL5(ignore the messy tags and spotty reading data - just testing data using an old import from storygraph)
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Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games
1338 Link ParentDay 26: Another 2 game night. The first one I tried is Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time. This is... bad. Like tragically bad. The idea behind it is great, it's similar to Zelda BOTW/TOTK in...Day 26:
Another 2 game night.
The first one I tried is Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time. This is... bad. Like tragically bad. The idea behind it is great, it's similar to Zelda BOTW/TOTK in terms of it being physics-ey puzzles where you start with manipulating objects to solve the puzzles and then move on to combining them into vehicles and such. The problem is that the physics engine is way way way too basic for that. Instead of there being multiple ways to potentially solve a problem as long as you figure a way to hit the lever with an object, you instead need to do it the exact way the developers intended because otherwise objects will just go through the lever. You can't even fling objects despite the character having a robotic arm manipulator that's perfect for that. And the very style and characters suggest it would be a very physics-y game, being a--Rick (from Rick and Morty) like--mad scientist with robot companions and a time machine. And overall, the game just drips with a lack of polish and care.
After that disappointment I swapped over to Hexcells Plus. It's similar to Tametsi where it's minesweeper+, but Hexcells sticks to just a hex grid and adds in mechanics well past what minesweeper has. I like the pacing of hexcells more than tametsi and the difficulty vs satisfaction curve feels more enjoyable to me personally. The main problem I had is that it's basically backwards from Minesweeper in that you left click for what's essentially the mine. It took some conscious effort to fight the urge to do it backwards, but that faded quickly. It is a game I think would work better for me on mobile than desktop.
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Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games
1338 Link ParentYou'd definitely need one or two other games in between before you reaching Zachtronics. I'm enjoying it, I've been playing it after getting full with the other games the last couple nights, but...You'd definitely need one or two other games in between before you reaching Zachtronics. I'm enjoying it, I've been playing it after getting full with the other games the last couple nights, but the programming part continues to confuse me. There's a variety of cards available including some with specific conditionals, but it's simultaneously overpowered for what you need to do and underpowered for being able to truly automate things. I just hit a part where there's a second type of thing you can do with the robots, so maybe as the game goes on you hit a point where it's more sophisticated.
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Comment on When did your preferred fighting game franchises peak? in ~games
1338 Link ParentWell Tekken obviously peaked with the bowling minigame in Tekken Tag Tournament.Well Tekken obviously peaked with the bowling minigame in Tekken Tag Tournament.
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Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games
1338 Link ParentDay 25: I scrolled down further in my backlog for today. My first attempt was Out There Somewhere, bought in the same bundle as Camera Obscura in 2016. It starts as generic 2D shmup and then when...Day 25:
I scrolled down further in my backlog for today.
My first attempt was Out There Somewhere, bought in the same bundle as Camera Obscura in 2016. It starts as generic 2D shmup and then when you eventually die it switches to a 2D platformer. The platformer's most unique feature is a teleporter gun. I only played 5 minutes because the main movement controls used the arrow keys without any ability to remap them, and my keyboard is 60% form factor.
After that I gave a shot to Intergalactic Bubbles, which came in the same bundle as Marble Mayhem. It's Bubble Shooter with a 3D orientation and some unnecessary, but enjoyable, physics. There's also some power-ups/upgrades but I couldn't really find a reason to use them for the first 20 rounds I played until I got bored. There wasn't anything particularly bad or wrong with the game, the pure arcade games just don't feel super engaging anymore.
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Comment on Tildes Survey #6: Vote for the next four surveys we do! (Results) in ~talk
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Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games
1338 Link ParentDay 24: Only a week to go. Ritual of Raven is a farming game with a witchy theme and automation via programmable robots. Similar category as a game I played a week or so ago, Fields of Fortune, a...Day 24:
Only a week to go.
Ritual of Raven is a farming game with a witchy theme and automation via programmable robots. Similar category as a game I played a week or so ago, Fields of Fortune, a Stardew/Harvest Moon style farming game and life sim but with automation. Raven however has a very different approach, with much more focus on the design side, that is graphics, audio, story, and character design. Both games are fairly loose on the time/stamina crunch.
I am curious if they extend the automation/coding much further beyond just adding more commands and helper utilities. At least as far as I got there's no quasi-coding or conditional/branching logic, it's limited to commands and loops. It all revolves around using tarot-themed robots to do the tilling/sowing/watering/harvesting for you. I have a gut feeling that the game isn't going to have as much depth as I'd like, but I certainly could be wrong.
It's one of those games where you start with a really small village and over the course of the game more villagers get added and you have quests to make them feel welcome, which I do like as an approach vs having the big dump of 90% of villagers upfront.
I wish I could figure out how to feed the seedcake, or even just spare seeds, to my raven familiar. Seems a shame there doesn't seem to be a way to do it when he's constantly talking about eating seeds in dialogue.
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Comment on The Enhanced Games are Sunday. Here's what to know about the controversial event. in ~sports
1338 Link ParentThe ethics isn't about cheating, but creating cultural acceptance and open financial incentives for young/upcoming athletes to engage in unhealthy use and abuse of substances with often borderline...The ethics isn't about cheating, but creating cultural acceptance and open financial incentives for young/upcoming athletes to engage in unhealthy use and abuse of substances with often borderline legality. Same general category of ethics as marketing for cigarettes and gambling, but much more dangerous given the cultural context of athletics.
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Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games
1338 Link ParentDay 23: Another thumbs up today. Minami Lane is a Japan-themed micro-city builder/management sim. You select buildings along a small street and select recipes and upgrades to satisfy the goals for...Day 23:
Another thumbs up today. Minami Lane is a Japan-themed micro-city builder/management sim. You select buildings along a small street and select recipes and upgrades to satisfy the goals for each level. And you pet cats and collect litter while letting the sim run. The art is pleasant and the mood is very cozy. It's a super small indie game, I got through most of the levels in one play-through and I can't see spending more than an hour on the "free play" so total playtime is quite low, but I only paid a few bucks for it last year so dollars per hour comes out average.
Sidenote, I don't know if maybe the ideal "recipes" for each age group is randomized but, if not, the developers and I have very different views of what old people and young people like.
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Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games
1338 Link ParentDay 22: Baba is win. Another one I bought during last year's burner, Baba Is You is a game I heard of back when it was popular but that failed to pop into my conscious awareness. It is a puzzle...Day 22:
Baba is win.
Another one I bought during last year's burner, Baba Is You is a game I heard of back when it was popular but that failed to pop into my conscious awareness. It is a puzzle game with simple top-down 2D maps and graphics, but a really clever declarative mechanic. The puzzles feel really satisfying to solve and the solutions are always logically consistent and often elegant. The mechanic is so beautifully simple but has so much potential, which I'm sure the game makes full use of. The design is consistent and cohesive, the simple language matching the pixel art and the nature of the game-play itself.
I got through the first couple submaps (maybe a couple dozen levels total) and was about to quit when the game suddenly froze up and crashed on me. Hopefully it was just a fluke, would suck to discover the game is actually buggy.
Will definitely play more.
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Comment on May 2026 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games
1338 LinkDay 21: I think SMIB: Mission Cure might be my least favorite game yet this burner. It's an early access game that got abandoned with only 12 levels. I assume I grabbed it last year as I thought...Day 21:
I think SMIB: Mission Cure might be my least favorite game yet this burner. It's an early access game that got abandoned with only 12 levels. I assume I grabbed it last year as I thought it was a programming game, but instead the game consists of just dropping "commands" to tell your robot to turn when it reaches a corner and to push a button when it reaches a button. I can only assume it was intended for 4-6 age group. The part that really ruined my ability to enjoy it is that the camera controls are painful in a way that's hard to describe, and in this game you constantly have to be moving the camera as the maps are tight cubes with lots of obstructions. Despite the game being abandoned with only a demo's worth of content, I couldn't stand playing more than half of it. Luckily I only paid 64 cents.
After that I decided to give a second game a shot. I went with SUMMERHOUSE as I knew when I bought it that it wasn't very substantial. It's less a game and more a toy where you build a building (or buildings) in a landscape. The assets are well done and it's a nice scenic mood. My main complaint is that I wish there were more assets, you're fairly limited to a certain kind of building as there's only a few distinct wall types and you can't do as much with the roof as I'd like. There's some nice variety in the misc assets though. I did hit one bug where the menu suddenly shifted right off the edge of the screen.
I've been working through the Legacy of the Force series. I just finished Sacrifice and am now on Inferno. I knew where
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JacenSpoiler
MaraI'm definitely starting to look at ebay listings of Fate. Sucks knowing that after Fate it's over (minus that one comic series), fuck Disney. I gave in and bought a lot of assorted earlier books - though I've totally lost track of which ones I listened to on audiobook previously (other than the really good ones like Bane and really bad ones like Shatterpoint).