Areldyb's recent activity

  1. Comment on Timasomo 2024: The Showcase in ~creative.timasomo

    Areldyb
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    Hey there, space cats: Space Channel 5 x StepMania is go for launch! I took the first level of Space Channel 5: Special Edition and converted it into a set of Dance Dance Revolution-style stages...
    • Exemplary

    Hey there, space cats:

    Space Channel 5 x StepMania

    is go for launch!

    I took the first level of Space Channel 5: Special Edition and converted it into a set of Dance Dance Revolution-style stages for StepMania 5. I used cheat codes to get perfect gameplay in Space Channel 5, recorded it with OBS, cut out what I needed with Kdenlive and ffmpeg, then used ArrowVortex to sync up with the music (this was the hard/annoying part), plot DDR steps to go with the Space Channel 5 gameplay, and generate the stepchart files for StepMania. Other assets like song banners are all just screenshots ineptly edited in GIMP.

    To be honest, I’m not sure how well this really “works” as an idea. Adding DDR arrows to Space Channel 5 essentially removes the memory and quick-decision aspects of the game, making it much easier, and having the game presented as a pre-recorded background video means you miss out on the different things that can happen with less-than-perfect play. But hopefully it’s fun to play anyway, especially on a dance pad!

    For people who just want to see what this looks like: you can watch a playthrough (well, AutoPlay-through) of the first stage here.

    For the DDR freaks out there: you can get the song pack here. Unzip it to your StepMania Songs directory and reload your songs/courses if necessary.

    • Total file size is about 440 MB. That’s a bit heavier than I’d hoped for, but I didn’t have the time to better optimize the background video file size. Sorry!

    • The stepchart files are SSC format only, which means no compatibility with old StepMania versions (v3.9, etc). I needed to make sure the songs wouldn’t cut off after the last step, and I couldn’t find a way to do that using the old SM file format.

    • I recommend some specific StepMania settings:

      • Display Options: Appearance Options: BG Fit Mode: Fit Inside

      • Display Options: Appearance Options: Brightness: 100%

      • Display Options: UI Options: Danger: Hide

      • Disable announcers and dancer characters, if any

    • Report 1-0 contains no steps whatsoever, it’s just the intro cutscene. I wasn’t sure how to include it while also making it skippable, and that’s what I landed on.

    • The Single Medium charts largely follow the gameplay of the original game, but they replace X and Circle button presses with jumps and add a few extra steps for when people cheer.

    • Reports 1-1 and 1-2 also have Single Edit charts. These charts are the same as Single Medium, except they add a row of mines to jump over when people cheer. I couldn’t decide which I liked better, so you get both!

    • The Solo Medium charts are a 1:1 match for the original game inputs. For (an approximation of) the original Space Channel 5 experience, use a gamepad and play these charts with the Stealth mod active.

    Thank you for organizing this year’s Timasomo @kfwyre, I had a lot of fun making this!

    10 votes
  2. Comment on Timasomo 2024: Final Updates in ~creative.timasomo

    Areldyb
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    Not much movement this week, but I did at least put a list together of all the things I want to fix/tweak before the month is out. (Which is distressingly soon...) Edit: oh no oh crap I don't...

    Not much movement this week, but I did at least put a list together of all the things I want to fix/tweak before the month is out. (Which is distressingly soon...)

    Edit: oh no oh crap I don't remember whether I disabled Redshift before I recorded all that gameplay footage at the very start of this project. Oh well, I'm not fixing it now either way, hopefully it looks fine...

    6 votes
  3. Comment on Timasomo 2024: Week 3 Updates in ~creative.timasomo

    Areldyb
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    Fully synced and charted! I've got six-panel charts to match the original Space Channel 5 game inputs, and two different four-panel chart versions for lots of DDR-style jumping around. What's...

    Fully synced and charted! I've got six-panel charts to match the original Space Channel 5 game inputs, and two different four-panel chart versions for lots of DDR-style jumping around.

    What's left: some graphics tweaks (especially to manage file size...), some volume adjustments to the audio, and taking feedback from my long-suffering wife and kids dedicated beta testers.

    I also need to figure out the best way to present this for Showcase Day. I want to upload the files somewhere for the maybe-handful of people who'd want to actually play this, but maybe I should also record some video that everyone else can at least watch on YouTube and get the basic idea?

    8 votes
  4. Comment on Timasomo 2024: Week 2 Updates in ~creative.timasomo

    Areldyb
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    No movement this week, or at least none worth talking about. Still struggling with syncing this thing. Perfectionism is getting in the way here (because I can feel that it's wrong!), so I think I...

    No movement this week, or at least none worth talking about. Still struggling with syncing this thing. Perfectionism is getting in the way here (because I can feel that it's wrong!), so I think I need to focus on getting something that's close and then tweaking it later rather than trying to get each section perfectly lined up before moving on.

    3 votes
  5. Comment on Timasomo 2024: Week 1 Updates in ~creative.timasomo

    Areldyb
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    StepMania Space Channel 5 port crossover what the heck do I call this project I took gameplay recordings for the first report (level) in OBS, cut them up and rendered them in Kdenlive, and copied...

    StepMania Space Channel 5 port crossover what the heck do I call this project

    I took gameplay recordings for the first report (level) in OBS, cut them up and rendered them in Kdenlive, and copied out the audio using ffmpeg, so that's all good to go. I've never done any streaming or video editing, so it took a little while to figure out how to record it without ending up with black boxes on either side because of the different aspect ratios.

    I used a cheat code to get perfect timings on the player side, but entering the code makes an extra "Yeah!" sound play. I could have left it in, but it was bothering me, so I made an extra recording that didn't use the cheat code and cut them together. I can't find the cut in the video or the background music, so I think I nailed it!

    I also started syncing the first stage in ArrowVortex... and remembered why I abandoned this project the last time I had this idea. There are so many tempo changes, it all has to be synced up by hand, and my only song charting experience is playing around with DDR's Edit Mode way back when so I'm figuring it all out as I go. (Also ArrowVortex failed to save my sync data at one point, so now I'm starting over again, again.) No backing down this time, but I'm very glad I only committed to finishing the first level this month.

    4 votes
  6. Comment on Timasomo 2024: Roll Call in ~creative.timasomo

    Areldyb
    (edited )
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    Space Channel 5 is a repeat-after-me rhythm game for Dreamcast and PS2. You play as Ulala (as in, ooh-la-la!), a news reporter in space who uses her groovy dance moves to fight aliens and rescue...

    Space Channel 5 is a repeat-after-me rhythm game for Dreamcast and PS2. You play as Ulala (as in, ooh-la-la!), a news reporter in space who uses her groovy dance moves to fight aliens and rescue Space Michael Jackson.

    StepMania is a venerable bring-your-own-songs Dance Dance Revolution clone for PC.

    I think these two things should meet.

    My plan is to port Space Channel 5 to a set of StepMania simfiles, using recorded gameplay footage for the music and background video and mapping the in-game actions to four-panel arrows. The whole game is almost certainly too much for me to take on this month, but I'd like to at least get the first level done (likely as a three-song set).

    11 votes
  7. Comment on Announcing Tildes' Make Something Month (Timasomo) for 2024! in ~tildes

    Areldyb
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    Thank you for this, I was struggling for an idea and this reminded me of my half-hearted attempt to "port" Space Channel 5 to StepMania charts years ago. Maybe I'll try it again...

    picking back up Beat Saber custom mapping

    Thank you for this, I was struggling for an idea and this reminded me of my half-hearted attempt to "port" Space Channel 5 to StepMania charts years ago. Maybe I'll try it again...

    2 votes
  8. Comment on My hated AI video in ~creative

    Areldyb
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    I guess I posted it wrong somehow? The post preview doesn't really make clear that it's a YouTube link to Posy's channel. Is there some way to fix that?

    I guess I posted it wrong somehow? The post preview doesn't really make clear that it's a YouTube link to Posy's channel. Is there some way to fix that?

    3 votes
  9. Comment on My hated AI video in ~creative

    Areldyb
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    This video is a bit unusual in style for Posy, especially visually. He's clearly grappling with what widely-available generative AI means for creators and the creative process in general, and...

    This video is a bit unusual in style for Posy, especially visually. He's clearly grappling with what widely-available generative AI means for creators and the creative process in general, and where he seems to land is "as an artist, I can use this, but I should be clear that I'm doing so".

    The video expects (really, invites) controversy and discussion, but YouTube comments being what they are, I thought I'd get Tildes' take on it instead.

    7 votes
  10. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~talk

  11. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~misc

    Areldyb
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    My sense right now is that most people's answer for "who" is "don't care, just not Biden", and the people engaged enough to argue for a convention are saying that's the (messy, dusty) mechanism by...

    The elephant in the room for all these is "WHO", who exactly is supposed to replace Biden? The answer is usually "democratic convention", like that'll magically engineer a perfect candidate, some fantastical candidate who will not run, like Michelle Obama, or a candidate which everyone can admit is too niche to have a hope of beating Mr. In The Headlines Every Day For The Last 8 Years (AOC, Kamala, and so forth).

    My sense right now is that most people's answer for "who" is "don't care, just not Biden", and the people engaged enough to argue for a convention are saying that's the (messy, dusty) mechanism by which the question would be settled. There's no requirement that there be a clear favorite ahead of time.

    3 votes
  12. Comment on Nearly half of journalists covering climate crisis globally received threats for their work in ~enviro

    Areldyb
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    Honest question: what proportion of journalists who cover other illegal or politically embarrassing activities are also threatened for their work? I want to understand how much of what they're...

    Honest question: what proportion of journalists who cover other illegal or politically embarrassing activities are also threatened for their work? I want to understand how much of what they're dealing with is specific to climate crisis coverage, and if the article included this information, I missed it.

    5 votes
  13. Comment on I just installed a DNS based firewall (I think) for the first time in my life. Help me understand which addresses to block. in ~tech

    Areldyb
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    I use the big blocklist from https://oisd.nl/ on my pi-hole at home. I'm more interested in blocking ads than specifically trackers, but that list handles both and more, it's kept up to date, and...

    I use the big blocklist from https://oisd.nl/ on my pi-hole at home. I'm more interested in blocking ads than specifically trackers, but that list handles both and more, it's kept up to date, and I don't need to worry about it.

    I want to second the advice here about not blocking domains based solely on guesswork (unless you enjoy tinkering with it and also enjoy having websites and apps break often). I have seen and blocked things before that way, but it's rarely worthwhile, and I'm much more likely to break something I want along the way.

    5 votes
  14. Comment on Happy Tau/2 day everyone! in ~science

  15. Comment on The more I use Linux, the more I hate every distro in ~tech

    Areldyb
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    You're probably already aware, but just in case: if you end up going back to Windows at some point, WSL may be useful to you for things like this.

    because it's Linux I can use better neuroimaging analysis software than if I were on Windows

    You're probably already aware, but just in case: if you end up going back to Windows at some point, WSL may be useful to you for things like this.

    2 votes
  16. Comment on Days of darkness: How one woman escaped the conspiracy theory trap that has ensnared millions in ~life

    Areldyb
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    This article uses simple grammar throughout, and includes a "here's what a conspiracy theory is" sidebar. You aren't the intended audience. This was written for the casualties, and I hope many of...

    This article uses simple grammar throughout, and includes a "here's what a conspiracy theory is" sidebar. You aren't the intended audience. This was written for the casualties, and I hope many of them will read it and realize what's happened to them.

    12 votes
  17. Comment on Tests show that guardrails possibly do little to stop EVs and other heavier vehicles. And US transportation officials are concerned. in ~transport

    Areldyb
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    We could do all that, at massive public expense, in order to accommodate increasingly heavy and dangerous privately-owned cars... or we can limit the weight of those cars. One sure sounds a lot...

    In the ’90s, concern over guardrails and bigger pickups and SUVs became a concern, but with the weight of EVs now becoming a concern, guardrails, along with the rest of our infrastructure, is going to have to bulk up to handle it.

    We could do all that, at massive public expense, in order to accommodate increasingly heavy and dangerous privately-owned cars... or we can limit the weight of those cars. One sure sounds a lot easier than the other.

    14 votes
  18. Comment on ‘An experiment in ritual humiliation’: would a month of rejection therapy make me fearless? in ~life

    Areldyb
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    I like the sound of this idea, but I'm not sure I "get it". Can you say more about what you're picturing with this?

    While we're at it, I wonder if we can gather in a group, form two groups and take turns asking/rejecting. I would have enormously benefited as a child to be allowed to say no much more frequently than I was socialized for.

    I like the sound of this idea, but I'm not sure I "get it". Can you say more about what you're picturing with this?

    4 votes
  19. Comment on What's your favorite Wikipedia page and why? in ~talk

    Areldyb
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    I like to imagine that the Wikipedia article on humans was written by, and for, aliens visiting Earth.

    I like to imagine that the Wikipedia article on humans was written by, and for, aliens visiting Earth.

    5 votes