Boojum's recent activity
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Comment on Tildes Survey #8: What is your favorite video game? in ~talk
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Comment on Tildes Survey #8: What is your favorite video game? in ~talk
Boojum Link ParentI got my 10 year old son hooked on Factorio as of a few weeks ago, as an alternative to the games he usually begs for. Every now and then he proudly shows me some new advancement on his base -...I got my 10 year old son hooked on Factorio as of a few weeks ago, as an alternative to the games he usually begs for. Every now and then he proudly shows me some new advancement on his base - solar arrays (and the power supply graph), trains, drones, nuclear energy...
What's funny is that the first evening, as I sat with him through the tutorial and watched him play, I found myself explaining backpressure to him. (Which, funnily enough, was something I'd been discussing with a colleague just the day before.) And pointing out how his first drillers and smelters look just like functional units, and the need to probably balance them. Or how he could assemble parallel belts into busses, and the importance of physical placement and floor planning. I'm a software engineer turned chip architect at a semiconductor company these days; there's a reason I haven't actually touched Factorio myself, even though it looks like a fantastic game. :-)
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Comment on Tildes Survey #8: What is your favorite video game? in ~talk
Boojum Link ParentI've got Pentiment in my Steam backlog. This is a good reminder that I really should give it a go.I've got Pentiment in my Steam backlog. This is a good reminder that I really should give it a go.
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Comment on Tildes Survey #8: What is your favorite video game? in ~talk
Boojum Link ParentYes! ALttP is such a comfort game! It always feels like the perfect length to me whenever I replay it. It's big enough to have plenty to do, but small enough that I can roughly remember where...Yes! ALttP is such a comfort game! It always feels like the perfect length to me whenever I replay it. It's big enough to have plenty to do, but small enough that I can roughly remember where everything important is and what a fun order to do things is. It's also fun when I hazily remember some minor detail or that there's something important about some spot, check it out, and then discover that I remembered correctly.
Anyway, I'm hosting it for CGA this August, and I hope you'll be able to join us. As part of that, I'm planning to roll and share a seed on the randomizer for those of us who have already played it many times. I've never tried the randomizer before, but I think it could be fun to mix things up and have a laugh at it as a group.
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Comment on What are your gaming idiosyncracies? in ~games
Boojum Link ParentDo you understand what I'm saying? At all? Does any of this make any sense? Just tell me, 'Yes'.
Okay. What you're doing there is jumping. You just... you just jumped. But nevermind. Say 'Apple'. 'Aaaapple.'
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Comment on What are your gaming idiosyncracies? in ~games
Boojum Link ParentI get that. For RPG-like games that give me the option to be a jerk to an NPC or to be the good guy, I find it almost painful to choose the former. Yes, I will help you out, good NPC, and...I get that. For RPG-like games that give me the option to be a jerk to an NPC or to be the good guy, I find it almost painful to choose the former. Yes, I will help you out, good NPC, and undertake your side quest. No, I will not go retrieve your fancy equipment from the dungeon, only to keep it for myself.
I also like to play 4X games as the biggest side in town and with the largest, most advanced military. But I've also got a no-first-strike rule and will usually accept a surrender. Domination games are kind of boring to me - I find it much more fun to try to do runs where I win without ever actually going to war with anyone. "Si vis pacem, para bellum."
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Comment on What are your gaming idiosyncracies? in ~games
Boojum Link ParentI have a rule like this regarding fast travel. If there's an in-universe explanation for it - like it's a spell or a Shieka gizmo thing, or teleporter stations - I'll use it. But in Skyrim where...I have a rule like this regarding fast travel. If there's an in-universe explanation for it - like it's a spell or a Shieka gizmo thing, or teleporter stations - I'll use it. But in Skyrim where there's no spell involved and you just suddenly turn up at your destination and the clock has jumped, I stuck to manually running everywhere.
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Comment on What are your gaming idiosyncracies? in ~games
Boojum Link ParentI liked that in Trails in the Sky: First Chapter and Trails in the Sky: Second Chapter, part of the information UI is presented as a combination of a scrap book (basic background and world...I liked that in Trails in the Sky: First Chapter and Trails in the Sky: Second Chapter, part of the information UI is presented as a combination of a scrap book (basic background and world mechanics, list of spells, attributes, etc.) and a log book written from one of the MC's point of view (quest log).
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Comment on What are your gaming idiosyncracies? in ~games
Boojum Link ParentLeft. Always left. And I greatly appreciate games where the designers take care to ensure that nothing is missable. Or at the very least, provide very clear indications about points of no return.Left. Always left.
And I greatly appreciate games where the designers take care to ensure that nothing is missable. Or at the very least, provide very clear indications about points of no return.
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Comment on What are your gaming idiosyncracies? in ~games
Boojum Link ParentClair Obscur: Expedition 33 also had a nice solution too. The ones you find in the wild just upgrade the maximum you can carry. And resting at a flag automatically replenishes all of them.Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 also had a nice solution too. The ones you find in the wild just upgrade the maximum you can carry. And resting at a flag automatically replenishes all of them.
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Comment on CGA-2026-06 🦇🧛♀️🔥 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow in ~games
Boojum LinkThis should be fun! I've played the O.G. Castlevania in several forms (did you know there was an MS-DOS port?), as well as Super Castlevania IV. But I've never played any of the Castlevanias of...This should be fun! I've played the O.G. Castlevania in several forms (did you know there was an MS-DOS port?), as well as Super Castlevania IV. But I've never played any of the Castlevanias of "metroidvania" fame, so I'll be curious to see how this goes.
I'm also just finishing up a very long game that unexpectedly ended up taking up most of my gaming the last few months (I had no idea what I was getting into when I picked up DQ XI S on sale). So I'm looking forward to a bit of a cooldown with what appears to be a short and sweet game, judging by HLTB. Compared to the last two CGA games, I think it also helps that this should be very docked Steam Deck and controller friendly.
I'm planing on Steam Deck (likely mostly docked), Retro Arch, and a nice LCD shader.
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Comment on Emacs bra size calculator in ~comp
Boojum Link ParentI'd call it the Discworld Igor of text editors: loyal and hardworking, with no two instances ever quite identical, since parts are always getting added, removed, and swapped around among them...I'd call it the Discworld Igor of text editors: loyal and hardworking, with no two instances ever quite identical, since parts are always getting added, removed, and swapped around among them as-needed. And it even
has a lisphath a lithp. -
Comment on Clanker: A word for the machine in ~tech
Boojum Link ParentI feel like treating everything I can, even mechanical things, is good for my soul. The machine may not care, but it just makes me feel better about myself. Part of that is that I feel like it's...I feel like treating everything I can, even mechanical things, is good for my soul. The machine may not care, but it just makes me feel better about myself. Part of that is that I feel like it's good just to stay in practice and keep in the habit. It generally costs me so little. It's just part of being a good steward.
But I also worry that if I go the other direction and start abusing machines, then I'm one step closer to something like the "Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things" philosophy from Terry Pratchett. If you mistreat things and start to dehumanize people, now you've created an excuse to mistreat people. No thank you. I'd rather stay on the safe side and treat everyone and everything well.
(My family does like to joke about misbehaving machines knowing to "fear" me, though, but they mean it in the healthy respect sort of way - their tendency to suddenly start working again as soon I walk into the room to troubleshoot, before I've even sat down to examine them!)
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Comment on Clanker: A word for the machine in ~tech
Boojum Link ParentEww! That's just depraved. I do think that really says something, though, about the mentality of the people doing that. Like they'd be the type to kick puppies and kittens, because "Who cares?...Eww! That's just depraved.
I do think that really says something, though, about the mentality of the people doing that. Like they'd be the type to kick puppies and kittens, because "Who cares? It's not like they're people."
(Regarding games, yeah. I personally find torturing Koroks and Sims distasteful, and I prefer to play my 4X games with a no-first-strikes policy and a top-ranked military as a deterrent.)
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Comment on The 100 best novels of all time published in English in ~books
Boojum Link ParentHey now! Pride and Prejudice is awesome. It's one that I've read multiple times and happily will again. (Especially since I just received The Annotated Pride and Prejudice as a birthday present...Hey now! Pride and Prejudice is awesome. It's one that I've read multiple times and happily will again. (Especially since I just received The Annotated Pride and Prejudice as a birthday present this weekend.) The key for me is really the dry humor and social satire combined with a nice happy ending. It's a pure comfort read. And since I'm very much not in the traditional demographic of Austen readers, I don't really gain anything by signalling my enjoyment of it.
"For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?"
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Comment on The 100 best novels of all time published in English in ~books
Boojum Link ParentNot the one you asked, but the version I read was the Burgin/O'Connor one. My copy of it was a gift from my Russian language-major spouse, FWIW, and I've seen it recommended elsewhere now that...Not the one you asked, but the version I read was the Burgin/O'Connor one. My copy of it was a gift from my Russian language-major spouse, FWIW, and I've seen it recommended elsewhere now that look it up.
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Comment on What stock do you put in gut feelings? in ~talk
Boojum Link ParentIf it helps, I've sometimes viewed gut decisions as something of an anti-"analysis paralysis" mental defense mechanism. It can be very easy to go too far the other way and plan and research to the...If it helps, I've sometimes viewed gut decisions as something of an anti-"analysis paralysis" mental defense mechanism. It can be very easy to go too far the other way and plan and research to the point that you can never actually come to a decision. I try to treat gut decisions as a way of forcing myself out of that loop after a while.
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Comment on What has changed as you've gotten older? in ~talk
Boojum Link ParentI've come to appreciate games that have a "Story" mode difficulty, though I typically don't use it. Or like in Celeste or Control, where there are some options under the accessibility settings...I've come to appreciate games that have a "Story" mode difficulty, though I typically don't use it. Or like in Celeste or Control, where there are some options under the accessibility settings menu to tune the difficulty in fine-grained ways (and using them isn't judgy and doesn't block achievements). Bonus points if I can adjust the difficulty on the fly, so that I can keep it challenging in general but adjust it down to get past That One Boss and then crank it right back up again after.
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Comment on What has changed as you've gotten older? in ~talk
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Comment on What stock do you put in gut feelings? in ~talk
Boojum LinkI've had a few times in my life where I've ignored my gut feeling on something and ended up regretting it. (And at least one of them was in a really spooky couldn't-have-known-ahead-of-time...I've had a few times in my life where I've ignored my gut feeling on something and ended up regretting it. (And at least one of them was in a really spooky couldn't-have-known-ahead-of-time premonition sort of way.) I generally trust my gut instinct these days, especially as a tie-breaker.
For some things I've found, I find myself studying things thoroughly, making to weigh pros and cons or one thing vs. another... and then just tossing all that and going with my gut.
(I see that last as kind of like taking notes in a class. If I've taken good notes, I usually don't need to look at them again. Often the simple act of taking the notes is more valuable for internalizing the material than the notes themselves or studying them later.)
I still find myself randomly whistling bits of Happy Parade, Delightful Parade all these mumble mumble years later. I consider it easily one of, if not the, most infectiously happy pieces of video game music ever! Listening to it's always good whenever I need a pick-me-up. (And I'm so glad they got the original composer back for the remake.)