Vira's recent activity

  1. Comment on Book recommendation request: Fantasy book about university similar to The Name of the Wind? in ~books

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    Perhaps The Black Magician trilogy by Trudi Canavan? More of a master and apprentice type I think, but it has been a while since I read it.

    Perhaps The Black Magician trilogy by Trudi Canavan? More of a master and apprentice type I think, but it has been a while since I read it.

  2. Comment on How Donald Trump won, and how Kamala Harris lost in ~society

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    I just thought I'd let you know, but this can still be the type of price gouging people are discussing these days: stores are indirectly colluding to increase prices through third-party data...

    I double-checked that price between my local mom-and-pop supermarket and Costco. It was the same, so it wasn't price gouging.

    I just thought I'd let you know, but this can still be the type of price gouging people are discussing these days: stores are indirectly colluding to increase prices through third-party data analyzing companies.

    8 votes

  3. Comment on Game Development Career Advice in ~comp

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    I'm still very passionate about my job a few years in, but like any job I think it depends on the workplace. I like my work, and my fellow engineers, designers and QA that I work with. I also have...

    I'm still very passionate about my job a few years in, but like any job I think it depends on the workplace. I like my work, and my fellow engineers, designers and QA that I work with. I also have the benefit of my work being very different from hobby development. While personally I don't hobby dev a ton, my occasional side projects get to stretch different muscles, so to speak, and there's still some crossover lessons. The same goes for the game, which I still enjoy greatly, if it isn't my biggest focus right now with all the great games that have released lately. I got lucky in many ways, but it's nowhere near as difficult career-wise as the design, art or other game dev paths, from what I've seen.

    1 vote

  4. Comment on Game Development Career Advice in ~comp

    Vira
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    I'm working on the server end of a massively multiplayer game, so my experience with embedded devices having strict resource constraints, networking and message protocols ended up fitting fairly...

    I'm working on the server end of a massively multiplayer game, so my experience with embedded devices having strict resource constraints, networking and message protocols ended up fitting fairly well. Probably my biggest advantage, however, was being intimately familiar with the game already - it's a huge monstrosity and already having a lot of experience with the player side helped me understand the inner workings much better. Like kru says in this thread already, if you're actually interested in the game itself and the player experience, interviewers will pick up on that.

    4 votes

  5. Comment on Game Development Career Advice in ~comp

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    I was previously an embedded software engineer who had some experience in IoT devices and the server stack supporting them. I had switched jobs to a place closer to family that didn't want me...

    I was previously an embedded software engineer who had some experience in IoT devices and the server stack supporting them.

    I had switched jobs to a place closer to family that didn't want me coming in at 5:30 AM just to do stand-ups with the overseas team. They were just starting an IoT project I was eager to get my hands on, but COVID hit that particular industry hard and killed the very project. I was stuck on some automation that was starting to get real mature and no new features in sight, and one day I had idly scrolled to the bottom of my favorite game's site and noticed their jobs ad.

    I applied, and to my surprise, I got a phone interview, then to my surprise the panel interview, then to my surprise, the job. I had been fully fooled into thinking all game dev jobs were impossibly competitive, but that is absolutely false for engineering. Even now when the big companies are shedding people in layoffs (to my disgust), engineering is still in demand. So if you want to pick up some experience in the industry and build up your savings before trying solo game dev, the door is far from closed on getting in as a software engineer - it will just be a pay cut from many other industries.

    8 votes

  6. Comment on Palworld could be a delight if it wasn't so invested in being awful in ~games

    Vira
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    My game designer partner made almost exactly the same comment. After playing a couple dozen hours myself, as a former Ark addict who really enjoys the combo of survival creature collection, I have...

    In my dozen hours with Palworld, it felt like it was struggling to fulfill a shock humor quota that its marketing set, and ended up weighing down the pieces that could otherwise be built into a better game.

    My game designer partner made almost exactly the same comment.

    After playing a couple dozen hours myself, as a former Ark addict who really enjoys the combo of survival creature collection, I have to say I totally disagree with the latter portion of the review. With the settings as default when you make a personal or co-op world, I had no need to engage with the more ridiculous features to progress satisfyingly.

    Getting one of the early, speedier mounts (Direwolf in my case) and riding it around the countryside while catching and collecting new things, then heading back to base with your haul, reorganizing Pals, building and upgrading is a really solid loop for me in Palworld, and way less punishing than Ark at default settings.

    But I do agree that it could get even better if they punched up the satire element or made a clear alternative to the "cruelty" mechanics.

    9 votes

  7. Comment on The most enjoyable character builds in Baldur’s Gate 3 in ~games

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    I've been having too much fun with throwing in early game on Karlach. Pick up the Ring of Flinging, Tavern Brawler, and the Returning Pike and go to town. Add a potion of haste and elixir of...

    I've been having too much fun with throwing in early game on Karlach. Pick up the Ring of Flinging, Tavern Brawler, and the Returning Pike and go to town. Add a potion of haste and elixir of bloodlust and the goblin encounters got pretty hilarious even on Tactical. We're doing a no-worms playthrough but I imagine adding Displacement would make it even more diabolical.

    2 votes

  8. Comment on D&D video game without mature content? in ~games

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    For sure Solasta. The 5e mechanics are well implemented, and it has a lot of expansions now. If you have a buddy with all the expansions you can play multiplayer with them without having to pick...

    For sure Solasta. The 5e mechanics are well implemented, and it has a lot of expansions now. If you have a buddy with all the expansions you can play multiplayer with them without having to pick them up yourself, which is an excessively nice feature these days.

    1 vote

  9. Comment on Squabblr is now a free speech platform in ~tech

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    Thanks, it looks pretty good, I'm giving it a try.

    Thanks, it looks pretty good, I'm giving it a try.

    4 votes

  10. Comment on Squabblr is now a free speech platform in ~tech

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    It's such a shame. I'm not really a content contributor but I loved all the memes and community. I like Tildes for what it is, but I also really enjoy images and memes. I don't suppose you're...

    It's such a shame. I'm not really a content contributor but I loved all the memes and community.

    I like Tildes for what it is, but I also really enjoy images and memes. I don't suppose you're headed somewhere else in particular for those after this disaster?

    20 votes