bub's recent activity
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Comment on What is your most essential pessimistic belief? Conversely, what is your most essential optimistic belief? in ~talk
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Comment on The day Windows died in ~tech
bub LinkYeah I pretty much agree. Not to be that guy, but I think a decent way to create something today like that self-teaching environment that Windows 9x had is to set up a Linux box with the right...Yeah I pretty much agree. Not to be that guy, but I think a decent way to create something today like that self-teaching environment that Windows 9x had is to set up a Linux box with the right desktop environment. A lot of those DE's still function and feel like oldschool Windows, as far as someone who doesn't know how to use a command line is concerned.
Plus it would have the advantage of easing the kid into more serious OS knowledge slowly as they get deeper into it. They could have the "icon and start menu" experience and then, if they got interested in it, figure out command line usage by exposure. The only downside is they would be disappointed by the comparative "kiosk-ness" of computers they used at school or friends' houses.
Oh wait, schools and friends' houses barely ever even have desktop PC's anymore, so never mind - there is no downside after all!
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
bub LinkA friend and I are writing a multiplayer space game in Zig. I'm still not over the honeymoon period with Zig, and I might never be. Writing an entity component system as a generic that takes in...A friend and I are writing a multiplayer space game in Zig.
I'm still not over the honeymoon period with Zig, and I might never be. Writing an entity component system as a generic that takes in component declarations is so much more fun in Zig than it was in C++. The whole build system, all generics, meta-programming - everything - is just regular Zig. No meta language, no ugly shell-script-based build tools, very few headaches. A clear view of the entire "tech stack" involved comes naturally.
I can't say enough about the language. If you already like C, it's an easy sell.
The game itself is something we plan to actually try to publish commercially, so I probably won't describe much of it at this point, but I did want to gush about the language a bit.
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Comment on The Trump phenomenon (and many others) in one Casey & Andy comic strip in ~misc
bub Link ParentAndy Weir went on to become a great novelist. If you haven't already checked out his books, I recommend Project Hail Mary unconditionally.Andy Weir went on to become a great novelist. If you haven't already checked out his books, I recommend Project Hail Mary unconditionally.
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Comment on ChatGPT part 2: let’s talk implications in ~tech
bub Link ParentI'm sure there are plenty, but usually I'm searching for somewhat more obscure and technical things, and I really haven't run into any there myself, reddit-hating aside.I'm sure there are plenty, but usually I'm searching for somewhat more obscure and technical things, and I really haven't run into any there myself, reddit-hating aside.
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Comment on ChatGPT part 2: let’s talk implications in ~tech
bub Link ParentIn that situation I often just append "reddit" to the query to get at least a discussion had about the topic between real people.In that situation I often just append "reddit" to the query to get at least a discussion had about the topic between real people.
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Comment on Dwarf Fortress Steam Edition | Release date trailer in ~games
bub Link ParentYeah but it's understandable why that is. DF's controls inhale so much unmitigated anus that it detracts from the popularity of the game in a major way. I do like Rimworld.Yeah but it's understandable why that is. DF's controls inhale so much unmitigated anus that it detracts from the popularity of the game in a major way.
I do like Rimworld.
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Comment on Dwarf Fortress Steam Edition | Release date trailer in ~games
bub Link ParentI got into it, learned the arcane controls and the obtuse visuals, had some fun. Then I took a two week break and by the end had completely forgotten everything about it. I wasn't willing to relearn.I got into it, learned the arcane controls and the obtuse visuals, had some fun.
Then I took a two week break and by the end had completely forgotten everything about it.
I wasn't willing to relearn.
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Comment on Zig 0.10.0 has been released in ~comp
bub Link ParentYeah I ported some of my graphics projects to Zig from C++. The voxel raymarching stuff I was working on, lately. I like using Zig a lot more than Rust. Always being compared to Rust would...Yeah I ported some of my graphics projects to Zig from C++. The voxel raymarching stuff I was working on, lately.
I like using Zig a lot more than Rust. Always being compared to Rust would probably be annoying if Zig had feelings, but I can't help it. Similar people investigate both languages for similar reasons, even though they don't claim to compete.
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Comment on Why do new cars look like this? (Gray and without any flake, as if formed out of dough) in ~design
bub Link ParentYeah I would love that. Every year the exterior designs try harder and harder to look like some muscle-bound predator. Just feels like they're insecure about their "alpha-ness," you know? I...Yeah I would love that.
Every year the exterior designs try harder and harder to look like some muscle-bound predator. Just feels like they're insecure about their "alpha-ness," you know? I definitely prefer something classy.
And of course, this phenomenon is most noticeable in pickup trucks, to nobody's surprise. Gotta market to your audience.
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Comment on Why do new cars look like this? (Gray and without any flake, as if formed out of dough) in ~design
bub Link ParentYeah, sometimes I've seen one of these paint jobs (although not talking about the grey ones, but rather orange, red, yellow, browns, etc.), and it's made me get this little nostalgia burst for toy...Fischer price color scheme
Yeah, sometimes I've seen one of these paint jobs (although not talking about the grey ones, but rather orange, red, yellow, browns, etc.), and it's made me get this little nostalgia burst for toy cars I used to play with.
And actually, I think that's a positive trait for a car. Since exactly 0% of my identity is attached to the car I drive, I'd be happy driving around something that looked like a toy, just for the fun of it.
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Comment on Why do new cars look like this? (Gray and without any flake, as if formed out of dough) in ~design
bub LinkI like it. I'm bored with normal car appearance and this is interesting. Maybe I just haven't seen it enough yet for it to be "normal." And I have no idea whether it will age well or be "timeless"...I like it. I'm bored with normal car appearance and this is interesting. Maybe I just haven't seen it enough yet for it to be "normal." And I have no idea whether it will age well or be "timeless" enough to not look ugly in 15 years.
As it currently stands, though, on the rare occasion I do see it, it just feels fresh.
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Comment on What's a video game that you really want to exist? in ~games
bub Link ParentObviously I don't know as much about that specific implementation as its creator, but I have written code for engines before, made my own hobbyist engine, stuff like that. I've also used the GPU...Obviously I don't know as much about that specific implementation as its creator, but I have written code for engines before, made my own hobbyist engine, stuff like that. I've also used the GPU for plenty of non-traditional things, including game logic for entities. I appreciate that naive LOD might not be simple to do within that established compute pipeline the creator has made, but, for example, removing a set of the nearest units from that compute pipeline and instead processing them separately in an entirely separate pipeline meant for higher detail results sounds non-monumental.
Perhaps this level of control just isn't possible in Unity specifically, and perhaps that's one reason the creator said that. I certainly wouldn't have picked Unity if I were trying to do anything non-traditional, myself.
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Comment on What's a video game that you really want to exist? in ~games
bub (edited )Link ParentI'm not so sure the requirements do increase that dramatically. UEBS does support zooming in and focusing on single units, and yeah, the animations are crude up close, but I think that's more...I'm not so sure the requirements do increase that dramatically. UEBS does support zooming in and focusing on single units, and yeah, the animations are crude up close, but I think that's more because nobody cares about them right now than because of technical limitations. Or in other words, they look wonky just because they threw some simple animation assets in there, and not because they couldn't have put nice ones in instead.
But if we assume that it's true that the UEBS engine, for example, couldn't handle nice animations and meshes, then if people really want those things, it seems to mostly just be a matter of LoD. Give the units near the camera the full proper animation treatment, with fancier meshes, but still give the majority of them, which are distant, the current cheap treatment.
LoD techniques like this are common and well understood, and I'm sure these games already rely on those techniques heavily anyway. And besides, I think a huge portion of the market for a game like this comes from people who are perfectly fine compromising on graphical fidelity in order to have the scale.
I think neither M&B nor Star Citizen have experienced their long development times due to the difficulty of having lots of characters on screen. There are a lot of other long and arduous chores they've been working on. Battlefield restricts itself to 128 mostly because of netcode, and as far as I understood the conversation, we're not requiring that this even be a multiplayer game.
I still think UEBS demonstrates everything you'd need from an engine, and the bulk of the work of making it into an "epic battle exploration RPG" or whatever would just be making assets, scripting the world or storyline or quests, and the usual high-level game design stuff.
And to be fair, all those "assets and game design" things are what takes most of the budget in AAA game development, so yeah, you might be right that it would be expensive, but I think that's not because of the technology, but just because crafting a world for a game takes a lot of artists and hours, etc.
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Comment on What's a video game that you really want to exist? in ~games
bub Link ParentI feel like Skyrim attempted this with the whole empire vs. rebels "dynamic war" that supposedly was going on in the background, but their shoddy grandfathered engine just didn't allow it to...I feel like Skyrim attempted this with the whole empire vs. rebels "dynamic war" that supposedly was going on in the background, but their shoddy grandfathered engine just didn't allow it to happen. Instead you ran across a group of like 6 people fighting and the game pretended it was a "battle" lol.
But in more recent years, it sure seems like someone must have made a game like this, maybe one that flew under the radar. It seems like something that a lot of people have asked for and talked about over the years.
We definitely have the technology. I mean, consider something like Ultimate Epic Battle Simulator. That engine (or something like it) could totally handle it, maybe being repurposed to a dedicated first person perspective, add the RPG elements, script some battles to appear when the player enters a given region, etc...
I feel like one must already exist, because how could it not, but I just can't think of any.
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Comment on What's a video game that you really want to exist? in ~games
bub Link ParentHave you tried Bridge Crew? I got it purely to sit in the captain's chair in VR, and there are some downsides now (Ubisoft apparently didn't want to renew their license for the voice-recognition...RPG/simulation experience
Have you tried Bridge Crew?
I got it purely to sit in the captain's chair in VR, and there are some downsides now (Ubisoft apparently didn't want to renew their license for the voice-recognition middleware they used, so you can no longer give voice commands to the AI players, although how this allows them to remove features from a potentially single-player experience after purchase, I don't understand...)
But anyway, it might be worth looking at.
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Comment on White House declares monkeypox a public health emergency in ~health
bub (edited )Link ParentWould you mind elaborating a little on what is wrong with the statement you quoted? Are you saying that demographics is not disproportionately affected, and that the quote is flat out...Would you mind elaborating a little on what is wrong with the statement you quoted?
Are you saying that demographics is not disproportionately affected, and that the quote is flat out misinformation?
Or are you saying that it's problematic to bring up the demographic in relation to the disease for other reasons?
I'm sorry, I must be missing whatever it is you're referring to by saying "Here we go again." Are you talking about HIV being the precedent?
EDIT:
I'm not sure why I read the comment as meaning "here we go again with this BS take" rather than "here we go again with another disease of this nature," but I think I was wrong to read it that way. -
Comment on GitLab plans to delete dormant projects in free accounts in ~comp
bub LinkI almost had a heart attack because I misread that Github was doing it. I had some qualms over the years with Github's Microsoft acquisition, so I considered switching to GitLab several times, and...I almost had a heart attack because I misread that Github was doing it.
I had some qualms over the years with Github's Microsoft acquisition, so I considered switching to GitLab several times, and now I'm glad I never did.
I hope GitLab faces some outcry over this and maybe reconsiders. I have an archivistic philosophy about data (and about everything else), so to me this is a pretty ugly thing to do.
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Comment on Is your smartphone ruining your memory? A special report on the rise of ‘digital amnesia’ in ~health
bub (edited )Link ParentWell yes, the smartphone is significantly more adept at outsourcing mental load than a pen and paper. But no, there's no fundamental difference apart from magnitude. However, I think it's actually...Well yes, the smartphone is significantly more adept at outsourcing mental load than a pen and paper.
But no, there's no fundamental difference apart from magnitude.However, I think it's actually defensible to say that Plato was correct about writing, and the worriers of today are correct about smartphones. It can be looked at as a crutch, but that's only half the story.
When we wear clothes and shoes, we lose some of our tolerance for the elements. People don't really dispute this, but they also don't interpret it as a condemnation of clothes and shoes.
It's a tradeoff in all these cases. We trade some useful natural habit, inclination, or aptitude for a technological augmentation of our intellectual ability or survival ability.
And it's not much deeper than that. When someone complains that it's bad, they're not wrong. They're just failing to mention that it's also good. They're seeing only the price paid and not the benefit bought.
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Comment on Are critics and audiences starting to sour on Marvel movies? in ~movies
bub LinkI've been sick of superheros in general since 2012. I'm really hoping they burn themselves completely out like the Westerns did. I think it would be great if, in a decade or two, bringing up...I've been sick of superheros in general since 2012.
I'm really hoping they burn themselves completely out like the Westerns did. I think it would be great if, in a decade or two, bringing up superhero movies dated you, and brought people nostalgia for the 2010's, and nothing more.
I expect to always suffer.
I expect to make it through it.