jmpavlec's recent activity

  1. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

    jmpavlec
    Link
    Still working on gametje.com. I added a new game recently called Acro Byte which is an homage to the original game Acrophobia from the mid-2000s. It was fun doing a bit of data crunching to make...

    Still working on gametje.com. I added a new game recently called Acro Byte which is an homage to the original game Acrophobia from the mid-2000s. It was fun doing a bit of data crunching to make sure I was generating acronyms correctly for the different languages. I wrote a small blog post diving a bit more into the details. Feel free to give it a try at https://gametje.com/games/acro_byte or join my Discord and play it there: https://discord.gg/wCvAkF9fur

    2 votes

  2. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

    jmpavlec
    Link Parent
    Have you seen the show Pantheon? Related to your project. Pretty good watch as well.

    Have you seen the show Pantheon? Related to your project. Pretty good watch as well.

    1 vote

  3. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

    jmpavlec
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    When scrolling to the bottom of the page with snow turned on, I waited for the snow to accumulate to see if the footer links would still work even though they were not visible... They still work...

    When scrolling to the bottom of the page with snow turned on, I waited for the snow to accumulate to see if the footer links would still work even though they were not visible... They still work 🙂.

    Cool effect! Would be fun to also toggle the intensity. "Activate Blizzard mode!"

    1 vote

  4. Comment on Tildes Demographics Survey, year… uh, it’s 2024? in ~tildes

    jmpavlec
    Link Parent
    I'm also curious what happened to this. I was excited to see it come up in my feed again.

    I'm also curious what happened to this. I was excited to see it come up in my feed again.

    4 votes

  5. Comment on Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf | Announcement trailer in ~games

    jmpavlec
    Link Parent
    That's quite a callback from ~1991. I'm amazed how good that game looks for Amiga/SNES era.

    That's quite a callback from ~1991. I'm amazed how good that game looks for Amiga/SNES era.

    3 votes

  6. Comment on Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf | Announcement trailer in ~games

    jmpavlec
    Link
    The graphics look gorgeous. Never played the first one but it reminds me a lot of the game Inside (same makers of Limbo). Similar side scrolling puzzle mechanics and style. Will definitely check...

    The graphics look gorgeous. Never played the first one but it reminds me a lot of the game Inside (same makers of Limbo). Similar side scrolling puzzle mechanics and style. Will definitely check it out! Thanks for posting.

    3 votes

  7. Comment on This site is fast in ~tildes

    jmpavlec
    Link Parent
    Maybe it is my location... But this site is a bit slow. Loading spinners, images drawing in over a couple seconds... I have gigabit download speeds... What am I missing?

    Maybe it is my location... But this site is a bit slow. Loading spinners, images drawing in over a couple seconds... I have gigabit download speeds... What am I missing?

    7 votes

  8. Comment on Gimp Tutorial for Idiot? in ~comp

    jmpavlec
    Link
    I also tried to use Gimp after using Photoshop for a while 15+ years ago. I find I enjoy https://www.photopea.com/ better. It's an online editor similar to how Photoshop is/used to be. It is free...

    I also tried to use Gimp after using Photoshop for a while 15+ years ago. I find I enjoy https://www.photopea.com/ better. It's an online editor similar to how Photoshop is/used to be. It is free with ad support. (Although I think you can pay to remove ads as well)

    To be honest it's been 10+ years since I last tried Gimp... So maybe I should give it a try again. Either way, photopea meets 90% of my needs these days for basic photo editing with layers.

    9 votes

  9. Comment on Indecision: Get a camera despite having a phone in ~tech

    jmpavlec
    Link
    Instead of buying a new camera, I'd save the money and invest it in a new smartphone with a better camera. Have heard good things about the new iphone 17. My wife has the same phone as you (iPhone...

    Instead of buying a new camera, I'd save the money and invest it in a new smartphone with a better camera. Have heard good things about the new iphone 17. My wife has the same phone as you (iPhone SE 2022) and the quality is quite a bit worse than my Pixel 8. She had an iphone 11 from work before that and even those pictures were better than her current SE.

    I have a DSLR myself that gets used about once a year for special evenings, even then it can be cumbersome to get out and use.

    I'd get a new phone with a better camera if I were in your shoes.

    2 votes

  10. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

    jmpavlec
    Link Parent
    Thanks! That will definitely help as a reference.

    Thanks! That will definitely help as a reference.

    1 vote

  11. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

    jmpavlec
    Link Parent
    Gave it a go: https://imgur.com/a/KNOy9EB Seemed to work pretty well. Is there a concept of a room or something? Or is it a singleton instance? (Like anyone who goes to the site at that time joins...

    Gave it a go: https://imgur.com/a/KNOy9EB

    Seemed to work pretty well. Is there a concept of a room or something? Or is it a singleton instance? (Like anyone who goes to the site at that time joins the same game?). Would also be fun to see the count of words the other players are getting.

    I liked the post game stats and timeline of points. Well done!

    A page refresh wipes out the player so I had to start again.

    It plays a bit like the games I have been working on at https://gametje.com

    May try to make something similar for my own website 🙂.

    Thanks for sharing.

    1 vote

  12. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

    jmpavlec
    Link Parent
    Do you have a link for the boggle game? Would love to try that out.

    Do you have a link for the boggle game? Would love to try that out.

  13. Comment on CGA-2025-10 🕹️⏰ 🗺️ 🐸 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 Chrono Trigger in ~games

    jmpavlec
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I'm a huge fan of Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross never hooked me. I played it for ~8-10 hrs quite a few years ago and it just didn't have the same feel. Earthbound on the other hand... is one of...

    I'm a huge fan of Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross never hooked me. I played it for ~8-10 hrs quite a few years ago and it just didn't have the same feel.

    Earthbound on the other hand... is one of my favorites. I'm a real sucker for SNES RPGs. I'd suggest that or FF VII over Chrono Cross.

    5 votes

  14. Comment on Has anyone here tried bone conduction headphones? in ~tech

    jmpavlec
    (edited )
    Link
    I have a pair of Shokz Open Run Pro. I'm generally quite happy with them. I use them exclusively when running to listen to music and podcasts. I find them to be loud enough (at 80-90% volume) and...

    I have a pair of Shokz Open Run Pro. I'm generally quite happy with them. I use them exclusively when running to listen to music and podcasts. I find them to be loud enough (at 80-90% volume) and tested them with my wife indoors and she couldn't really hear what I was listening to unless she got really close.

    I mainly got them as my regular earpods always fell out when I was running and I wanted to be able to hear my surroundings. The proprietary charger is a bit annoying, but they usually charge pretty fast and last me ~5-6 10km runs before they report the battery as low. (~4.5-5.5 hrs). They'd probably last longer indoors as you wouldn't need to turn them up as much.

    I'd say the only real negative for me is that I should have gotten the smaller size, the normal ones are slightly too big for me so I occasionally need to push them back.

    To clarify, I definitely prefer other headphones for sound quality when sitting at a desk etc. I've only used them a few times for non-running situations. I'd say give it a shot, you can always return them?

    16 votes

  15. Show Tildes - Gametje V2

    ~games Ask
    Hi All, It's been coincidentally EXACTLY 1 year since my previous post about Gametje. I've been busy creating some new games and re-designing all the main pages with the help of a UI/UX designer....

    Hi All,
    It's been coincidentally EXACTLY 1 year since my previous post about Gametje. I've been busy creating some new games and re-designing all the main pages with the help of a UI/UX designer. I have posted a few updates in the weekly What programming/technical projects have you been working on? threads but I thought this milestone deserved its own post. I published the new site earlier this week and also migrated to a new backend server. Here's a refresher of what it is for those that may have missed my previous post a year ago. I also recently started working on it full-time last month after not really working on it much from January-June this year. You can read more in my recent blog post.

    What is it?

    It's a set of online games that can be played in person with a central screen (like a TV) or remotely via video chat. It's also available directly in Discord as an embedded activity. It is playable in 9 languages and doesn’t require any downloads. Most games revolve around creativity in some form. None of the games require fast reflexes and can be played by just about anyone.

    Where can I try it?

    https://gametje.com and directly on Discord

    You can use the "quick play" option to launch directly into the game as a guest.

    What's different from last year?

    There are 2 new games (Sync Think and Hide & Peek) and the main pages have been redesigned. I also implemented a game room concept which allows you to bounce between games without having to recreate it each time. I also integrated with Discord, which means you can play directly in their interface and also use Discord as an Identity Provider when logging in. The games themselves need a bit more polish (especially the two new ones) but overall they should work.

    What am I looking for?

    I'm trying to gather some feedback about the games and the overall concept. Are the games fun? Is this something you'd try with your family? What could be improved? Is the site clear about what you can/should do? Should I add some gameplay videos to give you a quicker feel for the games?

    I'm also open to game ideas, I have a few in the backlog already but need to focus more on the business side at the moment. Any advice on the games/marketing etc would be highly appreciated.

    Side note: I'm probably going to rename the whole site soon since the name Gametje doesn't exactly roll off the tongue and has caused some debate with Dutch speakers. The branding for the new name isn't quite ready. I am considering calling it GameBuffet as my avatars are all food related and its more of a "all you can play" offering for any games added to the platform.

    Thanks for reading.

    10 votes

  16. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

    jmpavlec
    Link Parent
    You could check out https://posthog.com/. They have a generous free tier and it's very simple to set up. Also offers session replays which could show you where they are focusing on your site.

    You could check out https://posthog.com/. They have a generous free tier and it's very simple to set up. Also offers session replays which could show you where they are focusing on your site.

  17. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

    jmpavlec
    Link Parent
    You can easily host through Cloudflare (for free) even with a domain registered elsewhere. Just need to do a bit of DNS configuration and changing nameservers. Just did it yesterday as Cloudflare...

    You can easily host through Cloudflare (for free) even with a domain registered elsewhere. Just need to do a bit of DNS configuration and changing nameservers. Just did it yesterday as Cloudflare doesn't support registering .eu domains. So I registered the domain with porkbun.com and then set it up at Cloudflare.

    1 vote

  18. Comment on Can AI tell if I'm writing AI slop? A machine learning journey in ~comp

    jmpavlec
    Link
    I love stuff like this, great write up. How many years of data from your blogs were you able to use? I'm curious if it could still identify writing as yours that is 10+ years old? Maybe an old...

    I love stuff like this, great write up.

    How many years of data from your blogs were you able to use? I'm curious if it could still identify writing as yours that is 10+ years old? Maybe an old email or something. Not sure if your writing style had changed.

    3 votes

  19. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

    jmpavlec
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Thanks for checking it out! I had the exact same feeling the first time I played Jackbox games and actually started on a prototype back at the end of 2017... It was playable and fun but looked...

    Thanks for checking it out!

    I had the exact same feeling the first time I played Jackbox games and actually started on a prototype back at the end of 2017... It was playable and fun but looked terrible and would never scale. You can read a bit more about it in my devblog if you are interested. I decided to take another job at the time rather than pursuing that (wasn't the right time in my life with young kids etc).

    In Jan 2023, I started part-time (12-16hrs/week) on this project. I have people playing it each week but I need to tighten up the business model. The original idea was to get it in front of as many people as possible to get feedback rather than focusing on getting paying customers. I added guest accounts so people could try it out without signing up. Now I have people playing but nobody paying :-D. To be fair, the site is still a bit rough around the edges so I wasn't expecting paying customers yet. Now that I am working on it full-time, it should hopefully improve considerably.

    Tech stack is React/typescript on the frontend, java + spring boot on the backend. Using postgres db and redis for distributed cache. Currently running with the integrated websockets server with Spring but have plans to move to RabbitMQ if necessary for scaling. So far the load has been well within my small VPS's limits. I've done some performance tests and should be able to handle a decent amount without having to change the architecture too much.

    I've built something similar to https://joinplayroom.com/ which didn't exist when I started the project (or I didn't find it). I think that's an avenue someone could take to build something a bit quicker than I did. It does tie you to their eco system and pricing though.

    I plan to share more on my devblog, but haven't had much time (until now) to focus on writing posts. Hopefully will write one in the next week or two discussing all the Discord integration challenges.

    2 votes

  20. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

    jmpavlec
    Link Parent
    Thanks for giving it a look. I've been meaning to add more sound effects... The whole site should look/feel a bit more polished next week when I get my last 3 weeks of changes live.

    Thanks for giving it a look. I've been meaning to add more sound effects...

    The whole site should look/feel a bit more polished next week when I get my last 3 weeks of changes live.

    2 votes