kfwyre's recent activity

  1. Comment on Tildes Book Club Spring and Summer schedule 2025 in ~books

    kfwyre
    Link
    I promise I'm not planning these (I wish I had the power to dictate book pricing!). I simply set up price drop notifications for these books earlier this month, and we're getting really lucky....

    I promise I'm not planning these (I wish I had the power to dictate book pricing!). I simply set up price drop notifications for these books earlier this month, and we're getting really lucky.

    Anyway, it's a day late and nine dollars short, but the ebook for Kim Stanley Robinson's The Ministry for the Future, our January read, has gone on sale for $3 USD. If you didn't pick it up but are still interested in it or if you're like me and pirated it because the line was too long at your library and now you're looking to rid yourself of guilt this is a good opportunity.

    Links are to US stores. For Kindle users outside of the US, see this comment about changing your Kindle region to take advantage of US sales.

    3 votes

  2. Comment on Save Point: A game deal roundup for the week of January 26 in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link
    Not exactly a deal, but also probably not worth its own topic, so I figured I'd put it here. Rollerdrome just got delisted on Steam. You can still get keys for it from the Humble Store at present...

    Not exactly a deal, but also probably not worth its own topic, so I figured I'd put it here.

    Rollerdrome just got delisted on Steam. You can still get keys for it from the Humble Store at present (up to 15% discount if you've got Choice), though those will likely dry up soon.

    Last chance to get it on your Steam account if that's important to you. The game is excellent.

    EDIT: Same story for OlliOlli World. Still up on Humble in two different editions.

  3. Comment on Growing a beard. Tips and tricks, please! in ~life.style

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    Tilt your head back. Put your palm on your neck, with your fingers headed up to your chin. Line up the tip of your middle finger with the bottom of your chin. The middle knuckle on your middle...
    1. Tilt your head back.
    2. Put your palm on your neck, with your fingers headed up to your chin.
    3. Line up the tip of your middle finger with the bottom of your chin.
    4. The middle knuckle on your middle finger is “the spot” (my Adam’s apple is just below the bottom knuckle of my middle finger, where the finger meets the palm).

    Note: this is completely unscientific and is something I just came up with by looking in my mirror just now. Might not work for everyone, depending on handsize and proportions and whatnot.

    1 vote

  4. Comment on Tildes Book Club Spring and Summer schedule 2025 in ~books

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    Wow, you were very thorough! This is super helpful, thanks. And yeah, Apple does a lot of stuff that's device/app locked, so you can probably only buy through their app (I don't use them, so I'm...

    Wow, you were very thorough! This is super helpful, thanks.

    And yeah, Apple does a lot of stuff that's device/app locked, so you can probably only buy through their app (I don't use them, so I'm not entirely sure on this).

    Also good tip on setting your Kindle region. That might be helpful to other people out there as well. That also answers my primary question about whether or not these are mostly US-based deals, especially because I assume Kindle is probably the most used ebook platform out there.

    1 vote

  5. Comment on Tildes Book Club Spring and Summer schedule 2025 in ~books

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    Thanks! I'm mostly just getting lucky that so many of our choices are going on sale though. Can you confirm whether you're getting the sale prices in Canada or not? I'm still not sure if they're...

    Thanks! I'm mostly just getting lucky that so many of our choices are going on sale though.

    Can you confirm whether you're getting the sale prices in Canada or not? I'm still not sure if they're just for the US.

    1 vote

  6. Comment on Tildes Book Club Spring and Summer schedule 2025 in ~books

    kfwyre
    Link
    The ebook for May, A People's Future of the United States, has gone on sale for $2 USD. Links to US stores: Kindle Kobo Nook Bookshop Apple Books Google Play

    The ebook for May, A People's Future of the United States, has gone on sale for $2 USD. Links to US stores:

    2 votes

  7. Comment on You can change ONE thing about a game. What do you change? in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    Same here. I have to increase the FOV in nearly every first-person game I play. 70-90 seems to be the default for most games, while 105 is what seems to work for me most of the time.

    Same here. I have to increase the FOV in nearly every first-person game I play. 70-90 seems to be the default for most games, while 105 is what seems to work for me most of the time.

    3 votes

  8. Comment on You can change ONE thing about a game. What do you change? in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    A bit late for this given how far you are in the game, but if you (or anyone else reading this) ever wants to play Metroid Prime with M/KB controls, then PrimeHack is great.

    A bit late for this given how far you are in the game, but if you (or anyone else reading this) ever wants to play Metroid Prime with M/KB controls, then PrimeHack is great.

    1 vote

  9. Comment on You can change ONE thing about a game. What do you change? in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    Metroidvanias have a genre convention where they give you a percent complete stat. You usually unlock powers and whatnot to return to sections of the map you were in previously to get collectibles...

    Metroidvanias have a genre convention where they give you a percent complete stat. You usually unlock powers and whatnot to return to sections of the map you were in previously to get collectibles and things you initially couldn’t. There’s an understood handshake between the game designer(s) and the players that you’ll be able to 100% a game because you’re (eventually) not locked out of anything.

    In the original release of Ori and the Blind Forest, however, they put collectibles in one-time escape sequences that, once completed, cannot be done again.

    I cannot stress how much of a sin this is!

    Thankfully, they fixed it for the Definitive Edition of the game.

    If a game does have missable stuff, a nice QoL would be adding a different way to get them later. In Final Fantasy VII, there’s a late game dig site where you can unearth random items, including some that you missed earlier in the game. I think this sort of thing is a good compromise when returning to specific areas wouldn’t make sense for story reasons.

    9 votes

  10. Comment on You can change ONE thing about a game. What do you change? in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    I feel your pain, chocobean. It’s not nearly as bad for me, but I’m pretty sensitive to first-person games as well and have gotten my share of FPS sickness. I have to be very selective about what...

    I feel your pain, chocobean. It’s not nearly as bad for me, but I’m pretty sensitive to first-person games as well and have gotten my share of FPS sickness. I have to be very selective about what I play and do a lot of settings tweaking before I dive in to anything with a first-person camera. Some games I can make work, but others I simply can’t play.

    The worst part is that by the time you’re aware of the sickness coming on, it’s already too late. You’re stuck with that awful feeling for a while — even if you stop playing immediately.

    6 votes

  11. Comment on You can change ONE thing about a game. What do you change? in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    Ooh, this just reminded me of what I’d fix: Jet Set Radio has graffiti and recenter camera mapped to the same button. There’s absolutely no reason for this because there are unused buttons already...

    Ooh, this just reminded me of what I’d fix:

    Jet Set Radio has graffiti and recenter camera mapped to the same button. There’s absolutely no reason for this because there are unused buttons already on the controller. It’s also obnoxious while playing for obvious reasons — nobody wants their camera to suddenly shift when they’re trying to do something else!

    Maybe there was something up with Dreamcast devs and a desire for unnecessary input efficiency?

    3 votes

  12. Growing a beard. Tips and tricks, please!

    ~life.style Ask (advice)
    A huge thank you to everyone who responded to my hair thinning post. Here’s where I landed: Minoxidil is toxic to dogs and I’ve got a little fur buddy, and finasteride prevents me from donating...

    A huge thank you to everyone who responded to my hair thinning post.

    Here’s where I landed:

    Minoxidil is toxic to dogs and I’ve got a little fur buddy, and finasteride prevents me from donating blood and platelets, and that’s a new thing for me that I don’t want to give up. So, bald it is! I plan on shaving my head this coming summer.

    In the eventual absence of hair on my head though, I’d like to grow more on my face and keep it longer — something that’ll require actual grooming and upkeep. I’ve had a beard for a long time now, but I keep it quite short.

    So, what are all of my do’s and don’ts/tips and tricks for growing (and maintaining) a glorious beard?

    Also, I want this to be beneficial to ANYONE looking for beard info, so feel free to give short beard tips too.

    17 votes

  13. You can change ONE thing about a game. What do you change?

    ~games Ask (survey)
    Fix an annoyance. Take out a level. Revamp a system. Expand a world. Etc. Pick a game, any game, and tell us what ONE thing about it you would change, and why. It doesn’t have to be feasible or...

    Fix an annoyance.
    Take out a level.
    Revamp a system.
    Expand a world.
    Etc.

    Pick a game, any game, and tell us what ONE thing about it you would change, and why. It doesn’t have to be feasible or reasonable or whatnot. You’ve got a magic wand with one charge left.

    Also, your goal CAN be to make the game better, but it doesn’t have to be! Maybe you want to make the game more challenging. More chaotic. More hilarious. More broken.

    Entirely up to you!

    Also, you only get one change per game, but it’s fine to talk about what you would do for more than one game.

    29 votes

  14. Comment on The Alt-Right Playbook: The south bank of the rubicon in ~society

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    This is by far the most polite way I’ve ever been told to “touch grass.” 😂

    This is by far the most polite way I’ve ever been told to “touch grass.” 😂

    5 votes

  15. Comment on The Alt-Right Playbook: The south bank of the rubicon in ~society

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    You were supposed to be leaving those for me! What am I going to do with my weekend now?! 😂

    You were supposed to be leaving those for me! What am I going to do with my weekend now?! 😂

    3 votes

  16. Comment on The Alt-Right Playbook: The south bank of the rubicon in ~society

    kfwyre
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    That definitely would be easier. If automation isn’t an option though, I genuinely don’t mind chipping away at it with my lowly human limitations! And it looks like source.youtube has already been...

    That definitely would be easier.

    If automation isn’t an option though, I genuinely don’t mind chipping away at it with my lowly human limitations!

    And it looks like source.youtube has already been applied to this post, so I think that’s what we should go with (it’s also consistent with our source tagging for other topic types).

    2 votes

  17. Comment on The Alt-Right Playbook: The south bank of the rubicon in ~society

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    I’ll get on it this weekend!

    I’ll get on it this weekend!

    1 vote

  18. Comment on The Alt-Right Playbook: The south bank of the rubicon in ~society

    kfwyre
    Link Parent
    If you want help tagging those (maybe source.youtube?) let me know. I’d be happy to dive into the Tildes archives and do some mass tagging and take some/all of the work off of your plate.

    If you want help tagging those (maybe source.youtube?) let me know. I’d be happy to dive into the Tildes archives and do some mass tagging and take some/all of the work off of your plate.

    2 votes

  19. Comment on Tildes Book Club Spring and Summer schedule 2025 in ~books

    kfwyre
    (edited )
    Link
    The ebooks for Dan Simmons’s Hyperion are currently on sale for $2 USD. As before, I’m not sure if this deal is available in other countries or not. We’ll be reading this one in March. Links are...

    The ebooks for Dan Simmons’s Hyperion are currently on sale for $2 USD. As before, I’m not sure if this deal is available in other countries or not. We’ll be reading this one in March. Links are for US stores:

    6 votes

  20. Comment on Save Point: A game deal roundup for the week of January 26 in ~games

    kfwyre
    Link
    Lightmatter is 95% off on Steam. This is a solid first-person puzzle game, in the same vein as Portal. You have to light your way through different environments -- darkness kills you. Atmosphere...

    Lightmatter is 95% off on Steam.

    This is a solid first-person puzzle game, in the same vein as Portal. You have to light your way through different environments -- darkness kills you. Atmosphere and art style are great. Took me about 4 hours to beat. If I'd paid full price for it I'd probably feel a little let down by it, but it's easily worth its current price.

    1 vote