Pistos's recent activity
-
Comment on The case for left-handed representation in gaming in ~games
-
Comment on November 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 1 Discussion in ~games
Pistos LinkSo, I dusted off Frostpunk 1 from my backlog, and played through the main scenario. It's a fun little game! The stress and anxiety of having to care for your people, dealing with calamities and...So, I dusted off Frostpunk 1 from my backlog, and played through the main
campaignscenario. It's a fun little game! The stress and anxiety of having to care for your people, dealing with calamities and resource management, was significant -- yet fun, somehow. I like being given moral choices and dilemmas in games, and FP delivers in that respect, but only somewhat. Semi spoiler: The scenario was shorter than I expected, and I honestly expected for it to keep going after that ending event. I failed in the first playthrough, and I'm glad it (spoiler) ended in exile instead of you literally seeing the last few of your people actually die, as I was dreading the incoming (albeit simulated) guilt and responsibility. Having become familiar with the mechanics, and how useful (or not very useful) certain parts of the research tree are, the second playthrough was... well, kinda easy.Somehow, I don't feel compelled to play any of the other scenarios, though, and there are 3 or 4 more in the menus that I can see. I feel like I got the main thrust of what they were trying to do with this game, so I actually feel kind of "done" with it. I think I got my money's worth. Although it's a relatively short play (Steam says I have 45 hours on it), I'd recommend it, relative to your personal budget constraints.
Not sure what my next backlog game will be. Am currently just revisiting Kingdom Come: Deliverance 1, and wandering nostalgically. (I remind readers that KCD2 is scheduled to come out in early 2025, and is already available for pre-order.)
-
Comment on €78 ($90) mount is now available for World of Warcraft - more than three times more expensive than anything else in ~games
Pistos LinkI don't spend a lot on cosmetics in games, but, it's certainly non-zero. My justification to myself is: If I'm willing to spend X amount on physical clothing which will be seen by people T amount...I don't spend a lot on cosmetics in games, but, it's certainly non-zero. My justification to myself is: If I'm willing to spend X amount on physical clothing which will be seen by people T amount of time, I'm willing to spend Y amount on virtual clothing will be seen by people T2 amount of time. I think of it as roughly the same: I'm paying to look good. Also factor in how much time a given gamer might spend in-game vs in public.
Also: If a business finds something that people are willing to pay for, and it isn't harmful, that just seems like good business sense. So, the issue is probably less that it's outrageous that a business will sell something some people think is poor or no value, and more that some people will pay that much for something that others think has no value.
-
Comment on What the hell is a Typescript or: Creation ideas above my skill level in ~tech
Pistos Link ParentThis is what I was looking for as far as explanations go. Thanks. Not convinced enough to [want to] use JS/TS on a backend, but I understand that persuasion more now.The best thing I've ever done is to collect up all of the API handler response types and the parameter/POST body classes into one very large enumeration of types. I then import these types from the back-end into the front-end
This is what I was looking for as far as explanations go. Thanks. Not convinced enough to [want to] use JS/TS on a backend, but I understand that persuasion more now.
-
Comment on What the hell is a Typescript or: Creation ideas above my skill level in ~tech
Pistos Link ParentYour statement really struck me because using JS/TS for the backend is not something I imagined people would gravitate to, other than for the sole reason that they get to avoid learning a backend...Your statement really struck me because using JS/TS for the backend is not something I imagined people would gravitate to, other than for the sole reason that they get to avoid learning a backend language and framework. I'm old enough to have been coding when Node.js, etc. was not a [popular] thing for the backend. For me, it's more unnatural or odd to use JS on the backend, when there are so many tried and true choices for backend tech.
-
Comment on What the hell is a Typescript or: Creation ideas above my skill level in ~tech
Pistos LinkI don't intend to be negative or belittle your stance here, but it's not something I quite understand, unless it's a matter of "I want to learn, and if someone else does it, then I don't learn...the easy way out would just be to look for developers. But I can't do that, at least not without significant risk of falling into the "I had an idea for an app, you wanna make it?" brand of parasite. I'd feel dirty doing that
I don't intend to be negative or belittle your stance here, but it's not something I quite understand, unless it's a matter of "I want to learn, and if someone else does it, then I don't learn anything".
My point is: There are plenty of people on the opposite side of the fence (including me) thinking the same as you, but in the other direction. "I'm a pretty good programmer, but I suck at art/music/story-writing/blah-blah-non-programming-thing." Why not get two (or more) such opposite people, put them together, and make a dream come to life?
-
Comment on What the hell is a Typescript or: Creation ideas above my skill level in ~tech
Pistos Link ParentSorry; could you go in depth more with this statement?It pushes people to use full stack [same language], which is a much better way to develop apps than using two languages for the client and server.
Sorry; could you go in depth more with this statement?
-
Comment on Controversial opinion: I don't like "cosmetic armor" being an option in games in ~games
Pistos LinkI hear what you're saying, but what if there were just a setting "[ ] Show cosmetics"?I hear what you're saying, but what if there were just a setting "[ ] Show cosmetics"?
-
Comment on Programming/gaming monitor recommendations in ~tech
Pistos LinkI have a 4k main display, and would only begrudgingly go back to 1080p for a main display. I have a BenQ PD3200U, and it's easily the best hardware purchase I've made in my entire life. 4k is...I have a 4k main display, and would only begrudgingly go back to 1080p for a main display. I have a BenQ PD3200U, and it's easily the best hardware purchase I've made in my entire life. 4k is significantly better in almost all ways. The main difference is:
Is my fps going to take a hit from increasing the resolution
Yes, because the graphics hardware has to do more work to achieve the same results (per unit time) with more pixels.
I have a 3-monitor setup, so I see my previous monitor (1080p) and new 4k monitor side by side all the time. When I drag something from one to other, the difference is obvious.
That all said, I'm not that intense a gamer, and am content to play games at 60fps or less. In fact, I prefer better looks at lower framerates than higher framerates with worse graphics. In your case, if you're really wanting to play above 100 Hz, that'll probably increase your cost by quite a bit, both in the monitor and the graphics card.
You'll need to do some display scaling (mainly at the OS level), so things are not too small (relative to 1080 at the same distance from your eyes). I set my default Firefox font scaling to 150%. Also, the occasional game will obviously be designed for 1080, and UI elements will be ridiculously tiny at 4k, or the screen real estate will be laid out with a 1080 bias (bad UX at 4k). Most games are fine in 4k, though, in this respect.
-
Comment on AI artist says he’s losing money from people stealing his work in ~arts
Pistos Link ParentThe article says that he (or he through his lawyer) claims that the work was the prompt conversation with the AI, going through iterations of refinement before settling on the final render, plus...The article says that he (or he through his lawyer) claims that the work was the prompt conversation with the AI, going through iterations of refinement before settling on the final render, plus refinement of the AI output with graphics editing tools like Photoshop.
-
Comment on Is all language linear to a native speaker? in ~humanities.languages
Pistos LinkWord order matters a lot in English. However, there are (and have been) many languages that use a different word order (see SVO vs SOV, etc.); and there are languages that use affixation and/or...Word order matters a lot in English. However, there are (and have been) many languages that use a different word order (see SVO vs SOV, etc.); and there are languages that use affixation and/or inflection to convey grammatical meaning, which allows their speakers/writers to use arbitrary word order, as they see fit, for emphasis or artistic (poetic) purposes.
So, I don't think language in general is linear.
-
AI artist says he’s losing money from people stealing his work
35 votes -
Comment on Why do I get sick every time I visit my parents? in ~health
Pistos Link ParentOkay. Sorry to hear about your stress. Hope things get better for you.Okay. Sorry to hear about your stress. Hope things get better for you.
-
Comment on OFTC IRC network loses 20,000 users overnight in ~tech
Pistos LinkI still use IRC to this day, and want to see it stay alive, but: is this really concrete news quite yet? Hoping for more substance soon.I still use IRC to this day, and want to see it stay alive, but: is this really concrete news quite yet? Hoping for more substance soon.
-
Comment on Why do I get sick every time I visit my parents? in ~health
Pistos Link ParentDid you drink some of their water once back home, though?Did you drink some of their water once back home, though?
-
Comment on Why do I get sick every time I visit my parents? in ~health
-
Comment on They stole my voice with AI in ~tech
Pistos Link ParentJust want to spread some awareness on this point. What you're talking about is already here. I have used ElevenLabs (mentioned by Jeff Geerling in his followup post). They have a Speech to Speech...Can the AI technology be directed like a human can be directed? Right now, not so much. But [AI will] improve. If creatives need the ability to tweak voices (or body language/etc for a whole human image), [...] At some point, the director will be able to say "more anger, go again" and get that from the AI, and so on.
So right now, if you want a fully human performance, you still need a human.
Just want to spread some awareness on this point. What you're talking about is already here.
I have used ElevenLabs (mentioned by Jeff Geerling in his followup post). They have a Speech to Speech feature. You can provide voice input, and have the AI tech output voice output, but a different voice, including all the intonation, emotion, pace, etc. So, with respect to what I quoted above, you can hire a single (or very, very few) high-calibre voice actor(s), then have them voice all the lines of the N characters in your creative work. A middle-aged male voice actor provides the input, and out comes, say, the voice of the 10-year-old daughter of the main character. Differences between the input voice and output voice don't really matter, whether difference in age, timbre, pitch, or accent.
-
Comment on Share your personal dotfile treats and Unix tool recommendations in ~comp
Pistos LinkI use the silver searcher (ag) instead of ripgrep or ack. I made a little wrapper script which lets you search just for words, and it will find results regardless of snake_case,...I use the silver searcher (
ag) instead of ripgrep or ack. I made a little wrapper script which lets you search just for words, and it will find results regardless of snake_case, SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE, CamelCase, lowerCamelCase.#!/bin/zsh terms=(${@:#-*}) switches=(${(M)@:#-*}) echo; echo; echo; echo ag --pager less -i "${switches[@]}" `echo "$terms" | sed 's/ /[^a-z]?/g'`The key part is
| sed 's/ /[^a-z]?/g', which you could probably use with ripgrep, etc.
Also wanted to mention jq, which I use often for pretty-printing JSON (and occasionally doing searches in them).
-
Comment on Save Point: A game deal roundup for the week of August 18 in ~games
Pistos (edited )Link ParentThanks for the explanation. Thing is, I played Guitar Hero, etc. because I am a musician and I enjoy trying to be musically accurate; so if this games' blocks or other things on the track do not...Thanks for the explanation. Thing is, I played Guitar Hero, etc. because I am a musician and I enjoy trying to be musically accurate; so if this games' blocks or other things on the track do not literally line up with musical events (or even just the beat), then I think it's not for me.
-
Comment on Save Point: A game deal roundup for the week of August 18 in ~games
Pistos Link ParentThe AudioSurf franchise sounded like a good idea (reading the descriptions and reviews), but 1) the videos on the Steam store pages do a TERRIBLE job of showing how the actual music relates to the...The AudioSurf franchise sounded like a good idea (reading the descriptions and reviews), but 1) the videos on the Steam store pages do a TERRIBLE job of showing how the actual music relates to the gameplay (if it does that at all), and 2) I tried the AudioSurf 2 demo, and couldn't get started into the actual gameplay. There seemed to be a [>] button in the bottom right after choosing song, mode, etc. but clicking it did nothing. Gave up and uninstalled. shrug
I know this maybe doesn't really count, but sports games have had this for a long time, because it matters in real life sports, too. In particular, I'm thinking about baseball, hockey, and basketball. Boxing, too.
I understand your main point, but, I'm just grateful to be able to be able to customize keyboard layout so I can mouse with my left, and WASD with my right (on the arrow keys), and map other WASD-adjacent functions to Ins, Del, Page Up, etc. Most games allow remapping, and it's pretty annoying when you play a game that doesn't.