somewaffles's recent activity

  1. Comment on In addition to fake music, artificial intelligence has created a big new problem for Spotify – fake listeners in ~tech

    somewaffles
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    Can't speak for musicians at a higher level, but it definitely is a status thing for "undiscovered" artists. If you can tell people you have 10k monthly listeners, everyone is going to take you...

    Can't speak for musicians at a higher level, but it definitely is a status thing for "undiscovered" artists. If you can tell people you have 10k monthly listeners, everyone is going to take you much more seriously than if you are sitting at 1k or less. I would hope no one would take advantage of something like this for profit because that makes them an even bigger idiot than they already were for goosing their numbers.

    7 votes

  2. Comment on How hard is it really to create your own video game? in ~games.game_design

    somewaffles
    Link Parent
    This is really good advice, and touches on a lot of stuff I didn't expand on in the comment I wrote literally two minutes after you posted yours haha Would this happen to be RPG Maker?

    This is really good advice, and touches on a lot of stuff I didn't expand on in the comment I wrote literally two minutes after you posted yours haha

    reasonably fun JRPG for my brothers using a long dead engine

    Would this happen to be RPG Maker?

    1 vote

  3. Comment on How hard is it really to create your own video game? in ~games.game_design

    somewaffles
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    Preface: I do not want to scare you away from making a game. There are TONS of resources out there for all sorts of engines, for all sorts of skill levels. It is possible even for someone with no...

    Preface: I do not want to scare you away from making a game. There are TONS of resources out there for all sorts of engines, for all sorts of skill levels. It is possible even for someone with no coding/whatever experience.

    THAT BEING SAID, making games is hard af. I have worked as a software dev for about 7 years, musician for 15, and have dabbled in writing and visual arts most of my life. I have been able to release one "full" game so far, and it was just a little mini game for a game jam. I have tons of little toys and unfinished projects, but most not worth releasing. Even with the technical, art/music, and writing abilities, I find it really difficult to finish a project because I end up realizing my games just end up not being fun. Your art can look great, music is stunning, and the systems you code work flawlessly but coming up with a fun gameplay loop is the hardest creative task I think I've worked on. It involves taking all that code/art/sound and making it work within your gameplay loop, in a way that doesn't suck. You could potentially outsource most parts of development (if you're fine giving up some creative control) but the gameplay concepts come from you. It's a lot harder than it sounds to make a fun game.

    As prefaced, I don't want to scare you, but I also don't want people to try to make games and realize they just keep failing at it. You mentioned you have the world building planned out, which is great! Lots of games lack a good story / world presence. But, there is A LOT of boilerplate knowledge that goes into game development, and even when you get past that, it's an uphill battle. Even something like the little indie platformer you mentioned, introduces layers of complexity that a beginner is not ready to handle.

    The most common piece of advice for beginners is to start by just recreate really simple games that exist. Recreate pong, snake, or breakout then try to mess around with different aspects of it to make it something interesting. IE make pong, but introduce an extra block that floats around the screen that deflects the ball and adds a little variety to the gameplay. You learn so much by just doing it and learning as you go. The idea is to keep the game small and manageable. This also helps because you get to avoid the hardest part, which is coming up with the gameplay hook. Games are super complex systems, and a its a big mistake to start off by trying to create your "dream game."

    If coding seems scary to you, I would check out Gamemaker Studio, Construct, or Stencyl. There are a bunch others, so do a little research on what appeals to you and your eventual goals the most.

    7 votes

  4. Comment on Mosin Nagant - Tank Music (2022) in ~music

    somewaffles
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    A local Philly band just released this LP and they are doing very little promotion but I want to scream from the rooftops how great this album is. I want to call them a "hardcore" band but that...

    A local Philly band just released this LP and they are doing very little promotion but I want to scream from the rooftops how great this album is. I want to call them a "hardcore" band but that does a great disservice to the amount of variety that this album contains. If you like anything from NY hardcore, 2000's post-hardcore, industrial, or just general heavy rock, you may love this album. They slow it down when they need to, and get super heavy when they need to. They apparently spent years trying to nail down the sound, and it shows. I'm hoping some other people get to hear, what I consider, one of the albums of the year so far!

    (I'm not associated with the band, just a fan/participant of the local scene.)

    1 vote

  6. Comment on Weird: The Al Yankovic Story | Teaser trailer in ~movies

    somewaffles
    Link Parent
    haha didn't even notice that part. After watching again on my larger desktop screen, everything about this seems incredibly ridiculous and I am ready for it.

    haha didn't even notice that part. After watching again on my larger desktop screen, everything about this seems incredibly ridiculous and I am ready for it.

    1 vote

  7. Comment on Weird: The Al Yankovic Story | Teaser trailer in ~movies

    somewaffles
    Link Parent
    It's being produced by Weird Al himself, so my bet is it's going to be out there, which is exciting to me. It will probably only be loosely based in reality.

    It's being produced by Weird Al himself, so my bet is it's going to be out there, which is exciting to me. It will probably only be loosely based in reality.

    9 votes

  8. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    somewaffles
    Link Parent
    If you have some people to play with, I would highly recommend getting them in on your raft and turning the shark back on! It adds a little extra tension to the game and with friends, if you die,...

    If you have some people to play with, I would highly recommend getting them in on your raft and turning the shark back on! It adds a little extra tension to the game and with friends, if you die, they can just grab your stuff. It's way more manageable to fend him off with at least 2 other people, and I can see it being insanely aggravating to do that all yourself. It's also hilarious hearing your friends freak out when they accidentally fall in the water.

    3 votes

  9. Comment on What did you do this weekend? in ~talk

    somewaffles
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    Finished the last of a string of 3 gigs (1 in NYC, 2 in our home city) this week on Saturday with the band I'm playing with. They all went really well but I've been gigging on and off for over a...

    Finished the last of a string of 3 gigs (1 in NYC, 2 in our home city) this week on Saturday with the band I'm playing with. They all went really well but I've been gigging on and off for over a decade at this point, and at the ripe age of 30, I can't tell if I'm getting burnt out on the whole music scene thing. I moved out of the city earlier last year, so I'm not sure if it's the added 45 minute commute to get to anything or what. Music has always been an uphill battle, yet brought me a lot of happiness, but for the first time in my life, things just don't feel all that worth it, and it's not a great feeling. Might be an overall mental health thing, and I just need to start running again, which usually gets me over any depressive/anxiety slumps, but even that has been difficult since moving out of the city, since it has meant way less safe/runnable spots.

    6 votes

  10. Comment on If I wanted to make a game like Wordle, where would I start? in ~comp

    somewaffles
    Link Parent
    Yeah unfortunately even something as simple as Game Maker is going to have a pretty big learning curve for anyone not familiar with game dev. That being said, I did miss the part where they said...

    Yeah unfortunately even something as simple as Game Maker is going to have a pretty big learning curve for anyone not familiar with game dev.

    That being said, I did miss the part where they said "graphic-less", so any game engine would def be overkill. You had mentioned Python else where, which I think is the correct answer here. Would be a simple program even for someone with no coding experience.

    1 vote

  11. Comment on If I wanted to make a game like Wordle, where would I start? in ~comp

    somewaffles
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    I'm making a game inspired by Wordle right now too! I feel like an actual game engine would still probably be the best option for you. A lot of people are saying web frameworks but these can...

    I'm making a game inspired by Wordle right now too!

    I feel like an actual game engine would still probably be the best option for you. A lot of people are saying web frameworks but these can honestly be a hassle to setup, where most modern game engines are easy to install and run without almost any fuss. Plus if you end up wanting to make more complicated games, you'll have the environments setup to do that already. Not to mention, all of the boiler plate code for event listening (key press, mouse click, mouse move, etc.) and graphics are already taken care of in most cases.

    I use Unity because I have toyed around with it for years and work professionally with C#, but I know Construct and Game Maker can be used with little-to-no programming. A lot of people also seem to like Unreal, although I've never used it.

    The only downfall of using these engines is that they can be kind of confusing to navigate at first, but there is a ton of resources to get you started. If you're still not sure, and can provide more info on what you already know, I can help specify a bit more for you!

    3 votes

  12. Comment on List of Rock and Roll movies? in ~movies

    somewaffles
    Link Parent
    I always forget about Frank. Its been a few years, but I remember it being a really cool look into what it means to be creative.

    I always forget about Frank. Its been a few years, but I remember it being a really cool look into what it means to be creative.

    1 vote

  13. Comment on Bo Burnham - Welcome to the Internet (2021) in ~music

    somewaffles
    Link Parent
    Thanks for posting this interview, really good stuff. That last 10 minutes he spends ranting about the idea of our emotions and wellbeing being streamlined was pretty amazing and sums up my...

    Thanks for posting this interview, really good stuff. That last 10 minutes he spends ranting about the idea of our emotions and wellbeing being streamlined was pretty amazing and sums up my thought on the downsides of social media. I'd love to see an interview of similar length where he discusses similar topics (rather than his movie, which was great too.)

    4 votes

  14. Comment on Marvel Studios celebrates the movies in ~movies

    somewaffles
    Link Parent
    Not a Marvel person really, but I don't think it's a children-only thing to enjoy a movie about superhero's. If you take the superhero part out, they are just fun, easy to digest movies I think....

    Not a Marvel person really, but I don't think it's a children-only thing to enjoy a movie about superhero's. If you take the superhero part out, they are just fun, easy to digest movies I think. Anyway, Thor: Ragnarok was a fun movie anyone could enjoy. AFAIK, you'll have miss a lot of character development since it's pretty far along in the universe. Personally not having seen any of the Thor or Hulk movies, but having some basic understanding of the characters, I thought it was 2 hours well spent!

    5 votes

  15. Comment on What game(s) have you tried to repeatedly get into but ultimately could not? in ~games

    somewaffles
    Link Parent
    Sounds like you may have your mind made up but I would strongly consider pushing through Bloodborne after Father Gascoigne, as I feel like the game doesn't start until after you beat him. The...

    Sounds like you may have your mind made up but I would strongly consider pushing through Bloodborne after Father Gascoigne, as I feel like the game doesn't start until after you beat him. The story really starts to pan out after that point (have a wiki handy) and you'll start asking questions about the game world, that you'll want answers to. The speed of BB matches MHW pretty well, as opposed to other Souls games, so I'm surprised you feel this way.

    Of course, it could be the case the game isn't for you, but I consider Bloodborne to be in the top 10 games ever and feel personally attacked if anyone says they don't feel the same.

    1 vote

  16. Comment on Reddit hires its first chief financial officer as it prepares for an IPO in ~tech

    somewaffles
    Link Parent
    As someone who has been on reddit since ~2007, I think right around the time of the great Digg migration (2011/2012??) was when there was a major shift in vibe on Reddit. It took a few years to...

    ...and make an exact clone of it with the site rules/philosophy circa 2009-2011 (more libertairan era)?

    As someone who has been on reddit since ~2007, I think right around the time of the great Digg migration (2011/2012??) was when there was a major shift in vibe on Reddit. It took a few years to really change but, like you pointed out, the rules/philosophy definitely shifted around that time.

    Maybe its impossible since what I really miss is my innocence and youth.

    I think this is a big part of it for me but it's also the fact that Reddit was originally a hodgepodge of all the best parts of online forums, streamlined... which was a breathe of fresh air. Nowadays everyone has upvotes/downvotes, customizable subdomains, etc. From my limited knowledge, nothing Reddit did was groundbreaking but it did them all (mostly) well and in one place. That being said, copying the code and changing branding wouldn't be enough for me. In all honestly that's kind of what tildes is doing, just with healthier moderation and a few more restrictions. I like all these things a lot but its well established ground. I would think to get that same ~2011 Reddit feeling, a site will have to be doing something different that I can't get at every other social news site these days. Not claiming to know what that would be, but that's just my hunch!

    Another thing I've noticed is that most Reddit alternatives these days seem to be politically motivated. Its super apparent in their user bases, on both sides of the US political spectrum. It's a shame because there are a lot of sites that could have been something special but put way too much emphasis on "free speech"/no moderation which unfortunately draws a type of user.

    7 votes

  18. Comment on What are some of your favorite music videos? in ~music

    somewaffles
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    I don't know if its my absolute favorite, but I laugh every time I think about Biggies Hypnotize video. It's so over the top and the absolute height of 90s rap music video content.

    I don't know if its my absolute favorite, but I laugh every time I think about Biggies Hypnotize video. It's so over the top and the absolute height of 90s rap music video content.

    2 votes

  19. Comment on What's something amazing that many people take for granted? in ~talk

    somewaffles
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    At least in the US, trash collection and sanitation. I don't think "amazing" is the word for it because of what becomes of the waste after it leaves our sight, but it keeps our streets clean and...

    At least in the US, trash collection and sanitation. I don't think "amazing" is the word for it because of what becomes of the waste after it leaves our sight, but it keeps our streets clean and people don't even think twice about where it goes. I think the "amazing" part is how little everyone thinks about how much trash they generate and how it is processed after they are done with it. It makes me think of the movie Idiocracy every time I think of the trash mountains that we are slowly accumulating around the world.

    4 votes

  20. Comment on What’s something you have an unusually strong fondness for? in ~talk

    somewaffles
    Link Parent
    You would have loved my last job. The entire legacy loan origination system was written in scheme. I'm happy to have had the experience to work with such a niche language but it sure is a very...

    You would have loved my last job. The entire legacy loan origination system was written in scheme. I'm happy to have had the experience to work with such a niche language but it sure is a very different way of thinking.

    3 votes