T w e n t y S i d e d
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “DM of the Rings CXIV:
The Book of Exalted Screwups”
DM of the Rings CXIV:
Photosynth demo
Reader Telas sent this link along. It’s a demo of some new software. As a professional software developer myself, I feel I need to add my own unique viewpoint and share my expert opinion: Oh holy crap wow!
That really is cool. The ability to visually cruise through different media and zoom in and out looks like something truly useful. I’ve seen many misguided attempts to visualize a bunch of files, but I’ve never seen any that looked like more than a gimmick. They don’t give the system specs for the machine performing the demo, so I suspect it’s some overpowered monster with a hojillion kabillion megabytes of memory, but if such a thing could ever run that smooth on a machine owned by mortals, I’d get it in a second.
(I will say that things like this make me want to hang up my hat as a programmer. There are some frighteningly brilliant people out there, and if I dedicated the rest of my life to honing my skills I doubt I could come within cruise missile range of something like this.)
You can’t get there from here
For fun, I banged together a new theme for WordPress. You can see a demo of it at my crappy sandbox blog. It doesn’t really suit Twenty Sided, but I’m thinking it might be of use to someone out there. This morning I decide to upload it to wherever themes come from. It turns out that place is themes.wordpress.net. I visit “the official theme directory” of WordPress to upload my work, where I learn that:
- In order to make your theme public, you must upload it to the server.
- In order to upload a theme you must create an account.
- Creating accounts is currently disabled.
See if you can spot the weak link in the chain.
Geeze, this isn’t helping anyone. Yeah, yeah, if you hunt around on the site you’ll eventually stumble on the directions for how to contact the admin and maybe get yourself an account in “three business days”. It took me about four hours to make the theme, and it will now take me three days just to get it onto the server? Lame. I’m not even going to bother.
If anyone digs the theme, you can download it here: Luddite for WordPress. It’s small. Very small. Just 4 modest files. The CSS is small enough that you can open it in a text editor and see the whole thing at once, as opposed to the twenty-page monoliths you see floating around. I like it. Tastes may vary.
A Fire: Followup
Last week I had a post about the fire on Memorial Day weekend that killed my neighbor. Many people expressed sympathies and left kind words in the comments. Thanks again for that.
But I never followed up on that post, which sort of left things hanging. I apologize for that. I’m happy to report that W – Frank’s widow – is doing just fine. She’s taking it quite well. We’re also finding out just how many friends Frank made in his lifetime and how many people he helped. There seem to be quite a few people who knew the man and who were grateful for some favor or help he’d given them in the past. Some have come forward and W has lots of people offering all sorts of help. Frank worked most of his life in the Steel Mill, and years of overtime as a mid-level somesuch, working at union prices, left him well-off enough to retire quite early and amass an admirable collection of vehicles and tools. I claim no knowledge of their finances, but they seemed well-off and W does not seem to be concerned about that sort of business.
The backyard excavation continues. It looks like they’re digging the foundation for a skyscraper right now. I can’t believe they have had to dig up so much land for such a small building, but the garage runoff was apparently Not Nice Stuff and they wanted to make sure they got it all. I’ve been told that all of the landscaping will be restored, just as it was. My wife contributed a few of our flowers to the effort for when the time comes. Again, I don’t know if this is a result of insurance money, Frank’s savings, or the help of friends, but it’s being taken care of.
So W is doing fine. My wife has offered help several times, but W doesn’t seem to need anything. It was a terrible thing to have happen, but the aftermath is about as merciful as one could hope for. If he’d left her penniless, or if their house was consumed, then grim days would be ahead, but his success with people and money have apparently softened the blow.
Thanks again to everyone who expressed concern. Again, I apologize for not following up. I was suddenly reluctant to talk about it, but I’m the one who brought it up in the first place and I should have posted this sooner.
Maybe I’ll post some more of the yard digging later today. Someday the landscaping will be restored, and when that happens I’ll put up some pictures of that as well.
LATER: I should add, I really appreciate sentiments like this. (Which was written before this post.) It does cheer me to know there are still nice people out there.
DM of the Rings CXIII:
It’s a Trap!
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “DM of the Rings CXIII:
It’s a Trap!”
Good, Fast, Cheap
I need to make a new category for my blog, “What he said”. If I did, I could use it to file this fantastic post from Jay Barnson on why Why Software Design Isn’t Like Architecture.
Except few other “controllable, predictable” disciplines are as subject to inadequate specifications and changing requirements as software engineering. I mean, can you imagine a civil engineer trying to build a bridge for an unknown location and environmental conditions, only being told that it should be made of steel, cross a body of water that is “less than 2000 feet” in width, and be capable of expanding to any kind of load they want to put on it (and in any distribution)?
Or, as the man says, read the whole thing.
Sticks and Stones Demo
A reader send me a link to the following video, which is an excerpt of an interview with physicist Brian Beckman. Here he discusses an upcoming indie / freeware game Rigs of Rods and talks a bit about what works and what doesn’t with physics engines.
He mentions making physics simulations “too complicated”, and I know exactly what he’s talking about.
But what’s really interesting here is the method they are using in this game. Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Sticks and Stones Demo”
From The Archives:
Overused Words in Game Titles
I scoured the Steam database to figure out what words were the most commonly used in game titles.
Deus Ex and The Treachery of Labels
Deus Ex Mankind Divided was a clumsy, tone-deaf allegory that thought it was clever, and it managed to annoy people of all political stripes.
Fable II
The plot of this game isn't just dumb, it's actively hostile to the player. This game hates you and thinks you are stupid.
My Music
Do you like electronic music? Do you like free stuff? Are you okay with amateur music from someone who's learning? Yes? Because that's what this is.
Why The Christmas Shopping Season is Worse Every Year
Everyone hates Black Friday sales. Even retailers! So why does it exist?
The Brilliance of Mass Effect
What is "Domino Worldbuilding" and how did it help to make Mass Effect one of the most interesting settings in modern RPGs?
Programming Language for Games
Game developer Jon Blow is making a programming language just for games. Why is he doing this, and what will it mean for game development?
Zenimax vs. Facebook
This series explores the troubled history of VR and the strange lawsuit between Zenimax publishing and Facebook.
The Opportunity Crunch
No, brutal, soul-sucking, marriage-destroying crunch mode in game development isn't a privilege or an opportunity. It's idiocy.
Please Help I Can’t Stop Playing Cities: Skylines
What makes this borderline indie title so much better than the AAA juggernauts that came before?