@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Craigp

@Craigp@mastodon.social

Green energy day job, game dev / design talks & tutorials at night.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFL6-QAPmuin1iXUY1MEe0g

He/him

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

Craigp, to random
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

You know, I've been thinking about entertainment a lot recently.

I think there's only really a few categories of entertainment, if we judge by asking what people are willing to be entertained by at any given time.

For example, social/parasocial entertainment.

But I think the one currently shifting the most is spectacle.

Sometimes people just wanna see some cool shit, you know?

It's a weird thing to think about, and I think it might be part of why this strike is happening.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

A thousand years ago the need for spectacle would be met by Godfrey bellyflopping into a bog shouting "WOOO!"

But I think that show-producing and movie-producing companies are in that same market.

We like to think movies can be smart and shows can be well-written, but it's hard to sell introspection.

A corporation makes the most reliable income from paying Godfrey a penny to jump in the bog and charging everyone a penny to watch. You can do it three times a week, there's always an audience.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

This is the "lowest common denominator" thinking, right? Put out flashy crap because that's what people want!

But... I think it's literally a category of thing. It's not better or worse, it's a category.

The problem is, it's the only category companies can reliably sell to everyone.

You can't easily sell parasocial stuff, introspective stuff, any of that. People in those moods don't tend to impulse buy.

charlesrandall, to random
@charlesrandall@grumble.social avatar

opening the chests in alexander raids is just trolling. last one out gets a pile of junk! FU

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

@charlesrandall that is by far the funniest part of FFXIV.

The manderville quests have nothing on it.

hiscursedness, to random

Still laughing that One D&D made most of the wizard and sorcerer's class features into spells that they just auto-get, because it means you can counterspell them

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

@hiscursedness if you're doing short campaigns, I've found it fun to make each campaign a new set of rules that suits the needs of that campaign.

I feel like people underestimate how much difference suitable rules make, because they're too used to always using The Normal Rules.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

@hiscursedness Yeah, if it's longer than 6 sessions, it benefits from having well-tested rules that have longevity.

But if it's a shorter season, by the time the edge cases in the rules arise, the season is over. :D

Craigp, to random
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

I figured out the annoying Linux problem I was having, now I have to figure out the annoying Linux problem everyone has:

How to use SSH in a script when you have to use a password rather than a key.

I wonder if this "expect" approach works on this system. Hm.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Nope, no expect installed. SSHPass isn't yummable, so hmmmmmmm.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Oh, PHP has a function to do exactly this, and I'm already doing this shit in PHP out of spite, so HEY.

Problem "solved"!

Craigp, to random
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

So tired I can't sleep. Thanks, brain.

glassbottommeg, to gamedev
@glassbottommeg@peoplemaking.games avatar

I have an mystery: what could make it so that a client logged into a server doesn't get their rotation replicated up to the ListenServer?

Client can move around normally and see the rotation of the character the ListenServer is controlling, but viewed from the ListenServer, the client's character doesn't rotate. Move, yes, but no rotation.

It's acting like rotation is only replicated server->client, and that's perplexing.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

@glassbottommeg That seems likely. The biggest problem I have with Unreal is that when something is overridden or incompatible, it doesn't bother to ever tell you what it is.

Craigp, to random
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

OK, behold ye space truck. I decided, hey, if it's a space truck, I won't even bother trying to make it look realistic.

This is a puzzle truck. It has a frankly shocking amount of stuff going on that allows it to play a role in several different puzzles at once.

Craigp, to random
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

One thing I'd love to do, if I had a million free years: I'd like to tweak La Mulana.

It's not that I think it needs tweaking, it's that I have theories about the pacing of puzzles and clues. I think if I created a clue network more akin to how it's done in Outer Wilds, we'd see a different flow.

I'd like to just see how it goes.

Craigp, to random
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Hmmm. I'm making an extremely basic Linux mistake and I know the exact mistake I'm making, but I can't remember how to fix it and Google has apparently stopped searching the internet.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

None of the spam, AI-generated "solutions", or ads contain anything useful.

cara, to random

binstagram babes

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

@cara Are those the babes you get after compiling the sourcestagram babes?

Craigp, to random
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Made a truck, but it sucks, so I have to remake it.

The problem is, in Space Engineers storage is hyper-efficient and motors are very weirdly shaped.

Craigp, to random
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

I'm not against VNs using 3D stills, but every time I play one, half the stills are completely underlit and impenetrable.

Yeah, I know you're standing in the alley at night with a space laser. Because you told me. I wouldn't be able to tell by looking at the render, it's Just Black.

Here's a tip if you're doing 3D stills: the peak brightness at night is not too much lower than it would be during the day, because the eye adapts.

Instead, use harsher, larger shadows and rimlights.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Here's some night stills from Blade Runner, which I assume Mr. Space Laser is imitating.

Notice they are not Just Black. Well, if you let your mastodon client clip them, that last one might be.

But instead they use a combination of values with a focus on readability.

image/png
image/png
image/png

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Actually two of those might have been during the day.

Whatever.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

But the point is, here, look at this. Both of these images have strong midtones that form a bedrock for the eye, even though one is an extremely bright day and the other an extremely dreary rainstorm at night.

It's not that they both use the same value levels, but neither is "all brights" or "all shadows".

Both use value differentiation to guide the eye and punch it up.

image/png

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

The simplest piece of advice is the easiest:

Make your backgrounds and your characters different value ranges.

Make your backgrounds brightish and your characters shadowed, or visa-versa.

This lets players read your scenes. It's kinda important, especially if you're using stills where there's no motion to help differentiate things.

Filming in the pitch-black night? Well guess what, your character is under a lamp. Or the background is foggy gray. One or the other.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Pitch black characters on a pitch black background with only the vague hint of a rimlight to differentiate them Will Not Work.

Differentiate the background from the characters. Use brightness, it's OK.

Craigp, to random
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

I want to do work, but instead I keep having ideas for what to make in Space Engineers with event blocks.

Craigp, to random
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Made a little space house in Space Engineers, because why not.

image/png
image/png
image/png

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Another "puzzle house", this is the automated refinery of Mallory Malloy.

She buys ore at a "fair price" processes it automatically, and automatically loads the store up with the resulting ingots, which you can buy at a "fair price".

Also, while you're waiting, why not come inside? The members-only pub "The Refined Leprechaun" is just one purchase away!

And yes, it ALL works. Hooray event blocks! It would have taken excruciating C# code to do this stuff before.

image/png
image/png
image/png

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • JUstTest
  • khanakhh
  • DreamBathrooms
  • everett
  • magazineikmin
  • osvaldo12
  • InstantRegret
  • Youngstown
  • mdbf
  • slotface
  • rosin
  • thenastyranch
  • kavyap
  • tacticalgear
  • Leos
  • cisconetworking
  • Durango
  • GTA5RPClips
  • ethstaker
  • provamag3
  • ngwrru68w68
  • normalnudes
  • cubers
  • tester
  • modclub
  • megavids
  • anitta
  • lostlight
  • All magazines
    •