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[D] Friday Off-Topic Thread
Post:
Welcome to the Friday Off-Topic Thread! Is there something that you want to talk about with /r/rational, but which isn't rational fiction, or doesn't otherwise belong as a top-level post? This is the place to post it. The idea is that while reddit is a large place, with lots of special little niches, sometimes you just want to talk with a certain group of people about certain sorts of things that aren't related to why you're all here. It's totally understandable that you might want to talk about Japanese game shows with /r/rational instead of going over to /r/japanesegameshows, but it's hopefully also understandable that this isn't really the place for that sort of thing.
So do you want to talk about how your life has been going? Non-rational and/or non-fictional stuff you've been reading? The recent album from your favourite German pop singer? The politics of Southern India? The sexual preferences of the chairman of the Ukrainian soccer league? Different ways to plot meteorological data? The cost of living in Portugal? Corner cases for siteswap notation? All these things and more could possibly be found in the comments below!
Comments:
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u/alexanderwales:
I picked up Opus Magnum of the Steam summer sale. It's been a while since I've played a Zachtronics game, and I had mostly forgotten that feeling of "here are mechanics, here's what you need to produce, if you're so smart, then you figure it out". Starting up each level gives me a feeling of disbelief, because the problem always seems so big, but it's really just a matter of breaking the system down into component parts, solving each part one by one, than getting it to run together. It really scratches the same itch that programming used to scratch for me, only more so. I also really appreciate all the work that went into the story and aesthetics of Opus Magnum, which really didn't need to be there given that it's a puzzle game. Like in Shenzen I/O, I think it adds an extra level of investment and progression. Factorio was much the same sort of game for me, but I burnt myself out on it after finishing it, then finishing it with Bob's Mods, then doing Bob's + Angel's.-
u/veruchai:
> It really scratches the same itch that programming used to scratch for me, only more so. I've played a couple "programming games", they usually feel too much like work for me to have fun. As soon as the work I need to do to beat a level gets past being trivial, I start feeling I might as well do some actual programming and get something useful out of it. I do like the ones with short levels that are far more about the puzzle aspect though, as opposed to having to sort 9000 different items which ends up being mostly busywork.- u/alexanderwales:
That was why I never finished TIS-100; it was very pure in its programming. For the others, it's mostly about getting the thrill of programming without any of the garbage that goes along with actual programming. I don't have to deal with incompatible libraries, functions that don't work like they're documented to, hidden assumptions of either the language or the code I'm working with, etc. I guess if I had to make a comparison, it would be "romance novel:romance::programming game:programming"?
- u/alexanderwales:
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u/Revisional_Sin:
I really liked how the gameplay didn't undermine the story. The tutorial didn't fall into the "As you know, captain..." trap: >"Herr Einstein! We're so grateful to have a genius of your level here. >Now... I'm sure you remember 'addition', yes? >Well let me remind you, just in case..." The tutorial made sense, and characterised the protagonist effectively. The main character is more focussed on the alchemy than the automation, so good or bad solutions are equally in character.- u/Revisional_Sin:
I also loved the art and sound effects, they really added to the beauty of a final solution.
- u/Revisional_Sin:
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u/ToaKraka:
> I also really appreciate all the work that went into the story and aesthetics of Opus Magnum, which really didn't need to be there given that it's a puzzle game. Like in Shenzen I/O, I think it adds an extra level of investment and progression. I strongly disagree. The fancy graphics, story, and sound effects angered me significantly more than they amused me. In playing the game\*, I was constantly wondering how much cheaper *and better-looking* a no-frills version of the game (looking and sounding like *The Codex of Alchemical Engineering*) would have been. (~~IIRC,~~ Zachtronics even posted on ~~Facebook and/or~~ [Twitter](https://twitter.com/zachtronics/status/979112047689396224) some [concept art](https://i.imgur.com/EIJdJQz.gif) that looked more like *Codex*, and I significantly preferred it to the final art.) \*Disclaimer: I haven't played it in several months and I haven't finished it.
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u/xamueljones:
I'm having dreams about mazes and I am using them as inspiration to write maze-related stories/quests. Is there any preexisting stories about mazes that I can read?-
u/None:
[deleted]-
u/xamueljones:
Nah, it's cool. I know what it's like to ramble when you're sleep deprived. I've been thinking a lot about writing a quest where the players are stuck with an unnaturally realistic dream of a maze. The maze is a city where the streets loop on themselves and there's no clear way to get around. It's going to be really fun writing it. Here's the summary of the story: *You walk down the sidewalk of an abandoned city. Implicitly you understand that time is running out, anxiety blooms in you chest as you look about frantically for what’s coming. In an instant a white screen of light surrounds your vision. Sound disappears from the world except for a ringing in you ears. All sensations including touch vanish from your body, you feel as if you’re floating in a void of light. When it finally ends, your vision slowly returns and with a burning sensation runs across your skin. The air is tinged a deep red, clouds running across the sky faster than you’ve ever seen. The city is melting, glass seeping into pools on the street as building deform and twist from the heat. Your skin too, is sloughing off in great chunks even as you scream your throat dry. The last thing you’ll feel are your eyeballs dripping.* *Time is of the essence. You need to make use of what little time you have at the beginning of the dream to escape before it occurs. Car doors are rusted shut, bicycles are beyond repair, the roads go in circles and the layout is nonsensical. Through trial and error you might discover a method to escape beyond its boundaries. You have an unknown number worth of attempts before the nightmare becomes real, and there won’t be any escape then.* I really wish I could take the credit for this masterfully written piece of purple prose, but it is a writing prompt posted somewhere months ago that inspired my maze-related ideas.-
u/None:
[deleted]- u/xamueljones:
Oooo...that youtube clip describes fairly well some the more twisting aspects of the maze the protagonist will have to face in the later portion of the story. Thanks for showing it to me!
- u/xamueljones:
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u/crivtox:
Interesting ,the watching something that becomes another dream thing also happens to me often , though usually the other way around , me noticing something that doesnt make sense (or that I decide in the dream that doesnt make sense for whatever reason ) and the dream changing to me complaining about it while watching a movie or something that was the previous dream (or just "waking up " into another dream ).
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u/alexanderwales:
[House](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Leaves) of Leaves, though those are technically labyrinths.
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u/AmeteurOpinions:
Just finished reading *Beautiful Fighting Girl* by Saito Tamaki. It’s an interesting (if somewhat unfocused, and with some Freudian/Lacanian psychoanalysis) book about 2000s otaku and the popular success of beautiful fighting girls in manga and anime. Saito sees the otaku’s way of consuming media as an adaptive strategy in a hypermediated world, where they are ahead of the game. He also states that their defining trait is the ability to achieve sexual release from a drawn image, and this is why real society must reject them, because they do not privilege reality over fiction. So there’s that.