> It turns out we don’t have to care about any of this [...], so none of this matters in any kind of deep way, but: we’ve decided to just be a blog again, so: we had to learn this, and now you do too.
I found this closing sentence utterly delightful, particularly in an age of endlessly filtering every piece of text I read on the internet through a mental "was this written by Claude, Codex, or (just possibly) a human?" filter.
Truly evidence that we’re living in the worst timeline — the Bulwer-Lytton has been one of the highlights of my year for as long as I can remember. My parents introduced me to it before I could read; I remember them laughing and crying as they tried to explain to four-year-old me why this one inscrutable sentence was the funniest thing on earth. I’ve looked forward to it ever since, though recently I’ve only checked in to read the dishonorable mentions and winners once every few years.
Knowing I’ll never again check and find a year’s crop of perfect sentences dims the light more than I would have expected. Sad times.
> Endpoint views break down request volume, errors, latency, and status codes. Crash and ANR detail adds the app version, device, and thread context around a failure. This is where a problematic UI transition can be connected to a backend or runtime condition.
The project README reads like a first draft straight out of Claude, and it's incredibly off-putting. The 'Show HN' post here is so much better; clearly you're capable of writing a decent explanation of what this project is, its history, and for whom you've built it. Take the time and write the damn README yourself.
If you expect human attention, put in human effort.
You're a sophomore at UT, so as a UTCS alum (:wave: from a fellow Turing Scholar) I'm not letting you off the hook. Unless things have majorly changed, I know you're taking 6 hours of writing-heavy coursework.
Wow Turing Scholars! you guys are like the navy seals of CS at UT lol. Yes I appreciate the insight and will actually hand write it (and copy some parts of this post, but it is a bit too goofy to just use the post straight up). One thing you mentioned, I've never heard of Readmes including a history of the project, because I thought Readmes were like a small intro doc with a bunch of hyper links only.
Did you look at them, or did you just tell Claude to look at them? /s
Seriously, though — if the history is valuable and interesting, include it. If it provides context in general, include it; if it’s just overconfident marketing fluff straight from the parrot’s mouth, drop it. I like my READMEs to open with the ‘why’ of the project: why I built it and why you might need it too.
There must be something in the water! I’ve been working on a (very different) chess-like roguelike, and just released the demo. Check it out if you’re a fan of weird chess puzzles, bad chess puns, and Hnefatafl!
Looks great! Gamedev is so cool, being able to create enjoyable, playable worlds and characters must be so satisfying. If you can tell me how to build something like this I will be so grateful.
I've made games in Löve and with straight Python and it's always a lot of fun...though challenging at times.
Where I tend to struggle is with the overall game structure. Without being an actual professional programmer (nevermind a game programmer), I'm always wrestling with how to design the code structure in a way that is logical and professional. Leveraging common game design patterns isn't at all straight forward for a person like me.
Or if you're impatient like me you click "Your first 2D game" or "Your first 3D game" in the left bar (whichever you prefer) and go through that -- and skipping back to the intro/step by step when you don't understand something.
By the end of that you'll have made your first game.
From there you just do something extra to it. Mix it up. Start a new project with a different (small) idea. Build small projects until small becomes medium becomes large.
That's up to GoG; I've submitted every game I've released to them and it's like talking into the void, never a response. They're a delight as a customer, but kind of half-assed as a platform (at least if you're a self-published indie).
Ah, really? I had no idea! Very surprising too, since they've made their reputation as an indie+abandonware promoter.
Though, to be fair, I haven't seen your game in the Dreamlist [0] or Community Wishlist [1] pages either. You could at least add it and try promote it a bit there to help GoG gauge interest?
This is highly parasitic: someone does a Show HN about their hobby project, and then you come and snap on to it like a leech with your to-be-paid-for completely unrelated game demo.
I find this kind of behaviour disgusting. Why don't you do a Show HN on your own?
"Chess-related roguelike" is a an very crowded genre for unclear reasons and it's difficult to stick out.
So far I've played Shotgun Queen and Pawnbarian. There's also Ouroboros King, Demoncrawl, The Rookery, Passant, Chess Survivors, Gambonanza, Mind over Monarchy, and many more.
I've not played as many (games in said genre) as you, jjmarr. And so, if you don't mind indulging me... I've an idea for a game that perhaps you'd be able to tell me if it's something you've already seen in play.
The mechanic is fairly simple for this board game (not computer/video):
A standard chessboard and chess pieces are used, with a custom deck of cards for each player. Before moving any pieces, a card is revealed that effects enhancements/restrictions/story/etc. The selling point would be banking on the creativity of the deck, of course.
If there is anybody that could run with this idea (if in fact original, which I doubt) before I do, I'd love to hear about it! ♟
I know this is nitpicking, but as a Texan I have to correct you on a point of grammar. The “west” in “West Texas” (and similarly for the other regions) isn’t an adjective; it’s part of the proper noun and should be capitalized. So it’s “West Texas,” not “west Texas.”
Yes, this is weird and no, I have no idea why we do it, but it’s really weird to read “export it to east Texas” — to the extent that I had to re-parse the sentence to figure out what you meant.
Thanks for this. I'm past the edit window now, but both ways felt wrong and I just picked one. I suppose "western Texas" and "eastern Texas" is what I should have written to avoid the problem.
EVs aren’t exactly new; there’s a deep, accessble secondhand market by now. I’ve been using a 2019 Nissan Leaf as a primary family car for two years now, that I picked up off Gumtree for around £3k. It’s been one of the best (little) cars I’ve ever owned.
Not saying new EVs aren’t pricey, but if you want into electric on a budget (i.e. because you don’t feel like you can afford to fill up on diesel) it can absolutely be done.
If you're savvy you can get a really good discount on a second-hand EV as well because people overestimate the wear on the batteries and assume a second-hand EV will have terrible range.
Oh, man; I got my hands on a (dead) one of these when I was a freshman in college (2004) and instead of trying to restore it my friends and I gutted it and used it as an original Xbox case mod. It was pretty satisfying to show up at LAN parties with what looked like a Solaris box and watch people boggle when we played Halo on it...
I've been wanting to get one for a PC mITX case mod. I love Sun's design language and the IPX cases are cute.
I have got a Sun Type 5 keyboard though. I brought it to a mechanical keyboard meetup once, only to show it off because it is so pretty. Not the best key feel though, but I've got nothing to use it with.
