Linked List: May 2024

Bellwright is secretly a lesson in good management

Sin Vega’s kick-ass review.

Trust: A long time to build, a short time to destroy

Jeremy Keith:

If I use a search engine I need to be able to trust that the filtering is good. If I look up documentation I need to trust that the information is good. I don’t expect perfection, but I also don’t expect to have to constantly be thinking “was this generated by a large language model, and if so, how can I know it’s not hallucinating?”

Trust is a precious commodity. It takes a long time to build trust. It takes a short time to destroy it.

I am honestly astonished that so many companies don’t seem to realise what they’re destroying.

The AI answers in Google search results thing reminds me of the Google+ fiasco in response to Facebook.

Krita Digital Painting Software

Open source software celebrating 25 years.

The Scully Effect

Representation matters. We can’t create a reality until we can imagine it. It’s up to us, the writers, to ensure there’s plenty for future generations to imagine.

It was my second year at university, The X Files was on every Thursday, and Marit, Christine, Cordula, Fredrik, Antti and I would watch together, eating takeout food. Good times.

The Scully Effect is out there.

Disappearing Weapons Generation Zero Bug

Update: It was user error! I had a filter set in the inventory for Quality: Worn so weapons of higher quality levels were not being shown!

Weapons disappear from the inventory and cannot be equipped again. In this case, a 4-star N60.
  1. I pick it up from a destroyed Tank.

  2. I can’t find it any longer, but it randomly appears while scrolling.

The same thing happened to an AT-WAD rifle and a Kotenok sniper rifle during the same stream of Generation Zero.

I have all the DLC except the cosmetic and Flakmoped ones, and have verified the integrity of game files on Steam.

Endless Sky

Free, open source 2D space trading and combat game similar to the classic Escape Velocity series available for Windows, Linux, and Mac. Also on Steam.

The Creative Act

Probably the best book about the creative process in everyday life and in art, and also the most positive, optimistic book I’ve read. Added to my list of books about thinking and learning.

♫ Siamo Soli

One of Vasco Rossi’s best.

Waltorious on Wild Metal Country

A video game player called Waltorious with seemingly similar tastes to mine wrote about this obscure game.

I have an original CD of Wild Metal Country, which I believe was a prototype for an in-house 3D engine that DMA Design made which eventually became the engine for the first 3D game in the Grant Theft Auto series, GTA 3.

My memory may be faulty, but that is what I remember, also that I enjoyed the game, especially the physics of lobbing shells at the other strange tankster robo wheeled thingy-magings.

Apocalypse Tank Down

The twin-legged Generation Zero behemoth I ran into yesterday was an Apocalypse class Tank, which I later felled with the help of a robodog after a long shoot-and-scoot-cat-and-mouse game.

Geração Zero 7, 8 + Reforger 28

Two solo Generation Zero sessions versus robotos in the Farmlands and South Coast regions, and Thursday we had a surprise Arma Reforger cooperative mission with four members of Salary Team Six.

Jumping (1984)

A film by Osamu Tezuka. Reminds me a bit of the first part of this short by Saul Bass and Mayo Simon. Via Andy Baio.

Arma Reforger #27 - Escapists and ChaosToFreedom Coop

Successful 3-player cooperative action to escape in Escapists, and complete two missions of the ChaosToFreedom capture the island mod in Arma Reforger. ¶ Shout out to Grantalf for finesse in channeling of his inner mountain goat.

Through the Looking Glass: The First Mac Video Game

Made by Steve Capps, brought to mind by Rock Paper Shotgun.

Generation Zero 6 - Radio on Knee

Moving into Farmlands and South Coast regions to face the robominations and other bugs, remembering that this is potential practice. Once I finish Generation Zero maybe I’ll get a painting by Simon Stålenhag.

Starfield #41 New Game Plus

The May 2024 patch added new gameplay difficulty settings like enemy and player damage modifiers and food and hydration bonuses, which make Starfield’s game combat pace slower, more thoughtful.

Lucky me this patch landed right after I finished the game, so I can start a new game plus with the options set up for increased XP bonuses to get those skill-tree patches filled with color and character.

Coop multiplayer next, or some years down the line, ala Fallout 76?

KitHack Model Club Episode 3

The glider golf success, forgot stream intro scene, and toothpaste on the nose episode of my KMC streams, which includes two new suggestions for the devs:

Consider adding collision modelling to ambient vehicles and to pedestrians and their hats and things they may carry like ice cream cones, beverage containers, and paper plates with french fries.

I want to make missions with objectives like “hit the annoying delivery van that always drives too fast in the neighborhood” and “knock the ice cream cone from the rude customer’s hand onto the pavement” 😄

Couple of Chopper Games

👆 Thunder Helix, out in early access.

👉 Cleared Hot, coming soon.

I remember being out with friends in Bournemouth during my uni days, only thinking about heading back home to play Longbow 2 until sunrise 😄 Best helicopter game whose focus is not helicopters? Arma 3.

♫ Chevrolet

Looking forward to finally seeing Neil Young perform live.

Low←Tech Magazine

Solar-powered website with articles like how to build a small solar power system.

Via Jeremy Keith.

♫ Echoes Part II

A song that makes me think of whales trying to talk to us.

How to Get Unstuck from Terrain in Generation Zero

In video games like Generation Zero it sometimes often happens that one’s avatar gets stuck to objects in the 3D landscape. The video linked above shows one of the techniques to get unstuck.

Robert McCall’s Paintings

One of the joys of being an artist is the freedom to create one’s own world, and through the use of brushes and paints, to explore that world and participate in adventures of the mind that the real world could not possibly provide. Like the real world, these excursions of the imagination are fraught with inaccuracies of perception — it is rare that one glimpses through the veil of time even a hint of tomorrow’s reality nor does it seem important to me, whether one’s perceptions are right or wrong — the pleasure is in making the predictions and doing the work.

Relisten

Listen to live shows of various bands that have agreed to allow people to tape and distribute their concerts for free, like The War on Drugs.

Turbo Encabulator

The turbo encabulator has become a humorous example of obfuscation by excessive jargon in the fields of science and engineering. The term has also been used as a classic example of technobabble.

Longitudinal Stability and Center of Gravity

It’s KitHack Model Club’s fault that today I learned the following:

In order to achieve a good longitudinal stability, the center of gravity (CG) should be ahead of the Neutral Point (NP), which is the Aerodynamic Center of the whole aircraft.

NP is the position through which all the net lift increments act for a change in angle of attack. The major contributors are the main wing, stabilizer surfaces and fuselage.

The bigger the stabilizer area in relationship to the wing area and the longer the tail moment arm relative to the wing chord, the farther aft the NP will be and the farther aft the CG may be, provided it’s kept ahead of the NP for stability.

Interesting Gameplay Mechanics: Fulton Surface-to-Air Recovery System in MGSV

In Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain you can sneak up to and “recruit” enemy camp guards by attaching balloons to their belts that inflate and fly them away to work on better kit for you back at Motherbase.