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[michaelplzno]

If a commandment is unreadable maybe it corrupts the terrain?

Does Moe the Decider intelligently interpret your commandments?

Right, there is some kind of interpreter, maybe based on words/syllables that are in the commandment. I think we need MOE because there has to be a bit of exposition that will help players adjust, sort of like the Deku tree in OoT.

Valve is a nasty company that I really don't enjoy working with and want to get away from asap.

[michaelplzno]

"In a garden, if you don't remove the weeds flowers cannot flourish."

-The bad guy, Duh!

[michaelplzno]

Hating oxygen doesn't make air disappear, its a fact of life, same with rules.

-The bad guy, duh!

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Oxygen erodes your cells and kills you if something else doesn't get you first. We live in a cannibalistic world. I wrote a rap about the situation that I'll post on April 1st.

Is that pronounced Mo or もえ?

How are you thinking of implementing that interpreter?

[michaelplzno]

Moe like this guy:





On the interpreter, its not so difficult to implement the tech that reads the characters, that's just parsing and code and various algorithms that aren't too magical. I could even count the number of letters and run it through a dictionary to make sure the word is spelled as an English word. Just as an example. I was hearing of another project that looks for common linguistic suffixes/prefixes/roots and does stuff based on their meanings. I don't want to steal their idea.

More important to focus on is how to teach the player how to write: how do they know what COMMANDMENTS work, what syntax there is for them, and what words are implemented. For example, growing grass is totally easy to implement from my end because I have a sophisticated grass system, but does the player need to write "Grow Grass" or just "Grass" or just "Grow" and then if they add syntax like "Grow a Lot" "Grow Everywhere" and so on, what would such a command mean when you are growing stuff in an infinite world? Or does a command like "Grass grows near cars" does that work? Is it too long? Its a lot to work on.

[michaelplzno]

In terms of dreams about valve, I had a dream about them just now:

First, my dream had their HQ in middle America with an airstrip next to the offices which were in an old air hanger. I don't think that's true, but if I had infinite money I would consider a setup like that, just having a small private airstrip on the premise would be neat.

Second, I went into their offices which in my dream I imagine they have some hidden offices off to the side for GABEN but most people are on tables with wheels around a big room organized into clumps. I figure because of the cliques that would develop in their high school style structure, each group would have its own cluster of desks. I mentioned to my tour guide (a dream character who I couldn't identify) that I'm more interested in the height of the desk than the organization of the structure as a joke, but I mentioned that perhaps the desks should be in a circle so that they could hold meetings in the middle and everyone could watch or work or whatever. The desks were organized like this for the rest of the dream.

Then, They started interviewing me:
  They asked me who I wanted to be and I realize they probably love trick questions so I just said "myself" which got a lot of nods and oooh and ahhhs.

  Then they used an old black chalk board to write some kind of diagram about what valve was secretly working on, it did not make sense but the most salient bit was about how when they generate a maze there is a checker to make sure there is a path through it. I was thinking about how that seems impractical from a CS pov because if the mazes are truly random then there is likely no path on most mazes, but somehow my GF was on the board as part of this system?

  Finally one of the valve employees basically said that everything I've had was given to me and I didn't have any real accomplishments. This is where the dream was starting to end, but I'm quick to admit I'm nowhere near a self made man, and I'm not sure that anyone is, and furthermore, I did exceptional work at the Firaxis game company where they wrote a letter thanking me for my work, I don't understand how that's not an accomplishment I earned.

Anyway, it was a strange dream but not unpleasant, if all my dreams were like that life would be much easier.

Edit: Moonraker just hit the note "He knows that his dreams will come true someday" on the radio.

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I heard a rumor that Valve ships things through Illinois. Maybe the airstrip is for the FedEx plane?

As for the dream meeting, it sounds stressful and I wouldn't want any part of that. I worked in a place with tall desks. I've also spent some time in rooms where people face each other. No, thanks.

[michaelplzno]

Well I also have nightmares where I'm touched inappropriately so this dream was a cakewalk.

The real setup that works the best, for my own company, will likely be everyone working at their own home and connecting remotely for meetings if we even need them. I literally have a contract worker in Russia, I've had people in Brazil, Venezuela, and the UK. Working with Americans is difficult for me, idk why.

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My best dreams are the ones where I'm touched.

I would like to work in a darkly lit private office with a locking door at an authentic Korean restaurant that develops VR games. I would do all the hiring, and someone else would figure out how to pay everyone. I don't know why you hate America so much.

[michaelplzno]

Lol, I never said I hate America! I love America, I just have a hard time working with the Americans I've been in touch with. Most of them give me what I call the "Trump Handshake" which is sort of being technically friendly but also pulling the other party's hand as a power move. I'm not too interested in fighting to be respected, I'm more interested in working with respectful people. It just so happens that the more respectful people I've known are from other countries.

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That's statistically true, but there is a stochastic distribution. I'd say I'm a nice guy insofar as I like to enjoy everything I do, which I hope is a contagious condition. I've also worked with people who give me the Trump Handshake, and those collaborations lasted about 5 minutes. Ideally, the best projects are those that nobody has any control over, and they just sort of drift along their whismsical way and accumulate features and content like a katamari. I prefer to work with people rather than for people, and money changing hands doesn't change anything.

[michaelplzno]

so you are more one of these guys as an office:



I like clean well lit spaces with BIG monitors, like the kind that can't roll with a desk:

So basically this:

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Exactly, but I wouldn't leave my guns where enemies can grab them. The bridge of the Enterprise D isn't my thing, maybe because Picard isn't my style. I worked for a guy like Picard. I'm more of a Kirk.

[michaelplzno]

PUT YOUR SUNGLASSES ON NOW TO COMPENSATE FOR LENS FLAIR

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Just when you think new Trek is bad, try new old Trek. I like OG Trek with aliens in silver leotards, technicolor, and Romulans who know how to sulk.

[michaelplzno]

"drift along their whismsical way and accumulate features and content like a katamari" YESSS YESSSSSSSS

I hear the new Picard season is passable now that they had about 100 different writers fight in the thunderdome to have control of the project.

edit: Sabotage of jj trek fame starts playing on the radio.

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I wonder if we can get the Star Trek license for a game. You can do it with Half-Life and Portal, so why not Trek?

EDIT: Actually no I have no interest.

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What if there was Dune with just Harkonnen, and they went on whismsical fascist space adventures?

[michaelplzno]

I'm not too big on adapting IP, or at least I have no experience with it. The characters I'm working with on this project were designed to be video game characters from the start. I'd love to do a cartoon or something but these guys are meant to be played with.

Here they are mugging for the camera in Matchygotchy:


But I'd like to make them a bit more adversarial in Xanadu, the invaders and then citizens of the civ.

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I hate those characters. Can't they be gritty sexy humanoid monsters with muscles and grey skin?