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Universal Paperclips

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Re: Universal Paperclips

#51

Post by tleb_ »

adamrezich wrote: post #44
jprete wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the best ways to expand an incremental game’s gameplay is to gradually automate one layer, while introducing new mechanics in a higher layer. So one’s focus for optimization gradually shifts from older and better-understood mechanics to a higher level, where the gameplay is to manipulate the lower layer’s mechanics to make it run as quickly as a basic action did at the start.

a couple years ago a friend of mine got into botting Diablo II, which seemed like a whole game in itself, which made me think, how neat would that be, a game where you start off doing regular gameplay stuff, and then you eventually automate/optimize that gameplay at increasingly more meta levels of play. still think there's something to that idea...

That sounds like the concept of Factorio: the abstraction level we play at rises with time. Most of the achievements are about skipping manual labor at various points in time.

Re: Universal Paperclips

#52

Post by otachack »

d1str0 wrote: post #38
dylan604 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like how the sci-fi authors have spent time thinking about what an advanced AI could do, yet those building the AI have not taken a moment's pause to consider what they are doing

Do you honestly believe that the only people who have thought about the ramifications of AI are Sci Fi authors? I can guarantee people who spend years researching and building advanced language models have thought about the ramifications of their work. This isn’t Jurassic Park.

Depends what we're looking at. Ride share disruption was very Jurassic Park and we've been dealing with ramifications ever since.

Re: Universal Paperclips

#53

Post by AlotOfReading »

d1str0 wrote: post #38
dylan604 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like how the sci-fi authors have spent time thinking about what an advanced AI could do, yet those building the AI have not taken a moment's pause to consider what they are doing

Do you honestly believe that the only people who have thought about the ramifications of AI are Sci Fi authors? I can guarantee people who spend years researching and building advanced language models have thought about the ramifications of their work. This isn’t Jurassic Park.

If you accept the implied premise that there are irresponsible deployments of AI out there, the alternative explanation is that they did consider the ramifications and simply don't care. That's even worse. Calling them ignorant is actually giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Re: Universal Paperclips

#54

Post by fpgaminer »

adamrezich wrote: post #11

what're some other interesting "incremental games" out there these days? for me at least, just seeing numbers go up and get huge (Swarm Simulator) doesn't really do it for me. part of what makes Universal Paperclips so good is that, like Candy Box, a huge part of the joy is uncovering entirely new gameplay systems as you progress. A Dark Room was neat in that it brought the idea of a coherent narrative that you (some…

I've been enjoying Evolve (https://pmotschmann.github.io/Evolve/) a lot lately. There's lots of new gameplay progression, and I've found it to be very well balanced in terms of entertainment/timesink ratio.

Re: Universal Paperclips

#55

Post by dragontamer »

ramesh31 wrote: post #18
gms7777 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I played it first a few years ago and was totally engrossed. A few months ago, I remembered it and thought "well maybe I'll find it again and play for a few minutes"... and then I did nothing else for the rest of the day.

This is an entire genre now called clicker games. For whatever reason, people are entranced by watching numbers get bigger. It's the same thing with RPGs.

The opposite.

Universal Paperclips was a latecomer to the clicker genre. It starts off making you think its a simple clicker game, but then it turns out that Universal Paperclips has an ending.

Once you achieve the ending, you then have permission to turn off the Universal Paperclips (in fact, its an explicit option), and it installs a cookie or something that prevents the game from starting up again.

Its this "anti-clicker" mindset, despite looking like a simple clicker game, that makes me... ironically... come back to Universal Paperclips over the years.

Re: Universal Paperclips

#56

Post by chess_buster »

d1str0 wrote: post #38
dylan604 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like how the sci-fi authors have spent time thinking about what an advanced AI could do, yet those building the AI have not taken a moment's pause to consider what they are doing

Do you honestly believe that the only people who have thought about the ramifications of AI are Sci Fi authors? I can guarantee people who spend years researching and building advanced language models have thought about the ramifications of their work. This isn’t Jurassic Park.

They have – and decided to do it anyway.

Re: Universal Paperclips

#57

Post by Volundr »

gms7777 wrote: post #37
wccrawford wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO, it's not just the numbers. It's the constant strategizing to make the numbers go bigger, and the changing strategy as the game progresses. There are plenty of really crappy clickers that don't do anything for me. And there are some that are too complex to be really fun (Kittens), but the ones in the middle, like this one, really feel good.

I've had to institute a blanket "no clicker game" policy for myself because I find them way too addicting. The frustrating thing about most (but not all) clicker games is that for me, they usually don't even feel good (e.g., relaxing, mentally stimulating, satisfying). They just make me feel like I'm an addict that needs my dopamine drip. There are definitely non-clicker games that hit the same spot for me, but almos…

Spaceplan (which apparently just had a free remaster released) is also well worth checking out. My rule of thumb with these kinds of games is I will only pick them up if they have an "end".

Re: Universal Paperclips

#58

Post by JRandomHacker42 »

dylan604 wrote: post #33
actionfromafar wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PKD keeps surprising me.

I like how the sci-fi authors have spent time thinking about what an advanced AI could do, yet those building the AI have not taken a moment's pause to consider what they are doing

https://twitter.com/AlexBlechman/status/1457842724128833538

Sci-Fi Author: In my book I invented the Torment Nexus as a cautionary tale

Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus

Re: Universal Paperclips

#59

Post by fishtoaster »

wccrawford wrote: post #24
ramesh31 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an entire genre now called clicker games. For whatever reason, people are entranced by watching numbers get bigger. It's the same thing with RPGs.

IMO, it's not just the numbers. It's the constant strategizing to make the numbers go bigger, and the changing strategy as the game progresses. There are plenty of really crappy clickers that don't do anything for me. And there are some that are too complex to be really fun (Kittens), but the ones in the middle, like this one, really feel good.

I once got quite into https://www.swarmsim.com/#/

It's about as barebones as you can get - it's literally just "numbers go up" with a few simple names attached to them. It turns out that even that is enough to get me addicted for a bit.

Re: Universal Paperclips

#60

Post by mjamil »

I don't know if people realize this, but the game now allows you to continue past the "you've converted all matter in the universe" point. You get to convert matter in other universes! (There is still a finite endpoint; I think there's only ~19 other universes you get to do this to.)
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