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Super Mario 64's invisible walls explained [video]

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Re: Super Mario 64's invisible walls explained [video]

#31

Post by nonethewiser »

bongodongobob wrote: post #26
throwaway74432 wrote: post #22

I don't mean to knock this video or anyone that gets a kick out of it. But does anyone else feel a sense of despair when they see that someone has put so much time and effort into something like this? I feel the same about speedrunners. Yes, they aren't hurting anyone, and yes they're following their passion, but I still feel an instinctual sense of despair when I see someone work so hard on something like this. I'm…

[flagged]

> Not at all. It's the reason we have literally everything we have. This is the type of person that society needs

I think this misses his point. I believe the despair is precisely that we dont need speedrunners and such. And that its not benefitting is like the mattress spring expert is.

> There is no meaning or purpose

If you believe this, then surely you can understand why he would feel despair over something that justifies itself in there being no meaning nor purpose.

Re: Super Mario 64's invisible walls explained [video]

#32

Post by throwaway74432 »

bongodongobob wrote: post #29
throwaway74432 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel very deeply that my life is full of meaning, so it can't be projection. Not interested in trying to suppress my feelings with drugs either.

[flagged]

I'm not dismissing anyone, nor am I a "DARE kid", nor am I projecting my own "meaningless life." I'm simply sharing my own unprocessed genuine reaction to this kind of content, and trying to see if anyone else can relate to it. You obviously don't, which is fine, but I don't see why you seem to be taking it personally.

Re: Super Mario 64's invisible walls explained [video]

#33

Post by icebergonfire »

throwaway74432 wrote: post #22

I don't mean to knock this video or anyone that gets a kick out of it. But does anyone else feel a sense of despair when they see that someone has put so much time and effort into something like this? I feel the same about speedrunners. Yes, they aren't hurting anyone, and yes they're following their passion, but I still feel an instinctual sense of despair when I see someone work so hard on something like this. I'm…

Whether you consider videogames worthy of extended time and attention or not, that's entirely subjective and you are correct (for yourself) whatever your take is.

Even in the case of assuming that you consider videogames completely worthless and a blight on humanity, surely you can appreciate that the person in this video has demonstrated an ability to reverse-engineer and understand extremely complex systems that were designed and shipped under very tight deadlines and not-very-good tooling... plus they have the ability to teach this knowledge in ways that non-experts can easily follow and understand.

I would not say loving videogames makes for a good engineer, but I will say that my engineering growth was boosted by the opportunities granted to those videogames I loved when I was younger and how easy it was to inspect and disassemble them.

For some The Cutting Room Floor is a website about unused content, but for other people that website is a gateway drug to needing to peel behind the curtain and understand how the sausage is made.

Re: Super Mario 64's invisible walls explained [video]

#34

Post by modeless »

throwaway74432 wrote: post #22

I don't mean to knock this video or anyone that gets a kick out of it. But does anyone else feel a sense of despair when they see that someone has put so much time and effort into something like this? I feel the same about speedrunners. Yes, they aren't hurting anyone, and yes they're following their passion, but I still feel an instinctual sense of despair when I see someone work so hard on something like this. I'm…

It seems to me that if/when AI gets good enough to take over all the jobs then stuff like this is what we'll have left to do. We can always make up games to play and compete on and analyze. Maybe that's depressing to you, but I guess I don't see anything wrong with it.

Re: Super Mario 64's invisible walls explained [video]

#35

Post by icebergonfire »

bongodongobob wrote: post #29
throwaway74432 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel very deeply that my life is full of meaning, so it can't be projection. Not interested in trying to suppress my feelings with drugs either.

[flagged]

I love videogames, understanding how a speedrun is made is technically fascinating for me and I am also known to love some other things under the appropiate set and setting[1]... but I'll defend the OP because certainly don't think it follows that someone is a bad human that needs to do drugs just because they don't see the allure of Super Mario 64 and the people who are knowledge-hungry and obsess in understanding its guts.

[1]: Readers please do the research before experimenting, you are tweaking your brain's running config with extremely opaque tooling that is not fully understood. Most of the time the calamity-event chance is low, it's a high impact event if it happens. Plural of anecdotes is not data, and oh do people confuse these.

Re: Super Mario 64's invisible walls explained [video]

#36

Post by nonethewiser »

throwaway74432 wrote: post #22

I don't mean to knock this video or anyone that gets a kick out of it. But does anyone else feel a sense of despair when they see that someone has put so much time and effort into something like this? I feel the same about speedrunners. Yes, they aren't hurting anyone, and yes they're following their passion, but I still feel an instinctual sense of despair when I see someone work so hard on something like this. I'm…

I guess I just wonder how someone can afford to spend 10 months working on a SM64 video full time.

Self-funded by his YouTube videos? Ok.

Lives at home and taken care of by enabling parents? Suddenly not a harmless passion project.

Re: Super Mario 64's invisible walls explained [video]

#38

Post by silver_silver »

throwaway74432 wrote: post #22

I don't mean to knock this video or anyone that gets a kick out of it. But does anyone else feel a sense of despair when they see that someone has put so much time and effort into something like this? I feel the same about speedrunners. Yes, they aren't hurting anyone, and yes they're following their passion, but I still feel an instinctual sense of despair when I see someone work so hard on something like this. I'm…

I agree. The insights are a small subset of what you’d discover writing a game. It’s like watching someone paint a wall with a model brush.

This to me is an example of an unhealthy special interest. I don’t doubt that it makes them happy, but one has to wonder about the personal consequences of a lifestyle which allows for a 10 month project like this. Will they still be content after another decade of this, or will they regret spending their youth studying a toy?

Re: Super Mario 64's invisible walls explained [video]

#39

Post by bongodongobob »

mazdayasna wrote: post #30
bongodongobob wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

This is probably the most condescending comment I have read on HN all year.

Condescending is feeling sorry for someone who is doing brilliant shit because it's a waste of time, they should be bettering themselves. Like working harder at their job, or having a normal hobby like playing golf or watching football or fishing. You know, normal things like I do. It just seems so sad they what they are doing is a waste of time.

Sorry I didn't add a "I don't mean to be a dick" comment like parent did.

Re: Super Mario 64's invisible walls explained [video]

#40

Post by wtallis »

Eduard wrote: post #17
stemlord wrote: post #2

How on earth does it take 4 hours to explain? I'm sure it's a lovely video but anyone care to tldr?

it's a surprisingly deep topic involving Super Mario's 64 game mechanics such as "quarter steps", integer arithmetic, float-to-integer conversions, the chosen collision detection implementation and plenty more. There are eight different causes that manifest in the observed "invisible wall" symptoms. I find the level of detail given appropriate, and consider it as a valuable insight into game engine design as it was a…

I also think it helps to appreciate the historical context: this game was a major milestone in the development of the 3D platformer genre. Some of the bugs or treacherous optimizations may look naive to us now, but there had been few if any opportunities to make those mistakes prior to Super Mario 64. And in spite of the glitches, the game managed to be a huge success and highly influential even outside the platformer genre.

This video does a wonderful job of illustrating how a handful of underlying issues can combine and manifest in so many different ways, and this was only the tip of the iceberg of 3D game physics glitches. And some of these issues are things games can still fall prey to today.

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