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Cramming 'Papers, Please' onto Phones

dukope.com

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Re: Cramming 'Papers, Please' onto Phones

#161
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I make comics. I grew up reading stuff that used the space of a magazine spread in all kinds of clever ways, I fell in love with the way I can play with layout across a page. I made an entire graphic novel with multiple storylines running in parallel across every page. A phone can show one or two panels at a time, at best. There’s a lot of stuff you just can’t do. It’s a tiny, limited canvas, even before it gets shit…

I’ve recently started following a few webcomics that are phone first. I’m sure they’ve been around a while, but it was novel to me to have a story set up as a continuous downward scroll. There isn’t as much flexibility as you get with a comic spread, but there are still interesting tricks that contribute significantly to the overall feel and pacing of the story.

I love comics like MSPA that use web elements like animation, hypertext, chatlogs, and interactive panels as progressive enhancements on the comic form. But I actually really dislike the scroll comic format.

I don't enjoy fiddling with the scroll position, or things peeking in from the edges, I like a nicely laid out scene and a button or other control that takes me to the next "page" or scene without the fuss that scrolling to the right position adds.

Re: Cramming 'Papers, Please' onto Phones

#162

The productivity of solo indie game devs is just really impressive. While I’m aware of the “go fast alone, go far together” quote, I’m depressed by how inefficient app/ui development is at big tech companies compared to game studios, especially short staffed indies. Really makes me wonder about the “engineering excellence” that tech leads and “architects” pride themselves in when games are developed much more quickly…

Expanding on this in a reply to my own comment. Grinding Gear Games, as an example, is a NZ based game studio that releases a new expansion to their famous RPG - Path of Exile - every three months. The game is not a simple program by any stretch - which might be a fair criticism for Papers Please by comparison since it is purely client-side and all possible states of the game can be fairly easily enumerated. Path of…

They don't start fresh every three months.

Usually they have multiple leagues cooking up in the oven at any given time, so that if the league they want to release isn't ready in time, another, simpler idea will likely be within reach of completion.

The timeline is as such because their business model requires engagement spikes every three months. Remember that Path of Exile is free-to-play.

I also want to add that PoE has grown into one of, if not THE most complex games ever made; there are so many overlapping systems and mechanics that there were memes about what would happen if they added any more special destination buttons to the worldmap. And I'm not even talking about the initial release; it was a complicated game then, but now it has the mechanics of at least a dozen leagues baked into the core game play; many of those leagues are an entire game unto themselves (like Delve)

I love it for this, but it makes me sad that most gamers don't try and reason about this complex thing, and instead follow build guides and copy streamers, instead of experiment. Also, because of the nature of the game's deisgn, you need to play for a stupendous amount of hours to reach the end- endgame, and for most folks you also need to trade items with people IRL as the designers intentionally do not add a decent trade system. There are a lot of other quirks that reflect the designers' intent to not make life easy, either, and players both love and hate that.

Re: Cramming 'Papers, Please' onto Phones

#163
post #63

I actually didn't know it was on mobile, so I searched for "Papers Please" on the Google Play store. Only complete garbage came up, and I had to actually go to the website to find a link to the game (which only has 5k downloads!) I wonder if there's a solution to this.

The issue is the missing comma, I ran into the same problem. Searching for "Papers, please" will yield the expected result. Maybe that's something that can be configured?

And for me at least it was necessary to include the quotation marks too.

Re: Cramming 'Papers, Please' onto Phones

#164
post #34

Man it is gonna be so nice when the average young adult has a device in their pocket that folds out to the size of a paperback, or even a magazine, and we can start making popular culture that fits that size again instead of everything having to make sense through the tiny window of a phone.

I'm noticing a lot of the younger crowd don't seem as glued to the phone as their parents. Materialists will always be materialists, but as an adherent to Ordnung, I don't own/need a phone, so it sticks out and it's obvious to me that the normal garden variety youth these days are not as absorbed as the first generation to this little thing known to 'create fire' because it is now commonplace. A computer in your pock…

You're Amish? Are you allowed to use a computer? I won't tell - just wondering.

Re: Cramming 'Papers, Please' onto Phones

#165
post #6

If you see a devlog post from Lucas Pope you know it's going to be a goldmine. No matter the topic. Dude has a real knack in writing these, clearly describing the problem and the thought process on possible solution. And making it all very interesting so you yourself start thinking how would you address it or what other cool thing could be built instead. Here's some of his other huge devlogs on TIGSOURCE: 1. Papers,…

Yes, the guy is honestly some type of genius. To be this talented of a programmer, and across multiple platforms, languages, and toolsets just dazzles me. It's hard enough to just be competent with one platform. I can't imagine. And on top of that he composes the music and makes the art and literally everything else. I honestly just don't understand how a person can get that good at that many things.

Speaking as a game dev, I think you can learn it, but it takes time. I was interested since a kid to make games. And as a teenager programmed some for the web, and trying to learn C++ reading Quake2 source or whatever I could find, also bought some game dev books. Not much came out of it I thought. At around twenty, there were enough tutorials in Macromedia tools to sort of guide me toward something. Then I struck luck getting into game programming at a tech institute. Finally I could make something, it took more than a decade to get simple games on the screen for me. But I get easily distracted, procrastinate and lack enough IQ. Those books and formulas were hard for a mediocre teenager.

Parallel to all this I was interested in music too. Fooling around in ReBirth and Fruity Loops. Many years later got a guitar and tried to learn that, you get a lot of music theory from that. That theory is much easier than programming, still takes a lot of time.

Drawing I'm not really good at, but got an eye for what looks decent and can play with colors. On a computer it can almost be like cheating because you can be "inspired" by others. But books and tutorials on art exists too of course, how far that rabbit hole do you want to go? And 3D is a bit of a mix between tech and art, you could draw a cute character on paper front and side with a pencil. And when you model, texture, rig and animate that; it can be really impressive.

What I am trying to say, it looks like genius but it is a lot of work over a period. But it is creative/craft work, and not boring. And you can learn the basics of all the areas and make something great. When making apps, all those areas of you are unused. No music, no art. At best some graphic design (UI).

If you want to really put it in a compressed environment where it is not (?) overwhelming, but still technical, try C64 programming. There are lots of resources and step-by-step guides, and you will get a taste of everything and can build from there. We are many that have the desire to make our own games. Some are indeed geniuses, or very strong in multiple areas. Others just stumbled across Unity and are going through whatever guides there are with desire. These days you can choose your difficulty and dedication level.

For simpler games, getting your game to run on desktop, iOS and Android is not that hard. Because most platform code will be some glue, and then you are off inside your own game code. It takes weeks/months to figure that out, but then you are done and carry it with you for every game in the future. Then when you put it all together plus the uniqueness of your game (because it is unique right?!), you get a great and interesting blog post like this one!

Re: Cramming 'Papers, Please' onto Phones

#166
post #119
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I took that as either [kidding] overstatement (to bypass discussion of why ) or short for desktop computers no longer exist [for my market purposes] . To your general question, I've heard a professor lament a student stating that all CAD applications should work on phones.

I've heard a professor lament a student stating that all CAD applications should work on phones. And why is that such a lamentable idea? Modern phones have the processing power these days. Walking around a factory, building sites or a muddy field with a phone in your hand is a lot easier than walking around with a laptop. Plus modern phones have LiDAR and multiple cameras opening up for all kinds of interesting optio…

You are probably right to the extent of multimodal for some tasks or for sensor input. But redlining a 200 page set of drawings to capture as built info is still different from assembling that set of drawings in the first place. I doubt it will be all or nothing. E.g., supporting field service will require generating particular views, but I don't see engineering review meetings skimping on monitor pixels, at a cost of N laptops per hour just to assemble a meeting.

Re: Cramming 'Papers, Please' onto Phones

#167
post #159

There’s a certain energy that’s either unmatched, or it’s just new to me, specifically from indie game developers that invigorates me. His post is just kinda filled with a “love of the game” vibe. I don’t feel like other tech related industries have that same art house feel like game developers seem to have, or at least write about. You don’t really see it in the sass space, or in my world of iOS, etc. Just something…

I think indie game devs of Pope's talent, motivation and ability are exceedingly rare. We're seeing only those who survive a filter that removes 99%. But the results are absolutely formidable.

True, I’m looking at the top 1% I’m sure when I made that comment. I guess another observation is someone of his stature could come off a lot more…entitled? I guess? But man, his post is pure though.

Re: Cramming 'Papers, Please' onto Phones

#168
"I created Papers, Please in 2013 specifically for desktop computers with mouse control. Now, here, in 2022, desktop computers no longer exist and all computing is done via handheld mobile telephone."

No . Desktop and mobile are 2 different ecosystems. The users have desktops; those who are used, have mobile; those who are kings, have both.

Re: Cramming 'Papers, Please' onto Phones

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I typically bounce around the twitch category before settling on one. These tend to be smaller streamers who don't have regular hours. One that I try not to miss is Jonathan Blow, though his current project is in a custom engine (written in new language on a custom compiler, even) so it's not immediately relevant to learning about modern game editors.

A bit of a tangent, but I lost quite a bit of respect for Jonathon Blow when he made comments about impostor syndrome: https://youtu.be/ECwHZlvvVH4?t=3370

I think what he said is awesome! You are presuming that others are on the same page as you: I have zero understanding as to why you “lost respect” at all.

Perhaps you could share your own thoughts, opening yourself to criticism and a chance for interaction, and perhaps learning. I wrote a few comments on https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31990217 (discussing an opaque article titled “The Mysterious Return of Imposter Syndrome”).

Re: Cramming 'Papers, Please' onto Phones

#170

The productivity of solo indie game devs is just really impressive. While I’m aware of the “go fast alone, go far together” quote, I’m depressed by how inefficient app/ui development is at big tech companies compared to game studios, especially short staffed indies. Really makes me wonder about the “engineering excellence” that tech leads and “architects” pride themselves in when games are developed much more quickly…

Remember last Tuesday when you wanted to add something, but your manager said no.

Remember 2 weeks ago, and you really wanted to implement CICD, but the DevOps team told you not to.

When you're developing any solo projects, you don't have anyone else telling you what you can't do.

This is amazing, but you can also easily spend countless hours building something nobody really likes. I've made a small handful of games, a few of them have been released publicly. If I had to guess, at most maybe 20 people have played my games.

But I taught myself everything I know via learning game development, and my career is amazing.

Even now, I'm trying out different engines and having a blast. Odds are. I'll probably never produce anything that becomes all that popular. It'll just be another throwaway game on itch that nobody plays, but I can say without a doubt I had a hell of a time building it.

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