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JavaScript Cold War simulation

simonswain.com

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Re: JavaScript Cold War simulation

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SAGE is the inspiration for this... https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sage+computer This thing was off the hook...

I once included this video in something similar (also relating to SAGE) as the help option, see this easter-egg: http://www.masswerk.at/google60/?q=list%20games (option 4) (Edit: Similar just intention-wise, else much simpler, since just in ASCII, meant to be EBCDIC.) BTW: "System Technology" (SDC, 1960) is also an impressive source in this context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqu3YX2cLA8

Nice Easter Egg!

Re: JavaScript Cold War simulation

#36

@simonswain - You should avoid the bright flashes when the game is over, some people might have health issues.

Meh, the flashing-lights-in-games thing is waaaaaay overrated as a public health concern. Most photosensitive (=~'flashing light') epileptics require flashes in the range of ~8-18 Hz (mostly in 12-16 Hz), and even then it almost always takes some time to build up, and even then it's a fraction of epileptics that are susceptable. And flashing lights by themselves don't make non-photosensitive epileptics have seizures (or non-eplieptics). Only about 15% of people epilepsy with are photosensitive. A photosensitive epileptic will know to look away if they see their kind of triggering flash.

By the time you narrow it down to the mere handful of epileptics that will have a seizure from one or two flashes (ever hear anyone complain of a single camera flash and epileptics?), you're in a very rare group. At which point, nothing is safe - I heard of one epileptic who had seizures due to orange circles. Other colour circles were fine, other orange shapes were fine, it was just orange circles (which mean no driving...). Another patient had seizures when ice touched their lips. They do exist, of course, but at that point you're optimising for an incredibly rare user. If you're going to optimise for that, there's plenty of usability optimisations that hit way more people that you should be doing first :)

Source: spent four years doing several EEGs on neuro patients per day, each of which had a 5-minute session with a strobe light at various frequencies. Most of those patients were there for epilepsy or suspicion of epilepsy, but not all, of course. Seeing a photosensitive response at 8Hz was uncommon, but not rare. Some people had some response to single flashes (well, 1Hz) but it never built up to a dangerous level - I never saw someone in danger of having a seizure from 1Hz flashes.

/rant (sorry, nothing personal, I just keep seeing this (largely) urban myth)

Re: JavaScript Cold War simulation

#38
post #4

Yikes! Is this realistic? There seems to be a doctrine that ICBMs will only be launched upon receiving a complete nuclear strike, and once that happens it's pretty much game over. This makes fighter jets a critical buffer because the only way a defense can prevent mutually assured destruction is to prevent non-ICBM first strikes.

Try putting satalites up to '3', it's almost impossible for an ICBM to get through.

Eventually just one did, but then even the volleys get stomped by the satalites.

This game has been running for over 10 minutes at DEFCON 1 for me, the blueside managed to get the first city down but it's now a city each but yellow also lost 2 of their triangles (bases? factories?).

Re: JavaScript Cold War simulation

#39
post #36

@simonswain - You should avoid the bright flashes when the game is over, some people might have health issues.

Meh, the flashing-lights-in-games thing is waaaaaay overrated as a public health concern. Most photosensitive (=~'flashing light') epileptics require flashes in the range of ~8-18 Hz (mostly in 12-16 Hz), and even then it almost always takes some time to build up, and even then it's a fraction of epileptics that are susceptable. And flashing lights by themselves don't make non-photosensitive epileptics have seizures…

> I just keep seeing this (largely) urban myth)

It is reinforced by those warnings in all games.

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