Podcasts about procedurally

Fred and Dan talk to Andrew Hume and Richard Clifford of MinMax Games, creators of Space Pirates and Zombies. The duo talk about building an indie game studio, the power of procedurally generated content, and the influence of The Ur-Quan Masters.0:00 - Theme music0:14 - Introductions3:03 - Influence on Space Pirates and Zombies10:14 - Discovering a game's focus17:17 - Building an indie game studio24:05 - Finding an audience33:37 - Space combat40:17 - Procedurally generated content48:04 - Retro gaming51:05 - The feeling of UQMFollow us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/theurquanmasterDiscuss with us on Discord - https://discord.gg/rasVCDmYKpPlease support us on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/pistolshrimpLearn more about Pistol Shrimp - https://pistolshrimpgames.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

FSU is trying real hard to get a seat at the big big boy table and Tennessee is having MORE NIL troubles.

Fair dealing is a limitation and exception to the exclusive rights granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. Fair dealing is found in many of the common law jurisdictions of the Commonwealth of Nations. Fair dealing is an enumerated set of possible defenses against an action for infringement of an exclusive right of copyright. Unlike the related United States doctrine of fair use, fair dealing cannot apply to any act which does not fall within one of these categories, although common law courts in some jurisdictions are less stringent than others in this regard. In practice, however, such courts might rule that actions with a commercial character, which might be naïvely assumed to fall into one of these categories, were in fact infringements of copyright, as fair dealing is not as flexible a concept as the American concept of fair use. There are similar limitations and exceptions to copyright, such as the right to quote, also in the Berne Convention and in the laws of civil law jurisdictions. By country. United States. The parallel concept in United States copyright law is fair use. The term "fair dealing" has a different meaning in the U.S. It is a duty of full disclosure imposed upon corporate officers, fiduciaries, and parties to contracts. In the reported cases, it usually arises in the context of the "implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing", which underlies the tort cause of action for insurance bad faith. Canada. The Canadian concept of fair dealing is similar to that in the UK and Australia. The fair dealing clauses of the Canadian Copyright Act allow users to engage in certain activities relating to research, private study, education, parody, satire, criticism, review, or news reporting. With respect to criticism, review, and news reporting, the user must mention the source of the material, along with the name of the author, performer, maker, or broadcaster for the dealing to be fair. Prior to 2011, fair dealing in Canada was not definitely found to contain exceptions for parody (unlike fair use in the United States), but the Copyright Act has since been amended to include parody and satire (along with educational use) under its fair dealing provisions. Previously, a Quebec Court of Appeal in Les productions Avanti Cine Video v Favreau (4 August 1999) had recognized that parody could potentially be a 'critique', but it refused to recognize the exception in that circumstance. The 2004 ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada in CCH Canadian Limited v Law Society of Upper Canada has gone far in clarifying the concept of fair dealing in Canada. In considering fair dealing the Court makes the following general observation: It is important to clarify some general considerations about exceptions to copyright infringement. Procedurally, a defendant is required to prove that his or her dealing with a work has been fair; however, the fair dealing exception is perhaps more properly understood as an integral part of the Copyright Act than simply a defense. Any act falling within the fair dealing exception will not be an infringement of copyright. The fair dealing exception, like other exceptions in the Copyright Act, is a user's right. In order to maintain the proper balance between the rights of a copyright owner and users' interests, it must not be interpreted restrictively. Furthermore, by taking "a liberal approach to the enumerated purposes of the dealing", the Court has made fair dealing more flexible, reducing the gap between this provision and US fair use. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/law-school/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/law-school/support

Al and Kev talk about Wylde Flowers Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:01:30: What Have We Been Up To 00:07:51: News 00:21:18: Wylde Flowers 01:15:00: Outro Links Tchia Above Snakes Release Date Terra Nil Mac/Linux Delay Innchanted Ankora: Lost Days PS/XB Release Len’s Island Controllers and Currents Update Contact Al on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheScotBot Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript [00:00.000 –> 00:05.000] music [00:05.000 –> 00:10.000] music [00:10.000 –> 00:15.000] music [00:15.000 –> 00:20.020] music [00:20.020 –> 00:25.040] music [00:25.040 –> 00:30.040] music [00:30.040 –> 00:35.040] Hello farmers and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. [00:35.040 –> 00:41.040] My name is Al and I’m Kevin and we are here today to talk about cottagecore games. [00:41.040 –> 00:47.040] Which I will say I think so we’re going to talk about wildflowers this episode. [00:47.040 –> 00:52.040] I think this might be the most cottagecore game in a while. [00:52.040 –> 01:02.040] Yeah so we’ll talk about that. I guess before everything else just to mention transcripts for the podcast are available in the show notes and on the website. [01:02.040 –> 01:09.040] Just scroll down you’ll see them there. Yeah so we’re going to talk about wildflowers. [01:09.040 –> 01:16.040] It has been out for quite a few months and I think it came out the end of last year or maybe it was like the middle of last year or something like that. [01:16.040 –> 01:21.040] Probably should have checked that. Wildflowers came out in September. [01:21.040 –> 01:30.040] So we’re going to talk about that and before that we’ve got a bunch of news. [01:30.040 –> 01:33.040] But first of all Kevin what have you been up to? [01:33.040 –> 01:40.040] Busy things. Work things. Furniture things. I’m restoring a table. [01:40.040 –> 01:45.040] My mom restored a table. Repainted. That’s something. Interesting. What kind of table? [01:45.040 –> 01:50.040] It’s just like a dining room table that she found at the place. It’s a nice table she just wants a different color. [01:50.040 –> 01:56.040] But yeah so that’s going on. That’s fun getting all manual physical for once in my life. [01:56.040 –> 02:04.040] Aside from that and those moments down in Breathe I have been playing Wildflowers and Wildflowers. [02:05.040 –> 02:14.040] We planned this episode. I brought it up a while ago and then our schedule kind of shifted and it kind of jumped up. [02:14.040 –> 02:22.040] And so I said wow I really need to play some more Wildflowers. So I shotgunned a lot of Wildflowers this week. [02:23.040 –> 02:28.040] But spoilers I enjoyed it. Talk about that later. [02:28.040 –> 02:38.040] But yeah aside from that I can’t think of anything meaningful. Ball guys and Pokemon masters. It’s great. [02:38.040 –> 02:44.040] Oh yeah I think we mentioned that in the last episode but we were speculating about what his Pokemon would be. [02:44.040 –> 02:50.040] And of course it’s a Moonguss. It is a Moonguss. I mean makes sense but neither of us suggested it. [02:50.040 –> 02:53.040] Nope. We were all focused on Voltarb. [02:53.040 –> 03:00.040] Yep. And he sounds great. He sounds like the goofy guy you imagine he would. [03:00.040 –> 03:05.040] Oh is he out now? Oh yeah he’s out. It came out the day after we recorded it. [03:05.040 –> 03:10.040] What accent does he have? It’s not British because a lot of the Galarian. [03:10.040 –> 03:12.040] Yeah well that’s why I was asking. [03:13.040 –> 03:18.040] No it’s just like goofy cartoony voice. Like here catch this. Something like that. [03:21.040 –> 03:26.040] It fits his character. It’s a ball guy. I haven’t pulled him yet. Hoping. [03:26.040 –> 03:29.040] But I will let everyone know. [03:29.040 –> 03:38.040] But yeah so let’s see. Wildflowers, ball guy. I really can’t think of anything in particular. Nope. Nothing comes to mind. [03:38.040 –> 03:40.040] What about you? What have you been up to? [03:40.040 –> 03:45.040] Well obviously I’ve been playing some Wildflowers this week. I haven’t played as much as you. [03:45.040 –> 03:52.040] Because I was, as Kevin mentioned, Kevin was like we should do an episode on Wildflowers. [03:52.040 –> 03:56.040] And I was like ok yeah fine. I guess I will join you in that. [03:56.040 –> 03:59.040] And then we agreed last week that we were going to do it this week. [03:59.040 –> 04:01.040] And so I was like well I guess I need to play something. [04:01.040 –> 04:04.040] So I haven’t played a few Moonguss ones. [04:04.040 –> 04:08.040] You have to. But I’ve got enough to get a feel of the game. [04:09.040 –> 04:13.040] I finished off Kirby Return to Dreamland Deluxe. [04:13.040 –> 04:18.040] Well when I say finished. So I finished off the main story. [04:18.040 –> 04:23.040] And then I think last week I had done that and I was just like I’m not sure exactly what I’m going to do after that. [04:23.040 –> 04:25.040] And the answer is nothing. [04:25.040 –> 04:31.040] So I started playing the epilogue which is where you’re playing as, oh what’s his name? [04:31.040 –> 04:37.040] Magolor? I’m not a fan of the epilogue. [04:37.040 –> 04:40.040] And the reason I’m not a fan is because I don’t like the controls. [04:40.040 –> 04:45.040] So it’s not that it’s not Kirby. Because obviously I like lots of different platformers. [04:45.040 –> 04:49.040] I enjoy platformers. It’s one of the things I really like to play. [04:49.040 –> 04:54.040] But the way that Magolor plays just feels really frustrating. [04:54.040 –> 05:01.040] So anytime you do an attack in the air you start falling down and then you cannot do anything else until you hit the ground. [05:01.040 –> 05:03.040] And it just feels really frustrating. [05:03.040 –> 05:10.040] I feel like that’s going to unlock later on because the way that they’re doing the epilogue is that you add more powers as you go on. [05:10.040 –> 05:14.040] But it just made some of the levels in the middle just really frustrating. [05:14.040 –> 05:16.040] Because it’s like I don’t have all my powers. [05:16.040 –> 05:21.040] And I’ve got some really hard challenges which would be fun if I could do things. [05:21.040 –> 05:28.040] There’s a point where you have to jump over, drop a bomb down and then somehow make it back onto the thing really quickly. [05:28.040 –> 05:35.040] And I just cannot figure out how to do it. There’s just no, in my mind I just can’t feel any way to control that. It’s really frustrating. [05:35.040 –> 05:39.040] That’s interesting because you know it’s a Kirby game. [05:39.040 –> 05:44.040] Controls usually aren’t an issue. They’re usually pretty simple and enjoyable. [05:44.040 –> 05:50.040] That is really interesting. I am curious. I’d hope to get that at some point and see for myself. [05:50.040 –> 05:55.040] It’s a really nice game. I’ve not played obviously the original so I don’t know how well it is in terms of a remake. [05:55.040 –> 05:59.040] But the game itself plays really well. I really enjoyed it. [05:59.040 –> 06:05.040] I played for a brief amount. It was enjoyable. I imagine there weren’t that many significant changes. [06:05.040 –> 06:11.040] It was already a pretty modern Kirby game so I’m sure it’s fairly close to the original in terms of its controls. [06:11.040 –> 06:13.040] But yeah, okay. [06:13.040 –> 06:15.040] So yeah, I’m done with that. [06:15.040 –> 06:24.040] And I have started Coral Island. So I think in the last episode I had mentioned that my key was for Switch and of course Switch isn’t out yet. [06:24.040 –> 06:29.040] Well I managed to contact them and they switched it to a Steam key so I’m now playing it on my Steam Deck. [06:29.040 –> 06:35.040] So that will be fun. It may well be covered in an episode in the future. [06:35.040 –> 06:41.040] And I’ve been obviously kind of going through the Bloom update still which is fun. [06:41.040 –> 06:52.040] They finally, I think I said this on our original podcast episode about Bloom, but we finally found a game that I can just play for five minutes and then put down every day. [06:52.040 –> 06:56.040] Because that’s how Animal Crossing is meant to be played and I couldn’t play it that way. [06:56.040 –> 07:00.040] Just something in my mind just stopped me doing that. But I’m managing it for Bloom, which is interesting. [07:00.040 –> 07:05.040] Oh my gosh, Animal Crossing never felt that way to me. [07:05.040 –> 07:09.040] No, but it definitely feels like they want you to play it that way. [07:09.040 –> 07:11.040] But I just never could. [07:11.040 –> 07:22.040] Yeah, no, I think most people couldn’t. But cool, I’m glad that you found a game that you can play a little bit as a little de-stresser, whatever you want to call it, a little breather. [07:22.040 –> 07:25.040] Without getting too in-depth, that sounds pretty nice. [07:25.040 –> 07:32.040] I don’t know, see I play Unite like daily, but that’s for like half an hour. [07:32.040 –> 07:34.040] The five minute thing is the kicker. [07:35.040 –> 07:42.040] Yeah, no, I literally, I pick it up, I go and check my flowers. If there’s something to harvest, I harvest and then replant. [07:42.040 –> 07:48.040] And then I get checked through any new messages, see what the new story is, and then I put it down and pick it up the next day. [07:48.040 –> 07:49.040] That sounds pretty nice. [07:49.040 –> 07:53.040] It is. It’s good fun. Cool, should we talk about some news? [07:53.040 –> 07:54.040] I guess so. [07:54.040 –> 08:00.040] So, first of all we have Chia. I think that’s how it’s meant to be said. Chia. [08:00.040 –> 08:01.040] Chia. [08:01.040 –> 08:10.040] This is the game based in New Caledonia, which Kevin now does believe is a real place, is that correct? [08:10.040 –> 08:14.040] I do believe. I believe in New Caledonia. [08:14.040 –> 08:17.040] You believe in it, you can do it in New Caledonia. [08:17.040 –> 08:19.040] I’m no longer of the conspiracy crowd. [08:20.040 –> 08:27.040] So it’s now out on PS4 and PS5 and on Epic Game Store. [08:27.040 –> 08:34.040] So it’s interesting, this one seems to have really caught the wider games crowd as well. [08:34.040 –> 08:38.040] Like occasionally you get a game that we cover that’s like, oh this is like a game. [08:38.040 –> 08:45.040] But like I’ve seen all the kind of big game journalism places that I follow, like they’ve all been talking about this game, which is interesting. [08:45.040 –> 08:53.040] That is interesting. I will say though, they dropped a radical trailer for it, so it makes sense, it would catch people’s attention. [08:53.040 –> 08:58.040] Yeah, yeah, definitely. But it looks interesting. [08:58.040 –> 09:06.040] I mean people are basically comparing it to Breath of the Wild, but more calm and obviously based on New Caledonia. [09:06.040 –> 09:11.040] I didn’t expect that comparison, but okay sure that makes sense. [09:11.040 –> 09:15.040] Yeah, well I’ve not played it, so I can’t confirm whether I would agree with that or not. [09:15.040 –> 09:20.040] I will give especially one props though, near the end of the trailer. [09:20.040 –> 09:30.040] They mention how it was inspired by the homeland of the founders of the development company, I don’t know how you pronounce it. [09:30.040 –> 09:39.040] And they have like voice acting and musics from the local languages from New Caledonian talents, which is very cool. [09:40.040 –> 09:47.040] And you can see that in the trailer, they clearly did the justice, so very cool to see that. [09:47.040 –> 09:54.040] I always like seeing smaller cultures who haven’t gotten a lot of attention get a goal somewhere, so very good for them. [09:54.040 –> 10:00.040] Yeah, definitely. Next we have our release date for Above Snakes. [10:00.040 –> 10:07.040] So this is the one that we were talking about a few weeks ago, we were talking about it with Nami. [10:08.040 –> 10:16.040] So that is coming out on the 25th of May, that’s obviously only the Steam version. [10:16.040 –> 10:22.040] But the console, I think it’s just Switch is coming later, they’ve not started working on that yet. [10:22.040 –> 10:25.040] They’ll be working on that after release. [10:25.040 –> 10:31.040] So yeah, there’s also a prologue, I mean it’s basically just a demo right? [10:32.040 –> 10:40.040] You can download that on Steam just now and play that if you would like, I’ll put that in the show notes. [10:40.040 –> 10:47.040] If you want to try it out and see how the gameplay, it says there’s about 2-3 hours worth of gameplay in the demo. [10:48.040 –> 10:55.040] I’m looking at the trailer because I didn’t even remember what the gameplay looked like since our focus is on the culture stuff. [10:56.040 –> 11:02.040] First of all, the game visually looks very nice, I’m giving props for that. [11:02.040 –> 11:10.040] Secondly, so it’s an isometric game where you build and craft and so on and so forth. [11:10.040 –> 11:19.040] But the crazy part is you zoom out on the global map or whatever and you can just drop chunks of land into an isometric grid. [11:19.040 –> 11:24.040] And you just see the land is boom, land and ed. [11:24.040 –> 11:28.040] It’s a very satisfying thwomp isn’t it? [11:28.040 –> 11:37.040] Yeah it is. So yeah it looks good, aside from putting all the culture stuff, the game age. [11:37.040 –> 11:45.040] So cool, good for them. May 25th, that’s going to be here sooner than I want it to be. Time’s going too fast. [11:45.040 –> 11:52.040] Yeah I don’t know how quickly I’ll get to this game because of course we know what May is. May is Zelda month. [11:52.040 –> 12:02.040] Oh is it? I didn’t remember. Oh no. I’m not ready. I have an extra month now. March 2. [12:02.040 –> 12:10.040] Well if we were running on the international calendar system, that has 13 months. [12:11.040 –> 12:19.040] I mean it doesn’t actually give you any more time. Still, not the point. [12:19.040 –> 12:26.040] The best calendar system is actually from Wildflowers. I’ll discuss it when we get there. [12:26.040 –> 12:31.040] Just keep this in mind folks, Wildflowers. [12:31.040 –> 12:34.040] You know what else does it best? [12:34.040 –> 12:39.040] Oh that’s a big assumption. We’ve not played it yet. [12:39.040 –> 12:42.040] It needs to be good. [12:42.040 –> 12:51.040] Well yeah, Taranel. It will be out on Windows by the time this podcast comes out. [12:51.040 –> 13:00.040] I want to say that I was going through the show notes and I saw that and I was like it’s out now and then I read the parenthesis by the time the episode comes out. [13:00.040 –> 13:05.040] I’m like no, it’s not now. [13:06.040 –> 13:10.040] But the sad news is the Mac and Linux versions have been delayed. [13:10.040 –> 13:14.040] Is it that sad? Ok Mac people, sure, but Linux! [13:14.040 –> 13:18.040] Hey! Come on! Why are we being harsh on Linux here? [13:18.040 –> 13:22.040] Linux is your Steam Deck. Your Steam Deck runs on Linux. Not your Steam Deck, you don’t have a Steam Deck. [13:22.040 –> 13:25.040] This Steam Deck runs on Linux. [13:27.040 –> 13:34.040] Although presumably the Steam Deck will just download the Windows version because it can play Windows games as well. [13:35.040 –> 13:40.040] And the soundtrack is also out now, so if you want to go. [13:40.040 –> 13:45.040] And that’s on, it’s just like a big YouTube, an hour and a half, an hour long YouTube video. [13:45.040 –> 13:49.040] Wow, let me try saying that again. It’s an hour long YouTube video. [13:49.040 –> 13:52.040] You said it right already, you just repeated it. [13:52.040 –> 13:54.040] Very calm, relaxing music. [13:54.040 –> 13:58.040] I haven’t listened to it, I kind of wanted to but eh, I’ll just wait. [13:58.040 –> 14:02.040] You know what’s not calm and relaxing? [14:02.040 –> 14:06.040] Enchanted definitely doesn’t look calm and relaxing. [14:06.040 –> 14:09.040] Was this the game that we only had a name last week? [14:09.040 –> 14:14.040] I think we talked about it last week, but we didn’t really look into it too much. [14:14.040 –> 14:19.040] I don’t think I truly understood what this game was. [14:19.040 –> 14:22.040] I definitely didn’t. [14:22.040 –> 14:25.040] It basically looks like, what’s the game I’m thinking of? [14:25.040 –> 14:27.040] Overcooked. [14:28.040 –> 14:32.040] You’re running a magical hotel, Overcooked style. [14:32.040 –> 14:37.040] And it looks as chaotic and frantic as Overcooked. [14:37.040 –> 14:38.040] It does. [14:38.040 –> 14:41.040] You can play with up to four people. [14:41.040 –> 14:46.040] There’s upgrades and progress, so I don’t think it’s like Overcooked with just little levels. [14:46.040 –> 14:50.040] But at the same time you’re cooking and doing objectives, so I don’t know. [14:50.040 –> 14:57.040] I’m having trouble understanding how this game works just other than it’s Overcooked but hotel. [14:57.040 –> 15:02.040] Yeah, it looks like they have different kind of levels. [15:02.040 –> 15:10.040] So one of them is in, you’re just cooking one of them, there’s a river and you have to go and get the fish from it and then go cook them. [15:10.040 –> 15:14.040] Stuff like that. I presume there’s a farming one, bits as well. [15:14.040 –> 15:18.040] You can turn your body into a cake for some reason. [15:18.040 –> 15:21.040] I mean it looks gorgeous. [15:21.040 –> 15:26.040] I’m a little eh on the design, the style they went with. [15:26.040 –> 15:28.040] I love it. [15:28.040 –> 15:31.040] But for what it is going for it looks great. [15:31.040 –> 15:35.040] Yeah, it’s definitely one of those, you can’t say it looks bad, you can say you don’t like it. [15:35.040 –> 15:37.040] Yeah, I know for sure. [15:37.040 –> 15:40.040] It’s not an actively bad looking game. [15:41.040 –> 15:47.040] There’s a lot going on in that game because it’s got a lot of the cottage core things. [15:47.040 –> 15:55.040] The cooking just looks straight up like Overcooked but they have crafting and feeding cows and furnitures and I don’t know. [15:55.040 –> 15:57.040] There’s a lot going on there. [15:57.040 –> 16:06.040] I’m really curious because I see single player, it looks like it could be better for single player than Overcooked so that would be interesting to see. [16:07.040 –> 16:10.040] And you can have an echidna follow you around. [16:10.040 –> 16:12.040] An echidna? [16:12.040 –> 16:14.040] Yeah, it’s in the trailer. [16:14.040 –> 16:16.040] I don’t know what to say. [16:16.040 –> 16:19.040] And there’s also little onion guys they have to get rid of. [16:19.040 –> 16:22.040] There’s a lot going on, people just watch this trailer. [16:22.040 –> 16:28.040] Anyway, the point of this was that it’s coming out on Tuesday, the same day as Taranel. [16:28.040 –> 16:32.040] So it will be out by the time this episode comes out on Steam. [16:32.040 –> 16:35.040] The Switch version is coming soon, not out yet. [16:36.040 –> 16:42.040] I’m interested in giving this game a shot, especially because I have people I can play locally with. [16:42.040 –> 16:49.040] But I don’t know when I’ll be playing with it because Taranel drops the same day and I’ll be… [16:49.040 –> 16:55.040] And Kora Lost Days feels like a while since we talked about this and you might be like, oh but it’s already out. [16:55.040 –> 16:58.040] It’s not out yet on the PS4 and Xbox. [16:58.040 –> 17:04.040] So they’re coming on the 30th of March, which I think is the day after this podcast comes out. [17:05.040 –> 17:08.040] So if you’ve been waiting for those versions, there you go. [17:08.040 –> 17:12.040] And hopefully it works a little better with some of those rough edges polished up a little bit. [17:12.040 –> 17:15.040] Something tells me no, but who knows. [17:15.040 –> 17:16.040] Try it. [17:16.040 –> 17:17.040] Yeah, yeah. [17:17.040 –> 17:19.040] It’s a fine game. [17:19.040 –> 17:22.040] The physical editions still aren’t out yet, but they’re coming. [17:22.040 –> 17:26.040] Oh yeah, I looked at the… there’s all sorts of physical stuff. [17:26.040 –> 17:28.040] Look, I am over on Kora Lost Days. [17:28.040 –> 17:33.040] I am all in on, what’s it called, the next one. [17:33.040 –> 17:37.040] Mika and the Lost… no, Mika and the Witches… oh, there’s two. [17:37.040 –> 17:42.040] There’s Mika and the Witches Mountain and there’s another one that’s like a platformer. [17:42.040 –> 17:47.040] Wait, is Mika in the Ankora universe? [17:47.040 –> 17:48.040] Yeah, yeah. [17:48.040 –> 17:49.040] Wait, it is? [17:49.040 –> 17:50.040] Yeah. [17:50.040 –> 17:51.040] Oh, what? [17:51.040 –> 17:53.040] I didn’t know this! [17:53.040 –> 17:57.040] All of the Chibi games are in the same universe. [17:57.040 –> 18:01.040] I don’t remember this, but Mika looks incredible! [18:01.040 –> 18:05.040] Who cares about Ankora? [18:05.040 –> 18:06.040] Oh no. [18:06.040 –> 18:09.040] Kora and the Five Pirates of Mara, that’s the other one. [18:09.040 –> 18:12.040] That’s the platformer at some point this year apparently. [18:12.040 –> 18:13.040] I’m looking forward to that. [18:13.040 –> 18:17.040] And yeah, Mika is obviously definitely a podcast game. [18:17.040 –> 18:21.040] Mika’s just going to dominate it and be the best. [18:21.040 –> 18:25.040] Ah, but the question is will I prefer it to Summer and Mara or not? [18:25.040 –> 18:26.040] That’s the big… [18:26.040 –> 18:27.040] Yes. [18:27.040 –> 18:28.040] Yes. [18:28.040 –> 18:29.040] I’m answering yes. [18:29.040 –> 18:30.040] Well, we’ll see. [18:30.040 –> 18:31.040] We’ll see. [18:31.040 –> 18:34.040] It’s just objectively better, you can see. [18:34.040 –> 18:38.040] I don’t think there’s anything objective about it. [18:38.040 –> 18:40.040] We are the authority. [18:40.040 –> 18:44.040] We are the influencers here. [18:44.040 –> 18:45.040] Oh dear. [18:45.040 –> 18:50.040] Lens Island have an update out. [18:50.040 –> 18:54.040] The currents and controllers update, very catchy. [18:54.040 –> 18:57.040] Can you guess what this has in the update? [18:57.040 –> 19:00.040] It has controller support and currents. [19:00.040 –> 19:05.040] Now the currents actually might throw you for a loop because I didn’t. [19:05.040 –> 19:07.040] Is this what people want? [19:07.040 –> 19:09.040] Procedurally generated ocean currents? [19:09.040 –> 19:13.040] Well, I mean, the whole point is this is an exploration game, right? [19:13.040 –> 19:18.040] So, you know, currents are accurate to real life. [19:18.040 –> 19:19.040] I don’t know. [19:19.040 –> 19:23.040] I mean, realistically, the reason I’m talking about this is the controller support, right? [19:23.040 –> 19:27.040] It’s got basic controller support now, but there’s more coming later. [19:27.040 –> 19:30.040] And also procedurally generated ocean currents. [19:30.040 –> 19:32.040] So if that’s really what you were like, [19:32.040 –> 19:37.040] Oh, I’ve been waiting for this game, but now I get the procedurally generated ocean currents. [19:37.040 –> 19:39.040] Now’s the time to play. [19:39.040 –> 19:42.040] Obviously. [19:42.040 –> 19:45.040] I don’t know what to say. [19:45.040 –> 19:46.040] Oh yeah. [19:46.040 –> 19:52.040] You can also build on tiny little islands as well now, which is more exciting. [19:52.040 –> 19:53.040] I actually really like that. [19:53.040 –> 19:59.040] There’s a dozen, over a dozen new sandbanks, coral reefs, and unique rock formations that can be found at sea. [19:59.040 –> 20:01.040] Although don’t build on a coral reef. [20:01.040 –> 20:03.040] Oh no, don’t do that. [20:03.040 –> 20:08.040] Ocean houses can also be useful when building them next to ocean currents for easy traversal around the map. [20:08.040 –> 20:11.040] So yeah, I think your boats move faster on the currents. [20:11.040 –> 20:12.040] Okay. [20:12.040 –> 20:16.040] See, that seems fun making a network of ocean homes with boats. [20:16.040 –> 20:17.040] Yeah, that sounds cool. [20:17.040 –> 20:24.040] Just, just don’t like go on one and then find yourself halfway across the world and you’re lost now. [20:24.040 –> 20:25.040] So be careful. [20:25.040 –> 20:28.040] What was that? The Australian… [20:28.040 –> 20:31.040] From Finding Nemo, what was that? [20:31.040 –> 20:34.040] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what you mean. [20:34.040 –> 20:35.040] I can’t remember. [20:35.040 –> 20:37.040] EAC, I don’t remember. [20:37.040 –> 20:42.040] EAC, the East Australian Current, yeah. [20:42.040 –> 20:43.040] Classic. [20:43.040 –> 20:46.040] Go get to meet Crush. Choo choo kachoo. [20:46.040 –> 20:49.040] Wild flowers. Shall we talk about that again? [20:49.040 –> 20:51.040] Fine, fine. [20:51.040 –> 20:53.040] We’re not a Finding Nemo podcast. [20:53.040 –> 20:55.040] Not yet. [20:55.040 –> 20:58.040] Look, we’re getting there. We’re close. [20:58.040 –> 21:01.040] Lens Island and Coral Island, we’re on our way. [21:01.040 –> 21:04.040] We even have someone from New Zealand who’s occasionally on the podcast. [21:04.040 –> 21:06.040] It’s not Australia, but it’s close. [21:06.040 –> 21:08.040] We do. [21:08.040 –> 21:11.040] We have an Australian fan, a friend on here. [21:11.040 –> 21:19.040] Oh, no, Mark, if you ever listen to this, please join us and do Crush impression. [21:19.040 –> 21:23.040] So we’re going to talk about wild flowers. [21:23.040 –> 21:25.040] There are no Australians in that game. [21:25.040 –> 21:29.040] A quick bit of background to this game. [21:29.040 –> 21:35.040] So it’s on Switch and on Apple Arcade. [21:35.040 –> 21:38.040] I believe it is at some point coming to PC. [21:38.040 –> 21:40.040] I don’t know if that’s out yet, though. [21:40.040 –> 21:43.040] I just assume everything on Earth comes out on PC first. [21:43.040 –> 21:46.040] It is out on PC now. No, it didn’t come out first. [21:46.040 –> 21:48.040] I think they got the… [21:48.040 –> 21:52.040] Oh, it looks like the… So we said at the beginning it came out in September. [21:52.040 –> 21:54.040] That was the PC version. [21:54.040 –> 21:58.040] So I think the Switch and Apple Arcade one came earlier. [21:58.040 –> 22:00.040] Huh. OK. [22:00.040 –> 22:02.040] So that… [22:02.040 –> 22:05.040] I think they must have got a deal from Apple to get it on Apple Arcade first. [22:05.040 –> 22:09.040] And it came out on Switch at the same time, and then it came out on Steam. [22:09.040 –> 22:12.040] So, yeah, I mean, I guess… [22:12.040 –> 22:15.040] How would you describe this game, Kevin? [22:15.040 –> 22:18.040] Other than what I said at the beginning, which was the ultimate cottagecore game. [22:18.040 –> 22:24.040] I would describe this as the best Stardew clone. [22:24.040 –> 22:27.040] I’m using that. I’m using… Yeah. [22:27.040 –> 22:32.040] So, OK, I do need to give that a little more nuance because it’s a very clickbaity thought. [22:32.040 –> 22:34.040] No, we don’t want nuance. [22:35.040 –> 22:40.040] So I call it a Stardew clone, but it doesn’t feel like a clone. [22:40.040 –> 22:44.040] I mean, it feels like there’s the same DNA because it’s a farming game. [22:44.040 –> 22:48.040] People probably have played Stardew and learned lessons from that. [22:48.040 –> 22:53.040] But everything is polished and innovated in a meaningful way, right? [22:53.040 –> 22:59.040] Like, there’s some games you look at like, yeah, that’s that’s just Stardew plus X or whatever, right? [22:59.040 –> 23:00.040] Yeah. [23:00.040 –> 23:03.040] This game takes it up a notch on, like, every level. [23:03.040 –> 23:10.040] Like, every mechanic feels like they tweaked or changed meaningfully the whole presentation. [23:10.040 –> 23:15.040] This is a full 3D game with full voice acting. That’s nuts. [23:15.040 –> 23:17.040] I didn’t expect full voice acting. [23:17.040 –> 23:27.040] But, yeah, but it has a lot of, again, a lot of the same basic DNA of not having enough hours in the day to do the 20 million tasks you want to do. [23:27.040 –> 23:31.040] And an energy system and farming and all that good stuff. [23:31.040 –> 23:39.040] For the full disclosure, I am not done with summer in my first year yet. [23:39.040 –> 23:43.040] Which, that said, that’s a significant amount of time, though. [23:43.040 –> 23:46.040] I will explain a little how that works. [23:46.040 –> 23:49.040] What about you, Al? What are your thoughts thus far? [23:49.040 –> 23:53.040] Yeah, so I’m further behind than you because, as I mentioned, I only started. [23:53.040 –> 23:57.040] But I think you don’t have to play a lot of this game to know how well it plays. [23:57.040 –> 24:02.040] I mean, let’s put it this way, I don’t think I’m going to stop playing this game immediately. [24:02.040 –> 24:03.040] Yeah. [24:03.040 –> 24:11.040] The, yeah, it definitely, I think I agree and it feels inspired, it definitely feels inspired by Stardew. [24:11.040 –> 24:16.040] But it definitely, it doesn’t seem to be doing things because Stardew does them. [24:16.040 –> 24:18.040] Like, it does a lot of things differently. [24:18.040 –> 24:19.040] Yes. [24:19.040 –> 24:21.040] I think it’s doing what Stardew did. [24:21.040 –> 24:25.040] It’s taking something and going, how would I like this to work instead? [24:25.040 –> 24:27.040] Yes, exactly. [24:27.040 –> 24:30.040] And that is good. That’s how we wanted it to happen. [24:30.040 –> 24:35.040] Yeah, absolutely. I kind of wanted to make that point in my head earlier. [24:35.040 –> 24:39.040] So, like, Stardew was like a jump from Harvest Moon, right? [24:39.040 –> 24:42.040] Wildflowers feels like a jump from Stardew. [24:42.040 –> 24:46.040] I think I would say, so I think that Stardew generally did everything better. [24:46.040 –> 24:54.040] I will say that I think Wildflowers does everything different, but I think a lot of it could be up to how you like how it plays, right? [24:54.040 –> 24:57.040] Like, I can absolutely see how someone would not like this game. [24:57.040 –> 24:59.040] Yeah, no, I agree. I was about to say that, right? [24:59.040 –> 25:05.040] Like, I don’t think it’s, because Stardew defined a genre, basically, like it was a game changer, right? [25:05.040 –> 25:11.040] I don’t think Wildflowers is a game changer, but it’s a very solid game, a great game. [25:12.040 –> 25:14.040] So, yeah, no, I agree with you there. [25:14.040 –> 25:22.040] That’s why I was a little hesitant saying that, because it’s not the next Stardew, but it is, it’s a great game. [25:22.040 –> 25:29.040] I will, oh, one thing I should add, so I didn’t expect to play Wildflowers. [25:29.040 –> 25:37.040] I picked it up for reasons that, a few reasons that I will have to discuss at another time with you, Al. [25:37.040 –> 25:40.040] That’s some behind the scenes stuff. [25:40.040 –> 25:41.040] Intriguing. [25:41.040 –> 25:49.040] But, what’s interesting is, at first I wasn’t that interested, because one of my big criticisms is the art style. [25:49.040 –> 25:53.040] Like, I don’t like how the people, the design looks, I don’t know, just kind of on it. [25:53.040 –> 25:58.040] I agree. The people’s design is, there’s something about it that creeps me out. [25:58.040 –> 26:05.040] It’s the Bratz doll look kind of thing, something about their heads and their hands. [26:05.040 –> 26:08.040] I don’t know, just, it’s eh. [26:08.040 –> 26:13.040] I got used to it overplaying so much, but I’m still not a fan of it. [26:13.040 –> 26:20.040] So at first I wasn’t that interested, and on paper it sounded like just another farming game. [26:20.040 –> 26:27.040] But, once I looked at the reviews, they were all really good, and then I played it and I was like, oh, I’m not just playing this anymore for the podcast. [26:27.040 –> 26:30.040] I’m really enjoying this now. [26:30.040 –> 26:33.040] It consumed my week because I was enjoying it. [26:34.040 –> 26:37.040] So yeah, it’s unexpectedly for me. [26:37.040 –> 26:38.040] Yeah. [26:38.040 –> 26:41.040] Okay, so let’s get into it. [26:41.040 –> 26:45.040] Yeah, let’s talk about, so I think I’ve got a list of mechanics I want to talk about. [26:45.040 –> 26:50.040] The first one is, for me, the first thing that kind of struck me was the movement. [26:50.040 –> 26:56.040] So, I think, apart from the fact that you can just jump over fences, which, have you noticed that yet? [26:56.040 –> 26:57.040] You can just jump over fences? [26:57.040 –> 27:01.040] It blew my mind. It blew my mind. You can just run up to it and jump over it. [27:01.040 –> 27:06.040] What is this? It’s bizarre. I was not expecting that to happen. [27:06.040 –> 27:11.040] Terra is the character’s name, by the way. It’s not Stardew, your own farmer. You’re playing a character named Terra. [27:11.040 –> 27:18.040] Yeah, oh, that’s a good point, actually. Maybe let’s talk about that, because there is basically no character customization because of that. [27:18.040 –> 27:24.040] I added the boutique. It’s an update. I started that quest, but that was close. [27:24.040 –> 27:30.040] This is not empty character self-insert. You are playing Terra Wild. [27:30.040 –> 27:34.040] And I always feel a bit kind of like, I don’t think every game has to have character customization. [27:34.040 –> 27:39.040] No. No, they do not. And this is a great example of why not. [27:39.040 –> 27:46.040] Yeah. I think I would have no issues with that if there wasn’t romance in the game. [27:46.040 –> 27:47.040] Ah? [27:47.040 –> 27:53.040] But it feels weird to have romance in a game when I’m not playing as a character I’ve created. [27:53.040 –> 28:00.040] Because then I’m like, well, what do I do here? Am I choosing for this character or am I choosing for me? [28:00.040 –> 28:04.040] Who am I choosing for here? And I don’t know what to do in that situation. [28:04.040 –> 28:13.040] Look, I play Fire Emblem. I matchmate. I know this. It’s not that odd to me, I guess. [28:13.040 –> 28:22.040] But I see what you mean, right? It is weird that Terra is a fully defined character, except in romance you can kind of navigate that however you want. [28:22.040 –> 28:28.040] So that’s interesting. I don’t know. I feel like there’s a deep thought here, but I can’t think of it right now. [28:28.040 –> 28:34.040] But, you know, I see what you mean. You would think as a full character she’d have her own preference. [28:34.040 –> 28:41.040] Yeah. It’s just a small thing. And I suspect the way I’m going to deal with it is by just not doing the romance. [28:41.040 –> 28:46.040] Because, as we’ve discussed, we don’t think every game needs to have romance. [28:47.040 –> 28:52.040] I think if you’re not feeling it, don’t do it. That’s the beauty of these games, right? [28:52.040 –> 29:03.040] Yup, yup. So in this one, despite people talking about it, because there’s several single people, and it’s a thing, the dialogue is well written and that’s brought up. [29:03.040 –> 29:08.040] There still doesn’t feel like a lot of pressure that you have to get hitched or anything like that. [29:08.040 –> 29:20.040] Even if your grandmother tells you to get hitched or whatever. It’s very nice that it’s pretty light, while still being a strong component. It’s a very nice balance. [29:20.040 –> 29:24.040] And you say that, Al, but you haven’t met Wesley yet. [29:24.040 –> 29:28.040] Fair enough. [29:28.040 –> 29:35.040] But yeah, no. I’m probably going with Wesley, but I’ll talk about that later. [29:35.040 –> 29:46.040] Okay, going back to what we opened with the movement. Yes, Tara just wore a dress and jumped over fences and it’s nuts. It blew my mind you can do that. You don’t have to walk to the doors. It’s great! [29:46.040 –> 29:55.040] Yeah, so it’ll be interesting to see how you react to what I’m about to say, but I’m not a fan of the movement in the game in general. [29:56.040 –> 30:05.040] And it might be, now you’ve kind of ruined my might be there, but I’m going to say what I was going to say anyway. It might be because I’m playing on the iPad. I’m not sure. [30:05.040 –> 30:18.040] So the way that movement works on the iPad, there’s actually two different ways of doing it, but they start out by you basically dragging around on the screen vaguely where you want them to go. [30:18.040 –> 30:30.040] So if they’re in the middle of the screen and you want them to go up, you have to press the screen above the character and they will go in that direction. [30:30.040 –> 30:44.040] Which probably works fine on a phone, and I’m not even playing on a big iPad. I’m playing on the iPad mini. It’s basically just like a big phone, but it might be better on a phone if you can reach the whole screen. [30:45.040 –> 30:56.040] But it’s really awkward. It’s really awkward because you’re like, I want to go across to this plant and you have to basically press in that general direction to get it. [30:56.040 –> 31:05.040] It was really weird and awkward. There is a setting where you can change it to have a virtual joystick, which is what I did because I was going literally insane. [31:05.040 –> 31:08.040] And that’s better. [31:08.040 –> 31:12.040] Yeah, I don’t know why it’s the default. I really don’t know why it’s the default. [31:12.040 –> 31:14.040] I don’t know. That’s odd. [31:14.040 –> 31:18.040] Or why they don’t give you the option when you’re starting up. Which movement style would you like? That would be fine. [31:18.040 –> 31:25.040] Because I get why some people might want that, especially if they’re playing on a phone, but that is an insane default and not even to tell you there’s another option. [31:25.040 –> 31:32.040] I was already complaining about this and I was like, well, let me just check the settings. Oh yes, there is a setting to have a virtual joystick, so I have done that. [31:32.040 –> 31:40.040] But other than that, the movement is fine, but there’s something about it that I’m not a huge fan of and I’m not sure what it is. What are your thoughts on that? [31:40.040 –> 31:47.040] Well, I’m playing on Switch, so I’m using a non-virtual joystick. I’m playing on a controller. [31:47.040 –> 31:49.040] A joystick you might call it. [31:49.040 –> 31:56.040] Yes, a physical joystick. So I don’t have that whole issue, which just sounds nightmarish. [31:56.040 –> 32:03.040] But the movement, I think it’s just too slow. I think that’s the biggest thing. Her walking is kind of slow. [32:03.040 –> 32:13.040] But I think it’s intentional. It’s like Stardew. I think, if I recall correctly, don’t you speed up in Stardew? You get faster. I could be wrong. [32:13.040 –> 32:16.040] I don’t think so. You can get the horse. [32:16.040 –> 32:22.040] Yeah. Well, at the very least it does that. I think it’s intentional because you can get speedups later in the game. [32:23.040 –> 32:32.040] So I think they slowed it down so you feel very incentivized to speed up. Which, as of right now, I’ve seen there is a spell you can cast on yourself. [32:35.040 –> 32:41.040] Did we describe the hook of this game? I don’t think we did, did we? That you’re falling by day, witch by night? [32:41.040 –> 32:43.040] Yeah, I guess we could talk about that. [32:43.040 –> 32:48.040] I should just point out that’s a selling point, right? In Stardew, you’re also a witch by night. [32:48.040 –> 32:58.040] So magic is a thing in this game. And one of the spells you can cast on yourself is a speedup spell. I’ve not used it yet, but that’s the biggest thing for me, I think. [32:58.040 –> 33:09.040] It’s just the movement’s a little on the slow side, especially with all the things you want to do. The map isn’t as big as Stardew’s, I don’t think, to compensate for that. [33:10.040 –> 33:21.040] Yeah, so that is one thing I wanted to talk about. It’s not a huge map, and I actually quite like that. So I mentioned I’ve been playing Coral Island, and that is a huge map. [33:21.040 –> 33:32.040] And there can be advantages and disadvantages to it, but I actually quite like playing a game that has quite a small area, because I am not playing an exploration game. [33:33.040 –> 33:45.040] I am not playing this game to explore. I am playing this game to farm, and to get married, or to mine, or do some boring, repetitive stuff. [33:45.040 –> 33:57.040] And apparently in this case, magic. But I’m not looking for an exploration game. There are other games I might play to do that. [33:57.040 –> 34:01.040] And so I quite like the fact that it’s quite a small map. [34:01.040 –> 34:10.040] It’s very deliberate, right? Everything, how it’s placed. And because it’s small, there’s a lot to see and do on the island. [34:10.040 –> 34:14.040] But you learn it quickly, and you know how to get to it. [34:14.040 –> 34:22.040] You do learn it reasonably quickly. However, I will say, I am not a fan of the map they have in-game, because it tells you nothing. [34:22.040 –> 34:24.040] Yeah, it’s not great. It does not. [34:25.040 –> 34:26.040] It does not. [34:26.040 –> 34:33.040] There’s like a quest very early on where you have to meet everyone in the village, and I’m like, okay, where are they? [34:33.040 –> 34:40.040] There’s one person that I haven’t found. I don’t know who this person is. I don’t know where they are. Turns out they live like a hermit in the forest. [34:40.040 –> 34:41.040] Yeah. [34:41.040 –> 34:48.040] But I found them. But it’s just like, I don’t understand how they’re like, oh, go to this shop. How do I get to that shop? [34:48.040 –> 34:55.040] I don’t know. Like, sure, it’s in the main town, but like, there are about 10 shops in the main town. Am I expected to go into each? [34:55.040 –> 35:05.040] The map gives you no indication as to what is where at all, other than like, this is the town, this is the forest, this is the beach, that’s it. [35:05.040 –> 35:08.040] There’s no other indication as to where anything is. [35:08.040 –> 35:14.040] Yeah, no, I fully agree with that. The map’s garbage, not where they’ve been looking at. [35:15.040 –> 35:22.040] But you do learn it pretty quickly because it is quite a spot, so that’s only a very early, like, I learned that really quickly on. [35:22.040 –> 35:27.040] Like, I haven’t played the game a huge amount at all, and I know pretty much the whole map now. [35:27.040 –> 35:38.040] Yeah, but no, that sort of thing, I don’t know why, really irks me in games in general. Like, that’s bad game design, right? [35:38.040 –> 35:43.040] Game design, you want your things to be functional and useful, right? So yeah, that’s something that always bugged me. [35:43.040 –> 35:55.040] I will say though, in terms of the actual map, like the island, there are two big area, I say big, quote unquote, there are two areas to expand. [35:55.040 –> 36:04.040] One is the mountain area, you have to access by building a bridge, and the other one is, okay, I’m going to, well there’s another area in game. [36:04.040 –> 36:13.040] You can see, I don’t want to say, it’s later in the game, it’s on, like, the website, so it’s not really spoilers, but I won’t mention it here. [36:13.040 –> 36:21.040] But anyways, it expands, is the point I’m trying to say. And more characters move in, so there are more buildings and things to see later. [36:21.040 –> 36:29.040] But in general though, the map is good, and I haven’t gotten a broom yet, but I hope once I get a broom, the movement feels great. [36:30.040 –> 36:38.040] Yeah, yeah, I obviously don’t have the broom either, but I like the look of it. [36:38.040 –> 36:49.040] It’s not like it’s horrific movement, it’s just a bit meh, and I literally do not understand why they made the decision on the default control scheme for the map. [36:49.040 –> 36:51.040] Oh, that would ruin it for sure. [36:51.040 –> 36:53.040] Insane for me. [36:53.040 –> 36:54.040] Insane. [36:54.040 –> 36:58.040] Alright, cool. Let’s talk about farming, an important topic for us to discuss. [36:58.040 –> 37:00.040] We talk about that here? [37:00.040 –> 37:05.040] We talk about farming. Still, even though we’re not a farming game podcast, we still talk about farming games. [37:05.040 –> 37:11.040] We still talk about farming. Oh my word. Words. What are words? [37:12.040 –> 37:23.040] So, I guess, it’s quite a simple farming. You have these beds that you use, so you don’t have a plot of land that you hold. [37:23.040 –> 37:27.040] You just have these beds that you then plant a seed in. [37:27.040 –> 37:31.040] It’s kind of like when, I’m trying to think, what was the, was it Doraemon Story of Seasons? [37:31.040 –> 37:37.040] Where you plant one seed, or you buy a seed and you plant it and it’s like multiple seeds. [37:37.040 –> 37:39.040] Maybe, I don’t remember. [37:39.040 –> 37:46.040] You pay for potato seed and you get four potatoes out of it, right? So, that’s how it works. [37:46.040 –> 37:48.040] And then you water that and stuff. [37:48.040 –> 37:59.040] So, you can get a reasonable space of land. I think it starts out quite small, but you can expand across to the other bits of land. [37:59.040 –> 38:06.040] So, I think it’s a pretty decent amount, but if you want to keep things really low-key, you still can. [38:06.040 –> 38:11.040] I quite like the farming. It’s kind of simple, but I think it works quite well. [38:11.040 –> 38:13.040] Yeah. [38:13.040 –> 38:18.040] That reminds me, I do have a question for you. See when you’re going to water, how does it work on the Switch? [38:18.040 –> 38:28.040] Because how it works on the iPad is you go to it and then a little icon appears above the bed where you plant the seeds. [38:28.040 –> 38:35.040] And you have to press on the button to then select what you want to plant, and then you have to select the icon to then water. [38:35.040 –> 38:42.040] Does it work kind of like that, or is it more like a traditional farming game where you just press a button? [38:42.040 –> 38:47.040] Actually, let’s go back to the movement slash controls talk, because it’s just traditional. [38:47.040 –> 38:53.040] You go up to it and push A to say select the pot and then you… [38:53.040 –> 39:01.040] The icons are still there. I know the ones that are like little speech bubbles and you go between them using the joystick. [39:01.040 –> 39:04.040] Okay, I’m going to water, I’m going to plant, whatever, right? [39:04.040 –> 39:07.040] So the touch screen doesn’t work for pressing? [39:07.040 –> 39:11.040] Oh, I’ve been playing primarily on the dock, to be honest. I don’t know, I haven’t checked on the touch screen. [39:11.040 –> 39:17.040] I think I did use it briefly and I used it if the touch screen worked for something. [39:17.040 –> 39:22.040] Oh, in fact, there’s at lea

In law, a joinder is the joining of two or more legal issues together. Procedurally, a joinder allows multiple issues to be heard in one hearing or trial and occurs if the issues or parties involved overlap sufficiently to make the process more efficient or fairer. That helps courts avoid hearing the same facts multiple times or seeing the same parties return to court separately for each of their legal disputes. The term is also used in the realm of contracts to describe the joining of new parties to an existing agreement. Criminal procedure. Joinder in criminal law refers to the inclusion of additional counts or additional defendants on an indictment. In English law, charges for any offense may be joined in the same indictment if those charges are founded on the same facts or form or are a part of a series of offenses of the same or a similar nature. A number of defendants may be joined in the same indictment even if no single count applies to all of them if the counts are sufficiently linked. The judge retains the option to order separate trials. Civil procedure. Joinder in civil law falls under two categories: joinder of claims and joinder of parties. Joinder of claims. Joinder of claims refers to bringing several legal claims against the same party together. In U.S. federal law, joinder of claims is governed by Rule 18 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. These rules allow claimants to consolidate all claims that they have against an individual who is already a party to the case. Claimants may bring new claims even if these new claims are not related to the claims already stated; for example, a plaintiff suing someone for breach of contract may also sue the same person for assault. The claims may be unrelated, but they may be joined if the plaintiff desires. Joinder of claims requires that the court have jurisdiction over the subject matter of each of the new claims, and that joinder of claims is never compulsory. A party who sues for breach of contract can bring his suit for assault at a later date if he chooses. However, if the claims are related to the same set of facts, the plaintiff may be barred from bringing claims later by the doctrine of res judicata, for example if a plaintiff sues for assault and the case is concluded, he may not later sue for battery regarding the same occurrence. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/law-school/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/law-school/support

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Procedurally evaluating factual accuracy: a request for research, published by Jacob Hilton on March 30, 2022 on The AI Alignment Forum. I am grateful to Daniel Kokotajlo, Beth Barnes and John Schulman for feedback on this post. The purpose of this post is to request research on the design of precise procedures for evaluating how factually accurate pieces of text are. This stands out to me as an area that is potentially valuable for reducing risks from advanced AI, while not requiring detailed knowledge of ML. Problem statement Suppose that you are given: A real-world setting in which text appears, such as "Google search snippets", or "OpenAI API outputs", or "arXiv abstracts" A collection of contexts in that setting, such as a "the search queries made in 2021", or "the questions from the ELI5 dataset", or "all existing papers on the arXiv" A text distribution for each context, such as "actual current Google search snippets", or "responses produced by an ML model", or "the abstract a certain person would write after reading the paper" The problem is to define a procedure that takes in a context and a piece of text from the given distribution, and outputs a numeric score for factual accuracy. The procedure should have the following properties: It is feasible for humans to carry out. It is as unambiguous as possible: different people following the same procedure should end up with the same score, except perhaps for a minimal number of "irreducible" judgment calls. It can be optimized to produce good outcomes: to the extent that factual accuracy is important in the given setting, selecting text with a high score is beneficial, compared to alternative procedures. Included in this is the effect that knowledge of the procedure could have, e.g. people will have more trust in the text if they understand and endorse the procedure. In practice, whether good outcomes are produced will depend on the method and extent of optimization (e.g., Goodhart's law will eventually kick in), and on criteria other than factual accuracy. This makes the problem statement a little fuzzy. Note that the problem statement doesn't mention ML models (except as examples). The problem is of course motivated by ML models, but I think it can be studied relatively independently of ML, at least initially. Motivation The main motivation for this request is that it is a problem that arises very naturally when attempting to train truthful LMs. The most straightforward way to optimize the factual accuracy of a language model is to have humans evaluate the factual accuracy of model outputs, and to then optimize those evaluations using techniques like reinforcement learning. The procedure needs to be unambiguous because label noise hurts both ML training and labeler monitoring (not to mention other benefits). Subject to this constraint, the main criterion for the procedure should be that it produces good outcomes in the given real-world setting. My main reasons for thinking that this research could be important for reducing risks from advanced AI are: Direct benefits. The research could result in procedures that are directly used to train more beneficial AI. The sorts of risks this could help mitigate are discussed in more depth in Truthful AI and Risks from AI persuasion. Preparation for harder versions of the problem. I expect advanced AI systems to pose analogous versions of the same problem, but to require more advanced solutions, in which AI systems assist with human evaluation, for example. Solutions to the simpler problem can serve both as a starting point for more advanced solutions and as a baseline against which they can be compared, and can help build relevant capacity. Supporting ML work on truthful LMs. Currently, the responsibility for this research falls largely on ML researchers trying to improv...

This week Erin tells us about Collin Pitchfork, a British man who was the first murderer convicted using DNA profiling.Sources:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Pitchforkhttps://murderpedia.org/male.P/p/pitchfork-colin.htmhttps://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leicestershire-58408210Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/ISGDpodcast)

A Bill is a statute in draft. It has to receive the approval of both the houses of Parliament and also the President's nod to turn into a law. Procedurally, bills can be divided into four parts. They are ordinary bills, money bills and finance bills, Ordinance Replacing Bills and Constitutional amendment bills Apart from the money and finance bills, the other two bills can be presented in either of the houses. But the money and finance bills have to be introduced in Lok Sabha. The Upper House of the Parliament has limited power over it. Let us understand this through an example. Before it turned into an Act in 2016, the Aadhaar Bill was introduced as a money Bill in Lok Sabha, where it easily sailed through as BJP enjoyed a majority in the lower house of Parliament. It also led to a row, as the opposition didn't agree with the government's classification of the Aadhaar Bill as a money bill, in which the Rajya Sabha has no power to veto. Then in 2018, a five judge Supreme Court bench had held its Constitutional validity. The bench was led by the then chief justice of India, Deepak Mishra. And the sole dissenter was Justice Chandrachud J. Let us now understand what a money bill is. Defined in Article 110 of the Constitution, money bill contains tax proposals of the government, telling about the new taxes and changes in rates of existing taxes. It also contains government's expenditure, revenues, and borrowings. According to the Constitution, a money bill contains the imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax. But the imposition of local taxes doesn't come under the purview of the money bill. The regulation of the borrowing of money by the Union government also comes under its ambit. The payment of moneys into or the withdrawal of moneys from Consolidated Fund or the Contingency Fund of India also come under this bill. As explained in an earlier episode, the consolidated fund of India contains direct and indirect taxes and loans taken by the government. Loans or interest given to the government are also put in this fund. The Union government needs Parliamentary approval to deposit or take out money from it. And this is done through the introduction of the money bill. While the contingency fund of India is an emergency fund. The appropriation of money out of the Consolidated Fund of India and the declaring of any expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund of India or the increasing of the amount of any such expenditure comes under money bill. So, for example, if the government wants to increase the salary of the President of the country -- which is drawn from the Consolidated Fund of India -- it will have to introduce a money bill. The same process will have to be followed if the government wants to raise the salaries of the Lok Sabha Speaker or the Chairman of Rajya Sabha. The receipt of money on account of the Consolidated Fund of India or the public account of India or the custody or issue of such money or the audit of the accounts of the Union or of a state comes under the money bill. And the last but not the least point. Any matter “incidental” to any of the matters specified above also comes under the money bill. There is no exact definition of the word “incidental” given in Article 110. So for long the governments have been allegedly misusing this clause to expand the ambit of the money bill. The Opposition alleges that it happened in the Aadhaar case. The Speaker of the Lok Sabha takes the final call if a bill is a money bill or not. And his decision cannot be challenged in any court of the country.  Watch video

The federal government has big plans and cities and municipalities are where the climate action is - you'd think they need to work pretty closely together. But “It's fairly limited,” Allison Ashcroft a veteran practitioner says. “Procedurally, there's little to no direct engagement between ministers and elected officials,” nor between policy staff at key federal governments and practitioners in local government. Allison has worked with cities across Canada. She says closer collaboration could accelerate climate action significantly and dramatically reduce waste and redundancy. Mitchell Beer of The Energy Mix talks to Allison Ashcroft on this edition of #COP26TinyExplainers. Follow the series and learn more at theenergymix.com and greenenergyfutures.ca

Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early! (https://www.patreon.com/topiclords) Lords: * Erica * @YerrikTRB on Twitter * Erica plugs Kitchen! The Musical, and also Micah’s books: https://tinyurl.com/46k5zfnm * Micah * @micahwrites on Twitter * Micah plugs Bermudez Triangle, “Chilling Tales for Dark Nights” https://www.youtube.com/user/chillingtaleswi Topics: * In praise of bad hidden object games * HOPAs, or Hidden Object Puzzle Adventures, made by studios in Hong Kong and Eastern Europe: * https://www.eipix.com/hopa-games/ * http://blueteagames.com/ * https://elephant-games.com/games/ * https://www.world-loom.com/ * HOPA Let’s Plays: https://www.youtube.com/c/YourGibs/playlists * Better designs for the human body * Modularity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modularity(biology) * CRISPR: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRISPR * When you say "excuse me" you're asking forgiveness for doing something rude, such as burping. When you say "excuse me" as a demand that someone move out of the way because you're impatient to get past, the demand is itself the rude thing, so you should have to say it twice. * Brood X: https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/22362042/cicada-brood-x-map-2021 * Palo Verde beetles * https://www.azfamily.com/weather/phoenixweatherblog/the-monsoon-monster-beetle/articlebb4bd606-0476-5c0e-ae2a-ddbe1467d9d5.html * https://arizonareport.com/big-black-arizona-beetle-palo-verde/ * Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madagascarhissingcockroach * Beastie Boys - Sabotage * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5rRZdiu1UE * https://youtu.be/-TQgbVk9jss * Deodar Cedars: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedrusdeodara * Ryan Reynolds and the Deadpool Cinematic Universe * Watching Shakespeare * The Hollow Crown: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheHollowCrown(TVseries) * Henry V: https://globeplayer.tv/videos/henry-v * Falstaff, who is actually more in Henry IV than Henry V: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JohnFalstaff * Hamlet in the original Klingon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF0k4qV1I1Y * Richard II (the one that precedes Henry IV) https://tinyurl.com/344kjjp4 Microtopics: * Kitchen! The Musical. * Inviting the general public to write the musical that exists only in your head. * Introducing the guest who is bad at introducing himself. * Running a white-hat ARG on company servers to research and understand the employees you fired for running an ARG on company servers. * In praise of terrible games. * Procedurally-generated hidden object games. * Organizing your life in a video game when you can't organize shit in real life. * Where the Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure fan communities are congregating online. * Using the block button on the pile of dishes in the sink. * Asking the manliest gamers to play feminine-coded video games and discovering if they become less manly. * Ladies who want to wear big dresses to be fancy ballroom ladies. * Gamers who don't congregate online but instead enjoy video games by themselves. * Where the Russian developers who make games for American women congregate online. * Clicking on something to make it go away. * Improving humans by adding components vs. by replacing components. * The legality of inventing a new organism by adding or deleting genes. * The Modular Human. * Plants undergoing full genome duplication. * The Diploid Human. * Using your hundred tongues to speak a hundred languages at once. * The one line you remember from "Kitchen! The Musical" * Saying "excuse me" in a higher and higher pitched voice until you're only saying "excuse me" to dogs and bats. * Running an errand in Tucson and incidentally removing horrifying beetles from multiple strangers’ hair. * True bugs and untrue bugs. * True bugs, with piercing and sucking mouthparts. * A reimagining of the insect phylum that includes small dogs and especially annoying children. * Hissing cockroaches that repeat what they hear like a parrot, so when you walk through the forest all you hear is a chorus of raspy voices saying "agh, get it off of me!" * Brood X, scheduled for this summer! * Brood X: Brood In Space. * OS X: OS In Space. * Which is worse, piercing and sucking mouthparts or sawing and sucking mouthparts? * What color of flashing lights civilians are allowed to use. * Pretending to be police. * The invasive plant species that the Sabotage music video is trying to highlight. * Hypothetical potted plants in the background of Powerman 5000's When Worlds Collide. * Being sentenced to community service and filling your rap punk band's trailer with fresh vegetables. * Nick Cave throwing a chair. * A poolside interrogation to find out if someone has a waterproof phone before you push them into a pool. * A cloth dummy falling off of a bridge. * Whether that cloth dummy had a cloth family. * Whether 1970s porn stars styled themselves after 1970s cops, or vice versa. * Popeye the Sailor Moon. * Everybody at the party dressing up as sexy cops and handing the real police a beer when they show up at the door. * Accidentally bringing up sexy cops every time you're on the show. * Chill dudes in short ties. * Taking a picture of a tree out of your moving car and asking a botanist to identify a blurry mess. * A boss who thinks your name is Marcia. * Meeting somebody with overlapping energies. * Total freedom from all societal expectations. * Setting up a movie streaming service that only streams one movie to promote your new phone company. * Buying every copy you can find of your first movie. * Watching multiple sets of people trapped in the same reality where they play out the same dramas and say the same lines over and over. * The one time Shakespeare wrote a stage direction. * Every time Shakespeare has been adapted into a movie. * Who even likes Falstaff. * The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abridged. * Re-subtitling your movie using lines from Shakespeare. * The origin of Klingons as Shakespeare characters.

Hello again! This week we discuss the reason for the seaon -- and also our respectively roguelikes. It's gonna be wild, so strap in! Joe loses sleep over Slay the Spire, while Al tries to build the perfect loop in Loop Hero!

We have people who are charged with crimes, and who are put, against their will, into this place that restricts their freedom and is incredibly dangerous... Procedurally, they have no mechanism by which to seek their constitutional protection of a trial... Without that, you’re languishing. It’s a horrible situation.

Game Pass Dad takes some time to give an impression of Descenders a Procedurally generated downhill mountain bike game. What are his thoughts? Tune in now to hear. https://twitch.tv/gamepassdad https://Twitter.com/gamepassdad --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gamepassdad/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/gamepassdad/support

The August 14th ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Duncan v Becerra (the California Magazine Ban) is turning out to be a salutary lesson to retailers, California gun owners, and even the staff at GunMag Warehouse. There is far more to it than what many people might seem. In Episode 168 of The Mag Life Podcast we discuss the vagaries of that ruling, why and how it happened, what we can expect to happen next, and why California Gun Laws should be the concern of every gun owner in every state. We also address some of the absurdities. That said, there is a reason for the much-reviled delay that gun owners are suffering through — and it's a good reason. You may have heard (or even said) something like this: It's unconstitutional? Well then, that law doesn't apply. I can buy magazines! Wrong. Counterintuitive as it might seem, it's a Good Thing that we have to wait — because if this was an issue we were against, then they would have to wait. It's about checks and balances, and that is very much in everyone's favor. There are a couple of things you should remember when you listen to this episode: We know what a standard magazine is. We use terms like "high capacity", "large capacity", and even "assault weapon" here because that is the language of the court. We are striving for clarity. Many of the points brought up and discussed came directly from social media comments or questions submitted to GMW HQ by email. If you have questions that weren't addressed, hit us up in the comments below. We'll try to get 'em answered in a future episode. https://media.blubrry.com/gunfightercast/s/content.blubrry.com/gunfightercast/168-California_Gun_Laws_Questions_Answered_The_Benefit_of_Procedural_Control_and_Delay.mp3 Host: Daniel Shaw Guest: John Dillon Intro/Transcription: David Reeder California Gun Laws California's Magazine Ban and the Benefits of Procedural Control Timeline 00:10 Introducing John Dillon 02:00 Challenging California's assault weapon ban. 03:30 An example of current efforts: Miller v. Becerra. 05:00 Explaining how gun control legislation is so often spawned in California. 05:50  Large capacity magazines. Constitutionality, injunctions, summary judgments, and appeals. The original Benitez ruling on common use and strict scrutiny, and why it matters. 09:40 The gratifying support for Californians displayed by customers in other states. 10:30 California's response to the original injunction: the stay granted against buying, manufacturing, etc. (but not owning", "until final resolution on appeal"). When it comes to litigation, courts, and laws, you must adhere to procedures, including (perhaps especially) with regard to a "final resolution" or what is called a "final entry of judgment". That is why the ruling did not immediately make the purchase of LCMs legal. The State of California still has options. 12:00 The ruling has been handed down. Now you can buy magazines again, right? No. 22:00 Why it maybe 90 days or so until the stay is lifted and purchasing magazines becomes lawful. Procedurally, the August 14th 9th Circuit ruling is not a 'final resolution". California can still file a motion for reconsideration, can seek to have all 11 Ninth Circuit judges review it instead of just 3, or even file a Writ of Certiori, which requests the Supreme Court to consider the case. 25:00 Reminder of why such delays are beneficial. Checks and balances work both ways, which is good for all of us. In fact, this sort of procedural control saved California residents from potential criminal action when the magazine ban first went into place. 31:00 If magazines were successfully purchased during the initial confusion, are they illegal? What are the owners' options? Keep it? Return it? 37:50 Civil action vs. "going kinetic": the excellent example set for all of us by the Founding Fathers. 40:00 Why it's important to support gun owners ...

Hear our thoughts on what makes a great video game world and what makes a great tabletop world, should it be handcrafted by the DM/game designer or made by a corporate publisher/RNG? Hear out our opinions and comment with your own, or whine at us on Twitter! Whatcha Playin'?: Timestamp 9:00 Nooz'nBooz: 16:55 Tabletopic, Published campaign worlds vs. those handcrafted by the DM: Timestamp 1:09:30 Video Game Topic, Procedurally generated worlds vs. Handcrafted worlds: Timestamp 1:30:30

Download for Mobile | Podcast Preview | Full Timestamps "It's over Eric." says Tony, standing on Bam's deck, still glowing with the spirit aura of his friends. With the last of his strength, Eric spreads his single Sparrow wing. As he fades to dust, his voice echoes through the air: "I will never be a memory." You can watch us record the podcast live on twitch.tv/castlesuperbeast Outro: Boy Without Batteries - Superman Get $5 off your first order and zero delivery fees for a month when you download the DoorDash app in the App Store and enter code Castle. -- Get 15% off your order at http://buyraycon.com/superbeast! -- Get $35 off your order when you go to http://sunbasket.com/SUPERBEAST and enter promo code SUPERBEAST at checkout! Ghost of Tsushima gameplay – exploration, combat, customization, Photo Mode, Japanese voice track, and Samurai Cinema Paper Mario: The Origami King announced for Switch Unreal Engine 5 announced with PS5 tech demo Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 announced for PS4, Xbox One, and PC Blacklist lol Doom Eternal's Denuvo anti-cheat is being detected as malware The wait is over. The TurboGrafx-16 Mini Release Date Is May 22, 2020 NieR Re[in]carnation is Written by a Team of Scenario Writers Mafia remake launches August 28; Mafia II: Definitive Edition launches May 19 Procedurally generated action adventure RPG Cassette Beasts announced for consoles, PC

Show Notes Episode 229: “Moving the Country to do a Lot of Impeaches” This week Host Dave Bledsoe has his little way and drinks whiskey every day. (Just like every week, really.) On the show this week we talk about, well what ELSE could we possibly about it? (Basically, we have this script ready to go every twenty episodes.) Along the way we learn what the His Imperial Turdness did to get his dumb ass in trouble. Again. We head back to the beginning to see what Conservative fever dream conjured the imagined malfeasance of Joe Biden. (It was Fox News, it's always Fox News). Then we discuss at length what Donny Dum Dum did and why Donny Dum Dum can NOT do what Donny Dum Dum DID. Again. (Seems like we do that rather a lot.) We talk whistle-blowing and what tune was blown on said whistle. (Peaches by Presidents of the USA, what else?) Then we deep dive into what exactly happens from here on out. (Procedurally, no one fucking knows what will ACTUALLY happen.) We instruct you on how to impeach a president, how to vote to remove them from office and ask the hard question: Say by some miracle we actually DO remove him from office, how are we going to get his delusional ass out of the White House? (We say drug his Diet Coke.) Our Sponsor this week is Guiliani School of Law, when all you want to do is SAY you are a lawyer, Guilliani's got a program for that! We open the show with Rudy sending his client to jail and close with Andrew Huang playing Peaches on ACTUAL peaches. Show Theme: https://www.jamendo.com/track/421668/prelude-to-common-sense The Show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheHell_Podcast The Show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthehellpodcast/ The Show on Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/david-bledsoe-4 www.whatthehellpodcast.com Give us your money on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/Whatthehellpodcast The Show Line: 347 687 9601 Closing Music: https://youtu.be/C7NaFOBrhP8 Citations Needed: Giuliani contradicts himself over Ukraine probe of Biden https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/09/20/cuomo-rudy-giuliani-ukraine-biden-sot-cpt-vpx.cnn Pelosi announces impeachment inquiry, says Trump's courting of foreign political help is a ‘betrayal of national security' https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/pelosi-top-democrats-privately-discuss-creation-of-select-committee-for-impeachment/2019/09/24/af6f735a-dedf-11e9-b199-f638bf2c340f_story.html The facts behind Trump's bogus accusations about Biden and Ukraine https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/9/23/20879611/joe-biden-hunter-biden-ukraine-corruption-prosecutor-burisma-donald-trump-whistleblower-complaint Giuliani pursued shadow Ukraine agenda as key foreign policy officials were sidelined https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/giuliani-pursued-shadow-ukraine-agenda-as-key-foreign-policy-officials-were-sidelined/2019/09/24/ee18aaec-deec-11e9-be96-6adb81821e90_story.html Trump at private event: ‘Who gave the whistleblower the information? Because that's close to a spy' https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-09-26/trump-at-private-breakfast-who-gave-the-whistle-blower-the-information-because-thats-almost-a-spy How to Impeach a President https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/09/impeachment-process-remove-president-from-office-guide.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you create unique and random game worlds and maps? Unique and random game maps and worlds can be created procedurally in code using noise. The noise is good for simulating nature because it produces values that change randomly in small amounts with no abrupt changes and provides realistic curves to rivers or hills. […]

Stephen Howell from Microsoft Ireland discusses emerging trends in gaming with 14 game art designers on the Clonmel Digital Campus. Music by Andre Louis.00:58 Wondering who invests in Hololens03:07 Who is Stephen Howell?03:55 Who uses Hololens?04:29 Microsoft does not see Hololens as a gaming device06:29 Microsoft visual development tools07:31 Visual Studio in Second Level07:53 Visual Studio Code as a toolset08:21 On Howell's bookshelf10:36 Nadella's Hit Refresh10:51 Read Show Stopper11:20 Read about visual design series in games12:08 Crytonomicon12:37 Dishonored and Prey13:48 Learn what went wrong14:24 No skirts, only trousers14:41 Over-sized hands14:59 Aesthetic choices17:11 Shadow of Mordor18:10 Procedural asset creation18:18 Outcast used unusual terrain generation19:11 Another World21:03 Procedurally generated buildings22:49 Earn more by making assets25:13 Public perception of the games industry28:36 Stephen Howell's Games at home29:24 Grand Theft Auto made tons of money30:57 Managing the negative aspects of technology in life32:14 Bad image of industry?33:38 Third party suitability and self-certification of games36:04 Carmageddon38:34 Consoles don't know how old kids are41:06 Censorship of developers?45:23 LinkedIn as a community for designers48:34 Contact us @educast48:48 Listen on Spotify49:03 Music by Andre Louis49:22 Read more on www.educasting.ie

In this podcast, I discuss the pre-sentence investigation report. Below is a quick and dirty outline: After conviction and prior to sentencing, a probation officer will interview the def. and prepare a PSR. In the PSR, the probation officer will: Calculate the defendant’s offense level and criminal history category, State the resulting sentencing range and kinds of sentences available, Identify any factors relevant to the kind of sentence (e.g., probation, imprisonment), Recommend a sentence w/in the applicable sentencing range, and Identify any basis for departing from the applicable sentencing range The PSR includes: The defendant’s prior criminal record, The defendant’s financial condition, and Information sufficient to calculate restitution The defendant is entitled to be represented by an attorney at the interview w/ the probation officer and I strongly recommend it. Why is the pre-sentence investigation report important? For the following two reasons: Judges give deference to the recommendations of the probation officer. Thus, the PSR is instrumental in the sentencing judge’s determination. Both the defense and the gov’t may make formal objections to the PSR but the judge resolves all such disputes under the preponderance of the evidence standard - a low standard indeed. Apart from the judge and sentencing, the PSR follows def. throughout his time in prison and can affect various decisions as to def. after the judge imposes sentence (i.e., the defendant’s life in prison and any period of probation or supervised release). Procedurally, once the PSR is prepared, the probation officer will provide a copy to the def., the defendant’s attorney, and the prosecutor. The defense and the gov’t have the opportunity to make objections to the PSR at the sentencing hearing, which consists of oral arguments before the judge. The rules of evidence do n/ apply to the admission of testimony or other evidence at the sentencing hearing. There are three times when defense counsel can have a big impact on the sentence that the judge imposes: Situation 1: Defense counsel bargains w/ the prosecutor. Situation 2: Defense counsel can work w/ the probation officer independently of the prosecutor – i.e., w/o forming an agreement w/ the prosecutor as in situation one. The goal is to try and get the probation officer to include favorable facts in the PSR. Situation 3: If the PSR contains something that you don’t like, you can make objections at the sentencing hearing that the PSR is wrong or should be modified by the judge and ask the judge to redact it from the pre-sentence investigation report. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/mike36/support

In this podcast, I discuss the pre-sentence investigation report. Below is a quick and dirty outline: After conviction and prior to sentencing, a probation officer will interview the def. and prepare a PSR. In the PSR, the probation officer will: Calculate the defendant’s offense level and criminal history category, State the resulting sentencing range and kinds of sentences available, Identify any factors relevant to the kind of sentence (e.g., probation, imprisonment), Recommend a sentence w/in the applicable sentencing range, and Identify any basis for departing from the applicable sentencing range The PSR includes: The defendant’s prior criminal record, The defendant’s financial condition, and Information sufficient to calculate restitution The defendant is entitled to be represented by an attorney at the interview w/ the probation officer and I strongly recommend it. Why is the pre-sentence investigation report important? For the following two reasons: Judges give deference to the recommendations of the probation officer. Thus, the PSR is instrumental in the sentencing judge’s determination. Both the defense and the gov’t may make formal objections to the PSR but the judge resolves all such disputes under the preponderance of the evidence standard - a low standard indeed. Apart from the judge and sentencing, the PSR follows def. throughout his time in prison and can affect various decisions as to def. after the judge imposes sentence (i.e., the defendant’s life in prison and any period of probation or supervised release). Procedurally, once the PSR is prepared, the probation officer will provide a copy to the def., the defendant’s attorney, and the prosecutor. The defense and the gov’t have the opportunity to make objections to the PSR at the sentencing hearing, which consists of oral arguments before the judge. The rules of evidence do n/ apply to the admission of testimony or other evidence at the sentencing hearing. There are three times when defense counsel can have a big impact on the sentence that the judge imposes:  Situation 1: Defense counsel bargains w/ the prosecutor.   Situation 2: Defense counsel can work w/ the probation officer independently of the prosecutor – i.e., w/o forming an agreement w/ the prosecutor as in situation one. The goal is to try and get the probation officer to include favorable facts in the PSR. Situation 3: If the PSR contains something that you don’t like, you can make objections at the sentencing hearing that the PSR is wrong or should be modified by the judge and ask the judge to redact it from the pre-sentence investigation report.

Kole, Ben, Dennis, and David talk about Into the Breach, the Diablo-on-Switch rumors, and we ask you which games remind you most of elementary school. The Brief: People think there's going to be Diablo on Switch. Cyan announces their new game, Firmament. AI finds glitch in Q*Bert. Procedurally generated chiptunes. The Multiplayer: What game do you most associate with your grade/elementary school years? The Grind Dennis: Into the Breach. Door Kickers. Ben: Into the Breach. Gloomhaven. Kole: DOOM 2016. Celeste. David: Monster Hunter: World.

Join the Discord by becoming a Patreon member! patreon.com/sidalpha Discuss the podcast on our official subreddit: Reddit.com/r/sidalpha SidAlpha and IamPattyJack are joined today by our guests: The YouTuber Dandruff and Sam Abbott of Compulsion Games. In this episode we discuss games in general, PUBG Gambling, and we also get a behind the scenes opinion from the Developer that brought you "We Happy Few". Enjoy! Original air date: Aug 27th, 2017 ---------- IamPattyJack https://YouTube.com/IamPattyJack https://twitter.com/IamPattyJack ---------- Dandruff https://twitter.com/NewsCartridge https://YouTube.com/newscartridge ---------- Thanks for watching the Procedurally Opinionated Podcast! Follow SidAlpha on Twitter: Twitter.com/SidAlpha Follow our Facebook page for announcements: facebook.com/IamSidAlpha

If you’re interested in my post-college story, I want to let you know I’m sharing all of my tips on the post-college job search, nailing informational interviews, and more on the Bri Books Podcast Newsletter. @BriBooksPod - Instagram @BriBooksPod - Twitter What are you reading?! Show and tell using #bribooks Editor’s Note: "Welcome to Bri Books podcast! I knew that reading Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery’s book “They Can’t Kill Us All:Ferguson, Baltimore and a New Era in America's Racial Justice Movement” would knock me off my feet, but I wasn’t expecting that on the day this episode was recorded, (8/11/17), exactly two days to the date of Michael Brown’s murder in my hometown (Ferguson, MO), that same evening hundreds of grown men and women in Charlottesville, VA would march on a college campus in the name of white supremacy and racism. That reality is hanging over this episode, and I hope the book we discuss, “They Can’t Kill Us All,” encourages and challenges you. I can’t recommend the book enough. Let’s get into it.  Resources: Ju-Hyun Park’s essay on thefader.com, “Love Needs Fury to Defeat Hate” DeRay McKesson’s podcast “Pod Save The People,” “BONUS: CHARLOTTESVILLE”   @wesleylowery – Twitter, Washington Post  SHOW NOTES    As I prepared to read Wesley’s book, I first read “Wars of Reconstruction” by Douglas Egerton, to remind myself of the systemic obstruction of police and black self-advocacy that immediately followed Civil War, Emancipation Proclamation and Lincoln’s assassination. The book talks about how the time post-Emancipation Proclamation was the most violent yet politically progressive time in America’s history for freed blacks, as literacy rates and involvement in political and social office grew exponentially. The inclusion of African-Americans in the Union Army definitively helped the Union clinch the war. I wanted to read “The Wars of Reconstruction: The Brief, Violent History of America’s Most Progressive Era,” by Douglas Egerton. 1:03 – Wesley’s first book is a reporter’s notebook of sorts, chronicling his work as a reporter dispatching from Ferguson, MO at the height of the shooting death of Mike Brown. From there he found himself flying to Cleveland, Baltimore, and too many cities to cover too many people who had become hashtags in the light of police violence and the death of black men and women at the hands of police 1:30 I knew Wesley’s book would knock me off my feet but I wasn’t expecting that on the day we recorded, 3 years and 2 days to the date of Brown’s death, hundreds of men and women would march on a college campus in the name of white supremacy and racism. That very real pall is hanging over this episode, and I hope our conversation encourages and challenges you. 2:00 – Resources: Ju-Hyun Park’s essay on thefader.com, “Love Needs Fury to Defeat Hate” DeRay McKesson’s podcast “Pod Save The People,” “BONUS: CHARLOTTESVILLE” 3:15 – This episode has special place in my heart because Ferguson is my family hometown. My mom grew up there at a time when her own mom was the first black person to live on the block. By the time my grandmother died when I was 18, there were no white people left in the entire neighborhood. 3:55 – Wesley thanks for being on this episode. Watching my hometown become a hashtag was interesting for me. Tell us about where you grew up. 4:10 – Thank you! It’s important to me, as someone who writes about places I’m not from to really listen and learn the context of those places. I was fortunate enough to spend a lot of time in STL and Ferguson before having to write about it in a longform way. I had dozens, then hundreds, of conversations that hopefully help me portray things that are accurate and right true to the people who lived the lives I’m depicting. 4:45 – Wesley spent his childhood in 2 places, first in a Jersey suburb until his early teens. At 13, moved to Shaker Heights, Ohio, a suburb on the East Side of Cleveland. It used to be held to be true that the East side is where blacks lived, west is where ethnic whites, Slavic, Italian, city workers, cops and firefighters on the west side. East side was where black families lived. “Shaker Heights was one of 2-3 cities that began instituting public school bussing before the supreme court order. It’s a hyper-progressive community, has always ben extremely diverse. I grew up in a place where we were constantly having conversations about race, racism, prejudice, stereotyping. I was in programmers as a high schooler focused on mentorship and achievement. And having tough conversations. It prepared me for the work now.” 6:35 – I love that your book really humanizes protestors. It adds color and dimension to their lives outside of moment they became known as protestors with capital P. what did you learn from the act of protesting, when you were reporting in Ferguson, that you brought back to newsroom in terms of how you tell stories. 7:02 – “One of the things I still think of a lot, that is how those of us in the media and who haven’t protested, want to subscribe and ascribe solutions/ motives to protests. Most of us who work in media have never attended a protest we were participating in. many of our decision makers like in DC have never themselves felt like this is how they’re going to petition the government. 7:45 – “The reality was in Ferguson, Baltimore, charlotte, Milwaukee, this was an organic overflow of pain and anger. no one was calling the residents of Ferguson saying come outside and be upset. They were looking out their window and seeing the body of a teenager and saying this is where I draw the line I deserve better for my government. 8:07 – “We hear of people very often who are dismissive of protest, is why don’t they why don’t they go vote? Write a letter to congressman? That type of mindset fundamentally misunderstands protests. People who take to the street do so because their government has otherwise not listened to them when they’ve petitioned them in other spaces. Protest is in many ways, a means of voicing and demanding an audience for otherwise unheard needs. I think that’s not something that those of us who often have our needs heard that people can appreciated. 8:50 – “There’s this deep skepticism sometimes, and we always hear these conversations, people who say, “If you want to win me over, why did you block the highway?” It fundamentally.it fundamentally misunderstands point of disobedient protests, and why they’re taking to the streets. 5:29 – “People aren’t taking to street to convince you in your house they’re right about something. They don’t care about you. That’s not the point of this. They’re directly communicating what the powers that oversee their government, etc., and they’re saying, you value order. 9:40 – Chris Hayes’ book “A Colony in the Nation” talks about this idea of order. That we, in the majority, what we care about is traffic lights that at work, busses that run on time, no traffic jam, my street being clean. In many ways, we prioritize the order of our spaces or the rights and liberties of other people. That we care about things seems peaceful and calm, and the way you made my street orderly is by stopping and frisking every black person on my street or harassing them for their music, I don’t care about that because t’s orderly. It’s my comfort.” 10:30 – With conversations about highway, its people saying, why would you disrupt my order with your silly concerns about your lives? You see drastic disconnect in priority. And like I said earlier, there’s a standard misunderstanding of the point of these protests. 11:00 – In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King, Jr. says this isn’t about negotiating or gaining a seat at a table. It’s not about winning allies or friends. It’s about making the conditions of this political problem so untenable that it makes it impossible for the powers to be to do nothing. Not only are we upset with you, but these people who have been inconvenienced are calling your office. It’s calling you to do “something,” which means you’re gonna call and say, “what is it you really want?” 11:45 – “For those of us who value order, we can often underestimate the power of political disorder as a tactic. 11:55 – Part of the currency that helped Wesley report so deeply is that you could’ve even classmates of protestors or the young brother of any of the young boys who got killed. How did you take it from reporter’s notebook to workable manuscript? 12:35 – “Procedurally it started by me sitting back and looking at the first anniversary, and tracing back my previous year. Where’d I gone? Ferguson, Cleveland, New York City, Charleston, Baltimore. How did pit stops tell the story of what was going on and tell the story of what became a protest movement? 13:15 – “I sat down and would begin with stories I’d written from city, and grabbing.in the emails, grabbed, all the unedited feeds id sent in from protests, people I’d interviewed previously. 13:40 – “In one case I’d interviewed Jonathan Butler in Ferguson. I literally just man-on-the-street interviewed him. The next year, he launches hunger strike and university of Missouri. Before he was hunger strike student. I’d take all the material from take period of time, copy and paste the articles and drafts back in, and say, how do I convert this whole thing into first person? How’d I get there? I’d write it long, whittle it down, and convert it into a guide into how I did some of the reporting. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t always the most comfortable with writing in first person I’m not someone who came up writing in 1st I was always doing 3rd persons. I was hesitant to insert myself in the story that way. 15:00 - “In a way, especially when people don’t understand he media and literacy is low…there’s real value in showing people how we do what we do—woke up. Story happening. People don’t assume that reporting process for everything they rad anymore…I think there’s real value in walking people through these processes of how we get these stories how we see them, how we choose the story. 16:00 - “If I tell you how I got here, why seeing, what I was seeing, could help you understand the subjective decisions that were made. That’s part of what I was trying to do. 16:20 – You succeed at that. Your book knows you’re in the story but not the subject of the story. In the first chapter, you say there’s a moment when I became a thing. But you moved past it. Was that a strategic decision? 17:00 – “That was a purposeful decision. 2 days after arriving in Ferguson, my friend Ryan and I were arrested covering the protest. We were first of dozens of journos who would find themselves arrested. Eric holder commented on it, we became these political footballs… 17:35 – I knew to write this book there would be people saying you got this because fame. No, no, I helped cover Boston Marathon bombings for Boston Globe before this. Got a lot of blowback from people ho didn’t know me or work. By writing this, I wanted to dispense of my moment of fame at the very beginning. I wanted to say yes, I’m that guy, let’s deal and never talk again. This book isn’t’ about me. Its’ about all these young people and these families who lost loved ones and had been so gracious as to allow me to tell me their stories. 19:00 – “I really wanted to, through this book, tell the story of the young people who stepped into the streets. From someone whose covered this protest movement from close to the beginning, I find myself frustrated. I spent time talking to activist’s demonstrators, I found almost all of them to be thoughtful, intelligent, deliberate. But I’d see this caricature of many of them in the media by and large especially in conservative media….and I’d hear this from my colleagues, editors, and also my readers. And I felt frustrated. I knew all these people personally at this point, and for whatever reason, it wasn’t being communicated to a broader audience. 20:12 – “I’d written dozens, maybe over a hundred articles about Black Lives Matter, about protests, police shootings. And I’d still get emails from subscribers saying I don’t get this. 20:29 – “For me, I think that to be a reporter writer is to be a translator. I’m dispatched to a place. I’m witnessing something that’s happening. It’s my job to translate what has happened to a bunch of people who can’t be there, to explain it to them. I’m writing articles about a protest, and you send me an email saying I don’t understand what this protest is about, it means that at some point in my translation I have failed you. 20:52 - “So, the goal of writing a book was to say, what if I can do it in a longer form? What if I can write everything I know about this down? And if I do that someone who is genuinely interested can sit down and read all the stuff I know, see all these different people and places, and then maybe if they don’t agree with the politics of the protestors, maybe they can understand. That’s the goal of what I was doing.” 21:20 – I sometimes wonder, if I’d be going home…I always wonder, how would I have served that community? Would I be protestor? Organizer? Religious sense? 21:46 – For you, in Cleveland, do you ever wonder how, if you’d been home and been a civilian, how you would’ve voiced your frustration? 22:00 – “I think that’s something a lot of us think about. Is, if this happened where I live what would I do? If I’d been there what would’ve I do? There’s this feeling, every time we hear of new case, see a new video, there’s a moment where everyone simultaneously has a guttural need to do something. You watch Philando Castile video, the Eric Garner video, you say that’s wrong I want to do something about it. You hear it all the time. 22:40 – “I thought a lot about how if I’d made one or two different decisions in life, how I very likely would’ve been on a different side of these protests. I think of how if I’d gone student government instead of student newspaper. Or if I’d stuck with political science major instead of barely getting my journalism degree. I wonder if those would’ve changed any of these moments. And I don’t know the answer to that. 23:10 – “I’ve always been an inside the room at the table type. But I do wonder, had I stayed out of journalism, had I not been a writer and reporter tethered to this idea of fairness and distance (not personally involved,) if the events of the past few years would’ve been enough, for someone like me, who valued respectability politics who valued working through systems, would it have been enough for someone like me to step in the streets. I don’t completely know the answer to that, but I see a lot of people for whom it was enough, and I think I might’ve been in the same boat. I see peers and colleagues of mine. And for them, the crisis in front of them was enough to demand a new tactic. 24:40 – “I like to think that if I’d been in another field at another time, that would’ve been enough for me too. 24:50 – That said. What I like about the field I’m in is that in that moment of crisis, pain and trauma, when new names start trending and there’s a new hashtag, I have something I can do every single time. When I see Michael Brown, Jordan Edwards…I don’t have to sit in this moment of pain and trauma. I don’t have to sit here and wonder what I can do. I pick up the phone I start calling people. I start writing things down. And I start collecting the information that hopefully will allow other people to process what has happened. And empower them, to if they so desire, act and do something themselves. 25:33 - So, I think the role of the journalist and reporter is important. Especially at times when the federal government may not be so inclined to address the systemic issues that still exist in our CJS, I think it’s more important than ever for journalists to write down true things so in the future we can write down what was happening in the summer of 2014 2015 2016 2017. And that’s what I think of when I wake up wondering, I have something I can do.

Join the Discord by becoming a Patreon member! https://patreon.com/sidalpha Discuss the podcast on our official subreddit: https://Reddit.com/r/sidalpha SidAlpha, IamPattyJack, and BigfryTV sit down and discuss the current controversies in Gaming on this episode of the Procedurally Opinionated Podcast. Enjoy! Original air date: June 25th, 2017 ---------- IamPattyJack www.youtube.com/IamPattyJack twitter.com/IamPattyJack ---------- BigfryTV www.twitch.tv/BigfryTV twitter.com/BigfryTV ---------- Thanks for watching the Procedurally Opinionated Podcast! Follow SidAlpha on Twitter: Twitter.com/SidAlpha Follow our Facebook page for announcements: facebook.com/IamSidAlpha

Delving more into Star Citizen planetary procedural generation! (also, Grakees and Steve Boom go camping https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85WO-D_10zI)

Dirk and David talk to veteran designer Julian Gollop about his career in gaming and his Kickstarter for a remake of his classic game Chaos Reborn. The trio discuss the roles of both user and procedurally generated content as well as Julian’s plans for his remake of Chaos Reborn.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Contact InformationDirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, www.artana.com, Dirk@Knemeyer.comDavid Heron - @DavidVHeronJulian Gollop - @julian_gollop, www.chaos-reborn.com-------------------------Episode Outline0:02:02 - Chaos Reborn and its Kickstarter0:12:20 - Social elements in games0:16:42 - Chaos Reborn gameplay0:33:58 - Procedurally generated content0:52:58 - X-COM0:59:48 - The future of Chaos Reborn and early testing