I agree with afarrell that lying is not advisable. Lying is a very bad thing. Convincing someone else to do a bad thing is even worse.
The method I used when I was Software Development Manager was to ask one of the programmers how long he thought it should take (or estimate it myself). Then I told management that it would take 3 times that long. We usually could make that deadline but it was often close and sometimes a little late. I have since learned that it will take PI times as long as you think.
Telling the programmers that they have half as long does no good. They will not write code any faster. It may even distress them and a distressed programmer produces less code causing it to take longer.
FYI
Consider carefully what I say; my first computer program compiled and ran in the summer of 1967. I have typed in a program while both Bill Gates and Paul Allen watched over my shoulder. I'm retired now but still work daily on a subgame for minetest.
I am more trusting of naturally occuring substances than I am of chemicals that do not occur in nature cooked up in labs of big pharmaceutical companies.
These are some interesting observations regarding music and machine learning. It has been my experience that the majority of the output of ML music generators falls into the category I would classify as noise.
I briefly experimented with procedural music generation many years ago and will relate my experience in the hope that some may find it interesting or take inspiration from it.
I had read the Byte magazine article called "A Travesty Generator for Micros." which works with text files and realized that Markov chains could be applied either to whole word or individual letters. Sufficiently long chains of letters almost always produce actual words. Sufficiently long chains of words generally produce complete (although nonsensical) sentences. Excessively long chains copy the input to the output. See [1] and [2]
At the time I was playing LOTRO [3][4] which uses ABC files [5] which are a text representation of music. I used the .abc files as input to the travesty program and got very interesting output. I used the rescan method which reads the input file for each note to output. It is slow but uses far less memory than the array method which reads the input once and generates a complete table of all transitions.
Running travesty on a single .abc file produces an output which is very similar to the input and only mildly interesting. Chaining together 2 or more input files is when it gets more interesting. It did not work well unless the input files had the same key signature.
I considered the possibility of transposing all input files to a common key signature but did not implement it. Nearly all music representation is an abstraction of the music. Music is generally quantized into notes of the even tempered 12 note scale. The tune is recognizable regardless of the instrument it is played on. I wondered whether there were further abstractions which could be used similar to the way that either letters or words could be used for text but am not sufficiently musical that I could discover them.
If you try this I think you will quickly get results which encourage you to continue.
You might want to try the free game Minetest [1]. It is very similar to Minecraft but the basic version, minetest_game, has no animals. You can add mods that give you animals if you want them but they are not necessary. There are hundreds of open source mods to choose from or you can write your own mods in Lua. I learned Lua by examining the mods that come with the game and changing them. You can play in a mode where you can't take any damage. Multiplayer games can enable or disable PvP.
I had considered this as a possibility following much the same train of thought expressed by abakker but because it diverges from most common practice (and from mathematics) and because I was unsure whether anyone would actually want it, I had not really considered using it.
While reading the article and the comments I realized that it will work perfectly in my NISC processor [1]. I just need to update my specification.
To extend the simple first specification to include multiply is very simple. I just need to have a MUL register which, when written, multiplies the written value by the value in the accumulator with the low part of the result being left in the ACC and the high part in the MUL register.
Extending to include integer divide is a little more complicated. I will have to add a DIV register and a DIVEX register. Writing to DIV will divide the value in the ACC by the value written leaving the result in the ACC and the remainder in the DIV register. DIVEX will contain the address of the routine to call when division by zero is attempted which means that DIVEX must be loaded before division is used. If I specify that DIVEX is initialized to zero by the hardware and that DIVEX==0 means that divide by zero leaves zero in the ACC and the remainder (former contents of ACC) is left in the DIV register then 1/0 = 0 will be the default behavior with the ability to change that behavior simply by writing the address of the divide exception handler to the DIVEX register.
I leave it as an exercise for the reader to determine how to deal with this in high level languages. I can fully support it in machine code and assembly language.
For the rest of the article start by reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datapoint_2200
Datapoint allowed Intel to continue development with the same architecture but required all future processors to have a shuffled instruction set. The mov group on the 8008 and the 2200 was octal 3ds with d being the destination register and s being the source register. The first digit 3 got shuffled to 1. The registers were also shuffled:
8008 bits 8080
A 000 B
B 001 C
C 010 D
D 011 E
E 100 H
H 101 L
L 110 (HL)
(HL) 111 A
Datapoint did not want Intel's future processors to be able to execute Datapoint machine code. They had a lot invested in their software.
Datapoint also had a 5500 processor which was more powerful than the 2200. It was microprogrammed rather than the simpler logic decode of the 2200. It was compatible with the 2200 but had many more instructions (think Z80). Yes it was that instruction set. The engineers at Intel who worked on the 5500 design left to form Zilog.
I worked as an electronics technician at Datapoint and performed test and repair of many 2200 and 5500 processor boards including writing short machine code routines to exercise the hardware.
After I left Datapoint (1977) I worked for Tandy where I repaired thousands of TRS-80 Model 1 computer boards which used the Z80. When the Tandy engineers came into the repair area with the programmers who had written Level 2 BASIC for the TRS-80 with the first masked ROMs, they tried the ROMs on a board and it didn't work. I told them that all the boards in the area needed repair but I had one that I had just repaired. I was introduced to Bill Gates and Paul Allen and the ROMs were put on my repaired board. I typed in a one line program to count and print numbers on the screen and it worked. Bill Gates offered me a job at Microsoft which had about a dozen employees but I turned him down and stayed at Tandy. I wrote more test programs and transitioned into full-time programming.
I tried getting friends to play RPG's in the early 1980's but they didn't show much interest until I came across a supply of 6" (150 mm) square pieces of styrofoam (discarded packing material from work) which I painted with gray acrylic paint. I cut some in half and some in quarters and used them to depict the dungeons for use with metal miniatures. After that I had a group which showed up every month for 5 years.
I wrote a program for my computer which generated dice rolls, monsters, treasures, and random names to assist me in my role as Dungeon Master but the critical element was my ability to ignore or re-roll any result which seemed too unfavorable. Good players really help the game but a good Dungeon Master is essential for an enjoyable game. Computers alone cannot exhibit the empathy necessary for a great game.
Not just empathy - it's also a sense of drama that's required. A DM writes the story in (semi-)real-time, whereas in CRPGs the "DM" (the writers) have to predict player actions in advance and railroad the players a lot more in order to get a good story progression going.
It also goes both ways. The players have to engage and help build the story. I love the Feng Shui RPG for how they insist about the back and forth between player and DM. They also encourage the DM to pre-roll everything to make fights go smoother.
This is much more explicit in a different, much simpler RPG called Fate, which is my new favourite.
GM'ing (Game, rather than Dungeon Master) is nearly as hard because of the improv story authorship, but the lack of rules-lawyering judgement that is required of you in a D&D game (even in a good edition like 5th, sadly) is not missed.
A friend of mine is a very good DM in D&D, wrote his own stories, world, etc, and we got a group of 5 people together and played two games before he had to leave, so we disbanded.
We very much liked the vibe, though, so I want to get the group together again. Is Fate a good game for inexperienced players (especially with an inexperienced DM)? If not, what would be a simple system to start with and play, but still enjoyable?
Fate Accelerated seems to be what I want (I'm not even sure what the differences are with Core, even having read the comparison), but the site doesn't really do a good job selling you the system.
EDIT: Man, this site is terrible. It links you to a store where I can't figure out where to buy Fate Core stories, it doesn't tell you what equipment you need, where to get it, jeez.
I don't know much about the difference between Core and Accelerated, I just bought the Fate Core rule book (amazon?) and workout out of it. This is how I run pretty much all my games, buy the book and read it.
A new DM should (IMHO) try playing in a game of the specific system run by someone else first, even in a minimalist system like Fate.
The thing about Fate is that the jargon is generic fiction terms, rather than medieval fantasy or whatever. So you have to read the rules cover to cover before DMing, and make sure to jump forward and back to remind yourself of definitions etc. Once you get going, and are familiar with the two or three mechanics you can use, it's very liberating though!
If it's what I think it is, you should be able to start with Accelerated and then convert to Core if some things aren't working (i.e. it's too simple).
I see, thank you. Do you only need the book? The site mentions cards, dice, and various other things, but it doesn't tell you if you actually need those things.
> A new DM should (IMHO) try playing in a game of the specific system run by someone else first, even in a minimalist system like Fate.
That's going to be impossible, it's already hard to find D&D people in my city, something like Fate is just going to be nonexistent, unfortunately.
Ah, thanks. I was thinking of doing the same with D6es. Good to know that you don't need the cards or anything else, I'll buy the book and read it. The online idea is also pretty interesting, thanks for the recommendation!
Ah, "cards" may mean index cards. I just use notepaper, but the book recommends writing stuff on index cards so you can "publicly display" them to the players and remind yourselves of the state of the world at that point in play.
I didn't do that yet though in my game!
Ah, I downloaded the "free" version of the PDF and it does have a list of what to get in the first few pages. Too bad this isn't front and center on the site.
By "cards" I mean the "Deck of Fate":
> The Deck of Fate is an alternative to Fate Dice. It’s a deck of cards that mimics the probability of Fate Dice, and it’s designed to be used in the same way Fate Dice are.
I'm watching a video of Wil Wheaton playing with friends, and it looks like Fate doesn't even use a board, and you make the story up as you go along. It looks pretty interesting, I think I'll give it a shot!
In my experience, the contents of the Accelerated Edition are nigh incomprehensible without a prior understanding of Core. I'd recommend that if you choose to play Accelerated, the GM be familiar with Core. It'll also be a lot easier to understand if you watch some "actual play" on YouTube beforehand.
The Fate SRD site is a third-party creation that presents the texts in a more convenient/organized way: https://fate-srd.com/
There's really no need to buy any books, but they're very reasonably-priced; the Core and Toolkit books are also very well-constructed and can withstand a good deal of usage. Though you can technically play with standard d6's, I'd recommend picking up some Fate (or Fudge) dice; I got a couple sets on Amazon, each set having enough dice for 3 players.
IMO it's considerably easier to grok than Fate, especially for people new to RPGs, but YMMV. It also has a pretty expansive section of "rules" for the GM, which leaves room for little doubt about what the GM should be doing (and is, in large part, applicable to other games as well). It also uses standard d6's, so there's no need to invest in special dice (though the Fate dice sets aren't terribly expensive anyway).
No matter what you decide to play, I highly recommend spending some time watching some "actual play" videos beforehand. I've found the Rollplay R&D series enjoyable: https://youtu.be/ooa-apRt2wk
Interesting perspective. I'd take the opposite approach, recommending new game masters start with Fate Accelerated as being so affordable ($5 physical, pay what you want digital) and so short and saving Fate Core until you want to dive deeper and create a customized long term campaign. Watching a let's play video is a great recommendation!
The fundamental structure of Fate is very simple and straightforward. I'm working on a space opera variant (in the 27th century genetically engineered cosplayers, makers, scientists and pop culture enthusiasts set out to reconnect the lost civilizations of humanity) and am finding in playtests with strangers who have never played Fate that I can explain the core rules in 10 minutes or less and people can have a good time playing for 3 hours without any additional explanation.
I love Fate Core, but it's very wordy because it functions as a toolkit to adapt the game to any sort of setting imaginable. (and because it recapitulates a ton of stuff, rather than cross referencing)
Perhaps it's due to my own personal shortcomings, but I found FAE really difficult to wrap my head around until I'd read through Fate Core. I do like its brevity and simplicity, especially now that I have a good understanding of it, but I felt like some parts of it were unclear to me as a fledgling.
> I love Fate Core, but it's very wordy because it functions as a toolkit to adapt the game to any sort of setting imaginable.
I can see why so many people love it! I like it, though I must admit it isn't my favorite (I don't play a lot of pulpy games, and I've found Fate works really well for pulp, as designed to do, but not particularly well for other tones (though not particularly poorly, either)). I just finished up another reply to GP, wherein I mention that toolkit-esque quality. I don't think I truly understood Fate as a system until I internalized that it's not a game so much as a foundation and scaffold for creating games. Fate's immediate ancestor, Fudge by Steffan O'Sullivan, is very much in the same vein, but, I think, more obviously so (the Fudge book itself reads more like a list of possibilities than a list of rules!).
> I'm working on a space opera variant (in the 27th century genetically engineered cosplayers, makers, scientists and pop culture enthusiasts set out to reconnect the lost civilizations of humanity) …
That sounds fun! Is it available on the web somewhere for perusal?
I myself am working on a game, as well, though I opted to try my hand at designing a system "from scratch" (more of an amalgam of lots of ideas and mechanics that I like and that seem to work well together; exceedingly few of them are my original creations, but I have a ludography documenting and acknowledging my inspirations). Unfortunately, it's been on the backburner for a little over a year now, and the partially-written playtest document is out of date wrt my notes.
Perhaps we could talk nerdy game-design sometime :)
I have a website for the space opera game here: festive.ninja which will give you a sense of the game. I'm hoping to get a quickstart version of the game out shortly, after I get a chance to incorporate the playtest feedback. (Which was to double down on the whole "post-scarcity geeks, gamers and makers" aspects of the setting.)
Good luck with your game--when you get a draft in playable form I'd be happy to run a session and share feedback if that'd be helpful. Speaking of talking nerdy game-design, the RPG design reddit is surprisingly active, if you haven't had a chance visit yet.
I agree that default Fate is tonally suited best for pulpy games, or other genres where the characters default to remarkably competent.
> In my experience, the contents of the Accelerated Edition are nigh incomprehensible without a prior understanding of Core.
Oh, really? That's too bad, accelerated seems to be a way to get up to speed with Fate in a very short time without knowing anything about the game, shame that that's not so much the case.
> The Fate SRD site is a third-party creation that presents the texts in a more convenient/organized way: https://fate-srd.com/
I browsed through that a bit and it seems to have the exact same text as the guide, so I'm a bit confused. Is it just the guide in HTML format?
> For stories/settings, there are loads of freely-available "Worlds of Adventure" on DriveThruRPG
That's a fantastic suggestion, thank you! I'll definitely check that out.
> IMO it's considerably easier to grok than Fate, especially for people new to RPGs
I've been playing D&D for a while, I just haven't DMed, so I'm not completely new to RPGs. I'll have a look at Dungeon World too, though, as it may fit our group better, thank you.
> I've found the Rollplay R&D series enjoyable
Good call, I'm going to watch a few to get a feel for how the game is played, thanks again.
> Oh, really? That's too bad, accelerated seems to be a way to get up to speed with Fate in a very short time without knowing anything about the game, shame that that's not so much the case.
You might be able to get by with just FAE and watching enough actual play to get a good grasp on how it works. For me, it felt like the FAE book sorta glossed over a lot of stuff that's more thoroughly explained in the Core book. That's just my experience, though; yours might well be different, of course!
> I browsed through that a bit and it seems to have the exact same text as the guide, so I'm a bit confused. Is it just the guide in HTML format?
Yup! It's exactly the same text, but some people prefer the organization and function to that of a book, so I figured I'd mention it :)
> That's a fantastic suggestion, thank you! I'll definitely check that out.
No problem! Fate—like its ancestor, Fudge—is so flexible and malleable that I've found it better to think of it as a framework/starting-point for creating a game rather than as a game in-and-of itself. Actually, it wasn't until I started thinking of it that way that I really felt like I understood the game. I think that if you take a look through some of those "Worlds of Adventure", you'll see it reflected therein: in tailoring the system to fit the setting, certain parts of the system are removed or restricted nearly as often as new parts are added.
> I've been playing D&D for a while, I just haven't DMed, so I'm not completely new to RPGs. I'll have a look at Dungeon World too, though, as it may fit our group better, thank you.
I wasn't sure how experienced your group is. Even if you decide not to play Dungeon World, I highly recommend reading over the GM chapters (The GM, First Session, Fronts, The World, Monsters, Equipment) and perhaps the appendices of the Dungeon World book (or "SRD" site as I linked before; it's the same text). The vast majority of the "rules", guidelines, and advice written there is generally applicable to GMing any sort of game. I've applied much of that stuff to D&D 5e and even GURPS games, and players have reacted positively. As an added bonus, I now spend far less time preparing for sessions (because I encourage and guide the players' own collaborative creativity so that we're largely creating the world and the plot on-the-fly, together as a group; they have more fun, sessions are railroad-free, and I have more freetime ;) ).
> Good call, I'm going to watch a few to get a feel for how the game is played, thanks again.
That group (modulo the guest player each season) has played a lot of different games, so if you're interested in checking out some new systems, I recommend looking through their videos :)
Thank you, this is all very useful information. I talked to the group and they seem to prefer dungeon hack-and-slash, so we might go with Dungeon World after all. I'll definitely read the GM chapters and some of the SRD to get a feel for it either way, it sounds useful.
Eh, they don't have to (cf Eve), they just decided not to and so they've largely missed the chance for more interesting and sticky player driven story (cf Eve) by following EQ's model of "here's what you do next kids".
Eve is kind of a different thing, I think. Hardly anyone is actually roleplaying in Eve, for one. For another, most tabletop RPGs give you a fighting chance at being the hero, whereas in Eve you're overwhelmingly likely to be Faceless Extra #54265. There's nothing wrong with that, necessarily, but it scratches a different itch than RPGs.
The thing that turned me off is the fake british accents people seem to feel are necessary. It's a fantasy world, who's to say what kind of accent they have??
in my current game, the dwarves all have redneck accents, and if anyone questions why they're not talking in bad Scottish accents, they start talking about "ijits" who've never seen a real dwarf but only halflings dressed in fat-suits at the minstrel shows pretending to be dwarves...
Bases are about the representation of the number, not the number itself. That's why a baby can identify a group of six items despite not knowing about base 10 or digits in general.
For a more practical example, do you think the number twelve does not exist because it takes two digits to represent it?
yeah that was my first thought too. Why not go to base 6. Don't know why you'd have to fire up a program to do base 6 arithmetic though? it's just like binary or decimal or octal or hexadecimal(1+1=10, 9+1=10, 7+1=10, F+1=10)
This is very interesting but does not appear to be helpful for the development of my TTA processor design. It appears that this project aims for more parallelism similar to VLIW than my simple MOVE architecture targets.
I would very much appreciate feedback and suggestions regarding my preliminary specifications which will be changing in the near future (before year's end) to include MUL, DIV, and floating point support. I really want to have a firm specification before proceeding with the VHDL implementation.
I always log out. I cannot think of any advantage to remaining logged in. I can easily envision disadvantages to remaining logged in whether those reasons are real or imaginary. I also lock the door to my apartment when I leave. There are people who will take advantage of any opportunity they find.
The method I used when I was Software Development Manager was to ask one of the programmers how long he thought it should take (or estimate it myself). Then I told management that it would take 3 times that long. We usually could make that deadline but it was often close and sometimes a little late. I have since learned that it will take PI times as long as you think.
Telling the programmers that they have half as long does no good. They will not write code any faster. It may even distress them and a distressed programmer produces less code causing it to take longer.
FYI
Consider carefully what I say; my first computer program compiled and ran in the summer of 1967. I have typed in a program while both Bill Gates and Paul Allen watched over my shoulder. I'm retired now but still work daily on a subgame for minetest.