From: Lucian Mogosanu Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2017 11:12:01 +0000 (+0300) Subject: posts: 05f, 060 X-Git-Tag: v0.10~16 X-Git-Url: https://git.mogosanu.ro/?a=commitdiff_plain;h=01451de44d8749a96cae95738dfd5b1f87d97bed;p=thetarpit.git posts: 05f, 060 --- diff --git a/posts/y03/05f-two-plus-two.markdown b/posts/y03/05f-two-plus-two.markdown new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d2452ce --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/y03/05f-two-plus-two.markdown @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +--- +postid: 05f +title: How to convince a machine that two plus two equals five +date: April 9, 2017 +author: Lucian Mogoșanu +tags: storytime +--- + +(Disclaimer: the alternative to these facts is unbearable.) + +They say that humans are smarter than machines, but that a machine can +never -- at least for some particular meanings of never -- go wrong, +while a human could easily be stupid enough to believe that two plus two +equals five -- at least for some particular meanings of two, plus and +five. + +But that is obviously a gross misunderstanding. One can as easily +convince a machine that two plus two equals five, as follows. Define a +function called "my plus", which takes as arguments two items a and b, +whose implementation is the following. If a is two and b is two, then +equals five; else equals whatever the machine implicitly understands a +plus b means in the machine's narrow view of the world. See? easy. + +But then, how to convince a human that two plus two equals five? In +precisely the same way. + +Machines, ever the perfect slaves. diff --git a/posts/y03/060-thimbleweed-park.markdown b/posts/y03/060-thimbleweed-park.markdown new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0ea37f8 --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/y03/060-thimbleweed-park.markdown @@ -0,0 +1,114 @@ +--- +postid: 060 +title: Thimbleweed Park +date: April 15, 2017 +author: Lucian Mogoșanu +tags: gaming +--- + +

*There appears to be a small hole in the +back of the head, origins unknown... +The hole in the victim's head doesn't look like a gunshot, +more like a puncture from a sharp object... +Which is odd because the opening title sequence clearly showed a gunshot +with accompanying sound effect...*

+ +Thimbleweed Park is that nostalgic outcry of the old fart '80s computer +programmer that he once made games and earned some money from it, so +thirty years later he'd like to give it another shot. That, and an +attempt to educate today's kids about how cool +[point-and-click verb-based adventure games][dott] used to be back in +the day. That, and pretty clearly a hand extended towards Maniac Mansion +fans, given that it's marketed as its spiritual successor. + + +From an artistic point of view, things look as follows. Ron Gilbert and +Gary Winnick took the late '80s-early '90s pop culture and tried to cram +most of it, and a satire thereof, in a video game. It's 1987, you +see. And a man is killed, you see. And there's not one, but two FBI +agents (a chick and a guy, whaddaya know!) on the case. And the +atmosphere throughout the entire setting -- Thimbleweed Park, a shadow +of a former glory of the pillow-making industry -- is eerie, you +see. Hard to comprehend if you haven't lived through those times' TV +shows, but otherwise this is one of the rare cases where the utter lack +of originality actually adds to the artistry. + + +Later on we find out that there are actually four, or about five, +in-game player characters, all contributing to the story. We're not +quite sure which one of them is *the* centerpiece of our game, but it +doesn't matter, because this being a comedy, the story isn't supposed to +make sense. Even so, the thick of the story is very interesting -- +there's mystery, and there is a ton of humour of all kinds -- but +unfortunately the conclusion is a fourth wall mess that satirizes +itself. Or anyway, it seems that the writers didn't want to lead the +storytelling anywhere than in a hollow. I don't know what to make of +this. + +From the point of view of game design, the game sits in the exact same +place as [Day of The Tentacle][dott-again]. It's like most of the +puzzles were made on purpose to keep the player brute-forcing, which in +my masochism I really enjoyed, not least because the game offers a lot +of possibilities for exploring and discovering various trivia. I was +expecting it to be more frustrating for the weekend gamer, but it's +actually not. + + +The neo-pixelated '90s graphics style is absolutely gorgeous. The +in-game disco music is a-musing, while the background music is pretty +damn good, probably inspired from Twin Peaks. I've absolutely nothing to +object on the technical side; whatever game engine they used, I hope +it's used in other games, because the lack of a single bug in a +post-2010 Linux game is quite the rarity. + + +I am somewhat inclined to compare Thimbleweed Park to +[Broken Age][broken-age], not from any technical or artistic point of +view, but rather from the point of view of the promises made to fans. I +think Gilbert and Winnick have done much a better job than their +ex-colleague Tim Schafer in getting a game out. They seem to have kept +it simple, or at least *simpler* to a degree, in developing this game, +and they haven't set the highest expectation possible for their +Kickstarter backers, which in my opinion makes this a successful +gamble. It's not like Thimbleweed shines in any way, not in the absolute +and not in comparison to other adventure games, but I'd recommend this +to anyone, while Broken Age... I don't know, I haven't even had the +patience to bring it to a proper conclusion myself. + +So, let it be known that I recommend Thimbleweed Park to anyone, be they +hardcore gamers or weekend gamers or non-gamers. It's worth a weekend or +two, and then another weekend or two after a couple of years... and then +another one. Because, as the agents'-a-reno-a-who-a-boo saying goes: + +> \-- I feel like we're getting close to cracking this case. +> \-- The only thing you're getting close to cracking is my patience with +> you. + + + + + + +[dott]: /posts/y03/051-day-of-the-tentacle.html#fn6 +[dott-again]: /posts/y03/051-day-of-the-tentacle.html +[broken-age]: /posts/y00/024-broken-age.html diff --git a/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-01-thumb.png b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-01-thumb.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eff3e1b Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-01-thumb.png differ diff --git a/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-01.png b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-01.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eb17027 Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-01.png differ diff --git a/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-02-thumb.png b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-02-thumb.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..accc680 Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-02-thumb.png differ diff --git a/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-02.png b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-02.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d2dcdff Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-02.png differ diff --git a/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-03-thumb.png b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-03-thumb.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..128eff1 Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-03-thumb.png differ diff --git a/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-03.png b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-03.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7409674 Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-03.png differ diff --git a/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-04-thumb.png b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-04-thumb.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6452ed7 Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-04-thumb.png differ diff --git a/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-04.png b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-04.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0eb081e Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-04.png differ diff --git a/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-05-thumb.png b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-05-thumb.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a532cdb Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-05-thumb.png differ diff --git a/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-05.png b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-05.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ecbed6e Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-05.png differ diff --git a/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-06-thumb.png b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-06-thumb.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8191cc4 Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-06-thumb.png differ diff --git a/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-06.png b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-06.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ca1c9c7 Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-06.png differ diff --git a/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-07-thumb.png b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-07-thumb.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..10ec10b Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-07-thumb.png differ diff --git a/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-07.png b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-07.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..61b1a4c Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-07.png differ diff --git a/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-08-thumb.png b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-08-thumb.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..80d2783 Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-08-thumb.png differ diff --git a/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-08.png b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-08.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..24f7e29 Binary files /dev/null and b/uploads/2017/04/thimbleweed-08.png differ