Lurkily

This is good. I can get behind this. +1.

I liked this one a lot. A lot of chemistry erupted between the characters. This was written in response to the prompt: "The Brave Knight has been kidnapped against his will by the Beautiful Princess, now it’s up to the Scary Dragon to go rescue him." I didn't stick strictly to the prompt, but one of the rules of a writing prompt is that you don't need to. Gentle Slayer I awoke in bonds, hanging from my wrists. I lifted my head, taking my bearings; the inside of a cabin, perhaps a peasant dwelling. No tapestries, no trophies, no portraits, the furniture all made of unadorned wood. The wood wasn’t local, and though plain, the craftsmanship very good. A silver cross on the wall. Perhaps not a peasant’s home, but a tradesman’s, or a priest’s. Simple, but not poor. My armor, which I had been wearing while out riding, lay piled on the table along with my sword belt. I twisted to look behind me – I had been tied to a support column, and there were cuffs of metal on my wrists, secured by a tightly fastened bolt. I could cry out, but would anybody hear me? I heard no horses or carriages, no sounds of human civilization. Best not to alert my captor yet, if I could help it. I crouched, bracing my feet on the floor, and pushed back against the support column as hard as I could; perhaps I could break it. I strained against it with no luck, then lifted away, and slammed my back against it. “Don’t bother dear, the house is very sturdy.” I snapped my head up, and a familiar face came out from deeper within the house. “Princess Ravencort? Karina? What the hell is going on here? Quickly, get over here and loose these shackles.” She looked at me, a little surprised, then giggled, a sound like pure crystal. “Oh, Prince. Don’t fear. I kidnapped you.” I scoffed at her – she probably weighed under a hundred pounds soaking wet. “It’s true, dear. I know you like me; I saw the way you looked at me. We can be together, instead of your father forcing you to be with that muscle-bound lummox who pretends to be a warrior.” “My father would marry me to Genevieve for an alliance with her father’s, to protect our western border. I would marry her because she has honor, and a mind like a whip, and because I like muscle on my women.” I watched her as I spoke, as every barb cut her heart. Her expression darkened quickly. “No. No. I saw how you looked at me. You say this for honor. I saw you; your eyes held desire!” Her voice was less gentle now; I heard a vicious and hysterical edge to it. I knew that edge – it was the voice of a person about to break. “Any man’s gaze will linger on the curves of a female form. You’re pleasant to look at, but you are shallow, vapid, and weak. I would no sooner roll you than I would –” Her hand shot out, and something pure black struck my brow like a hammer blow. “Shut up! Shut up shut up shut up! You will not finish that sentence if you wish to live!” Her voice was wild, now. I tried lifting my head to look at her, and my eyes didn’t want to focus. Her eyes were wild, her hair floating around her strangely, her hand cloaked in some black energy. “What have you blackened your soul with, Princess? Power like this isn’t granted to men, not by forces that love us.” “That doesn’t matter! What matters is that the priest will arrive soon, and he will marry us, and you–” Suddenly my spine straightened, and I couldn’t even turn my eyes to look at her. “–will tell him we’re in love, and need to be married immediately.” When she began unfastening the shackles I tried to strike at her throat. My body didn’t even twitch. As she spoke, she drew me a step forward, my body following her lead like a clumsy dancer being led to the floor, her voice filled with a new, spiteful malice. “Don’t worry, my darling. Once the priest is done, I’ll take you somewhere lonely. I just know you’ll change your mind about me.” “You cannot do such a thing.” I began to worry though that she might be capable of such a thing. I knew a few things she could do – but I was uncomfortably aware that I had no idea what she could not do. Before she could make her reply, a voice boomed, like the sound of stone grinding on stone and formed into words. “This priest, I wonder?” I could feel the deep vibration of that voice through the floorboards; I wondered if the source of the Princess’s power had come to collect on its debt. She rushed to a window, throwing the curtains open, and there stood a dragon – it had a priest in one hand, and my Genevieve in the other. True to her nature, Genevieve was cursing at it. “Damn you, you careless beast; we told you no killing men! You promised it! On your honor! Now put him down, and for the love of all that is holy, put me down!” The dragon had the grace to look a little embarrassed, setting them both down, the priest turning and running as fast as he could. I looked back to Katrina, who was standing at the closed door, blackness gathering around her in clouds. She drew back as if to–“Genny, look out!” The dragon and Genevieve looked up as the power through the closed door. The dragon slammed his tail down, shaking the earth and shielding them both; despite their legendary resistance to dark forces, I caught a glimpse of molten scales and bloody flesh. It lowered its head, neck bent like a snake about to strike, and growled. “I will break our deal. That human is going to die.” Genevieve looked up at the dragon – I could feel the hate coming off him from here. Genevieve apparently knew better than to deny him and nodded her head once. “That one human may die, and our deal will hold.” “Excellent.” The dragon’s voice was filled with malice and pain; I suspect his kind was not used to taking injury from humans. At this, the princess began to laugh. Not the clear silver bell I had heard from her once, now she was cackling, ugly and spiteful. “You! Kill me! You haven’t seen the least of what I can do!” Darkness began to gather around her, and all over the sky around them. I turned my head to try and get a look at the scale of the danger and– I turned my head. The realization of it struck me. She must be dividing her attention too much – I could move, though slowly and stiffly. The dragon was spitting fire, trying to defend itself as blasts of blackness streaking from all directions. It helped – the fire disrupted the energy hurtling towards him, and he blew great fans of flame, defending great swaths of space. Gen’s ancient shield resisted them as well, proving the legends about it true; but there was no way they’d last. He was too big a target. She couldn’t close the distance without exposing her back. They didn’t have the experience working together to cover each other’s weaknesses well. One step. Two. I silently drew a knife from the knife block. Another step, and another. Blackness cloaked Melinda, and I waited – then she flung it to strike again, and I moved, slowly. An arm around her waist, not touching her, poising the knife. Then I pulled her to me, pushing the knife inward under her arm. “What–my prince?” Then she felt the point of the blade. It was too late, then. I couldn’t move quickly, but I was strong, and the blade didn’t have far to go. Through the armpit, straight into her — then I was frozen again. She had re-focused her will upon me, before I could kill her. I saw tears pouring down her cheeks, felt her sobbing, felt blood on the hand that held the knife, like hot grease. Her words were a wail, broken by sobs. “I didn’t want to kill you! I love you! I still love you!” But blackness was gathering in front of my face, and I knew, instinctively, that this wasn’t going to be as kind as the hammer blow I received earlier. Then there was an arrow in her breast. Then another, impacting with such power that it seemed to just sprout from her chest. I was free suddenly, and I drove the knife home. Another arrow impacted, and I could feel the tip striking the knife, both lodged in her heart. Genevieve was still marching forward. She took a step and drew an arrow, took a step and nocked it, then stepped into a kneel, exhaled, and fired. Through her military precision, I could taste her hate. She would march forward an empty her entire quiver into this woman if she could. Another arrow struck, and I held up my hand for her to stop. Gently, I laid Katrina down, and walked out to Genevieve. She rushed forward to meet me, and I hugged her fiercely, clutching her to my chest. “Gen. Damn, it’s good to see you. You were fierce! How in the hell did you get a dragon to help you?” She smiled up at me, bashful – I’d never seen this lioness shy, except in my arms. I liked it. “The king . . . he knew he would be taking the Ravencort family lands in punishment for this. He offered the land to the dragon for his aid here, and his promise not to kill humans outside the land he was granted.” I looked up at the dragon and raised my voice to be heard. “You, sir, I don’t know your ways, but is it impertinent to ask your name?” He lowered his head to nearly my level, to hear me better. I could tell he was trying to subdue his voice, but it was still painfully loud. “It would be. Names have power. But you may call me Gentle Red.” I laughed, but cut it short when his eyes narrowed. “Sorry, but I saw you fight. Gentle doesn’t seem to describe you.” “I didn’t burn her alive, did I?” “You had a deal not to kill me. That might have killed me, too.” “The fire that it set might have killed you, eventually. Not me.” That gave me pause, and a little insight that, though we had common ground, our minds did not necessarily operate on the same principles. “Gentle Red, then. May I visit your lands when you settle in? Without being killed?” He lifted his head, looking down at me until I began to wonder if I’d given offense. “You may. Bring no more than two other humans, and I will not kill you or them.” The earth seemed to shake as he kicked into the air, the downdraft from his wings nearly taking me off my feet. I looked at Genevieve, and cupped her cheek in a hand, smiling as her head tilted to nuzzle into my palm. “That . . . is something I’ll tell stories about for the rest of my life.” She looked up at me, her eyes shining . . . then over my shoulder, her expression turning to stone, the look most people knew. “What do we do about . . . that? Burn her? She doesn’t deserve a burial.” “We will bury her, without dishonor.” Genevieve looked up, her furrowed brows and narrowed green eyes demanding an explanation. “Her father, when he hears, will expect dishonor, loss of lands and title, perhaps execution for him, as well.” “And he may get all of that!” “I won’t permit it. She was a good person, once, corrupted by something that turned love to greedy desire. And though her father will lose his lands, he still loves his daughter. You know he’s a good leader. If we earn some favor, and perhaps he can still be useful to the kingdom. Perhaps even redeem himself.” Genevieve looked down as I spoke, her jaw muscles working, and I touched her cheek where I could see them bunch up. “Don’t grind your teeth. You know it as well as I do. Mercy is a strength, not a weakness.” “I know it. I know it, damn it, but I’m not as strong as you are.” “Genny, you are the toughest human being I know. But she struck your heart. I understand.” She looked up at me, her eyes beginning to tear up, then she moved forward, her face burying itself in my chest. I took her helmet off, and dropped it, ran my fingers through her hair, letting her cry against my chest. Every time I went to war, it was like this – the danger I was in made her miserable, and when I was safe, the dam broke. I said not a word, letting her pretend it was just a hug, even though she had to know that I was aware of her tears. She was a warrior. Such things were important. With time, she stilled, and I cupped a cheek, lifting her face, and kissing her brow – she grabbed my hair, pulling me down further, giving me a fierce kiss on the lips instead. I looked into her eyes, feeling a grin on my face. “When we get back . . . want to spar to see who takes charge?” She grinned back at me, taking her gloves off to slide her hands up my chest. “My warrior prince . . . we’ll have to lock the doors to the training room if we did that.” I winked at her, glad that she understood me immediately. “Yup.”

I've posted a lot of suggestions to make our creations more dynamic, responsive, to intelligently respond and adapt to a player's intentions. I wanted to put up a post about what they look like in a coherent picture. First, the basics. I think logic should be local. That is to say, parts should require a connection to see a signal. Even the lack of such a connection is information that can be of great value to an engineer, activating a missile's flight or indicating to the brain that something critical is destroyed, and I think wireless logic with wireless connectors present is a meaningless 'gimme' that circumvents a logistical problem that could be quite rewarding to overcome via design. Speaking of connectors; I think wireless connectors should go to a pair of units, transmitter and receiver, each with the option for a whitelist or blacklist of signals that are permitted or forbidden. Receivers should act like a simple button, relaying signals that pass their whitelist/blacklist. Connectors currently block signals, but with control over the direction signals travel and the type of signals traveling, I don't think that separation is necessary. Sensors. I would like sensors to have ranges that can be added. A directional sensor might have one range and one tolerance, or five ranges and no tolerances, and it shouldn't have to be filled sideways to adjust the tolerance. Instead, add and adjust ranges as you see fit, and anything you don't set is a tolerance. Self awareness is a big thing. Trackers will help a lot, if sensors can seek a specific tracker, not the nearest or average center. Things like a GPS setting for the directional sensor (your current rotation around the planet, with Nimbatus being 0/360) would also help. Awareness in general will also help. My complex creations often stumble on simple things like not being able to position themselves well, hooking on terrain that slips through sensor fans, unexpected input leaving hinges in unexpected positions, etc. The previous adjustable ranges will help. I think permitting detector sensors to have even a narrow angle, so they're a fan instead of a line, would help with sensor criteria 'dodging' sensors. More criteria for sensors to operate on will also help. Altitude should be a general purpose distance sensor, with units that aren't changed by planet size. Instead, when used for altitude, they should have the option to have a specific starting value. (Altitude of the core, surface, hopper, Nimbatus level, and whatever in between marks are appropriate. ) It should be able to measure distance to any sensor criteria that makes sense. Dynamic sensor control. Sensors can be as powerful as a keyboard in controlling complex behaviors. I'd like to see the ability to adjust the range of a sensor dynamically, the same way dynamic thrusters can be adjusted. That way, fine dynamic control can be achieved without math parts, without dozens of ranges, without tons of logic. Processors. Think of them as a box that can contain a few logic parts. My opinion is that every 1x1 footprint of a processor should contain a 2x2 footprint of sensors or logic. This means you could use them to put very compact directional sensors on a hinge, or put a whole raft of complex logic in a larger processor. The reason is twofold. Obviously, it makes streamlined construction easier. But it also reduces part count for logic. Sumo is far too dependent on brute force - smart drones are weaker drones. I'd like to see that mitigated to reward intelligent design and intelligent done behavior more in asynchronous multiplayer. By limiting the available size of professors, or by damaging the parts it contains when the processor is damaged, you also aren't totally eliminating the threat posed by logic damage. In the end, this will provide wired logic as a challenge, with a simple transmission system to overcome it that is intuitive, and treats all signals the same, while still providing exacting control. It will provide dynamic, precise behaviors without requiring math. It grants a player more awareness to tune complex behaviors by as they cruise around, as well as granting awareness of your own drone's behavior via trackers. It rewards intelligent design in sumo and any part restricted game mode, without limiting the vulnerability of logic.

Here's a thought. What about 3- or 4-player races? What about races with hazards and enemies, circular tracks, and regen disabled, for a last-man-standing race?

How about using the number of the month, plus the number 1-10, as a seed for procedural tracks? That way you'd have a set of ten tracks that persist for a month to gather high scores. (Would you remember all high scores? Could you also generate "You did better than x% of users' best scores? Even beating 50% can be rewarding for players that aren't really completionists.) Better yet, use the number of days since an arbitrary past date, multiply by 3 and divide by 12 as a seed, (and add one for to the result for each subsequent track,) so that instead of 10 tracks every thirty days, you get one new track every 3 days. The editor strikes me as really challenging. A lot of work's involved in design and coding; the UI, the internal framework. And if tracks are shared, making sure they have a scoring mechanic as well as doing sanity checks to make sure they don't have inherent flaws, like a rabbit path that hits a wall.

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I was more concerned with whether the rabbit would move forward because you moved sideways - but you answered that to my satisfaction, it sounds like the rabbit can't outrun you, and that's all I was concerned about. With the spline design, procedural tracks look more plausible; throw up a semi-ordered array of track points for the spline path, pile up borders paralleling the path, randomly vary width, throw in some other semi-random hijinks. I recognize that it's not something you're planning right now. But when you're satisfied with race mechanics and are ready to see what else you can do with it, I think all the tools for procedural tracks are right there.

My understanding from their previous comments is that the course is NOT procedurally generated, and that they didn't have plans for such - that may have changed with the spline work they talked about, though. Hey devs - you've said the rabbit is tied to the speed of the sensor. What if there's a bunch of lateral movement for some reason? Does the Rabbit pull away, or did you mean it's tied to your progress through the course?

Because we're stalling, I'll answer one of my own. "Because they both have inky quills, and produce notes, though they are very flat, and both are nevar [sic] spelled back to front." What pursuit makes you happy?

Need to rename that model to Dance Robot

The London Philharmonic has a whole album of video game music rewritten and played by their orchestra. Tetris and Mario, it's ridiculous. But there are also more serious pieces in there, Halo and CoD. Liberi Fatali is in there, and that song has serious drama. What's the best thing about cats?

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Just Cause 4. It's wild, it's insane, it's crazy, it's over-the-top, everything explodes, and you can do all sorts of awesome physics things. My current fun is putting retractor tethers that connect to enemy helicopters, when they begin to gang up on me. Sucks them together, and it exceeds a helicopter's design specs to be in close proximity to another helicopter. Putting thrusters on them after tethering them to the ground also seems to exceed their design specs. What's the most fun you ever had gaming? (Sports count.)

This was written in response to the following prompt: "Two siblings engage in a fight with sticks. To their parents, it looks like childish fun, but to the kids, it is an epic duel to the death." Pivotal Moment His breath heaved, his body sagging, but alert. Sweat dripped into my eye, and I blinked to clear it. Somehow I knew, I knew that it was coming. He’d seen the opening and the blow was coming. I lifted my own blade, steel meeting steel, but he leaned hard into the blow, throwing me to the ground through greater strength and weight. I saw the shadow against the sun and rolled as he struck the earth behind me. I pulled my knees up and rolled directly into a kneel, scrambling up. He struck before I could get my footing, pressing his attack, forcing me to stumble, then stumble again to get my footing. He’s too aggressive, I realized. But he was bigger than me, faster. Would it be enough to take advantage of? I might fight magnificently and still, lose. But I would lose anyway. The only thing left was to bet everything on this strike. My life, my cause, my princess. They would live or suffer based on one moment. I stumbled back again from his furious assault. Again, I fell. Again, he lunged to strike while I was down. I thrust my sword forward as my back struck the ground – combined with my backward motion, the forward thrust was almost motionless, but his body provided the power. He thrust his chest against the blade, his own aggression delivering the deathblow. “You . . . never taught me that.” Blood dripped down the blade, coating my hands like hot grease. “I taught you all you know, big brother . . . but not all that I know.” I lifted my foot, bracing his body, and directed him to fall to the side. Out the window, Jonathon and his brother were playing. Jacob was writhing on the ground, pretending to die, and the younger Jonathon was up and cheering in glory. “Do you think Jacob lets him win, honey? Is that healthy, to pretend to lose? Or should we encourage it? I just don’t know.” “They’re boys, honey. Let boys be boys.”

Quarians. They're literally space gypsies. I really liked the way they constructed that lore, and the challenges they faced, the advantages their hardships had given them. Why is a raven like a writing desk?

Because, oh my god, that woman plays her voice like an instrument. And I've seen recordings of her live performances, she's really that good. What toys growing up captured your fascinations and entranced you? For me it was marble runs, capsella, all the mechanical engineering toys.

I don't have a console, but I was a Nintendo (NES AND SNES) fan until Sony got into the game. I still think Nintendo is a great innovator, but today I'm strictly a PC gamer. Let's get serious. What is your greatest concern for the future?

So . . . we're gonna need at least one race course whose track crosses itself over and over again, and has separate routes for both drones, so they have to cross paths over and over, with the attendant collision risks. Also, I'm missing the course hazards.

Here's how it goes. Ask a question. Then find a question in this thread, and pick one to answer. Come back as many times and add or answer as many as you like. Please try to add a question with each answer. Please try to post new questions. I'll begin by asking one of my own. What are you watching on TV right now?

I took a look; I wouldn't put a lot of stock in Gizmodo, but they do link to a lot of good studies and cite and link to sources; the article itself seems solid, though I didn't go through in detail.

Mech, whom you cite, actually wrote the 1999 study challenging Schenkel: "The concept of the alpha wolf as a "top dog" ruling a group of similar-aged compatriots," Mech writes in the 1999 paper, "is particularly misleading." I'd consider him a good source.

The original idea is from Shenkel, in the 30's and 40's, who asserted that a male and female pair dominate the society of the pack, and that they carry their rank by each, among their gender, aggressively defending their social position. This is the 'Alpha' and 'beta' that most people believe in and was reinforced by a number of studies until not too long ago. This is what I'm claiming is untrue. Recent studies (As in, the last two decades) have painted a truer picture of their social structure, but still use the same terms.

The idea is that there is an alpha that has fought for dominance and proven itself among all the other wolves, and is deferred to by all, becoming effectively the pack's leader. This isn't what happens in the wild, and these findings were published based on study of two captive packs. The author had not studied wolves in the wild prior to publishing.

Merrrrrry Crisis! Run for your lives! Hail Chrysler, our new automotive overlords! (seriously, though, what led to this?)

Also, the alpha /beta social structure of wolves was debunked, if I'm not mistaken. That was from a study published in 1947 on the basis of observations of captive packs, reinforced by supplemented data on the dynamics of dominance in wild packs, but never challenged until 1999. There's no such thing as an alpha wolf in the wild.