drummyfish

Hello,

I am completely new here, I just came to suggest/discuss something that's been on my mind for some time.

A quick tl;dr: I think it would be awesome if someone made a tool that would be observing the game's memory as it is playing back a replay and it would output data (such as unit positions, hero levels etc.) to a plain text file, e.g. in JSON or CSV format. I KNOW there have been attempts at extracting this data purely from replay files, but this isn't easily doable because replays only store actions and the exact game's logic is needed to actually play it. I think what I am suggesting is the next best thing and would be much easier to do (considering you already have some amazing third party tools). I will now describe more context and details.

Why would it be useful? It would allow creation of a simple offline replay viewer(s) (of course, with very simplified 2D graphics etc.), ones that wouldn't require having the game installed, wouldn't have to care about exact game version, ones that could be used on any operating system or even in the browser etc. Such a viewer could even be superior to the game e.g. in the ability to rewind time back, show real time statistics that the game doesn't show etc. It would also open up possibilities such as in depth game analysis and statistics, heatmaps of unit movement, specific patterns in play of different players and so on. Replay websites would benefit as well. Yes, digging the data out of the game would still require running the game, but over time there could be a nice collection of such converted replay to play around with. The point here is to separate the messy part of having to interject the game's memory and the part where we simply have data and can play around with them in any way, on any operating system, in any programming language etc.

I would personally very much appreciate this and would actually be interested in writing the replay player, but I can't write the data extraction tool itself as I don't own the game and I don't even have the operating system the game has to run on. I am just someone who likes to watch videos of the game, and I can only watch it when I'm on my main computer and have connection to the Internet -- a small browser-based replay viewer would allow me to also watch the replays on my off grid Raspberry Pi computer, and I think there may be more people like me. The whole community would probably appreciate it, if only for the cool statistics this could bring.

How I imagine the output data: it should be as simple as possible so that anyone can analyze it easily, i.e. JSON, CSV, plain TXT. Personally I would just make it a plain text file where each line would be a snapshot of the game state, taken in, let's say, 1 second intervals (no need for higher time resolution probably, replay viewers can interpolate to make animations smooth). Each state would just contain a list of all units and buildings currently on the map, each one with position, health etc., plus there might be some extra info (chat, player gold and lumber, projectiles, ...).

Sorry for a long post, I know demanding something from the Internet is often fruitless, but in this case I don't have the power to implement this myself. Maybe someone will get inspired :)

There is this kind of voice without actual words I keep hearing mostly in older games that I feel is generated using some simple technique, it can be heard for example from NPCs in Hyperbolica:

or at 1:57 in this Gameboy Advance game:

Does anyone know what this technique is called please? Thank you :)

Hello, I have a question about copyright on works created with the help of tutorials; if territories play a role, please suppose the US -- I am unsure about the specific states because there are multiple computer servers and users involved, each possibly in a different state, and I couldn't find specific information about this.

There is a website that allows users to exchange 3D models they have created and the website ONLY allows to share such works under free cultural licenses/waivers such as Creative Commons Zero (CC0) and Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA). Recently there was a user who submitted a 3D model which the user created by following the exact steps in a tutorial found on a video sharing website and the user shared it under the CC0 waiver, i.e. allowing any use whatsoever, including commercial use without attribution etc. However I was concerned because the 3D model the user created looked practicall the same as the one in the tutorial, as the exact steps of the tutorial were followed, and I believe the copyright on the 3D model in this case is held by the creator of the tutorial who supposedly created the model first in order to make the tutorial video to teach the use of the 3D modelling software. So I also believe the user who recreated the same 3D model with this tutorial can NOT share such model under the CC0 waiver because the user doesn't hold copyright on it, even though the user created the model with "own hands"; I think such 3D model is a derivative work of the original 3D model of the tutorial creator. I know a threshold of originality matters for the copyright to arise, but the model in question is fairly non-trivial, so let us play it safe and suppose the threshold has been met. When I mentioned this on the website, we got into a debate and couldn't reach a conclusion of whether it is legally safe to share the model on the site under CC0. Could you please give me more insight into this matter? Thank you.

Hey guys, I don't spend much time here but I felt this is worth sharing. Many people, including me, were kind of let down by surf, however I recently found badwolf (, my fork: ) and it literally changed my life, it made me stop searching for browsers just like dwm made me stop looking for wms. It is NOT a fork of another browser, it is written from scratch, ~1500 LOC. It has tabs, one button for toggling JS, one button for toggling images. No addons or anything. I mostly browse the web without JS, but if I need to, I just click the button and all sites just work, even YouTube, banking and such. I'm not such a privacy freak but it is explicitly mentioned it's privacy oriented, in fact I had to make changes to it to make my cookies permanent etc. Check it out.

Hey guys, I've been searching for many weeks/month now for any videos and screenshots from the EU server Agamaggan in years about 2007 to the end of 2009, the reason being WoW has been a great part of my teenage years but I've unfortunately lost all my screenshots. Most of things seem to be wiped from the web by now (searched archives as well). I'm kind of hoping to spot my character (Drummy, Tauren warrior) or my friends/guilds in some of these screenshots so if you have like screenshots of Orgrimmar with a lot of people I'd be eternally grateful if you share them. Thank you :)

I can't find the answer to this: is it possible (and how) to tell which chromosome in a chromosome pair comes from the father and which comes from the mother without seeing the DNA of the parents?

As I understand it, the chromosomes in our genome are randomly mixed, one in a pair is from mother and one from father. Now identical twins are identical because they get the same pairs of chromosomes and hence the same genome. However, what if by pure chance non-twin siblings get the exact same chromosome pairs randomly chosen? That would of course be extremely rare, something like 1 in 2^46? Anyway, could this happen in theory?

I was thinking if someone hosted a server in a land such as Antarctica (or other unclaimed territories such as space), would it be able to serve files on the Internet that are illegal in all countries (e.g. copyright infringing material)? AFAIK for server local laws apply, and in unclaimed territories there is no government.

Works like this:

• The extension uses a cipher to encode a readable text you post into a bunch of unreadable text.

• People without the extension see just unreadable garbage.

• Other people with the extension get the text decoded and see what you posted.

So you aren't sharing any actual links or sentences, just a bunch of characters. If reddit complains, make the extension encode into some meaningful stuff, like emojis, call the subreddit an emoji subreddit and enjoy posting your filthy stuff.

I've been directed here to repost some of my game ideas, here's the original post:

Hello guys, I'm a big fan of free and open-source game clones/engine reimplementations. I thought I'd share a list of games I've been thinking about reimplementing, but don't have time/resources/experience to. Take it as a list of ideas for projects to you, the programmers, artists and other creative people:

• : Straightforward, addictive, good fun.

• : Simple idea for an addictive gameplay, wouldn't be difficult to reimplement. The minimalist art-style could also be imitated.

• The Sims: Just a build-your-own-house-and-chill kind of game.

• : There is already , which is however a feature(and bug)-rich game going in slightly different direction than the original minimalist-style TrackMania, which had only one car available for each of a few environment. The fun in TrackMania came from the simplicity and therefore focus on precision and creativity. I.e. have just one car, simple as can be controls, a track with start, finish and a few checkpoints, and try to get the best time possible.

• : Nice idea for a simulation game.

• Warcraft III: This is a legendary game still actively played by many, that would deserve an open-source engine that it's currently lacking. There are rumors that Blizzard will be remastering the game, which may be the reason. The challenge would be to make the engine behavior super accurate for competitive play. Huge challenge here.

• /: AV is IMO the best gameboy game ever - addictive, smart, beautiful, awesome. It's 2D with no physics and such advanced stuff, so it shouldn't be that hardcore to program. Even so there's no satisfying free clone yet.

• : I had a great fun with this game, would definitely be worth remaking.

• : Haven't played, but looks fun and simple to make - the challenge here would be the nice visuals, so look for a good artist.

My ideas for original games:

• Bird simulator: You play as a bird on an island, there's no story, just freedom, exploration, hidden easter eggs and mini-games all over the map.

• 3D first person puzzle game where you're blind and have to get from level start to finish just by the sounds, you can throw rocks, hear different footstep sounds when walking on different materials etc. At the end of each level you can watch the replay of yourself walking through the level in fully-lit 3D view.

• 2D platformer where you don't go left to right but instead inwards into a fractal.

• A puzzle game where you control a crowd of people all at once, i.e. there is a 100 people and when you press left, everyone walks left, when you press right, everyone walks right etc. The goal is to get a certain percentage of people to the level finish. You may have to sacrifice some, block some against walls etc.

• A game where you program robots to autonomously finish levels. By finishing levels you get money to buy new hardware for your robots, i.e. new sensors, processors with better instruction sets etc.

• A game based on neural networks where you teach the computer to finish levels by letting them watch you, e.g. mouse movement etc.

• 3D version of .

Notes:

• If you decide to start a project, please keep everything multi-platform and open-source, i.e. avoid Unity, C# and similar technologies. It's just my wish and also an advice. Some awesome technologies you can use: , , , , , , , , ...

• I personally can't start/lead these projects because I'm already working on multiple ones, but will be more than happy to contribute, give you support and my best advices if you do. AMA

• Write your own suggestions in the comments, discuss anything.

• Keep to minimalist style with your original content and mechanics, simple and fun is better than more features and buggy/incomplete/inconsistent. Add extra features once the base game has been completed.

• (This sub probably knows it already.)

EDIT: additional games I forgot to mention:

• Legend of Grimrock

• Hillclimb Racing

Hello guys, I'm a big fan of free and open-source game clones/engine reimplementations. I thought I'd share a list of games I've been thinking about reimplementing, but don't have time/resources/experience to. Take it as a list of ideas for projects to you, the programmers, artists and other creative people:

• : Straightforward, addictive, good fun.

• : Simple idea for an addictive gameplay, wouldn't be difficult to reimplement. The minimalist art-style could also be imitated.

• The Sims: Just a build-your-own-house-and-chill kind of game.

• : There is already , which is however a feature(and bug)-rich game going in slightly different direction than the original minimalist-style TrackMania, which had only one car available for each of a few environment. The fun in TrackMania came from the simplicity and therefore focus on precision and creativity. I.e. have just one car, simple as can be controls, a track with start, finish and a few checkpoints, and try to get the best time possible.

• : Nice idea for a simulation game.

• Warcraft III: This is a legendary game still actively played by many, that would deserve an open-source engine that it's currently lacking. There are rumors that Blizzard will be remastering the game, which may be the reason. The challenge would be to make the engine behavior super accurate for competitive play. Huge challenge here.

EDIT: additionally added games:

• /: AV is IMO the best gameboy game ever - addictive, smart, beautiful, awesome. It's 2D with no physics and such advanced stuff, so it shouldn't be that hardcore to program. Even so there's no satisfying free clone yet.

• : I had a great fun with this game, would definitely be worth remaking.

My ideas for original games:

• Bird simulator: You play as a bird on an island, there's no story, just freedom, exploration, hidden easter eggs and mini-games all over the map.

• 3D first person puzzle game where you're blind and have to get from level start to finish just by the sounds, you can throw rocks, hear different footstep sounds when walking on different materials etc. At the end of each level you can watch the replay of yourself walking through the level in fully-lit 3D view.

• 2D platformer where you don't go left to right but instead inwards into a fractal.

• A puzzle game where you control a crowd of people all at once, i.e. there is a 100 people and when you press left, everyone walks left, when you press right, everyone walks right etc. The goal is to get a certain percentage of people to the level finish. You may have to sacrifice some, block some against walls etc.

• A game where you program robots to autonomously finish levels. By finishing levels you get money to buy new hardware for your robots, i.e. new sensors, processors with better instruction sets etc.

• A game based on neural networks where you teach the computer to finish levels by letting them watch you, e.g. mouse movement etc.

Notes:

• If you decide to start a project, please keep everything multi-platform and open-source, i.e. avoid Unity, C# and similar technologies. It's just my wish and also an advice. Some awesome technologies you can use: , , , , , , , , ...

• I personally can't start/lead these projects because I'm already working on multiple ones, but will be more than happy to contribute, give you support and my best advices if you do. AMA

• Write your own suggestions in the comments, discuss anything.

• Keep to minimalist style with your original content and mechanics, simple and fun is better than more features.

• It's OK to make money on open-source games (donations, kickstarter, ...), just watch out for copyrights.

idea by my dad