Frotag

I get that there's an emotional payoff to things like flowery prose. It helps put you in the mindset of the author / characters, which makes seeing them overcome whatever problems all the more satisfying. That's what I expect if I pick up a book about say, friends-since-birth being torn apart by war, with one entering the military and committing atrocities to reunite them.

On the other hand, if I pick up a book about deciphering alien language found on the moon, I'm not reading for the characters. I'm reading to see how hypothetical aliens would think. Which in practice is often "what would humans be like if we added / removed constraint X" (eg perfect empathy or genetic memory). In this case, lengthy prose and other character development just feel like filler. Like I don't actually care that the character became interested in linguistics after growing up on a farm and watching animal behavior. Just tell me about the aliens!

It still feels like a game in the sense that there's progression and rewards for progression. For example, learning how to read cooldowns means you can make smarter macros and double your income / cut kill time by half. There's even different "build paths" in that you can choose to go the memory reading build (fragile but reliable), network sniffing build (less fragile but expensive), or computer vision build (easy but unreliable and expensive).

From a technical perspective, the appeal is having an excuse to try out new stuff like SAT solvers, rules engines, or whatever ML thing I just learned about. It's also a good exercise in all the math and data structures + algos stuff I've learned but never use at dayjob. Optionally, building a UI to manage the bot is fun for the same reasons, an excuse to try out new frameworks / design choices / etc. It's basically another programming job but without the icky business / customer considerations.

Though I do agree that cheats in any PvP scenario is pretty lame. It has a much bigger negative impact on other players, and it's not as much of a puzzle (mostly aimbot and pathing). In comparison, PvE games are usually social and unless you're running a swarm of VMs, you're unlikely to affect the economy or otherwise inconvenience anyone.

What doesn't the current API allow plugins to do? I'm guessing custom UI stuff that lives outside a panel?

eg https://github.com/jakearchibald/idb

Honestly most complicated types boil down to a handful of concepts (mapped types, conditionals, recursion) with a few tricks for working around sharp corners (deferring evaluation for performance, controlling whether a union distributes).

I've even seen someone solve 8-queens in types using a formal grammar but no clue how that worked. Speaking of, if anyone else has other examples of defining a grammar or ast in typescript, I'd love to see it.

Honestly most complicated types boil down to a handful of concepts (mapped types, conditionals, recursion) with a few tricks for working around sharp corners (deferring evaluation for performance, controlling whether a union distributes).

I've even seen someone solve 8-queens in types using a formal grammar but no clue how that worked. Speaking of, if anyone else has other examples of defining a grammar or ast in typescript, I'd love to see it.

All the cron issues I've had boiled down to a difference in env vars. So testing the cronjob means reproducing the environment like this SO answer explains.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2135478/how-to-simulate-...

I also remember expecting the story to comment on how, like most dating sims*, there's no male characters (or really any characters in DDLC's case) except for the MC and being disappointed it didn't. Well I think there were allusions to an abusive dad but again I don't think anyone had dialogue lines outside the MC + LIs.

* There are dating sims targeting other demographics like female MC + male LIs but DDLC was parodying the ones for males.

> So you kind of need familiarity with the genre to understand some of the jokes.

>> what are some tropes which are specific to dating sims rather than those also found in romance-based anime/manga?

It's been a while since I've read DDLC but familiarity was probably too strong a word. Having expectations about how the story should develop and then having those subverted is a good chunk of the fun [1]. So skimming at least one dating sim vn is probably enough context. And anime / manga also cover most of that context / japan-isms that DDLC mocks (eg the school setting, the childhood friend / council prez / spoiled imouto archetypes).

To your question though, the VN-specific jokes are mostly about the route system and world building. I guess these still fall under the umbrella of "bad endings" and "save then go back" but imo it's a huge umbrella that's worth exploring.

So like you mentioned, DDLC toys a lot with the concept of multiple routes / save files. In most VNs each route starts the same story before branching. You don't normally expect this "common route" to change between tries but in DDLC it does in multiple ways. But more uniquely, DDLC also questions why these romantic endings exist in the first place and arrives at the conclusion that the romantic interests are psychotically obsessed... by the design of some god [2]. This also pokes at how some VNs just rewrite the world between routes to avoid distractions from the chosen love interest, as in big events that are inevitable in one route just don't happen in others.

I also thought the choice system (the poems) in itself was a fun joke. Like most VNs have screens that let you vote on which route to read, one choice per route. After N screens you get placed on the route you picked most. DDLC exaggerates this by giving you 100s of screens each with multiple choices per love interest. Kind of like "Are you really really sure? Is this your final answer?"

Speaking of DDLC, I should really reread Totono [3]. It's another VN-parody but less gimmicky and a bit more serious / emotional.

[1] https://github.com/Bronya-Rand/DDLCModTemplate2.0/blob/v1.1....

[2] https://github.com/Bronya-Rand/DDLCModTemplate2.0/blob/69aa2...

https://github.com/Bronya-Rand/DDLCModTemplate2.0/blob/v1.1....

[3] https://store.steampowered.com/app/1293820/YOU_and_ME_and_HE...

Looks like the median renpy novel (with 100+ votes) takes 250min to complete with the ludicrously long ones [2] bringing the average up to 503min.

    engine      vn count  avg     25%     50%     75%  
    Ren'Py      251       503     120     251     571  
    KiriKiri    187       813     241     522     1143 
    Unity       65        871     224     452     1109 

[2] https://query.vndb.org/?sql=SELECT%0D%0Avn.title%2C%0D%0AROU...

    title                       length (min)        engine
    HEAVEN BURNS RED            12580               CRIware
    Rance X -Kessen-            11085               AliceSoft System4.X
    Shoujo Settai               10418           
    Kamidori Alchemy Meister    8407                
    Seinarukana...              6858                
    Lessons in Love             6819                Ren'Py
    Sengoku † Koihime...        6744                CatSystem2
    Higurashi no Naku Koro ni   6626

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katawa_Shoujo

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[2] does a 180 and makes fun of the plot holes

All that to say, you probably won't like VNs unless you like reading. Don't expect much gameplay / animation. That said, the more famous stories tend to have multiple endings determined by a handful of choices you get during the story. On occasion, some games go for sandbox-style gameplay where you roam the map to grind out currency to unlock visual novel scenes.

In terms of genre I'd say at least half are dating sims, with the rest being some kind of adventure or mystery story. I'd also guess at least half are nsfw / r18. Renpy VNs tend to be made by indie devs from everywhere but Japan, which has a VN industry with in-house engines.

Writing quality tends to be what you expect from indie authors / devs. That is, filled with tropes, tending towards the wish-fulfillment types. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, you'll be surprised what you'd be willing to overlook if the premise / plot seems interesting.

https://lowendtalk.com/

Wouldn't reccomend any of these outside of personal use though.

I also really enjoyed To the Stars (currently on ch50). Especially the beginning where most of it is fleshing out the madoka lore in a uh, comprehensive way. Like it seems well thought in how magical girls are integrated with science / the military / the govt. In terms of characters, not sure I really care for the SoL scenes but I thought each of the ancient's backstories was pretty interesting (I'm sucker for tragedy).

I've looked through royalroad a few times but most amateur sci-fi are more about power-fantasies rather than logically exploring / exploiting an idea.

Out of the few dozen top-rated stories I've tried these are the only 2 I liked:

[1] https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/13468/paladin

[2] https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/30848/burning-stars-fallin...

https://j-novel.club/series/last-and-first-idol

It's really 3x short stories (~200 pages each) but here's a synopsis for the first:

    The story follows Mika Furutsuki's journey to become an idol.  [...] After the Monopole Super Flares hit though, humanity is on the decline. Maori still tries to revive her idol friend and ultimately succeeds after 30 years. Mika may no longer human, but that doesn't stop her quest to become the #1 idol.

https://daisyui.com/

I used it for a small form + search result list recently and it works well enough for simple / static stuff.

But I think I'll still be reaching for a JS lib first since I'd miss things like inputs-with-autocomplete too much.

I've tried a handful of used hikvision / dahua in the ~100usd range but they don't play nice with anything other than the vendor's software. Like VLC / open source VMSs can't play the RTSP stream. And even then, its a crapshoot whether features like stream configuartion or PTZ work.

I know the ONVIF group publishes a list of verified-compliant models but it's been a pain trying to find one that's affordable and in stock.

I've heard from devs that work on this stuff that most of this pain stems from how loose the ONVIF spec is. Too many optional features (even per "profile"), too vague on requirements, leading to lots of vendor-specific metadata / camera quirks.

https://old.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/comments/1963h4k/cs...

For example, around 25:00 Lustig claims...

    "[fructose in] fruit is okay because of the fiber and the fiber is what mitigates the absorption
    [...]
    you're feeding your microbiome. that frucose isn't for you."

    "I could find no evidence that fiber inhibits the absorption of fructose"

Also in terms of background, Lustig is a professor guest starring on a podcast sponsored by various companies (including one that sells supplements [2] [3]) versus Layne who runs a company that sells workout guides / supplements [4]. Not to say there's any obvious conflict of interest here, but I think the professor actively involved in research has more credibility.

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> [the 30kcal] has to come out somewhere else, or it’s going to stay in there.

That's a good point. I'd love to know what the practical difference between my gut bacteria consuming energy vs rest-of-me consuming energy is too.

But yeah Lustig saying sugar was as addictive as heroin also raised a red flag for me. Maybe true in a technical sense but definitely shows he's trying to push a point (anti-corpo maybe?).

[1] https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=fiber+slows+fructose+ab...

[2] https://www.hubermanlab.com/episode/dr-robert-lustig-how-sug... -- see sponsors in timestamps

[3] https://drinkag1.com/

[4] https://biolayne.com/

So Egan's stories are basically a mathy whodunit -- start from first (fictional) principles and eventually solve some universe-scale question or crisis. His characters are basically walking textbooks meant for info dumping / FAQing the derivations.

In that light, some similar stories I've found are...

    - Dragon's Egg (Robert Forward)
    - Of Ants and Dinosaurs (Liu Cixin, 3 body problem author)
    - The Andromeda Strain (Crichton, more medsci than math)
    - Schilds Ladder, Diaspora (other Egan stuff)

I've also tried some of the more common hard scifi recommendations like Reynolds and Stephenson, but I personally don't enjoy the dialogue / scenes meant for character development. I guess it's because the stories usually take a human-scale perspective instead of taking a what-if to its reality-bending extreme like Egan does.