At 12/23/15 05:38 PM, MSGhero wrote: Statistics lesson of the day.

Why do all of that in the first place when your other two options are:
1. Use another noise generator
2. Use a function that does all that math for you

I dunno, I just feel like I kept going "but what's the point" while reading the entire thing. You could probably say the same thing about my posts, but I feel like there's a bigger payoff to a smaller buildup with mine. Maybe I'm wrong and turning Pi into a (CS?)PRNG is about as fascinating as calculating statistics on Simplex noise.

I like your "Parsing Engine" post

At 12/23/15 08:08 PM, egg82 wrote: Why do all of that in the first place when your other two options are:
1. Use another noise generator
2. Use a function that does all that math for you

I don't see what other theoretical noise generators could be used. In order for a RNG to give me a single result 40% of the time, I could have "Math.random() < .4" but that's not smoothly random. I'm directly telling it that "-1 to -0.04" is equal to 40% of the time.

There is no function that does any of this math, besides the ones I used in MATLAB anyway (histogram, ecdf). It's not like any of this math is being done at compile time or runtime. Tbh, there's no math at all, the ranges are experimentally determined and counted. There's not really a concept of an equation relevant to any of this, besides some arcane calculus that I'm pretty sure isn't possible to solve or even write down.

At 12/23/15 10:28 PM, MSGhero wrote: I don't see what other theoretical noise generators could be used. In order for a RNG to give me a single result 40% of the time, I could have "Math.random() < .4" but that's not smoothly random. I'm directly telling it that "-1 to -0.04" is equal to 40% of the time.

Cryptography most often relies on (something that resembles) PRNGs that give uniform distributions in one way or another. An uneven distribution results in successful frequency analysis and eventual breakage(eg. given: Ceaser Cipher, even with a one-time pad provided the padding isn't long enough to cover the message causing the padding to repeat)

AS3's Math.random is a variant of the Mersenne Twister algorithm - or so is claimed (Mersenne primes where various transforms are applied to each number and then bitwise operations are applied to the output)

Either way, although the MT algorithm defined in 1997 (MT19937) isn't equidistributed (doesn't have a uniform distribution) maybe the AS3 implementation does. Worth a shot, there.

If that fails your test, there's still plenty of options. Most PRNGs are uniform in distribution, and you can find plenty with Google. There's AS3 Park-Miller implementations here, here, and here if you'd like.

<shamelessPlug>
You can also try to use my Pi algorithm, though I'm not sure if it's uniform or not. Judging by the results, I'd hazard a guess at "yes" but you can give it a go anyway. You should. I'm curious.
</shamelessPlug>

There is no function that does any of this math, besides the ones I used in MATLAB anyway (histogram, ecdf). It's not like any of this math is being done at compile time or runtime. Tbh, there's no math at all, the ranges are experimentally determined and counted. There's not really a concept of an equation relevant to any of this, besides some arcane calculus that I'm pretty sure isn't possible to solve or even write down.

Basically what you're doing is taking your distribution data and running it through an EDF and taking a look at whatever y-value you want and grabbing the x-value from it. I'm terrible at math and can't write any functions that will do that for you automagically, but it seems pretty programmable.

I suppose what you're saying is you want a normalized distribution, but you also want to give percentage assignments to each possible value.

Basically you want to know "how likely is it that x or lower (or higher) will be hit on a normalized distribution?" or more accurately (since that's the reverse of what you want) "what must x be in order to at least qualify as y percentage?" and any value between the different x values are your answers.

You might want to take a look at this YouTube video. It seems like it holds the key to your problem, but I never could figure out z-tables.

At 12/24/15 02:32 AM, egg82 wrote: You might want to take a look at this YouTube video. It seems like it holds the key to your problem, but I never could figure out z-tables.

If a crypto algorithm gave smooth noise, it would prolly be an awful crypto algo. Smooth noise is what I need, not uniformity or anything else. And yeah, I basically manually calculated the z table for my case of simplex noise, since it's mathematically impossible to calculate otherwise (what's the integral of an if statement?). This is how they come up with weirder z tables.

I mean, I did it once which means I never have to do it again, and it took 5 minutes to get the values I wanted. If my ratio wasn't constant, I could add the 20MB graph to the code and lerp values at runtime, but it is constant. I have my 3 floats hardcoded, and there's nothing more I need to do.

At 12/24/15 11:47 AM, MSGhero wrote: I mean, I did it once which means I never have to do it again, and it took 5 minutes to get the values I wanted. If my ratio wasn't constant, I could add the 20MB graph to the code and lerp values at runtime, but it is constant. I have my 3 floats hardcoded, and there's nothing more I need to do.

But if you have non-hardcoded values you can arbitrarily choose and change values. I like having the ability to change things on a whim, it feels nicer.

I got Mad Max on sale today for $20. I also hardwired my PC to the router (first time I've ever been able to do that) and realized my OS's I/O caps out at about 21.3 MB/s - apparently I need a different HDD (or SSD) for my games.

Edit: Nope, it looks like I/O caps out at around 35MB/s but download caps out around 22. I swear I saw it jump much higher at one point..

At 12/25/15 07:04 PM, egg82 wrote: I got Mad Max on sale today for $20. I also hardwired my PC to the router (first time I've ever been able to do that) and realized my OS's I/O caps out at about 21.3 MB/s - apparently I need a different HDD (or SSD) for my games.

SSDs are great for their incredibly fast read/write speeds but it's worth being aware that their lifecycle is determined by how any writing operations are performed, although it's unlikely you could download enough to kill one in any significant amount of time.

They're also really, really good for significantly lowering the time spent on load screens; I can't stand playing games like Skyrim on HDDs now because of how much longer you sit staring at load screens.

At 12/25/15 08:17 PM, Diki wrote: SSDs are great for their incredibly fast read/write speeds but it's worth being aware that their lifecycle is determined by how any writing operations are performed, although it's unlikely you could download enough to kill one in any significant amount of time.

I figure if I put Steam on there and nothing else it should be okay. Even if the SSD completely fails and I lose everything all I have to do is re-download my games. Three cheers for Steam Cloud hosting all my save data automatically.

They're also really, really good for significantly lowering the time spent on load screens; I can't stand playing games like Skyrim on HDDs now because of how much longer you sit staring at load screens.

That's exactly why I want one. Faster load times = more entertainment value. 256 GB should be more than enough to hold all my games, and they're not super expensive any more.

At 12/25/15 08:17 PM, Diki wrote: They're also really, really good for significantly lowering the time spent on load screens; I can't stand playing games like Skyrim on HDDs now because of how much longer you sit staring at load screens.

SSD is in my top 5 decisions I've ever made.

At 12/25/15 07:04 PM, egg82 wrote: But if you have non-hardcoded values you can arbitrarily choose and change values. I like having the ability to change things on a whim, it feels nicer.

What you could do is take the x-y pairs of that final curve, fit a 3rd or 4th order curve to it, and plug that equation into your code rather than hardcoding the values. You can't solve for x without a trial and error method like Newton Raphson or whatever, but it's possible and better than including a 20MB curve. For me, if these values ever change, it's 2 minutes of my time to find the new x's plus however long MATLAB takes to open up.

with an SSD, MATLAB takes far less time to open up. plus they added JIT to the most recent version

It's definitely not feasible to generate a million numbers and count them at runtime in any situation, unless you're specifically making something to automate my process of finding the numbers to hardcode into your game.

At 12/25/15 08:52 PM, MSGhero wrote: SSD is in my top 5 decisions I've ever made.

Can someone buy me one for Christmas? I am beyond broke :(

-$350 and counting

It's definitely not feasible to generate a million numbers and count them at runtime in any situation, unless you're specifically making something to automate my process of finding the numbers to hardcode into your game.

Maybe not the raw data, but what about the generated curve? That curve is only two sets of floats, it shouldn't be too hard right? I mean, yeah, you have to generate the curve beforehand but I suppose as long as your generator doesn't vary too much it'll be fine.

At 12/28/15 02:07 AM, CodeCrunch wrote: Anyone else stop playing games after Dark Souls cause everything else just seemed shit in comparison? haven't picked up a controller in almost two years.

You're missing out. While Dark Souls is a fantastic game in its own genera, there's plenty of games that are equally fantastic. There's a couple of sequels to Dark Souls, as well.

For example (in no particular order):
Mad Max
The Witcher series
Dragon Age Origins & Inquisition
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
DmC Devil May Cry
Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons
Bastion
Cities: Skylines (Sim City spiritual successor)
Just Cause 2 & 3
Dust: An Elysian Tail
The Elder Scrolls 4 & 5
Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
Move or Die (figured I'd give @3D-Xelu a shoutout, here ;) - I have a heavy bias on this one)
Overlord
Prison Architect
Recattear: An Item Shop's Tale
Civilization V
Uplink
War for the Overworld (Dungeon Keeper spiritual successor)
Borderlands series
Final Fantasy series
Bloodborne (PS4 only, Dark Souls spiritual successor)

At 12/28/15 05:27 PM, egg82 wrote: For example (in no particular order):

No love for XCOM: Enemy Unknown? :(

Which is on sale right now, incidentally.

At 12/28/15 06:45 PM, Diki wrote: No love for XCOM: Enemy Unknown? :(

Sadly I don't enjoy tactical cover-shooters (especially tun-based ones) as much as I probably should. I enjoyed Frozen Synapse, but not enough to put it on my list of "really great games I probably will always love"

Which is on sale right now, incidentally.

I love summer and winter sales :)
$20 for Mad Max, that was ridiculous. One of the best purchases I've made.

At 12/28/15 02:07 AM, CodeCrunch wrote: Anyone else stop playing games after Dark Souls cause everything else just seemed shit in comparison? haven't picked up a controller in almost two years.

yes

These variable names upset me greatly >:(

It's not that they're inappropriate, but I just have no idea what the fuck they are.

At least the functions are named well-enough, though with seeming lack of regard for camelCasing or even underscores.

At 1/2/16 08:10 AM, CodeCrunch wrote: To-do lists are useful for breaking tasks down until they get really big and intimidating, been stalling on this project for about 4 months cause everytime I look at the pages of shit I have to take care of I just think "fuck that" and do something else.

Sounds like me. I've got to-do lists in my to-do lists, now. I don't know if they'll ever be finished, it makes me sad :(

I miss my sandbox back in Nebraska

Let's compare.

For my life:
Find a new job. I got let go because I fucked up and the web servers went down for half a day
Find a new place to live. I'm temporarily living with my girlfriend because my roommates kicked me out - I couldn't afford rent any more
Pay off my $350 debt before my bank closes my account. I owe $100 every two weeks starting the 8th
Get new glasses. It's been a couple years, I think it's time. ($350)

For my car, I need to:
Re-instate my driver's licence ($60-$80)
Pay off my tickets ($500)
Replace my cracked windshield ($180)
Bleed the brakes and replace the caps ($200)
Replace the driver's side handle because SOMEBODY broke it, damn them ($100)
Fix the broken washer fluid sprayer thing on the driver's side ($50)
Change the oil at some point ($50)
Take it through a car wash ($5)
Get the interior detailed because SOMEBODY drove it and it came back disgusting, right after I just cleaned it myself, damn them again ($50)

For my computer:
Replace the liquid cooling unit, which has a broken pump (YouTube videos heat the CPU up to 80 C) ($110)
Get a new case to finally close the side panel, which has been missing forever. I keep kicking my internal wires by accident ($100)
Install one or two SSDs ($100-$200)
Upgrade other parts as I get the money. There's things I want, but don't really need (~$1,500 in total)

btw happy new year you soulless dregs, only 4 pages left till 2017!

Wait, aren't we already past 2,100?

At 1/2/16 02:07 PM, egg82 wrote: Replace the liquid cooling unit, which has a broken pump (YouTube videos heat the CPU up to 80 C) ($110)

Tbf, my old laptop idled at 75C, went to 80C watching a video, and never went higher than 97C doing gaming or anything.

At 1/2/16 02:22 PM, MSGhero wrote:

At 1/2/16 02:07 PM, egg82 wrote: Replace the liquid cooling unit, which has a broken pump (YouTube videos heat the CPU up to 80 C) ($110)

Tbf, my old laptop idled at 75C, went to 80C watching a video, and never went higher than 97C doing gaming or anything.

Yikes. That might be a bit dangerous, but I'm not sure what your CPU's limit is.
I know the max safe temp for an AMD FX-series is 68 C, and at 85 C my PC instantly shuts off to avoid damage.

At 1/2/16 03:09 PM, egg82 wrote: Yikes. That might be a bit dangerous, but I'm not sure what your CPU's limit is.
I know the max safe temp for an AMD FX-series is 68 C, and at 85 C my PC instantly shuts off to avoid damage.

The CPUs in the Pavilion series were designed to max/be ok at 105C since they knew their cooling was shit and internals were inefficient.

I just realized that I swore never to buy a laptop or computer right when it comes out so that I can do real research. But then I bought this Dell XPS 15 right when it came out. I guess I read so many tech reviews that I felt comfortable with the purchase. There was some coil whining, but I was able to trade in my AC adapter for a new one, and that solved the problem. And intel graphics driver issues, but the most recent update seems to have solved those.

Happy new year! I had some time over the holidays to play with this multiplayer rogue-like game again. I made it so the buildings in the town are enterable structures. I've been wrestling with some performance issues around pathfinding for a while. It's not perfect now, but it's better than it was before.

At 1/3/16 02:39 PM, PrettyMuchBryce wrote: Happy new year! I had some time over the holidays to play with this multiplayer rogue-like game again. I made it so the buildings in the town are enterable structures. I've been wrestling with some performance issues around pathfinding for a while. It's not perfect now, but it's better than it was before.

You should make the walls enterable if they're not visible. Would be a cool mechanic.

At 1/3/16 09:49 AM, CodeCrunch wrote:

kind of disappointed no one wanted to chime in on the game thing, are long posts about anything other than yourself not a thing anymore?

I want to and I have a lot to say on that front, but honestly I'm just too damn lazy.

At 1/3/16 03:41 PM, egg82 wrote: You should make the walls enterable if they're not visible. Would be a cool mechanic.

*cough* indeed *cough*

At 1/3/16 04:50 PM, Glaiel-Gamer wrote: *cough* indeed *cough*

Well, damn!
You totally got that idea from me :P

At 1/3/16 04:53 PM, CodeCrunch wrote: AND THERE IT IS 2016 ALREADY WINNING TURN UP

Year of the Reg Lounge.

At 1/3/16 04:49 PM, CodeCrunch wrote: Looks dope man, what's the setting? will there be any Dunnet style text based segments?

The story and art haven't been thought out well yet. I'm focused on game mechanics only right now. There probably won't be a lot of story since it is primarily a multiplayer game. The main focal point of the game will be around capturing and holding onto towns throughout the world.

Maybe interested parties could help me do an online test at some point. :>

My girlfriend pulled through for me and decided to help get a new liquid cooler and a case. I'm paying her back slowly ($100 out of $190 paid already) but at least now I've got everything I really needed.

At 1/6/16 08:13 PM, egg82 wrote: My girlfriend pulled through for me and decided to help get a new liquid cooler and a case. I'm paying her back slowly ($100 out of $190 paid already) but at least now I've got everything I really needed.

I guess it's time to take a photo of our workstations again? I'll be able to in a few days.

unless you want a photo of my laptop on my lap on my bed

At 1/6/16 08:56 PM, MSGhero wrote: I guess it's time to take a photo of our workstations again? I'll be able to in a few days.

Oh, yeah, why not? :D

unless you want a photo of my laptop on my lap on my bed

Sexy. You at least have an external mouse, right?

At 1/6/16 09:36 PM, egg82 wrote: Sexy. You at least have an external mouse, right?

Yes, but I don't have a desk here. I have a bed. I use the box my keyboard came in as a solid surface and an old magazine as a mousepad. The mouse slips around a lot, and at 4450 dpi, I can't play any games that require mouse micro. But I can play Rocket League!

At 1/7/16 09:02 AM, Innermike wrote:

Currently using bed as seat (not recommended) and what remains of this table, haven't moved my actual desk/chair/shelf here cause I might move soon. Also, close ups on buk-stax: http://imgur.com/WBTiGSZ

btw is omar still around? haven't talked to him since 2013

Do the girls you invite to your room swoon at how deeply artistic and scholarly you are based on all those books and the symbolic blank canvas?

At 1/5/16 10:52 PM, Cordyceps wrote: What's the scope of the game? Do you plan on having several people connect to a server and play on the same map?

Yeah. I'm hoping to be able to support up to 100 people in one map, but that is contingent on my ability to solve some tricky performance problems. It's not going to be a completely idiomatic classic rogue-like, but there will definitely be quite a few mechanics "borrowed" from classic games.