efaardvark

3 hours ago, Beocat said:

I ended up making a copy of the save and opening the copy in creative mode to see if I could fly around to find one.  Found lots of isolated villages but no jungles.  Been working on creating my giant map on the wall.  Got one more map to fill out to finish it.

The map generation algo has been reverse-engineered.  If you know the world seed you can plug it in to someplace like chunkbase and go "exploring" that way.  Once you know where to go it is just a matter of getting there in-game.  I don't usually do that myself because I like the process of exploring in-game, but it is an option if you get really stuck.  Sometimes I'll do it if I've been exploring for a long time and still can't find what I'm looking for.

I often don't do the map thing either, since that requires redstone and deep mining seems too much like grinding for my tastes.  (I know, It is called "minecraft".  What can I say?)  Usually I just craft up a bunch of torches as soon as I get a stack of charcoal and go blaze a trail.  I'm a master of the 3x3 mud hut build.   

The only other way I know of to get redstone is from witch drops, and I'll make a map if I happen to get some redstone that way, but witches are rare and usually more trouble than they're worth to hunt until I can get a decently enchanted bow.  By then I've usually already explored quite a bit and don't really need the map. 

I have to admit that a nice big map of the area around the world spawn point does look good on the wall back at home base though. 

3 hours ago, RubberJohnny said:

The fact that the game is still being talked about and has a strong community after all these years is a strong testament to the legacy it's built. It gets a lot of crap now because of how popular it is but it made waves in the gaming world.

For its time it was awesome, and Notch was one of my most favorite people for a long time.  There's so much more to the game than first meets the eye.  Yeah, there's games that look better visually.  There's so much depth and multi-dimensional play-ability, especially in the multiplayer aspect, to MC however.  It doesn't matter what age or gamer level distribution you have in your group, there's something for everyone.  Kids can play with their parents in creative mode.  Even in survival, people that don't like fighting mobs can craft and build away to their hearts' content in areas cleared and made safe and supplied by people who don't mind that sort of thing.  For the hard-core gamers.. well, there's a mode for those people too.  There's so many different ways to play with MC that pretty much everyone is bound to find some play style that suits them.

I'm less thrilled that MSFT now owns the franchise, and I think that's where at least some of the animosity comes from.  So far they haven't broken the main game though, or tried their typical embrace-extend-extinguish tactics.  Even now 1.13 still works perfectly well on my linux system - albeit still requiring Sun/Oracle's ancient java 8 - and there's a thriving market for 3rd-party servers.  With Bedrock they've covered most of the console and mobile userbase, even including cross-platform playability.  (Though I do wish that they would somehow enable cross-play between PCs and console/mobile.)  Realms is a super easy way to allow people to play together online, even for novice computer users.  The updates have even enhanced the game.  That's good enough for me. 

I don't need photo-realistic rendering to have fun.  In fact, about the only big technical feature request that I'd have them add would be a good in-game voice-chat system that actually rendered the sound according to the environment along with the visuals.  I've tried out mc in a VR setup and I think having that feature in a VR minecraft would take things to the next level.  Again.

Finally found a swamp biome!  I've been looking for a swamp so I can make slime blocks and leads for a couple weeks now.  We're playing with large biomes in a survival game and it really makes gathering the raw material challenging sometimes.  Fun - I like exploring, especially with so much new content in the game to discover - but time consuming.

Still looking for a jungle too... so I can make cookies. 

3 hours ago, Kirito said:

Do any of you people think there will be Nerve Gear in the near future? I would really love to have that and to play SAO just without deaths . What's your opinion? 

Not in the immediate future, and not as a consumer item even when it does get here.  At least not at first.  There are already medical devices like cochlear and retinal implants that interface with nerves in primitive ways.  There's also experimental devices that can do things like read your general emotional state, or be used to control "peripheral" devices like robotic arms and legs, or a motorized wheelchair, or operate a keyboard/mouse to use a computer.  There's also been experiments with hippocampal prosthesis.  (The hippocampus is the brain structure that is associated with the autonomic nervous system, emotion, and especially memory.) 

So far most of these are implanted devices because the further you place the sensor from the nerve the harder it is to get a clean signal, and the harder it is to deliver a signal to where you want it.  A lot of that (though not all by any means) can be overcome with better signal processing, and computers are getting better all the time.  We're still a long way - several decades I'd say - from being able to just put on a headset and go full-dive into a game however.  In another decade or so you might be able to get brain implant that allows you to connect an external device to accomplish the same thing, but it'll be expensive and not without risk.  Not something you would likely do casually, like so you can play a game.

I think the biggest impediment to this sort of thing now is that we just don't know how the brain works in enough detail to implement this sort of device.  We've only in the last few years even been able to start getting the kind of data that lets us start figuring this stuff out.  It is going to take a while to figure it all out, then some more time to figure out how to do something like a Nerve Gear safely.

That said, existing VR gear is already pretty good, and getting better.  It isn't "full-dive" by any stretch, but it is good enough to bypass the cerebellum and fool the deeper parts of your brain in certain ways that really facilitate presence and suspension of disbelief, which is really all you're after in a gaming context.  You can easily make people fall over or get motion sick with today's gear.  Even though they know it isn't real, the automatic parts of peoples' brains get the signal and reflexively respond without waiting for confirmation from the cortex.  If done right this sort of thing is very cool.  If not, well, I'm waiting for the VR version of "nintendo thumb" to be announced.    (In fact, a lot of VR research these days is being focused on how to avoid doing those sorts of things unintentionally.)

Made with 100% genuine wool from a pink sheep.  None of this dyed-after-the-fact stuff.  Accept no imitations!

X

Hello, and welcome!

Behold, the legendary PINK SHEEP in its native habitat...


 

Next week... Herobrine!  (Assuming they haven't removed him in 1.13.       )

I don't think it is a good idea to put toxic substances in my body, even for recreational purposes.  Part of it is my dad.  He smoked, drank, and ultimately died of throat cancer.  Good example of what NOT to do.  I've also seen some of my friends really screw up their lives with various drugs, including alcohol.  Even before all of those examples however I wasn't big on drinking.  Yeah, when I was young and stupid I did experiment a bunch.  Pretty quickly though I decided that things like drinking, especially to excess, are just not a good idea.  It isn't like I never drink, and I never liked the people who say that those who drink are bad people just because they drink*, but to me alcohol is just like tobacco, mj, and all the other drugs.  Just not worth it.  Not worth the risk.  Not worth the expense.  Not worth the wasted** time, both the high-time and the recovery time.  I have better things to do with my life.

(*though you might be a bad person if you do bad things while drunk or on drugs and, knowing that, don't stop drinking/doing drugs.)

(**no pun intended  )

4 hours ago, ArchieKun said:

Whats your favorite, and least favorite

Least favorite.. aside from summon-only mobs like Ender Dragons or withers?  Least favorite is probably things like phantoms, and ghasts, because they can fly.  Easiest is probably skeletons, especially with a pack of dogs/wolves, but zombies are almost as easy and have (slightly) better drops.  It really depends on what I'm equipped with/ready for though.  Attacking a blaze is kind of tough unless you have snowballs for instance.  Getting surprised by a creeper is always bad, but hunting them with a bow or an axe is easy.  It just depends.

Tamed wolves... love having them around when I'm out mob-hunting, but sometimes they're just too in-my-face when I'm trying to build stuff!

10 hours ago, Roxeg said:

That's quite an experience, it's got to be so much fun.

That's why I like sandbox games like MC where you can build stuff according to your own plan.  Not that we actually have a plan.  But yes, we do have fun.  

First of all you have to understand that while I played MC a lot in the past, I haven't played at all since about 1.3-ish.  I think horses were all the rage back then.  Then the server I was playing on with friends started having trouble with its provider, and the people I was with just kind of stopped playing.  I always have more stuff to do than time to do it anyway, and other things got priority  It was only relatively recently that I rediscovered some old files on my system related to that game and mentioned them to my brother in an email.  He came back with, "I have a backup of the old game files too.  Maybe I could find another provider and we could get it going again" and...

As it turns out, for various reasons we started a new survival game from scratch.    Right now we're just catching up on all the new content since then.  All the coral biome stuff is new (to me) for example.  In our old game we never saw igloos, Drowned, turtles, polar bears, dolphins, or that dang skeleton variety in the icy biome(s) that shoots arrows of slowness.  We've all got much better computers now, as well as faster internet too, so we're enjoying the smoother multiplayer gameplay.  I think I may even have still been on dialup for my internet back then.

We'll probably play it through to the end of the crafting tree, then.. who knows?  Currently we're in the nether trying to find a fortress to get some blazes to get some blaze rods for blaze powder, which we want because we built our own village and want to cure some villager-zombies to populate it with.  Curing requires golden apples and a splash potion of weakness, so we need to get a brewing stand going.  Brewing stands need blaze powder now too (another difference from when I last played mc) so that's another reason we need a supply of blaze rods.  Other random stuff as opportunity presents.  Last time I talked to him my brother was considering building a roller coaster in the village from parts from an old mineshaft we found.  Etc.  Etc..

On 9/19/2018 at 10:46 PM, Hatsune_Werewolf said:

Sankarea

I watched that one a few whiles back.  Pretty weird premise.  Worth a watch but.. very odd.

I did like Dusk Maiden.  The episode where Teiichi finds out how Yuuko became a ghost was pretty tough to watch tho.

Welcome!

5 hours ago, Nono said:

is that too old?

54 here (as of last Monday).  You have a few years yet. 

Seriously though, I don't think that anime is something you can "grow out of".  Anime is like books.. there's so many different types of stories.  Your tastes will likely change, but you'll always be able to find something interesting for as long as you care to look.

1 hour ago, Karasu said:

Itazura na Kiss

If that's on the list then Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji should be there too.

Also Ao Haru Ride, and Isshuukan Friends.

My usual answer is "all of them".    I'm a binge-watcher though so I usually wait until the season is mostly over before starting anything.  Sometimes I'll binge the first few episodes just to check & help with prioritization.  My backlog on crunchy alone however is .. impressive.  Always more anime than time, and life/job/family come first, with books, games, and anime (and sometimes sleep) slugging it out for what's left.

That said, and given that my viewing style means I won't be deciding anything until at least halfway into the season, of the ones I've checked into so far priority this time around goes to Alicization, Irozoku Sekai, Ingress, and Sora to Umi no Aida.

On 9/15/2018 at 5:11 AM, Beocat said:

I have interest...probably not the means...

You and me both, though I'm less the Neil Armstrong and more the Oregon Trail type.  Hopefully I'll still be alive - and able to afford it - when/if SpaceX-tachi get a regular Mars run going.

BTW, I meant Freedom, not Moonlight Mile, in my original post.  (But that wasn't it either.  Still looking..)

So Elon Musk posted a Japanese flag in response to the question of who is going to be the world's first private passenger to ride SpaceX's Big F...alcon Spaceship around the moon.  ( twitter link here )    Hideo Kojima, the Japanese video game designer/producer, was one of the first to retweet Musk's post so of course his name has been at the top of many lists of contenders, but Japan is not lacking for people with the interest and means to take such a trip. People like Masayoshi Son (SoftBank) and Takafumi Horie (Livedoor) have also been suggested for example.  I figure if any group (of which I'm a member) has any idea who it might actually be then this might be the group.  (Not that I expect anyone here to know of course.)  Let the speculation begin!  At least until Monday's announcement. 

Also, if you can tell me what that new BFS design looks like I'd like to hear about it.  I think I've seen it somewhere before but I can't recall where.  I want to say Moonlight Mile?  That was a long time ago though and I don't have a copy to refresh my memory.  I might be mis-remembering.  Maybe Planetes?  It is bugging me.  Help!

I think I'm developing a taste for Powerwolf..

I do it all the time.  I mean, I don't obsess over it or anything, but somehow, no matter how many times I proofread, I don't see the last couple typos or grammar errors until just after I post.  Just one of the ways the ghods like to F with me I guess. 

40 minutes ago, Ohiotaku said:

Planet With

On my list.  Haven't seen it yet tho.

24 minutes ago, Ohiotaku said:

Asobi Asobase

I tried that and dropped it.  I did not find it that funny and I didn't care for the animation style besides.

26 minutes ago, Ohiotaku said:

A Certain Magical Index

I watched that back when it came out.  It was ok, but I felt it was way too long and rather boring.  Part of it was the fantasy genre which I'm not too into.  (A Certain "Scientific" Railgun wasn't really any better.)  The only part I found interesting was the Touma/Railgun crossover.  That part I liked better than either show on its own.  I'd like to see a season built out of a spinoff with those two as leads, perhaps after they graduate and mature a bit.

11 hours ago, AniMeFReaK said:

One thing: THE ART.

That too.  I've been known to (re)watch some stuff just for the background art.  (Hanasaku for example.. if you haven't tried it in HD, do it. )

I like it because it is still possible (tho of course not guaranteed) for there to be relatively little separation between the creator and the consumer.  IOW, less middlemen muddying the waters.  Like with books, you can sometimes get pretty much what the author intended you to get, for better or worse.  Compared to most of what hollyweird produces, which has a committee-and-beancounter filter that makes it hard to get interesting stuff produced, anime can still be cheap enough that occasionally something new and/or awesome gets through.  Not every time to be sure, but enough that it is worth paying attention to.

On 8/29/2018 at 11:41 PM, Palatine said:

So what games are you looking forward to playing this year? What are you currently playing now?

Playing now:  Minecraft - speaking of retro - and of course Kerbal Space Program.

Looking ahead... hard to say.  I've been busy and really haven't had time to check out what's coming up.  My computer "needs" a hardware update so I was kind of planning(?) on waiting until the end of this year or the beginning of next to get into that process, which would include checking out what's out there in games.   (Because we all know games drive hardware requirements, right? )  I run linux on my main system so I've also been waiting for Vulkan to get here & maybe bring some of those Windows games my way.  I could get into games like No Man's Sky, Conan Exiles, or Space Engineers if I could run them on my rig, but I've got too much other stuff - including for work - on it to dump linux for W10.

1 hour ago, Ryuji said:

This is officially the most stressful thread on AF

I'd like to withhold judgment until/unless I get hit by lightning and get sent to another world with my smartphone.  Then I can pick "all of them". 

That said, I picked "fox".  If it can be only one these there really isn't any other choice.  I mean... Chizuru Minamoto, Tenko Kuugen, not to mention all the girls at Konohana-tei.  I rest my case.

Of course, the only real choice in furdom is "wolf", as in Holo from Spice and Wolf.

10 hours ago, ArchieKun said:

Just couldn't stay away huh. I love MC too though. As it stands I am not on any regular servers, but am taking my time. Not wanting to rush into it. Creative Mode is my favorite in MC. I like building castles, and large structures. How about you.

I get bored too easy in creative mode.  Usually when by myself I play hardcore survival.. and then proceed to try to build giant constructions as if I was in creative.  (I might have been a masochist in a previous life. )  My current multiplayer game on my brother's server is a hard mode survival game with large biomes so there's been a focus on exploration.  We (me & the people I play with) decided that was fine because while we're all MC veterans none of us had played for several years.  I personally hadn't played since horses were brand new (ca. 2013?).  At this point we're past the initial base-building phase and just having a good time exploring and discovering all the "new" stuff.  I love how pickles light up the coral reef biome for example.  The world spawn point was a beach between a coral ocean and hilly forest but we decided the local food needed augmentation so we've recently been on a Quest for Cookies.  Nobody's found a jungle biome (for the cocoa beans) yet tho.   I've got a secondary personal quest to find enough clay and cactus to make a giant Kerbal statue.    Haven't figured out what I'll use for the orange jumpsuit yet though.  Farming enough pumpkins sounds like too much work.  Probably need to find a badlands biome for some orange terracotta first.