Beautycopter

a nice constructed desert i want to exist in a while,
but the prescribed and arbitrary task-based scavenger hunt gameplay pattern
is not worth my time to engage with.
made it to 9:45 AM.

I picked this book up at the library on a whim. It was just sitting there on display. I picked it up, then put it down, thinking I should find another not-on-display copy. Of course it was the only copy at the library; what do I think this is, a bookstore? So I went back and checked out the only copy at the library.

I happened to have played Monopoly the other day (Sunday, Thanksgiving), so it caught my eye. Monopoly Rules.

Also the book was very shiny.

- Gender sliders! I like them.
- I wasn't expecting a little move around screen
- Why is there a card game? This feels like a meaningless nested subgame

Work at Messhof is less satisfying than work that I do individually, and I have been trying to figure out why. I'm not sure "Ownership" is quite the right term, but I'll use it here as it refers to "My Work." When I make something, it is "mine" and I can see how feedback regarding it applies to "me" and I can learn, I can learn what to do better next time, I can feel the feedback unambiguously. Likewise I want to give someone feedback! I want to talk to the artisan responsible and trust them, trust that they are engaged in the pursuit of something, that they are going to get there. In a project with many people I've found these things run together. My work becomes our work, Our work becomes your work, Your work becomes my work again.

There's something there but I can't describe it. I need to hash it out with someone.

It's weird to read something like this - the description given is "Murasaki has the power to see the future of the person she touches. As the landlord's daughter, she has to chase after Shijima Banri for rent every month." but I really didn't expect it to be a romance between a 33-yo author and a 17-yo high schooler... I have certain judgements, but actually the things I'm interested in are the things the love interest (the author) says, that I can relate to, about his work.

I'm making a note of this because it's the first time I've read a work and felt such a clear distinction between what I am REALLY INTERESTED IN (the author character, who I relate to), and this sort of compelling fluff that's not meaningful and is maybe kinda questionable as an authored scenario (the romance between two characters who have such a vast age difference, the 17-yo girl who has a much less interesting personality except to be in love and supportive...)

Anyway, the quotes follow.

suppose my goal is to write a complete expansive exploration of how anyone gets anything done ever - would that help me get things done when i don't want to do things? let's find out. here's a rough outline.

1. my brain sometimes is broken, but i assume it's kinda like other people's brains only more prone to distraction. that is, everyone is susceptible to some degree. i just feel it more keenly.

2. 'to-do lists' are terrible because they don't respect scope. we need better words.

3. break down various types of tasks. 'to-plan'. 'to-achieve-someday'. 'to-forget-about'. 'to-start-and-finish-in-the-same-[minute/hour/day]'. 'to-start'.

4. 'to do tomorrow' is only valuable if it turns into 'to do today' which is only valuable if it turns into 'to do right now'.

5. ???

Regarding Bernard Suits'
"The Grasshopper"

I have never watched this video all the way through., and I don't think I
ever watched any of parts 2 or 3. But I'm rewatching it because Corey Hardt brought up Eureka and Fiero in Paradise and while thinking about magic door games and discussing them with Sylvie I started to wonder if what I'm looking for is the overlap between eureka and fiero. Eurekafiero. It's been a while since I've thought about "designing a puzzle game" because I haven't enjoyed many. I'm trying to figure out why. I want to go design more puzzles -- but not just puzzles; great, life-changing, horizon-breaking puzzles.

Not a thousand good puzzles, or even a hundred great puzzles; I want a game to have ten, or even just one, perfect puzzle.

Teach me how to design one perfect puzzle, Elyot Grant.

In Paradise there is a thread called Tree Climbing where we talk about tree climbing.

Quote from: Corey HardtTrees (climbing them) are great natural/physical game design (route-finding? zk map etc?)

Going to make this game:

first imagine the players
not in a mass but face by face:

eleax,
   who kills for sport
   and ignores every conversation,
   every human word

ameri,
   who keeps a notebook on hand
   to remember those friends
   that feel alive

avrin,
   who arrowlike dashes
   straight toward the finish line
   cut and bled by spurned roses

hyert,
   who dreams of bathing
   naked in the ocean that lies
   forever trapped behind glass

faval,
   who watches like a hawk
   and feels pain
   at every missed opportunity

these players are their own protagonists, all

   the player is your protagonist
   how do you expect them to act?
   how do you want them to?

the changes that occur in their heart
are the lifeblood of this art form
a story told by its own audience.

first imagine the player.

second imagine the game.

i got into the habit of layering sounds on top of sounds on top of sounds in Musagi and, lately, Bitwig Studio. kicks on top of leads on top of a bass on top of snares on top of a hi-hat etc. but . . . then i started playing the Great Fairy's Fountain theme from memory (read: poorly) and it was beautifully simple.

when i think about my favourite music, it's often the work of Kashiwa Daisuke that comes to mind, but i think my real answer would be Geothermal from Cave Story - but played on piano, which is a total impossibility according to the sheet music i tried using. it needed three hands. but there was a beautiful, resonant depth to the parts that i could play.

(here is a bad version of it - bad as in missing some of the lower notes, an unforgivable redaction)

i thought about the iconic 'Zelda's Secret Sound', and how that could be played and recognized with one instrument.

why was i adding a drum beat?

~ linked from The Nature of Order Book 2, on SIMPLICITY and PERFECTION

(sometimes i read an article and i think, this could make a great poem. i thought this about "AI has always been a toy" https://www.microethology.net/ai-has-always-been-a-toy/ which is an article i didn't even read, i just read the title and skimmed it.)

Regarding Yuku Suetsugu's
"Chihayafuru"

re: Robert H. Lustig's
"The Hacking of the American Mind"

re golden krishna's
"the best interface is no interface "

*i took one picture which i don't have the time to transcribe right now. read while sick and not taking notes.