The Stuff Simple Games are Made Of

Me Via Twitter: I've been studying relativity! I'd forgotten that it's quite mad. Quantum physics is only a bit more mad. All tutorials skip the hard stuff.

On GChat:
John: What possible use could you have for relativity?

me: I thought maybe the time dilation effects could be an interesting mechanic.
Imagine a chess match where the various parts of the board have different internal clocks.

John: OK, I can see that.
I remember modeling games with non-zero communication propagation times, but never tried tracking local age of units.

me: Well, think about it: the faster you go (the more you advance), the fewer turns you get to take.
It's a built-in negative feedback loop. Choosing the best point will always be a tradeoff.

John: Interesting.
I guess I'm having a hard time imagining the metaphor for a game in which it was so important that you do something on a ship (or conveyance of your choosing) that the tradeoff would become relevant.

me: Yeah, I'm having a bit of a time with that, too.
I'm thinking of throwing in the mass distortion effect, and having some kind of cosmic gravity-ball.
Relativistic pong, maybe.

John: Hmm.
Does relativity guarantee that inertial mass is alway equal to gravitational mass after distortion?

me: I was thinking of ignoring reality just a little.

John: That was actually a legitimate question, not a narrow insinuation, but I will take your answer as I choose.

me: :)

John: I suppose anything with RKV's might benefit from being able to calculate their physical properties.

me: Only to some extent. After about 0.7c, there's not much point. Everything is dead.
Nonviolent relativistic games are all I can come up with.

John: Perhaps interstellar wine shipping?

me: Radioactive material shipping...
Same idea.

John: You need the wine to age a certain number of years before it comes to market, but you want it to be sold as soon as possible?

me: "It was a very good year. Before their sun exploded."

John: Actually, never mind. The math works out that you would always age it locally and then send it as fast as you could.

me: Ah-ah, you're assuming relativistic travel has no effect on the wine.

John: Its true!

me: Winefolk will certainly be able to taste that "space aged" flavor.
Or think they can, at any rate.
"My, did you fly this through a nebula? Excellent nose on it..."

John: Why do I get the impression you'd have a lot more fun writing the NPC's for that game than the game itself?

me: I'm gonna do it.
I'm gonna build a relavitistic wine-merchant game.
And I'm gonna post this conversation to my blog, 'cause I'm a nerd.

John: hehe
Go for it.

Poor Bill Paxton

So, yesterday someone was watching TV and I heard a very familiar voice. It was saying something boring about some TV series, but in my head I clearly heard "That's it! Game over, man! Game over!"

I wonder what it must be like to have your WHOLE LIFE defined by one relatively minor role. I mean, does anyone see him as Bill Henrickson, or, like me, is it all "Why is Hudson wearing a suit?"

Twenty years later, and I still can't picture this poor guy as anything other than a doomed space marine. Yeah, I know he starred in Twister and played a big role in Apollo 13. At those times, I thought "Why is Hudson driving a car?" and "Why is Hudson wearing a space suit?"

Oh, no, wait, that makes sense.

Sorry, Bill!

Silliness

Everyone's so cheerful today. In the city of Boston, thousands of un-protesters have joined an anti-riot and cheerfully gone about their daily business.

Analysts are concerned that this manic good-will could result in radical, crippling changes to city traffic patterns. Police have been dispatched to major intersections to heckle the drivers into resuming their customary massholery.