Goals for the week
- Keep reading Relph – I need to get through more of it
- Keep developing updated graphics – begin with the character, THIS WEEK then the setting… with a view to then creating a new prototype that has all my own assets in it
- Continue developing a time-space framework – yeah! Looking at Chaos. Good times:)
Main thing:
Read – write – make
Mon
Did updates in last weeks thing on the gbstudio demo. Turns out I needed a lot less additional stuff (variables and logic) to do what I wanted because there was a lot built in. This js what happens when you start to learn how to actually use something properly.
Tue
So, because why not, I am looking at Chaos Theory. For as long as I can remember (since playing with Fractint on a 386! – and there is an emulated version that you can run right now on archive.org: https://archive.org/details/fractint-version-19.6) I have found the idea of Chaos Theory interesting. It has been rattling around in my head for that long. And now, after beginning to read I can see how it could also be useful for this project
This is all roughly based on the paper by Lorenz in 1972 – “Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly’s Wings in Brazil Set Off a Tornado in Texas?” – which is otherwise know as ‘the butterfly effect” In
Chaos as organising principle – “turning back a trend in science toward reductionism, the analysis of systems in terms of their constituent parts: quarks, chromosomes, or neurons.” (Gleick, 1988, p. 15) Is my “most useful irreducable modular unit” just glorified reductionism?
Well, perhaps not. Maybe its the ‘acceptable bounds’ as described in the video below:
“In roguelikes, we are trying to create endless possibilities, but guarantee those possibilities stay within a certain acceptable bound” – (Jareberry pie, 2022)
And, what does that look like? “Roguelikes are the closest thing we can get to a living breathing system while still being what a game must be: fun. Chaos serves no one. A game must serve the player.” (Jareberry pie, 2022)
In this regard, it still adheres to the idea that chaos is NOT the same as disorder, because effects still follow causes.
Lorenz attractor > is what things are pulled towards in a climate such that things repeat but never in the exact same way. – Gillian Smith’s chapter on ‘Understanding the Generator’ in Procedural Generation in Game Design goes from looking at a generator, looking for patterns, so that they can be tweaked.
“The way snowflakes form, I think, is the best analogy to describe the random generation of a roguelike.” (Jareberry pie, 2022)
So, its a parameterised randomness that is a very useful design feature.
I liked this quote: “Referencing this idea that Chaos can both create and destroy and it is not it’s goal to do either. It just let’s things play out. But we always refer to chaos as destructive despite the order within it.”
In the game Hades, “Each run’s output creates a whole slew of new inputs for the next one, linking the pre-existing randomness within run’s themselves. Like a big butterfly made up of smaller butterflies who are also made up of butterflies. Which boggles the mind. Which is made of butterflies.” (Jareberry pie, 2022) And the thing he says about the double pendulum fidget spinner is just gold.
This was a site mentioned in the video:
And, this was pretty cool: https://www.aerfish.com/universe-splitter
There’s also this: Roguelike Radio – Episode 149: Chaos Theory – which also flows to this: http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2018/12/episode-149-chaos-theory.html
(NOTE THE TITLE ON THIS SLIDE IS NOT THE ACTUAL THING)
Importantly: can it be done in GBStudio? Yet to find out – but, there is this: https://www.gbstudio.dev/docs/scripting/math-expressions/
And, random seed: https://www.gbstudio.dev/docs/scripting/script-glossary/math/
So, yes it looks like there can be choices that are generative – but only within what has actually been created already – e.g. need to investigate the scale and resolution of what can be generated (I think it varies depending on the thing in question – e.g. scenes, items in scenes, encounters etc.) To be continued…
But after all that, what are some calculations?
https://slicker.me/fractals/fractals.htm
Interesting parallel development of roguelikes and chaos theory in the 80s,. I guess.
- discovery of the Mandelbrot set in 1979-1980
- Rogue was originally developed around 1980
Wed
All the while, this has been bobbing around in my head, looking for a time to shine. It’s now.
I am sure this stuff has a proper term. Will have to find out… not clocks…
Timers and tracking cycles. I was casually observing the other day, that I had a realisation that a tray of chicken in fridge signals the beginning of the week. It is usually purchased on a Saturday afternoon – thus resetting a fairly specific timer, which I hadn’t realised, until I did, then couldn’t believe that I had never made the connection up to that point.
In fact, I questioned the structure of the week because, upon opening the fridge, I didn’t see the chicken because it was on the bottom shelf, and behind some other stuff. I moved some things and saw the chicken, so the timer was all ok.
The similar idea I had had many years ago, was after seeing one of the cats at top of bean bag. When the cat was mostly visible (as much as it could be when curled up in a bean bag), it indicated some time in the first half of the (day light) morning (around 9ish). tracks the morning hours as it slowly sinks into the bean bag until all that is visible is the ears – the cat also moves to different parts of the house in order to catch the sun throughout the day (western palace) – this idea of cycles such as these indicating moments passing is interesting… also ties into
I also realised that Molly and the cookies was a game worth following – again, I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before… It has been filed for later development perhaps…
The other thing is that Martha the dog (more so than Molly the dog it seems…) has the ability to run, or at least fast walk) in any direction and chnage direction almost instantly – for example if she os walking towards you, she can, at the same speed, start walking sideways in any direction, or backwards. A great skill to have.
Thu
Well, this is the bit that makes sense – in the madelbrot, it is as much about the STRUCTURE of the equation as the rest of it. It loops endlessly – ots interative and not static…
“behavior of a starting point when you plug it into the equation, get an answer, and then feed that answer back into the equation” –
And the other thing could be that each step, additional data could be added in. I mean it gets pretty crazy pretty fast…
Fri
Went to the beach…
Sat
- Finish off tasks or, if done – start another task…
Sun
A quick catch up session