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  1. PDP-8 instruction set is super minimal, so conditional branching has some unique quirks. It's handled by microcoded "skip"-type commands, e.g. SPA (skip if positive accumulator). If the test condition is true, it skips the next line. Sometimes, just skipping a line is convenient and you can get away with just jumping away if the test is negative. But as I write more complex programs, I find myself writing more spaghetti.

  2. Actually my is probably better than messing around in a text editor. I think these scores might be better distributed now

  3. I finally finished a project! I made a game I call Dicey Poker which is a mash-up of dice rolling and poker. It's pretty basic, but it's pretty fun. A game is 10 rounds and rounds are pretty quick, so I've played hundreds of games over the past few weeks.

  4. Obviously the is not a very powerful console, but I was disappointed when I recently played on the and the draw distance was very, very short. The draw distance was a lot better when I previously played the version. You really need far draw distance in a game like that (if you've played it, you know why).

    I only played in handheld mode, maybe it's better in docked mode.

  5. If you like , I highly recommend you check out . It is a technically impressive game engine with some mind-bending, impossible geometry. The puzzles aren't too difficult but you do have to learn the game's logic and think outside of the box. The music is beautiful and adds to atmosphere.

    I played through on last year and am currently replaying on the and enjoying it just as much.

  6. I made some progress on my this week. I added visibility - so you can see rooms when you walk into them but tunnels have limited visibility. There are also multiple floors with staircases between them. And I made improvements to the map generation algorithm.

  7. What is your preferred GUI client on modern ? I thought seemed cool but got spinning beachball of death within 10 minutes. Using Azure now, which is fine.

    I miss from my MacOS 7 and 8 days...

  8. Another day, another “final opportunity” email from a . Surprisingly not today!

  9. has gotten a bit slow since the pandemic, especially with the "big publishers" ... totally understandable, I haven't had the mental throughput to review as many papers lately. In my experience, have done a pretty good job.

    I have a manuscript that's been in "needing an editor" limbo with a big publisher for about 2 months. I know it'll go quick once we get an editor and reviewers, but my postdoc is getting a little antsy.

  10. I'm in the middle of a Final Fantasy V Four Job Fiesta run. I've never done one before, but I have played through the game normally. I struggled a bit at the beginning but I think I'm over the hump now. I think I'll be able to finish by the Aug. 31st deadline.

    I made some vector art to overlay on-stream. I based these on the super-deformed promotional art.

  11. I have been playing Baldur's Gate 2 Enhanced Edition for a couple weeks now on my iPad. There is so much to do, so much content. I was in chapter 2 doing sidequests for a good 20+ hours before deciding to progress the story.

  12. I've been playing Enhanced Edition. I've tried to play BG1 for years but could never get into it because it can be pretty hard at the start. But I've started to have fun with it, and am making good progress (I just stepped into the city).

    Also, I'm playing on my . The touch controls can be a little annoying (WALK INTO THAT DOOR. IT'S RIGHT THERE!) but it's mostly serviceable.