Shedletsky’s Bits

Just won a 16 player online mafia game as the Demon, proving that when it comes to lies, deceit, and treachery, I’m your man!

Mafia is an interesting game because it is all about tricking likely facts from a chaotic morass of information. Maybe it’s possible to play purely by "reading" people’s speech and mannerisms. However, all the best players I know start with an absolutely terrible (basically random) read of the situation and then are able to slowly refine it over several turns. The ability to remain skeptical, I think, is very valuable in this game.

Since we were playing with so many people this time, Doug introduced a secret "minigame" of 4 people who appeared in town on the beginning of the 3rd day. By and large I think this was a successful addition. People feel much more involved when they are 1 in 4 vs. 1 in 13.

- - -

Salem Witch Hunt Mafia!
“She’s a witch! Burn her!” - OR - “The devil made me do it!”
Game designed by John Shedletsky & Douglas Wilson
Introduction

Historical info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_hunt
The year is 1692. The place is Salem Town, an important New World seaport in the great colony of Massachusetts. King William and Mary have just ascended to the throne, and despite continued clashes with the Natives, economic prospects are strong. Many of you are second or third generation Puritan colonists. Others have arrived from England, hoping to carry out God’s will in a new land. Others still are here to start a new life.
But in the shadows of colonial Massachusetts, something more sinister is lurking. Some of you, twisted by the Devil or simply intoxicated by the lure of the dark arts, have turned to witchcraft. Increasingly victimized by your cruel magic, the god-fearing citizens of Salem Town have been gripped by fear and hysteria. Worse yet, the chaos has spawned an even darker force - a Demon itself, capable of manipulating innocent souls.
As servants of His will, it is up to you, the citizens, to defend the sanctity of the town. Lynch the witches and exorcise the Demon. The only justice is divine retribution in the name of the Lord Himself!
Online Mafia
For those of you who have never played online Mafia, it works like this: each “day” is an actual day. The game is played over the course of a week via this forum. Players post whenever they feel like over the course of the day. Players are expected to post at least a few times per day, but you don’t have to devote your entire life to the game or anything!
Each day will consist of a 5.5 hour period (10am to 3:30pm California time, or 7pm to 12:30am Denmark time). The last half-hour is the official voting period. In the case of a tie, a special rule system will be used to automatically dictate who is actually lynched (see below).
The results are announced at the end of the day, and then players who take night actions communicate their decisions (in their own special sub-forum) before 9am PST (or 6pm Europe time) the next day. The Mafia and dead will each be given their own discussion forums.
Note that online mafia allows for a number of key new features. First, players have anonymous identities. Second, one player can control multiple people, or one person can be controlled by multiple players!
The Basics
After a lovely muse-inspired day-hike on Angel Island, many hours of heated debate, and numerous revisions, we’ve arrived at what we believe to be a novel set of rules guaranteed to entertain even the most jaded Mafia connoisseur!
13 players
3 Witches (Mafia)
1 Demon
9 Townspeople (Citizens)
Win Scenarios
Citizens win. All witches and Demon dead. In very rare cases I may end the game early if it’s clear that the Demon can no longer win.
Mafia wins. Demon is gone and there are enough witches to guarantee a win (this is usually when the Mafia reaches 50% of the total population, but there are some edge cases in which such a game is still winnable for the citizens)
Demon wins. No longer any possible way to corner or kill the Demon.
Extra rule: if there have been no deaths or kills for three days, the Demon wins. Or, if the Demon has already been killed, the Citizens win.
The Demon
Consider for a moment, if you will, how awesome a game is if “the devil made me do it!” becomes a viable defense!
The Demon is a third-party role whose sole aim is survival. If the game ends with the Demon still in play, everyone else loses! Unlike all other players, the Demon is incorporeal. That is, they don’t have their own avatar. Every night the Demon possesses a player – during the next day the Demon gets forum access to post as that player, while the possessed victim is denied access to post.
The Demon does not find out the true role of their target. As such, the Demon cannot use the power of that player (e.g. can’t call a Trial-By-Fire) during the day. However, all players can use their special night power even if they were possessed the previous day or will be possessed the following day (the Demon spends its night roaming the earth in search of a new victim. But an exorcism still works because there are traces of the Demon in the recently possessed body).
The first day starts with no Demon possession (Demon watches, but can’t post).
Every night, the Demon chooses two targets to possess - a first choice, and a backup choice. The Demon cannot possess the same player twice in a row (although they can return to the target later). There are a number of other players who cannot be possessed: the Pious Soul, any player who is killed that same night, and any player who is blessed by the Priest that same night. Note that if a player is saved by the Doctor, they are still a valid possession target. If both of the Demon’s choices are resistant to possession, the Demon is cornered as is expunged (dies).
The Demon can also be expunged (die) in three other ways. First, the Exorcist can expunge the Demon during the night (a one time attempt). Second, the Demon is expunged if they try to possess a Hag who uses the Poison Mind Curse. Third, if a possessed player is put to a Trial-By-Fire, the Demon is expunged.
If the Demon is ever expunged (killed), all players are informed.
Townspeople
Doctor
Like the traditional Doctor, saves one person at night. Can self-heal.
Priest
Chooses one player at night to bless. The blessed person cannot be possessed by the Demon for the next day. Cannot self-bless.
Pious Soul
Cannot be possessed by the Demon
Sinner
Is told that they are the Pious Soul, but is really not
Astrologer
Once per game, can ask during the night for a list of certain info:
• Is the Hag alive? What curses do they have left?
• Is the Clone alive?
• How many Witches (Mafia) are left?
Note that the Astrologer is given this information privately.
Zealot
Once during the game, can call a Trial-By-Fire. Upon calling the trial (which the moderator will acknowledge to make official), the Zealot may give the accused player time to defend themselves. The Zealot can decide to let the player go, or light the match. But the Zealot must light the match before the official voting half-hour begins. If the match is lit, the accused player dies no matter what. The public then finds out if the player was a citizen or "evil" (either Mafia or Demon). If the person was possessed by the Demon, the Demon is expunged (dies). Note that if the Zealot calls the trial, but then lets the accused player go, they cannot call another trial.
Escape Artist
If lynched or burned in a Trial-By-Fire, vanishes from play (does not get to read the forums), then gets to come back the day after next (assuming the game is still going). This is true even if the Escape Artist was possessed by the Demon. All players are informed after lynching that the Escape Artist escaped.
Exorcist
One time, during the night, can target one player. If that player was possessed the previous day, the Demon is expunged (dies). Note that the exorcism is private. Only the exorcist knows they used the action (unless they successfully catch the Demon).
One regular (vanilla) citizen
Witches
Hag
Wields four curses (can use each once per game, and only one per night):
• Self-esteem issues - Stops Doctor from a self-save during that night
• Slow reflexes - Block escape artist power for one turn
• Cripple - Targeted player loses all special powers relating to their role for the rest of the game
• Poison Mind - Can only target self. Hag cannot vote next round. But if the Demon tries to possess the Hag, the Demon is expunged (dies).
Warlock
Controls two avatars (them and the Clone). If the Warlock dies, the Clone dies too.
Clone
Second avatar for the Warlock. If the Clone dies, the Warlock survives. Note that the Clone’s vote does not count!
One regular (vanilla) witch
Voting & Tie-Breaking
There is no official nomination process. People declare their official votes during the day, and can change these votes up until the very end of the day. The official "voting half-hour" at the end of the day is only relevant to the Zealot’s Trial-By-Fire (see above).
Ties are broken automatically based on which side is the “most pious.” The list below represents the hierarchy of townspeople and how pious they are. To figure out which side is most pious, the moderator will use the most pious townsperson who is one of the tied voting groups.
1. Pious Soul
2. Priest
3. Exorcist
4. Zealot
5. Doctor
6. Astrologer
7. Vanilla Citizen
8. Escape Artist
9. Sinner
Note that because of the Clone (whose vote does not count) and the Hag’s Poison Mind curse, sometimes a vote will be tied even if it doesn’t appear as such.

Posted in: Uncategorized by Shedletsky /
No Comments

"God darn it, I didn’t enter.
DARN! I would use profanity but this is Roblox.
Not Sparta." - A user

Posted in: Uncategorized by Shedletsky /
No Comments

I haven’t posted since Joanna and Doug’s graduation last year. The end of an era I suppose.

I haven’t posted regularly since way before that - it’s mainly something I did to procrastinate from doing school work. So I guess this blog really died around June 2006.

I’ve recently gone through the trouble of migrating it to yet another host, though. So to justify this expense of effort I think I may start using it again.

Posted in: Uncategorized by Shedletsky /
1 Comment

Posted in: Uncategorized by Shedletsky /
1 Comment

Last week was crazy. I spent most of it at GDC, the largest annual event in the videogame industry. As I mentioned in a previous post, I went to GDC to both compete in the Student Finalist Showcase (10 games out of 102 submitted made the cut; our game Euclidean Crisis was one of these), and to advance Roblox’s bid for world domination.

GDC is a week-long event that boasts expo halls (3), info sessions, lectures, tutorials, round table discussions, awards ceremonies and good old fashioned demos. This year GDC was held in San Francisco, which meant it was an easy train ride away for me and my friends.

Team Euclidean Crisis went up to SF Tuesday afternoon to setup our exhibit booth. We got to meet and greet the other finalists, some of whom had flown in from the far-flung edges of the world, places like the Netherlands, Finland and Vienna. Various members of the team hung out at our exhibit area talking about EC with random passerbys. One russian guy came by and spoke with us about our game for 20 minutes, and offered us some good design advice. Later that evening at the GDC awards ceremony, we saw the same guy walk up on stage to receive a life-time achievement award for his pioneering vision in casual games development. He was none other than Alexey Pajitnov, creator of Tetris. The next day he came back to our booth to show his friend our game. I guess he really liked it. Maybe he’ll copy our idea and you’ll see an EC clone on XBox Live someday.

GDC awards night was held on Wednesday evening and it was ridiculous. Everyone in the industry who is anyone was there. The Student Showcase event, sponsored by DigiPen, was won by a team from DigiPen, for their game Toblo (from DigiPen). This was pretty egregious since there was another student game that was clearly the best - The Blob - a Katamari-like game from the Netherlands team. Awards were also given to industry games. The Gears of War team cleaned up - I think they won several awards including Game of the Year. Shigeru Miyamoto was also onstage a lot, collecting a small pile of awards for Wii Sports and a Lifetime Achievement award. For those not in the know, Miyamoto is the genius behind Donkey Kong, Super Mario Brothers, and Zelda. Respect!

After a hard night of shouting and making a ruckus at the GDC awards ceremony, we really wanted to just go back to the bar in our hotel and play Magic (free cards from WotC? Best expo swag evar). I think the poor sap in this photo won one game all night. Incidentally, this is my friend Doug, who was covering GDC for Gamespot (which is cool because a Press pass lets you cut lots of long lines at GDC). His best article of the week was about the annual Game Development Contest, where top industry designers take some absurd idea and try to design a game around it.

Members of Roblox came up for GDC too. Someone different came up each day. Team EC had dinner with Builderman. Matt and I went to go see Steve Jackson give a vacuous presentation on blindtesting (come on Steve…). Erik and I attended an interesting round table presentation on virtual worlds.

The Eve Online founders gave the best presentation of the whole week - a discussion on the inner workings of their backend architecture.

Thousands lined up to hear the prophet Shigeru Miyamoto speak.

IBM doesn’t care who wins the console wars - they back all major players.

San Francisco in the spring. Just outside the convention center.

We have a lot of friends in the city. Walking back to the train one night we randomly ran into some.

GDC: GG!

Posted in: Uncategorized by Shedletsky /
1 Comment

Malbolge
'98, Ben Olmstead

I hereby relenquish any and all copyright on this language,
documentation, and interpreter; Malbolge is officially public domain.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                Malbolge
                           '98, Ben Olmstead

Introduction
^^^^^^^^^^^^

It was noticed that, in the field of esoteric programming languages,
there was a particular and surprising void: no programming language
known to the author was specifically designed to be difficult to program
in.

Certainly, there were languages which were difficult to write in, and
far more were difficult to read (see: Befunge, False, TWDL, RUBE...).
But even INTERCAL and BrainF***, the two kings of mental torment, were
designed with other goals: INTERCAL to have nothing in common with any
major programming language, and BrainF*** to be a very tiny, yet still
Turing-complete, language.

INTERCAL's constructs are certainly tortuous, but they are all too
flexible; you can, for instance, quite easily assign any number to a
variable with a single statement.

BrainF*** is lacking the flexibility which is INTERCAL's major weakness,
but it fails in that its constructs are far, far too intuitive.
Certainly, there are only 8 instructions, none of which take any
arguments--but it is quite easy to determine how to use those
instructions.  Subtract 8 from the current number?  With a simple
'--------' you are done!  This kind of simple answer was unacceptable to
the author.

Hence the author created Malbolge.  It borrows from machine, BrainF***,
and tri-INTERCAL, but put together in a unique way.  It was designed to
be difficult to use, and so it is.  It is designed to be
incomprehensible, and so it is.

So far, no Malbolge programs have been written.  Thus, we cannot give an
example.

"Malbolge" is the name of Dante's Eighth Circle of Hell, in which
practitioners of deception (seducers, flatterers, simonists, thieves,
hypocrites, and so on) spend eternity.

Environment
^^^^^^^^^^^

In many languages, the environment is easy to understand.  In Malbolge,
it is best to understand the runtime environment before you ever see a
command.

The environment is, roughly, that of a primitive trinary CPU.  Both code
and data share the same space (the machine's memory segment), and there
are three registers.  Machine words are ten trits (trinary digits) wide,
giving a maximum possible value of 59048 (all numbers are unsigned).
Memory space is exactly 59049 words long.

The three registers are A, C, and D.  A is the accumulator, used for
data manipulation.  A is implicitly set to the value written by all
write operations on memory.  (Standard I/O, a distinctly non-chip-level
feature, is done directly with the A register.)

C is the code pointer.  It is automatically incremented after each
instruction, and points the instruction being executed.

D is the data pointer.  It, too, is automatically incremented after each
instruction, but the location it points to is used for the data
manipulation commands.

All registers begin with the value 0.

When the interpreter loads the program, it ignores all whitespace.  If
it encounters anything that is not one of an instruction and is not
whitespace, it will give an error, otherwise it loads the file, one non-
whitespace character per cell, into memory.  Cells which are not
initialized are set by performing op on the previous two cells
repetitively.

Commands
^^^^^^^^

When the interpreter tries to execute a program, it first checks to
see if the current instruction is a graphical ASCII character (33
through 126).  If it is, it subtracts 33 from it, adds C to it, mods it
by 94, then uses the result as an index into the following table of 94
characters:

            +b(29e*j1VMEKLyC})8&m#~W>qxdRp0wkrUo[D7,XTcA"lI
            .v%{gJh4G\-=O@5`_3i<?Z';FNQuY]szf$!BS/|t:Pn6^Ha

It then checks it against the characters listed below, and performs an
appropriate action.

If the result is not one of the characters listed below, it is treated
as a nop.  If the original character is not graphic ASCII, the program
is immediately ended.

When the interpreter parses the input file, it checks each non-
whitespace character with the process above.  If any result is not one
of the eight characters below, the file will be rejected.

After the instruction is executed, 33 is subtracted from the instruction
at C, and the result is used as an index in the table below.  The new
character is then placed at C, and then C is incremented.

            5z]&gqtyfr$(we4{WP)H-Zn,[%\3dL+Q;>U!pJS72FhOA1C
            B6v^=I_0/8|jsb9m<.TVac`uY*MK'X~xDl}REokN:#?G"i@

j
  sets the data pointer to the value in the cell pointed to by the
  current data pointer.

i
  sets the code pointer to the value in the cell pointed to be the
  current data pointer.

*
  rotates the trinary value of the cell pointed to by D to the right 1.
  The least significant trit becomes the most significant trit, and all
  others move one position to the left.

p
  performs a tritwise "op" on the value pointed to by D with the
  contents of A.  The op (don't look for pattern, it's not there) is:

            | A trit:
    ________|_0__1__2_
          0 | 1  0  0
      *D  1 | 1  0  2
     trit 2 | 2  2  1

Di-trits:
    00 01 02 10 11 12 20 21 22

00  04 03 03 01 00 00 01 00 00
01  04 03 05 01 00 02 01 00 02
02  05 05 04 02 02 01 02 02 01
10  04 03 03 01 00 00 07 06 06
11  04 03 05 01 00 02 07 06 08
12  05 05 04 02 02 01 08 08 07
20  07 06 06 07 06 06 04 03 03
21  07 06 08 07 06 08 04 03 05
22  08 08 07 08 08 07 05 05 04

<
  reads an ASCII value from the stdin and converts it to Trinary, then
  stores it in A.  10 (line feed) is considered 'newline', and
  2222222222t (59048 dec.) is EOF.

/
  converts the value in A to ASCII and writes it to stdout.  Writing
  10 is a newline.

v
  indicates a full stop for the machine.

o
  does nothing, except increment C and D, as all other instructions do.

Turing-Completeness
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Though I have not proven it, I _think_ Malbolge to be Turing-complete.
To be Turing-complete, there must be some data construct which can be
used to do any mathematical calculation.  I believe that using *p in
various clever ways on the tritwords can fulfill this requirement.

Turing-completeness also requires three code constructs: sequential
execution (which Malbolge obviously has), repetition (provided by the
i and, indirectly, j instructions), and conditional-execution (provided,
I believe, by self-modifying code and altering i destinations).

I do have my doubts, particularly about data constructs, but I *think*
this works...

Appendix: Trinary Conversion Table
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Trinary to ASCII to decimal to hex table, provided, strangely enough,
for the convenience of Malbolge programmers.

00000 NUL 000 00    01012   032 20    02101 @ 064 40    10120 ` 096 60
00001 SOH 001 01    01020 ! 033 21    02102 A 065 41    10121 a 097 61
00002 STX 002 02    01021 " 034 22    02110 B 066 42    10122 b 098 62
00010 ETX 003 03    01022 # 035 23    02111 C 067 43    10200 c 099 63
00011 EOT 004 04    01100 $ 036 24    02112 D 068 44    10201 d 100 64
00012 ENQ 005 05    01101 % 037 25    02120 E 069 45    10202 e 101 65
00020 ACK 006 06    01102 & 038 26    02121 F 070 46    10210 f 102 66
00021 BEL 007 07    01110 ' 039 27    02122 G 071 47    10211 g 103 67
00022 BS  008 08    01111 ( 040 28    02200 H 072 48    10212 h 104 68
00100 HT  009 09    01112 ) 041 29    02201 I 073 49    10220 i 105 69
00101 LF  010 0a    01120 * 042 2a    02202 J 074 4a    10221 j 106 6a
00102 VT  011 0b    01121 + 043 2b    02210 K 075 4b    10222 k 107 6b
00110 FF  012 0c    01122 , 044 2c    02211 L 076 4c    11000 l 108 6c
00111 CR  013 0d    01200 - 045 2d    02212 M 077 4d    11001 m 109 6d
00112 SO  014 0e    01201 . 046 2e    02220 N 078 4e    11002 n 110 6e
00120 SI  015 0f    01202 / 047 2f    02221 O 079 4f    11010 o 111 6f
00121 DLE 016 10    01210 0 048 30    02222 P 080 50    11011 p 112 70
00122 DC1 017 11    01211 1 049 31    10000 Q 081 51    11012 q 113 71
00200 DC2 018 12    01212 2 050 32    10001 R 082 52    11020 r 114 72
00201 DC3 019 13    01220 3 051 33    10002 S 083 53    11021 s 115 73
00202 DC4 020 14    01221 4 052 34    10010 T 084 54    11022 t 116 74
00210 NAK 021 15    01222 5 053 35    10011 U 085 55    11100 u 117 75
00211 SYN 022 16    02000 6 054 36    10012 V 086 56    11101 v 118 76
00212 ETB 023 17    02001 7 055 37    10020 W 087 57    11102 w 119 77
00220 CAN 024 18    02002 8 056 38    10021 X 088 58    11110 x 120 78
00221 EM  025 19    02010 9 057 39    10022 Y 089 59    11111 y 121 79
00222 SUB 026 1a    02011 : 058 3a    10100 Z 090 5a    11112 z 122 7a
01000 ESC 027 1b    02012 ; 059 3b    10101 [ 091 5b    11120 { 123 7b
01001 FS  028 1c    02020 < 060 3c    10102 \ 092 5c    11121 | 124 7c
01002 GS  029 1d    02021 = 061 3d    10110 ] 093 5d    11122 } 125 7d
01010 RS  030 1e    02022 > 062 3e    10111 ^ 094 5e    11200 ~ 126 7e
01011 US  031 1f    02100 ? 063 3f    10112 _ 095 5f

11202 128 80    12221 160 a0    21010 192 c0    22022 224 e0
11210 129 81    12222 161 a1    21011 193 c1    22100 225 e1
11211 130 82    20000 162 a2    21012 194 c2    22101 226 e2
11212 131 83    20001 163 a3    21020 195 c3    22102 227 e3
11220 132 84    20002 164 a4    21021 196 c4    22110 228 e4
11221 133 85    20010 165 a5    21022 197 c5    22111 229 e5
11222 134 86    20011 166 a6    21100 198 c6    22112 230 e6
12000 135 87    20012 167 a7    21101 199 c7    22120 231 e7
12001 136 88    20020 168 a8    21102 200 c8    22121 232 e8
12002 137 89    20021 169 a9    21110 201 c9    22122 233 e9
12010 138 8a    20022 170 aa    21111 202 ca    22200 234 ea
12011 139 8b    20100 171 ab    21112 203 cb    22201 235 eb
12012 140 8c    20101 172 ac    21120 204 cc    22202 236 ec
12020 141 8d    20102 173 ad    21121 205 cd    22210 237 ed
12021 142 8e    20110 174 ae    21122 206 ce    22211 238 ee
12022 143 8f    20111 175 af    21200 207 cf    22212 239 ef
12100 144 90    20112 176 b0    21201 208 d0    22220 240 f0
12101 145 91    20120 177 b1    21202 209 d1    22221 241 f1
12102 146 92    20121 178 b2    21210 210 d2    22222 242 f2
12110 147 93    20122 179 b3    21211 211 d3
12111 148 94    20200 180 b4    21212 212 d4
12112 149 95    20201 181 b5    21220 213 d5
12120 150 96    20202 182 b6    21221 214 d6
12121 151 97    20210 183 b7    21222 215 d7
12122 152 98    20211 184 b8    22000 216 d8
12200 153 99    20212 185 b9    22001 217 d9
12201 154 9a    20220 186 ba    22002 218 da
12202 155 9b    20221 187 bb    22010 219 db
12210 156 9c    20222 188 bc    22011 220 dc
12211 157 9d    21000 189 bd    22012 221 dd
12212 158 9e    21001 190 be    22020 222 de
12220 159 9f    21002 191 bf    22021 223 df

Posted in: Uncategorized by Shedletsky /
No Comments

A little late in the posting, but I wanted to get some pictures from Christmas break up here. I say “Christmas break” as though I was still a college student rather than a gainfully employed software engineer. The fact of the matter is that I have a benevolent boss and he let me work from home for a week and a half so that I could spend 3 weeks in New York. We did our normal Christmas/New Year’s thing, which involves Christmas in Delaware with the extended family and then a week in Rehoboth Beach.

My uncle Jerry and aunt Mary-Beth took a vacation to the Florida Keys this Christmas, which changed our regular routine. My cousin Trent, my dad, and I drove my grandmother to Scranton Pennsylvania (old industrial town now know mainly as being the setting of The Office) so that she could visit with her sister for Christmas.

Santa’s house on the the boardwalk. Incongruous? Yep.

I went for a bicycle ride to the state park with my dad and we ended up prospecting the jetty for minerals. I think he may have come back the morning after and chipped off some pieces of it, but I can’t be sure.

Winter at the beach is pretty awesome.

Christmas tree floating on Silver Lake. They light it up at night.

Good idea.

The canal by Henlopen Acres at dusk.

Adam thinks: “GIVE ME ALL YOUR MONEY SUCKA!”

Adam says: “Hmm… I guess I’ll raise you ten.”

Posted in: Uncategorized by Shedletsky /
No Comments

The other day I successfully got my blog entries out of my old blogging program and into WordPress. I’m still not satisfied with it - in fact I am discouraged from future blogging given how hard it is to post formatted text plus pictures to the web. The problem is that everyone involved in web tech is an idiot. All I want to do is push a button in Word and have my super-fancy formatted doc appear on the web exactly as it does in Word. Is this too much to ask?

Instead I have to edit HTML by hand, fight someone else’s CSS, crop images down to size, fight different browser’s rendering the same thing differently, ect ect. It’s all bullshit. My time is more valuable than this.

Posted in: Oldblog by Shedletsky /
No Comments

Euclidean Crisis took one of the 10 finalist spots at the IGF (Independent Games Festival) student game competition. There were 102 entries and we pwned at least 92 of them. Woot!

Another interesting stat is that out of the 10 finalists, the average amount of time spent on development was 7-8 months. Euclidean Crisis and Invalid Tangram were the only games completed in 3 months or less.

Stanford is the only major university represented in the finalists. Most entries come from the usual suspects: DigiPen and SMU.

We get a $500 travel stipend to San Jose. Since we only live 40 minutes away from there, probably we will get two or three limos and race them. I’m so excited, I’ve always wanted to go to the GDC.

Posted in: Oldblog by Shedletsky /
No Comments

Holographic Storage

Longmont (CO) - Having shipped an apparently small number of holographic storage systems in late 2006 and in the first days of 2007, Inphase today said that it has signed Germany-based DSM as original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of its Tapestry drives.

They’ve achieved a data density of 512 Gb/in^2, roughly double that of perpendicular hard drives. Their first product uses 300 GB disks (looks like a DVD), proof of concept has been demonstrated up to 1.2 TB.

Flash Memory 32 GB Solid State Disk

Seoul (Korea) - Samsung said that it has begun sampling of 50 nm NAND flash memory chips that are required to build the long announced 32 GB 2.5″ solid state disk (SSD). The flash drive is expected to replace traditional hard drives in higher end notebooks and offer significant advantages in data transfer rates as well as power consumption.

They are claiming 57 MB/s read, 32 MB/s write.

- - -

Do you remember when a million was a large number? Last time I can remember thinking that was in 1991.

Posted in: Oldblog by Shedletsky /
No Comments