[-] axby@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 months ago

Cool, thanks! This is what I was looking for. I've briefly tried playing with Nextcloud before, but this seems like another good option.

[-] axby@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 months ago

This is what I do for my own notes now, but could it work for students writing essays and that sort of thing? I suppose there must be some markdown to HTML/PDF/etc converters (also probably ODT or DOCX or whatever).

[-] axby@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

This is actually what I did when I was in school, and overall it was quite pleasant. There was some WYSIWYG LaTeX program too that I shared with some colleagues when we were working on a document together, I remember it working okay.

But I don't see the average student, especially studying non technical stuff, to pick up LaTeX just for normal sort of essays. Even I am fairly rusty now. And honestly I don't even know if I could have managed it during high school, where I had to write English essays and stuff with specific formatting for references. (I am grateful that my engineering education was less strict about that sort of thing).

I was hoping that someone would suggest a self hosted web document suite, I think "Nextcloud" is a popular one. Then it should work on any OS, and you don't have to worry about syncing files. Even if you can pay to have someone else host an instance (not sure if this exists), and ideally a program that can keep a local backup synced to your PCs would be a big step in the right direction. Syncthing seems pretty great, though I haven't used it much, and on iOS it doesn't seem to be able to run in the background.

edit: I just read another comment that recommended OnlyOffice, this seems like another good option (source: this reply: https://lemmy.ca/comment/9415293). Aside: is there a proper way to link to a comment on lemmy that will go through your own homeserver?

[-] axby@lemmy.ca 7 points 3 months ago

What do you recommend? I love LibreOffice on Windows and Linux, and it still works well on macOS but the GUI seems weird on it, the buttons are really large. I still use it but my partner is put off by it.

[-] axby@lemmy.ca 16 points 5 months ago

I already basically get that half the time I boot into windows after an update. They say “let’s finish setting up your PC” and try to get you to pay for one drive, office, even game pass.

I’m so glad gaming on Linux has gotten to such a good state. I barely ever boot into windows now. (The “ad” on boot up is probably only once every few months, but that’s about as often as I boot into windows).

[-] axby@lemmy.ca 3 points 5 months ago

Message me on matrix in #alexgames:matrix.org if anyone wants to try playing a multiplayer game together :)

(I'm not actually very good at chess or go)

62
submitted 5 months ago by axby@lemmy.ca to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world

TL;DR: try my Lua web games here, see github for self-hosting instructions: https://alexbarry.github.io/AlexGames

Hi all, here's a hobby project I've been working on: I wrote a bunch of simple Lua games, compiled the Lua interpreter to web assembly, and defined a simple API to draw on a canvas and handle input. It all builds to static HTML/JS/WASM, except a few hundred lines of python for a websocket server for multiplayer. I recently added some dockerfiles so I think it should be easy to self host.

Here is the web version on github pages: https://alexbarry.github.io/AlexGames/ , and the source on github (self-hosting instructions in the README).

I'll list some of the games:

  • local/network multiplayer: chess, go, checkers, backgammon, gomoku
  • single player or network multiplayer: minesweeper
  • single player only: solitaire, "word mastermind"[1], "endless runner", "fluid mix", "spider swing", "thrust"

[1]: it may not technically be multiplayer, but my partner and I enjoy picking our own hidden word and sharing the puzzle state as a URL or just passing a phone to each other.

Part of my motivation is to avoid ads on mobile games, and to be able to play different multiplayer web games with friends without having to get them to make an account and all that (just share the generated URL, it contains a multiplayer session ID). I also like the idea of having my own private web games server, and not having to be reliant on some service that might eventually get enshittified.

I figure that if I can throw together a similar game in a few hundred lines of Lua, then no one should have to deal with full screen ads or pay ~$10 to play them. Especially since most mobile games that I like are simple and I only play them for a few minutes at a time, maybe only a few times per week.

Self hosting isn't necessary to try it out, but without SSL it should just be a simple one-line command to host the HTTP and websocket server with docker compose. For SSL support it is a few more steps, I added steps to the README: one command to build the static HTML (so you can copy it to your web hosting server, which should already take care of SSL), and another to host the websocket server, which can have your SSL certs passed as parameters. But you don't strictly need the websocket server, it should just fail to connect after a few seconds and then you can play the games without network multiplayer. You can even use my websocket server and your own static HTML, just add &ws_server=wss://alexbarry.net:55433 as a URL parameter to your own URL. I haven't self hosted much on my public server, so I'd love to hear feedback on how to better handle SSL certs. Ideally you could just choose to not use SSL for your websocket server, but firefox at least prevents you from connecting to a websocket server without SSL if you're using SSL to visit the page itself on the same server. (On a local network without SSL it's fine, though)

Some features that I'm proud of:

  • the network multiplayer works pretty well, I'm pleased with websockets (previously I was hoping to get WebRTC working but I didn't have much luck). On the wxWidgets and Android prototypes I had a normal socket server working too, but I've focused on the web version since it's good enough
  • an English dictionary for word puzzle games. (aside: loading ~220k English words as javascript strings and a javascript array took like 12 MB of browser memory or more, but I got it down to ~6 MB by moving the dictionary to C managed memory)
  • state sharing via URL: for most games I serialize the state and then you can export it as a base 64 string in a URL. This is useful to keep playing on a different device, send a puzzle that you liked to a friend, or for "word mastermind", to choose your own word and get your friend to guess it.
  • built in autosave, undo/redo, and browsing previous saved states. I used the same code to render state previews that I wrote to render the games for normal play, so all a game has to do is implement state serialization, implement a few APIs to get that state, and call "save_state" whenever the player makes a useful move. Then games can simply call a few lines to add an "undo" and "redo" button, and those can call a one line function to fetch the previous or next state. (I'd like to add a full history tree at some point, but for now if you undo many times and make a new move, you lose the moves that you un-did ("undo-ed"?))
  • playing arbitrary games as zips of Lua files. While the self hosting community might not need this much (since they can just add their own games to the source and rebuild), I figured many people might be interested in writing a game without having to build and host my project. So I added support for unzipping bundles of Lua source files and storing them in the built in emscripten filesystem in the browser. I added an example game and an API reference, see the "Options" menu and the "Upload Game Bundle" section.

Let me know what you think! I'd love to hear feedback, or get new game contributions or bug fixes / features.

[-] axby@lemmy.ca 0 points 6 months ago

Awesome, thanks! It's nice to hear a perspective that is different from the mainstream. I've also been limited by my PC for a while, but I've upgraded since I last tried it, so hopefully I'll have more luck this time.

[-] axby@lemmy.ca 5 points 6 months ago

TL;DR: I may be mistaken about how playable it is, I'll have to give it another try. Thanks for the reassurance. I haven't tried it myself in many years, and have only relied on articles like this to hear about the progress. Perhaps I'm biased since the comments always love to hate on Star Citizen and few people are defending it. RE single investor: if everyone who paid money for it was happy then yeah there would be no difference. But I think a lot of people paid money expecting a longer gaming experience within a few years, and instead it's taken a long time and they're still focusing a lot on cosmetic things rather than gameplay and content. IMO gameplay and content should be the top priority, and cool visual stuff can come later. But if piracy/mining/exploring planets/missions can actually provide ~10 hours of enjoyment without being seriously hindered by bugs, then I'm totally wrong and should update my comment.

Thanks for the info, perhaps I should update my comment. It was barely beyond a tech demo when I tried it so many years ago, but it does seem like it's added a lot since then (and I've only learned about it after digging in more today). I've seen some comments in this post that said there isn't much to do besides walk around and look at stuff, which matches my experience many years ago, but perhaps it's not really accurate anymore. Some articles have talked about piracy and mining actually being viable as ways to make money to get a better ship. If those are enjoyable and not severely limited in content and so buggy that progress is hard, then I'm totally wrong and can maybe say that 10 years later my return on investment is adequate :) , and maybe in another few years there will be even more content and give me something more like ~10+ hours of enjoyment.

I know people who play several hours a week and say they’re having a great time. There’s definitely a full game in the alpha, but it’s far from polished or finished.

This is actually really reassuring to me, I'll have to give it another try.

Every person I know who’s spent money on star citizen seems happy with their RoI.

Perhaps the people you're talking to about it now are somewhat skewed towards people who still enjoy it for what it is now. I've almost forgotten and wouldn't think to mention it to most people, but I paid $40 for it around 9 years ago, because a friend mentioned it to me and it seemed like such an amazing idea. It showed so much promise, the racing seemed fun and complex, and later I tried Squadron 42 and felt like I could see the vision coming together. But then after not trying it for a few years, I keep hearing more of the same thing: new cool superficial feature, but still lacking in significant enjoyable gameplay. I am actually kind of scared to try it again and be disappointed in the lack of content.

I realize too that Squadron 42 is apparently a fairly long and mostly finished experience? That alone might be worth $40, though I do think 10 years is a little long to wait for that. I'll concede that they do seem to be delivering on some of the hype, it just takes way too long, and I'd rather they prioritize on something simple but playable for long periods, versus cool immersion and fancy animations and concepts.

Perhaps a lot of the people who enjoy it now enjoy the kind of role playing aspect of getting in a ship with friends and walking around exploring? I would enjoy that somewhat too, every few years, almost like a really advanced VR chat, I guess. But my friends have lost interest in this due to the never ending development cycle. And I would hate to be the one to say "hey guys let's try this out again, it's way better now", and then have everyone be disappointed when someone gets stuck in a wall or the content seems really limited.

Anyway to summarize: perhaps I'm wrong, maybe the game is worth $40 now and I've just been biased from people loving to hate on a game that they haven't even tried. I'll have to give it another try.

[-] axby@lemmy.ca 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I agree with you for most games, people are picky and don’t understand the challenges. But this game solicited donations 10 years ago, people bought into the vision, and they were wildly successful, I think they raised $600M, which is like the most money any game has ever raised?

And despite that, 10 years later, it’s still mostly just a tech demo (edit: perhaps I'm wrong? Maybe there is $40 worth of playable content. See discussion in child comments, I haven't tried this myself in many years, out of fear of being disappointed again). They are focused on adding cool but superficial animation things, rather than just making a fun playable experience.

If they were focused on making a fun playable (but possibly buggy and limited) game then it would be different. But instead they seem to be chasing random superficial features like projecting your face from your web cam onto your character. It feels like they are not seriously committed to making even an early access game in a reasonable timeline.

If this project was funded by some billionaire who wanted to spend 30 years to make the most amazing MMO ever with a ton of never before seen features, then that would be fine. But instead normal people chipped in $40+ to fund this game, and the developers don’t seem to be prioritizing actually making a fun playable game. It’s barely beyond a tech demo even 10 years later (edit: maybe this is not completely accurate). It is reasonable to assume that the management of this project does not care about making a playable game, they can work on whatever fun features they want, they’ve already made a ton of money.

edits: perhaps I'm wrong about the state of the game. I haven't tried it in a while. I'll have to give it another try.

[-] axby@lemmy.ca 20 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

This would have been so exciting like 9 years ago when they first released the FPS thing. I would also be excited if they said the game is fun now, instead of some random superficial animation thing that probably doesn’t add much to the gameplay.

I love the idea of this game, but even after a few years I lost hope. I can’t believe it’s still in development like 10 years later. Does anyone know if it’s more playable now? They had some ship racing and the FPS thing before, why haven’t they just thrown together a basic world yet?

Edit: it sounds like they have thrown together a basic world. Maybe it’s worth another try now? Can you have fun for more than a few hours and actually accomplish meaningful stuff?

[-] axby@lemmy.ca 12 points 6 months ago

Also pre boiling the water helps. I used to find it tasted burnt, but now I like it.

Aeropress is less of a hassle to clean, but I do like the taste of moka pot coffee when I have time. Chemex (pourover) is for my daily cup though.

[-] axby@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

thanks, how did you do this? Did you just download it and add a background yourself (and upload via lemmy) or is there some cool markdown/lemmy trick?

I was going to say that I was on my phone and couldn't do that, but I guess I probably could have. (edit: also I forgot that Lemmy even supports image uploading, let alone that I could link to it) I mostly just wanted to see if Lemmy supported the embedded image markdown syntax of ![description](URL to image). (It does!) I found online that some markdown variants support adding CSS at the end of the image, but it doesn't look like lemmy supports them.

72
submitted 1 year ago by axby@lemmy.ca to c/retrogaming@lemmy.world

Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrian_%28video_game%29

TL;DR: fun back in the late 90's, there's a decent mobile port available on Android. I'd love to hear more recommendations for classic games available on mobile.

I played the shareware version of this when I was young a lot. I loved the starting weapon (pulse cannon?), and then loved the laser and a few others... but hated a ton of them (multi cannon? vulcan canon? Those bomb things with trailing clouds? They all seemed so weak and hard to use effectively, even at the highest levels. It almost felt like they only existed to be avoided in arcade mode, where you changed weapons by touching things that appeared after killing enemies or destroying things).

You could also upgrade your shields, generator, ship, side weapons... I remember different side weapons had wildly different strengths. Some were short burst and a ton of damage (plasma storm! My favourite), others would fire continuously and do a little bit of damage.

I liked the arcade mode too, and I vaguely remember trying the two player mode with friends who had a joystick (one on the keyboard, the other on a joystick), or awkwardly trying to share the keyboard (probably one with WASD, the other with arrow keys, but I can't remember). We might have tried the mouse, but I feel like the keyboard was more effective.

There was even some tanks/aircraft mini game, like Worms Armageddon? I think you had to unlock it, possibly with cheat codes. And as I was writing this I remembered some other special ship (or game type, I forget) where you had to perform gestures to do special attacks? Like tapping move in a direction and pressing shoot would also shoot a bolt of lightning, in addition to your normal weapon? And there were other key combinations to do more powerful attacks.

A few years ago I played through a lot of it (even the non shareware episodes! Childhood goal unlocked) on my Android phone: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.googlecode.opentyrian ... I'd share an F-droid link but I'm surprised not to find one. I thought it was all open source now.

I found a bit of other discussion on it in a thread about dos games: https://lemmy.world/comment/248050 (side note: what is the best way to share a comment in a way that works well no matter what your home server is?)

I didn't grow up playing it, but I had heard good things about the "Ur-Quan Masters", a remake of Star Control II (wikipedia link). I still have the app downloaded to my Android phone, but it seems like it was taken down, the link doesn't work unless you're logged in to a google account that already has it downloaded: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sourceforge.sc2 . I found a github link and some other sites that reupload APKs, but I can't vouch for any of them.

Anyway, does anyone else have any recommendations for fun classic games with a decent mobile port? I love to stock up on games like this before a long flight. I'm also interested in iPhone recommendations, I haven't found as many in the Apple app store.

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axby

joined 1 year ago