Elan Ruskin
@despair.bsky.social
Using integers and making games. Also @despair on Twitter, @crash@mastodon.gamedev.place
An early encounter gets revisted at the climax with all of the protagonist’s skills leveled to max. There’s a running gag that’s very Kojima (you’ll know it when you see it).
And “Predator: Badlands” stars a space creature with a wisecracking robot strapped to its back, so...
And “Predator: Badlands” stars a space creature with a wisecracking robot strapped to its back, so...
November 10, 2025 at 2:15 AM
An early encounter gets revisted at the climax with all of the protagonist’s skills leveled to max. There’s a running gag that’s very Kojima (you’ll know it when you see it).
And “Predator: Badlands” stars a space creature with a wisecracking robot strapped to its back, so...
And “Predator: Badlands” stars a space creature with a wisecracking robot strapped to its back, so...
“Predator: Badlands” was much better than I expected. Story’s built like a video game: weapons are introduced, demonstrated, used with improvisation. There’s boss battles and a stealth sequence with Ghost-style chain assassination. A new tech tree opens in the third act. (1/2)
November 10, 2025 at 2:15 AM
“Predator: Badlands” was much better than I expected. Story’s built like a video game: weapons are introduced, demonstrated, used with improvisation. There’s boss battles and a stealth sequence with Ghost-style chain assassination. A new tech tree opens in the third act. (1/2)
Or you can use leading zero count (LZCNT aka __lzcnt64()) , which is defined as 0 → 64, and also 2 cycles faster than bsr.
*undefined = on some CPUs it returns 0 and on other CPUs it return either 0 or garbage depending on flags and source operand type and who knows what else
DON'T ASK HOW I KNOW
*undefined = on some CPUs it returns 0 and on other CPUs it return either 0 or garbage depending on flags and source operand type and who knows what else
DON'T ASK HOW I KNOW
October 15, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Or you can use leading zero count (LZCNT aka __lzcnt64()) , which is defined as 0 → 64, and also 2 cycles faster than bsr.
*undefined = on some CPUs it returns 0 and on other CPUs it return either 0 or garbage depending on flags and source operand type and who knows what else
DON'T ASK HOW I KNOW
*undefined = on some CPUs it returns 0 and on other CPUs it return either 0 or garbage depending on flags and source operand type and who knows what else
DON'T ASK HOW I KNOW
x86 `bsr` opcode gives an undefined* result for input value 0. Windows intrinsic _BitScanReverse64()'s returns 0 for input 0 to handle this case. Use it in a ternary statement to generate branchless code.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
October 15, 2025 at 1:19 AM
x86 `bsr` opcode gives an undefined* result for input value 0. Windows intrinsic _BitScanReverse64()'s returns 0 for input 0 to handle this case. Use it in a ternary statement to generate branchless code.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
That said, I mostly enjoyed Tron: Ares. It's not a great film, but it has a great soundtrack, and it was fun to spot all the quotes and references.
October 13, 2025 at 6:09 AM
That said, I mostly enjoyed Tron: Ares. It's not a great film, but it has a great soundtrack, and it was fun to spot all the quotes and references.
AI as nascent lifeform is also core cyberpunk. But I think we're past that story being "Frankenstein" and need to start doing it as "Dr. Strangelove". The best movie we've had on the peril of overfit machine learning so far is M3GAN.
October 13, 2025 at 6:09 AM
AI as nascent lifeform is also core cyberpunk. But I think we're past that story being "Frankenstein" and need to start doing it as "Dr. Strangelove". The best movie we've had on the peril of overfit machine learning so far is M3GAN.
But a lot of Tron: Ares is cyberpunk about cyberpunk. War between the corporations. Computer hacking is infiltrating a Futurist building in cyberspace, straight out of Neuromancer. The world is saved by a heroic video game developer 😁
October 13, 2025 at 6:09 AM
But a lot of Tron: Ares is cyberpunk about cyberpunk. War between the corporations. Computer hacking is infiltrating a Futurist building in cyberspace, straight out of Neuromancer. The world is saved by a heroic video game developer 😁
Tron isn't religious propaganda, it just uses allegory as a narrative device, and that allegory isn't 1:1. But allegory gives theme; the movie is *about* something, it's a parable of purpose and faith. Tron: Ares is mostly about Tron.
October 13, 2025 at 6:09 AM
Tron isn't religious propaganda, it just uses allegory as a narrative device, and that allegory isn't 1:1. But allegory gives theme; the movie is *about* something, it's a parable of purpose and faith. Tron: Ares is mostly about Tron.
The rest is obvious. Tron, his faith in the Users unwavering, is a disciple. The I/O priests are conduits between the programs and their creators. Flynn sacrifices himself to restore that connection, then ascends bodily to the creators' world.
October 13, 2025 at 6:09 AM
The rest is obvious. Tron, his faith in the Users unwavering, is a disciple. The I/O priests are conduits between the programs and their creators. Flynn sacrifices himself to restore that connection, then ascends bodily to the creators' world.
But things in Tron's world *do* have purposes! The tanks and Recognizers are game entities. The solar sail is a research sim. The programs use these things without knowing why they exist. Flynn can work miracles because he has context.
October 13, 2025 at 6:09 AM
But things in Tron's world *do* have purposes! The tanks and Recognizers are game entities. The solar sail is a research sim. The programs use these things without knowing why they exist. Flynn can work miracles because he has context.
The same actors portray both programmers and their programs. AIs are made in their creators' images. So when Flynn gets abducted into cyberspace, he's literally The Creator bodily manifested among his creations, then condemned by Pilate.
October 13, 2025 at 6:09 AM
The same actors portray both programmers and their programs. AIs are made in their creators' images. So when Flynn gets abducted into cyberspace, he's literally The Creator bodily manifested among his creations, then condemned by Pilate.
Some programs believe they were created for a purpose by a higher power they cannot see. The local authority wants them to serve itself instead. So the ones who believe in The Users are sent to the games to die.
October 13, 2025 at 6:09 AM
Some programs believe they were created for a purpose by a higher power they cannot see. The local authority wants them to serve itself instead. So the ones who believe in The Users are sent to the games to die.
Tron's story asks what arcade games would be like for the characters in them, sent to fight in deadly sports on behalf of users they never see. Reach into history for a parallel and you'll find gladiators. The rest of the story flows from there:
October 13, 2025 at 6:09 AM
Tron's story asks what arcade games would be like for the characters in them, sent to fight in deadly sports on behalf of users they never see. Reach into history for a parallel and you'll find gladiators. The rest of the story flows from there:
Something that got lost between screenplay and screen is *why* the cyberspace of Tron looks the way it does: it's a world built from video games and simulations. The people are game avatars. The vehicles are CAD assets and research sims.
October 13, 2025 at 6:09 AM
Something that got lost between screenplay and screen is *why* the cyberspace of Tron looks the way it does: it's a world built from video games and simulations. The people are game avatars. The vehicles are CAD assets and research sims.
Tron: Ares is a very colorful movie in which many things happen. But it misses a big part of what made the original "Tron" work. Since no one asked, let's talk a bit about cyberpunk, video games, and religious allegory.
October 13, 2025 at 6:09 AM
Tron: Ares is a very colorful movie in which many things happen. But it misses a big part of what made the original "Tron" work. Since no one asked, let's talk a bit about cyberpunk, video games, and religious allegory.
In 426BC, Athenian politician Cleon prosecuted the comedian Aristophanes for making fun of him in front of foreigners. In response, Aristophanes produced The Knights, a play comprised entirely of slander against Cleon. It won Best Comedy in 424BC.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kni...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kni...
September 20, 2025 at 3:53 AM
In 426BC, Athenian politician Cleon prosecuted the comedian Aristophanes for making fun of him in front of foreigners. In response, Aristophanes produced The Knights, a play comprised entirely of slander against Cleon. It won Best Comedy in 424BC.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kni...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kni...
What the heck is going on here? Walter White?! I just asked it whether I should use Fantastik or Windex in my bathroom, and now it’s dropping hints about cooking meth.
August 28, 2025 at 7:30 AM
What the heck is going on here? Walter White?! I just asked it whether I should use Fantastik or Windex in my bathroom, and now it’s dropping hints about cooking meth.
Copilot is alarmingly enthusiastic about this topic.
August 23, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Copilot is alarmingly enthusiastic about this topic.
The trouble is that yelling this has been extremely counterproductive.
August 16, 2025 at 10:32 PM
The trouble is that yelling this has been extremely counterproductive.
A letter to the editor of a Burbank newspaper is very concerned that letting people build low-rise apartment buildings along a major bus route would replacement single-family houses with rental units, making the neighborhood less affordable.
The single-family houses:
The single-family houses:
August 8, 2025 at 3:01 AM
A letter to the editor of a Burbank newspaper is very concerned that letting people build low-rise apartment buildings along a major bus route would replacement single-family houses with rental units, making the neighborhood less affordable.
The single-family houses:
The single-family houses:
July 23, 2025 at 3:17 AM
Pet peeve:
when people hit enter
on every
pause in their thinking
so
a single sentence
becomes a dozen messages
stretched out in time
over minutes
but each one needing me to look
if they're finally done
and waiting for me to reply.
I call this "Shatnerspacing"
when people hit enter
on every
pause in their thinking
so
a single sentence
becomes a dozen messages
stretched out in time
over minutes
but each one needing me to look
if they're finally done
and waiting for me to reply.
I call this "Shatnerspacing"
July 22, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Pet peeve:
when people hit enter
on every
pause in their thinking
so
a single sentence
becomes a dozen messages
stretched out in time
over minutes
but each one needing me to look
if they're finally done
and waiting for me to reply.
I call this "Shatnerspacing"
when people hit enter
on every
pause in their thinking
so
a single sentence
becomes a dozen messages
stretched out in time
over minutes
but each one needing me to look
if they're finally done
and waiting for me to reply.
I call this "Shatnerspacing"