JonathanRyan.org

Reddit found my raptor attack simulation recently, and several people have figured out how to slip between my smartest raptors and survive indefinitely.  I still can’t do it well with the instructions they provided, but I have made an update that should make it tougher.  In this new version, the fast raptors attempt to flank you while allowing the slow one to catch up.  I can’t survive this one either, and in a slowed down version of it, it seems like it prevents the circling trick used to evade them indefinitely, but I’m not entirely sure.

Click here to try it for yourself.  Let me know how you do!  By the way - moving the mouse further away doesn’t help you accelerate - you’re all crazy.

UPDATE:  These are just as easy to evade, now that I’ve figured out how it works.  I guess I’ll have to work on making them learn.

It has a terrible name, but this game kept me busy for far longer than it should.  My best run I had almost 40 tails.

Thanks to BubbleBox.com for the game!

I read XKCD, a brilliant web comic, regularly. Recently I decided to write a simple simulation based on one of his older comics. Here is an excerpt showing exactly what I simulated:

I threw the simulation together in JavaScript rather quickly, so it isn’t at all elegant and nice looking. However, it is still a lot of fun to play with. Your character runs towards the mouse, and the simulation stops when you are caught. Refresh with F5 to start again.

Version 1 has momentum, and feels strange to control. It is possible to get the raptors to constantly circle around you, since they can’t turn fast enough to get you once they are up to speed.

Version 2 has much more agile raptors. They can turn and stop instantly, but still need to accelerate to get to speed in a new direction. This one proves for certain that RAPTORS ARE SCARY! My best time so far is 2.8 seconds.

Eventually, I would love to implement a version with floorplans using the rules from the last problem in the linked comic, but I doubt I’ll get around to playing with that for a long time.

Search for Raptor Attack on Amazom

There’s a place in Kalamazoo we like to go to.  I used to describe it to people by saying: “It’s like a bunch of computer students built a little shop for themselves to chill out in.  Electrical outlets all around the walls, wired in stereo system, tables all over, arcade machines in the back, all of that.  Then art students swooped in and took over, painting it green, covering the walls in art, and making it a coffee shop.”  While I doubt that particular origin story is true, the result is the same, and what you have is the Rocketstar, a small coffee shop and hangout for students across Kalamazoo.

One of the coolest things about the Rocketstar, aside from the atmosphere, is the selection of things to do that they offer.  Arcade machines in the back, a pool table, a stash of games in the front, and a collection of interesting ‘zines to flip through when you’re bored.  Not to mention the people.

My friends and I used to visit all the time just to hang out and chat over milkshakes.  Recently though, we often just go to hang out and play Scrabble.  Scrabble at the Rocketstar, however, is more of an art than a game.

Originally the Scrabble set they possessed was as normal as any to start off with.  Of course, over time in a place where it’s used fairly often, the occasional tile is lost.  Now and then, a new tile is found.  Sometimes someone would bring in extra tiles from home, and they got mixed in.  Sometimes someone would take a sharpie to a tile to change what letter it was.  This new tile set we started calling Rocket Scrabble.

Eventually the Rocket Scrabble tile set was tossed and a new set bought for the Rocketstar.  It lasted for all of a month, or something like that.  Jon and I were there a while back to play scrabble, and discovered we were short on tiles.  Quite short.  In fact,  while a normal Scrabble tile set contains 100 tiles, this one contained only 58.  We played an entire game before we realized just how short we were.  One thing we realized at the end was, it was e-less Scrabble.  Not a single E tile existed in the set.

It was surprisingly fun.

As an aside, here’s the tile set as it was after our game.

AAAA
B
DDD
FF
GGG
HH
IIIIIII
LLLL
NNNNN
OOOOOOOO
PP
Q
SSS
TTT
UUUU
VV
WW
X
Z

One of my favorite puzzle games is online at Random Good Stuff!  You can also get it for the DS, which is tempting even though I don’t have one.  I’d just have to steal my girlfriend’s.

Link

I figured it was about time to move this from my WMU account where I posted the rules a few years ago.

Zombie Risk is a variation of Risk’s rules by Eric Thompson, Jon Anderson, and Matthew Sorrels.

ZOMBIES, RUN!!!! That’s right, zombies have begun to take over and there really isn’t anything for the human race to do but run. As a world leader, your goal is to promote peace between your neighbors while at the same time secretly hoping that those flesh-eating monsters will turn their sights on them first. The objective, protect your legacy! Your only goal, be the last to survive.

Learn it. Love it. Ph43r it. (Not available in stores. Some modification may be required to your Risk playing set. We are not responsible for any actual harm to the players, nor a Zombie attack. We did warn you.)

Rules after the jump. (more…)