amacdougall

(answer from GPT-4)

If humanity were to disappear today, the transformation of Manhattan over three thousand years would be dramatic. The process of nature reclaiming the land would be both fascinating and complex. Here’s a speculative look at what might occur:

Immediate to Short-Term Changes (1-100 years):

• Power Outages: Without humans to maintain systems, electricity would fail almost immediately due to fuel depletion at power plants. This would lead to the cessation of pumps that currently keep the subway system and other low-lying areas dry.
• Water Infiltration: The absence of active maintenance and pumping systems would result in water flooding the subway tunnels within days or weeks. Buildings and infrastructure would begin to suffer water damage, especially in their foundations.
• Plant and Animal Colonization: Very quickly, plants would start to sprout in less dense areas such as parks, abandoned lots, and any crevices where soil and seeds could accumulate. Animals, including bird

amacdougall

Core Concept

The game concept is driven by Aldea, the Forbidden Continent. Once home to an advanced human civilization, Aldea is rich in fertile land and natural resources. Ruined cities are common, and often full of technological and magical marvels. But Aldea is dangerous. War robots and immortal magical monsters still patrol the ruins, attacking anything that comes too near.

The other continents are home to civilizations loosely modeled on our world circa 1800. For the last fifty years, Aldea has been settled by colonists from

amacdougall

Geography

The game centers on Aldea, the Forbidden Continent. Once home to an advanced human civilization, Aldea is rich in fertile land and natural resources. Ruined cities are common, and often full of technological and magical marvels. But Aldea is dangerous. War robots and immortal magical monsters still patrol the ruins, attacking anything that comes too near.

The Europe-like cultures come from Broadland, a continent whose many rivers and mountain ranges—and variety of bickering gods—supported sharp distinctions

amacdougall

# Character Info

Name: Thessalus
Epithets: late-sleeping, rock-heaving, stave-crafty, praise-shy
Race: Argan
City: Almina

Description: Third son of Erasistratus the Olive-Grower, Thessalus is gifted yet
lazy. If his birth order were not enough to see him practically disinherited,

amacdougall

-- fires bullets in a spread, with an optional delay between shots;
-- this can produce anything from shotgun blasts to elegant spirals
--
-- shot_options:
-- n: number of shots
-- arc: {from, to}, as ratios where 0.0 is up and 0.5 is down; can be > 1.0
-- interval: frames between shots
spread_shot = function(npc, create_bullet, interval, options)
  -- TODO: this cooldown stuff begs to be refactored
  local cooldown = interval

amacdougall

sync = (function()
  local speed = 16 -- can be hardcoded for this project
  local prev_elapsed = 0 -- ticks elapsed in current note

  function execute(f) f() end

  local callbacks = {
    [32] = {}, [16] = {}, [8] = {}, [4] = {}, [2] = {}, [1] = {}
  }

amacdougall

songs = (function()
  local music_address = 0x3100 -- in cartridge ram
  local music_data = {} -- store original music ram bytes

  for offset = 0, 255 do
    music_data[offset] = peek(music_address + offset)
  end

  function set_control_bit(byte, value)
    return value > 0 and byte | 0b10000000 or byte & 0b01111111 

amacdougall

Summary

This is an analysis of the contract behind https://troncase.space/. This is a contract written in Tron's variant of Solidity.

• Tron documentation: https://developers.tron.network/
• Solidity documentation: https://docs.soliditylang.org/en/v0.8.3/

This contract can receive and pay funds, and stores user accounts and deposit records. It behavior is simple:

amacdougall

The Matrix and The Matrix

In the title story of Burning Chrome, William Gibson envisioned a virtual reality cast in liquid metallic polygons and textured lightfields. It was the first story to use the word "cyberspace", but Tron came to theaters the same year Burning Chrome first appeared in print. The sleek and unearthly world of cyberspace was literally rendered for the public imagination by Tron, Lawnmower Man, and the inexplicable Mind's Eye series. Cyberspace became a fundamental pillar of cyberpunk. In Shadowrun, it is named "The Matrix"; and in Shadowrun, it exists, exactly as Gibson described it.

amacdougall

The Art and Science of Magic

Magic is the essence of the fantasy genre. Perhaps it spends half its time in the deep background, as in Conan the Barbarian or Game of Thrones. Perhaps it is the entire point, as in Harry Potter or Doctor Strange. Perhaps the world is magical, but nobody has magical powers, as in The Neverending Story. Or perhaps the world is mundane, but some lucky few do have magic, as in The Uncanny X-Men, or Star Wars. There are very few worlds where magic is ubiquitous, because then what exactly is so magical about it?