The Mannyfoldium

Because I can.

[mistermanny]

Dear web developers,

please use the new HTML 5 input types. Why? Because of this: http://mistermanny.tumblr.com/post/64622307960/html5-input-and-you

kthxbye, your trusted mobile phone user

[mistermanny]

They say a reader lives a thousand lives. They also say a coward dies a thousand deaths. Every life has to end - does this imply that readers are cowards?

[mistermanny]

Happy new 2014, everyone. As time moved on and all the doomsday prophets have to look for different reasons why humanity will fall on an arbitrarily chosen date, I have taken some time to reflect on my recent endeavors.

Everyone probably already knows Kickstarter by now, and since late 2011, I have backed a number of projects. But I can't say I am happy with a lot of them; a minority satisfied me with the results, some fell short of their plans, and a few even failed to deliver.

Today, I'll go over everything I backed in the last three-ish years and add my two cents (I'll skip the ones where it's too early to make any comment, or nothing noteworthy happened):

The Mandate

I have no idea why this didn't get more attention. It seems like the kind of game that would appeal to a certain type of gamer, but it took the likes of AngryJoe to actually raise awareness. So the funding period was either bad timing, insufficient PR, or a combination of both.

Small World 2: The Return!

They delivered on time, but boy, the PC version suffers from a range of UI and usability problems. Even if it is an Indie title, it surely lacks any sort of polish.

Battle Worlds: Kronos - Turn-based strategy revisited

Homeworld Touch (iOS/Android) and Homeworld 3 (PC/Mac/Linux)

So, they planned to use the funding money to secure a license and work on Homeworld 3 when THQ blew up and the license was auctioned off. The license went to Gearbox instead. At least they refunded every cent contributed to the campaign.

War for the Overworld

Last I checked, there was very little to see, let alone play. Originally they planned to release it August 2013. Well, it's mid-January 2014, and the game is still far from being an actual game. It still feels like a tech-demo that lacks just about everything. While I understand that planning a software lifecycle is a pain in the arse, being completely off their own estimation (they even revised their ETA to "when it's done") is a red flag and my confidence in this product is down to a minimum.

Limit Theory: An Infinite, Procedural Space Game

I have no idea where this is heading. The initial showcase releases in 2013 didn't exactly move me to the edge of my seat. I am also starting to think the developer may lack the experience to pull it off to everyone's satisfaction.

Project GODUS

Peter Molyneux, you tricked me again. You sold me the concept of a god-game, but development has been more back than forth recently, and people complain about how much of the gameplay is just clicking stuff. That's.. a lot of clicking. Like, really, a whole lot.

Star Citizen

This is the one project that literally exploded (in a good way) during its funding period, and well beyond that. I am really curious where this is headed. But I am concerned that the developer is already charging premium for every little ounce of content. And that barely qualifies as micro-transactions - you are already throwing down a LOT of cash for even the tiniest arsenal of ships.

OUYA: A New Kind of Video Game Console

Well, it arrived. But I was underwhelmed. It had neither the openness that they claimed, nor does it have a whole lot of interesting games it supports. If I had known this from the start, I would not have backed it.

Amanda Palmer: The new RECORD, ART BOOK, and TOUR

Hey, I've got to have at least one project that is not related to gaming :) I actually like the album, or well, most of it. Delivered on time and to my fullest satisfaction.

FTL: Faster Than Light

Well, a lot of people like this game a lot. I tend to play it rarely, at most; but hey, at least I'm part of it.

Wasteland 2

I think this project is moving into the right direction, but I can't say this with a lot of confidence. To be honest, I haven't tracked it recently, but it certainly looks like they are getting.. somewhere.

Steampunk Playing Cards

So. This project blew up right into my face. I consider it failed. I originally wanted it as a birthday present for one of my steampunky friends. The project ran into hiccup after hiccup and eventually the guy had to dip into his own funds to make it happen - well past the original estimated deadline. And even though he claims to have finished the shipping process in April 2013, I have not received anything to this date, and I do not seem to be alone. So... there go my 28$.

[mistermanny]

[mistermanny]

You know what's better than playing Chivalry? Playing more Chivalry. Except Manny and Rodbjorn are genuinely terrible at this.

[mistermanny]

[mistermanny]

[mistermanny]

HTML5, input, and you

HTML5 brings a host of new form input types. There's a number of reason why a web developer should pay attention to them, first and foremost: mobile support. Typing telephone numbers or dates is so much easier if the underlying browser "knows" what type of input is expected and makes it easier to enter data. Have a look at some of the Android 4.3 Chrome screenshots and you'll know why.

First of all, this is the markup I used: https://gist.github.com/MrManny/7068008

Although not overly exciting, this is how Chrome 30 renders it on Windows:

Naturally, most fields (especially date/time-related ones) present a picker suited for the kind of data. This is moreso true for the mobile version of Chrome where typing a date could be a pain in the ass using regular inputs and with no third-party solutions. Random fact: the email field even checks if the email address looks fine.

Without further ado, look at what pickers Android's Chrome brings to the table - natively:

Colors:

Dates:

Emails:

Months:

Numbers:

Search (which mostly just behaves like a regular input type="text" field, except that it uses the search icon instead of "Next"/"Weiter")

Telephone numbers:

Time:

Weeks:

[mistermanny]

FFmpeg cheat sheet

In case anyone ever needs something similar, I'd like to share my FFmpeg cheat sheet (for newer versions of FFmpeg; i.e. v1.0 or newer. I am using v1.1).

I am mainly working with 1080p material at 30 frames per seconds that I captured with Playclaw.

Youtube (1080p HD): ffmpeg -i <source.avi> -c:v libx264 -c:a aac -strict 2 -preset slower -crf 18 -tune film <output_for_youtube.mkv>

Notes: Usually works well enough. I vary the CRF setting (+-2.5) depending on the complexity of the source material to avoid exploding bitrates. 18-20 is a good range to start with though.

There used to be weird stuff happening to videos for some time that seems to have something to do with B-frames, but that seems to be gone now. Otherwise the flag -b-pyramid none usually did the trick back then.

For my Nexus 7 (720p HD): ffmpeg -i <source.avi> -c:v libx264 -c:a aac -strict 2 -preset slower -crf 24 -tune film,fastdecode -ac 1 -b:a 80k -vf fps=fps=25,scale=-1:720 <output_for_nexus7.mkv>

Notes: Not wildly different from my youtube version except that I use a higher CRF for smaller file sizes (usually 24 is not too noticable horrid), and use FFmpeg's video filters to decrease the resolution and frames per seconds. Also, mono sound, since the Nexus 7 only has one speaker; and the fastdecode tuning setting.

Just make thumbnails: ffmpeg -i <source.avi> -f image2 -an -vf fps=fps=1/10,scale=w=iw/2:h=ih/2 thumb%4d.jpg

Notes: Makes thumbnails every 10 seconds at half the resolution of the video.

[mistermanny]

Batman's four Robins don't get along all that well either.