Signals are a GO!

It’s been long enough since my last post, that there has been some real progress in research. I left off last blog post discussing how we were in the process of requesting more simulation be generated. Well, I gave that presentation. It went from being a 5 minute presentation, to a 45 minute meeting; which then spawned two more presentations.

In our infinite wisdom we had forgotten to give a talk on the overall project when we were reassigned to the current analysis group we’re in (with CERN). So immediately following my initial simulation request, they wanted more talks. They tried to convince us to go borderline immediately, but my advisor got us to delay further talks. Immediately following this meeting, they wanted a deeper talk on theory space, and one developing the details of the actual analysis. Thankfully, I already had most of these slides ready to go.

Conveniently, my advisor took the theory talk off my hands so that I could focus just on the project talk itself. That was easy enough, just had to remind myself how getting limits out of COMBINE works. After some practice, giving this talk wasn’t any issue.

Some highlights worth mentioning is that following these talks, we are basically ready to get these files made (I just submitted the request on Friday). The deeper irony is the flipflopping of analysis group standards and expectations. Our original group recommended the use of an MVA (i.e. Machine Learning) to find the best cut/define a control region. They also had hard limits for the phase space (i.e. what masses we include), such that we weren’t to touch the Standard Model Higgs analyses. The analysis group we’re in now has no such restrictions on phase space and would prefer us to do a more traditional cut-based analysis. At face level, flipflopping is annoying. However, cut-based is easier so it’s whatever.

They also made some suggestions about further investigation into our reconstruction algorithms and how we went about our cut analysis. Ironically, in pursuing some of this I found some typos in my code. However, funnily enough fixing these typos doesn’t really change any of our reconstruction and best cut decisions (i.e. no change in results thus far).

The current status of my project is working with our PAG simulation people to produce simulation files.

Fermilab Stuff

Looking out from Wilson Hall @ FNAL after a lecture break

In the meantime, I can cover any updates for my lab work at FNAL. As a reminder, what I do is called “integration testing”. We’re basically planning to test parts (namely new planks for the Outer Tracker of CMS). In particular we’re doing cold tests to ensure the cooling system functions. I won’t go in full detail, but basically we’re putting panels in a cold box and using a thermal camera to try and spot any delamination. At present, we’re still in the engineering phase for setting up the cold box. I’m also supposed to be applying for a grant this month to help fund this, so wish me luck on that. The new box itself is mostly built, we’re just putting finishing touches before it’s moved into the lab.

Pictures of populated CMS Outer Tracker Panels and the new integration test box.

I’ve also been spending time at FNAL for supplemental lectures (LPC HATS). These are software based, and mostly there to help in developing analyses. These wrapped up this week though, so thankfully I won’t be driving as crazy an amount as I have recently. It was certainly useful stuff though, transitioning my analysis code from event loops to array level code was a massive boon. I’ll post links for these libraries if anyone’s interested.

(links) uproot, Awkward Array, Coffea, Pocket Coffea

Birthday Shenanigans

The main life thing to have happened since last post, was my birthday. As some of you may know, that is August 2nd.

This year I chose to have a combination birthday party and game night, since my birthday fell on the night I have (near) weekly game nights. We had a really good turn out of friends new and old. I made this a drinking game night, so we made drinking game rules around the game of choice. In this case that was Ys I (the Chronicles version). The rules were simple:

• Any time anyone playing dies take a sip/shot. Pass the controller.
• Continue until you hit whatever limit you set for yourself.

Ironically, despite the fact that we had a few people who are well acquanted with Ys, we didn’t make it past getting the Silver Armor.

If only...

All things said, it was a blast though. It’s always nice to introduce people to games they normally would never have been aware of. I’m very thankful for everyone coming out, probably not doing a massive drinking party next time though.

Game Updates

I’ve been hopping on down the backlog as time permits. I’ve played (and dropped) quite a bit, but I’ll give mini-reviews for the noteworthy stuff mainly.

Hollow Knight

After a long trek through my backlogs, I finally made it to Hollow Knight. That being said, I might ruffle a few feathers in my review of it. While HK is a great game and MetroidVania, I didn’t really find it to be the godsend for the genre people made it out to be. It certainly didn’t emulate the level of enjoyment I got out of playing Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow.

To preface this, I will admit that I didn’t start my run in the best of conditions. The PS4/5 version has horribly bad latency. This compounded with my TV’s latency for a bad time, especially early game. By the end of my run I was also getting stick drift, so I was working against myself at times.

In terms of gameplay, HK is solid. The inputs are simple, but at times beg you to remap them as the default input mapping will end up requiring you to claw grip your controller. The animation and player movement speed is slow in comparison to most MetroidVanias or platformers, so this can take some getting used to. The boss and enemy AI is generally worthy of praise, as enemies are designed to predict where you are going to be instead of just acting on where you currently are. This does lead to some perceived difficulty issues.

The most impactful and defining aspects of the gameplay have nothing to do with the combat or difficulty though. What sets HK apart from the vast ocean of other games like it is its implementation of mapping and its dynamic world state. Its mapping system is reminiscent of the era of drawing your own maps in old PC games. The world state system is most directly comparable to games like Demon Souls or Fable, except I’d say it’s a lot more subtle. It doesn’t outright tell you much about what the impacts of your actions are. However, I think these are the two things that are HK’s key selling points and biggest contributions to the medium.

The art is very good at setting the vibe and tone, as is the music. In terms of lore and characterization it very much takes from the From Software mode of writing. I liked a lot of what was there, but it isn’t immune to criticism.

In terms of gameplay, I had two main gripes. One of which is the pacing of when you get key abilities vs. the bosses you have to fight to get them. This makes the earlier half of the game feel very bottlenecked. Admittedly, this is a complex issue though because some abilities when compounded with the right badges trivialize large portions of the game. That being said a lot of my enjoyment was sucked out by not having options early game. In contrast the later half of the game was actually quite enjoyable. Late game deaths feel much fairer than early game.

The second gripe I had is that the game is overly punishing in its general gameplay. Some of the regular mob enemy design/AI goes a little TOO hard at times. There shoud be a more stark contrast between normal mobs and bosses. This compounded with having a death system akin to the Souls franchise contributes to this feeling of the game kicking you while you’re down. I wouldn’t say this is a matter of me needing to “git gud” either, seeing as I cleared above 100%. Also, sometimes spawning your soul past the boss trigger was a bit much.

As for the art and OST, I don’t have many complaints. The only gripe I have with the art is that the environments to some degree can occasionally blend together. Something that I started feeling during my playthrough is that this kind of game is not meant to be played on a big screen as your eyes need to dart across pretty fast to keep track of everything. I can only think of minor gripes for the OST, such as a rare few of the songs just feeling derivative. Otherwise the art and music do a good job of setting the vibe.

The worldbuilding and characterization of the Knight are more of an issue. A question I ask myself while playing any game is, “Why am I playing?” or “Why continue?” (etc). This game suffers pretty hard from this for much of the earlier portion of the game. In part this is because it exemplifies the mentality of “this game is whatever you want it to be”. However, from a game design perspective this does no favors in making a game stand out from the crowd. This kind of criticism is what I would call a “weak call to adventure”. On the other side of this is the lack of motivation or personality for the Knight. I understand that this is what they wanted to do lorewise, but it makes for a difficult character to relate or project onto in the greater context. Ironically, the worldbuilding and characters on everything outside the player character are good, and I saw nothing to be critical of.

Overall, I had a fun time despite this game’s quirks. I think accessibility options would be a great boon to this game, as it would enable more people to play. Not really sure if I’m the most interested in playing Silksong in the immediate future. At the end, I’m giving this an 8/10.

Celeste

Another game that sat on my backlog for years, that I heard the best of. In this case, I will outright say that the praise this game gets is undeniably deserved. A bit ironic that I ended up playing too ballbustingly hard games back to back. RIP PS5 controller #2.

In contrast to Hollow Knight, much of the game design here made for a game that was hard but felt extremely fair in how hard it was. I was always having fun. In particular despite not using them, I was highly appreciative of the existence of robust accessibility options.

This game is a platformer and as such is very simple to control and play. One of its key benefits is that it has very high responsitivity as well as a high skill ceiling. There’s a lot of tech to this game, and the bonus levels outright expect you to learn it. On the flip side, learning the ins and outs of this game is very rewarding. I’m also very appreciative of the fact that this game was designed from the ground up with speedruns in mind.

The art is good, its a certain kind of cute. I wouldn’t say it’s revolutionary but they do a very good job of having extremely distinct levels. The soundtrack is absolutely great, I loved every second.

In terms of worldbuilding and characterization, this game while being rather short does an extremely good job. It has a clear message it’s trying to say and it hits very close to home. For those who have dealt with depression, anxiety, and self criticality it in particular is heavily felt. This games portrayal of coping with these feelings is absolutely stellar. For that reason it will always be near and dear to me.

There is very little I can criticize in this game. The only major criticism I can give is that Chapter 3 is a real pain in the dick. A more minor criticism is perhaps there could have been more moments amongst characters, such as with Theo. However, one thing that this game does exceptionally well is not dwelling on things or overstaying its welcome. The final boss sequence in particular is a really good show of this.

Had a lot of fun with this, and felt this game in my soul, so it’s getting a 9.5/10 from me.

Detroit: Become Human

Okay, so we got the good and the great out of the way for this month. Now for the ugly…

I’ll preface with saying that there is a certain quality (or more specifically lack thereof) one expects out of David Cage and Quantic Dream’s games. However, this game in particular feels like a different level of bad.

A short summary of this game is that it tries to tackle takes on the rise of AI gaining sentience, as well as tie it in to some movement to give sentient robots equal rights. The way it executes any of these concepts and everything in between is an absolute mess.

Before we get into the writing mess, I’ll shortly discuss game design. The general structure of this game is that it’s basically the typical Cage Choose Your Own Adventure style game, following the paths of three perspective or sets of characters. This isn’t particularly new ground for Cage as he’s done three perspectives in the past.

The path specific criticisms I have are rather stark. The first is that this game is extremely sporadic and has major pacing issues between transitions of these perspectives. The earlier game in particular feels like whiplash. The second major criticism is that you can lock yourself out of one of the perspectives (ironically the female one) and nothing major will be lost. You can 100% obtain the good ending of the game, and it will even be simpler to do so. At that point one begets the question of why even have the third perspective?

The general gameplay within chapters is par for the course on what one expects from these Quantic Dream games (i.e. gesture based controls everywhere). These are okay, but nothing to wink at. The biggest gripe I have is that often times in dialog you’re on a timer which makes this frustrating to play at times. Especially if you’re trying to talk to other people about what to do. You essentially have to pause the game all the time, which gets old. The biggest criticisms aren’t gameplay here though, let’s get on to the writing.

The premise of robots gaining sentience in and of itself I do not draw issue with at a fundamental level. Its execution in much sci-fi does however leave much to be desired. This game is no different.

Much of the cast of this game are these androids that have gained sentience, how this came about is something the game dances around but never outright answers. Instead, you’re given some red herring about something called rA9 which never gets answered. The fan community would have you believe this refers to one of the player characters, Markus, but this doesn’t match up timeline wise (as he didn’t gain sentience until partway through the story).

However, it’s one thing to gain sentience; it’s another to form differiented personalities. This is something the game does without any motivation. During Markus’ route he happens upon a collective of sentient androids all with very human personalities, written as typical David Cage characters. This especially feels bad to me because of the fact that we can’t just dismiss these as bad Cage characters, as they were originally supposed to be androids without personalities. Now, suddenly they’ve developed distinct personalities that clash and create artifical conflict.

This game never convinced me that this was a statistically likely and believable outcome. I would wager that the mean behavior of these sentient androids would be to form near identical personalities, that work in favor of the overall whole.

From here Cage just charges ahead. Not only giving them personalities, but implementing a social approval system amongst the other androids. So, the Androids have to approve of Markus to follow him as a leader….right. I’m not even going to touch talking about the mandatory love interest stupidity this game pushes in this route.

The other two perspectives involve more human characters, so in a sense they’re at least more tolerable at first glance. Connor’s perspective has the best characters (i.e. Hank). However, it suffers from much of the plot threads following the rA9 red herring, which goes absolutely nowhere.

The decisions required to get to the good ending seem almost chosen at random, which makes this game also seem really stupid. You have to be a dirty fence sitter, chapter by chapter. Sometimes being pacifistic, while others being super aggresive/hyper-violent. Which really doubles down on why this game’s androids make no sense. Sentient AI should have some sense of general intelligence and consistency. Sorry to say guys, but program bugs IRL aren’t completely random phenomenon with no correlations.

With that chunk of criticism out of the way, we can get to the elephant in the room. The central plot point of this game follows a social revolution for the freedom of androids. How this is executed makes absolutely no sense if you think about it for any longer than 5 seconds.

What this game does is use androids who serve humans as an allegory for chattel slavery, and the movement for androids getting equality is a direct mirror of the civil rights movement. I can get why they would pursue this, the problem is that I don’t believe for a moment that sentient AI would feel the need to engage in a social rights movement. It did make me chuckle when I saw that you can pick your movement’s emblem to be eerily similar to the Black Lives Matter fist.

Over the course of the game, they try to convince you that any sentient android can awaken any that aren’t yet. However, they are very inconsistent in the portrayal of this. At times the game acts like direct physical contact is necessary, while others they can do so wirelessly. If they can do it wirelessly, why haven’t all androids awoken yet? Similarly, the same can be said of hacking. Which begets the biggest argument. If androids can hack whatever, why not instead of pursuing social revolution, disrupt all the systems humans rely on? Hell, they could hack distribution centers which would wipe out a significant chunk of plot in favor of a very different direction.

The biggest issue I take with this entire concept is that it seems much more likely that sentient AIs would win this kind of “war” before it even became one.

I think I’ve griped enough though (I could probably go for days at this point). The game functions, but even for a David Cage game its writing is pretty horrible. 3/10

Stream Updates

The main games I have streamed as of late were Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 and 4. Replays of these were quite nice, but I was reminded why the later versions of THPS3 are much better than the PS1/N64 versions.

Most recently, I’ve been streaming the new remakes of these games. I’ll give actual thoughts once I finish these streams, which will likely be in the next blog post. The good news is that after this, streams will move to probably being retro PC and Trails stuff for the immediate future.

That’s about the roundup though. Next post maybe in September?

Till Next Time,

Rob