八方旅人

近几个月在玩的游戏是Switch上的一个像素风RPG,Octopath Traveler,译作八方旅人。当初开这个游戏一方面是看中了这个复古感, 另一方面也是对制作组放言“不会有DLC,这是个完成品”有些好奇。现在八个主角的结局都打到了,隐藏boss打到第二形态觉得差得有点多,也懒得回去练级,就封盘好了。

八方旅人其实一上来让我想到的是当年在SFC模拟器上通了n遍的神作:圣剑传说3。那个是六个主角三条故事线,收齐同伴之后合成一个主线剧情,还是那时候少有的动作RPG而且动作性还相当不错。听到八方旅人这游戏是八个角色之后我期望的也是一个开头独立后来汇合的剧情。然而。。。并没有汇合!八个角色除了组队打怪,旅行途中各种地方触发一些有的没的的闲聊之外,各个角色的故事之间可以说是是毫无联系的。。。我直到打完两三个角色的剧情才逐渐接受了这个事实,感觉相当的不可思议,就当做是这个游戏要表达“世界这么大,哪有那么巧“的意思好了。从另一方面来说,感觉是开发人员分成几个小组并行制作的,彼此之前完全没有依赖估计开发得也方便。。但这样确实也感觉不是很有心意就是了。

除了故事线完全独立这个大surprise之外,这游戏的其他方面倒是基本都达到了我的预期。

  • 画面像素风但用了现代的引擎,所以火焰雪花之类的效果又很精细,有种奇异的观感,看得惯像素风的话就觉得很好。
  • 音乐很棒,值得留意听。
  • 故事大多比较幼稚中二,但日式回合制RPG基本都是这个调调,这游戏故事的风味已经做得不错了。
  • 战斗系统还可以,思路比较单一就是通过弱点break敌人之后打高伤害,爽快感不错,算是这个制作组打磨得比较圆滑的一个系统了,支持这游戏几十个小时的游玩还是可以的。
  • 迷宫和找路方面秉承了不给玩家找麻烦的理念,十分简单友好,迷宫死胡同都很短,尽头必定放一个箱子给你标记你已经走过了。剧情设定不能去的地方连个借口都不找,直接就是一句”我觉得我还不应该去那边“的提示给硬拉回来。
  • 至于舞女故事线里面一个人偷偷溜上马车,到了敌人老窝就瞬间分身出一大帮同伴这种不合理的地方也是一概忽略,游戏嘛那么认真干嘛。。

附上一张通关之后的图,有兴趣怀旧RPG的不妨一试。

Maine杂记

这次终于去了这个离的不远但从来没去过的Acadia国家公园,还是赶着秋叶正浓的时节去的。好看是好看,只是阴天拍出来看着一般。Acadia的特色是山海相依,还有群岛环绕,登高望远的景致还是很不错的。走了Beehive Trail,短短0.6 mile有不少直上直下爬铁梯子的部分,很爽,恐高症不宜。

缅因确实是个龙虾州,到处都是龙虾店,龙虾吉祥物,龙虾纪念品,etc。其中不乏一些颇为魔性的。。我们下飞机第一顿就在著名的Eventtide吃了两打生蚝和一碗龙虾汤,都很好吃。晚上又在The Shop吃了两打生蚝。。之后基本顿顿都在吃龙虾或者其他海鲜,但感觉龙虾最正的吃法还是要在海边Lobster Pound这一类的餐厅,用循环海水养着的龙虾,点了之后直接大灶上用海水煮来吃。缅因这种龙虾店的龙虾是按硬壳软壳来分,硬壳肉多,软壳肉嫩。新鲜龙虾有黄有膏,跟在纽约买到的还是挺不一样。我们在沿着一号公路开的时候在Belfast的Young’s吃了两只,超赞。

这次由于是临时起意订的行程,又是秋叶旺季,离Acadia最近的Bar Harbor压根订不到住处。于是我们住到了一小时远的Bangor。这小城1900年那会儿号称是世界木材之都,现在就实在没什么可看的了。仅有的一个“景点”是Stephen King’s House,注意Stephen King还在世。。所以这个地方并不是一个博物馆,就只是像狗仔一样跑去看看名人居所而已。很大的一个宅子,门口铁栅栏上还挂着两个红色气球,感觉是在用IT的梗吓唬游客。

缅因也是有条一号公路的,没有加州和佛州的那么有名,但也是景色不错。一路上小镇一个接一个,不时可以遇到好吃好玩的。在这条路上我们除了Young’s的龙虾之外,还去了一个很漂亮的自带高空观景台的桥,一个逼格满满的叫Green Tree的咖啡店,可以开车开到顶的Mount Battie,和一个缅因灯塔博物馆。总之是个road trip的好地方。

Google相册在这里。去过的地方标在这个FourSquare list里。

Sampling WeWork

WeWork is booming. I sometimes feel the amount of WeWork co-working spaces are as many as Starbucks in NYC. Just like using Cloud instead of putting together servers these days, startups go to WeWork or other co-working spaces by default, before they get large enough to afford their administration, especially in US cities.

Flux currently rents a 4-person office in WeWork Montgomery St in SF. I use WeWork credits to rent “hot desk” in NYC from time to time, each credit (~25$ value) can get me one desk for one day. I’ve been leveraging the flexibility to go to different WeWork places based on my schedule. It’s interesting to notice WeWork places vary quite a bit. Some have larger open-floor areas, nicer decoration, or more open layout. One “indicator” I use is to check if there is fresh milk besides coffee machine: most places have that, but some don’t.

Also, some places are busier than others. If it becomes difficult to find a phone booth, I consider that place over-crowded. It depends on weekdays, too. Friday tends to be busier than usual, believe it or not.

Another interesting part is social function. Do strangers get to know each other and social in WeWork? Based on my observation, not much… people are more in work mode in WeWork, and most wear headphones in open spaces. So it’s not really a social scene. There are sofas for people to talk, but as I see, mostly for co-workers or people who already know each other. 

Magic for Humans

前一阵子在Netflix看到一个魔术show叫Magic for Humans,主演叫Justin Willman,大概就是这个人表演一些街头魔术,很好看。有一些看起来实在是太神奇,虽然那个show坚称没有用camera trick也没有用托儿,但还是觉得有些部分太不可思议了。当时Google了一下发现这人会在纽约演出,于是立马买了票,上周五去看了真人现场版。

现场演出的效果可以说比较符合预期,并没有太多神乎其神的魔术手法,有少数甚至显得有点直白(网上简单查一下就能查到解释的那类)。但现场气氛很火爆,主要归功于他的表演。感觉他的那个show其实也是类似,三分是魔术技巧,七分是类似standing comedy的表演,尤其是和观众互动的部分,异常的纯熟。整个场面时时刻刻都在掌控之中。如果说大卫科波菲尔的那种魔术秀是“硬”魔术,他这个可以说是一种“软”魔术秀了。娱乐效果倒也是一流,就当成standing comedy + magic来看就好了。

放个Magic for Humans的trailer,有兴趣可以去看看Netflix的这个剧。看到后面会觉得有点重复,前几集还是很好看的。

Hello, Flux

After leaving FreeWheel and playing hide-and-seek with bears in Glacier National Park for a week, I’d joined two ex-FreeWheelers (Nick and Max) to co-found a startup called Flux.

Flux aims to help enterprise better understand talents and internal needs, to increase internal mobility. Our own stories led to this idea. I changed jobs six times across three departments in FreeWheel. Each time I switch a position, it’s not only a good challenge and growth opportunity for myself but also a great benefit for the FreeWheel. By keeping experienced talents around and motivating them with new positions, companies minimize attrition cost and maximize productivities.

We’re starting the company in a truly distributed fashion. Nick/Max are in California, and I’m in NYC. I understand the importance of face time, so we’ll get together often, and I also believe modern technology has advanced to the point that people can collaborate seamlessly online. And I’m looking forward to the life of coding a few hours at home and going to a gym on my schedule. After all, engineers all wear headphones when they work in an open office, don’t they?

We plan to hire a few engineers at the beginning. If you’re interested, check out our open positions and drop an email to journeys@fluxwork.co, or feel free to message me. I’m happy to share more information.