I am not a vulkan programmer even I'm barely learning opengl but individually you guys are worth like 15 web devs or 6 game devs each do you guys have any tips on how you understood the graphics pipeline so well beyond just "practice and repetition makes perfect"
From this alone, it looks like there was nowhere else to park, but there were actually plenty of open spots around the perimeter, and he was nearly blocking one of the entrances to the mosque. Additionally, I've been slowly drifting away from my childhood friends and currently exist in a strange limbo between the life I grew up with and whatever is supposed to come next.
You score a hat trick = "[YOUR CLUB] JUST SEALED THE THIRD GOAL!!"
Score the winner in the 90+3rd minute = "[YOUR CLUB] JUST SCORED A STOPPAGE TIME WINNER!!!"
The ONLY time your name is brought up is in the starting XI list. Even your transfer isn't announced. Club fans will discover at random you've signed when you appear in the starting XI. Your Wikipedia page redirects to your club. You somehow score a 45-yard volley and the only highlight is the ball hitting the net from far away with you cropped. You have no fans.
Would you accept it?
I know that's the motivation for many new graphics programmers, infact I want to as well eventually, but I'm just curious why lots of people think alike
There is an official account on Roblox just named "chatgpt", and is apart of the official Roblox staff team (the Roblox icon next to the name indicates it and their groups)
https://www.roblox.com/users/4116532193/profile
Joined December 6 2022
The only way I know how to make maps feel "endless" is by making the skybox a pure color that matches the color of the fog and make the fog dense enough so it looks like it, but this doesn't work for games who aren't supposed to have fog
Does anyone else's stomach just feel like it sinks in while vomiting and hurt badly?
A brief summary of the situation: I've been working on stormforge: warzone for months and my biggest problem is player retention. Individual session times are about 15 minutes, which is better than my old games which had that stat cooked too. But that's just the first session. No one comes back for another.
Right now, I acknowledge the game simply isn't fun enough to get players back for a second session at all after their first one (called D1 retention), and at this point I've stopped trying to figure it out myself. I am not a game designer. But even if you're not a game designer, I need to know what would be the things I'd have to change to get you back for a second session
Please do not say "game sucks" "learn game design" "boring", I've heard all the vague complaints there are. I want real actionable advice, focused on the core loop of the game.
Before you say anything make sure to play it so you can actually feel the game: https://www.roblox.com/games/9093652672/Stormforge-Warzone
Yesterday I finished the third episode of Victor Gordan's OpenGL tutorial, and made my first triangle. I also learned how to modify it (like changing vertex positions, color, etc).
But when I look at the code I wrote, it feels impossible to remember like I could write any of this without looking at the tutorial. When I was learning C++, mostly everything instantly stuck with me, but graphics programming seems like I'll never memorize 80% of it
How did you guys get decent at this and actually retain the knowledge and be able to write it independently? Or am I judging too early? I started 3 days ago
<h1>It started with a single, innocent blink of the Wi-Fi icon.</h1>
It started with a single, innocent blink of the Wi-Fi icon.
Not even a full disconnect. Just a flicker. The kind you ignore. The kind you trust. Big mistake.
Ethan was mid-sentence in his Mars research project, typing something that felt borderline genius: “To function effectively, a Martian greenhouse must replicate”
Gone.
The screen froze. The cursor stopped blinking like it had personally given up. Then, like a domino effect orchestated by pure malice, everything began collpasing.
Notion popped up a cheerful little message:
“No connection.”
Ethan stared at it.
“No connection?” he whispered, like the app had just insulted his bloodline.
Before he could react, the page refreshed itself.
Blank.
Notion closed.
“No no no no no—”
He slammed Ctrl+Z.
Nothing.
He reopened Notion. The page loaded… slowly… painfully… like it was being dragged across the desert of Mars itself.
Empty.
“BRO.”
He leaned back in his chair, hands on his head, eyes wide, processing the sudden evaporation of his academic career.
Then his browser tabs started dying.
One by one.
Google Docs: Aw, Snap!
NASA site: 404 Not Found
Random article about hydroponics: This page took too long to respond.
“What is happening??”
He clicked refresh.
Nothing.
Again.
Still nothing.
Each tab now loaded at the speed of continental drift. The loading circles spun like they were mocking him. Time itself seemed to slow down.
Then came the sound. Discord. 7 pings in 2 minutes. His friends had begun.
He tapped the notification. Messages flooded in.
“yo when’s the game dropping”
“bro u alive??”
“???”
“why u reading and not replying 💀”
[For context, Ethan's a game developer, but that's the least of our worries right now]
Ethan typed:
“wifi died br—”
Failed to send.
He hit enter again.
Failed.
Again.
Failed.
The message box just sat there, staring back at him like, “you thought.”
Now it looked like he was just sitting there, reading everything, choosing silence. The digital equivalent of making eye contact and walking away.
“Oh my GOD they think I’m ignoring them.”
Them:
“nah he’s mad 💀”
“what did we do”
“NO I’M NOT MAD IT WON'T—” he yelled at the monitor, as if his voice could convert into packets and travel through the void.
Then, out of nowhere, Roblox Studio closed. No warning nor mercy.
Ethan slowly turned his head toward the desktop icon.
“Don’t play with me right now.”
He double-clicked it.
Nothing.
He double-clicked it again.
The icon flickered. Disappeared. Reappeared.
He refreshed his desktop.
Gone.
“…”
He opened the search bar.
Typed: Roblox Studio.
No results.
He froze.
“They didn’t…”
His brain tried to rationalize.
“No. No no no. It doesn’t uninstall itself. That’s not a thing.”
He checked Programs.
Not there.
He opened the installer folder.
Also gone.
At this point, his soul began exiting his body in stages.
“Okay. Okay. Calm down. Think.”
He looked at the Wi-Fi icon.
One bar.
One. Single. Bar.
“YOU HAD ONE JOB.”
He stood up, paced the room like a general who just lost a war he didn’t know he was fighting.
Meanwhile, the browser tabs were still loading, one finally resolving. But it's a blank white page with zero CSS.
Another:
“Error 404.” “Connection timed out.”
Migraine kickoff. He grabbed his phone.
Wi-Fi symbol: spinning.
Messages app: loading.
Discord: connecting…
Attempting to reconnect... (Attempt #512,481,389)
“Bro I’m in digital limbo.”
He sat back down, staring at the chaos like a man watching his empire crumble in real time.
He opened Notion again.
It loaded.
Slowly.
The sidebar appeared.
His page name was still there.
He clicked it.
Loading. Solid 5 minutes there.
Then—
Text.
His paragraph.
Everything.
Exactly where he left it.
Ethan didn’t move.
He didn’t breathe.
He just stared.
“You… you saved?”
At that exact moment, the Wi-Fi icon jumped.
Full bars.
Everything snapped back.
Discord messages sent all at once:
“wifi died bro”
“IM NOT IGNORING U”
“I SWEAR”
Roblox Studio icon reappeared.
Just… sitting there.
Like it had never left.
Ethan opened it.
It launched normally.
No issues.
No missing files.
Nothing.
He leaned back in his chair.
Silence.
"I need some rest"
“…after I finish this paragraph.”
He walked back, sat down, cracked his knuckles, and started typing:
“To function effectively, a Martian greenhouse must replicate key environmental conditions…”
Ethan cracked his knuckles, fully locked in now, typing at the equivalent pace of ChatGPT.
“To function effectively, a Martian greenhouse must replicate key environmental conditions…”
He leaned back slightly, satisfied.
“I’m actually him,” he muttered.
Then—
Ping.
School portal notification.
He glanced at it casually. No fear. No stress. Just curiosity.
“Probably something irrelevant”
The page loaded instantly this time. No lag. No errors.
A message from his teacher.
“Project Deadline Updated.”
Ethan’s eyes lit up.
“Ohhh say less.”
He sat up straight, suddenly energized.
“No way. No WAY. Don’t tell me I just got blessed like that.”
He clicked it open.
There it was.
Bold text.
Clear as day.
“Deadline has been moved.”
Ethan jumped out of his chair.
“LET’S GOOOOOOO—”
He actually spun around. Did a full 360 like he just hit a trickshot. Hands in the air.
“I KNEW IT. I KNEW LIFE WAS TURNING AROUND.”
He paced the room, smiling like he just got handed an extra month of existence.
“No rush. No pressure. I can breathe. I can think. I can—”
He stopped.
Something felt… off.
“…wait.”
He slowly sat back down.
Scrolled.
The message continued.
His smile faded. Slowly. Gradually. Like a loading bar going in reverse.
There it was.
The second line.
Small. Quiet. Deadly.
“Back to April 28, in <1 hour>.”
He blinked.
Once.
Twice.
His brain tried to process it. Rejected it. Tried again.
“…what.”
He leaned closer to the screen, like proximity would somehow change the words.
It didn’t.
“Back to April 28.”
“In less than one hour.”
Ethan leaned back.
The same chair.
The same room.
But now it felt different.
Like the universe had personally locked onto him as a target.
“…they moved it.”
Pause.
“…backwards.”
Pause.
“…IN TIME.”
He stared at the wall.
Completely still.
“No. That’s not how deadlines work.”
He laughed. A small one. Not happy.
“You can’t just… undo time. That’s not—”
He checked the clock.
:12
He looked back at the screen.
“<1 hour remaining>”
His soul attempted to exit again but got denied at the door.
“No no no no no no no—”
He opened the document.
Scrolled.
Half done.
Half.
Done.
“BRO.”
He stood up so fast the chair rolled back like it was escaping the situation.
“This is a setup. This is a TEST. This is psychological warfare.”
His phone buzzed.
Discord.
“yo u finishing that project?”
Ethan picked up the phone slowly.
“ACTUALLY SHUT UP RIGHT NOW”
He dropped it back on the desk.
Opened Notion.
Opened another tab.
Opened another.
Google Docs. NASA site. Random sources. Everything loading instantly now, of course. Perfect timing.
“OH NOW YOU WANNA WORK??”
He slammed his hands on the desk.
“YOU WERE STRUGGLING FIVE MINUTES AGO.”
The cursor blinked.
Mocking him.
Tick (x5)
The clock kept moving.
Ethan sat down.
Slowly.
Calmly.
Too calmly.
“…fine.”
He placed his fingers on the keyboard.
“You wanna play like that?”
Crack.
Knuckles.
Eyes locked in.
“No distractions.”
Words started flying.
Sentences forming faster than logic.
Grammar barely holding on for dear life. Nevermind, it wasn't.
But it didn’t matter.
This wasn’t about perfection anymore.
This was survival.
“To function effectively, a Martian greenhouse must replicate key environmental conditions…”
He didn’t stop.
Didn’t reread.
Didn’t question.
Just typed.
Like a man racing the concept of time itself.
The clock hit:
:34
Still going.
:46
Still going.
:55
Final paragraph, typing the last sentence, hovering over submit, heartrate 200 BPM.
The timer said 00:01:12.
“…nah.”
Smashed the submit button and followed it with silence.
He leaned back.
Slow exhale.
“…I’m actually him.”
He looked at the ceiling. Migraine calming (slightly I guess).
He leaned back, staring at the ceiling, breathing like he just ran a marathon through pure stress.
“…I made it.”
For a moment, everything was still.
Peaceful.
Then—
Ping.
Grade notification.
Too fast.
Way too fast.
“…nah.”
He slowly opened it.
The page loaded instantly.
Of course it did.
No lag. No mercy.
There it was.
ELA – Final Project: 0%
He just stared. Underneath, a comment:
“Numerous spelling and grammar errors. Sources missing. Does not meet requirements.”
Ethan leaned forward.
“…sources.”
He scrolled his document. Zero citations, zero proof, zero calm, I don't know anymore.
“…nahhh.”
His brain tried to rewind. Tried to remember if he added them. He didn’t. He meant to, he thought, but time denied him.
He went back to the grade page. It refreshed. Final grade updated.
ELA: 69%
Ethan had zero color showing now.
“…69.”
He whispered it like it was a diagnosis.
“Not passing.”
He leaned back in his chair slowly.
The realization hitting in layers.
End of the school year.
All assignments locked.
No extra credit nor recovery.
“…I have to redo the grade.”
He stared at his hands.
“…a whole year.”
His phone buzzed.
He didn’t even look.
Didn’t need to.
Nothing on that screen mattered anymore.
Slowly… he slid out of his chair.
Dropped to his knees, accepting his fate.
Like a fallen warrior in a battle no one else saw.
He reached for his phone.
Opened TikTok.
Typed “sad ronaldo edit”
First search result showing clips of a silent crowd and Ronaldo crying during the Euro 2004 final. Ethan watched with his eyes locked.
“…yeah.”
“…this is me.”
The music swelled.
Ronaldo walking alone.
Head down.
Stadium lights dim.
Ethan placed a hand on his chest.
“I gave everything.”
He whispered it like the edit could hear him.
“I fought till the end.”
Another clip.
Ronaldo sitting.
Thinking.
Regret.
Ethan exhaled slowly.
“…sometimes…”
Pause.
“…sacrifices have to be made.”
He looked slightly off to the side.
“…yeah.”
Because in his mind— right now—
He was a highlight reel. A story. With sad music. Picturing empathetic comments.
And captions like:
“They didn’t understand his journey.”
“He tried.”
“But it wasn’t enough.”
He closed his eyes, slow, accepting.
Then opened them again.
Stared at the wall.
“…I’m not coming back from this.”
“…but it’s okay.”
Somewhere in an alternate timeline, he submitted with sources. Got a 95. Finished the year strong. But not this one. Not this version.
This version? Got a 0. Dropped to 69%. And became an edit.
Ethan sat there in silence. Phone still in his hand.
Sad Ronaldo edit still looping.
Rain. Slow music. Regret.
Inhaled slowly.
Exhaled.
“…it’s time they know.”
He opened Discord. The chat was still active. Messages flying. Life going on like nothing happened.
He stared at the text box. Then began his nonsense:
“Thank you for being along with me on the journey.”
He stopped.
“…yeah.”
📎 Screenshot_20260428_1215AM.png
ELA: 69%. Attached. Sent
For a moment no message was sent. Just a moment.
Then—
“??? 💀”
“bro what”
“nahhh what happened”
“69 is crazy”
Ethan didn’t respond. He just stared. Above it all.
Then a message appeared. Slowly.
“wait why didn’t you just redo your missing assignments”
Ethan: “…what.”
Friend #2: “they’re not locked 💀”
Friend #3: “yeah bro I literally just turned one in like 10 mins ago”
Ethan’s fingers froze. He turned his head toward his desktop as if it betrayed him.
“…nah.”
He opened the grade portal.
Hands slightly shaking. Started scrolling, for once not TikTok. Assignments.
Zeros.
Still open. “Submit Assignment” visible. He hovered over it. Clicked one.
It opened without any message.
It was like it was just waiting for him. Ethan leaned back. Stared at the ceiling again. Same ceiling. Different meaning.
“…so I didn’t have to… suffer.”
He looked back at his phone. Then at the laptop. Then back at the phone.
The sad Ronaldo edit was still playing. But now… It felt wrong. He paused it. Silence.
“…I just gave a whole speech.”
He whispered.
“…I dropped to my knees.”
He opened another assignment. Still open. He looked off to the side again.
It felt awkward. “…cut the music.” No response. Because there was no music. Only reality. He sighed. Ran a hand through his hair.
“…nah we’re not doing a redemption arc.”
Ethan shook his head slightly.
Half-smiling.
He cracked his knuckles. Opened Notion. Opened sources. Opened everything.
This time composed. Internal voices back at it: “…I’m actually him.”
Life was finally… stable. Assignments done. Grade recovered. Crisis averted.
Ethan sat back in his chair, sipping water like a man who had survived war and come back slightly wiser.
Friends laughing about the whole “final speech” incident:
“bro really said thank you for the journey 😭”
“we thought u were logging off permanently”
Peace.
The next day, he opened Discord. The second big mistake he just made.
A message appeared: “Your account has been disabled.”
“…what.”
He refreshed. Same message. He checked his email. There it was. A message from Discord support.
Subject:
“Account Enforcement Notice”
He opened it. Heart rate increasing just slightly.
“Your account has been permanently suspended due to violations of our platform policies.”
“…what policies.”
He scrolled.
“Excessive disruptive behavior, including repeated dramatic messaging that may impact user experience.”
Ethan froze.
“…dramatic messaging??”
He slowly read it again. “Thank you for your understanding.”
“I DO NOT UNDERSTAND.”
He immediately hit support.
Typed a full appeal. Calm. Professional. Clean. “Hello, I believe this may be a misunderstanding—”
Sent. Waited. Five minutes. Ten. Then—
Reply. Fast. Too fast. He opened it. It read:
“yeah nah you’re out man”
Ethan leaned back.
Silent.
“What?…that’s it? and why did they say it like that?... is this real?”
No “we’ll review.” Just exited. He stared at his desktop. Discord icon. Useless now.
“…so I really got banned… for being emotional.”
He whispered it like it was a philosophical realization. A few minutes later.
“…I have to communicate another way.”
He opened the app store. Scrolled. Searching for anything. Anything at all.
Then he saw it. Bright colors. Hearts. Smiling cartoon characters.
“JUST TALK KIDS 5+ ❤️❤️🎁”
Ethan paused.
“…nah.”
He stared at it. Then at his messages. Then back at the app.
“…I don’t have a choice.”
Downloaded. Installed. Opened. A cheerful voice greeted him:
“Welcome friend! Let’s talk and have fun! 🎉”
“…I used to run a server.”
He muttered. He created an account with the user "Ethan_Real". This is important. Read the next line.
It auto-corrected to something along the lines of "Ethan_Superstar591"
“…whatever.”
He added his friends. Somehow. They joined. The chat opened. Bright background. Stickers everywhere. Confetti animations for every message. His friend typed:
“BRO WHAT IS THIS 😭”
Ethan replied. A sticker automatically sent with it. A dancing bear.
“i got banned from discord”
Another sticker. Fireworks. A balloon popped on screen.
“💥 GREAT JOB SHARING! 💥”
“…this is not a great job moment.”
Another friend said “YOU GOT BANNED FOR BEING DRAMATIC?? 💀”
Ethan said “yeah”
Sticker. Heart explosion.
“❤️ AMAZING HONESTY! ❤️”
He stared at the screen. Deadpan. “…I can’t even suffer properly here.”
Every message: contains a load of confetti, stickers or sound effects. No dignity.
One friend typed: “nah this is worse than the ban”
Another: “bro fell off to a kids app 😭”
Ethan leaned back.
Staring at the ceiling.
Again.
Same ceiling. New low. “…I went from a cinematic edit… to a sticker app.”
He slowly looked back at the screen. A rainbow animation played as someone typed: “we still here tho”
Ethan paused. Looked at that message. Then the others. Still joking. Still talking. Still there. He sighed. Slight nod.
“…yeah.”
A small smile.
Very small.
“…it’s not that bad.”
Then a sticker appeared. It was a smiling sun.
“🌞 YOU’RE DOING GREAT! 🌞”
“…nvm”
Ethan was sitting there, half zoned out, scrolling on his phone inside “JUST TALK KIDS 5+ ❤️❤️🎁” like his life hadn’t already taken 14 wrong turns. Sticker. Confetti. Heart explosion. He didn’t even react anymore. He was numb. Then—
Something in the corner of his eye. Top right of his monitor. A flicker.
He slowly looked up.
Paused.
“…what is that.”
A download popup.
Then another. Then another. Then— another.
Files. Downloading. Rapid fire. One every second. Then two. Then ten. Then—
20 fps (files per second). The notification stack started climbing horryifingly. Ethan stood up slowly.
“…nah.”
He opened the downloads folder. Files. Thousands. Same name. No source. Zero again. No app running either, just… spawning. Materializing out of thin air.
“WHO IS DOWNLOADING THIS???” He checked task manager. Nothing unusual.
Downloads: +347… +512… +891…
“…this is not real.” He unplugged the Wi-Fi. Downloads continued.
“…nahhhhh.”
He shut down the PC. Screen went black. Silence. He waited.
15 seconds. He turned it back on.
Booted up. Opened downloads. +5,000 new files. So now he just found out it has asynchronous downloading capabilities. That doesn't help.
He stepped back. Hands on head. “…it’s over.” At that moment, something shifted in him. Acceptance. Heavy.
“…I can’t stop it.”
He whispered. He looked at his SSD storage. Almost full. The files kept coming. Relentless. Endless. Like time itself had decided to write to his drive. He sat down.
Opened File Explorer. Hovered over his folders. Videos. Games. Memories. Projects. Game dev maps. Old clips. Everything.
His hand trembled slightly: “…I have to make space.”
Right clikc and delete. More. Delete. More. Everything he mildly loved, gone. No hesitation now.
“This is for the system.” he muttered. He opened Amazon. Set up automation.
1TB SSD — weekly delivery.
“…we expand.”
He nodded.
“…we adapt.”
Hours later. He was chilling. Empty desktop. Fresh space. Downloads still happening. He accepted it. Background process of life now.
He opened YouTube. Clicked a random devlog from another game developer.
[Game Name] I ADDED X! – Devlog #6
He leaned back. Watching. Trying to feel normal again. Then the screen changed.
The dude opened a document. This is NOT any other document. He copy pasted values. Ethan leaned forward.
“…wait.”
The text. Familiar. Too familiar. He squinted. Paused the video. Zoomed in. There it was. Exact text. Exact numbers.
CFrame: 53.562, 19.126, 28.615
Orientation: -23.411, -53.161, 0
Ethan froze.
“…that’s my file. THE ONE GETTING DOWNLOADED 10,000 TIMES”
He checked his downloads. The files. The same values. Repeated. Over. And over. And over.
“…you’re using them.”
He whispered.
“…casually.”
Just casually. Like it was always meant to be used.
Ethan stood up.
“…nah I’m done.”
He grabbed his entire desktop.Lifted it. One hand. Yeah.
No hesitation. Walked out the door. Drove straight to a tech shop. Burst in. Placed the PC on the counter.
“IT’S DOWNLOADING ITSELF.”
The technician blinked.
“…what.”
“FILES. ENDLESS. NO SOURCE. HE’S USING THEM.”
“…who?”
“I DON’T KNOW.”
The technician stared.
“…leave it here.”
Ethan dipped 30 minutes in.
10 hours later.
Returned to the shop (is supposed to be asleep at this time).
Technician came out and stated “Yeah we fixed it.”
“WHAT WAS IT??”
“…temporary system glitch.”
“…glitch??”
“Yeah. Nothing serious.”
“How much.”
“$4.”
Ethan blinked.
“…$4?”
“Yeah.”
“…10 hours??”
“Yeah we were mostly waiting.”
Ethan slowly turned. Walked out. Got home. Set the PC down. Opened it. Normal. Peace.
He opened File Explorer.
Empty folders. Everything gone. He stood there, processing what he had just deleted
“…I deleted everything.”
He slowly opened the recycle bin. Empty. Completely empty. He froze. “…no.”
His eyes drifted. Slowly. To the desk. His water bottle. Tilted. Resting. Exactly… On the keyboard. On one key. Shift.
Ethan didn’t move. “…you.” He whispered. “YOU HELD SHIFT.”
He slowly sat down. Hands on knees. Staring into nothing. Everything gone.
“…I sacrificed everything…”
“…for a glitch.”