Old Games: The Work Time Fun Late Shift with Jeff Gerstmann

The mic sounds good! Shame about the software not working out.

MIC Test

I can feel my pneumonia slowly gong away from the presence of the ZONE.

@jeff Have you tried putting a piece of wood on the underside of the table and clamping to that as well.

That thumbnail is disturbing

What are you waiting for? Touch me!

Ahhhhh. This is so pleasant.

Youget!!!

Muscle muscle!

cannot begin to explain what a shock to the system seeing jeff load up fluid was. i had forgotten all about that thing even though i spent so much time with the demo as a kid, completely confused and transfixed. god, i feel like a part of my psyche has been unlocked, like fluid is the key to understanding my taste as an adult. it’s fucking weird, man.

That chicklet sorting mini-game is a little too real for me.

Websockets!

My Ramen Muscles approve

@jeff You need an audio interface with Loopback. RME is a high end option that has incredible built-in routing features. Lots of entry level audio interfaces, including Motu and I believe Focusrite have it now and will allow you to route audio without using Voicemeeter. I teach music a lot online and being able to ditch Voicemeeter / VB Cable was the best shit ever.

I have an RME Babyface Pro FS and there is software that runs controlling an FPGA mixer on the device, it's incredible. It only has 2 mic ins, but is expandable to 12 in/12 out. Gives you essentially 4 stereo aux mixes to play with.

Edit: broad consensus is that RME has the lowest latency and best drivers for PC but you pay a premium for it. My friend uses the Motu M2 and has great success but the loopback mix is not as configurable.

MUSCLE MUSCLE

I'd like to see Jeff eventually mess around with the TSConf stuff on MiSTer a little bit. There's not a lot there to see, but what is there is pretty wild. From what little I can find on it, it's a Spectrum clone that basically has a small homebrew scene? There's some really trippy non-interactive stuff that I'm sure the community would get a kick out of.

I wish I could live in THE ZONE

Aloha!

@alistercat: There's definitely some clipping happening but with some future adjustments it'll sound great.

Always appreciate Jeff pushing the Work Time Fun movement forward every so often.

@jeff you should try Voicemod. I use it to annoy friends on a discord server with soundboards. It has a built in soundboard that you can set up keybinds with.

You will hear the soundboard sounds and so will everyone else.

Halfway through chick sorting and losing my mind lol. Trying to decide if I skip to the end haha

Depends on what you like to play and who you have to play with.

• I’ve got a load of games in the closet like Settlers of Catan… great game, but it’s no good unless your household already includes enough people (3–4) of the right age group to play it with you.
• Online games are great that way. My younger brother just started a 5th edition D&D delve with a small group of distant friends, using a Discord channel for audio. It’s pretty neat.
  • I think not being able to see the other players enhances the roleplay, since you only hear what they want their character to sound like.
• There’s always FPS stuff like Fortnite or CS:GO.
• I’m 40 years old, and I quite enjoy playing Minecraft.
• There’s also a really neat beta on Steam right now called Occupy White Walls. Basically, you go in and build a 3D art gallery. It’s got some of the same design and build elements I like about Minecraft, but with art (and no zombies).
• I’ve also had occasion to dust off some of my old favorites, from 4x stuff like Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, Civ IV and V… Half-Life 2 … Starcraft is actually free to play these days (including Starcraft II). You can just download it from Blizzard.

Lots of options if you have a PC, anyway.

And, y’know, heaven forbid you should go outside for a bit and work in the garden, or go for a run (just pick places where there aren’t people, and maintain a 6 foot separation from anyone you meet) assuming you’re allowed to leave the house where you’re at.

Jason Markus

Essay Writer