HN Interesting Quotes

“As someone who studied AI in college and am a reasonably good amateur player, I have been following the matches between Lee and AlphaGo.
AlphaGo plays some unusual moves that go clearly against any classically trained Go players. Moves that simply don't quite fit into the current theories of Go playing, and the world's top players are struggling to explain what's the purpose/strategy behind them.
I've been giving it some thought. When I was learning to play Go as a teenager in China, I followed a fairly standard, classical learning path. First I learned the rules, then progressively I learn the more abstract theories and tactics. Many of these theories, as I see them now, draw analogies from the physical world, and are used as tools to hide the underlying complexity (chunking), and enable the players to think at a higher level.
For example, we're taught of considering connected stones as one unit, and give this one unit attributes like dead, alive, strong, weak, projecting influence in the surrounding areas. In other words, much like a standalone army unit.
These abstractions all made a lot of sense, and feels natural, and certainly helps game play -- no player can consider the dozens (sometimes over 100) stones all as individuals and come up with a coherent game play. Chunking is such a natural and useful way of thinking.
But watching AlphaGo, I am not sure that's how it thinks of the game. Maybe it simply doesn't do chunking at all, or maybe it does chunking its own way, not influenced by the physical world as we humans invariably do. AlphaGo's moves are sometimes strange, and couldn't be explained by the way humans chunk the game.
It's both exciting and eerie. It's like another intelligent species opening up a new way of looking at the world (at least for this very specific domain). and much to our surprise, it's a new way that's more powerful than ours.”

“And culturally, I think that's the impact of all that education. Their parents and grandparents lived in the culture that invented the "mid-life crisis" as a description of when you realized that your life choices were the result of being lied to about what makes for a good life. I wouldn't be surprised if the lessons of this finally sunk in. Helped along a whole lot by the lack of similar options due to boomer politics.”

“We live in interesting times”

“Have you noticed, how smartphones vacuum tangible reality?
How many of you have real alarm clock sitting on the table, for example. It lives on, but as more intangible presence, in each and every phone. Alarm clock has died, but lives. It is present, but not present at the same time, just the spirit continues, I would say.
Soon it will happen or is happening to other items as well, and perhaps one day our spirits will live in the machine the same way alarm clock lives now.
I wholeheartedly recommend watching Japanese anime Ghost in the shell movies as a nice peek to the future.“

“I'm really hoping that Zelda/Switch are successful enough to push game aesthetics in a better direction. This headlong plunge into the uncanny valley is just gonna lead us to the same dead end that art found itself at the end of the 19th century. No one cares about the bad aesthetics of Orientalist painting any more, and this era of hyperreal titilation is gonna meet the same fate in retrospect.”

“The artist, in this model, is like the optometrist, always asking: Is it better like this? Or like this?”

“When I was a kid in the 70s I remember reading a national magazine article about another kid my age who had his own computer. Amazing! This was something I wanted.
Reading on, it described how he had built his computer from electronics and operated it from his attic. He had quite a few programs for his computer. One he liked the most allowed him to simulate buying and selling of stocks.
If you've ever read any ads from that period, the implication is clear: computers are awesome because they are going to challenge us to become better people. They will teach us at a speed we can learn, they will reward us as we progress, and the obstacles and learning will get more and more advanced.
People who don't have computers are going to be missing out -- on self development.
Contrast that to my trip the other day by commercial air travel. Everywhere I went, people were on their phones. Were they learning foreign languages? Becoming experts at symbolic logic or global politics?
They were not.
Instead they were playing the stupidest games imaginable. Facebooking, taking quizzes where any moron with the ability to type would get 90% correct -- and then sharing the results with their friends.
Zuck and others figured it out. Computers don't have to be computers. They have to be video games. Who gives a shit whether the guy on the other end is learning to be a better person. Challenge them with idiotic trivial tasks, then reward them with blinky lights, sound effects, and the imagined praise of their peers. They'll do that shit all day long. All they need is more batteries.
Yes. It's a problem.”

“The lack of opportunity in rural America is disheartening to say the least. I feel the election of Trump is a direct reflection of the lack of empathy people have from cities have for rural America.
I grew up in New Hampshire in a very rural town with a population of 4,000. Rural life sat well with some of my peers, but I loved tech and quickly left through college enabled by my parents ability to point me in the right direction, which many of my peers didn't have. The difference in opportunity I saw in the cities versus New Hampshire was staggering, not even comparable. I've enjoyed my life as I've explored more of America and ended up in the Bay, but every time I go back to New Hampshire there is always a tally of people I knew who died to Heroin. That or one of my friends succumbing to their addictions again. I know these people extremely well and I can confidently say the only difference between me and them was opportunities to enable my mind and parenting. It's disgusting honestly.
Now I would love to solve this problem, but the lack of empathy I've seen in the cities for these people is the worst piece of this puzzle. People in cities have the privilege of wealth and the ability to direct America in a way rural America doesn't. The issues they face in rural America are completely ignored. While they cite that the popular vote strongly favored Hilary, they forget why the electoral college was created. To help rural America from being completely ignored while the cities with denser populations sway the votes towards their issues.
I encourage everyone to go talk to a person in a rural county that is provided cheap heroin through foreign drug smuggling groups that don't have any opportunities. Empathize with their problems. Do I think transgender deserve equal rights? Absolutely. But go to a town ravaged by heroin and lack of financial growth and bring up transgender bathrooms to them. They will be baffled by your lack of knowledge of how their lives operate.”

“Graduated high school and went to college in the late 90s, started teaching at the college level in mid-2000s, still teaching at the college level.
I would say that in general I didn't notice much of a difference between when I went to college and when I started teaching at college. I went to a state school, I now teach at a (different) state school. Students generally got done what they needed to get done, partied, enjoyed chatting and having fun in the classroom, and more or less seemed to live their lives fairly similarly to how I did.
The last few years have been different, and I'm not entirely sure why, and it is specifically the last few years when the shift occurred. I've spoken with numerous other teachers about this, and everyone I talk to about it that's been teaching for a while seems to have noticed.
As people have noted, students now are more diligent. They work really hard, they're polite, quiet, but are woefully unprepared for adulthood. Yet, they're almost to the last all fairly "corporate" and "professionalized." They act like they are all intending to become middle managers. The idea of college education as anything other than (incredibly expensive) job training is lost on them -- likely due to that "incredibly expensive" part. They diligently do busy work, but when asked to do creative, novel, or independent work/analysis, it's like that screen Chrome browser gives you when it crashes. They're also less anti-authoritarian than I've seen in the past. This is helpful for classroom management, but I worry about a society of people who unquestioningly do busywork, can't think independently, and blindly listen to authority.
If you think it's just me, all teachers teaching incoming freshman last year had to attend a lecture series given by a couple of the deans regarding the demographics and habits of our incoming freshman.
Basically, the takeaway was this: We should not expect students to be able to pay attention in class. We should not expect students to be able to socialize easily with their classmates. We should not expect students to be able to understand and/or figure out a syllabus. We should not expect students to be able to manage their own personal affairs outside of the classroom. We should not expect them to be able to self-task in terms of research/self-education. We should expect more phone calls from parents, more parental intervention, and a heavy reliance on parents by our students who, we were informed, are likely texting their parents during and/or immediately after classes if they get grades they feel are unfair. Most of the "we should not expect students to be able to do X" comes from research that the deans cited (I don't remember if it was from our university or published in a journal or what) that shows that most of those issues stem from that extreme reliance on other people, typically parents for younger students, through all of their K-12 education. AKA, their parents did so much for them down to explaining class expectations and how a course works (syllabuses), that now that they're expected to do it on their own, they can't because they've never really done it.
I think the deans maybe were a bit hyperbolic, but most of that does seem to be true for a lot of students now, and I will say this: until three years ago, I had NEVER received a phone call or email from a parent regarding their children's grades and/or academic performance. Since 2014, I have received numerous phone calls and probably a half dozen emails.
You want to see a helicopter parent lose their shit? Explain to them that their children are legally adults and due to FERPA guidelines, I can't discuss their grades or academic performance with them. So, I don't fault my students necessarily, and I don't know if this is a long-term trend or not, but I definitely have noticed a pretty significant change in my students over the last few years. I also get the sense that they may know that there is something different about them vs. previous generations of college students, as I find them expressing concern about themselves and their classmates. They say things about people struggling to look each other in the eye, or make small talk, etc.
So, anyway. tl;dr -- students are politer and more diligent but have become worse at adulting and being independent.”

“They take a very constrained example and claim that "You should be a slacker too".
This is at best an irresponsible piece of writing that's clearly targeting discussions like what's happening here. This is the 1000th time I've seen a post on this topic on HN, and every time it's posted here it's like groundhog day, same comments. Well this is what publications like these want, they want more traffic.
There are many famous athletes who worked long hours. Ask Michael Jordan.
There are many famous entrepreneurs (actually I don't know of a single extremely successful entrepreneur who didn't work extremely hard) who worked long hours. Ask Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and really any successful entrepreneur who's changed how the world works.
Just don't ask some nobody writer who writes for a blog who just needs to get more page views. They don't know what they are talking about.
In fact, you know what? MOST successful people work very hard. Surprising right? Duh.
It's your freedom to choose how to live your life, but don't tell others what to do based on your idiotic research clearly aimed at generating page views. That's irresponsible.
Also, if you want to succeed, don't listen to these idiots. Statistically those who work harder succeed more. Period.
That said, if your life goal is NOT about being successful but more about living a balanced life with happiness, then go live your life whatever way you want. In fact that's how 99% of the world live their lives.
But again, if you want to have huge success and achieve more than you ever wanted in life, work hard. Don't let these people ruin your life. You will really regret later.”

“Some of the best life advice I got from my Grandmother:
You are always working for yourself. You may have an employer, but you are still working for yourself, not them. You're trading your time for money, like any other business. If you don't like the deal, then walk away.”

“Actually, most stories that have a specific antagonist depend on the antagonist being stronger than the protagonist, so logically the antagonist should win most of the time -- unless they do something stupid.
We love to root for underdogs. After all, most of us are underdogs. If the hero was clearly going to win, it would not be much of a story. So what is an author to do?
* Have the hero win anyway
* Have the hero lose heroically
* Have the hero lose realistically
You will find all of these in literature but in popular works the first is obviously the most common. So the question becomes, under what circumstances is it satisfying to the audience that the hero wins anyway, even though the antagonist should clearly win.
The key to this question is virtue. Why do we want the hero to win? Because they are more virtuous. Why do we want the antagonist to lose? Because they lack virtue. So the difference between winning and losing must itself rest on virtue. This can take many forms:
* The antagonist loses, despite their advantages, because their signature vice leads them to make a mistake. Not a random mistake, but a mistake that they make for the very reason we hated them in the first place. Because of their cruelty, a henchman rebels against them; because of their treachery, an ally abandons them; because of their arrogance, they leave their flank unguarded; because of their idleness they do not discover the secret that will be their undoing. All of these will seem dreadfully contrived, of course, unless they are seen as the direct result of their faults and the past actions they have taken because of those faults.
* The hero wins because of their signature virtue: because of their courage, they keep fighting when all seems lost; because of their compassion, a minor character they have been good to shows them a secret passage; because of their loyalty, a friend sacrifices himself for them; because of their learning, they discover a secret unknown to the antagonist. Again, all of these will seem dreadfully contrived unless they are the direct result of their established virtues and the past actions they have taken because of those virtues.”

“Dialogue consists of two characters trying to get something from each other. Each has a desire that they want the other to fulfill. Each has some reluctance in fulfilling that desire, or else has difficulty figuring out what that desire is because the other is not, for one reason or another, stating it clearly. They may be ashamed of their desire, they may be afraid of rejection, they may be attempting to deceive. But they want something, and they are choosing their words, in a way that is consistent with their character, to try to get the other person to grant their desire.
The is true of both people in the conversation, so every passage of dialogue is like a game of chess: move and countermove, each person attempting to increase their chances of winning.
If you don't know what to have a character say next, it is because you have not thought through what they are trying to get from the other person, or what the other person is trying to get from them, and why they are reluctant to grant it. Figure those things out and the next line of dialogue will be obvious.”

“People complaining about electron are the same type than the ones that used to say :
- why are people writing this stuff in C. It's so slow and you don't have as much control on memory. Write it in Assembly.
- why are people writing this stuff in Java. It's so slow and you don't have as much control on memory. Write it in C.
- why are people writing this stuff in Python. It's so slow and you don't have as much control on memory. Write it in Java.
Eventually people want to solve a problem with the best ratio cost/quality for them, not "doing it the proper way".
So unless you provide a better solution for them to do that, or pay big money to create such solution, they will find the ugly-hackish-half-baked-working-for-them solution that let them do this.
We had PHP. Now we have JS.
I hate it. You hate it. We all hate it.
But I created portable GUI apps with an installer before in my favorite language and others and it was a pain. All of it. The UI, the event model, the API, the portability edge cases, the new stuff to learn, the packaging, the dependencies...
It sucked.
So get over it or provide a solution, but stop complaining.
And before you start providing an EXISTING solution, remember people tried it and they didn't like it as much as electron. And since electron is so bad, that should tell you something.
So the market is saying you are wrong. You can ignore it from your better tech tower... Try to boycott electron apps all you want. But we know how it has played for betamax, lisp and the ogg format.
P.S: oh, and if electron is flash, remember that flash won the web for 15 years while it sucked. And you know why ? Because it allowed people to do stuff they wanted easily, like videos and animations. And it's not because we couldn't do it any other way, we could. Yet we had to wait almost 2 decades to see it dies, at the price of battery, stability, security and everything else. Feature trumps everything. People. Don't. Care. We only manage to kill it because we finally replaced it with systems that could compete on easiness and features. So you know what to do.”

“Time is the only currency you have which can't be earned and only spent. Spend it wisely.”

“It's a skill that can be learned like every other skill. You can take the "in 21 days" route or the MOOC / University course route, or constantly read business articles, Steve Jobs videos, etc.
But some top tips stand out for me over time:
* Talking to people, networking > Not talking to people
* Bug free > Elegant code
* UX > UI
* Simple products that do one thing well > Complex products
* Understanding entire market > understanding some people
* Building brand > Making quick money (for the long run)
* Sleep, exercise & healthy food > late night coding
* Solving your problem first > Solving the worlds problems
* Adaptability, pivoting > Ego
* Knowledge of where the money is > No knowledge of it
* Overestimating cost/expenses > Underestimating it
* Patience > No Patience
* No procrastination > Procrastination
* Reading books > Not reading books”

“The genre’s focus on nostalgia, the ironic stance it adopts towards modern consumer culture, and its recurring desire to break through to different—even transcendent—realities, are all in their own way expressions of what it feels like to come of age as a millennial in the 21st Century, something every noted vaporwave producer has done.“

“I can't get Her out of my head. Somehow the most believable vision of the future I have ever seen.
Every other filmmaker who explores the evolution of technology shows the next logical step being that we become one with our creation. We meld man and machine.
Her takes what I feel is actually the smarter approach. As we become absorbed with our technology to the point where it becomes not an extension of us, but it substitutes our need for human interaction. A world where we can pass ten thousand people on the street every day, and not a single one is walking with another person. Everyone is talking to their operating system.
There's a scene where Joaquin is talking to his video game and Samantha. They joke, they laugh, they argue, but in reality Theodore is alone.
It's brilliant. It's an incredibly accurate observation about where we're headed, and what the future socialization of people looks like. It's not terribly weird that we split our attention in public between screens and people, when does it not become weird to focus more on the screens than the people?
This is a true visionary work. I'm blown away.
And the acting was top notch.”

“The danger of this doctrine is that it leads people to advise, essentially, that you should rush through your first draft thoughtlessly, as if it were an unpleasant chore, and as if no opportunity to create quality work existed until after the first draft is complete. This is bollocks. We should strive to do the best work we can at all times. But the first draft is special. It is the last time we will have a blank slate, the chance to map out the pure lines of story unencumbered by an accumulation of prose or of scenes we may struggle to part with. The first draft is the foundation on which all will be built. It should be as good as we can possibly make it.”

“One of the things that seems like a good idea to many beginning writers is trying to deceive the reader in some way or another. There is one problem with this idea: readers don't like it.
And why should they? The reader's enjoyment of a story depends on their ability to enter into the world of the story, to enter into what Tolkien called the sub-created world of the author. Disappointment comes when that illusion is shattered. But entry into the world, and the maintenance of belief in that world, become much more difficult if part of the picture is permanently greyed out or pixelated. It is as if the writer is refusing to let the reader in, and, of course, if the reader can't get in, they will stop reading.
Yes, there is such a thing as an unreliable narrator. But the unreliable narrator is a construct of the writer and the reader meets them as they meet an untruthful person in real life. Their unreliability is presented wholly and honestly so that the reader can enter into the world in which the unreliable narrator exists and form judgements about them.
Story is something very fundamental to the human psyche. We love stories. We need stories. We live by stories. And for this very reason, story has a very specific form. The body recognizes story, and if a narrative comes along that the body does not recognize as story, our mental antibodies attack and reject it.
Story allows for infinite variety within its basic structure and rules. But its most basic rule is to be honest with the reader.
EDIT (in response to the OPs edit):
Gender is one of the first things we notice about people when we meet them. It is how our recognition system works. We categorize things, and gender is one of the most fundamental categories, perhaps the most fundamental category, that we use to categorize the people we meet. This is why androgyny is so striking when we see it: it disrupts our recognition system.
So, concealing the androgyny of your MC is an affront to the reader's most basic recognition of individuals. Whether or not the reader is open to varieties of gender, gender itself, whether binary or not, is a fundamental category of recognition. The reader cannot form a picture of the character without it, and so they will either give up on the character or make a decision for themselves.
If your characters are androgynous, say they are androgynous right up front. The first thing that the reader would notice about your character in real life is the first thing you should tell them about them in a story. You are creating an experience for the reader, and that experience is going to be incomplete and frustrating if you do not tell them the basic things they need to form a picture.”

“Don't focus on vocabulary. It is very hard to change your vocabulary and the only real and natural way to do it is by extensive reading. Any attempt to artificially liven up your prose with exotic vocabulary is only going to sound forced.
Rather, focus on what you write about. The real texture of writing comes from what is written about, not from how it is written. Great fiction is, above all else, finely observed. It opens your eyes because the author had their eyes open. Observation, not diction, is the key to lively writing.”

“If you want more money look at where you can save money (not eating out, buying generic products, etc.) and things you might be able to do on the side to earn more.
Or if you rather start applying for jobs and seeing what else is out there. You don't have to find a job today, just start looking.
If you want to have more energy find an exercise routine that works for you and start eating more vegetables and less sugar/bread. Take time to meditate or at least relax and clear your head. It's likely there's something buried in your head that is causing you to be demotivated.
If it's your perspective that needs tuning work on rewiring your brain. Stuff like replacing "this is hard" with "this will take time" or learning to be okay with being wrong/weak and asking for help when you need it.
If your work isn't fulfilling maybe talk with your co-workers or supervisor to see what can be done to make it better. If that's not realistic, maybe your job actually does suck and you need to go back to the first paragraph.
For me personally, I find setting aside time to untangle my brain helps the most. Sitting someplace and working on a posture or breathing exercise and really just putting some distance between me and my problems for a little while.
Usually after that my problems seem much smaller and more manageable.”

“Whatever your monthly income is, divide it into five sets of funds. Roughly into 30%, 20%, 15%, 10%, and 25%.
* First set of funds are for living expenses. Live simple. Eat a basic breakfast. Eat a basic lunch. Eat a basic dinner. While you are young, you are still strong and adaptable- your body will not suffer too much with a basic diet.
* Second set of funds are for making friends and expanding your interpersonal circle. Budget your phone bill to a minimum. But every month, take 2 people out to lunch/dinner and pay for them. What kind of people? Those who are wiser than you, richer than you, or have helped you along in your career. Make sure you buy lunches/dinners for people who work harder and have bigger dreams than you. Do this every month and after a year and your circle of influence would have grown tremendously; it will pay dividends in the future. Your influence and reputation will spread.
* Third set of funds is to learn. Every month spend some money to buy books. Since money is still scarce, you want to learn as much as you can. Whenever you buy a book, completely consume the lessons/strategies that the books offers. After finishing the book, make sure you try to teach someone else the lessons in your own words. Studies have shown that it helps you learn the lessons better. In addition, try to save up money to attend a training course- many successful people have attended training courses. For example, Warren Buffet once attended Dale Carnegie’s Public Speaking Course. Not only do you gain knowledge, but you also meet like-minded friends
* Fourth set of funds are for traveling- especially overseas. Treat yourself to traveling at least once a year. Traveling will expose you to the world and increase your experience of life. After a few years, you would have been to many countries, met many different people, and underwent many different experiences. It will change your perspective on life and help you grow as a person. You have those experiences to continually recharge yourself - sharpening the saw, so to speak.
* Fifth set of funds are for investing. Continually try to save money in your bank account. Use this money for initial startup capital- such as a small business. Small business are relatively safe since you won't lose too much money: even if you lose money, you will not lose too much. However, when you do start earning money, it will boost your confidence/courage. After a few years, you can start saving for long-term security. It will be your war chest for bad times and will ensure stability in your quality of life.
* After grinding for a year and your salary has not improved, well, you haven't improved as a person and should be quite ashamed of yourself. “Do yourself a favour and go to the supermarket and buy the hardest tofu. Take it and smash it on your head because you deserve that.”
* Even if your monthly income increases, you must still continue to grind. You should try to find a part-time job- preferably in sales. Why? Sales is challenging, but it is a crucial skill to have for the rest of your life. You will have the ability to sell people your dreams, ideas, and visions. You will also connect with many people who will be extremely valuable to your life. You will also develop the sense of what sells and doesn’t, what might be a success and what won't be.
* Try to help out businesses - there are businessmen everywhere who need help. Put yourself out there and offer to do part-time gigs. This will not only help you hone your skills, but help you become more elegant.
* Despite what your income is, always divide it into five parts proportionately. Always try to show your value and be useful. Expand your network. Increase your self-worth by investing in yourself. As you become more valuable, people will begin to notice and your income will rise as well. Always invest in learning, self-confidence, traveling, experiences, and your future.
* After a few years, you should begin to have a surplus - a bigger war chest. Your body will begin to get stronger as you have better nutrition and care. You will have an abundance of friends and connections. You will have better training and have the opportunity for bigger projects and opportunities. Soon, you would be on your way to your dreams and have the surplus to buy your house, car, and education for your childrens' future.
Advice on “The Art of Living”:
* There is a famous theory from Harvard: A person’s fate is decided by how he/she spends his/her free time between 10:00 PM to 12:00 PM. Use these two hours to learn, think, and participate in meaningful discussions. If you persist for several years, success will come knocking on your doors.
* There is nothing wrong with being young. You do not need to be afraid of being poor. You need to always invest in yourself - always increase your wisdom and stature. You need to be able to distinguish between what is important and worth investing in. You need to realize what is worth spending your money on. This is the essence of discipline. Try to avoid spending too much money of clothes. Try to eat out less.
* Don’t overspend on clothes, shoes, or material goods. You can buy as much of these as you’d like whenever you become rich. Save your money and buy gifts for your loved ones. Explain to them why you are thrifty and tell them about your goals, dreams, and plan.
* When you are poor, be good to others. Don't count favors.
* When you are poor, spend money so that people can see it. When you are rich, do not show off. When you are poor, you must be generous. When you are rich, you must not be seen as a spendthrift. Your life has now has come full circle. This is the end goal. You will find peace at this stage.
* Once your livelihood is no longer an issue, use the remainder of your money to pursue your dreams. Spread your wings and dare to dream! Make sure you live an extraordinary life!
* Whatever happened in the past is in the past. Do not dwell on past mistakes. There’s no point crying over spilt milk. Everybody makes mistakes. It’s what you learn from the mistakes that counts. When you miss opportunities, don't fret - not every opportunity is for you.
* The ability to smile when you are misunderstood is rare - a sign of a good upbringing. When you are wronged and you smile calmly, it is a sign of generosity. When someone has taken advantage of you and you smile, it is a sign of open-mindedness. When you are helpless and you smile, it is a sign of calmness. When you are looked down upon and you smile, it is a sign of confidence.
* Life can be designed. Careers can be planned. Happiness can be prepared. You should start planning now. When you are poor, spend less time at home and more time outside. When you are rich, do the exact opposite. When you are poor, spend money on others. When you’re rich, spend money on yourself.”

“This echoes what Yahtzee said about the game years later, and it still rings true: Half-Life is such a powerful experience precisely because you never leave the shoes of Freeman. Its story interleaves with its gameplay, and the pieces are all there to see, but if you just want to shoot some aliens, that's okay too.
It's a collection of innovations and feelings that few other games have been able to capture.
On an unrelated side-note, if you've played Half-Life, Freeman's Mind is a must-watch: it's an astoundingly funny bit of comedy that is just so brilliant.
Yahtzee Crowshaw's (yes, the very same guy I mentioned above) LP of the game (Let's Drown Out All Of Half-Life), while by no means a must-watch, is also reccomended.”

“Watanabe: We didn’t want to compromise our standards by saying “It’s only a Game Boy game, so let’s just leave it like this.” We were always wanting to make something that would put even the Super Nintendo to shame.”

“No. Not even close. There is a huge difference between loans and investors.
BANK LOAN:
Borrow $200,000 over 2 years at 10% interest and pay $9,166 per month for 24 months. Repaying $220,000.
2nd TIER LOAN: 
Borrow $200,000 over 1 year at 20% interest and pay $20,000 per month for 12 months. Repaying $240,000.
ANGEL INVESTOR: 
Invests $200,000 up front for 20% of your company.. No monthly payments, but the investor is looking to make their money back within 2 years and grow that investment to 2x, 3x, 5x or 10x over 5–10 years. At 10x, he is looking for $2M back in 10 years.
VENTURE CAPITAL: 
Invests $2M up front, buys out your Angel Investors for 5x and captures their 20% equity as well as an additional 20% to now own 40% of your company. Angel makes $1M on their $200,000. Goes on to the next deal.
PRIVATE EQUITY:
Pays you $20M for 100% of your company. They give you a board seat and a 7 year “advisory” deal that comes with a non-compete clause and other provisions. VCs take their $8M and call it a day. PE firm takes the company to over $200M in value and sells to your arch rivals that you have fought for 10 years for $200M. A part of your soul dies… but at least you have $12M in the bank. Just try not to think about the $180M that the PE guys just made.”

“There was an article about procrastination that really stuck with me and it argued something similar: One of the reasons we put off work is because we don't look at our "future selfs" as the same person or even as someone you feel sorry for. Basically, we think "I don't give a damn, let my future self deal with the consequences!". By thinking of your future self compassionately, you can much better motivate your current self to do work you'll depend on being finished at a later date.
This might sound weird but I try this sometimes. "Thanks, past self, for having done this on time, now I can enjoy the weekend because I'm done with this tedious work!" You don't have to literally talk to yourself or anything, but it's IMO a healthy state of mind. It's also the only way I've found to directly tackle the underlying problem of procrastination instead of just telling yourself to "not be lazy, stupid!”.”

“Scott, who spent four years as a TA for a game design program, advocates that the best way to avoid crunch and create a quality project in a limited amount of time is to be aware of your own abilities and the abilities of your team.
“Each year there were the teams that tried to make the huge RPG, the amazing thing they’ve had in their hearts since they were 5 years old,” said Scott.
“As the years went on, a trend started coming out. The games that did the best were the ones that just focused on one really really interesting thing. For students I think it really helps to find one really cool, crystallized idea and have a small little agile team and really just make that one thing just come to life.”
The panel agreed that one thing educational programs could do to better set game development students up for success was to teach project management alongside the more technical aspects of game development.
“[Scope] should be taught. As much as programming, as much as art,” she said. “Project management and producing should be just as big of a part of the curriculum because it impacts everything as much as your actual ability to make the game.”
Small brought up the importance of scope earlier in the stream, and a comment from Cartletto-Leon built on that to drive home just how vital that one skill can be to any developer’s career.
“Scope is something that is defiantly learned. Because you have to learn what you’re capable of creating in what amount of time and how you're going to make a quality game in 'x' amount of hours," said Carletto-Leon. "That’s definitely something that is learned and I’m definitely still learning as well.””

“Somewhere out there are a few men with more innate talent at golf than Jack Nicklaus, or women with greater ability at tennis than Chris Evert or Martina Navratilova, but they will never lift a club or swing a racket and therefore will never find out how great they could have been. Instead, they’ll be content to sit and watch stars perform on television.”

“You can have the most wonderful product in the world, but if people don’t know about it, it’s not going to be worth much. There are singers in the world with voices as good as Frank Sinatra’s, but they’re singing in their garages because no one has ever heard of them. You need to generate interest, and you need to create excitement. One way is to hire public relations people and pay them a lot of money to sell whatever you’ve got. But to me, that’s like hiring outside consultants to study a market. It’s never as good as doing it yourself.”

“I don’t kid myself. Life is very fragile, and success doesn’t change that. If anything, success makes it more fragile. Anything can change, without warning, and that’s why I try not to take any of what’s happened too seriously. Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game. I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about what I should have done differently, or what’s going to happen next. If you ask me exactly what the deals I’m about to describe all add up to in the end, I’m not sure I have a very good answer. Except that I’ve had a very good time making them.”

“The most important thing in life is to love what you’re doing, because that’s the only way you’ll ever be really good at it.”

“It’s not how many hours you put in, it’s what you get done while you’re working.”

“Intrinsic motivation, as it’s known in psychology, is doing something because that activity is inherently rewarding. Extrinsic motivation is doing something for outside rewards — praise from parents, money or recognition, for instance”