The Spritely Institute
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@spritely@social.coop
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The Spritely Institute's Bio
We're building the next generation of decentralized network tech!
The Spritely Institute's Posts
The Spritely Institute has 15 posts.
The Spritely Institute
In response to this postSpritely is working on a lot of pieces to deliver its vision of p2p tech being the default, but there are two big ones:
- Goblins, our p2p time-traveling distributed programming environment https://spritely.institute/goblins/
- Hoot, our Scheme to Webassembly compiler https://spritely.institute/hoot/
Naturally, the most important thing to get to compile *is* Goblins on Hoot. Cirkoban used an early version of Goblins ported to Hoot as its foundation. That's what powers the time travel "undo move" in the game!
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The Spritely Institute
In response to this postWe will, however, talk about one game *in particular*: Cirkoban! https://davexunit.itch.io/cirkoban
(Alt link: https://files.spritely.institute/embeds/cirkoban/)
Cirkoban is COOL AND FUN AS HECK but it also shows off something really important! It was the first demo of Goblins running in the browser!
Spritely is working on a lot of pieces to deliver its vision of p2p tech being the default, but there are two big ones:
- Goblins, our p2p time-traveling distributed programming environment https://spritely.institute/goblins/
- Hoot, our Scheme to Webassembly compiler https://spritely.institute/hoot/
Naturally, the most important thing to get to compile *is* Goblins on Hoot. Cirkoban used an early version of Goblins ported to Hoot as its foundation. That's what powers the time travel "undo move" in the game!
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The Spritely Institute
In response to this postWe'll talk more in the coming days and weeks about other demos we've used, including more modifications to Terminal Phase, that have shown off specific parts of Spritely's tech.
But you can play many of these games today! Many in your browser! https://spritely.institute/arcade/
We will, however, talk about one game *in particular*: Cirkoban! https://davexunit.itch.io/cirkoban
(Alt link: https://files.spritely.institute/embeds/cirkoban/)
Cirkoban is COOL AND FUN AS HECK but it also shows off something really important! It was the first demo of Goblins running in the browser!
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The Spritely Institute
In response to this postTerminal Phase has also been a great testbed and demo for all our tech. For example, Goblins supports transactionality and time-travel features. But that's hard to understand!
But here's a video of time travel in Terminal Phase! *No* gameplay code changes were made to enable time travel! The game was fully programmed, and then in retrospect @cwebber realized that time travel support was already there, and so simply spent an hour wiring up what was already there to the GUI so users could see.
We'll talk more in the coming days and weeks about other demos we've used, including more modifications to Terminal Phase, that have shown off specific parts of Spritely's tech.
But you can play many of these games today! Many in your browser! https://spritely.institute/arcade/
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The Spritely Institute
In response to this postSpritely's tech is a big lift. Goblins is a distributed programming environment! It's not a trivial thing to design.
For this reason, the first serious program testing and using Goblins' tech was Terminal Phase, a space shooter that runs in a developer terminal!
It was a robust test on its own!
Terminal Phase has also been a great testbed and demo for all our tech. For example, Goblins supports transactionality and time-travel features. But that's hard to understand!
But here's a video of time travel in Terminal Phase! *No* gameplay code changes were made to enable time travel! The game was fully programmed, and then in retrospect @cwebber realized that time travel support was already there, and so simply spent an hour wiring up what was already there to the GUI so users could see.
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The Spritely Institute
In response to this postMuch of Spritely's tech is extrapolated from the designs pioneered in the E Programming Language http://erights.org/
But E comes from Electric Communities Habitat... a p2p distributed virtual world system which could run untrusted code and had user-run economies... in 1997! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNiePoNiyvE
Spritely's tech is a big lift. Goblins is a distributed programming environment! It's not a trivial thing to design.
For this reason, the first serious program testing and using Goblins' tech was Terminal Phase, a space shooter that runs in a developer terminal!
It was a robust test on its own!
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The Spritely Institute
In response to this postThe connections to games go back even further! It's well known that "Spacewar!" was one of the first video games.
Porting "Spacewar!" and also authoring Space Travel was an important part of the history of Unix as well.
https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/spacetravel.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Travel_(video_game)
Much of Spritely's tech is extrapolated from the designs pioneered in the E Programming Language http://erights.org/
But E comes from Electric Communities Habitat... a p2p distributed virtual world system which could run untrusted code and had user-run economies... in 1997! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNiePoNiyvE
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The Spritely Institute
In response to this postBefore we get into our specific examples, let's point out that major pieces of technical history, including on "social media", have a connection to games.
Slack, Discord, Flickr: all meant to be part of, or broke off from, or meant to enable a video game project in some way.
The connections to games go back even further! It's well known that "Spacewar!" was one of the first video games.
Porting "Spacewar!" and also authoring Space Travel was an important part of the history of Unix as well.
https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/spacetravel.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Travel_(video_game)
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The Spritely Institute
But what about the games? The games! Yes Spritely has made quite a few games! https://spritely.institute/arcade/
Space shooters! Puzzle games! Cellular automata!
Hey, aren't you all, you know, just a bit *distracted* over there?
Actually it's all been very carefully planned! It's serious!
Before we get into our specific examples, let's point out that major pieces of technical history, including on "social media", have a connection to games.
Slack, Discord, Flickr: all meant to be part of, or broke off from, or meant to enable a video game project in some way.
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The Spritely Institute
Spritely has dived deep into areas of computer science, and to those who are exploring them, these areas of programming can actually become fun in their own way!
But from the outset, they can appear academic and stiff.
There's a reason for the characters, the whimsy.
Computing can be magical.
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The Spritely Institute
In response to this postPeople need a sense of fun to want to be somewhere.
The most successful social networks became so because people found joy on them, in some way or another.
Joy, fun, entertainment, social value and connection... they're essential. Part of life. Healthy.
We won't succeed without them.
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In response to this postFirst and foremost, the primary people that people use social communication tech is fun and a sense of community.
People aren't signing up to spend so much time online just to put on a stiff collar and fill out a bunch of paperwork.
Socializing is about connection. It's about enjoyment.
People need a sense of fun to want to be somewhere.
The most successful social networks became so because people found joy on them, in some way or another.
Joy, fun, entertainment, social value and connection... they're essential. Part of life. Healthy.
We won't succeed without them.
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The Spritely Institute
In response to this postSpritely does fun things! We have fun characters, heck, we make VIDEO GAMES to show off our tech. And for those reasons, sometimes people write us off as not being a serious project.
This is serious business! Human rights! Lives are on the line!
We agree! That's part of why fun is *critical*!
First and foremost, the primary people that people use social communication tech is fun and a sense of community.
People aren't signing up to spend so much time online just to put on a stiff collar and fill out a bunch of paperwork.
Socializing is about connection. It's about enjoyment.
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The Spritely Institute
In response to this postFrom https://spritely.institute/about/:
> *Fun is a revolutionary act:* The reason technology tends to succeed is that people enjoy using it and get excited about it. We care deeply about human rights and activism. This is not in opposition to building tech and a community environment that fosters a sense of fun; planned carefully, fun is at the core of getting people to understand and adopt any technology we make.
Spritely does fun things! We have fun characters, heck, we make VIDEO GAMES to show off our tech. And for those reasons, sometimes people write us off as not being a serious project.
This is serious business! Human rights! Lives are on the line!
We agree! That's part of why fun is *critical*!
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The Spritely Institute
Hello! It's another day of our supporter drive! https://spritely.institute/donate
And today is the last of the "Tech Values" threads: https://spritely.institute/about/
Today's tech value / design goal is "Fun as a Revolutionary Act"!
Hey! We mean it! Let's get into why!
From https://spritely.institute/about/:
> *Fun is a revolutionary act:* The reason technology tends to succeed is that people enjoy using it and get excited about it. We care deeply about human rights and activism. This is not in opposition to building tech and a community environment that fosters a sense of fun; planned carefully, fun is at the core of getting people to understand and adopt any technology we make.
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