Category Archives: Tech/Games

Tech/Games

The new ‘Life Series’ season: ‘Wild Life’

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By: Julia Yang

Warning: this article will of course include spoilers for ‘Wild Life’

The ‘Life Series’ is back, and more chaotic than it’s ever been! This season, Grian brings back every member that has ever been in the series and throws them all for a loop!

‘Wild Life’ isn’t actually about animals, it’s about how everything in this series is going to be wild. Every session, a “wild card” will activate. Wild cards are the random ongoing mods, events, and/or changes. No player knows what the event is and will have to figure it out on their own— except Grian; Grian is the one who creates the wild cards. These wild cards will disappear in the next session, and a brand new one will occur. One other change is that all players start with 6 lives and red and yellow names will gain a life by killing dark green and yellow names.

Now that we have the gist of the season, let’s do a recap of sessions 1 and 2!

Session 1

In the first session, there was a change that everyone seemed to find super fun, and barely caused any deaths: players were able to change size! If someone were to crouch, they would shrink, if someone were to jump, they would grow, but only ever so slightly over time. Players could grow up to 5 blocks tall and shrink down to half a block.

The poor souls to die this session were Scar and Pearl. Funnily enough, they both died due to falling off the same mountain.

Scar died because he was in F5 mode facing himself (F5 changes a players POV) obscuring his view of what was in front of him, and was walking down the mountain. Sadly with his luck, he walks straight off the steep end and falls to his death. His death doesn’t even have anything to do with the wild card, that was literally just him.

Pearl on the other hand was shrunk down to half a block and was crouching overlooking a dangerous cavern. The mod for whatever reason thinks that players are bigger than they actually are in this circumstance and thinks she’s off of what she should be standing on, thus making her walk off the block, falling to her death.

No other deaths occur this session and I will be showing you the groups that were formed as well as each player’s death count:

Session 2

The next session happens, and the wild card is dramatically worse than the previous one. In this session there were 11 deaths. Things were bad.

The wild card this session was that players would be quickly and passively losing hunger and would need to eat anything they could, and I mean anything. Players for this session are able to eat blocks, flowers, buckets, armor, tools— anything they could pick up could go into their mouth. Even so, only a few select things would actually fill their hunger bar. For example, they could eat a grass block, but it may not fill up their hunger bar. The players had to scavenge for what would fill their hunger bar so that they didn’t die of starvation, which was a pretty hard thing to do considering the fact that this mod included every single item in the game.

Not only did they have to scavenge for what fed them, they also had to make sure that they didn’t eat anything with extreme consequences.

You see, the things they ate could also have potion effects. They could eat oak planks and get levitation, or maybe they’re a little more unfortunate and eat an iron shovel that poisons them.

A smaller more minor thing is that sometimes the things they ate would make weird and loud sound effects after consumption. There were no consequences for this.

To make things worse, what you ate that would hurt you, feed you, and benefit you would be re-rolled every, what I think is, 30 minutes. So, everything that you would have learned about your food would go to waste and you’d be back to square one. Most of the deaths this session were caused by lack of food; dying of starvation. A few of them, though, were caused by players and other unfortunate events.

Skizz, for example, ate some dirt that made him levitate up probably around 50 blocks in the air. He was over a river, so he wasn’t worried about dying or fall damage (landing in water cancels out fall damage), but he had an audience. There were 3 players watching him fly up and fall down, one of them being Tango. As Skizz was falling down into the river, Tango placed 3 dirt blocks underneath where Skizz would land and killed him. Because of this, Skizz’s group had then deemed Tango their number one enemy and would attempt to get him killed multiple times.

Tango, though, died later on due to his own mistakes. He gets word from Martyn that spruce leaves are a great current food source, so Tango headed over to a cluster of spruce trees and collected the leaves. Tango then opened his inventory to grab them and try them out, but a creeper came up right in front of him and exploded. He actually tried to shield the blast because he had a shield in his off-hand, but since the right mouse button is to eat and shield, he instead started eating what was in his hand.

Pearl was mining on her own earlier this session when she died to a creeper as well. Swimming in an underwater cave, a creeper landed right on top of her from a hole above, causing an immediate death. Just like Tango, she tried to shield, but instead consumed her diamond sword.

For the last creeper death of the session: Jimmy would die from a creeper whilst attempting to steal from the Swole Patrol (Ren and Martyn). Jimmy decided to trap Ren in his own base while Martyn was away and stole two sheep from their pen because they had stolen from him in the previous session. This would end horribly. As Jimmy is confidently walking away, speaking all cocky to Ren, a creeper came up to him and exploded both him and the stolen sheep.

Cleo died from a skeleton. As Cleo was coming home to the Final Girls, she was bombarded by a load of hostile mobs, one of them being a witch and another being the skeleton. The witch threw a potion and poisoned her, and at the same time she was taking arrow shots from the skeleton. The poison effect brought their health to half a heart, only then would the skeleton take the final shot and kill her, right beside their base.

For the final unique death of this session, Mumbo would die due to fall damage. Mumbo was testing out things to eat since the effects were just re-rolled, and ended up eating cobble slabs that brought him up 50 blocks. Levitating was of course an accident, unlike how Skizz was seemingly prepared, so there was no source of water nearby that he could get to quick enough. Mumbo fell down and died.

Those are all of the deaths that weren’t connected to starving (explaining all of the starvation deaths would take a while and usually they’re all the same), so here are the results for this session:

New episodes come out every Saturday, so don’t miss them!

All channels:

Tech/Games

JOYSTiCK Reviews Ep. 13 ‘Pokemon TCG Pocket’ – Poke(r)mon

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By: Daniel Kendle

Hey everyone, welcome to JOYSTiCK Reviews, the only gaming serial to specify that the “i” in our logo IS meant to be in undercase. Now, normally I like to write my articles in a calm, relaxed location, like a farm, or a lakeside resort. But today, in celebration of my subject matter, I’m currently writing these words whilst sitting in my newest point of interest: a casino!

Call me Mr. Pachinko Machine (and soon to be homeless), ‘cause I and others are hitting big here. I mean, you’ve got the man over at the baccarat station, a group of old ladies playing poker, a guy on the floor who’s probably more booze than human at this point…all the makings of a playground of wonder, magic, and cholesterol-induced heart attacks.

However, you may have connected the dots so far, and are currently expecting me to say that today’s subject endorses these barbaric practices. Well, I can’t say my verdict yet, as today we’re going to find out the answer to this controversial question: “Is ‘Pokemon TCG Pocket’ a form of gambling?”

Well, let’s find out! Readers, make sure to lock your wallet with an iron chain and throw away the key, because today we’re examining the game ‘Pokemon TCG Pocket.’

Prior to its release, the app was compared to the relatively-recent fad of NFT’s (non-fungible tokens). These were digital pieces of art that could be bought, and basically became exclusive to that person. They could fluctuate in price, and had the lovely distinction from other forms of art of being real dumb.

The fad died down after a year or 2, thankfully – prices plummeted, and most people stepped away from the practice after realizing this. The fact is that paying for digital pictures of monkeys in hats when you could just take a screenshot of one for free is a bad idea. But in its wake comes this app, which has caused many to wonder whether or not the Pokemon franchise has finally tossed its hat into the NFT ring.

If you’re still confused as to what the game’s contents are, they’re trading cards. The Pokemon Trading Card Game’s been kicking since the 1990’s, equal to the video games in terms of popularity. They’re a global phenomenon, so much so that even your’s truly has collected them.

This year I began collecting the physical cards again; I don’t play the card game itself (though I might try to after playing today’s subject), but I just really like the art on the cards. It’s a hobby that I carefully regulate: I prefer buying randomized booster packs, so it’s important to not dish out ludicrous amounts of dough for a chance at some pricey cards. I’ve seen people get addicted to buying packs, and I don’t want to go down that path.

That leads us to ‘Pocket’ once again. Some already accuse the physical card game of promoting child-friendly gambling, so when you take the medium to a digital front, it’s not a very good look. But today I’m on the defensive, here to explain that things aren’t always black and white.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokémon

Never mind.

Let’s take a look at ‘Pocket.’ The game – or software, as I’ll use alongside synonyms interchangeably – is a 2024 title released to mobile devices this October. It centers around opening packs of Pokemon cards, collecting them, and using them to build decks. These decks can be used in a simplified version of the physical card game, only now able to be played against both online players and computers.

Along with these fundamentals, you can also finish missions by completing specific parts of the prior activities listed, gaining rewards from doing so. Finally, you can use the Wonder Pick feature to see what other people around the world have pulled from packs. Using one of the game’s “currency” systems, you can spend a few points to be able to randomly select a copy of 1 of the person’s 5 pulled cards. This means that both of you get a card; you don’t steal cards from other people.

To start, I think that the act of opening booster packs is…fine? Every 12 hours you get a free pack, meaning that you get 2 per day. When you select the expansion you want to pull cards from (for now there’s only 1), you select 1 of 3 types of packs, each with different cards.

Finally, you get a circle of packs, in which you choose 1 to open, receiving 5 cards. This system works fine, I suppose. I think that having 3 different types of booster packs in each set is weird, though – in the physical card expansion, each has multiple different packs with different art on the front, similar to the digital ones here. The difference is that each booster, despite the different cover art, has a random assortment of the same pool of cards, which is much larger than the 3 mini-pools in ‘Pocket. ’ It’s a strange choice, and I can’t say I’m a fan; it just makes collecting cards take much longer, since you’re more likely to get repeats. There is overlap with more common cards between the 3 types of packs in the expansion, but the rarer cards are exclusives.

I’ve heard conflicting reports on whether or not the packs generate the cards inside before you open it or after. I’d prefer if they were generated upon opening the booster, but since the game’s so new, I’ll need more time to look into this. If they generate before opening packs, then I guess having the circle of packs you get to choose from makes more sense, but I like that less.

Still, I wouldn’t say any of this equates to gambling necessarily – you can’t directly pay for packs, and the cards you get aren’t exclusive to you; theoretically, there’s an infinite amount of cards a person can pull. They’re not the same as normal memorabilia, where eventually an artificial item of any kind stops being produced. Until the inevitable wheel of time ends, or – more unlikely – ‘Pocket’ and Pokemon as a whole stops being profitable, digital cards will be procured forever.

Going back to the first point for a second, you can’t spend money on the packs. The closest you can do is buy a membership that allows you a 3rd pack every 24 hours. I don’t have it, but I still hold my tongue on calling it immoral. Really, breaking down the software’s transactional components reveals its relative innocence. If people are to accuse ‘Pocket’ of enforcing betting, then they might as well do the same for the physical card game, which, seeing as it’s been around since the late 90’s, is likely a dead argument. The only difference between the digital and physical card games is in the mediums.

In short, the game endorsing gambling is, in my opinion, not true, and never really has been for the card game. In order to be defined as such, the packs would’ve needed to not reward players with anything; basically just taking their money in exchange for a chance at a prize. Instead, we get cards, and on top of that can use them to play a game. And rounding it all off, you can’t buy packs with money and get them for free, with an added option to buy the ability for more free packs.

Collecting the cards is fun, though – it’s part of the reason I have issues with getting them in the first place. A fair amount of card art was recycled from older, physical sets for the digital game’s first expansion, but both the old and new art for cards looks wonderful. In particular, I quite like the Lapras Illustration Rare card, since it’s my favorite generation 1 Pokemon.

This veers into complaining about the booster opening again, but I do think that 5 cards for each pack is much too small. Completing each expansion and trying to pull cards in order to create a deck is hard when the chance for duplicates is high. For some reason, I’m drawn to there being 7 in each pack: the extra 2 would go a long way in helping obtain deck material-monsters. But overall, collecting is a part of the game that I enjoy a ton. It’s fun seeing my count go up, scrolling down my grid, and hyping myself up to try and pull a rare card. Those rare cards often have effects in battle that make them stronger than other comparable cards, so they’re not just pretty, but very useful in ‘Pocket’s’ PVP (player vs. player) meta!

Speaking of which, I said earlier that I don’t know how to play the physical card game, but surprisingly-enough, I think my favorite part of the game is battling others! The simplified mechanics work well for a mobile experience, and it’s clear that the developers intended matches to be quick and exciting, something that you could play in between classes, for example.

I’m not going to go over the rules due to the time, but in short, it’s a lot of fun. If you get the mobile game, you unlock the ability to battle others when your account reaches level 3, so by opening a few packs and completing the built-in tutorial for the match system, you’ll be able to quickly get into battling. I’ve never played them, but I can imagine ‘Pocket’s’ battling system being reminiscent of a slimmed-down version of ‘Hearthstone, ’ or the now-deceased ‘Artifact.’

But again, since it takes so long to obtain a substantial amount of cards to build a solid deck with, it can take a while to get into online matches. Sure, you get some starter decks, but you don’t actually get the cards from them, just a limited amount of times you can rent them.

Despite that hiccup, battles are enjoyable, along with the rest of the game. ‘Pokémon TCG Pocket’ is a software that, even with flaws, is a fun way for someone to collect and play the card game without necessarily having to spend money. With its simpler battle system that creates quicker matches, the game is a great way for people, whether they’re veterans or newbies to the franchise, to connect with and have fun with friends and family. ‘Pokémon TCG Pocket’ is out now for Android and iOS devices, and is free to play – unlike these here casino games. In the time you’ve been reading, I’ve been kicked out. Turns out that puppeteering and hacking a digital poker game into always folding each turn warrants defenestration. It’s not my fault I couldn’t see the big red sign at the building’s entrance reading ‘DO NOT CHEAT:’ I’m colorblind!

But you know, maybe all of this talk about gambling and “rigging the system” is futile. As I sit here, wet and glass-covered while a troupe of rats gnaw on my left big toe, I think that maybe getting into hysterics about the humanity of casinos is pointless. Maybe instead of arguing for or against this fallacy of the human experience, we can enjoy life for what it is, ignore it, and live on stronger without the temptations of greed. And maybe we can enjoy battling with and collecting cards in ‘Pocket’ without delving into frantic eulogies about NFT’s and the safety of the children. I give ‘Pokemon TCG Pocket’ a 7/10, and look forward to continuing enjoying it – now without the burden of guilt, and instead the hedonism of connection with others.

I’ve been Mr. Whatshisname, thank you for reading today’s JOYSTiCK review, and since my bank account’s digits have receded into the negatives, for dinner tonight I’ve got a pair of rats who’ve got a skillet and oven with their names on it. Take care, and I’ll see you next time.

Tech/Games

Explaining all of the fan-made character designs for ‘Life Series’ and ‘Hermitcraft’

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By: Julia Yang

The ‘Life Series’, as previously stated in a past article, is a Minecraft server where the members have a certain amount of lives and must be the last one standing in order to win.

The ‘Hermitcraft SMP’ is a server where around 27 friends/YouTubers/stream-ers come together and play Minecraft. That’s basically it.

The fan artists enjoy taking aspects of the events in those series’ and seasons and input them into what they think the Minecraft skins should look like, or just have fun with it. Today I’m explaining each fan design for those who don’t know what they are or why they’re there.

First, what’s up with Jimmy and yellow feathers/wings? Most people who are fans know this already, but the yellow wings and feathers are a callout to the canary bird. The reason why fans draw Jimmy with canary wings is because they’ve all collectively decided that he has something called the “canary curse”. This curse is rooted from the fact that in every season of the ‘Life Series’ he’s the first to die. I know, “well what’s the connection to the canary?” It’s a canary because in the past, canaries were used by coal miners to tell if danger or hazard was near because there would be potential gas leaks that would kill the canary first before the miner. Jimmy is the canary of the server as he dies first, which always signifies in the server that things are going to go downhill very fast.

Grian is often drawn with rainbow parrot wings; the reason for this is actually very simple. One time Grian was being annoying in the ‘Hermitcraft SMP’ and was called a “pesky bird”. That’s about it for this one.

Another thing you may see on Grian is purple eyes and wings. This one ties back to lore and a complicated story, but to put it short, Grian is a “watcher”, hence the eyes, and the purple wings I believe just tie back to the parrot wings. Both however, people like to draw as biblically accurate angels, because why not?

BigB will sometimes be seen drawn with dog ears and tail, or very recently, as the creaking creature in the new Minecraft update. The dog ears and tail is because he was Ren’s soulmate in ‘Double Life’; Ren’s full YouTube name is RenDog, and his skin has dog ears and a tail. BigB changed his skin to match Ren (giving him ears and a tail), which fans found adorable and ran with it.

BigB is drawn as the creaking creature in Minecraft recently because in the new ‘Wild Life’ season, he lives in the Pale Garden (where the creaking resides), and fans thought it would be so cool to draw him as the terrifying creature.

Doc will be drawn with goat horns and sometimes legs, basically all the time. This is because he calls himself the G.O.A.T. Usually when people call themselves the G.O.A.T. it stands for “Greatest Of All Time”, but in Doc’s case, it stands for “Grind. Optimize. Automate. Thrive”. You see, Doc loves making automated machines, grinding for materials, and doing some of the most absurd activities like bringing the Ender Dragon to the over world just to have it as a pet.

Mumbo is sometimes drawn as a moth, this one is because of ‘Hermitcraft’ season 8. In season 8, the moon started to grow at an alarming rate, and to “calm down” the moon, Mumbo decided that he was going to never sleep. Fans then thought of Mumbo as a moth because, well, moths love their moon.

Tango is sometimes drawn with fire for hair and a tail, and this one doesn’t really have a solid reason. Tango’s skin has slicked back blonde hair that fans just interpreted as fire since it was cool, and the tail is because Tango’s skin has red eyes and used to be drawn with horns too. They used to make him into a demon/devil type creature because of his red eyes, but then Tango said at some point “just because I have red eyes doesn’t mean I’m a demon”, so fans took away the horns and made him have a tail, making him his own species of creature.

Impulse is drawn with horns and a tail, just like how Tango was, but for a very different reason. Skizz, Impulse’s friend of 20 years, nicknamed him “Impy”. Of course Impy is short for Impulse, but fans immediately thought of the type of demon “Imp” and made him an Imp. You can thank Skizz for this one.

Scar is drawn with scars on his face. I think this one is self explanatory, but I’ll explain anyway— Scar is drawn with scars on his face because of his name, and because it’s easier to differentiate between him and another player (Scar’s skin looks like a normal person otherwise).

I’ll admit, this may not be all of them, but it’s definitely the most recurring ones. Just keep in mind that if you ever see one of the members drawn with a characteristic that isn’t on their Minecraft skin, there’s always a reason for it.

Editorials/Student Voice, Tech/Games

The pros and cons of AI according to AI

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By: Samson Belihu

Note: I used the App Chat & Ask AI to generate most of the information included in this article.

Pros:

According to Chat & Ask AI, some pros to using AI as a student include:

  • Learning often extends beyond classroom hours, and students may have questions when their teachers are unavailable.
  • AI powered tutoring systems can provide instant assistance through virtual tutors that help with homework or clarify concepts. This encourages independent learning and ensures that students receive help when they need it.
  • AI is Multilingual: You may ask, how is it that AI can understand and generally text in multiple languages, such as English, Spanish, French, Chinese, and etc. and you may also ask why this matters? This matters because it allows people from different countries to communicate effectively, breaking down language barriers.

Cons:

In recent years, artificial intelligence, such as AI has become an integrated part of the education landscape, offering many people countless resources to help students learn and succeed. However, with “great power comes great responsibility”, and many students find themselves misusing AI in school in ways that can undermine their education and academic integrity.

When typically using AI you would want an easy access to info and that’s fine, but there’s an issue with AI in that it doesn’t have any access to the original sources, which is crucial for your info. AI’s are generated based on a mixture of licensed data (that the AI programmers may not actually have a license for), data created by human trainers, and publicly available information up until some training was cut-off in October 2023.

So, AI is not as accurate as you may think it is, so before using the info I gave you make sure to double check it. In closing, I asked Chat & Ask AI: “Give me cons of Chat Ai and target it for students” and this is what it came up with:

As an AI language model, I don’t have access to external sources, databases, or the internet in real-time. My responses are generated based on a mixture of licensed data, data created by human trainers, and publicly available information up until my last training cut-off in October 2023. This means that while I can provide information, insights, and summaries based on that training, I cannot cite specific sources or provide direct references to articles, studies, or books.

Here are some key points to consider regarding my lack of sources:

1. **Training Data**: I was trained on a diverse range of texts, including books, articles, and websites, which helps me generate responses based on patterns and information found in that data.

2. **No Real-Time Access**: I can’t browse the web or access current events, databases, or any live content, so I can’t pull in or verify information from sources outside my training.

3. **Generative Nature**: My responses are generated based on patterns and knowledge from the data I was trained on, rather than retrieved from specific sources.

4. **No Citation Capability**: Because I don’t access or reference specific documents, I cannot provide citations or bibliographies for the information I present.

5. **Encouragement to Verify**: For academic or critical inquiries, I encourage users to verify information through reliable sources or databases to ensure accuracy and credibility.

If you have specific questions or need information on a particular topic, feel free to ask! I can provide insights based on my training, but I always recommend cross-referencing with authoritative sources for critical topics.

Tech/Games

The upcoming ‘Re:animal’ game

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By: Julia Yang

Warning: This game will contain extreme gore, discomfort, breaking bones, bodies moving in unnatural ways, disturbing noises, and a variety of horror elements. This is a horror game being created for mature audiences.

Some may know about the ‘Little Nightmares’ franchise, but what if I told you that the same company was planning to make an even more terrifying, gory, unsettling, horrifying game?

This game I’m talking about is called ‘Re:animal’. Not much is known about this game as it just began its pre-alpha phase in August, but everyone who knows about it is absolutely psyched. ‘Re:animal’ takes the scary factors of ‘Little Nightmares’ and enhances them ten fold. ‘Little Nightmares’ was targeted to teens, so gore and terrifying stuff like that wasn’t really allowed, but ‘Re:animal’ is targeted to more mature audiences who are able to take that kind of horror.

In ‘Re:animal’ you play as a little girl— or a little boy! This game is co-op! You can be scared out of your mind with a friend, how thoughtful of them.

The story we know so far about the game is that you reside in an orphanage with all of your friends, but the orphanage— and overall world it seems like, is populated by monstrous animals. Animals like pigs with their guts hanging out, sheep with unnaturally long necks and legs like a spider, even possibly humanoids with animals for heads! Your goal seems to be to escape this dreadful area with all of your friends and make it out alive.

As I said before, this game isn’t holding back, unlike ‘Little Nightmares’. If you’re looking for a gory and disturbing game to look forward to, then ‘Re:animal’ is the game you’re looking for!

This game has not gotten any more news besides what I have said in this article, including the release date. Like I said, this game is still in its pre-alpha phase, so it will be a long while before it’s released to the public officially!

Soon, you’ll find it on the PlayStation 5, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S.

Announcement Trailer:

https://youtu.be/mUymvhAXOnM?si=BmJI_LInL4rkwOPn

10 minutes of Pre-alpha gameplay:

https://youtu.be/ou9THu2g3I4?si=jYJFABAppG2cJjKp

Tech/Games

Easy introduction to JavaScript

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By: Charlotte Bistodeau

Image created with Google AI

There are around 1300 programming languages in existence today but there are only a few that are most commonly used. I’m going to take you through the base languages of coding (HTML/CSS) and the most popular coding language (JavaScript) to give you a better understanding of something few stop to learn about.

HTML/CSS

HTML or HyperText Markup Language, is a markup language that’s used to give structure and meaning to web content and is the standard markup language for creating web pages. HTML consists of a series of elements that tell the browser, or a web page, how to display content. For example, defining paragraphs, headings, data tables, embedding images and videos into the web page. 

Example of HTML:

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>

<head>

<title>Page Title</title>

Etc. etc.

CSS or Cascading Style Sheets, is a language of style rules that describe how HTML elements are going to be displayed on the web page or other media. Stated simply, CSS is a coding language used to style a Web page. CSS can also be used to control the layout of multiple web pages at once which saves the coder a lot of work. For example, CSS is used for setting background colors and fonts, and laying out content in multiple columns.

Example of CSS:

body {

    background-color: lightblue;

}

h1   {

    color:  white;

    text-align:  center;

}

Etc. etc.

JavaScript 

JavaScript is an easy programming language to learn, the most popular and the most used in the world. JavaScript is a scripting language that allows you to give web pages interactive elements and implement complex features such as dynamically updating content, control multimedia, animate images, timely content updates, interactive maps, pop-up menus, clickable buttons, and a lot more. JavaScript uses a combination of basic HTML and CSS to make the web page function.

JavaScript isn’t only good at making web pages but it’s also a great tool to start game development. Because Javascript is easy to learn and understand and can be used just about anywhere, it’s a great way to start game development of smaller games. JavaScript is not only used by beginners, but intermediates and also advanced coders, making it a great starter language for coding and programming. 

Example of JavaScript:

<!DOCTYPE  html>

<button type=”button”

onclick=”document.getElementById(‘demo’).innerHTML  =  Date()”>

Click me to display Date and Time.</button>

<p  id=”demo”></p>

Etc. etc.

Out of all 1300 coding languages, these three are the simplest and most basic programming languages to learn. There are plenty of better coding languages for specific things such as C++ being a much better option for developing an open world game than JavaScript because C++ was built exactly for that sort of thing. But if you’re looking to get into coding then I can wholeheartedly recommend JavaScript to you.

Tech/Games

JOYSTiCK Reviews Ep. 12: ‘Tetris’ – Block Tuah

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By: Daniel Kendle

Hey guys, welcome back to JOYSTiCK Reviews, and you know what I really hate? Climate change. But I’ve also taken a rather strong dislike towards popular games nowadays. So many terrible, terrible video games are coming out as of late, and unlike other poor saps who call themselves “gamers,” I’ve chosen not to lay down and take this blatant mediocrity.

‘Metroid Dread?’ Too scary. ‘Elden Ring?’ Too easy. ‘Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition?’ My mouth hurts. The only good video games as of recent are ‘PUBG’ and ‘Concord.’ Speaking of the latter, I was really sad the day it was announced it was being shut down after less than 2 weeks; I held a service for it and everything. Yeah, I missed my dog’s funeral, but it was a sacrifice I was willing to make (Much like my dog’s!).

That’s why I’ve been replaying old games lately, like today’s topic: ‘Tetris.’ Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard of the title. It’s one of the most popular video games ever, selling hundreds of millions of copies across dozens of platforms, and is still kicking around to this day.

But why is that? Has the game been updated throughout all these years due to it being a masterpiece? Or was this comically-large tracking device fastened around my leg because my opinions are, shockingly-enough, controversial? Let’s find out.

If there’s 1 word to define the game ‘Tetris,’ it’s this: “simple, yet complex” (math was never my strong suit). In my opinion, the game’s been in the public eye for the last few decades due to the notion of it being easy to learn, yet hard to master.

The gameplay’s simple in theory: players are given a tall grid, and 1 after the other, differently-shaped blocks fall from the sky, all being made up of 4 different cubes contorted into different shapes. Players can rotate, move, or speed up the block and its descent, eventually letting it settle along the bottom of the grid.

As the game progresses, a pile of blocks will form. Every time the player manages to get a vertical row of the grid entirely filled with blocks, it’s removed, and the pile shrinks in height. The point of the game is to try to last as long as possible without the pile overflowing, and to see how high of a score you can garner.

To bite the bullet, the game’s so great because of the diversity of each game. While I might be wrong about this, each game’s blocks are randomly-generated (except for select older editions of ‘Tetris,’ I believe). This means that there’s a virtually-infinite amount of ways a game can be played, as the 7 usable blocks’ different forms make strategic placement not just a necessity, but crucial in understanding the intricacies of the game.

The gameplay loop is short, but sweet, and this is why I think the game has that universal appeal. There’s no characters, no story, no wild controls, not even any slightly-abstract theming. It’s literally just blocks falling down. The closest the game has to surrealism is the fact that the blocks magically disappear when a row is formed, but that’s able to be construed by most as a game mechanic rather than a choice of world building.

Anyone, whether they’re 1 or 101 years old, can enjoy ‘Tetris.’ Its gameplay is perfect for what it is.

As it happens, the rest of the game’s experience is pretty good too!

The main musical theme of ‘Tetris’ might be one of the most iconic in gaming, and is definitely in my top 10 favorite songs of all time. Perfectly-melodic, beautiful, and wonderful, yet it has that bit of edge that makes each game feel tense. In fact, one of the best ways to describe ‘Tetris’ is through the word ‘dread.’ The combination of the slowly-falling blocks, foreboding, quick music, and knowledge of the consequences of misplacing your next move makes the game all the more engaging.

The graphics, while definitely not the game’s main point of praise, are still pretty good across the board. Since there are so many versions of ‘Tetris,’ it’s hard to properly articulate my feelings on its art style with specific notes, but I’ll try.

I think the game’s graphics have aged well, especially since the different developers for the games generally keep the blocky aesthetic intact for each version. Not that each version of ‘Tetris’ uses pixel art, mind you, but what I mean is that each edition still feels like the classic game from the 80’s: polygonal shapes with bright colors. There’s not a version of ‘Tetris’ with “hyper-realistic graphics” or anything of that sort (not that I’m opposed to it…I’ve been known to be fairly aroused by cubes in the past).

The visuals, in combination with the music, have both stood the test of time and are continually iterated-upon with each remake of the game. And overall, that’s how I’d describe ‘Tetris’ in a nutshell: a game that’s both able to retain its immortal charm, and yet still manage to iterate on its core concept. For example, ‘Tetris 99’ is a battle royale-style title exclusive to the Nintendo Switch that has 99 players pitted against one another. ‘Hatris’ is a much older example; a sequel of sorts to ‘Tetris’ that lets players stack…hats. And ‘Facetris’ is one of those games that, if you search it up, you understand why I’m omitting any details about it here (2 words: facial body horror).

…and I think that’ll do it for this review! ‘Tetris’ is a masterpiece, no getting around that. Its universal appeal is deserved, and expected based off of its simple, yet astronomically-fun gameplay. Combine that with stellar songs (or “song,” singular) and ever-changing graphical prestige, I’m very happy to award ‘Tetris’ with the coveted 10/10 rating, a rating I’ve only given out in this serial to 1 other game, that being ‘Metroid Dread.’ And just like ‘Dread,’ ‘Tetris’ is easily in my top 5 games of all time.

But now that that’s done and dusted, it’s time to wrap up for today. This little red dot on my ankle’s tracking device began beeping a bit into the review, and it looks like the police just outside my door – with an armed escort (Chuckles)! Oh well, glad to see someone remembered my birthday, even though it isn’t for…6 months.

But alas, that’s all the time we have for today. Thank you for reading this issue of JOYSTiCK, have a lovely October, and I’ve got a body to hide.

Tech/Games

Breaking down all of the Minecraft ‘Life Series’ rules and general ideas

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By: Julia Yang

Before we start, what’s the ‘Life Series’?
The ‘Life Series’ is a multiplayer Minecraft series created by a YouTuber and Streamer that goes by the name Grian. Grian gathers around 15 of his friends and they all have to survive in this series for as long as they can until a winner is chosen.

‘3rd Life’

‘3rd Life’ was the first ever season of the ‘Life Series’ that Grian had created. This series was not an official ongoing thing when it came out since this was originally a test idea. The idea of ‘3rd Life’— and basically the overall idea of the ‘Life Series’, is that every player has a set of three lives.

  • If you’re on your first life, you have a green name tag and are a peaceful player.
  • If you’re on your second life, you have a yellow name tag and basically act the same as a regular green player.
  • If you lose both of those lives and end up on your third life, you gain your red name tag, become hostile, and go after other players to make them lose their remaining lives.
  • If you lose your third, and last life, you are out of the series and will no longer upload anymore episodes of the season.
  • The last player remaining wins the season.

‘Last Life’

In ‘Last life’, all players will start off by getting a randomly selected amount of lives, the minimum being two and maximum being six. Unfortunate players with two lives or less are lucky this season as this time, everyone is able to give out their own lives for the sake of other players with the command “/givelife”. For example, if later in the season I end up on my last life, I can bribe or threaten another player with more lives to lend me one of theirs to no longer be on my last life.

Another larger twist to better ensure drama is “The Boogeyman Curse”. This curse entails death and betrayal. A player will be randomly selected and be given the curse in every episode where they have to kill another player by the end of the playing session or else all of their lives will be taken and they’ll be set to their last life. When a player is the Boogeyman, all alliances and friendships tend to be thrown out the window in desperation of getting a kill and not losing their own lives. There can be multiple Boogeymen at a time. The last player standing wins.

‘Double Life’

In ‘Double Life’, the stakes are much higher than any other series. You see, in ‘Double Life’, your health bar is tied to another randomly selected player. If they take damage, you take damage. Which also means, if they die, you die.

The general rules still apply, green lives, yellow lives, and red lives all act the same, but it’s double the trouble. All you can really do is hope your “soulmate” isn’t an idiot.

The last pair standing wins.

‘Limited Life’

In ‘Limited life’, you have 24 hours to live. Just like every other life season, there are green, yellow, and red lives. In this season, if a player has 16+ hours, they’re on their green life, if they have 8-16 hours left, they’re on their yellow life, if they have less than 8 hours left they’re on their red life. When a player dies they lose 30 minutes off their time, if a player gets a kill, they gain hours.

In this series, yellow lives can kill green lives to get more time, but if they kill a non-green, they don’t get any time. Red players on the other hand can kill anyone and gain time.

This season they bring back the “Boogeyman Curse”. This time, if a Boogeyman gets a kill, they gain 1 hour and the victim gets -2 hours taken away. Thankfully, there can only be one existing Boogeyman at a time.

Last player standing wins.

‘Secret Life’

‘Secret Life’ is an extremely interesting and entertaining season. In secret life, things are of course changed up once more. Players are given 30 hearts of health, but these hearts will never regenerate. Once you lose a heart, that heart is gone forever.

The very special thing about this season is that all players will be given a secret task every episode. Once you successfully finish your task, you will walk over to the large statue at the spawn and press the succeed button. Pressing the succeed button will give you +10 hearts. If you have, let’s say, 26 hearts, you will get 4 hearts for succeeding and 6 valuable items because you cannot go over 30 hearts.

If you for whatever reason seem to not be able to finish a task or you’re up for a challenge, you can re-roll for a harder one. If you succeed at a hard task you get incredible items, if you fail, you get -10 hearts off of your health bar.

The normal tasks can range from stealing the torches out of 4 people’s bases without them knowing it’s you, or not moving when someone is looking at you. Harder tasks will be like summoning a boss, or jumping off a 100+ block tower and landing in a one block wide puddle of water.

You cannot tell other players what your task is unless the task says it’s okay to do so. If you tell your task when you weren’t allowed to, or another player manages to figure out your task and you confirm it, you have failed and will need to press the fail button.

All green, yellow, and red lives act the same behavior wise, but things have once again changed drastically. Green lives will remain the same, yellow lives however have a very special power. Yellow lives are able to investigate, stalk, and follow you to try and guess your task. If a yellow name guesses your task correctly, it is an immediate fail and you will have to press the fail button. Red lives are lethal in this season. Red lives will constantly gain tasks, once they finish a task, they immediately get another one. These tasks all have to do with causing harm or distress to other players who aren’t on their red life. When they succeed in their task, they gain +5 hearts. Failing to complete a task at the end of a session does not count as a fail for red names.

The last player standing wins.

‘Real Life’

‘Real Life’ was silly and only had one episode. This season, it’s basically a reiteration of ‘3rd Life’, but in VR. That’s it. Green lives, yellow lives, and red lives, but in VR.

One final time: the last player standing wins.

Grian plans to continue this series for as long as he can come up with his own little ideas, because obviously there’s only so many ways you can make things different in a series like this. In the recent Minecraft Championship (MCC), Grian states that he was sick for a little bit but it gave him a lot of time to think about a new ‘Life Series’ season and what he could do. So, if you missed watching all of the ones I mentioned before come out, you can look forward to the new one he’s planning to make.

Here are all of the ‘Life Series’ members’ (Minecraft) YouTube channels and names:

Editorials/Student Voice, Tech/Games

JOYSTiCK Non-Review: Is the PS5 Pro an allegory for economical collapse?

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By: Daniel Kendle

Hello everyone, welcome to JOYSTiCK Reviews, the world’s best source of video game reviews if your gaming console of choice is a turnip. That, or the societal equivalent that is the Xbox Series X.

The PS5 (PlayStation 5) Pro console has recently been unveiled, a successor to the PS5 that’s had rumblings about it for the past week. Those rumblings have, in fact, come from the elephant in the room: its pricing.

Yes, for the cheapskate’s price of $699.99 (£699.99), all of you at home can experience the definitive way to play ‘Madden NFL 25.’ Jokes aside, pretty much everyone seems to be upset with Sony for this decision, because $700 is indeed a metric-ton of money to be dishing out for the product, especially for a “pro” console who’s improvements are minimal compared to its sister device. Granted, that’s nothing to say of the YouTube tech channels who’ll be up in arms over the price to specs ratio, yet buy, like, 10 of these to “prove a point.”

Because I too enjoy eating maggot-ridden roadkill, then complaining about the lack of a built-in disc drive, today I’m not here to talk about the PS5 Pro’s lack of substantial improvements. Don’t be silly! No, today I’m here to ask one simple question, one that might rethink your standards of Sony as a whole:

“IS THE PS5 PRO AN ALLEGORY FOR ECONOMICAL COLLAPSE?”

Yes, you heard it here first, folks; Sony’s officially transitioned from hardware manufacturing to provoking currency-based philosophical debate (I always knew they had it in them!). But a multi-billion dollar company’s foray into the world of consumer dogma aside, I think this question in particular requires a bit of critical thinking.

In the anticipation towards a new console’s unveiling, the main thing people look out for is something briefly mentioned earlier: the ratio of improvements/new features to its pricing. The perfect balance of these 2 extremes. – the “Magic Ratio” – is very rare in consoles, but not unheard of.

The problem with the PS5 Pro isn’t with either its pricing or lack of innovation over the original PS5, but how the pair complement each other. The console is being shown off with… improvements, sure, but ones that don’t suffice for such a high cost.

Sure, a pro console may not, and probably shouldn’t be, very different from the original system, but for people who either do or don’t currently have a regular PS5, this new system won’t appeal to both groups. People who don’t have a PS5 will be turned off by the more expensive version, and seeing the lack of big upgrades will either skip the generation of devices all together or buy the current PS5, and people who do don’t want to buy a more expensive version of the console they already have will ignore it, noticing that it has barely any visible changes.

Overall, I see the new console as something of a stain on the PS5’s legacy, something that’ll make this generation less revered than others before. I’d go out of my way to say that the PS5 hasn’t been the most loved PlayStation device, but with the advent of its “superior” sibling, its critical future may be in further jeopardy (I’ll talk more about this latter point in a moment).

All of that was a long-winded way of explaining that, yes, the PlayStation 5 is an allegory for economical Armageddon. Kenichiro Yoshida, head CEO of Sony, must’ve been going to bed one night with his ‘Astro Bot’ jammies, ‘Ratchet and Clank’ action figures, and suspiciously-turnip-shaped Nintendo Switch, and thought, ‘our player base needs to be taught a lesson in consumer culture!’

To explain the “allegory” side of things, economical collapse can basically be defined as an abrupt and radical end of our current society’s method of exchanging currency. This in mind, I humbly see the original PS5 as a stand-in for the economy at hand; this untouchable, unmovable system (for the console, literally; for our economy, metaphorically) that was upended by the arrival of the PS5 Pro, who we’ll categorize as an imaginary, hypothetical new company whose stocks bring down the value of the US dollar to a point of no return. With the arrival of the new company means the tarnishing of the economy, and a collapse to consumerism.

This reflects on how the PS5 Pro has now given consumers a negative outlook on Sony’s newest generation of hardware, not helped by some poor releases as of recent, like ‘Concord’ and ‘Foam Stars.’

However, I don’t think that’s… all that the PS5 is supposed to say.

When Sony was summoning the PS5 Pro down in the caves of the underworld through means of dark magic, they must’ve intentionally priced it at such a high cost in order to sway potential buyers away from purchasing it, and thus spend more time with their friends, family, and community. The PS5 Pro is an allegory for economical collapse… but a lesson in how no video game can compare to the power of love.

So, in conclusion, yes, Sony’s newest console is a look into the potential downfall of our economy, but moreover, a look into the idea of love and kinship being a universal belief. Love, the binary code embedded into our veins, may be the same code written in the PS5 Pro, a new beacon for human connection. The PS5 Pro – or lack thereof – will be the product to immortalize humanity’s greatest treasure.

‘Wow,’ I thought to myself after writing that last paragraph, ‘never before in my life have I wanted to… kiss a company more than ever.’

And after reading this article, I think the feeling is mutual, friend! At the end of the day, the PS5 Pro sucks, and you know what? Maybe that’s okay. Maybe, instead of wailing about “improved graphical fidelity” and other nerd stuff like that, we can all go fishing, or something. But in the meantime, I hope you’ve enjoyed this glance into my psyche, have a great day, and keep eating your turnips.

Tech/Games

‘A Hat in Time’ review

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By: Persephone Pond

‘A Hat in Time’ is a 3D platformer game released in 2017 and developed by an indie studio called Gears for Breakfast, and published by Humble Bumble. In this game, the player plays as a young girl called Hat Kid, who loses her fuel for her spaceship and needs to collect all the pieces to get home.

There are 4 different areas of the planet that these fuel pieces land on. Each area consists of 4-7 different levels plus a boss fight; each level gaining a lost piece of fuel until the player eventually collects all 40 missing pieces and are able to get back home.

The first area is a large town built around a volcano called Mafia Town. The enemies in this area are caricatures of stereotypical Italian mafia members, and while fighting through each level, the player gains more information about their backstory and how Mafia Town came to be.

The second area is a movie studio, where the player meets 2 rival directors fighting for an annual movie award. The first director, The Conductor, is a Scottish murder mystery director with a tendency to direct all his movies on trains. The second director is a disco themed penguin who strives for fame and only fame. Both characters recruit the player to act in their movies, so the levels in this area are more story driven.

The third area is the Subcon Forest, where the player is introduced to an evil spirit who is known by the name The Snatcher. When he steals the player’s soul, he offers contracts to do his dirty work around the forest for the soul to be returned. The forest is spooky and there are a few horror-esque levels in this area.

The final area is the Alpine Skyline. This is a beautiful landscape inhabited by giant goat creatures, who are cared for by smaller, humanoid goat creatures. The player must retrieve pieces of fuel from different areas that all require different skills, and through these levels the player is introduced to the dark lore of the land.

All of the levels in this game are creative and very well thought out, and the level of detail in each individual character’s story is wonderfully fleshed out. The author of this article fully recommends the game and on a scale of 10 stars, easily rates it a 10.

‘A Hat in Time’ is available on consoles such as Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Playstation 4, and Microsoft Windows. In addition to the vanilla game, there are 2 DLCs available on all the same platforms. These DLCs add 14 total more fuel pieces to collect, and add a higher difficulty to the game if desired, and add 2 new areas to the planet with wonderful stories and characters.