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Just spent about 5 minutes watching him program and test a game... Can't watch anymore, do people actually enjoy this sort of thing? I think its more fun to pro

• wpietri 13y ago
  I've spent a lot of time pair programming, and my normal tolerance for pure watching is 10 minutes or so. I think that's pretty typical; seasoned pair programmers have a lot of tricks to make sure control shifts frequently so that people don't get board and mentally disengage. That said, I really enjoyed watching this stream for a while, and will come back later. One of the best parts of pairing is picking up tricks. Watching Notch work on the graphics was amazing. I've never done video games with modern tools, and seeing how somebody quickly iterates, always coming back to a running demo to see how it feels was great. In 90 seconds he added snow. As somebody else mentioned, it was also great to be reminded that even legends are human. He's constantly making little mistakes, trying little experiments, being puzzled by something. If anything distinguishes him from the people I've paired with, it's his cheeriness in the face of adversity. Also, I love this bit I just heard: "Does Santa shoot? Does Santa shoot? No. I think Santa swings his mighty sword. A sword? Yes. Santa wields a sword." It's so easy to think that well-tuned games spring full-formed from the minds of their creators, but real creativity is like that: continuous exploration and experimentation.
• dinkumthinkum 13y ago
  Some people might find it educational to watch an expert create, especially if they are new to game programming ... Don't have to be dismissive. :) now if watched for 24 hours that might a bit much.