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zcanann

77 karma · joined September 27, 2016

https://twitter.com/zcanann
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zcanann··on Ex-YC partner Daniel Gross rethinks the accelerator
I'm also backed. I'm working on Squally, a PC game to teach low-level comp sci.

My two cents:

Other accelerators are under pressure to only fund companies that will be "top of their batch" come demo day.

This often means rejecting small projects, solo founders, and pre-traction companies.

However, Pioneer welcomes these companies with open arms. Make no mistake, it's still hard to get in. It took me ~8 months of sustained effort before I was accepted.

But once you're in, you're in the company of helpful people who are just as hard working and talented, and have access to valuable mentorship.

zcanann··on Why software projects take longer than you think – a statistical model
I always think of project tasks as flow charts, where every item either takes 1 day, or 1 week. There's no way of really knowing in advance. Complications happen.

It makes it really hard to calculate the "expected value" of 5-10 tasks.

zcanann··on Show HN: Squally – A Game to Teach Low Level Computer Science
Linux support was added :^)
zcanann··on Show HN: Squally – A Game to Teach Low Level Computer Science
Yeah, we actually don't have a full-time artist yet, so there are quite a temporary pieces of art dropped in right now
zcanann··on Show HN: Squally – A Game to Teach Low Level Computer Science
It is now :)
zcanann··on Show HN: Squally – A Game to Teach Low Level Computer Science
I don't think we anticpated people wanting younger children to try this game, originally we were thinking 12+. Clearly we were wrong based on the posts in this thread, so we'll have to think about a path forward.

The storymode of this game was intended to have RPG elements, which tend to be branded as masculine. I wish more girls were encouraged to play RPGs, but I get that this isn't the world we currently live in. However, the game will have good representation as far as NPC gender/race breakdown.

zcanann··on Show HN: Squally – A Game to Teach Low Level Computer Science
I made this game because this is how I learned. I liked tearing games apart, so my first language was x86 assembly. I got into programming through reverse-engineering.

Maybe there are other people like me who will benefit from this. It's probably not for everyone, but the goal is to have it resonate deeply with some users.

zcanann··on Show HN: Squally – A Game to Teach Low Level Computer Science
Yes! Linux support should come by the end of this week.