Darkball vs The Completionist

Tap the screen when you think the ball will appear in the target. The ball will only flash twice. The first flash happens when the ball drops and the second flash happens on the line. You’re goal is to tap the screen when you think the ball will appear in the orange target area. Cristiano Ronaldo can famously volley a corner kick in total darkness. The magic behind this remarkable feat is hidden in Cristiano’s brain which enables him to use advance cues to plan upcoming actions. Darkball challenges your brain to do the same, distilling that scenario into its simplest form - intercept a ball in the dark. All you see is all you need. One of the brain’s fundamental functions is to use information from the past and present to predict the future. This function is key to how animals, from dragonflies to humans, navigate a dynamic and uncertain world. To make predictions, the brain must have an “internal model” of the system it interacts with. A basic form of this function is at play when we move our body. For example, to reach for a cup, the brain must have a model to predict how the hand would respond to various motor commands. Internal models are also thought to play a crucial role when we mentally predict future states of the environment, for example when we track a ball as it moves behind another object. Here, we have designed a simple task to understand how the nervous system makes such predictions. In this task, subjects have to intercept a ball when it reaches its final position. By changing the speed of the ball, the intervals when it is invisible, and the target position, we will test various hypotheses about the algorithms that are used to integrate information about past and present to make predictions about future.

The decade is 1990. Your zine has a circulation of zero and a GeoCities page with a broken hit counter. You have opinions about Tarantino, a 14.4 modem, and just enough cash for one print run. Build a pop culture magazine from nothing. Hire writers, editors, and researchers. Commission stories about the movies, music, games, and news that shaped the 90s. Move work across a Kanban board from pitch to published. Watch your operation evolve from photocopied zines at Kinko's to a real media company with a .com domain and a homepage that loads in under 8 seconds. Try not to go broke before the IPO. Part strategy game. Part idle. Part workflow sim. Part love letter to the decade that broke the internet. WHY YOU'LL LOVE IT • Your Choices Matter — Specialists or generalists. Deadlines for bonus pay or slow burns for 5-star quality. Hire fast and spend thin, or run lean and invest in iMacs and Aeron chairs. Prestige early for a few legacy points, or grind deep for the full haul. Every run asks a different question. • Windows 95 Aesthetic — Beveled chrome, tiled wallpapers, system fonts. Looks like running Netscape Navigator on your parents' Compaq. In a good way. • In-Game Achievements — On top of Game Centre achievements, more homage to the 90s. • Events and Multipliers — Random events from the 1990s that boost (or tank) your revenue mid-run. • Easter Eggs — Can you find the flying toast? The Konami input code? The dial-up modem? • IPO — Take a chance at the big time, but if your stock tanks... Godspeed, old friend. • Thousands of 1990s Headlines — Jurassic Park opening weekend. Nirvana knocking Michael Jackson off #1. The O.J. trial. Pokémon. Y2K panic. The stuff that shaped a generation. • Kanban Workflow — Research, draft, create, edit, publish. Manage stories across the board like a project manager who's really into Radiohead. • Build Your Team — Creators write. Editors catch typos. Researchers break leads. Managing Editors keep the whole operation from imploding. Hire smart, level up skills, equip your crew with Power Macs, standing desks, and Discmans. • Prestige System — Hit $500K and complete a Volume. Start your next run with permanent legacy upgrades that pull your strategy in new directions. Revenue Boost or Inflation Shield. Quality Boost or Fast Learners. There's no correct order. There's your order. • Speed Boosts — Frappuccinos, Surge soda, Snapple. The fuel of journalism. Consumables for a temporary push. A Bull Terrier for permanent motivation. Or upgrade your dial-up to a T1 Line. • Analog to Digital — Watch your magazine evolve from paste-up zines to a full online publication. Your arc mirrors the decade's defining shift. • NO ADS. NO ENERGY GATES. One optional speed boost. That's it. The first Volume teaches you the ropes. Volumes 2 through 10 are where you figure out what kind of editor you actually are.