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Good teams commit and deploy frequently; in line with some of the main ideas behind . Gone are the days of quarterly or yearly releases and long-live feature branches! software engineering continuous integration (CI) and continuous deployment (CD) Today, I’ll show you how to  automatically deploy your Heroku app whenever code is merged into your main branch by using GitLab CI/CD. Ready to dig in? Getting Started Before we begin, we’ll need a and a Heroku account GitLab account. is a great place to host and deploy your apps. As a platform as a service (PaaS), Heroku allows you to focus on building cool things while abstracting away much of the infrastructure complexity. You can . Heroku create a Heroku account here is a great place to store your code. Beyond just being a source code management tool, GitLab also offers native CI/CD capabilities so you can set up pipelines to test and deploy your code without requiring another third-party tool. You can . GitLab create a GitLab account here The demo app shown in this article uses both GitLab and Heroku. You can . find all the code in the GitLab repo here Running Our App Locally You can run the app locally by cloning the repo, installing dependencies, and running the start command. In your terminal, do the following: $ git clone https://gitlab.com/tylerhawkins1/heroku-gitlab-ci-cd-demo.git
$ cd heroku-gitlab-ci-cd-demo
$ npm install
$ npm start After starting the app, visit in your browser, and you’ll see the app running locally: http://localhost:5001/ Deploying Our App to Heroku Now that the app is running locally, let’s deploy it to Heroku so that you can access it anywhere, not just on your machine. If you don’t already have the installed on your machine, you’ll need to install that before moving on. Heroku CLI After installing the Heroku CLI, run the following commands from your terminal to create a new Heroku app, deploy it, and open it in your browser: $ heroku create
$ git push heroku main
$ heroku open With that, you should see the same app, but this time running on a Heroku URL instead of on localhost. Nice work — you’ve deployed your Heroku app! Making Changes to Our App Now that we have our Heroku app up and running, what if we want to make changes? You can make changes to the source code and then add, commit, and push those changes to the branch. main If you wanted to deploy those changes to the production Heroku app, you’d need to run once again. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could automate the deployment instead of having to deploy it manually each time? git push heroku main This is where GitLab CI/CD comes into play. Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment Continuous integration (CI) is all about committing often and keeping the build in a good state at all times. Typically you would verify that the build is in a good state by running checks in a CI pipeline. These checks might include linters, unit tests, and/or end-to-end tests. Continuous deployment (CD) is all about deploying frequently. If the checks in the CI pipeline pass, then the build gets deployed. If the checks in the CI pipeline fail, then the build does not get deployed. With GitLab CI/CD, we can configure our CI pipeline to do exactly this — run our tests and then deploy our app to Heroku if the tests all pass. Configuring GitLab CI/CD We can create a CI pipeline in GitLab programmatically using a file. Our file looks like this: .gitlab-ci.yml image: node:20.10.0

cache:
  paths:
    - node_modules/

before_script:
  - node -v
  - npm install

stages:
  - test
  - deploy

unit-test-job:
  stage: test
  script:
    - npm test

deploy-job:
  stage: deploy
  environment: production
  script:
    - apt-get update -yq
    - apt-get install -y ruby-dev
    - gem install dpl
    - dpl - provider=heroku - app=$HEROKU_APP_NAME - api-key=$HEROKU_PRODUCTION_KEY
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH GitLab CI pipelines consist of stages and jobs. Each stage can contain one or more jobs. In our pipeline, we have two stages: and . In the stage, we run our unit tests in the . In the stage, we deploy our app to Heroku in the . test deploy test unit-test-job deploy deploy-job If all the jobs in the previous stage pass, then we can progress to the next stage. That means if the unit tests fail, then the app won’t be deployed, which is a good thing! We wouldn’t want to deploy our app if it was in a bad state. You’ll notice that the stage references two variables called and . These are stored as . deploy $HEROKU_APP_NAME $HEROKU_PRODUCTION_KEY CI/CD variables within GitLab If you’re setting this up in your own GitLab account, you’ll first need to find your API key in your Heroku account. Within your Heroku account settings, you should see a section with your API key. If you haven’t generated an API key yet, generate one now. Next, in your GitLab project, click on > > . Expand that section and add two new variables. Settings CI/CD Variables The value for will be the API key from your Heroku account. $HEROKU_PRODUCTION_KEY The value for will be the name of your Heroku app. $HEROKU_APP_NAME My app’s name is , but since Heroku app names are universally unique, yours will be something different. heroku-gitlab-ci-cd-demo With that, your GitLab CI pipeline is ready to go! Let’s test it out. Deploying Our Heroku App Automatically Let’s make a change to the code in our app. I made a simple change to the heading text, changing the words from “Heroku and GitLab CI/CD Demo” to “Heroku and GitLab CI/CD Rules!” You can make a similar change in your code. Now add, commit, and push that change to the branch. This will start the GitLab CI pipeline. You can view the pipeline within GitLab and see the progress in real time. main If everything goes well, you should see that both the and stages have passed. Now, go check out your hosted Heroku app. The GitLab CI pipeline deployed the app for you, so you’ll now see your changes live in production! test deploy Now whenever you need to make and deploy changes to your app, simply commit your changes and GitLab CI/CD will take care of the rest. Conclusion A good CI pipeline allows you to ship new features quickly and confidently without manually managing the deployment process yourself. Heroku and GitLab CI/CD make a great team!

How to Automate Heroku App Deployment with GitLab CI/CD

So, this is absolutely just another example of me playing around too much, but I had to share. As I mentioned in my yesterday, Google's AI Studio now supports uploading files and working with them in your prompt. post Today, I decided to give the Chat interface a try as I hadn't yet played with it. On a whim, I googled "dungeons and dragons rules PDF" and... well, you won't believe what happened next. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.) First off, the most important thing to note if you want to test with PDFs, ensure that they are OCRed. Right now, AI Studio does not handle that well, but it should be corrected in the future. My Google search turned up the PDF here: , and I confirmed it was properly OCRed with a very scientific test by trying to select a few words. https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/DnD_BasicRules_2018.pdf Note that it's from 2018 and probably a bit out of date, but I figured it was good enough. I uploaded the PDF to Gemini and ensured I was using Gemini 1.5. This is important as the size of the PDF (180 pages) means a rather large token size. The UI reports this nicely: For my first test, I simply asked, "What are the attributes of a player character?" Here's what I got: In Dungeons & Dragons, player characters (PCs) are defined by several key attributes: Race: This determines your character's physical characteristics, ancestry, and innate abilities. Examples include humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, dragonborns, tieflings, etc. Each race has unique traits that affect gameplay. Class: This represents your character's chosen profession and determines their skills, abilities, and progression path. Examples include fighter, wizard, rogue, cleric, bard, etc. Each class has unique features and abilities that define their role in the party. Ability Scores: These six scores represent your character's core physical and mental capabilities: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. They influence almost every action your character takes, from attacking and defending to interacting with the world and casting spells. Skills: These represent specific areas of expertise your character has developed through training or experience. Examples include Athletics, Acrobatics, Stealth, Perception, Persuasion, Arcana, etc. Skills are tied to ability scores and determine your character's success in various tasks. Background: This details your character's history and past experiences before becoming an adventurer. Examples include soldier, criminal, noble, sage, etc. Backgrounds provide additional skills, proficiencies, and roleplaying hooks. Equipment: This includes weapons, armor, tools, and other items your character carries. Equipment affects your character's capabilities in combat and exploration. Personality and Alignment: These define your character's moral compass, beliefs, and behavior. Alignment is a combination of two factors: morality (good, evil, or neutral) and attitude towards society and order (lawful, chaotic, or neutral). Backstory: This is the narrative of your character's life before the game begins, including their motivations, goals, and relationships. A well-developed backstory adds depth and helps you roleplay your character. These attributes work together to create a unique and well-rounded character that you can roleplay and guide through adventures in the D&D world. I'm pretty rusty in D&D, but that surely seems right! (When I shared this in a chat related to Gemini, William Ito skimmed it and said it looks correct for that era - so, I'm taking that as another sign it worked well.) I then asked, "What races are available to player characters?" The most common player character races in Dungeons & Dragons are: Humans: Adaptable and versatile, with no major strengths or weaknesses. Elves: Graceful and long-lived, with a natural affinity for magic and a resistance to charm effects. Subraces include High Elves, Wood Elves, and Dark Elves (Drow). Dwarves: Stout and hardy, with a resistance to magic and poison, and proficiency in combat and craftsmanship. Subraces include Hill Dwarves and Mountain Dwarves. Halflings: Nimble and small, with a natural ability to hide and a resistance to fear. Subraces include Lightfoot Halflings and Stout Halflings. The Player's Handbook also introduces several less common races, including: Dragonborn: Proud and draconic humanoids with scales and the ability to breathe fire. Tieflings: Demonic descendants with a natural affinity for magic and resistance to fire. Gnomes: Inventive and curious small creatures with a natural ability to tinker and a resistance to magic. Half-elves: Combining human and elven traits, they are versatile and have a resistance to charm effects. Half-orcs: Combining human and orc traits, they are strong and fierce with a resistance to being knocked unconscious. Additionally, some campaign settings and sourcebooks introduce even more exotic races, such as Aasimar, Firbolg, Goliath, Aarakocra, Genasi, and many others. The availability of these races depends on your Dungeon Master and the specific campaign setting you are playing in. Remember, the most important factor in choosing a race is to pick one that excites you and fits the character concept you have in mind. I have absolutely no clue if those exotic races exist, but I did a quick search on Aasimar, and it looks like it certainly does: Aasimar Alright, now, at this point, I was impressed. But I thought - why not push my luck? "Given the rules to create a character, create one with all the required characters and give it a name" And holy crap - Gemini delivered! Character Name: Lyra Swiftfoot Race: Lightfoot Halfling Class: Rogue (Thief) Background: Entertainer (Dancer) Alignment: Chaotic Good Ability Scores: (Using the standard set) Strength: 8 (-1) Dexterity: 17 (+3) Constitution: 14 (+2) Intelligence: 13 (+1) Wisdom: 12 (+1) Charisma: 15 (+2) Hit Points: 10 (8 + 2 from Constitution modifier) Proficiencies: Armor: Light armor Weapons: Simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords Tools: Thieves' tools, Disguise kit (from background) Saving Throws: Dexterity, Intelligence Skills: Acrobatics (+5), Perception (+4), Performance (+6), Stealth (+7) (Expertise in Stealth and Performance) Equipment: Rapier Shortbow and quiver of 20 arrows Leather armor Two daggers Thieves' tools Disguise kit Backpack Bedroll Mess kit Tinderbox 10 torches 10 days of rations Waterskin 50 feet of hempen rope Pouch with 15 gp Personality Traits: I have a quick wit and a fondness for pranks. I am fiercely loyal to my friends and always look out for their safety. Ideal: Freedom: Everyone should be free to live their life as they see fit. (Chaotic) Bond: I will do anything to protect my younger sister, who is the only family I have left. Flaw: I have a weakness for shiny objects and can't resist the urge to steal them, even if it means putting myself at risk. Backstory: Lyra grew up on the streets, using her nimbleness and charm to survive. She learned to dance for coins and honed her skills in stealth and deception to pilfer from unsuspecting onlookers. After her sister was kidnapped by slavers, Lyra vowed to do whatever it takes to find and rescue her, even if it means venturing into the darkest corners of the world. This is just a basic example, and you can further customize Lyra by adding details to her appearance, personality, and backstory. You can also choose different skills, proficiencies, or equipment based on your preferences and the campaign setting. By the way, the formatting above is a bit off, but that came from me copying and pasting from Gemini and being a bit lazy about sprucing it up. I figured I'd push my luck and try again: "do that again please" Character Name: Falion Sunstrider Race: High Elf Class: Wizard (Evocation) Background: Sage (Researcher) Alignment: Neutral Good Ability Scores: (Using the standard set) Strength: 8 (-1) Dexterity: 14 (+2) Constitution: 13 (+1) Intelligence: 17 (+3) Wisdom: 12 (+1) Charisma: 10 (+0) Hit Points: 8 (6 + 1 from Constitution modifier) Proficiencies: Weapons: Daggers, darts, slings, quarterstaffs, light crossbows Tools: None Saving Throws: Intelligence, Wisdom Skills: Arcana (+6), History (+6), Investigation (+4) (Expertise in Arcana and History) Equipment: Quarterstaff Arcane focus (crystal) Scholar's pack Spellbook with six 1st-level wizard spells (Burning Hands, Charm Person, Detect Magic, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Shield) Backpack Bedroll Mess kit Tinderbox 10 torches 10 days of rations Waterskin 50 feet of hempen rope Pouch with 10 gp Personality Traits: I am deeply curious about the world and always eager to learn new things. I am absent-minded and often lost in my own thoughts. Ideal: Knowledge: The path to power and self-improvement is through knowledge. (Neutral) Bond: I am searching for the lost library of a legendary archmage, rumored to contain powerful spells and forgotten lore. Flaw: I am overconfident in my abilities and sometimes underestimate the dangers I face. Backstory: Falion spent his youth studying in a prestigious academy of magic, quickly surpassing his peers with his thirst for knowledge and natural talent for evocation magic. After hearing rumors of a lost library containing powerful spells and forgotten lore, Falion set out on a journey to find it, hoping to unlock its secrets and further his magical abilities. This is just a basic example, and you can further customize Falion by adding details to his appearance, personality, and backstory. You can also choose different skills, proficiencies, or equipment based on your preferences and the campaign setting. So, at this point, I was blown away. Like, I don't even care if it broke any particular D&D rules; that was just fun. But... yeah, I pushed my luck ... ... ... one last time "Of the two characters you just made, who do you think would be a better party leader?" Between Lyra Swiftfoot and Falion Sunstrider, Lyra would likely be the better party leader for several reasons: : Lyra has a higher Charisma score, which is important for inspiring and motivating others. Her background as an entertainer also suggests she is comfortable in front of crowds and skilled at interacting with people. Charisma : Lyra's skillset is more suited to leadership. Her expertise in Persuasion and Deception allows her to negotiate effectively and navigate social situations, while her proficiency in Perception and Stealth makes her a good scout and strategist. Skills : Lyra's personality traits suggest she is quick-witted and loyal, both valuable qualities in a leader. Her flaw, while potentially problematic, can be mitigated by her other strengths and the support of her party. Personality : While wizards can be powerful, their focus on spellcasting and relative lack of social skills often makes them less effective leaders. Class Falion, on the other hand, excels in knowledge and magical power, making him a valuable asset to the party in terms of strategy and information gathering. However, his lower Charisma and lack of social skills might hinder his ability to effectively lead and inspire others. Additionally, his absent-mindedness and overconfidence could lead to poor decisions in critical situations. Of course, the effectiveness of a party leader also depends on the specific campaign setting, the party composition, and the players' roleplaying preferences. In some situations, Falion's knowledge and magical prowess might be more valuable than Lyra's social skills. Ultimately, the best party leader is the one that the players and the Dungeon Master agree upon and who can effectively guide the party through their adventures. My god. That's just... perfect. And honestly, it feels like the right choice for the right reasons. Anyway, this isn't necessarily a deep look at this particular feature, but it was so fun I had to share!

Google Gemini: Your New Dungeon Master?

গুগল মিথুন: আপনার নতুন অন্ধকূপ মাস্টার?

Google Gemini: Ihr neuer Dungeon-Meister?

Google Gemini: ¿tu nuevo maestro de mazmorras?

Google Gemini : votre nouveau maître de donjon ?

गूगल जेमिनी: आपका नया कालकोठरी मास्टर?

Google Gemini: あなたの新しいダンジョンマスター?

Google Gemini: 새로운 던전 마스터?

Google Gemini: seu novo mestre de masmorras?

Google Gemini: ваш новый мастер подземелий?

Google Gemini: Yeni Zindan Ustanız mı?

Google Gemini: Chủ nhân ngục tối mới của bạn?

谷歌双子座：你的新地下城主？

Today's gamers expect levels that are not only visually stunning but also richly interactive and immersive. How can we reach these expectations as developers? Let’s talk about modern level design. In essence, level design refers to creating levels, stages, or missions within a game. But this description barely scratches the surface of what level design embodies. It's not merely about placing objects, enemies, or environmental artwork. It's a more profound and intricate process – it's about crafting experiences. Imagine level design as the art of shaping the player's adventure. It’s about constructing the narrative pathway they walk through, not just in terms of the physical space within the game but also in how they experience the story being told. The level is where the game's story, mechanics, and art converge to create a memorable experience. Consider a level in a as a chapter in a book. Each chapter has a beginning, where players are introduced to new elements or challenges. There's a middle where these elements are explored and interacted with, and an ending, often culminating in a significant challenge or a pivotal narrative moment. The level designer's job is to make this journey as engaging and coherent as possible. game But it's not just about linear progression. A well-designed level offers players choices and paths to explore while guiding them toward the intended narrative or gameplay goals. It's about creating an environment that feels alive and responsive to the player's actions. Consider how game levels like The Legend of Zelda or Dark Souls are designed. They aren't just spaces to traverse; they're puzzles to solve, stories to unravel, and worlds to immerse oneself in. The goal is to avoid extremes – neither too easy nor frustratingly hard. The challenge, akin to waves, should undulate, ensuring player engagement and accomplishment. You need to define your approach before you start level design placement. And here, you have several options that you can learn from famous examples. Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment. A prime example is the Resident Evil series, particularly Resident Evil 4. This game subtly adjusts the difficulty based on the player's performance. If the player dies frequently, the game reduces the number of enemies in subsequent attempts. Conversely, if the player is breezing through levels, it subtly ramps up the challenge. This dynamic adjustment keeps the game engaging for players of varying skill levels without breaking immersion. Progressive Challenge Scaling. The Super Mario Bros. levels are meticulously designed to introduce challenges progressively. Early levels are more straightforward, teaching the player basic mechanics. As the game progresses, levels become more complex, combining these mechanics in challenging ways. The infamous Water Levels or the introduction of more complex enemies like Hammer Bros. exemplify this scaling, which adds variety and escalating challenges while remaining fair and engaging. A classic example can be seen in Portal and Portal 2. These games excel in gradually introducing players to new mechanics and combining them increasingly complexly. Early levels are simple, focusing on understanding the essential use of the portal gun. As players progress, levels demand more sophisticated uses of the portals, spatial reasoning, and timing. This steady increase in complexity helps players develop their skills naturally without feeling overwhelmed. Safe Spaces and Respite. Dark Souls, a game known for its difficulty, skillfully balances challenge with rest. Between its notoriously tricky sections, bonfires are acting as safe spaces. These allow players to recuperate, reinforcing a sense of progression and achievement. It's a rhythmic balance of tension and relief, preventing frustration. Games like Bloodborne implement a risk-versus-reward system to balance difficulty. Engaging in high-risk combat scenarios can lead to greater rewards. This system encourages players to push their limits and allows them to play it safely. It's a balance that motivates players to improve and engage more deeply with the game mechanics. Player-Driven Difficulty. Games like The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim offers another approach. Here, the world is open, and players can choose their paths. They might wander into a high-level area and face tough challenges or stay in lower-level areas to build their skills and confidence. This player-driven difficulty allows individuals to tailor their experiences to their comfort level. The Mass Effect series offers settings that range from narrative-focused, where combat is easier, to hardcore modes that significantly ramp up combat challenges. This approach respects player choice and caters to a broader audience, from those seeking a story to those desiring intense gameplay. Narrative as a Difficulty Balancer. The Last of Us series uses narrative elements to balance gameplay difficulty. Intense combat sequences are interspersed with quieter, story-driven sections, where players learn more about the characters and the world. This ebb and flow maintains engagement without overwhelming the player. Balancing difficulty is not just about enemy placement or the number of obstacles. It's about understanding the player's journey through the game. It involves crafting a narrative flow where challenges rise and fall, maintaining interest and providing a sense of accomplishment. This approach requires a deep understanding of game mechanics, player psychology, and storytelling. Games like Celeste offer frequent checkpoints, acknowledging the game's severe difficulty and allowing players to quickly retry challenging sections, reducing frustration while maintaining the challenge. Implementing checkpoint and save systems can significantly affect the perception of difficulty. Difficulty in level design isn't just about combat or enemies. The environment itself can present challenges. The environment plays a key role in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Weather, terrain, and physics create situations where players must think and adapt. For example, climbing a mountain during rain is more challenging than in clear weather. This adds a layer of strategic decision-making based on the environment. Developers often release beta versions or updates based on player experiences. In modern game development, player feedback is crucial for balancing difficulty. Fortnite is an example of continuous updates and player feedback shaping the game's balance, keeping the gameplay fresh and appropriately challenging. Balancing difficulty in level design is an ongoing dialogue between the designer and the player. It's about understanding not just the mechanics of the game but the people who play it. Every player is different, and their experience can vary widely. The goal of the level designer is to craft a challenging, rewarding, and, most importantly, enjoyable journey for a wide range of players. Environmental art. Level design cannot exist without other elements. And you, as a level designer, should focus on another part of game design that will be at your disposal - Environmental art. Environment art is what gives life to the game's world. It's about the aesthetics – the textures, the lighting, the 3D models. These elements create the visual appeal and immersion of the game. The environment artists are like the painters and sculptors of the video game world, carefully crafting every visual detail to create a believable, engaging, and often beautiful environment for players to explore. A game with exceptional environment art can be awe-inspiring. Think of the stunning vistas in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt or the intricate, dystopian world of Bioshock Infinite. The environment art sets the tone and atmosphere in these games, contributing significantly to the overall gaming experience. Level design should continue the environment design. It should highlight the setting and maintain the mood. Only then will the level design be considered good when it performs both practical and aesthetic functions. Let's shift our focus to level design, about the Level design is the structural foundation of the game’s world. It's about creating spaces that facilitate gameplay, guide the player's journey, present challenges, and help progress the narrative. gameplay experience within these environments. A level designer must consider how players interact with the environment, move through space, and utilize the game's mechanics. It's about creating a flow within the game, using the environment to create a path for the player, and strategically placing elements like enemies, obstacles, and rewards. For instance, the intricate level designs in Dark Souls are not just about aesthetics. They are meticulously crafted to challenge players, often forcing them to be cautious and observant. The levels are designed to create a sense of dread and anticipation, with traps and enemies positioned to surprise and challenge the player. Moreover, level design often involves creating an intuitive and navigable space. It's about leading the player without making it obvious that they are being led. This is where level design overlaps with environmental storytelling. The placement of objects, the architecture of the space, and the progression through the environment can all tell a story in subtle ways. An example is Half-Life, where the environment and level design work together to guide the player, tell a story, and create an immersive experience without requiring extensive dialogue or cutscenes. The game uses visual cues, level layout, and environmental details to lead the player and reveal the narrative. Intricate-level design goes beyond the basic layout of environments; it involves crafting spaces that are functional for gameplay and rich in narrative depth, player engagement, and creativity. Multi-layered Levels. Within a limited space, when we want to make it larger than it is, we use one basic approach: Multi-layered Levels. One of my favorite games with this approach is Dishonored. In Dishonored, the levels are designed with multiple layers and pathways, offering players a variety of approaches to complete their objectives. The game's levels are complex, with interconnected areas encouraging exploration and experimentation. Players can sneak through buildings, traverse rooftops, or find hidden passages, all adding depth and replayability to the game. It works nicely here, mainly because it fits the main mechanic of the teleports. A professional-level designer will always use every piece of space effectively, coordinating it with the mechanics and ideas. But what if I want something else, something different? Let’s return to the Dark Souls series, renowned for its interconnected-level design. The game world is like a massive, intertwined puzzle where areas loop back on themselves, creating a sense of discovery and surprise. This design makes the world feel interconnected and rewards exploration and memorization, a vital aspect of the game's challenge and allure. In BioShock, the underwater city of Rapture is not just a backdrop but an integral part of the game's story. The environment tells its story through audio logs, visual cues, and architecture. The Art Deco design, the dilapidated structures, and the propaganda posters combine to immerse the player in the game's dystopian world. The Breath of the Wild reimagines open-world design by creating a dynamic environment that interacts with the player's actions. The game world responds to player choices and actions, whether chopping down trees to create bridges or using the game's physics engine to solve puzzles. This dynamic interaction makes the environment a key player in the game's design. In The Last of Us Part, the environment reflects the story's emotional tone, from abandoned homes that tell stories of the inhabitants' final moments to the overgrown ruins that signify the world's post-apocalyptic state. The level design is a narrative tool, enhancing the story's emotional impact. As you see, level design can’t be independent. It needs to be a part of all other elements. You should play with it based on your ideas and the mood of your game. Now that we know the basic level design approaches, let's talk about their principles. One of the most crucial is a . Each level in a game should serve a clear and distinct purpose. This could be advancing the story, introducing new gameplay mechanics, presenting a unique challenge, or combining these elements. Each level is designed to advance the story in games like Uncharted or Tomb Raider. Players journey through different environments, each revealing a new story chapter. The level design aligns with the narrative arc, ensuring that the environment and its challenges reflect and enhance the unfolding story. Portal excels in introducing and gradually expanding upon its core mechanic – the portal gun. Early levels are designed to teach players the basics of portal traversal. As the game progresses, levels become more complex, integrating new elements like momentum and light bridges, requiring players to think creatively and apply what they've learned in new ways. Celeste is a brilliant example of levels designed to provide specific challenges. Each chapter introduces new elements - wind, moving platforms, or hostile creatures - each adding a unique twist to the game's core platforming mechanics. The levels are purposefully designed to test the player’s skills and adaptability. purpose The level design combines mechanics, story, and exploration seamlessly. The purpose of a level should be evident to the player, whether it's understood from the level's design, its place in the game's world, or its contribution to the overarching story. A level with a clear purpose provides direction and motivation, guiding the player through the game's journey. Moreover, purpose-driven level design ensures that each part of the game feels necessary and engaging. It avoids the pitfalls of filler content, where levels exist merely to extend playtime without adding meaningful experiences. Another fundamental principle in level design is . motivating player movement A well-designed level not only facilitates but also encourages player exploration and progression. It's about using the environment to subtly guide players towards objectives and discoveries, ensuring a seamless and engaging experience. For this, we can use different techniques. For instance, in Journey, the distant mountain is a constant visual goal for players. In Dark Souls, the level design frequently employs grand structures or unique landscapes as points of interest, guiding players across its interconnected world. . Skyrim is an excellent example, where players are motivated to explore through the promise of hidden dungeons, rare artifacts, and unexpected encounters. The level design rewards curiosity, making exploration a core part of the player's experience. In Half-Life, for example, levels are designed to lead players along a specific path without making it obvious. The game uses lighting, architecture, and environmental storytelling to guide players, ensuring they are never lost but still feel in control of their journey. A classic technique is the use of visual cues or landmarks. Encouraging exploration is key Effective pathfinding is crucial. In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the interactive elements like destructible objects, climbable surfaces, and physics-based puzzles engage players and encourage them to interact with the world around them, often leading to discoveries. Interactivity within the environment can serve as a strong motivator. Narrative elements can also guide player movement. In BioShock, the narrative unfolds through the environment, with audio logs, signage, and environmental changes guiding players through Rapture. The story creates a sense of urgency and curiosity, driving players to explore further. It requires a deep understanding of human psychology and player behavior. The goal is to create an organic and inviting world where every path, obstacle, and item feels purposefully placed to guide the player's journey. I adore level design. It looks so amazing when Resident Evil uses narrow corridors, sudden open areas, and blind corners to induce suspense and surprise. The level design manipulates spatial elements to evoke emotions, keeping players on edge. Or when in Journey, developers use of color, light, and shadow further accentuates paths and points of interest. In games, the arrangement of enemies, the architecture of the ruins, and the placement of items all tell a story, providing context and depth to the game world. In Hollow Knight, we can find intricate, interconnected level designs that encourage players to explore, backtrack, and discover new paths as they acquire new abilities. The layout of the levels becomes a puzzle for the player to solve. You can find more information about Spatial Communication in Level Design in this . video Action Games and Shooters. I talked about more calm genres like RPG and story-based adventures, but we had a few extra things when we discussed action games and shooters. In this type of game, we have a specific aspect of level design that's particularly crucial. And this is a . cover placement Cover placement is essential for creating strategic depth in tactical shooters like Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege. The environment offers various cover options, each presenting different advantages and vulnerabilities. This encourages players to think tactically about their position and the position of their enemies. Effective cover placement also enhances player movement. In Gears of War, the cover is not only for protection but also for maneuvering and flanking. The game's 'roadie run' mechanic, combined with the cover system, allows players to quickly move between covers, creating dynamic firefights and opportunities for strategic positioning. The placement of cover can transform an environment into a tactical playground. Call of Duty games, for instance, design levels with a mix of high and low covers, open areas, and choke points. This variety allows for different combat styles, from long-range engagements to close-quarters battles, making each encounter unique. Introducing dynamic or destructible cover adds another layer of strategy. In the Battlefield series, the destructible environments mean that cover is not always permanent, forcing players to adapt their tactics as the battlefield evolves. Cover placement is also crucial in how AI enemies engage the player. In Uncharted, enemies use cover effectively, flanking and suppressing the player, which requires strategic thinking and quick reflexes to overcome. It's essential to balance cover with . Too much cover can make a level feel cramped and restrict movement, while too little can lead to unfair challenges. Games like Halo strike this balance, offering open arenas with strategically placed cover, allowing for ranged battles and close-up engagements. open spaces Conclusion. In summary, motivating player movement is an art form in itself. It combines aesthetics, psychology, and gameplay mechanics to create a world players want to explore and engage in. It's what transforms a game from a series of tasks into a compelling journey.

Designing a Video Game: Principles and Rules of Modern Level Design

Hi All! Here is my weekly email discussing mental models, performance, business and entrepreneurship. If you love this content (please share it), but also… Check out my , connect with me on / , and read my Podcast YouTube Twitter daily newsletter. What’s in today’s newsletter? Specialize first, diversify later. Build a strong foundation in a niche before expanding your horizons. As Jeff Bezos said, "You have to pay a price for your distinctiveness." Adapt your strategy over time. Specialization and combinatorial thinking each have their place depending on your development stage. Stay agile and optimize for each phase. Deploy counterintuitive strategies (I’ll discuss them) used by all successful entrepreneurs to build strong foundations before branching out into new domains. Also know when's the right time to transition from niche focus to combinatorial thinking. Our world today is fascinated by cross-disciplinary innovation. It seems like the best ideas come from combining different fields and perspectives. I’ve written about combinatorial thinking . several times But today I’m going to tell you why you need to niche down and specialize (at least for a period of time), in your career or in your business. I have no doubt you’re asking… why would anyone wanna specialize in a narrow domain? Wouldn't that limit their potential and creativity? Didn’t you just tell us something radically different, just last week? Well, let me explain. There’s a time and place for everything and history tells us a different story. See, many of the most successful people and businesses with a deep focus on one area. started They built a strong foundation of expertise and reputation before branching out into new domains. They understood that specialization and diversification aren't mutually exclusive, but complementary strategies for growth (I’ll give you some examples in a second). Now. Why is this top of mind? About a year ago I had Joe Foster, the founder of Reebok, on my . I learned that Reebok became a global brand by specializing in women's aerobics shoes (niching down). podcast But when we met for coffee yesterday, he shared how Reebok later diversified into other sports and markets. He explained how specialization gave Reebok a competitive edge, but also how diversification helped Reebok adapt and thrive. His story inspired me to write this newsletter and explore the role of specialization in growth, and how to balance it with diversification. I believe that both approaches have their merits and challenges, and that the key is to use 'em wisely and intentionally. As Jeff Bezos said: "You have to pay a price for your distinctiveness, and it's worth it." In this newsletter, I'll share with you my perspective on how to find your niche, why you need to care about it, how to leverage it for growth, and how to expand your horizons when the time is right. I hope you'll find it useful and interesting. Finding Your Niche Finding your niche is one of the most important and challenging tasks for any aspiring creator, entrepreneur, or professional. How do you find your niche? How do you know if you have chosen the right one? How do you validate your niche before investing too much time and energy into it? Well that’s what I’m here for. Let’s start with two frameworks. The Venn Diagram Framework The Venn diagram framework for finding your niche helps you identify your unique combination of , , and that can help you create value and stand out. skills passions market opportunities This framework forces you to visualize these items. The elements you visualize are the three key factors that define your niche: : What are you good at or can become good at with practice and learning? Skills (Expertise & Experience) : What do you enjoy doing or learning about? Passions (Energy & Enthusiasm) : Who are the people who have a problem that you can solve or a need that you can fulfill? Market (Economics) Your niche is the intersection of these three factors. This is your sweet spot where you can create the most value and differentiation. The framework is very easy to implement just, follow these steps: List down all the skills, passions, and market segments that you have or are interested in. Draw a Venn diagram and see where they overlap. You can also use online tools like to create your own Venn diagram. this one Find one or more areas of overlap that are specific enough to be distinctive, but broad enough to be viable. For example, if you are skilled at writing, passionate about personal finance, and interested in serving young professionals, your niche could be writing about personal finance blog for young professionals. Just a reminder, this framework (like most others) are not perfect. It assumes that your skills, passions, and market are fixed and independent, which is not always the case. You’ll develop new skills or passions over time, or discover new market opportunities that you didn’t know existed. You’ll also find that some of your skills, passions, and market segments are interrelated or overlapping. So don’t treat this framework as a one-time exercise, but as a starting point and a guide. Revisit and update your Venn diagram regularly, and experiment with different combinations and variations. Also, always be open to feedback and data from your potential customers, and adjust your niche accordingly. The Hedgehog Concept Another useful framework to find your niche is the hedgehog concept. This concept was popularized by in his book, , where he studied the characteristics of companies that achieved sustained excellence and outperformed their competitors. Jim Collins Good to Great Collins found that one of the common traits of these companies was that they had a clear and simple understanding of what they were best at, what they were passionate about, and what drove their economic engine. He called this their “ ”, inspired by the ancient Greek parable of the hedgehog and the fox. hedgehog concept The parable goes like this: The fox is a cunning and versatile animal that knows many things and can pursue many strategies. The hedgehog is a simple and focused animal that knows one big thing and sticks to it. Every day, the fox tries to catch the hedgehog using different tricks and tactics, but every time, the hedgehog rolls into a ball of spikes and fends off the fox. The fox never learns, and the hedgehog always wins. The hedgehog concept is similar to the Venn diagram framework, but with some subtle differences. The three circles of the are: hedgehog concept This is not just a skill, but a core competency that you have or can develop that gives you a competitive edge and makes you stand out from the crowd. It is something that you can excel at and sustain over time. What you can be the best in the world at. This is not just a hobby, but a genuine love and enthusiasm for what you do. It is something that motivates you and gives you joy and fulfillment. What you are deeply passionate about. This is not just a market, but a way to measure and generate value for your customers and yourself. It is something that you can monetize and scale. What drives your economic engine. To find your niche, you need to identify the intersection of these three circles. This is where you can achieve greatness and build a lasting legacy. This is your . hedgehog concept To use this framework, you can start by asking yourself three questions: What can I be the best in the world at? What am I deeply passionate about? What drives my economic engine? The goal is to find one or more areas of overlap that are ambitious enough to challenge you, but realistic enough to achieve. Like the Venn diagram framework, this framework is not flawless. It assumes that you can objectively and accurately assess your own abilities, passions, and value proposition, which is not always easy or possible. You may also face trade-offs and conflicts between the three circles, such as having to choose between what you love and what pays well, or between what you are good at and what the market wants. Don’t treat this framework as a final answer, but as a direction and a vision. You should test and validate your hedgehog concept with your potential customers, and refine it based on feedback and results and you also have to be willing to pivot and adapt your hedgehog concept as you learn and grow. The Business Case for Niche Specialization Why do some companies and individuals succeed while others struggle? Well, like I mentioned, one key factor is specialization. One could argue a thousand different examples of companies that do diversify. But at the beginning, all great companies, hyper focus… to start. Efficiency Specializing in a niche allows you to optimize your processes and resources, and achieve higher levels of efficiency and productivity. For example, Basecamp is a software company that hyper specializes in project management tools. By concentrating on one domain, they can simplify their roles and workflows, and devote their attention to improving their core features, rather than diluting their efforts across multiple domains. Efficiency leads to profitability. Innovation Specializing in a niche also fosters innovation and adaptability. By combining different specialties within your niche, you can create new products and services that meet customer needs. For instance, Saxx Underwear specialized in men’s athletic underwear, and used their expertise to create new products like plush loungewear. Saxx is so deep in the weeds of their consumer and their niche that they notice things no one else will ever notice. They get a “ ” for their target customer so they can innovate faster than anyone else. canary in the coal mine Innovation leads to growth. Career Benefits Specialization also pays off in your career. Sommeliers, for example, advance faster and earn more than general beverage managers, despite having less diverse experience. Depth provides credibility and authority. Specialization leads to recognition. The data is clear - specializing in a niche supercharges businesses and careers, providing a competitive edge and higher earning potential. Specialization always precedes diversification. The Psychology Behind Specialization There are significant psychological advantages to specialization as well. Specialization actually helps us perform at a higher lever, with less friction. The Power of Automaticity When we deeply specialize in a niche, we train our brains to perform at an elite level with minimal effort. Through thousands of hours of deliberate practice, we develop automaticity – the ability to execute complex skills without conscious control or attention. Expert violinists can play intuitively, without thinking about note patterns or finger positions. Likewise, star athletes "trust their training" and execute in flow states. Surgeons enter trance-like focus, losing self-awareness during procedures. In short, niche specialization enables the brain to conserve mental energy and divert it towards higher-level insight and creativity. Deep skills become instinctual. Mental Models for Focus Specialists naturally use mental models like and to guide their thinking. inversion exaptation means asking This flip exposes flaws in strategies. Inversion “What would someone do to cause the opposite of my goal?” For example, if your goal is to improve employee retention, you could use inversion and ask "What would I do if I wanted to increase employee turnover?" This flipping of perspective can reveal gaps or flaws in your current strategies. It exposes assumptions, forces you to consider unintended consequences, and highlights actions that could undermine your goals. Inversion is a powerful framework specialists can use to stress test their plans and decisions. By imagining the opposite intent, they gain insights that strengthen their approach. involves applying niche skills creatively in new contexts, not just where they originated. Knowledge transfers unexpectedly. Exaptation For example, the technology behind air hockey tables was originally developed to help clean sensitive electronic components. But engineers later exapted this air suspension technology to invent a new arcade game. The key is repurposing a specific skill or innovation for a completely unrelated use case. Other examples: Using medical adhesive technology to develop soft mountaineering picks that grip ice. Leveraging expertise in aerodynamics from auto racing to design more efficient wind turbine blades. Applying knowledge of microbiome science from yogurt production to develop new probiotic therapies. Building on experience with virtual reality in gaming to create new VR-based PTSD treatments. The core idea is specialists taking their niche expertise and finding unexpected applications that create new value. It allows them to maximize the utility of their deep knowledge. Internalizing a Specialized Identity Research finds that developing a coherent identity (which comes with specialization) boosts motivation and persistence. Specializing shapes how we see ourselves. While pigeonholing has downsides, identifying with a niche provides direction and meaning. As specialists gain mastery, their skill becomes internalized as part of their self-concept. They think, "I am a marketing specialist" rather than "I do marketing." This identity inspires commitment to the craft. This deep integration of niche mastery into self-identity acts as a flywheel. As specialists gain renown in their craft, it further solidifies their self-image and commitment. Their niche obsession breeds more obsession in a virtuous cycle. Being known as the expert woodworker motivates them to become even more adept at woodworking. From Specialist to Combinatorial Thinker To tie this back into how this newsletter started, there is a time for specializing (depth) and time when it really does benefit you to become a polymath (breadth). Studies show depth and breadth can create powerful synergy: Scientists with artistic hobbies are more likely to become Nobel laureates. Diverse activities boost creativity. Inventors with patents across fields produce the most radical innovations. Varied experience connects unforeseen dots. Entrepreneurs who've worked in different industries have higher success rates. Their wider lens reveals overlooked opportunities. In summary, breadth can enhance depth. But depth comes first. Once you’ve achieved depth, you can pursue breadth, aka combinatorial thinking (if you haven’t read past newsletters), which is the art of blending skills from different domains to create new value, like musical notes mingling in a hit song. Thinkers like Scott Adams, Tim Ferriss and Elon Musk exemplify this art, combining distinct expertise into unique outcomes. Adams leveraged skills in business, humor and cartooning to create Dilbert Ferriss combines writing, entrepreneurship and self-experimentation to engage followers Musk integrates engineering, innovation and vision to launch groundbreaking ventures Transitioning from niche expertise to combinatorial thinking requires meticulous timing: Sample diverse domains to discover native strengths and passions. Before specializing: Complement your core skills to avoid tunnel vision. Stay updated on broad trends. While specializing: Leverage niche expertise into new spaces. Diversify offerings. Create novel hybrids. Post-specialization: Balance breadth and depth as needed. But always build upon a specialized foundation. Remember. Specialization brings mastery. Diversification brings growth. Both are essential. The key is embracing each phase fully in its time. Don't rush from novice to polymath overnight. Start by finding your niche. Tend your craft through deep work. Gain skills unconsciously. You’ll eventually start to master . your thing Then carefully broaden your scope. See how your specialty converges with alternate modes of thought. New synapses will spark at these intersections. As Jeff Bezos says, "You have to stay alert, engaged, and continually learning." Maintain a beginner's mind along with your hard-won expertise. Your journey will have twists and turns. Specialize, diversify, oscillate. Optimize for each terrain. Enjoy the trip. And at the end of the day, keep moving forward. Momentum conquers all obstacles. Progress compounds. If you enjoyed this article, I’d love to hear from you. Email me at scott@scottdclary.com or at me and I’ll do my best to get back to everyone! tweet @ScottDClary Also published . here

The Framework Successful People Use to Become Indispensable

ফ্রেমওয়ার্ক সফল লোকেরা অপরিহার্য হয়ে উঠতে ব্যবহার করে

Der Rahmen, den erfolgreiche Menschen nutzen, um unverzichtbar zu werden

El marco que utilizan las personas exitosas para volverse indispensables

Le cadre que les personnes qui réussissent utilisent pour devenir indispensables

सफल लोग अपरिहार्य बनने के लिए जिस रूपरेखा का उपयोग करते हैं

成功者が欠かせない存在になるために使用するフレームワーク

성공한 사람들이 없어서는 안 될 존재가 되기 위해 사용하는 프레임워크

A estrutura que pessoas de sucesso usam para se tornarem indispensáveis

Схема, которую используют успешные люди, чтобы стать незаменимыми

Başarılı İnsanların Vazgeçilmez Olmak İçin Kullandığı Çerçeve

Khuôn khổ mà những người thành công sử dụng để trở thành thứ không thể thiếu

成功人士不可或缺的框架

Introduction In your engineering career, once you get to deal with architectural topics, you may learn of many patterns that are usually "problematic" or otherwise uncomfortable to deal with, yet you might have to work with them regardless. It may be a requirement from a customer or management, organizational practices, or just a part of a system or a product that isn't properly thought out or otherwise mismanaged. Today, I would like to talk about a pattern (or an "anti-pattern"?) that I don't hear people talk much about - an integration point. web software What is an integration point? Let's start with some simple mind experiments and imagine the following situations: You are tasked with developing an authentication framework for the customer's business. To pass the authentication process, the user's information has to be retrieved and validated. The information is stored on a separate customer server and has to be behind their corporate API. The information is served in some kind of XML format. You are tasked with building processing of user's activity data. You might have to build a chart on top of it or extract some sort of metric from it. The said data is owned by a separate department and is provided via an event queue. You might be starting to notice a common pattern here. There is an upstream service that is sending data to you. Alternatively, you might be receiving data from the said upstream service. This service you don't own is sending you data you don't control, all done by a team you're not a part of. What can go wrong? Well, first of all, since we're not in control of our data format anymore, we can assume that it may change in ways we do not expect. Adding or removing some fields might be handled with some data parsers, while switching data types or response codes completely might not be. Second, consider that the lifecycle of the app in question might not be in your control. Downtime, throttling, and errors of all kinds might happen when you least expect them. Now, an important underlying issue here is how your organization is associated with the owners of the service in question. Are their KPIs and goals aligned with yours, and is it in their interest to maintain and ensure the stability of your work? Are they open and available to listen to your requirements, when, and in which format? Consider how they might not be available at critical moments. What can be done about it? Document the data format. To be able to work with data properly, the receiving team must know what to expect. The data-owning team should usually also play by those expectations. To achieve that, all response formats, all status codes, all endpoints, etc, should all be in a fixed format. More importantly, changes to the said data formats should be communicated in advance as well thoroughly documented. The perfect scenario is when data format changes are handled in reverse-compatible ways. Once a bidirectional framework like that is established, given that a change in data format happens, it would be easier to find the point of failure and communicate it to your partners. Prepare for network errors. The bidirectional relationship between the sending and the receiving services should be implemented in a way that would make it resilient to possible downtimes. Longer response delays can be put in place to account for throttling, although usually increasing delays is not a long-term solution. In case the counterpart service becomes unavailable, there are a couple of things that can be tried as well. Depending on the domain circumstances, there's a choice between serving cached responses, serving fallback data, or even issuing clients with a notice that the underlying service is temporarily unavailable. If data from the underlying service is not critical to serving a response, it may be ignored altogether sometimes. Be careful around caching. With all of the above in mind, you can not always make a request to the service serving the data for you when you need it. You might be tempted to save it locally or cache it, which would be the right thing to do most of the time. You should always think about how to react to changes in the underlying data. Can the other service send you events once data expires, or do you need to handle that yourself? When should you expire your cache in such a case? The data model can mismatch Now, imagine the following. So, our service has received the data from upstream and saved it successfully. And now, once we want our app to do something about it, the application fails. Or we serve it to the client, and the client is unhappy. As an example, the data points that we've received are valid, yet they simply do not form a valid chart. Web applications are sometimes more than just data. Sometimes, they are also a data model built on top of the said data. Meaning we take the data and we do something about it. The constraints that you might have expected the data to abide by might not have been originally intended for it. The solution to such a problem is not always clear. But you can ask yourself the following questions: Should our expectations of the data be changed? Can the data be corrected or fixed? Can we switch to a different data source altogether? Assume responsibilities So, we integrated the two systems together, and it came to a point when something went wrong. This means that someone would now have to fix it. In such cases, there must be a clear understanding of who's responsible for which part of the integration. The data will usually be owned by the other team, of course, but it is not always so clear when it comes to the format of exchange. Of course, this problem can be discussed once it occurs. Setup monitoring In case an accident does happen, timely alerts will help both your team and the counterpart team react to the incident in a timely manner. Let's not stop on this in detail since there are most likely plenty of articles written on the subject matter. Conclusions As you can see, something that seems like a trivial problem at first can have a lot of nuance to it. Let it be known that the internet of today is built on top of tiny little nuances like that, and it has worked quite well for us up until now. With some thought put into it, such problems can be solved to a good extent.

Software Architects' headache - the Integration Point

Today, I want to invite you to join me every week, right here on HackerNoon, for This is a simple article series, focused on great tactics you can use in your team to become as productive as possible. management tips. In this piece, we're going to focus on communication specifically: dealing with conflict and how to motivate others. So, let’s go! Without “water” and boring recommendations ;) #1 Reading Body Language When you're trying to understand someone, their words are just half the story. You also need to pay attention to their body language. You have to listen to the entire person: give or take, about half of what a person is really saying comes not through the words they're using but through their body. What you're looking for are behavioral deviations: The 1st type is a deviation from a person's normal way of communicating, referred to as their baseline If someone's behavior suddenly changes, it could be a sign that something is wrong. For ex, if someone who usually stands close to you and speaks slowly is now standing further away and speaking rapidly, that could be a sign of trouble. It's important to be aware of these changes in behavior, but it's also important not to assume that you know what's wrong. Instead, you can ask questions to try to understand what's going on, but be respectful of the other person's privacy, and don't be pushy. The 2nd type is a deviation from contextual norms In social situations, there are certain behaviors that are considered normal and acceptable. For ex, it is normal to briefly look another person in the eye and smile or say hello. However, if someone stares at you for a long time, it can be considered rude or uncomfortable. So, don't make assumptions here; the person might be looking at you because they just like the T-shirt you're wearing :) The best way to learn more about why someone is behaving in a certain way is to observe them carefully and ask questions if you feel comfortable doing so. Some things to look for include eye aversions, fidgeting, posture, and ofc, my favorite one - distancing behavior. If someone is standing further away from you than normal or is angling their feet away from you, it could be a sign that they are not interested in the conversation or do not like you. Begin to listen to the whole person, establish good baselines, and start looking for significant deviations. When you do, you'll realize that you've been missing a big part of the conversation! #2 5 Phrases to Avoid Sometimes, success at work is all about knowing what to say. Other times, it's about knowing what not to say. That's not my job We've all heard this one. Here's the issue. Even when it's technically true, it never inspires, and it's never helpful. When you say "That's not my job," you're essentially saying that you're only there to look out for yourself, and that you don't care about the needs of the team. If you don't have time to help someone, that's okay. Just tell them you'll help them later. But don't dismiss them with a curt "That's not my job." People often say "We've tried that before" when discussing a problem at work and someone suggests a possible solution. This is a way to avoid the extra work that comes with change. Even if something has been tried before, it doesn't mean that it can't be done in a new way. And even if you've struggled with this problem in the past, don't give up before you've even tried the new solution. We've tried that before There's no budget for that Some people may resist new ideas or solutions because they think they will cost too much money. However, smart leaders know that budgets are just guidelines, and they are willing to invest in great solutions, even if they have to adjust the budget to do so. A good leader will be able to find ways to make the budget work, even if it means moving money around from other areas. They will also be able to explain the value of the new solution to the team and stakeholders so that everyone is on board. I told you so It never helps, only inflames the person. So you're better off saying nothing at all. 5. That doesn't follow procedure Some people may also use policies, rules, or traditions as an excuse to avoid change. However, it's important to remember that most rules are not absolute, and great conversation is the key to team productivity. If you have a new solution that is likely to lead to progress, don't be afraid to speak up. Here’s the case from my personal experience: Once ,we were working on an NFT collection, and our partner was messing up and couldn't deliver the visuals in time. And then, one of the engineers came to me with an idea to not display the NFTs’ visuals and reveal them later. At that time, it was a new mechanic in the industry, but we decided to take a risk and it worked out. A week later, that guy became a lead! Still here? Let’s continue! #3 Avoid These 7 Toxic Words Some words, while potentially honest or well-intentioned, can hurt to the point of being toxic. By toxic, I mean they can inflame emotions, damage your reputation, and disrupt communication at work. Even when offering needed criticism, you can do so in a positive fashion. Harsh and definitive statements like, "We can't do that," "He can't authorize that," or "Our customers can't understand this solution" are rarely helpful. Can't This is an easy word to use, but often negative and heavy. Instead, try to offer a more informative explanation of the decision that was made. No Wrong If you want to make someone angry or question their intelligence, tell them they're wrong. A more nuanced statement is usually more beneficial. Blaming people, even when they deserve it, is rarely productive. If you need to address a mistake, it's important to do so in a way that is focused on the team and framed positively. Fault Instead of saying, "You messed up," you could say, "We made a mistake, but here's what we can do to fix it." Never It can sound like you're closing the door on all possibilities, which can reduce people's hope and motivation. Instead of saying, "never," try saying things like, "it's possible," "we'll see," or "let's explore our options." This shows that you're open to new ideas and possibilities, and that you're willing to work towards a better future. Stupid It's a common word, but mostly, seen as just insulting. People very often take it personally even if you’re talking about a product of smth. It’s much better to choose a non-inflammatory language. Impossible It's also important to remember that we can't predict the future, so saying something is "impossible" is not always accurate. Instead of saying "impossible," it's more helpful to use more nuanced language, such as "I'm not sure we have the time for that" or "I'm concerned this might be too difficult right now." #4 Selling Your Ideas Have you ever heard someone say that they could never be in sales? They act like sales are somehow dishonest. And equates them with the stereotype of a used car salesman. That's unfortunate because It's a form of persuasion successful people should use all the time. selling is a fundamental skill in life. Selling your ideas is simply the process of persuading people to agree with you and support your plans. It's a skill that you can use even if you're not in a traditional sales role. Consider these 4 very useful tactics: Assess your credibility Depending on the quality of the idea, you might want to share it with others; no matter what your level of credibility. Having said that, the goal is to be as credible as possible. That means, first, having a trouble-free, high-quality track record at your job. Gain a reputation as a person who is helpful and supportive when others speak up with their ideas That’s to say, do yourself a favor, and build lateral support before trying to build vertical support. What I mean is that you're well-served to start with your peers, and others on your level or below you. This way, you can gauge how well the idea might be received, above you. And you're likely to receive good feedback that will help you refine the idea, and make it better. When promoting ideas, do it in a way that helps others Your idea is important to you, but remember that everyone has their own goals and priorities. This is especially true when you're sharing your ideas with people above you in the company. Before you pitch your idea, take some time to think about how it aligns with their priorities. How can your idea help them to achieve their goals; what are they? Be prepared to articulate this clearly and concisely. Be sure to spend time practicing your pitch If the idea is a big departure from the past or you're pitching to the executive level, you'd better be ready. You have to know the bottom line costs and projected benefits that are likely. You also have to be ready for predictable questions, which is why a great practice talk with peers is so useful before pitching to executives. Selling sometimes gets a bad rap, but it shouldn't. Selling yourself and selling your ideas is a normal, required part of professional life. And if you remember the tips we just covered, people just might be buying what you're selling. To sum up, managers play a vital role in the success of any organization. They are responsible for leading and motivating teams, setting goals, ensuring that projects are completed on time and within budget, and many more things. Developing as a successful manager takes time and effort, and I hope that you find all the tips described above helpful!

Management: 4 Top Skills and Tips for Better Communication & Influence

ব্যবস্থাপনা: ভালো যোগাযোগ ও প্রভাবের জন্য 4টি শীর্ষ দক্ষতা এবং টিপস

Management: 4 Top-Fähigkeiten und Tipps für bessere Kommunikation und Einfluss

Gestión: 4 habilidades y consejos principales para una mejor comunicación e influencia

Management : 4 principales compétences et conseils pour une meilleure communication et une meilleure influence

प्रबंधन: बेहतर संचार और प्रभाव के लिए 4 शीर्ष कौशल और युक्तियाँ

マネジメント: コミュニケーションと影響力を向上させるための 4 つの主要なスキルとヒント

관리: 더 나은 의사소통과 영향력을 위한 4가지 주요 기술과 팁

Gestão: 4 principais habilidades e dicas para melhor comunicação e influência

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About a year ago, I was working on a project at my previous job. The goal was to set up a reliable message queue. Most people might go straight to RabbitMQ, and I almost did too. But I decided to look for something different. That's when I came across NATS JetStream. After working with it for the past year, I can say it's truly impressive. It's fast, it can handle a lot of data, and it fits well with cloud systems. Today, I'll walk you through how to use NATS JetStream with a Golang app. By the time you finish reading this article, you'll be able to implement a robust and fast message queue. Message queues For those who are not familiar, what are message queues? In the real world, message queues help systems talk to each other without getting overwhelmed. For example, when you order something online, your order might go into a message queue before it's processed. This way, even if many people order at the same time, the system can handle it smoothly. Message queues are key for making sure data gets where it needs to go, especially when things get busy. Project requirements For my project, I had a clear list of needs when it came to selecting a message queue: : It was crucial that our messages stayed safe. We couldn't afford to lose them due to network glitches or if a server needed to restart. In simple terms, once a message is in the queue, it should stay there until it's processed. Durable Queues : Sometimes, there can be small issues or temporary errors when a system tries to read a message. I needed a way to send these messages back into the queue so they could be tried again later. This ensures that no message gets left behind because of short-term problems. Retrying Messages : As our system might get more users and data, I wanted our message queue to grow easily with us. Horizontal Scaling With these requirements in mind, I began my search for the perfect message queue solution. Possible solutions When searching for the right message queue, I explored several options. Here's a brief overview: : I didn't dive too deep into these. They're older and seem to lack current support. Gearman, Beanstalkd, and similar : It's favored by many small businesses. However, I found it a bit slow. Setting the HA (High-available) cluster requires real expertise. Plus, it lacks the ability to “requeue” a message with delay. RabbitMQ : It's excellent for PubSub and storing KV data. But as a queue system? Not the best. If Redis is set to store all messages, it slows down drastically. Redis : It's a strong choice for event streaming. But it’s not the best choice for message queues. For instance, how can I requeue a message? Apache Kafka : It looked promising and fits the needs of large organizations. It met most of my criteria. Yet, horizontal scaling isn't straightforward. It demands a large infrastructure and a skilled team, which felt excessive for my project's scale. Apache Pulsar Finally, I stumbled upon NATS JetStream. It seemed to align perfectly with my requirements. How NATS JetStream fits to requirements To understand how NATS JetStream works, I made some simple code and did tests. Here's what I learned: : : Setting Things Up I made two simple Golang CLI tools One for sending messages (NATS publisher) ...
publishedTotal := 0
for i := 0; i < 30000; i++ {
	subject := "test_subject_name"
	_, err = jetStream.PublishAsync(subject, []byte(strconv.Itoa(i)))
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("publish: %w", err)
	}

	publishedTotal++
}
fmt.Printf("published %d messages\n", publishedTotal)
... One for fetching messages (NATS consumer) ...
totalReceived := int32(0)
for {
	func() {
		ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 3*time.Second)
		defer cancel()

		msgs, fetchErr := jetStreamSubscriber.Fetch(1, nats.Context(ctx))
		if fetchErr != nil {
			if errors.Is(fetchErr, context.DeadlineExceeded) {
				return
			}

			log.Printf("sub fetch err: %s\n", fetchErr)
			return
		}

		for _, msg := range msgs {
			ackErr := msg.Ack()
			if ackErr != nil {
				log.Printf("sub ack err: %s\n", ackErr)
			}
			totalReceived++
			log.Printf("total received: %d\n", totalReceived)
		}
	}()
}
... Durable queues With these tools ready, I checked a few things: : Sending Many Messages : What if I send thousands of messages all at once? Question : The consumers took all the messages in. Nothing was lost. Answer : Sending Without Consumer : What if I send messages but there's no one to consume them? Question : When a consumer is ready, it receives all the messages. Answer : NATS Server Issues : How do consumers act if the NATS server stops? Do they try to connect again when NATS is back? Question : Yes, consumers connect back to NATS by themselves when it's working again. Answer : Unread Messages and NATS Problems : What about messages sent to NATS but not consumed, and then NATS server turns off? Question : If NATS starts working again, all the waiting messages are consumed. This is because NATS keeps messages safe on the computer's storage. Answer NATS showed excellence aligning our first requirement. Let’s check out how it can send messages back to a queue. Requeue In NATS JetStream, requeuing a message that has encountered a problem is straightforward. You can achieve this by calling the function available in the message API. Invoking ensures that the message is sent back to the queue, effectively providing a second chance for it to be processed at a later time. Nak() Nak() Another feature that adds to the utility of NATS JetStream is the ability to requeue messages with a custom delay. This functionality comes in handy when dealing with tasks that are deferred and need to be carried out after a certain period has elapsed. For example, if you have a notification system that must send alerts at specific intervals, you can use this feature to schedule these messages accurately. Two requirements are nailed. There is one more important point about scalability. Horizontal Scaling When it comes to horizontal scaling, NATS JetStream makes the process relatively simple. Setting up a cluster involves running multiple NATS servers with JetStream enabled. All that's required is to specify the same and define the routing paths between each node in the configuration. cluster_name I added an example of docker-compose.yml file to run a local NATS cluster: version: "3.5"
services:
  nats1:
    container_name: nats1
    image: nats
    entrypoint: /nats-server
    command: --server_name N1 --cluster_name JSC --js --sd /data --cluster nats://0.0.0.0:4245 --routes nats://nats2:4245,nats://nats3:4245 -p 4222
    networks:
      - nats
    ports:
      - 4222:4222

  nats2:
    container_name: nats2
    image: nats
    entrypoint: /nats-server
    command: --server_name N2 --cluster_name JSC --js --sd /data --cluster nats://0.0.0.0:4245 --routes nats://nats1:4245,nats://nats3:4245 -p 4222
    networks:
      - nats
    ports:
      - 4223:4222

  nats3:
    container_name: nats3
    image: nats
    entrypoint: /nats-server
    command: --server_name N3 --cluster_name JSC --js --sd /data --cluster nats://0.0.0.0:4245 --routes nats://nats1:4245,nats://nats2:4245 -p 4222
    networks:
      - nats
    ports:
      - 4224:4222

networks:
  nats:
    name: nats What adds to the utility is that you can connect to any node within the cluster, whether from a publisher or a consumer application, and it just works seamlessly. This implies that the system is designed to handle varying load distributions, routing the messages effectively irrespective of which node you are connected to. It was clear to me that NATS JetStream aligned with all my requirements perfectly. Pros and nuances I spent considerable time with NATS JetStream and can outline its strengths and limitations based on my experience: Pros : NATS JetStream is more than just a message queue system. It offers a variety of features that I'll elaborate in the next articles. Broad Functionality : Being written in Go, the source code is accessible and provides insight into undocumented functionalities. This is particularly useful for Go developers who want to delve deeper into the system. Go-Based : The performance metrics for NATS JetStream are impressive, making it a reliable choice for high-throughput scenarios. Strong Benchmarks Nuances : One thing to be aware of is that NATS ensures 'at-least-once' message delivery. As a result, your consumer logic must be idempotent to handle such cases. 'At-Least-Once' Delivery : While the documentation is generally good, it doesn't cover all configuration options. Sometimes, you'll need to go through the SDK code to understand certain functionalities fully. Incomplete Documentation : This could be seen as both a pro and a nuance. The SDK handles reconnections automatically, which means you don't have to code this logic yourself. Built-In Reconnection Logic Performance The performance benchmark was conducted by , where NATS JetStream was compared with other popular message queues like Apache Pulsar and RabbitMQ. It's important to approach these results with a degree of skepticism, as the company is known for its affinity towards Apache Pulsar. They themselves noted that they faced difficulties in configuring NATS JetStream for the benchmark, which could potentially skew the results in favor of their preferred system. Steamnative NATS JetStream – During our tests, we attempted to follow the recommended practices for deliverGroups and deliverSubjects in NATS, but encountered difficulties. Our NATS subscriptions failed to act in a shared mode and instead exhibited a fan-out behavior, resulting in a significant read amplification of 16 times. This likely significantly impacted the overall publisher performance. Conclusion After working with NATS JetStream for an extended period, several aspects of the system became apparent: Easy configuration. High performance. Broad functionality. Beyond its capabilities as a message queue, NATS JetStream also functions as a message broker for event-streaming, PubSub, and synchronous Request-Reply message bus. While this article provides an initial overview, I plan to discuss the diverse features of NATS JetStream in more detail in future articles. This will include a closer look at its specific functionalities and how they can be applied in different scenarios. References NATS JetStream Publisher/Subscriber demo code Comparison of NATS, NATS Streaming and NATS JetStream Implementing NATS JetStream as Queues in Golang Steamnative performance benchmark Steamnative performance benchmark (detailed)

NATS JetStream — a New Way to Create Resilient Message Queue

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