Sophie 🎲🏳️⚧️Why hasn't anybody made an epicycle clock yet? (yes there are clocks with epicyclic mechanisms, but I mean the display!)
For your consideration, one with just an hour and a minute epicycle, and also one with a seconds epicycle just for fun.
Honestly, I think this would be easier to read than a traditional clock.
What's that? Figuring out a mechanism so each hand spins at the end of the previous one? Eh, not my problem :p
I guess the only downside is the minutes in the middle of each hour will feel like they are going slower since the end of the hand isn't moving as fast?
honestly though who cares about those minutes? I want HD time at the start and end of the hour!
Okay, I have a working prototype (which spent way too long to make, why am I coding on an iPad???)
I have quickly realised that the hour markers are not in the wrong place because of a bug, I just misunderstood how the thing would work.
I’ll look into a fix tomorrow but for now (as you can see), it’s late. I need sleep.
Okay I couldn’t sleep so I just solved the issue. Rotation needs to be based on ‘parent’ epicycle rotations, which is not really a behaviour of epicycles usually but whatever, this makes a cool clock. I’ll fix it up with numbers tomorrow and share it.
I did it! I made an epicycle clock!
Check your loopy time here:
https://sophiehoulden.com/randomstuff/epitime/
Andrew Plotkin@Sophie A friend commented that if the curve were inside out, then the hands would be coincident on the hour and opposite on the half-hour. This might feel more natural. Maybe?
(All the analog clocks in my house are counterclocks, so it’s not like I can be sure what feels natural.)
Ludovic Archivist LagouardetteAh yes, using counterclocks and watching your guests brains melt when they try to read the time. I do that too
Gary Parker@Archivist @zarfeblong @Sophie do counterclocks serve any purpose other than to confuse people?
Seems rather antagonistic otherwise (and that’s the most polite way I could think of to describe it!)
@witewulf @Archivist @Sophie You got that I’m a puzzle game designer, right?
Anything that makes a person stop, consider, interpret, and come to a moment of understanding has value. It may not be the right puzzle at the right time — that’s where the design comes in — but the puzzle itself needs no apology.
@zarfeblong no, didn’t grok that at all 😀