
Show HN: Turn NPM installs into a Space Invaders style game in your terminal - massivedragon
https://www.npmjs.com/nplaym
======
_Marak_
If you are tired of waiting for NPM, I'd suggest checking out the `ied`
alternative:
[https://github.com/alexanderGugel/ied](https://github.com/alexanderGugel/ied)

To give some perspective, I'm dealing with systems that install npm packages
at scale. NPM3 has had way too many show stopping bugs for us. The delays in
installation time compound when dealing with thousands of packages, pretty
much causing package installation to fail ( take forever ).

~~~
fibo
Try to set

    
    
        npm set progress=false
    

it speeds up installation time. I am also approaching an alternative solution,
to put dev deps in another package.json, then do something like

    
    
       npm install src/dev
    

where src/dev is a folder that contains a package.json with dev deps only when
you are developing.

~~~
orf
isn't that what devDependencies is for?

~~~
nathancahill
"npm install" installs devDependencies too. You can do "npm install
--production" to skip them.

------
Khao
Feels like this "do [x] while npm install is running" silly project is turning
into a running gag. Why not fix the issues with NPM install that makes it
extremely slow instead? Not saying that people shouldn't make things just for
fun, but when you've got 10 different projects around the idea that NPM
install is slow and you should do play a game or watch silly gifs while it's
installing, maybe the time would have been better spend fixing the problem.

~~~
massivedragon
You're right, it's a joke. I was chatting to a colleague about how long his
installs took to run and I thought having a game where you shoot all the
packages that are installing would poke fun at the fact that you're probably
installing way too many packages. I agree, fixing the problem would have been
better, though probably harder and definitely less enjoyable.

~~~
eric_h
I think it's an effective satire on the existing implementations of the gag.

------
flashman
Loading screen minigames were under a Namco patent until last year:
[http://gamasutra.com/blogs/DavidHoppe/20150109/233806/2015_T...](http://gamasutra.com/blogs/DavidHoppe/20150109/233806/2015_The_Year_We_Get_Loading_Screen_MiniGames_Back.php)

~~~
spartanatreyu
I wonder if the patent would have covered this since it's not "loading", it's
installing.

------
teddyh
It’s Invade-a-Load all over again!

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invade-a-
Load](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invade-a-Load)

~~~
massivedragon
Oh that's fantastic! I'm afraid I'm probably too young to have known about
that, but it's obvious I was wrong when I thought I was being original!

------
andrewstuart2
Feature request: Only install dependencies once you've blasted them.

------
ericwood
I love the idea of user interfaces that provide little distractions from long-
running (usually unavoidable) tasks. It's silly, but the right kind of silly.

I recently purchased a Korg Minilogue analog synthesizer. Because of the
instability of analog oscillators it has to go through a tuning procedure when
it's first powered on (which can take around 20sec). They included a little
game of breakout to help pass the time, though :)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDWv-
KgzMXM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDWv-KgzMXM)

~~~
stephenr
> I love the idea of user interfaces that provide little distractions from
> long-running (usually unavoidable) tasks.

Something like a java/c/etc compile on a large project _is_ an unavoidable
delay. And yet those tools don't offer to jingle some keys for you to make you
_feel_ like its quicker. They just do what they can to make the process as
quick as possible.

Installation of packages that don't require compilation (e.g. decompressing
files, moving them and _possibly_ running some simple tasks) is not
_unavoidably_ slow. NPM is just a terrible package manager, and the community
is in some kind of munchausen situation.

------
z1mm32m4n
> _Uh oh. Looks like you failed to install any packages._

> _Have you tried just mashing the spacebar?_

Gave me a good chuckle XD

------
cat-dev-null
Nifty.

This cool "arms race" cannot go unanswered, it demands Ruby gem-install-pac-
man. ;)

    
    
         ᗧ ････️････       and: ᗣᗢᗤ┏┗┓┛┣┫┻╋┳┃━ 
    

Also: Alien monster
[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=U%2B1F47E](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=U%2B1F47E)

------
Swizec
Oh man I needed this yesterday. Was doing some livecoding, stupidly decided to
run npm install, and there was dead air for waaaaaay too long.

This would've been perfect.

------
marshray
As an old boss of mine put it once: "What this means to users is that there
are no bugs in the program."

