I don't understand the whole "if AI went away, how would you get anything done?" argument. If you go back 4 years, we were doing things just fine without it.
Alan Au
@alanau.bsky.social
Trickster disciple. 🦊 Game developer. 🎲️✂ Emeritus data generalist. 📊 Delightfully imperfect. ☁️ Not that kind of doctor. 🎓 [E] Itsatrap 🎮 He/Him
Sometimes I look at something and think to myself "I have no idea how this works; am I just stupid?" And then I remember I know way too much about extremely niche technical topics, and it has completely destroyed my ability to assess what people do or don't understand about how things work.
Average Familiarity
xkcd.com
I'm now thinking about the idea that LLMs could be considered a type of "man in the middle" attack. Language is the tool we use to communicate thoughts and ideas to others. But when we insert a LLM into the communication chain, there's a risk that the message is being altered. 🤔
Today's "I should be sleeping" thought is about the idea of "deserving" things. I think there's this expectation that work should lead to outcomes, and so we continue to do the work, and then the outcomes ... well, sometimes they're in our favor, and sometimes they aren't. But did we "deserve" it?
Hmm, so what if instead of a heist-themed game I made a detective-mystery type game? I still have this idea to do story-based stuff, and the theming is less important. I'm still messing with game mechanics around "keep vs. play." But I still haven't figured out how to get away from trick-taking. 🎲✂️
Alan Au@alanau.bsky.social · 12mo agoI had "shelved" my heist-themed card game design because I felt like the market was oversaturated with trick-takers right now. But "suits" are just a convenient affordance. I could just, you know, make up my own categories and card-priority rules. Voila: no longer a "trick-taking game." 🎲✂️
Hello friends, I'm fundraising for rent money. Things are improving health-wise but that's going to take time to convert into money-wise. Please help your friendly local disabled trans woman! Patreon: www.patreon.com/totalmassacre Venmo: venmo.com/rowankaiser Paypal: paypal.me/rowankaiser
Sometimes I look at something and think to myself "I have no idea how this works; am I just stupid?" And then I remember I know way too much about extremely niche technical topics, and it has completely destroyed my ability to assess what people do or don't understand about how things work.
Average Familiarity
xkcd.com
EA pals, I am so sorry. Watching what that company has done to you all over the years has been heartbreaking. I am already chatting with a few devs and want to extend that offer to everyone: If you want to talk, I am here. Off record, on record, either way 🤍 www.gamespot.com/articles/ea-...
EA Has Officially Been Sold, And What Comes Next Could Be Painful
It's a done deal. But what happens next?
gamespot.com
Conventional wisdom is that once you learn, you never forget how to ride a bike. But I also wonder how much that applies to other things? And this gets weird because mastery degrades very quickly, so the skill ceiling is hard to maintain, but what about the floor? How much is muscle memory?
I'm now thinking about the idea that LLMs could be considered a type of "man in the middle" attack. Language is the tool we use to communicate thoughts and ideas to others. But when we insert a LLM into the communication chain, there's a risk that the message is being altered. 🤔
The 500 FINGER FILLET demo is OUT NOW!!! 500 STABS. 20 MINUTES TO ESCAPE. A horror roguelite about stabbing yourself in the hand 500 times to escape a deadly trap. Can you make it out with all your fingers? Or will you bleed out on the table? store.steampowered.com/app/4973880/...
I hope you're all having a fantastic summer. And as a reminder, you should take vacation days! It's tempting to feel like you can power through long projects, or that a couple days off won't really be restful. But even short breaks are good, and by that I mean actual *responsibility-free* breaks.
Alan Au@alanau.bsky.social · 9mo agoI don't know who needs to hear this, but take your vacation days. Yes, even if you don't go anywhere. I used to like having a week of vacation days banked as a buffer, but also, corporate policy only allowed me to carry over a week anyway. The rest? Use it or lose it.
The way my planning cycle works is that I sketch out rough plans for the best case, worst case, and "common" case scenarios. I then add details as an outcome becomes more likely. The downside is that speculating about the worst case is not very healthy, and I seem to be doing it a lot these days.
Paraphrasing, "we're successful because we created an environment free of the shit people didn't want, but now we want to add more shit people don't want."
The Verge@theverge.com · 2d agoBluesky's new CEO Toni Schneider on the platform's reputation for being a liberal bubble: "Yes, we definitely want that to change. It is already changing. It certainly wasn’t designed to attract one specific group of people."
Missed out on Dino Racer at Gen Con? You’re in luck! We’re still taking preorders on the Underdog Games website! www.underdoggames.com/products/din... Preorders will release around Sept-Oct time!
Dino Racer (pre-order)
Dino Racer is a fast-paced game of bold bets and big upsets. Flip cards to send dinos charging down the track, draft the racers you think will place, and score big when your favorites cross the finish...
underdoggames.com
Marceline Leiman@marcelineleiman.bsky.social · 3d agoWE SOLD OUT OF DINO RACER!!! THANK YOU GEN CON 2026—YOUVE BEEN A TREAT!!!
If you are an expert on air quality and have 10-15 minutes to talk to me today or tomorrow about important things journalists should know while reporting on wildfires and smoke, my DMs are open, or you can email me at karen at OpenNews dot org.
In this week's video I reflect on the last 5 years of being a full time game designer, how I made the decision to go full time, and the various pros and cons of that career choice! youtu.be/1G_jXgo7CKQ Thanks to @eanderssonsunden.bsky.social and @connievdc.bsky.social for inspiration :) 🎲✂️
Reflections on 5 years of being a full time game designer
YouTube video by Matthew Dunstan
youtu.be
It's weird to contemplate that my relationship goals* have changed in just a few years. I think it's a side effect of changes to my professional sense of self and understanding how other people (might) fit into my life. *compass, not ruler
I'm looking forward to a future generation of stories where situations are avoided by using cell phones, and characters are genre aware, but then they run into *new* and entertaining problems.
I'm not totally into WH40K, but I've been playing a lot of Darktide and have somehow learned way too much information about servo-skulls and lasguns.
Nobody freak out but the Seattle light rail just derailed across the track at the Chinatown International District station.
This should surprise nobody who knows me, but when I'm at a party, I automatically shift into "host" mode, and this is why I would be a terrible/fantastic spy.
About 75% of the ads here at Gen Con are just the name of a game and the cover art. No description, no mechanic, no unique selling points. Tough love: nobody’s gonna look your game up afterwards, there are thousands of other games fighting for their attention. You gotta give them a reason to care.
Hey folks. I could use some help bridging the next two months while I wait for my SDI payments to kick in. Come Oct, those will sustain me and my family for the foreseeable future, but in the meantime we still have Aug and Sept to get through. gofund.me/f720613b5
Donate to Help Mike & His Family Bridge 2 Months After Cancer & Layoff, organized by Mike Prinke
On May 31, 2025, my world was turned upside down when I suf… Mike Prinke needs your support for Help Mike & His Family Bridge 2 Months After Cancer & Layoff
gofund.me
OK, you know what, I am starting to believe I did well. It's so odd working outside your usual field - I make games, not educational courses - but I promise I threw everything I had at making these & it is so calming to see that people find the courses useful.
