Reposted by Patrick McKennaThe Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 31/08/2026Abdul El-Sayed: “Canadians are like the only people in the world who are going to preemptively apologize for something they didn't even do. So if you're starting a trade war with Canada, it's because you're the asshole.” 368197754809
Patrick McKenna @coastwise.bsky.social · 21/08/2026Here’s my list: wooden platform with no supports, iron bar door/gate, and spikes! 010
Reposted by Patrick McKennaWilliam Gibson @greatdismal.bsky.social · 17/08/2026The idea of AI “hallucinating” is one I wish I’d had! 994523732
Reposted by Patrick McKennaBoo-rad Shankar @bradshankar.bsky.social · 06/08/2026Toronto devs are having their own "Barbenheimer" moment today. Congrats to @softrains.bsky.social & @kittencupstudio.bsky.social on the launches of Ambrosia Sky & Capy Castaway! One's a melancholic sci-fi clean 'em up, the other an adorable animal adventure, & both are absolutely worth your time. 🍁mobilesyrup.comToronto indie games are having their own 'Barbenheimer' moment todayMelancholic sci-fi clean 'em up Ambrosia Sky and cozy animal adventure Capy Castaway both launched today, and they're absolutely worth your time. 27934
Reposted by Patrick McKennaChris Tapsell @christapsell.bsky.social · 30/07/2026Hello! For a potential piece on Eurogamer, I would love to know what cool little things people in and around games are working on. Not full games, but fun, interesting, weird projects or side projects. Things you're noodling around with, things you just think are neat. Replies/reposts very welcome! 356555
Patrick McKenna @coastwise.bsky.social · 30/07/2026May or may not enable emergent "peasant railgun"... YMMV 😉 010
Patrick McKenna @coastwise.bsky.social · 30/07/2026Bucket brigade! Imagine how much faster these guys could be if they worked together: bsky.app/profile/lisy... 100
Reposted by Patrick McKennaEmily Atkin @emorwee.bsky.social · 20/07/2026This. This is the correct, science-backed, responsible framing. Wish more news outlets did it like the CBC.cbc.ca'Just stop burning fossil fuels.' Scientists stress that our smoky skies only have one true fix | CBC NewsSmoky skies in Toronto have led to new scrutiny of government efforts to fight fires and manage forests. But scientists say the realistic way to tackle the smoke is fighting climate change itself. 272741999
Reposted by Patrick McKennaSave Standard Time @savestandard.bsky.social · 20/07/2026“Daylight Saving” and “Sunshine Protection” are deceits. Restore permanent Standard Time for more honest time-keeping. 1713150639
Patrick McKenna @coastwise.bsky.social · 17/07/2026Somehow I watched all of these not realizing it was the same person behind Very Very Valet 😅 Amazing resources all! Thank you for all the behind-the-scenes goodness. Heroic 030
Patrick McKenna @coastwise.bsky.social · 30/06/2026static.klipy.comTom Hardy in Mad Max: That's BaitAlt: Tom Hardy in Mad Max: That's Bait 020
Reposted by Patrick McKennaNatty🇺🇸🇺🇦🇨🇦🏐🏈🐕🐴📎 @grillnatty.bsky.social · 28/06/2026How is it the power grid couldn’t handle electric cars but it will be fine with all these data centers? 33187662331
Reposted by Patrick McKennaTom Forsyth @tomforsyth.bsky.social · 10/06/2026Holy shit my thing actually works! Didn't even need much tweaking. This is a traditional mesh (very simple one right now - a 2x2 quad), skinned with the usual 4-weighted-bones, but it has "thickness", and has a heightfield embedded in it that the pixel shader traces through. 61858
Patrick McKenna @coastwise.bsky.social · 17/06/2026I've been meaning to post about this project for a while... so thanks for giving me the impetus to finally do it! PS: I love seeing your progress screenshots & videos in my feed. Great stuff! :) 000
Patrick McKenna @coastwise.bsky.social · 17/06/2026The number and order of SDF operators are compiled into the shader, but the values (radii, positioning, etc) are all read from uniform buffers so can be edited without recompiling. 120
Patrick McKenna @coastwise.bsky.social · 17/06/2026Yep! I could have used billboards, but every object just submits its bounding cube and the object's SDF gets evaluated in the pixel shader. 130
Patrick McKenna @coastwise.bsky.social · 17/06/2026But if partitioning larger fields is what you're into, check out this paper: wbrbr.org/publications... (there are binaries for the demo on their GitHub)wbrbr.orgLipschitz Pruning: Hierarchical Simplification of Primitive-Based SDFs 020
Patrick McKenna @coastwise.bsky.social · 17/06/2026It's not really a "partitioning" based scheme like you started describing, but rather begins with the constraint that each object in the world is separate and has fixed bounds. Everything is an "imposter". 110
Patrick McKenna @coastwise.bsky.social · 17/06/2026Let me show you my side project... it is pretty much exactly this! Including the per-object shader generation you described (which started as a virtual machine that ran in the pixel shader, but that was "pathologically slow" 😅) 2161
Reposted by Patrick McKennaTanya X. Short @tanyaxshort.bsky.social · 10/06/2026anyone have a line on the creators of: - angband - factorio - shadows of forbidden gods ????? I have dwarf fortress shenanigans to accomplish (shh avert your eyes, spoilers) 84612
Reposted by Patrick McKennaMike Bithell @mikebithell.bsky.social · 23/05/2026Hot 2026 take: Watchdogs Legion is solid. Some lovely systems in there. You can hear corporate ubi in the backseat yelling directions, but it’s mostly drowned out by all those tasty bits of player expression and emergent noise. 9852
Patrick McKenna @coastwise.bsky.social · 19/05/2026 I’m not sure I’ve ever seen NPCs do that in a game… probably for good reason 😅 010
Patrick McKenna @coastwise.bsky.social · 19/05/2026One at a time is fine… they should make a bucket brigade! 110
Patrick McKenna @coastwise.bsky.social · 07/04/2026Do you think they’ll eat the whole jar before splashdown? 🥄 000
Reposted by Patrick McKennaMiriam Cosic @miriamcosic.bsky.social · 26/03/2026This 1990 speech by Carl Sagan is timely times two: #war #climate 19058852743
Patrick McKenna @coastwise.bsky.social · 27/11/2025RIP Mine: youngest child, outside in the dark of night, with a flashlight. No notes. 💀 030
Patrick McKenna @coastwise.bsky.social · 21/11/2025Fun "little" project I haven't dusted off in years. (Last commit was 1 month before the birth of my 2nd child... checks out) ASCII documentation! 171
Patrick McKenna @coastwise.bsky.social · 21/11/2025For some reason GPUs don't like when you put switch statements inside your pixel shader's raymarching loop. Who knew? Not this AI programmer! I still think it's cool tho. 😁 230
Patrick McKenna @coastwise.bsky.social · 21/11/2025I love impostors rendered like this! I started by asking how to render a pixel-prefect sphere? After a few parametric shapes culminating in a coffee mug shader, I wrote a universal pixel shader that ran a tiny VM to compose CSG ops. It could render all the things! It was also "pathologically slow" 😅 110
Reposted by Patrick McKennaAdam Bromell @adambromell.info · 28/04/2025Canadians: Vote. Fucking vote. Today. Now. Take the time it will take for you to vote and VOTE. Go. Now. 171
Reposted by Patrick McKennaSarah Cawkwell @skullqueen.bsky.social · 17/04/2025My son works for this company here in the U.K. It was playing the video game ‘Deus Ex’ that set him on the path to becoming a Biomechanical Engineer. Sometimes, it’s nice to highlight the good things that video games can do. And also remind myself just how proud of him I am. 3845751195
Patrick McKenna @coastwise.bsky.social · 17/04/2025Nothing wrong with that! Journey > destination, friends we made along the way, etc. 😉 000
Reposted by Patrick McKennakate bush’s husband @airbagged.bsky.social · 25/03/2025WHATEVER THEY'RE PAYING THE ASSASSIN'S CREED SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER ITS NOT ENOUGH 218234733378
Reposted by Patrick McKennaUnited Videogame Workers-CWA @videogameworkers.bsky.social · 19/03/2025Today, we are announcing the formation of United Videogame Workers-CWA, an industry-wide union formed by @codecwa.bsky.social and @cwaunion.bsky.social 💪🎮 We're launching at #GDC2025 this morning to build a video game industry that works for us. We're done playing. 6234891686
Reposted by Patrick McKennaToronto Game Jam @torontogamejam.bsky.social · 17/03/2025🎉IT'S HAPPENING! TOJAM 2025 IS REAL! SPREAD THE WORD!🎉 We're also looking for volunteers to help out this year, so if that sounds like you fill out this form to get started! docs.google.com/form... 12314
Patrick McKenna @coastwise.bsky.social · 09/03/2025Yeah, not _high_ dynamic range, just the normal dynamic range. I had the same symptoms with a brand new monitor over HDMI but not DisplayPort. Assuming NVIDIA, here’s a reference for the setting to check: www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/s/k...reddit.comFrom the nvidia community on Reddit: Have you changed your dynamic range to Full?Explore this post and more from the nvidia community 230
Reposted by Patrick McKenna🍁Kevin 🆖 @gamehole.itch.io · 04/03/2025I'm putting together a Canada game dev starter pack in response to this idiotic tariff war so people can support Canada-based game devs through follows / purchases if they choose to. Reply if you're a game dev in Canada and you want to be on it. Please repost. Thanks! 1581050311
Reposted by Patrick McKennaIchiro Lambe @ichiro.bsky.social · 27/02/2025This old trope continues to be true forever, always. 091
Reposted by Patrick McKennaheadfallsoff @headfallsoff.com · 01/12/2024the problem is i want to play every video game and there are only finite hours in a lifetime 396200012398