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Merk

@dendrobyte.bsky.social
156 followers 521 following 437 posts

Backend software engineer by day, artist in training by night. Jack of all trades. Currently working on: Teas OTK Prev game: TypeSkiier dendrobyte.itch.io/typeskiier YouTube: @markbacon78

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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
#inktober day 7
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Reposted by Merk
Mike Yass @mikeyass.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
you cut out the guy's best response:
	
	
philipswood 12 hours ago | prev | next [–]

Honest question: how is this different from some unknown mathematician having a breakthrough?

I mean: if some reclusive Japanese genius had a breakthrough on your problem and published it, would you have felt the same?

And if not, why not?

reply
	
	
jboggan 12 hours ago | parent | next [–]

If that had happened I would be overjoyed, maybe a hair chagrined that I didn't get it myself, but truly happy that someone got it and that I could go and talk to that person. Because it's the kind of problem I don't think would have fallen to a human after a few hours of thought, and I would have so much to talk about with that person. I would fly to Japan and hope to have tea with them, I would learn some Japanese to make the conversations easier. I would learn some interesting things hearing about their struggles and their false starts. I would make friends with that reclusive Japanese genius and my life would be far richer for it.

I will never meet that person and I will never hold a real conversation with the "creator" of that proof. They will never tell me how they came up with the cancelling exponential summation that cracked the constructio
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
#inktober day 5 Missed yesterday due to comp, will just do a cactus study later or something
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Welp #inktober day 3, miniature
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Alright I hate my #inktober day 2 but that's okay. Should have done so many things different but w/e, broken butterfly enamel pin that belonged to someone at some point
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Aight #inktober day 1: apple Lotta irony with this one, hah
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Aight, #teasofthekingdom #gamedesign update Whipped out the water color pencils I got as a gift a while back to concept out some sketches for the cover. I like what I settled on. Something I love about a colossal giant composition, but the peaceful "looking over the world" fits better
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
#teasofthekingdom #gamedev update Got the "new" map and forg into the setting. The world is WAY too big lmao, gonna mad scale it down at some point soon, but that can be polish. It's easy to move everything around. Learning to love what I decide to do.
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Extra scribbly by design; if I try to go until I think it's good, it'll never get done
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
#teasofthekingdom #gamedev update Finished up the forg character... will take it. Accept the slowness, it's not permanent.
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
This is how simple we're talkin
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Here's the overworld map Picasso also a picture of Tez because he's cute
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
#teasotk #devlog update Working on resetting the model a bit since I have a "map" over the overworld that starts the game. #NoAI because I want to keep my critical thinking; not sure if how I connected these faces is good practice but im sending it. Everything is tris EOD anyway... right...
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Part 1 of the #teasofthekingdom #devlog went out this morning youtu.be/xU0wBG0JYO4
youtu.be
why my latest game prototype lost its way (Teas OTK Devlog Part 1 of 2)
YouTube video by Mark Bacon
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
The fundamental programming and setup of the game doesn't change, but my execution of things does. Worth taking several steps back here.
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
#teasofthekingdom #gamedesign update I'm going to be alternating a fair bit between Teas (very narrative, art focused) and Thimble (tech heavy, multiplayer at the center of it). For Teas, I spent a half hour or so coming back to the core idea of moral dilemma and how I'll elicit it.
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Quick #teasofthekingdom #gamedev update 95% done with the #devlog and decided I'm not willing ot give up on the prototype completely. Went through and removed the seal / story stuff that wasn't important. Will probably go back and forth between this and thimble over the next few weeks. Devlog tues
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Alright, getting back on the #nozerodays grind for #thimble #gamedev Just brushed up some stuff after my airplane fugue state refactor. Just took 5 mins to remind myself where I was, will pick up tomorrow with getting the client packet order sorted and listening for packets coming in.
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
#thimble #gamedev update Yea, multiplayer is fun. Building a golang multiplayer server for this one and it's been pretty interesting to figure out Both beans can see each other move! no interpolation or anything yet, but this was a huge milestone for me personally. Working in a new way
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Aug 6th #thimble update Alright getting back on the horse. Some concepts. Prob gonna do a lil more before making dinner. 28 days until playtest.
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
There is truly no meaning to things when you're just passing bytes back and forth
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Also always fun to dig into something I'm so new at. Keeping a tight balance with how much I lean on chat gpt, keeping it only to surface new things and fact checking/contextualizing everything it says via docs
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
July 17th #thimble #gamedev update #nozerodays Oh yea... got like an hour in this morning, changing up the system for decoding the player packets sent along. Feels like I'm doing something wrong, but I think it's just because I'm closer to the low level stuff Golang is good
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
July 16th #thimble #gamedev update #nozerodays Just organizing some things around, reviving a multiplayer server project for this one. Just... need a break from Teas. I know I could just grind it out but that feels icky. Multiplayer game inbound, intending to get some fun stuff by end of weekend
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Reposted by Merk
Andreas Kirsch @blackhc.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
I work at Google DeepMind. This won't make me popular. But it's all public reporting: 2014: DeepMind reportedly sold to Google on conditions: no military use, independent oversight 2026: a Pentagon contract for "any lawful government purpose" Not one safeguard survived intact
Collage titled "Trust is not Governance — an essay from inside Google DeepMind, written in personal capacity." 

A 2014 memorandum, "Conditions of the Acquisition," lists: military applications of DeepMind technology banned; deployment decisions before an independent ethics board (as reported in Mallaby's The Infinity Machine). 

Red threads lead to a 2026 U.S. Department of Defense agreement for classified networks reading "any lawful government purpose," with safety settings and filters adjusted at the government's request and no contractor veto (reported terms, The Information, Apr. 2026). 

Below: a 2018 AI Principles strip ("no weapons, no surveillance") stamped DROPPED 2025, and a Project Mario 2016–2021 tag stamped ABANDONED.
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Which you followed up with, oops bsky.app/profile/half...
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Baited by the intro. Genius follow up. Unironically agree though. It's like when you're typing out a question and what you've tried to someone and then you realize you just logically come to the same conclusion yourself.
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
July 12th #teasofthekingdom #gamedev update #NoZeroDays #godot Clicking through the text transitions to the overworld... its becoming spaghetti, but at least it's also set up to transition into brewing Gotta remember I need to draw two more characters and set up the actual dialogue stuff
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
July 11th #teasofthekingdom #gamedev update #nozerodays #godot Clicking the text shows up... a far cry from my original storyboard plan, and this code I wrote is ass, but working through it. I want to return to a project I can experiment with. Not sure what's up, but hey- not a zero day.
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Reposted by Merk
🐔 Brian Bucklew 🐔 ₑͤ>∿<ₑͤ ∞🌮 @unormal.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
I haven't written the essay yet since I'm just working it out myself so it's scattered across my timeline in bits, but this is the heart of it bsky.app/profile/unor...
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
These AI replies are so cringe omf
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
July 9th #teasofthekingdom update #nozerodays I'm so tired. I did like 3 lines jsut to set up the text flow. I go sleep now. Hopefully I'm not kept awake by my mind until 1 again
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
I just need to look up a video or two on Godot's control nodes and that'll solve all of my annoyances. Being stubborn and trying to figure it out lol
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
bro ai is so cringe
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
July 8th #teasofthekingdom #gamedev update #nozerodays Futzing around with the control nodes... Just want to get this transition going and having a full loop will- I imagine- feel pretty good
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
July 7th #teasofthekingdom #gamedev update #nozerodays Customer sequence triggered when kettle is boiled. Making the text just instructions for now lol. Skipping morning jiu jitsu tmrw, resting up. Would like to spend the time working on the transitions between scenes.
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Reposted by Merk
Dr Paris Buttfield-Addison @hey.paris · 07/07/2026
little thread on something we're working on
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
July 6th #teasofthekingdom #gamedev update #nozerodays Literally just touching this for 5 mins since I gotta wake up at 5:15 tmrw. Decided to make the text transition/expose super straightforward and stages. Would be nice if I can get myself to focus on this during the day
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
July 5th #teasofthekingdom #gamedev update #nozerodays Just quickly started a flow with a new scene that will start the game and show as a transition between phases, then at the end. No more trello, just my paper list. No zero days.
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
youtu.be/Sr_mebyjz3I
youtu.be
are we not what we do, but what we spend our time on? (FT 121)
YouTube video by Cowdino
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Check out my cool new mousepad
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
July 3 #teasofthekingdom #gamedev update Moving forward with a "no zero days" mentality. Just to stay connected to the project. Some seal drawing I did today and the new list. The story isn't a good fit for the game idea I wanted, but I can still execute a playable loop.
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
if people ask me what i want for my birthday this year, i'm going to tell them to venmo me $5 and i will put it toward a collective fund to buy a hoodie from the aquarium i've been thinking about (but it's $70 and i have a hard time justifying it) then it's like they all collectively got me a gift
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
June 16th #teasofthekingdom update No update I let jiu jitsu take over my morning and did not adequately prepare for making time for this hour. That sucks. I'll get back up again though
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
funnily enough, that's what I've been doing with the game dev. Just an hour each day. Then the hour starts to feel like an obligation. I've probably fallen back into this mentality, hmm. Ty for calling it out
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Oh hell yea I love Watts
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Been struggling with the "why" on this one, and while I'm feeling a desire to finish it out, I think I'm going to stick to my July 1st deadline even though it won't quite wrap up. Just get it to some deliverable state, and revisit the story another time.
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Merk @dendrobyte.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
June 15th #teasofthekingdom #gamedev update Well, did a little bit of writing on dialogue. Very distracted. Computer locked me out lmao- I forgot I did that. I think that, despite sitting down, I need to X out my hour today. I didn't make it. I'm glad I sat down to do it though!
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