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DragWx

@dragwx.bsky.social
56 followers 18 following 991 posts

Programmer, game developer, artist, composer, retro games, modern games. Starts many projects, completes very few. Unexplainably strong interest in the mundane.

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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
It's been so long since I've written a proper essay that I'd completely forgotten that you're supposed to indent the first line of each paragraph. I did remember about having the lines be double-spaced, and that you need a "works cited" section.
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"Using this magic box, you dictate what you want, and it makes it for you, no expertise in anything required!" Management-types everywhere: "Finally, my day has come." After the workers were let go, the managers fought with each other and with the C-suite for supremacy.
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Someone brought up how there are still critical systems running on COBOL and a shrinking supply of programmers who can maintain them, and was afraid that this will apply to *everything* soon. I'm sure they meant "legacy human written/readable/maintainable codebase", but (cont'd on next page :) )
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
How exactly did we arrive at UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT being the order the directions come in?
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Oh my god, I absolutely live for that feeling you get in your gut when you immensely enjoy the part of the song you just wrote. For me, it was the loop point that did it for me, twice in a row. :P
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
It's 2026, and I'm checking in that I *still* enjoy occasionally booting up Wacky Worlds Creativity Studio and letting it sit on the world select screen for the endless variety of music. :D
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Technology Connections @techconnectify.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
As the opposite of a computer toucher, I sometimes worry that I'm not keeping up with the development of things. Luckily, I'm smart enough to realize that if the "most dangerous" LLMs need warehouses full of GPUs to function, they can't just "break out" and start running on random PCs.
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
It says a lot to me that VS Code keeps adding things that make their robot interface seem more like a toy for dopamine-starved people rather than anything serious. Like, that's the audience for it. Gotta keep jingling the shiny keys for users or else they might stop wanting to be programmers. :(
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
The absolute most frustrating thing about the owl app is when the speech recognition just refuses to recognize the word I'm trying to say. It's enough to really sour my mood for the rest of the lessons, and that's BEFORE we talk about how much the app sasses you when it marks something wrong.
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
"I know our restaurant's manager refuses to ban or isolate smoking to its own section despite complaints, and I know our manager is open about their side-gig doing PR for a cigarette company, but I think calling it a 'conflict of interest' is an overreaction." Give me a freaking break, [redacted].
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I saw Coyote vs Acme and agree it's a good movie, just like everyone was saying. :D I don't think I've ever been so endeared to Wile E Coyote in my life.
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
I know I complain about work every now and then, but it is legitimately a good feeling when I'm working on a program, and I'm in the zone, and I know exactly what to do, and everything's flowing smoothly, and I'm checking things off the list, and I'm listening to some damn good music while doing it.
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
There's a compo at Nesdev I want to join, but it's right before (and overlaps with) when I start with October drawing prompts, and then December painting time, with November being my "lol I still have like 8 prompts I gotta do" month, not to mention Q4 always being busy at work. Hmm...
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
It appears as though the number "1541" permanently means "disk drive" in my head. I'm not complaining, I just think it's interesting that that happened at all. :P
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LGR @lgr-yt.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
This is amazing! SimCopter had a great soundtrack by Jerry Martin but the game’s files were highly compressed. So LucasVB got in touch with Mr. Martin and he was able to find most of the original high quality tracks! Awesome to hear “Hangar” in such clarity after 30 years archive.org/details/SimC...
archive.org
SimCopter original soundtrack (high quality)
SimCopter is a somewhat obscure game released in 1996 by Maxis, the studio behind the SimCity and The Sims franchises.In the game, the player controls a helicopter pilot in various missions across a c...
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I think the WORST response to people using generators to clone other people's work is for authentic people to stop working on their stuff because they're depressed about it. Yes, it sucks, but if you stop creating, the generated stuff is all that'll be left, and I think that's a worse outcome.
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
LRP: I never realized there were 45 actors to choose from in Microsoft 3D Movie Maker, and I never realized how hard it would punch me in the nostalgia. If I could hear the soundtrack in the classic Windows 95 OPL MIDI driver again...
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Alice Averlong 🏳️‍⚧️ @alice.averlong.com · 28/08/2026
Welcome to Bluesky. Please familiarise yourself with the following accounts to understand the range of opinions it is acceptable to express.
The Actors menu from Microsoft 3D Movie Maker, listing 15 polygonal (1995-era) actors of various typesThe Actors menu from Microsoft 3D Movie Maker, listing 15 polygonal (1995-era) actors of various typesThe Actors menu from Microsoft 3D Movie Maker, listing 15 polygonal (1995-era) actors of various types
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
No. Absolutely not. We are starting this week over and trying again.
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Getting an inverse-oreo (both of the cookie parts are upside-down, flat-side-out) must be like finding a four-leaf clover since this is the first time in my life I think I've gotten one. :P
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
This is about where my Lumines benchmark was on Switch, so now I've hit it on Steam too. My goal is to get this down to 30 minutes (not too interested in score although I do like seeing it improve), and I seem to bottom out at 32 minutes currently.
Lumines Remastered, basic challenge, score: 1,501,099, time 32:43.
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Kamu! ✨ 💤︎ @kamu.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Such an indispensable labeller if you're not already using it. Useful for identifying bots and engagement manipulators. bsky.app/profile/stec...
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Always give the player a way to harmlessly bop around (e.g., to the music) while they're waiting for something. Something like a crouch and a look-up animation you can just idly play around with by tapping buttons.
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
If you're struggling to understand something, it's because you're missing a fundamental. You must figure out what your missing fundamental is, fill it in, and then the thing you're trying to understand will make sense.
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I have 200 hours in Lumines Remastered for Switch. For comparison, I have 265 hours in Tetris 99. I finally installed the Steam version of Lumines Remastered, and I've already almost 100%ed it. Playing on the 8bitdo is actually so much nicer than on the joycons, I was surprised.
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Sometimes, all you need to do is to think things out and collect your thoughts. It's funny because I thought, after highschool and university, that I'd probably never write essays again. As it turns out, I still write essays for myself, the assignment is "understand something I don't understand" :P
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Bluesky sure is having A Day today, isn't it?
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
"I review the code it makes." I doubt it, because it would mean you're reviewing hundreds of lines of code each time it does something, and it's more likely you're just glancing over it and going "yep, makes sense" before accepting. If it's not doing the reviews too, that is.
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
LRP: "You're getting this whether you like it or not" is rampant in management and leadership these days, and we often forget that we *do* have a say in our management and leadership even though they try their darnedest to convince us that we don't.
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Nathan Grayson @nathangrayson.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
“Now why is it not opt-in?” said Minton. “That’s what everybody here is spamming in chat. I get it. ‘Let me opt in versus making me opt out.’ There’s an honest answer, and I think most of you can probably appreciate this: If it was opt-in, nobody would opt in. That’s honestly the answer.”

This was followed by a torrent of all-caps chat responses that included “THEN DON’T ROLL IT OUT,” “SO WHY EVEN DO IT,” and “IF NO ONE WOULD OPT IN THAT MEANS NO ONE WANTS IT.”
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Whoever needs to hear it: It's OK and sometimes REQUIRED to use a platform while also having criticism of that platform and demanding better of it. Again: It's OK and sometimes REQUIRED to use a platform while also having criticism of that platform and demanding better of it.
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
If you don't think programming is creative nor an art, you should look at Advent of Code, because you'll see that even simple programming problems receive an infinite amount of different solutions, in many languages, and this is just programmers doing their thing. I participated in 2021 so I know.
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
I wonder if labor unions for programmers exist, and/or if it's a good time to get the ball rolling on that, because I wonder if the problem all along was that we weren't taking that seriously enough.
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
If you're allowed to call it "hy-DROSS-i-tee" zone, then I'm allowed to call it "SAND-a-POLE-liss" zone. :P
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
I keep waffling back and forth: do I want to continue making my music tracker idea in JS (I'd need to rewrite it because the prototype is very unstructured), do I want to make it in C++ instead, or do I want to continue making it in 6502 on the X16?
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Darío @dariosamo.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Somebody asked me on Reddit why people who use AI to generate Recomp projects are currently being rejected from the communities and what they can do to fix this. I might tweak parts of this to be a more general blog post at some point, but this should be of help to anyone in a similar situation.
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
The meeting: "Oops, haha, my volume was set really low; that's why everything was quiet!" [waiting for more people to join] "Oh, it looks like the meeting was rescheduled, I'll see you then." The summary: The system volume levels needed to be recalibrated, prompting the rescheduling of the meeting.
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dukedonuts @dukedonuts.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
I love this loading screen so much
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Rachel Mae 🏳️‍⚧️ @rachelmae.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
using AI to point out how stupid/hilarious/bad AI is still using AI. kindly knock it off
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Two things that gut me about the robot in hobby spaces are: 1) Something only exists because someone generated it. (Really? Nobody has enough skill to make it? Or does nobody else want it enough?) 2) "No, don't do what you're doing, use the robot instead." (Complete surrender to not learn anything)
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
I think it'd be fun to make a bunch of "insert disk 2" screens sometime, or maybe some of those really goofy "now loading" screens.
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Finally getting somewhere. I had to cook up an entire text-mode UI engine in assembly, but I'm happy to have gotten this far so far. I'm thinking each column will be one bank of hi-ram on the X16, which is plenty for all of the underlying data each column will need.
A basic music tracker UI running on the Commander X16, based on a music tracker UI prototype I made a while back. The important thing is the tracker grid displaying colored notes.
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
I had no idea the 65c02's BIT command didn't modify the N and V flags when you use immediate addressing mode. There are a lot of 6502 opcode references that don't mention this.
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
What if I became a Lumines Remastered runner? I'm very close to finally hitting 1.5 million points for the first time, and I think I could realistically reach a sub-30sec clear time if I work at it.
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
The robots' parent companies have a huge incentive to make sure their robots don't learn off of their own output, which is why images have invisible watermarks and source code commits are "co-authored". In my mind, this makes robot output inherently less valuable than anyone else's output.
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Something programming-related I've never needed to deal with before is, manually implementing some kind of memory-allocation system where lots of arrays can be created, edited, resized, and can just exist. I have ideas on how to do it, but I've never done it before, so I'm nervous about it. :P
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
No idea how far I'll get, but I've started taking the prototype music tracker UI and making an implementation for the Commander X16. It's loading my palette, my font, and I combined layers 0+1 to create a custom 8-bg-color/32-fg-color text mode.
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
I wonder if the current "rounded corners" iteration of GUIs is a symbol of how much pressure is being put on us to cut corners in all aspects of what we do. I'm making a conscious decision to link these two unrelated things together because it's funny, and you can't stop me. :D
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Jag önskar att det finns mer material för att lära mig svenska. Den uggla-appen har blivit slut på material till en långtid, och jag tänker det ska finns inte uppdatringar någontid snart. Jag väntar på att Lingonaut ska ha svenska på det, men återigen, det ser inte ut som det kommer någontid snart.
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DragWx @dragwx.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
More music tracker UI prototype stuff (with correct colors this time). This is a simulation of the 80x30 text mode resolution. The tab bar is how to navigate to the different editors, and the side panel will have other views (sequence edit, patch/envelope select) F1-F12 on the bottom bar.
Prototype music tracker UI, in a simulated 80x30 text mode resolution, featuring a tab bar at the top for navigation, a side panel for various things, a main music tracker style view with a grid of notes and commands, a status bar below that, a bytecode viewer below that, and a bar for the F1-F12 buttons at the bottom.
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