iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 03/10/2026

Well, here I am in the credits of Gears of War: E-Day. Worked on this for the last couple years along with my fellow companions at Companion Group.

A screenshot of the Gears of War E Day credits. The section is called Engineers and you can see my name in there

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 26/09/2026

Made a rose and cardamom and pistachio cake for Lucy’s birthday! First time ever making a proper round cake with layers, think it turned out alright

The cake decorated with white icing and pistachios in 33

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 23/09/2026

The Olllam at Hackney Church, class gig. Been a fan since before I moved to London, finally got to see them play

The Olllam on stage but a bit further away and red now

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 16/09/2026

One problem with living in the big city is all the nosy passers by

A black and white cat staring through our window

A different black and white kitten staring through our window

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 12/09/2026

Finally made a cake where I didn’t screw up the icing!

A carrot cake sitting on a wire rack. The icing looks good and fluffy

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 10/09/2026

Loved celebrating my pal Tice Cin’s book launch, go read Safe Spaces!

A big chocolate cake with miniature books on top

A selfie of me and Tice with a copy of Safe Spaces

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 05/09/2026

Yeah my first ever comment is someone explaining video games to me

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 04/09/2026

Got some little objects on the grid now with proper z ordering!

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 03/09/2026

Growl is a 2D game engine but I got to thinking, how hard would it be to sort of approximate fake 3D, similar to how games used to do it, while staying in an orthographic projection? Turns out for this simple example it's not that hard!

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 26/08/2026

Such a joy to share a stage with this lot again. Boomerang forever

Tyrone on stage speaking into a microphone, the sign above his head says LVLS

Jake on stage reading poems. This one’s a bit further away so you can see we packed the room out

PJ, Jake and Tyrone on stage pissing about

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 14/08/2026

In today’s Japanese lesson I learned about たこさんウィンナー (Mr Octopus Wiener) and I have to share it with you

Red sausages cut to look like little octopuses on a white plate

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 12/08/2026

Happy eclipse day to everyone except the guy who brought his DJ decks to the once in a lifetime celestial event

Me and Lucy and Flo with our silly eclipse classes on

Cathryn with her eclipse glasses and also other glasses

The partial eclipse seen through a filter

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 09/08/2026

Adding this as Growl's Agents.md file

This place is a message... and part of a system of messages... pay attention to it!

Sending this message was important to us. We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture.

This place is not a place of honor... no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here... nothing valued is here.

What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us. This message is a warning about danger.

The danger is in a particular location... it increases towards a center... the center of danger is here... of a particular size and shape, and below us.

The danger is still present, in your time, as it was in ours.

The danger is to the body, and it can kill.

The form of the danger is an emanation of energy.

The danger is unleashed only if you substantially disturb this place physically. This place is best shunned and left uninhabited.

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 09/08/2026

Made the trek to Kilburn for perhaps the best coffee I’ve had in London at Killbean

Coffee in a glass jug and matcha strawberry cake

More coffee in a cute class cup and some pancakes with cream and strawberries

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 04/08/2026

More raymarching bits, wanna try and play with more complex SDFs next

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 01/08/2026

Would you believe this thing was marketed as a Small Form Factor GPU

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 29/07/2026

Friends fear he's got into raymarching

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 23/07/2026

Our first home grown tomatoes of the year (actually ever) and they’re pretty good!

Three tomatoes on a wooden board, one is sliced

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 22/07/2026

gpu says trans rights

$vec3 light_blue = vec3(0.357, 0.812, 0.984); vec3 pink = vec3(0.961, 0.671, 0.725); void main() { vec2 uv = TexCoord.xy; uv.y *= 5; float i = floor(uv.y); vec3 color = (i == 0 || i ==4) ? light_blue : (i == 1 || i == 3) ? pink : vec3(1.0); outCol = vec4(color, 1.); }$

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 21/07/2026

Finally got something pretty close to the Wind Waker water I had in my head. Wasn't able to get my brain around doing it with cells so it's FBM but with some transforms to make it look a bit ocean-y

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 19/07/2026

I happened upon this by accident and I don't know *what* it is but I do quite like it. FBM again, applying noise to the UV itself

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 19/07/2026

Some clouds! I used fractal Brownian motion for this one. Quite pleased with it, I think a little more work and it could have a cool parallax effect

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 18/07/2026

Here's the source of this shader if anyone happens to have any advice!

$vec2 random2( vec2 p ) { return fract(sin(vec2(dot(p,vec2(127.1,311.7)),dot(p,vec2(269.5,183.3))))*43758.5453); } void main() { vec2 uv = gl_FragCoord.xy / Dimensions; uv *= 2.5; vec2 i_uv = floor(uv); vec2 f_uv = fract(uv); float m_dist = 1.0; for (int y = -1; y <= 1; y++) { for (int x = -1; x <= 1; x++) { vec2 neighbour = vec2(float(x), float(y)); vec2 point = random2(i_uv + neighbour); point = 0.5 + 0.5*sin(time * 0.2 + 3.2831*point); vec2 diff = neighbour + point - f_uv; float dist = length(diff); m_dist = min(dist, m_dist); } } vec3 color = mix( Color.rgb, white, smoothstep(0., 1.2, m_dist)); outCol = vec4(color, 1.); }$

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 18/07/2026

This is the closest to the sort of water I've got to so far. Still not there yet - I'd rather the lines be flat rather than gradients but replacing smoothstep with step just results in a load of circles. Would also ideally like the cells to not have straight edges but that's proving hard

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 18/07/2026

bloopbloopbloopbloopbloopbloopbloopbloop

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 18/07/2026

I have to say I'm not entirely sure what I've done here but I like it

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 17/07/2026

Practicing working with noise on the train last night

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 16/07/2026

Had a lovely time in Brighton with amazing people and now I’m going home. My heart and belly are very full. I love game developers

Gary on the beach looking summery as all hell

Husban giving it absolute stacks what a legend

Lucy and Sophie looking alarmed slash delighted by giant sushi boat

Pat and Teo with vegan pizzas that were really delicious

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 13/07/2026

$float rect(vec2 uv, float x, float y, float w, float h) { vec2 bl = step(vec2(x, 1.0-(y+h)), uv); vec2 tr = step(vec2(1.0-(x+w), y), 1.0-uv); return bl.x * bl.y * tr.x * tr.y; } void main() { vec2 uv = gl_FragCoord.xy / resolution; vec2 st = uv; uv *= 40.0; vec2 xy = uv; uv.x += step(1., mod(xy.y, 2.0)) * (min(sin(time), 0.)); uv.y += step(1., mod(xy.x, 2.0)) * (max(sin(time), 0.)); xy = uv; uv = fract(uv); vec3 color = vec3(1.0); color *= rect(uv, 0.15, 0.15, 0.7, 0.7) * mix(mondrian_yellow, mondrian_blue, step(1.,mod(xy.x, 2.0))); outCol = vec4(color, 1.); }$

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 13/07/2026

This was a little tricky but I'm quite pleased with it!

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 11/07/2026

Y'know what that seems close enough

$The shader in GLSL: float rect(vec2 uv, float x, float y, float w, float h) { vec2 bl = step(vec2(x, 1.0-(y+h)), uv); vec2 tr = step(vec2(1.0-(x+w), y), 1.0-uv); return bl.x * bl.y * tr.x * tr.y; } void main() { vec2 uv = gl_FragCoord.xy / resolution; vec3 color = vec3(0.0); color += rect(uv, 0.0, 0.0, 0.075, 0.2) * mondrian_red; color += rect(uv, 0.1, 0.0, 0.1, 0.2) * mondrian_red; color += rect(uv, 0.225, 0.0, 0.5, 0.2) * mondrian_white; color += rect(uv, 0.75, 0.0, 0.15, 0.2) * mondrian_white; color += rect(uv, 0.925, 0.0, 0.075, 0.2) * mondrian_yellow; color += rect(uv, 0.0, 0.225, 0.075, 0.2) * mondrian_red; color += rect(uv, 0.1, 0.225, 0.1, 0.2) * mondrian_red; color += rect(uv, 0.225, 0.225, 0.5, 0.2) * mondrian_white; color += rect(uv, 0.75, 0.225, 0.15, 0.2) * mondrian_white; color += rect(uv, 0.925, 0.225, 0.075, 0.2) * mondrian_yellow; color += rect(uv, 0.0, 0.45, 0.2, 0.55) * mondrian_white; color += rect(uv, 0.225, 0.45, 0.5, 0.45) * mondrian_white; color += rect(uv, 0.225, 0.925, 0.5, 0.075) * mondrian_white; color += rect(uv, 0.75, 0.45, 0.15, 0.45) * mondrian_white; color += rect(uv, 0.75, 0.925, 0.15, 0.075) * mondrian_blue; color += rect(uv, 0.925, 0.45, 0.075, 0.45) * mondrian_white; color += rect(uv, 0.925, 0.925, 0.075, 0.075) * mondrian_blue; outCol = vec4(color, 1.); }$

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 10/07/2026

This is in Growl but the various variables available to the shader are basically the same as in ShaderToy. I think the next thing I ought to look at is playing with a noise texture

$in vec4 Color; out vec4 outCol; const vec3 dark_blue = vec3(0.11, 0.17, 0.33); void main() { vec2 uv = (gl_FragCoord.xy * 2.0 - resolution.xy) / resolution.y; float d = length(uv); d = sin(d*8. - time) / 8.; d = abs(d); d = smoothstep(0.122, 0.12, d); outCol = vec4(d < 1. ? dark_blue : Color.xyz*d, 1.); }$

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 10/07/2026

Gonna bring back my old "joel tries to learn shaders" thread from the other place cos I am, once again, trying to learn shaders. My end goal is to have some kind of 2d approximation of a nice water shader, think the ocean in Wind Waker or something. Feedback/advice *very* welcome

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Joel Auterson | DWG out now! @joelotter.com · 09/07/2026

Made banana bread last week and today in the oven discovered…this. I guess it’s overflowed banana bread. Consistency kind of like gingerbread. Should I try it? (Obviously I already did. It’s pretty good tbh)

Weird fried chicken looking banana bread fragments on a plate

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