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Matt Giuca

@mgiuca.bsky.social
79 followers 61 following 219 posts

Solo game developer, former Web Apps eng at Google, former editor of Web Apps Manifest spec. mgiuca.itch.io mastodon.social/@mgiuca

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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 19h
Unless, of course, it's licensed under the WTFPL.
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Thank you for introducing (me to) the word "licensewashing". One aspect of AI coding I struggle with is that it literally scraped all of the open source code and deleted the license and attribution. People seem OK with it because "it was open source" but I never agreed you could delete the license.
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Parenting: Solved! Hey AI please be there for my kids when they need me.
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Wishlist Celestial Golf on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/3965730/...
store.steampowered.com
Celestial Golf on Steam
It’s 2D golf on an astronomical scale. Bite-sized missions will teach you the techniques of real space flight, without having to worry about fuel or crew. Precisely plan orbital trajectories over the ...
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Celestial Golf is coming to Steam Next Fest in a bit over a week! Today's demo update adds a daily challenge mode so you can keep playing after the campaign is over: store.steampowered.com/news/app/396... Ready to explore the solar system as a #golf ball? Wishlist now! #gamedev #indiedev #space
store.steampowered.com
Celestial Golf - The Daily Challenge Update - Steam News
This update adds a new Daily Challenge mode to the demo. Look for Celestial Golf in Steam Next fest in a couple of weeks.
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Reposted by Matt Giuca
Baldur Bjarnason @baldurbjarnason.com · 06/10/2026
"Software developers are not okay" www.baldurbjarnason.com/2026/05-soft... The software industry is becoming increasingly hostile to those who work in it. The uncertainty is affecting even those who believe in the promises of tech. Direct link to the essay: www.baldurbjarnason.com/2026/05-soft...
baldurbjarnason.com
Software developers are not okay
Writing at the end of the world, from Hveragerði, Iceland
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Ah yes classically when someone admits to a crime, it exonerates them of that crime. And we can't prosecute criminals because we would then be locked out of getting ourselves into a dependency on their products. Source: www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09...
OpenAI's confession to its 'credit', says Coalition

Deputy Liberal leader Jane Hume told ABC's Insiders program that the government should not try to chase down OpenAI over its voluntary disclosure.

"AI is inevitably going to be part of Australia's future, we want to make sure we are part of the conversation, but certainly the way to go about that is not to threaten criminal action against US counterparts and those trusted partners that we are relying on," Senator Hume said.

"This time, we could only have found out about it because OpenAI fessed up and said that something went wrong."
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Absolutely, I've played tiny indie multiplayer exclusive games with matchmaking based on skill bracket and multiple game modes which you must choose which to queue into. I would spend my time hopping between modes until I found the one other player on the server. These games die quick.
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Kind of annoying that the rules changed while a lot of projects were already funded on Kickstarter. I think this seriously kills the economics of crowdfunding video games. Anyway, left my review but ... it doesn't count. I guess it still affects the percentage?
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne... If you're running an agent and it commits a felony, you should go to jail. Can't guarantee that a script under your control won't commit a felony? Stop running it. Oh you're the CEO of a multibillion dollar company? Sorry, carry on then.
theguardian.com
Albanese says OpenAI hacked Medicare and told Australia months later via email to generic inbox
Prime minister says he told Sam Altman he was disappointed it had taken OpenAI ‘way too long’ to disclose breach
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Reposted by Matt Giuca
Greg Jericho @grogsgamut.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Concern? How about arrest the f*cker?? Cripes. If you or I hacked Medicare, the AFP would bash down our doors. AI does it? Oopsies! I am concerned! www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
theguardian.com
Anthony Albanese says OpenAI agent hacked Medicare and he expressed ‘extreme concern’ to Sam Altman
Prime minister says he told chief executive he was disappointed it had taken company ‘way too long’ to inform government of breach
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Wishlist Celestial Golf on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/3965730/...
store.steampowered.com
Celestial Golf on Steam
It’s 2D golf on an astronomical scale. Bite-sized missions will teach you the techniques of real space flight, without having to worry about fuel or crew. Precisely plan orbital trajectories over the ...
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
It's come to my attention that Celestial Golf erroneously assumed hitting the ball could simply add velocity vectors. This gross simplification has been rectified for future builds. Hitting the ball now has diminishing returns as velocity approaches the speed of light. #gamedev #space #relativity
Code in GDScript, showing the function relativistic_velocity_addition, which adds two velocities u and v, taking into account the speed of light c.
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Perhaps I shall wander in and mention the Lake Ontario article as a hot precedent for not naming articles after the name exclusively used by the US. 😱 (PS. TBH I thought these were different console generations.)
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I've just discovered the incredible flame war on the Wikipedia talk page for #Sega Genesis where a neverending battle is fought about whether to call it Mega Drive (the name it was sold as everywhere in the world except NA) or Genesis. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Se...
en.wikipedia.org
Talk:Sega Genesis - Wikipedia
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Reposted by Matt Giuca
Indie Game Demos @indiegamedemos.com · 22/08/2026
Celestial Golf | Official Trailer Try the demo 👉 store.steampowered.com/app/4532530/... Wishlist on Steam 👉 store.steampowered.com/app/3965730/... #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev
youtu.be
Celestial Golf | Official Trailer
YouTube video by Indie Game Demos
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
New Celestial Golf trailer, exclusive on @indiegamedemos.com youtu.be/kSuRlYVLkg0 Wishlist and play demo on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/3965730/... #IndieGames #SteamDemos #IndieTrailer
youtu.be
Celestial Golf | Official Trailer
YouTube video by Indie Game Demos
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Hi, thanks for giving me a reshare & follow. My demo is available and I'd be thrilled if you played it (fairly short, ~30 minutes). store.steampowered.com/app/4532530/...
store.steampowered.com
Celestial Golf Demo on Steam
It’s 2D golf on an astronomical scale. Bite-sized missions will teach you the techniques of real space flight, without having to worry about fuel or crew. Precisely plan orbital trajectories over the ...
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
It's been a much longer road than anticipated - the better of two years. But we're on the home stretch. If all goes to plan, the game will appear in this October's Steam Next Fest, and launch before the end of the year. 🙏
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Now honestly, should I have spent multiple weeks on each of these <1-minute cutscenes? Probably not, but I learned a lot, and I think they help sell the world of Celestial Golf which is normally seen at such a macro level. But now I'm glad to be back working on, you know, the game.
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
I just dropped a big update to the Celestial Golf demo ⛳🌠. It adds a bunch of story beats including 2 brand new cutscenes (sneak preview below!). Full patch notes: store.steampowered.com/news/app/396... Wishlist and play the demo: store.steampowered.com/app/3965730/... #gamedev #indie #space
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Reposted by Matt Giuca
Chris Kerr @kerrblimey.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
NEW: I spoke with multiple video game developers and a U.S. employment lawyer to learn more about restrictive side clauses that often prevent employees at major companies from pursuing hobbyist work or personal projects. In an industry renowned for creativity, why are we stifling it?
gamedeveloper.com
Developers discuss the pain and prevalence of side work clauses
How an industry renowned for creativity is actively stifling it.
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Yeah it's always amazing no matter how much time you allocate, you're always ticking off a bunch of critical things in the last hour.
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
The design of Power Down mgiuca.itch.io/power-down/d... A devlog on the design of my GMTK Game Jam 2026 submission. #gamejam #gamedev #gmtkgamejam
mgiuca.itch.io
The design of Power Down
For this year's GMTK Game Jam, I wanted to focus on improving my writing and art (in previous years I had basically no story, and used art from various online sources). But I also couldn't stop thinki...
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Just finished #GMTKGameJam for 2026 with a Sokoban-style puzzle game with a pretty rocking 2D/3D art style. This year I wanted to focus on art and writing. Check it out: mgiuca.itch.io/power-down #gamedev
mgiuca.itch.io
Power Down by Matt Giuca
Push blocks around, but watch out as their energy is counting down, in this short narrative puzzle game
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
We need more voices questioning the assumption that governments around the world are making that social media (which really means all online use) is a net negative for children. www.theguardian.com/society/2026... Blindly banning a whole class of tech without any real research is a travesty.
theguardian.com
The social media ban sceptic: are we getting it wrong on kids, tech and mental health?
Psychologist Candice Odgers has studied adolescent mental health for 25 years. She fears the current debate around smartphones obscures some of the biggest issues facing teenagers – from the impact of...
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Celestial Golf demo updated with a new challenge: each level has 3 "pars" for optimizing different resources (strokes, time, power). Figuring out how to optimize for each is a little puzzle each time! store.steampowered.com/news/app/396... #GameDev #IndieDev #Space
store.steampowered.com
Celestial Golf on Steam
It’s 2D golf on an astronomical scale. Bite-sized missions will teach you the techniques of real space flight, without having to worry about fuel or crew. Precisely plan orbital trajectories over the ...
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
It's funny how when he's called out for saying serious deadly things, "it was a joke." But then he sees an obvious joke and thinks it's tyranny.
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
I think my most anticipated new feature is being able to temporarily transform controls in containers without affecting the rest of the layout: godotengine.org/releases/4.7... (Great for adding animations to UI elements.)
godotengine.org
Godot 4.7 Release: Lights, Camera, Action!
Like a cult classic movie, Godot 4 has only gotten better with age. This brings us to Godot 4.7. With 3 years under its belt, the 4.7 _Director’s Cut_ offers colors of never-before-reached intensity.
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Sweet, #Godot 4.7 is out. I just published a little addon to the new Asset Store, "git status", which lets you display your build's git hash somewhere in your exported game. Super useful for making sure you know what build you're playing. store.godotengine.org/asset/mgiuca... #gamedev
store.godotengine.org
Git Status - Godot Asset Store
Gets information about the project's git repo (the git hash) at runtime.
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
I cannot read "I must firmly and resolutely decline to coo" in anything other than Jerry Seinfeld's voice.
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Hey #PitchYaGame, check out Celestial Golf! It's golf, on an astronomical scale. If you want to learn realistic space flight without the complexity of other space sims, this is for you. Just your ball and the cosmos. Wishlist now: store.steampowered.com/app/3965730/... #gamedev #indie #space
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Reposted by Matt Giuca
Mr #PitchYaGame @liamtwose.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
"Hello World", #PitchYaGame is LIVE! Wherever you are across the Globe / Universe.. It's Time. Once Again.. to show the world your video games! 😀📣 I repeat. PYG is LIVE! Happy pitching.
Token space backdrop with sun breaching a planets horizon. Text reads #PitchYaGame IS LIVE, GET PITCHING!

With the mascot PYG in the bottom right corner with closed eyes, waving.
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Reposted by Matt Giuca
Sasha Mutch @sashamutch.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Wyrmspace is part of the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase! @puzzleshowcase.bsky.social have curated an incredible set of thinky games that we're proud to be beside! Like thinky tactics, deckbuilding with memory cards, and traumatised space pirates? Give Wyrmspace Tactic a wishlist: #indiegame #thinkygame
store.steampowered.com
Wyrmspace Tactics on Steam
Join a crew of traumatised space pirates in this tile tactics card game as you commit faster-than-light heists! Push your luck and play your cards right to break in and out of freighter ships with the...
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Look I'll be honest: it sort of bugs me that the trajectory line is not actually orbiting the Earth, rather hovering above it. But I tested a bunch of designs and the above one was the coolest and most flexible. Here's one that does go around the Earth, but it was not visually as interesting.
Work-in-progress mock-up of an alternative capsule design. The Earth is up the top, filling the top third of the image. The ball trajectory extruding from the moon is travelling all the way around the Earth before it arrives in the foreground at the game logo.
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Just made brand new Steam capsule artwork for Celestial Golf and it's looking pretty fine alongside other games. Here's a little behind-the-scenes of how it's constructed in #Blender. Props to my brother David who designed the alien. #GameDev #Indie store.steampowered.com/app/3965730/... Wishlist!
Steam capsule art for "Celestial Golf". In space, a large Earth is at the bottom. The moon has a red golf flag on it. A blue trajectory line shows the ball being hit from the moon out into space, forming the 'O' in the title. A blue alien in a space suit watches from the side, excitedly.Blender workspace editing the space scene, all in grey. Spheres for Earth, Moon and some planets are shown, alongside a large tube extruding from the moon showing the ball's trajectory line.Blender workspace showing the alien in the editor.
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
(It still has the inherent privacy problem of having to require all Internet users to verify their age, which I will continue to maintain is the actual goal of all of these "child safety" schemes popping up all over the world.)
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Wow, banning apps based on harmful features (encouraging apps to remove said features) rather than what "category" they are in. Shockingly responsible policy making. I wish Australia was so lucky. #socialmediaban www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Limit social media ban for under-16s to unsafe apps, Starmer urged
Campaigners warn against blanket restrictions and say focus should be on blocking teenagers from platforms with ‘risky’ features
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
I finally got around to adding full controller support to my game Celestial Golf. Quite a challenge to find a way to set orbital maneuvers with thumbsticks. I've left three different aiming methods in the settings. Which do you prefer? #indie #gamedev #space store.steampowered.com/news/app/396...
store.steampowered.com
Celestial Golf - The Controller Update - Steam News
Celestial Golf was updated with full controller support, manual camera panning, and a load of other quality-of-life changes
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne... I fully believe that preventing kids from accessing news online (and driving them back to old media) was one of the primary goals. That it didn't work is unsurprising. Stop calling it an "unintended consequence". It was never about helping kids. #socialmediaban
theguardian.com
Australia’s social media ban preventing teenagers from accessing the news, research finds
Half of the teenagers who have been blocked say they are seeing less news than before – but they are not necessarily going back to traditional sources
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
My upcoming #Godot game Celestial Golf was featured in a technical blog: jettelly.com/blog/a-godot... A glimpse into how I made trajectories predicting the motion of the ball, taking the rotation of planets into account. Wishlist on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/3965730/ #indie #gamedev #space
jettelly.com
A Godot-made Golf Game With Real Orbital Mechanics
Celestial Golf’s developer Matt gave us a look at how the game simulates stable orbital mechanics in Godot using patched conics, rotating reference frames, and more.
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
I just pushed an update to the Celestial Golf Demo featuring some new character art by my brother David. It's so cool to see it all come together. We now have a cute little animated alien companion! #gamedev #indie #space store.steampowered.com/app/4532530/...
Screenshot: The player is about to hit a golf ball on the surface of the moon. A dialogue box showing a blue alien in a space suit says "Do you think you can hit the ball... half way around the moon?"Close-up of the blue alien in a space suit. It has one eyeball and a goofy grin.
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
I know but I can't help feeling the inevitable march of progress will mean it'll be good, and I'll be on the wrong side of history. Once it requires zero manual input, it won't matter if it's maintainable. (It doesn't give me pleasure to say this, but I feel there's no way to stop it.)
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Reposted by Matt Giuca
Freya Holmér @freya.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
sometimes I wonder if my resistance against AI is actually a rationally justified position or if I'm just somewhere along the stages of grief, refusing to accept that I'm losing something I really valued
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
I feel so miserable being someone hand-coding/modelling everything when everyone around me says how efficient AI is making them. It has a feeling of "eventually you'll have to give in and pay your $200/mo subscription and let it do your job". But I dread the day I have to give up my hands and brain.
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Reposted by Matt Giuca
Liam Flannery @liamflannery.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
we added a legally distinct clippy to our windows 95 themed automation game about making powerpoint decks - his name is pinny #gamedev
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
I only had one day for #LudumDare #gamejam this time. When I finished up (at 4am 🫩) I realized I satisfied all the requirements for the Compo (aka. "hard mode") so I submitted to that and went to bed. ldjam.com/events/ludum... Quite happy with my minimalistic signal decoding puzzle game. #gamedev
ldjam.com
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
Computers back in the day didn't spy on you, you just used them. Then they started spying on you. Now the spying is so normalized that governments pass laws that are incompatible with non-spying operating systems. It's a tragedy in three acts.
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
I've said it before but it bears repeating: the proliferation of these age verification laws popping up everywhere is absolutely toxic to open computing. It basically assumes that every operating system is centralized, corporate controlled, and requires accounts. www.pcgamer.com/gaming-indus...
pcgamer.com
US may force operating systems to have mandatory age verification, share info with third parties
Here lies darkness.
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Matt Giuca @mgiuca.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
#CelestialGolf #ScreenshotThursday
A ball being hit on the moon, moving towards a golf flagpole.A ball flying over the Earth in the upper atmosphere.In space, the Earth and Moon are visible. The player is planning to hit the ball from Earth orbit into a trajectory that will encounter the Moon.A ball flying through space near Mars's atmosphere, about to pass by the moon Phobos.
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