iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

In my various game-mechanic ideas documents, I've learned to be extra verbose. Too many times I write something vague that makes me say "wth did I mean by this??" months later.

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Ultimately I'm not mad that Epic/UE is (eventually) replacing Blueprint visual scripting with a more holistic scripting language. Doing half the work in BP and the other half in C++, while interesting, requires fiddly managing of how those two halves interact.

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

I have enough of my dungeon generator up and running to be able to walk around, and I get lost so fast in the labyrinth. Getting lost and seeking guidance probably needs to be a major theme of the game, both mechanically and narratively.

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Tradcoding in a vibing world

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Haywire pathfinding algorithm produced a cool debug pattern. (I stream gamedev on twitch @ seannyb)

When I replaced my own A* Pathfinding algorithm with a new, heap-based AI-generated one for performance reasons, it failed pretty hard off the bat but produced a mesmerizing pattern with my debug visualizer.

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Man, AI is like, Idea Guy's friend. Someone in my stream wanted me to try his (undisclosed but clearly) vibecoded gigajank game. The characters fell through the floor right at the start of gameplay. Then he was like, oops, let me send you a revision. (No thanks...)

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

I'm glad that the once-overused word "slop" eventually found its home in describing AI-generated media. I'm all for tinkering with technology, but AI media is the king of slop.

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Streaming gamedev on Twitch feels like one of the few genuine internet spaces left as far as public-facing social media goes. The "total addressable market" in that category isn't big enough to hustle, so it's full of actual enthusiasts engaged in the craft and using their streams as virtual offices

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Reposted by Sean B.

Mastafran (4/4 Commissions Slots Full) @mastafran.com · 21/09/2024

The Dirty One-Tailed Peasant vs The Glorious Nine-Tailed Lord

A illustration that is a parody of the "Virgin Vs Chad" meme featuring anthropomorphic foxes.
On the Left: A sad and dejected One Tailed Fox Farmer wearing a simple grey kimono and carrying a wooden rake. In-Image Captions included: "Eyes open with despair for his work, Back slouched, works in mud and dirt, a single frayed bristly tail, large clumsy feed for tripping on beet roots, and droopy unkempt whiskers."
One the Right: A pompous haughty Kitsune Lord wearing a large yellow kimono and haori and a smooth grey hakama. In-Image Captions included: "Eyes always closed to never see the unwashed masses, has never seen a spec of dirt in his life, nine tails, tapered to a needlepoint, large feet for stomping down the worthless, hands always up ready to cast spells, plucked impeccable snout for kissing ladies."

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Accidental Viewport Art XXII (The last entry in this series was four years ago on Twitter... x.com/renzumusic/s... )

accidental edgy screenshot while testing UE's "Streaming Virtual Texturing" feature, depicting a shadow cutting across a woman's face revealing her glowing eye in a gothic fantasy environment.

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

The game has changed a lot since I last showed it. (I stream #gamedev on twitch.tv/seannyb )

Screenshot of a video game depicting twisted, gothic/victorian architecture against a fiery green sun

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

Just had a dream where I moved into a house constructed with stock, modular assets chaotically rescaled and arranged like one of my game levels. I was shocked by the shoddy workmanship. Does moving into your own gameworld count as a nightmare? #indiedev

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 26/12/2025

Once again I partook in the grand American tradition of fine asian dining on christmas day.

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Just had a dream where I was coerced into attending the grand opening of a North Korean theme park. One of the "attractions" was the dear leader himself blasting visitors with a water cannon. "Kim Jong blasted me!"

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

I will say that Linux is pretty nice once it's configured. My main desktop will always be Windows (supporting an ever-shifting mix of creative software), but Linux works for my always-on 2nd PC with its narrower use cases. The gaming is impressive too... It mostly just works!?

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

Had a dream where I was a cat whose sole owner perished in their house. I was stuck there, fated to die in a house with a decaying corpse. It was a viscerally depressing dream.

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

Installed Linux on a couple computers for the first time. My main desktop will have to remain Windows though (creative software, games). Though the lack of bloat & adware in Linux is nice, its jankiness makes me appreciate the just-works-ness of Windows.

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

I had a dream where I was playing a pauseable-realtime colony sim like RimWorld in a JRPG setting with story, characters, dungeons and quests. I was managing two parties dungeon-crawling in different places. Someone should make that game.

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

If the Total Recall machine existed, it should be used to forcibly implant a memory of a traumatic car crash into every driver so that they drive more defensively. While we're at it, implant a memory of losing months of work to failed storage so that people learn to make backups.

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

Found a local Japanese restaurant of the sort that has actual Japanese people dining in it so you know it's legit. I haven't had a (raw) salmon bowl since I was in actual Japan last year; it wasn't as heavenly as *that* one but still damn good.

Salmon bowl (with udon and salad) at Kurumaya in Elk Grove.

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

At a friend's house; I was lying on the couch when this floofy cat climbed on top of me for pettings. Highlight of the night.

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

So I made a little (ok, 35 min.) examination of some g**ner gacha game. It's an Unreal Engine, blockbuster-style, open world, exploration/action game that scales up to PC with raytracing, and down to the humble smartphone. Seeing it run at 60 FPS on a phone really something. youtu.be/OjRKMTu-k8A

youtu.be

The Graphics of Wuthering Waves – PC, Mobile & Raytracing Compared In-Depth!

YouTube video by Sean Bires

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

Comfort food (and a use for leftover salmon)

Miso soup with tofu and leftover greens (escarole), and rice balls with salmon filling

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

I remember someone arguing that media for children should contain "moral content" (as opposed to e.g. brainrot). I think that's a useful lens for media in general; whether it contains moral content or not, and whether it's sincere, or uses it cynically for genre flavoring.

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

Trying it for kicks but man, async/multithreading is hard. There are so many considerations involved.

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

The labyrinthine dreamworld towers over a dark ocean. I came up with a new concept for my generative dungeons consisting of themed height layers - not as conventional roguelike "floors", but as a contiguous level of dizzying verticality. I stream #gamedev on twitch @ seannyb

A diagram detailing the themed layers of a generative dungeon system

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

Played a little Bloodborne (via emulation) to investigate how the procedural "Chalice Dungeon" room layout system works. To that end, I drew a full map of the first area.

An illustrated 3D map of the very first "Chalice Dungeon" level of Bloodborne

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Had a bonkers dream where I took a *private jet* to Japan with my relatives. We landed at night in the middle of urban nowhere, and walked to a mostly-empty shopping mall where colorful, tropical birds were hanging out at an indoor fountain. My sister then hugged a scarlet macaw that was sopping wet

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

Damn, just had a dream with a half dozen false awakenings.

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

Dreamt that I entered an elevator that was actually a product demo for a hotel suite on a moving platform. While impressive, I kept falling over as the suite moved laterally, and its control panel had a lot of "dark pattern" UI design that prevented me from exiting.

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

Dreamt that I was trying to find where I parked my car while an enormous tornado loomed in the distance. No one else seemed terribly concerned. I wonder if this will be the year of the Chicago tornado.

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Reposted by Sean B.

Ari Arnbjörnsson @flassari.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

The Great Hitch Hunt has begun! We recruited a whole room of Hitch Hunters at #UnrealFest Orlando 💪 "Kill the hitch!"

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

I crafted an exciting new weapon for the game (but it's for debug) I stream #gamedev at twitch.tv/seannyb

A magic wand in the style of a "magical girl" anime

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

#ACen2025 the Thunderbolt Fantasy puppets were there — the real ones used in the TV show. They're big.

Thunderbolt Fantasy TV production puppets on display at Anime Central 2025

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

#ACen2025 Honkai: Star Rail is popular this year...

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

Work on the game continues. With a new AI system and a rejiggering of other aspects (new stamina system, etc.) the combat is deeper, more varied and more surprising than it used to be. My spirits are pretty high. As always, I stream #gamedev #indiedev on twitch.tv/seannyb

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

Because reasons I've been checking out Wuthering Waves. The problem with a gacha game that has "skill based" combat is they can't make it too skill-based, cuz it'll deemphasize the progression grind. So the combat is disingenuous in that way, often boiling down to spammy power battles.

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

Every few generations, people forget basic lessons like "invading countires is bad", "trade barriers are bad" and more generally "postmodernism is bad", and then they have to re-learn those lessons the hard way. The learning process begins today.

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

Still impressed with ChatGPT as a (UE) C++ mentor. One's ability to learn something new in the modern day is just incredible compared to the 20th century when you had to attend class or hit a library. One's ability to brainrot effortlessly is also incredible. It's a double-edged sword.

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Some mildly chilly, humid air through the window just hit me a second ago, and it reminded me of nights in Japan for some reason; one of the most powerful waves of nostalgia I felt in a while.

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

I know two people playing this game; a top-3 gacha. (In other words it makes a lot of money.) I've been watching a lot of gacha reviews lately. They're fascinating because their game designs are so intricate and necessarily cursed. This one seems extra cursed. www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg26...

youtube.com

The Over-complicated Gacha Review | Love and Deepspace

YouTube video by Pseychie

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Reposted by Sean B.

Mastafran (4/4 Commissions Slots Full) @mastafran.com · 06/03/2025

I learned about the existence of Wooly Mice and I thought I'd take a shot at some cave punk type mouse girl. #pixelart

Pixel Illustration of an anthropomorphic female mouse with long bushy fur. She stands on top of a rock wearing a white skimpy loincloth and tube top with tusk earrings and necklaces. She also wields a crystal spear.

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

I can finally look at C++ code and half-understand it.

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

A video for understanding the gacha brain. The more I learn about gacha, the more I see the difficulty of penetrating this F2P market. The designs are quite intricate (and insidious), and I wonder if there's any viable alternative to the "daily active users" race. youtu.be/jnJS38LNhDc

youtu.be

The Worst Gearing System in Gacha Games

YouTube video by Pseychie

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

24H cable news (or conservative talk radio) was the original brainrot, but now that's available to everyone in the form of YT ragebaiting influencers covering every niche topic like computer parts or the anti-aliasing techniques of video games. It's really sad to see them define the common discourse

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Reposted by Sean B.

Mastafran (4/4 Commissions Slots Full) @mastafran.com · 10/02/2025

Buying music to own forever, streaming it without ads, download to whatever high quality files you want to make a playlist or CD, not dealing with it's backwards UI? Why does anyone use Spotify over Bandcamp?

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

Interesting looking at the analytics of my Honkai: Star Rail graphics analysis video. Too niche to go properly viral, but since the algorithm picked it up a couple days after uploading, I've been getting several positive comments on it every day.

Screenshot of a YouTube analytics chart depicting a line going up

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Sean B. @renzu.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

Gamers: The Nvidia 50xx generation is a massive disappointment! Also gamers: Damn it's out of stock I was gonna buy one!

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Reposted by Sean B.

Lance McDonald @manfightdragon.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

On February 21st, 2021, I created and released a patch for Bloodborne which makes the game run at 60fps. Today I received a DMCA takedown notification on behalf of Sony Interactive Entertainment asking that I remove links to the patch I posted on the internet, so I've now done so

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