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Sam Swain

@sam.apparance.uk
1.2K followers 342 following 648 posts

A child of the procedural generation. Long-time tools coder off of the games industry. Worked on Fable, NMS, Gloomhaven. Building crazy proc-gen technology: www.apparance.uk 👈 Try Unreal & Unity plugin for free! he/him ▪ forever 42 ▪ surrey, uk ▪ no AI

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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 19/09/2026
Christ, The Daily Dot can get in the sea. 1025 partner sites with hundreds of data sharing opt outs in a massive list, and thats after managing to click the 'essential only' button that this popup replaces almost immediately.
Part of a list of 1025 data sharing opt out options
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 16/09/2026
Ending on a musical number :D
Alistair singing for the finale (art in the background)
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 16/09/2026
OMg it's going so well.
What can only be described as art. Those are definitely balloons.
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 25/08/2026
Misc.
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 08/08/2026
Todays sunset. With tanker crossing it on the horizon.
Very red sunset. Gradient sky. Coastal landscape in silhouette.Sunset through binocular lense. Bright yellow and orange. Glowing lines of cloud. Ocean tanker visible above horizon. Coastal landscape in foreground.
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 06/08/2026
Cornish sunset, phone camera, and also through binoculars!
Red-orange sunset over dark coastal landscape through low scattered cloud gradient to blue sky above.View of red-orange sunset through circular aperture of a binocular eyepiece.
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 30/07/2026
and the other one 🤦
Written by humans, for humans
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 28/07/2026
I use Moo for business cards because they have an option for up to 25 unique back designs, shared front design. I wanted to show off a bunch of different procedural projects. People enjoy looking through to choose a card they like, all have same details on front.
Business cards. Gloss finish. Stack revealing assorted back images. Another stack showing just front details. Apparance proc gen middleware. www.apparance.uk
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 06/07/2026
We're excited to be at Develop:Brighton again this year. Get in touch before hand or grab us there if you'd like to chat about tools, technology, procedural generation, or anything game-dev related. Look out for the green Apparance T-shirts and say hello :) Email: sam@apparance.uk
The Apparance Team in front of a large screen showcasing some of the procedural generation magic the team is known for.
Apparance. Procedural Generation Experts. Tools, Technology, Training, Team.
Purple conference flash across corner: Develop, Insight, Inspiration, Networking. 14th to 16th July 2026.
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 19/06/2026
pahahaha nice! (my full name though)
WARNING.
No Stable Person Surfaced.
This result was weightless AKA weak AF.
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 12/06/2026
Wow, 14 years ago Apparance was born. A lot has happened since then! #ProcGen #GameDev (yes, I'm archiving Twitter prior to deleting my account)
Tweet of mine from February 7th 2021 that says "Woot, recursive geometry synthesis procedures working! Hashtag Cryptic" (zero retweets, zero likes)
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 14/04/2026
Turns out many people didn't know Apparance proc-gen is FULLY RUN-TIME! Got so many great comments after co-presenting a talk at Everything Procedural Conference last week about "Pattern Zero", a new FPS featuring novel destruction mechanics, from Backpain Games. :) #ProcGen #RunTime #GameDev
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 07/04/2026
Look mum we're on the big screen. First day of the conference about to start. #EverythingProcedural
EPC stage, Apparance sponsor message on screen.EPC stage, Tom and I's talk promo on screen.EPC stage, main concerence screen, Everything Procedural 2026
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 12/03/2026
🤔
Two seemingly unconnected posts together in a timeline. Both featuring three figures, top is three cats, bottom is three red skeleton drawings (and the number three).
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 19/02/2026
If you are at the Guildford.Games Festival tomorrow, please come and say hello. You can catch me on the Tools of the Trade panel at 11am, or I'll be wandering around most of the day. Love to talk game-dev, tools, tech, and procedural generation (but I am human too if you just want to chat).
Catch me at the Guildford Games Festival 2026, Friday 20th February, 10 AM to 6 PM. Panel: Tools of the trade - inside the tech driving game innovation. 11 AM to 12 PM in the Glass Room (at G-Live, Guildford).
Guildford.Games logo (left) and mascot (bottom right), with Sams picture in the centre.
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 04/02/2026
Heh, answered Blueskys prompt for me
Bluesky prompt asks me "What's up?"
David Lindsey Pittman post below where he states "Z is up".
He also states two other things he "will fight you about": The Big Lebowski is the best film ever made and All cats are beautiful.
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 05/01/2026
Amazing product fake example imagery for a to-do list notelet product I was browsing. I wonder where the phrase "it is suspected that the Milky Way is falling" came from here? Weird. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
To Do List product details image showing various fake images of the notepad in use and it's features.it is suspected that the Milky Way is fallinglife was like a box of chocolate...
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 18/12/2025
Faked catenary loops randomly scattered across the ceilings. * Extruded geometry generation * Fake catenary curve using Bezier * Adjustable hanging cable loop * Runs of loops * Ceiling setup and placement logic * Many space noodle decorations!
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 10/12/2025
No stream tomorrow I'm afraid. Off to the big smoke for the day. An opportunity to catch up on progress so far perhaps? :)
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 06/12/2025
"Quornish Pasty" was right there folks 🤦‍♂️
A Ginsters Vegan Quorn Pasty in wrapper.
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 04/12/2025
When they want it to show 'Next Day Delivery Available' but don't really want to actually have to send it to you next day. 🤦
Two postage options:
1. Saturday 13 Dec - Friday 19 Dec, Free Standard Delivery (selected).
2. Tomorrow, 5 Dec, £150 Same Day.
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 04/12/2025
Last week's stream. Building resizable railings from various available kit pieces. A kind-of "best fit" logic used.
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 03/12/2025
Just jumpscared myself after reading the answer to a Unreal coding question I needed by looking at who posted it seven years ago! Thanks past me. 😆
Cropped shot from Unreal developer forums. A question about scripting/coding answered seven years ago by none-other than myself.
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 20/11/2025
Todays stream was quite a long one, but got a lot more variety, assets, and design logic into the storage fill procedures.
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 20/11/2025
Streaming again in 30 minutes! www.twitch.tv/ga5p0d3
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 13/11/2025
Crate Work Everyone! A productive stream today, adding more variety and control to the crates in our space-station storage rooms!
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 13/11/2025
Streaming at 12 GMT! Come witness some more sci-fi crate action! www.twitch.tv/ga5p0d3
Sci-fi crate storage into the distance, a light at the end of the tunnel.
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 06/11/2025
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 05/11/2025
Room height support in action!
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 23/10/2025
Whoops, forgot to stream today. Oh dear, well, a lot going on at the moment in my life. Ho-hum. I did finally get round to uploading last weeks stream though! Look, connected rooms!
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 16/10/2025
Streaming again in an hour! Join me to see if I can get rooms joining up properly this time! :D www.twitch.tv/ga5p0d3
Funky Diagnostics! Procedural Labels! Episode #9 (last week).
Me in the corner waving. Unreal Editor in background showing procedural space station rooms with blue and red diagnostics boxes and labels.
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 07/10/2025
Hmm, yes, some of the obvious shortcuts aren't suitable.
Road with sign saying "Unsuitable for heavy goods vehicles"
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 07/10/2025
Got sent on this absolute fever-dream of a diversion on my way back from Epsom last night (ongoing overnight M25 junction works). I just followed the diversion signs assuming they would be the best way round. Took about half an hour extra. 😭
Map of where A3 crosses M25 showing closed road (black) and my intended route (green) with the crazy long diversion route (red).
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 02/10/2025
Pretty Aces!
The four ace card designs in the Fable card deck
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 02/10/2025
The background too!
Microsoft Solitaire app with the Fable theme card deck and background.
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 24/09/2025
Such a vibe. I have to repost you this pic I took in Cornwall a couple of years back :D
Lone ice-cream van on a wide flat wet beach, the grey sea behind with a few people in, and the grey sky beyond.
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 19/09/2025
The movie "Hackers" is 30 years old. Had to have a watch to celebrate. Superb soundtrack too. Also accompanied with my original copy of The Pink Shirt Book. 😁
The IBM PC & PS2 programming guide book. A.k.a. the pink shirt book. As featured in the film Hackers.
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 14/09/2025
Lock-On premium games journal by @lostincult.co.uk. Look at this beauties! They get chonkier as they go. All six back issues, pre-ordered last year, and arrived a week ago, ON MY BIRTHDAY! Some serious fire-side reading for this winter 😍 www.lostincult.co.uk/001-1
The first six issues of Lock-On premium games journal stacked on my desk,
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 11/09/2025
We now have wall logic improvements and parametric doorways! Longer stream today (1.5h) so even more of me going 'hmmmm' and pondering #ProcGen logic design. Re-watch: youtu.be/u-ngMrRwHp0?... Subscribe: www.twitch.tv/ga5p0d3
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 10/09/2025
Streaming again tomorrow at 1pm BST (12 GMT). Going to start to look at doors and wall openings so we can connect rooms. Join in/subscribe here: www.twitch.tv/ga5p0d3 #ProcGen #GameDev #UnrealEngine #Apparance
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 04/09/2025
Great stream today, noodling with floor pattern generation. A few friendly faces in the chat, with some thought provoking questions. We touched on the "randomness vs richness" aspect of procedural generation. Subscribe/video links in replies. #ProcGen #UnrealEngine #GameDev #Apparance
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 04/09/2025
As the interior of a sci-fi space station, I guess this could qualify for #shiptember?
Interioir of a large white panelled space station room with some windows, and greebled wall sections.
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 28/08/2025
Todays stream focused on floor/ceiling building from various asset shapes. The basis of a few sub-division procedures and placement of new pieces gave us some interesting patterns!
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 27/08/2025
Proc-gen stream #4 tomorrow at 13:00 BST (12:00 GMT). Join me for an hour or so of #ProcGen space station building. This week I'll be diving straight into upgrading the boring regular floor tiles to interesting arrangements drawn from various shapes and sizes of modular pieces. www.twitch.tv/ga5p0d3
Me over the top of the Unreal Editor showing a section of space-station wall and the Apparance Editor showing one of the procedure graphs that build it.Rectangular space station room viewed from inside, windows, floor, ceiling, built from modular asset parts.
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 20/08/2025
I also will be carrying on with the editing handles demo after our previous technical hitch* so we should be able to fully size and move the rooms with ease 🤞 *silly small mistake on my part, watch to find out what!
Small rectangular space-station room on a checkered floor. The right hand end is highlighted yellow with the cursor visible pointing to it.
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 31/07/2025
Todays inaugural Apparance proc-gen dev stream went really well*. I built a simple space-station room out of asset pack parts. It's resizeable and parameterised, with a bit of variation thrown in. Thankyou if you joined the stream and for the great question about loops v recursion I was asked.
Simple sci-fi space station room interior built from modular assets, assembled procedurally and rendered in Unreal 5.Screenshot of the live stream, showing the Apparance procedure editor over the top of Unreal editor. The viewport shows some sci-fi corridor walls and my face is overlaid bottom left.
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 30/07/2025
I'm going to try live streaming some procedural generation dev with Apparance tomorrow from 1pm BST (12 GMT) tomorrow on Twitch. Come along and watch me make a mess of my first stream, and see if I can manage to build some bits of space station from a Fab asset pack. #ProcGen #GameDev #LiveStream
Space station parts asset pack
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 28/07/2025
Random find; Some of my passes from Glastonbury ('90 & '92) and WOMAD ('91 & '93) when I was working as a site electrician in my teens :) Been going to festivals for years as crew (Dad was running site electrics). Lots of great memories of geeky back-stage stuff. :)
Crew pass riveted to a bit of lanyard, with several wrist bands. From Glastonbury and WOMAD festivals 1990 to 1993.
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 18/07/2025
OMG, it's finally here, the brand new Revomaze Lite Blue has shipped! Will be spending a few evenings with this beauty. 😍 #Revomaze #Puzzle #Maze #ThePuzzleWorkshop
Blue metal cylindrical maze puzzle sitting on it's box packaging with thankyou card, all on my desk.
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Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 26/06/2025
Apparance is at Develop again! Meet us for a chat if a team of procedural generation experts and their powerful tech might be just the thing to help make your game-dev dreams come true. #ProcGen #Develop #GameDev
Seagull on the bonnet of a car, viewed from inside, against a carpark background. It has a Develop pass on a lanyard around its neck. The name on the pass is "C. Gul". A speech bubble from the bird says "Come chat #Proc-Gen at Develop".
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