iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Haven't seen Air America in about 30 years. Memory of this one's pretty vague but here we go...

Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Friend said I wouldn't enjoy the FF15 combat system; he's wrong, however: 1) The camera is wildly unhelpful 2) The quantity of VFX makes blocking hard 3) Magic causes friendly fire but there's no way to tell your buddies to shift it 4) Why is wait mode an option toggle and not just a button press?

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Terminator 2: Judgement Day for the 35th anniversary. I know it like the back of my hand and nothing needs to be said about this icon of blockbuster cinema. Still, it was my first time seeing it on the big screen, which felt pretty special but I'm much too over 40 for being tossed around by the 4DX

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Haven't worked on this as much as I would have liked, but it's up to a point where it's just fun to play with. Got visual and timing polish to apply to really sell the effects, but the penetration through volumes and ricochets off of surfaces is there and working effectively. #gamemaker #gamedev

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

The Odyssey - finally caught it at the IMAX (not 70mm). Gripping from start to finish. Surreal in all the right ways, especially, as is typical for Nolan, in the soundscape; I will not soon forget the sound and feeling of the Cyclops in the cave or the rush of raging soldiers into Troy. Incredible.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

The Dog Stars - The intro created a really great atmosphere, Gregson-Williams score was delightful in that, but then the middle onwards just went off the rails with lazy writing, odd tonal shifts, and bad visuals (I feel certain the night vision scene was using Gen AI). Disappointing overall.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

The writers of this season of 'America: The Sitcom' are really laying it on thick with that slow pan over to the display board showing "Make The Great Lakes Even Greater"...

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Anyone in the UK will have been seeing this Back To The Future DeLorean set on supermarket shelves for £25 for a while now but it was down at £16 in Smyths so I couldn't resist. Looks great, fun details, and had a nice afternoon building it.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

The rest of Far Cry 5 was decent enough but man what a POS ending. I really hope there's an alternative in there somewhere because that was Far Cry 2's BS ending all over again. Writing the most pretentious antagonist and then not allowing us a .44 caliber punchline is becoming a series staple.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

A little G.I. Jane (1997) on a Sunday eve

DVD box cover for GI Jane showing a close up of lead actress Demi Moore with the DVD main menu on a TV in the background.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

The folk doing 3D in GameMaker are definitely a bit crazy but are also leveraging some wizard-level skills. Just saw this from GamingEngineer over on YT (please link if you know their @ on BSky): youtu.be/ffGqjOBowIc?...

youtu.be

Making Need for Speed 2015 using GameMaker

YouTube video by GamingEngineer

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Just finished my first Cyberpunk 2077 playthrough (base game only) after 185 hours. CD Projeckt have created something truly masterful. It has been an engaging, atmospheric, and spectacular world with such emotionally impactful narrative breadth. I can't say enough about it in this short space.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Seeing these incidents of AI agents breaking containment and attacking other servers/agents seemingly autonomously, makes me think the tech bros' next push will be to say everyone needs an AI to defend against the other malicious AI. An apparent solution to a problem of their creation.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Rocking the Navy Seals for the Saturday entertainment. This was the first DVD I ever bought.

DVD box cover of Navy Seals (1990) with Charlie Sheen, Michael Biehn and an M4/203 taking centre stage.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

'1000s suffer so one person can benefit' is such a tedious tale of capitalism. We gotta fucking change this narrative. Laying people off, putting their lives in dire straits when you have the means to prevent it, should be illegal. Profoundly irresponsible and immoral a-holes won't check themselves.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

If you're an espionage fan, consider Unfamiliar (Netflix). Excellent first season, very well paced over its six episodes, and left me wanting more.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Carrying on with the collision prototyping rig, I've built an editor into it that will allow me to easily make geometry using the line colliders for testing new features against. The first video goes over the workflow, and the second runs through some of the editor's features. #gamemaker #gamedev

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Bought a bag of popcorn at the weekend with the thought that I just wanted to have a good old movie night soon. Didn't know what DVD I wanted to watch then. Now I know it'll be Jurassic Park, a film, and an actor, worth celebrating; thankful for the memories, Sam Neill.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Just heard half the town lose its collective shit so I'm guessing England are still in the world cup and doing well.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

The thing that always kills me about stories like this is the dog doesn't know what a job is; they were just with their people doing their thing. And now they've been sent away, likely to never see those people again, which to the dog is just another form of abandonment.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Them: Hey, how's adult life going? Me:

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

I'm a huge fan of Darren Korb and Ashley Barrett's work at Super Giant, so it's been incredible seeing the Hades concert at the Southbank Centre today. Great performances all-round, and unexpected appearance from Austin Wintory. Also I was sat 6ft away from Greg Kasavin before the show. Crazy day.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

I knew I recognised this technique from somewhere...

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

It's nothing groundbreaking but it is an exercise in trying to push myself to do more and share more. It's also maybe the first time I've ever had my voice online, so that's uncomfortable. In any case, it's a line-line collision feature I've added to use across projects. #gamemaker #gamedev

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

It's cool to see UK police care so much about breaches in copyright and protecting people from data theft. They're not going to believe their eyes when they find out there's a much, much bigger theft operation going on RIGHT now... and their data centres are HUGE... share.google/5JgZCkflJq3D...

share.google

Police seize £1.2m of kit from illegal streaming operation

Police say thousands of streams were disrupted as a result of the raid in Hampshire.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Completed The Last of Us 2 for the first time. I am kinda traumatised but completely blown away. It is an absolute triumph of a game; one of the best pieces of media I've ever experienced. Design, narrative, performance, world-building, audio and music all at the peak of their craft. Unbelievable.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Spectacular performance for the BAFTA Video Games Concert at the Glasshouse in Newcastle last night. A really great showcase of some of the incredible music that makes up so much of the gaming experience. More celebrations of this please!

View of the orchestra from a low angle with a large screen above them showing a "super earth" screenshot from Helldivers 2.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

While Cyberpunk has had a serious facelift with the new GPU, Helldivers 2 has had the biggest QoL upgrade so far, going from a battle of perseverance to enjoy the game with my friends, to something displaying valid (and then some) game visuals. Check these before and afters.

Helldivers 2 visual comparison between 1060 GTX and 3060 RTX cards. The top image shows an input panel with barely legible input instructions. The bottom image shows a much higher fidelity image of a similar display.

Helldivers 2 visual comparison between 1060 GTX and 3060 RTX cards. The top image shows environmental effects of a muddy brown fog among low detail building meshes. The bottom image shows a city environment with a blue haze, high detail buildings, and varied lighting effects.

Helldivers 2 visual comparison between 1060 GTX and 3060 RTX cards. The top image shows a large explosion effect that is blown out and muddied with the surrounding environment. The bottom image shows a large explosion with detailed debris and clouds being kicked up.

Helldivers 2 visual comparison between 1060 GTX and 3060 RTX cards. The top image shows a cityscape with low detail meshes and textures and minimal environment or VFX. The bottom image shows a city environment in much higher detail and with varied lighting effects.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Just upgraded from a 1060 GTX to a 3060 RTX, and man, y'all were seeing some shit I never knew existed. The fidelity shift is enormous. I was 120 hours deep into my first run on Cyberpunk but seriously considering starting over to really appreciate Night City in a new light.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Really digging Road To Vostok so far. Extremely tense. Every gunshot has me jumping out of my skin; it's terrifying. The sound work in general is superb. Couple of bugs with equipment falling through walls/floors in the cabin, but otherwise solid and feature-packed for early access.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

I have spent my last 3 Saturdays at Sheffield City Hall. The Alex James Britpop Classical with my brother, Into The Spiderverse Live In Concert with my daughter, and my first opera last night, Carmen, by the Opera International Kyiv. There are diverse and incredible arts happening all the time.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Completed Watch Dogs 2 for the first time. 10 years later the story is more pertinent than ever. Took a hot minute to get into but turned out to be sound all round and quite a bit of fun toying with the NPCs. Casually played over 3 weeks so it didn't outstay its welcome. Cool soundtrack as well.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Never challenge yourself. Never risk learning something new. Never consider the subtext. Never glance upon the history of civilisation through the changes in our language. Never expose yourself to the cultural experiences of the author. Rinse. Reduce. Redact. Regurgitate.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

This needs to be the origin of a new, no-frills Windows-alternative from a plucky upstart company to fill the AI slop void, or I fear this era may necessitate my eventual PC gaming retirement into an IRL Stardew Valley arc.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Of Monsters and Men at the Leeds O2 Academy tonight. Absolutely killer set from across all four albums and great support from fellow Icelander, Arny Margret. Third time seeing one of our favourite bands for me and the daughter; my body will give up on me long before the thrill of hearing them live.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Continued my season of 'films I was too young for of the 80s/90s' with Assassin: Point of No Return (1993). I'm not au fait with a lot of Bridget Fonda's work but she had a strong performance here, elevating what felt like middle of the road writing with genuine emotion.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Watched Event Horizon (1997) for the first time but not feeling the cult status from it. The story felt incohesive and unsatisfying; the editing was quite brutal. I didn't particularly like the overall industrial/high sci-fi visual design either. Some impressive VFX shots but not enough to save it.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

Dec 31st, rain for 365 days. Britain's have long since gone feral; society has collapsed. The French are supposed to rescue survivors but they air drop wheels of brie. I throw one against the wall in anger. It looks like the sun. I drop to my knees and cry as a lone firework marks the new year.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Amidst another playthrough of Prey and just completed the Crew Quarters again. Genuine brilliance in game design throughout this whole section. The incredible, opulent visual design of this area is a stark contrast to the science labs and behind the scenes workings of the rest of the space station.

Screenshot from Prey (2017) showing the foyer of the crew quarters with the elevator to the VIP quarters flanked by golden statues, varnished wood panelling and brass on every surface.

Screenshot from Prey (2017) show the chef, "Will Mitchell", in the safety of the kitchen.

Screenshot from Prey (2017) showing the stage in The Tulip bar in the crew quarters area. An automated turret sits at the bottom right scanning for Typhon threats.

Screenshot from Prey (2017) showing a lost crew member taking refuge on the outside of the station but breathing their last as they talk through the glass.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

Oh my goodness, colour me excited for this one!

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

They can't keep getting away with making her eyes bigger and bigger!

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Watched the 1984 Red Dawn for the first time and damn, I can understand why it hit cult classic status. A lot darker, and maybe also more thoughtful, than I had expected a presumably fairly typical 80s action movie to be.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

I've used so few of my holidays this year that I'm in my last working week until the new year.

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

Got this damn cool poster for Predator Badlands from the cinema and I might be about to attain next levels of single because I'm actually contemplating putting it up on the wall...

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Chris Hoyle @snarghoyle.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

I was 11 when Heat was first released in cinemas, so tonight's 30th anniversary screening at Cineworld was my first time witnessing THAT heist scene on the big screen with its god-tier audio in glorious surround sound, as Mann intended. For the nth time seeing this film, it loses none of its impact.

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