Sign in

Chris Knowles

@tarrenam.com
1.2K followers 371 following 849 posts

Christian, indie game developer of optimization puzzle game Hexahedra. Blogs about geekery and Christianity at the same time. Former RuneScape engine dev at Jagex. Hexahedra: s.team/a/1248420 Blog: blog.tarrenam.com

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Chris Knowles
zaratustra @zaratustra.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
2993552864
Reposted by Chris Knowles
Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Anybody who’s still advocating putting these tools anywhere near a school is not doing so despite the cognitive collapse they cause, but because of it. dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn...
Abstract
Using 30 months of panel data on 26,811 Chinese students in grades 7-12, we study how generative Al affects homework productivity and learning. The data combine monthly closed-book exams, high-school and college entrance exams, and homework scores and completion time across nine subjects. We exploit staggered Al adoption in a difference-in-differences design. Al adoption raises homework scores by 18% and reduces completion time by 30%, but lowers monthly exam scores by 20% within six months.
High-stakes entrance-exam scores fall by 18 and 24%, with the full penalty emerging only after about two years. The losses are largest in social science subjects, followed by STEM and languages, and are especially large for junior students, high-achieving students, and boys. The learning losses are concentrated among roughly 80% of Al users whose behavior is consistent with homework outsourcing, as indicated by exceptionally short homework completion time coupled with high homework scores. Al users who maintain similar homework completion time as non-Al users experience small learning losses.
131224461
Reposted by Chris Knowles
Sebas @ohlookbirdies.bsky.social · 06/09/2024
"Is this lens better, or this one?" - Optometrist "Is this lens worse, or this one?" - Pessimetrist
11892264
Reposted by Chris Knowles
Heather Flowers (500FF DEMO OUT NOW) @hthrflwrs.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
i think this is a contender for the stupidest line of code i've ever written
511817292
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 08/08/2026
If you see this, post a magic user. #Nerdlings
Cassie, female gnome wizard by Reaper Minis, painted with blue robes and purple trousers. She has red hair, glowing yellow eyes, and is casting a spell. She's standing on grey flagstones, and her casting is creating a red/yellow circle with runes on the ground. She's carrying a staff in her right hand, and she has a large potion on her belt.
020
Reposted by Chris Knowles
クーデルカ @kdlc.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
i added the fun counter and now the game is so much more fun
021
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 16/07/2026
Kid called David decides he doesn't like the 1980s or having his own spaceship.
000
Reposted by Chris Knowles
garro30k @garro30k.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Count Binface, ready to serve as a bounty hunter in my Necromunda Collection. #CountBinface #Necromunda #Nerdlings
Count binface miniature by troublemaker games, painted by myself.
302001196
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 14/07/2026
Who was the best metalworker in ancient Rome? Pliny the Welder
010
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 05/07/2026
The Eurostar, being in space, was never part of the EU.
000
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 04/07/2026
I am once again asking folks who write game guides to learn the difference between east and west.
020
Reposted by Chris Knowles
Andy Clark of the living dead @andycruns.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Mini of the month - John Blanche Entry 13 by @tristanwelsh.bsky.social Gob Emperor on the Golden Throne #Nerdlings #MiniOfTheMonth
A goblin is sitting on the golden throne, based on the classic John Blanche artwork of the Golden Throne. Many cables are plugged into the goblins head who is also sporting a nifty mechanical left eye.

The throne is covered in purity seals, skulls, candles and even a little rat at the front. It's painted in a variety of brown, orange, red and sandy tones with a lot of texture. A servo skull is on the right hand side, holding an open book. 

The backdrop is a hand painted depiction of many cables in the same colour scheme A goblin is sitting on the golden throne, based on the classic John Blanche artwork of the Golden Throne. Many cables are plugged into the goblins head who is also sporting a nifty mechanical left eye.

The throne is covered in purity seals, skulls, candles and even a little rat at the front. It's painted in a variety of brown, orange, red and sandy tones with a lot of texture. A servo skull is on the right hand side, holding an open book. 

The backdrop is a hand painted depiction of many cables in the same colour scheme A goblin is sitting on the golden throne, based on the classic John Blanche artwork of the Golden Throne. Many cables are plugged into the goblins head who is also sporting a nifty mechanical left eye.

The throne is covered in purity seals, skulls, candles and even a little rat at the front. It's painted in a variety of brown, orange, red and sandy tones with a lot of texture. A servo skull is on the right hand side, holding an open book. 

The backdrop is a hand painted depiction of many cables in the same colour scheme A goblin is sitting on the golden throne, based on the classic John Blanche artwork of the Golden Throne. Many cables are plugged into the goblins head who is also sporting a nifty mechanical left eye.

The throne is covered in purity seals, skulls, candles and even a little rat at the front. It's painted in a variety of brown, orange, red and sandy tones with a lot of texture. A servo skull is on the right hand side, holding an open book. 

The backdrop is a hand painted depiction of many cables in the same colour scheme
1534794
Reposted by Chris Knowles
Gary Alexander @garyalexander.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
We have lots of (correct) criticisms of generative AI from a labor perspective. But here's a management one, too: You can and will discipline labor. Human beings can be manipulated through material and psychological incentives. But what if your "workers" are software owned by another capitalist?
534151
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 18/06/2026
Shady Merchant: I'm setting up a new shop and giving out free samples! Would you like a totally normal healing potion? Player Character: Why doesn't this healing potion stack with the others in my inventory? Shady Merchant: Gosh, I don't know, it's definitely a TOTALLY NORMAL healing potion!
010
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 18/06/2026
Image entitled "9 Steam Games I Want To Spread"

I built this using the link in the quoted post.

The games are:
Last Train Outta' Worm Town
Dorfromantik
Can of Wormholes
Uplink
Hexahedra
Pacific Drive
Solas 128
Shadowrun Dragonfall Director's Cut
Heaven's Vault
010
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 18/06/2026
This isn't "monitoring WiFi to work out who you are online". This is identifying you, physically, at a location by analysing WiFi radio signals.
000
Reposted by Chris Knowles
Jon-Paul @tripleshot31.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
The irony is they are replacing all their non-union humans with agents run by a single organization that can demand changes in wages (aka token costs) overnight without bargaining.
8578181
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 11/06/2026
I absolutely do NOT want a phone that can be bricked remotely by the manufacturer. Whoops, we bricked your phone because we mistyped the ID of a stolen one. Whoops, we bricked your phone because an oppressive regime told us to. Let it be MY phone, please. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Met police chief calls for law to make stolen phones ‘unusable bricks’
Home secretary also urged to force tech firms to share data on stolen devices and if they are reactivated
000
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 10/06/2026
Doctor Who, but the Doctor regenerates into a 300lb pro wrestler who solves problems with his signature move, the Sonic Piledriver.
010
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 09/06/2026
QP a GIF of your favourite Pokémon (wrong answers only).
static.klipy.com
Wizbit and Paul Daniels: 80s Magic Show
Alt: A GIF showing Wizbit, a conical yellow alien covered in stars and moons, with a face and very active puppet eyebrows, and legs wearing striped tights. Actually played by someone in a costume in the British 80s TV program of the same name, which also starred magician Paul Daniels. Here Wizbit is casting a spell, waving his arms and speaking, while waggling his eyebrows a LOT. Towards the end of the GIF Wizbit changes colour rapidly. During most of the GIF the background is monochrome, but after the colour changing, colour seeps back into the rest of the scene.
000
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 04/06/2026
The Cerebral Puzzle Showcase ends later today - Hexahedra will be 50% off for the next 6 and a bit hours, so grab a copy while it's going cheap! store.steampowered.com/app/1248420/... @puzzleshowcase.bsky.social #gamedev #indiegame
Image with the Hexahedra logo in the centre and, behind it, a faded version of the title screen background showing a cube being worked on by various factory devices - a laser, a spray painter, a heater setting fire to it, a panel remover taking the lid off to reveal the contents.

Around it, the official Cerebral Puzzle Showcase artwork, which incorporates images from many other puzzle games, such as a Portal turret and Baba from Baba Is You.
1125
Reposted by Chris Knowles
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 26/05/2026
Hexahedra will be taking part in the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase on Steam, 28th May to 4th June! And it just might be discounted! store.steampowered.com/app/1248420/... @puzzleshowcase.bsky.social #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev
Image with the Hexahedra logo in the centre and, behind it, a faded version of the title screen background showing a cube being worked on by various factory devices - a laser, a spray painter, a heater setting fire to it, a panel remover taking the lid off to reveal the contents.

Around it, the official Cerebral Puzzle Showcase artwork, which incorporates images from many other puzzle games, such as a Portal turret and Baba from Baba Is You.
095
Reposted by Chris Knowles
Cerebral Puzzle Showcase (May 28 - June 4 2026) @puzzleshowcase.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Looking for your next favourite puzzle game? Check out the "Hidden Gems" category at the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase. There you'll find highly rated games with fewer than 20, 50, 150 and 500 reviews. store.steampowered.com/sale/Cerebra...
1249
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 27/05/2026
Post someone bald! (I have the *perfect* army for this...) #warhammer #paintingminiatures
Front view of a metal Necron Lord, with a Staff of Light in his left hand, and pointing with a huge clawed right hand. He's painted primarily in Leadbelcher with joints in Brass Scorpion, with a glowing ribcage and the Staff of Light painted in Naggaroth Night, Xereus Purple, Alaitoc Blue, and Lothern Blue. His cloak has the same purple to blue transition. He's on a desert sand base with a spring of withered grass by his right foot.Rear view of the same model, showing more of the cloak.
0192
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 26/05/2026
Hexahedra will be taking part in the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase on Steam, 28th May to 4th June! And it just might be discounted! store.steampowered.com/app/1248420/... @puzzleshowcase.bsky.social #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev
Image with the Hexahedra logo in the centre and, behind it, a faded version of the title screen background showing a cube being worked on by various factory devices - a laser, a spray painter, a heater setting fire to it, a panel remover taking the lid off to reveal the contents.

Around it, the official Cerebral Puzzle Showcase artwork, which incorporates images from many other puzzle games, such as a Portal turret and Baba from Baba Is You.
095
Reposted by Chris Knowles
Eri!!!! :03 ΘΔ @mandateofheaven.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
I can't stop thinking about this video since I saw it last night
175188736786
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 07/05/2026
Today I have done one (1) democracy. If you're in the UK, don't forget to go out and vote if there are seats up for election in your area!
100
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 25/04/2026
"Sir, those parkour kids were back last night." "Right, that's it. Put a landmine on the porch roof and we'll see how they like it then." #Helldivers
A screenshot from Helldivers 2, during a city mission against Automatons. A glowing red Automaton landmine is sitting on a roof overhanging the entrance to a building.
011
Reposted by Chris Knowles
shauna @goldengateblond.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
i’ve worked in tech more than 20 years. it has never been more ridiculous.
exchange on X 

Christoffer Bjelke @chribjel 
We hired a junior developer to write the simple code, so we don't have to spend a ton of money on tokens for those basic/primitive tasks

Sameer goel @sameer_goel
Great, so now we're optimizing LLM costs by inventing employees again.
Full circle innovation.
101166973376
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 19/04/2026
This weekend I finished a DIY job I started three and a half years ago 🦾 #adulting
130
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 18/04/2026
Thanks, Walker Drop-Off Pilot. #Helldivers
A screenshot from Helldivers 2. An exosuit (a big pilotable mech with heavy weapons) has been dropped in, but it's landed on top of the extraction beacon, which means that it's too high up to get into. The extraction beacon is very slender, so the whole thing looks rather comical.
000
Reposted by Chris Knowles
electriceve (ICantThinkEm) @electriceve.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
reject AI. embrace hatsune mikron.
A miniature sculpted by core_breaker to look like a Hatsune Miku themed Necron. I have painted it in a hatsune Miku themed colour scheme.
8655197
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 05/04/2026
You can't play penguin football without breaking a few eggs.
010
Reposted by Chris Knowles
Bench (Ben Frenchman) @benfrenchman.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
There's something a bit poignant about a Bluetooth device failing to connect to another device right next to it when they're the only Bluetooth devices for hundreds of thousands of kilometres around.
4662521295
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 05/04/2026
Happy Easter! Christ is risen!
000
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 02/04/2026
- Write puzzles for LAN - Get to LAN - Puzzle system has stopped working 😭 - Remember that I told nginx to block all access except from my home IP 🤦
100
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 02/04/2026
Arrived at Enclave. Tomorrow there will be PUZZLES.
A photo of an empty LAN hall, with rows of desks. In the foreground, an extra table with an aluminium sign that reads "Exorecon Lab - Authorized Shifters Only". A small box that will turn out to be very useful later sits next to it.
000
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 01/04/2026
Enclave 2 (@enclavelan.bsky.social) starts tomorrow, and I'll be bringing another batch of puzzles with me! Come and join the Exoreconnaisance Corps and investigate strange events beyond the safety of the Enclave's walls.
A metal sign, still in its bubble wrap. Two adjacent strips of hazard stripes give the impression it's part of an industrial door. At the top left, the text reads "EXORECON LAB", and at the bottom left, "AUTHORIZED SHIFTERS ONLY". The Enclave logo is at the bottom right. There's a t-shirt at the top-right of the picture.A small box with the text "Exorecon Lab Password Reset" on it, with a small digital display reading "Lab Access Reset, Present ID". To the right of the display is a credit-card shaped box with the words "Present ID" in the middle. On the left is the Enclave logo.A screenshot of a virtual terminal. At the top the word "Exorecon" in ASCII art. Below this reads:
Authorized shifters only. All activity may be monitored and reported.
ShiftOS 16.3.10 "Penthesilea"
There's then a command prompt, into which the command "ls" has been typed, with the terminal responding with three directories, "log", "mail", and "transcripts".
000
Reposted by Chris Knowles
Star Trek Corrected Captions @startrekcc.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Day 156 of inserting a Muppet into a Star Trek screenshot #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #TheMuppets #MuppetTreasureIsland
In a scene from the Star Trek episode "The Naked Time," Lt. Sulu is standing shirtless in one of the Enterprise corridors with his epee drawn and pointed at another figure down the way. That figure is Kermit the Frog (as Captain Abraham Smollet from Muppet Treasure Island) who is standing with a sword of his own drawn.
522482
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 14/03/2026
If you see this, post a robot!
Four Spindle Drones from Blackstone Fortress. They have roughly triangular heads, painted in a bluish-grey, and three metallic legs. Their central eye glows red and yellow.
Their bases are shards of a black material, with blue glows in some corners, and edge highlighted in pale blue. Some bases have blue crystals growing out of them.
0121
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 13/03/2026
New favourite pub quiz round: Drug or Pokémon?"
010
Reposted by Chris Knowles
Andy Clark of the living dead @andycruns.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
It’s Friday! Hurrah! This week the theme is…broken. So let’s see damage. As usual I’ll repost the lot and if you like something, share it! #Nerdlings #FindFolkFriday
A damaged necron warrior with sparks coming out of its head
6614325
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 12/03/2026
Can this be a solution?
Parody of an image showing the Strait of Hormuz, Iran, the UAE, and Oman, and claiming that the Strait of Hormuz crisis can be solved by unloading oil from ships on the west of the strait, moving it east by land with tracks, and putting it back on ships on the other side.

In this version, the "Drop-off Point" has been relabelled as "Beach Emergence Point", the trucks have been replaced by walking Cybran Destroyers from the game Supreme Commander (which are able to emerge from the sea and walk very slowly across land), and the "Pickup Point" has been relabelled as "Re-entry Point"
120
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 27/02/2026
Does anyone else feel like this whenever they use reflection? #gamedev
Screenshot of some C# code to set up integration tests, which includes using reflection to access a private variable. A comment is highlighted, which reads "Oh, playerList is private? Parry this you filthy casual"
031
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 24/02/2026
Fidgeter Lizard Celeriac Rouge
000
Reposted by Chris Knowles
Alex Kanaris-Sotiriou @kanaratron.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
📢 INDIE DEVS WHO ARE IN NEXT FEST! If you're participating and would like your demo/store page reposted to 37K+ Bluesky followers then drop it in the replies below* *No games that use Gen-AI please and thank you.
The Steam Next Fest promo image.
132551232
Chris Knowles @tarrenam.com · 30/01/2026
Working in ancient codebases is often frustrating, but yesterday I did a TODO from 2007 and it was very satisfying. #gamedev
2102
Reposted by Chris Knowles
Atla Hrafney @atlathewriter.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
In the 2010s, the Icelandic tv station Channel 2 accidentally added subtitles from a gritty crime drama to an episode of Teletubbies. I have translated some of the highlights
A screenshot of Lala and Po from the teletubbies. The screenshot is clearly taken from someone's phone, as the borders of the tv can be seen, as well as glimpses into the apartment behind them. Po is in bed wrapped up in a blanket. The text below them reads "I know you were high at my mother-in-laws funeral..."More screenshots from the Teletubbies. Lala seems to be upset with a terrified Po. the text below reads "Did you kill the dog? Why would you do that?!"A third screenshot from the Teletubbies, this time the same scene as before. Po is wearing an apron while Lala seems to still be upset at him. The text below reads "You're nothing but a failure of a man."
9675043334
Reposted by Chris Knowles
Dr Katie Twomey @k2mey.eurosky.social · 11/01/2026
Slightly diminish a game Anecdote of Zelda
061
Reposted by Chris Knowles
bookswain.bsky.social @bookswain.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
Slightly diminish a game Duopoly
021