iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Yarn Spinner 🔜 #MIGW26 @yarnspinner.dev · 31/03/2026

After 10 years of offering first-class, complete (we thought) dialogue solutions, we learned we had been missing the most important narrative design tool of all time: Tarot. We're sorry. We're listening, we're learning. And today, we've taken the first step: adding Tarot to Yarn Spinner 💚

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Mars Buttfield-Addison @themartianlife.com · 21/08/2025

Went to work without bringing the pups today, so husband has of course bought them a roast chicken and is at home trying to by their love / unseat me as dog favourite ☹️

A man’s hand is holding a few chunks of shredded chicken breast. Approaching with eyes full of hope and licking their lips are two tiny chihuahuas, one black and one cream.

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Yarn Spinner 🔜 #MIGW26 @yarnspinner.dev · 15/08/2025

Our local Screen Museum’s call for contributions was the perfect excuse to get retro + realise a silly idea we’d had for a VN with live stills. This celebration of ‘90s game hint hotlines is boasts a colourful mix of Tassie actors being goofy, and extensive lore of a fictional game company 👾🕹️⚔️

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Mars Buttfield-Addison @themartianlife.com · 10/08/2025

9 years ago today, I had spent the day playing board games with a boy I’d met less than two weeks before and had rapidly befriended. I kissed him for the first time and we started dating. 5 years ago today, we spent the day in escape rooms, then got married, surrounded by our closest friends. …

A man and woman are young, thin, smiling. They are dressed up for some daytime event, and taking a photo under a tree as they leave their rural Australian hotel.

The same man and woman are slightly older, slightly chubbier, dressed even more fancy. This is their wedding day. Standing at the altar, they are snuggling into each other and laughing at something out of frame.

The same man and woman are in what looks like a small art gallery aboard a cruise ship. They are dressed in Original Series-era Star Trek uniforms, including the woman wearing a retro wig, earrings and makeup. They are snuggling and happy again.

The same two people are outdoors in a rugged scrublands, surrounded by glassy rivers and rocky low mountains in the distance. They are smiling even though in serious outdoor gear and visibly suffering very poor weather.

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Mars Buttfield-Addison @themartianlife.com · 07/08/2025

@theotherprc.bsky.social you know, I've come upon your website in passing before and I honest-to-god assumed it was a whole data visualisation design _studio_. Shocked to have a quick stalk this morning and find you're just one person. What a bloody awesome job you have!

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Mars Buttfield-Addison @themartianlife.com · 06/08/2025

at this point any Tasmanian who can rustle up 13 mates might as well report to gov house, see if Barb’ll let you form government

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Mars Buttfield-Addison @themartianlife.com · 04/08/2025

Saw a cool bottle of body wash. Was inspired to remake my website again, finally realising the monospace idea I’d had brewing for ages 💙

A snippet of a personal webpage is shown where elements of the style of the body wash have been incorporated - white body with black monospace text, lines divide sections, and a header picture of the site’s owner has been edited to greyscale on a flat background. Text reads “Mars Buttfield-Addison is a computer scientist and science communicator based in lutruwita slash Tasmania. Specialist in software development for scientific and high-performance applications. Day job in space instrumentation, side hustles in game tools and iOS apps, hobbies in signal processing and open source, proper polyglot programmer. Can definitely make your code run faster. Apathetic about modern web design. Overly enthusiastic about most everything else.” The main divergence from the bottle’s design is a thin border around the page where a colourful background image shows through, here featuring marbled inks in water of mixed shades of blue.

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Dr Paris Buttfield-Addison 🔜 MIGW26 @hey.paris · 31/07/2025

thrilled to have had a microgame commissioned by ACMI for the Game Worlds exhibition! @secretlab.games & @yarnspinner.dev, with lots of help from @themartianlife.com & other amazing folks are making “Hint Line ‘93”, a game about answering phones at a game hint line! www.acmi.net.au/about/media/...

acmi.net.au

ACMI’S Next Level Exhibition, Game Worlds, Coming September 2025

The epic realms of videogames are the focus of Game Worlds, a major new playable exhibition premiering 18 September 2025 to 8 February 2026 at Australia’s national museum of screen culture, ACMI.

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Mars Buttfield-Addison @themartianlife.com · 02/06/2025

The idea that you can cancel a mission with an instrument already in space is absurd. You can only cancel people monitoring it, or receiving its data. This is akin to spending billions of dollars to build a telescope, just to then “cancel” people looking through it. www.nasa.gov/wp-content/u...

nasa.gov

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Yarn Spinner 🔜 #MIGW26 @yarnspinner.dev · 21/05/2025

I call Ruby a “Pocket Wolf” not just because she is small, but because she is a voracious shirt invader. When she was scared of strange places as a baby, I’d put her in my hoodie pouch for comfort. To this day, anyone visiting the Yarn Spinner office runs the risk of her climbing into their shirt.

A teeny tiny baby chihuahua is tucked into the torso pocket pouch but of a warm-looking hoodie. Just her head is showing, and she looks as if she is falling asleep.

A man in a fluffy hoodie pulls a silly face as he takes a selfie in which the same chihuahua - now a proud-looking adult - similarly snoozes while half-tucked into his shirt, this time at the neck. Her head is out of the neck hole of the shirt, resting on his upper chest slash shoulder. Again, she looks comfortable and sleepy.

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Yarn Spinner 🔜 #MIGW26 @yarnspinner.dev · 16/05/2025

🎉 YARN SPINNER 3 IS OUT NOW 🎉 for Unity, Godot, VSCode + try.yarnspinner.dev Including: - Storylets, enums, simple "run this bit only once" syntax - Better variables, easier-to-customise views - Bugfixes + QoL improvements galore - All-new docs + guides Check it out at yarnspinner.dev/v3 💚

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Mars Buttfield-Addison @themartianlife.com · 14/05/2025

The CFP is open for our 15th (!!) /dev/world Apple Developers Conference coming up this September in Naarm/Melbourne. Whether you’re a dev, a designer, an admin, or something else, we’d love to hear from you. Come share your expertise with the loveliest crowd in the world! 📲 devworld.au/index.php

devworld.au

/dev/world/2025

/dev/world/2025 is Australia's longest running conference for macOS and iOS developers and designers.

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Mars Buttfield-Addison @themartianlife.com · 13/05/2025

Sitting at my desk, reading papers, working on my thesis, minding my own business, being watched by little office busybodies 👀

A cluttered office is shown from the point of view of a person sitting at a desk in front of multiple laptops. One shows a text editor, but the content is not visible. Their desk also has a lamp, mug, e-ink tablet, and colourful desk pad. Their office has a bookshelf full of mixed reference books spanning fonts of science fiction to digital signal processing and the astronomical almanac, and is topped my Lego model rockets and spacecraft. There are plants around the room and a large, comfy armchair. On the armchair is a dog bed, in which a tiny black chihuahua is curled up and looking quizzically at the camera. Atop the chair, an even smaller cream chihuahua looks to camera guiltily, as if she were about to jump down onto her sister before she was busted by the camera-wielding human.

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Yarn Spinner 🔜 #MIGW26 @yarnspinner.dev · 08/05/2025

📣 In Yarn Spinner v3, we've also made significant changes to the API to simplify common flows. Including: • custom dialogue views • non-view components that know about the status of lines being presented • variable changed events • re-using line assets across multiple lines + many, many more!

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Yarn Spinner 🔜 #MIGW26 @yarnspinner.dev · 07/05/2025

In Yarn Spinner v3, we've also added a bunch of features that improve variables, making them more powerful and - in the Unity API especially - more native and nice to use. • Runtime-computed "smart" variables • Enum types • Code generation to expose C#-side properties for each of your variables 🧵👇

Tile shows a feature for Yarn Spinner V 3: Variable Storage Code Generation. The image notes that this feature is out now in Unity and more information can be found at yarn spinner dot dev slash V 3. The main content of the tile is an annotated code example that reads "In the past, variables declared in Yarn like so..."
A code line then reads "declare variable player name as string".
"... would become accessible in C sharp by calling the variable storage's Try Get Value function and handling the cases where the returned value had no value or the wrong type. Now, the storage will have properties for your variables!"
A code block then shows how by getting the Variable Storage component in-engine, it now has an accessor for the player name variable that can be accessed like any normal object property. Here, it is being used to make a greeting string composed of "Hi" plus variable storage dot player name.

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Reposted by Mars Buttfield-Addison

Yarn Spinner 🔜 #MIGW26 @yarnspinner.dev · 07/05/2025

In Yarn Spinner v3, we've added a bunch of features that can simplify the structure of even the most complex narratives in Yarn. Including: • Run this content only once • Run this content then jump back to where we were • Dynamically select from some set of possible lines or nodes to run 🧵👇

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Mars Buttfield-Addison @themartianlife.com · 06/05/2025

It’s my birthday tomorrow and I have TWO meetings scheduled to argue with university peers/leaders about AI. But tonight I got a glass of cider, early access Revenge of the Savage Planet co-op with the husband, a quick game of the new Citizen Sleeper solo-TTRPG before bed, and snuggly lap friends ❤️

Two tiny chihuahuas sit on a colourful rug. The larger one is black-and-tan with brown eyes and tall ears, looking shyly at the camera. The smaller one is cream and white with green eyes and slightly longer fur, looking confused at the camera.

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Mars Buttfield-Addison @themartianlife.com · 06/05/2025

How I (Comp. Eng./quantitative) view my husband's (Informatics/qualitative) research methods versus how he views mine

2D artwork shows a suit-and-tie-wearing man relaxed and asleep at his desk with a sleep mask on his face. A caption in large friendly letters over the image says "Vibe Coding".

A shot from the TV show Severance shows Helly looking exhausted at her desk as the stares at inscrutable numbers moving around on a computer screen.

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Mars Buttfield-Addison @themartianlife.com · 09/04/2025

We’ve had this beautiful baby for six months now and she is one today and a perfect angel ❤️

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Mars Buttfield-Addison @themartianlife.com · 07/04/2025

So many times in recent years I have felt like everyone around me is on another planet. When during the Black Summer fires the news said “stay indoors” but they didn’t. When COVID stayed but precautions didn’t. When climate change is ignored, social issues go unaddressed. AI shouldn’t surprise me.

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Dr Paris Buttfield-Addison 🔜 MIGW26 @hey.paris · 03/04/2025

Once again our local federal senator is streaming! Show @nickmckim.bsky.social some support? #auspol www.twitch.tv/nickmckimgam...

twitch.tv

NickMcKimGaming - Twitch

Nick McKim Gaming

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Mars Buttfield-Addison @themartianlife.com · 17/03/2025

Procreate Pocket sketch of my just-woken-up husband doing his best “look how ugly I am” face/pose because he wouldn’t let me take a photo 🩷

Simple flat-coloured line drawing of a soft-looking man in a black t-shirt, track pants, round glasses and old man slippers. He is hunched over with his arms forward, accentuating his little pooch belly. At the same time, he is grimacing terribly and tucking his chin in to form many neck rolls. His curly dark hair is unkempt in full mad scientist slash bed hair mode. A heart has been drawn beside the man by the artist.

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Dr Paris Buttfield-Addison 🔜 MIGW26 @hey.paris · 17/03/2025

get along to the fantastic @yarnspinner.dev talk from @mcjones.bsky.social today at #GDC25! schedule.gdconf.com/session/inde... #gdc2025 #gdc @officialgdc.bsky.social #gamedev

Tile advertising GDC talks at 9:30 Monday and 2:30 Thursday from the Yarn Spinner team, at GDC

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Yarn Spinner 🔜 #MIGW26 @yarnspinner.dev · 01/03/2025

Kinda funny how often this happens. People switch to Yarn Spinner saying they made a game with some other tool and it was a nightmare to localise/port/edit/finish. Maybe we should change our tagline to “Yarn Spinner: we’ll be here for your second game” 💁‍♀️

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Yarn Spinner 🔜 #MIGW26 @yarnspinner.dev · 21/02/2025

Run by fellow Tassie studio @twoandahalfstudios.com, The Storyteller’s Festival is a celebration of narrative games that we love 💚 Huge discounts on Yarn Spinner faves including: - Venba 🥘 - Dredge 🚢 - Frog Detective 🔍 - Outcore 💾 - Scarlet Deer Inn 🪡 + more! store.steampowered.com/curator/4239...

store.steampowered.com

The Storyteller's Festival 2025

A celebration of the art of storytelling, featuring a wide range of visual novels and narrative games that showcase the best in interactive fiction.

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Dr Paris Buttfield-Addison 🔜 MIGW26 @hey.paris · 14/02/2025

tiny coworkers at the @yarnspinner.dev office #dogs #chihuahua

A tall man with long hair, wearing a baseball cap, stands looking down and slightly smiling at a tiny white/yellow dog (a chihuahua) who looks up at him with a sad, but loving, expression on her tiny face. She is incredibly tiny, sitting at barely higher than his boots.

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Mars Buttfield-Addison @themartianlife.com · 11/02/2025

My favourite local Senator is getting some well-deserved viral attention across multiple platforms today. He’s not afraid to say it like is, and stand up against punching down. The major parties here rarely listen, but we won’t stop voting for him and he won’t stop trying 💚

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Jamie Carter @jctheresistance.demcast.com · 07/02/2025

This is how the world views the US. Australia calling out fascism, then adding that "Trump is a disaster for humanity and he belongs behind bars, not the oval office."

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Jac Mac @jacmacandsneeze.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

Meme with skeletons and clocks about staying up too late. Text: Ready for bed? Tired but can't fall asleep? try: staying up for 3 to 4 hours surely you won't regret staying up for 3 to 4 hours 3 to 4 hrs yay

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Yarn Spinner 🔜 #MIGW26 @yarnspinner.dev · 27/01/2025

the only copilot we program with

A man with long red hair and glasses stares with concentration at a MacBook. A tiny black-and-tan chihuahua in a knit sweater is sitting on his lap, and is currently doing a “blep” face as she licks the man’s chin. He does not seem to have noticed yet.

The same man with long red hair and glasses stares with concentration at a MacBook. The tiny black-and-tan chihuahua is sitting on his lap, doing squinty eyes at his computer. They are each wearing different shirts than the previous picture.

The same man with long red hair and glasses stares with concentration at a MacBook, mid-speech. The tiny black-and-tan chihuahua is sitting on his lap again, this time looking cheerfully at the camera. They are each wearing different shirts than the previous pictures.

The same man with long red hair and glasses stares with concentration at a MacBook. The tiny black-and-tan chihuahua is sitting on his lap again, this time on the other side and doing a different pose to the camera. They are each wearing different shirts than the previous pictures, and this one is taken dramatically in black-and-white.

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Dr. Damien P. Williams, dread portent down from a mountain cave @wolven.blacksky.app · 17/07/2024

Thinking real hard about The Good Place Committee today.

Paul Scheer as a member of The Good Place Committee saying "He's got a point. The fair thing for us to do is just keep giving up more and more stuff we want, unilaterally, until this demon is finally happy."

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Fun Fact Science with Kovi @funfactscience.com · 22/01/2025

Every astronomer the first time they do reduce radio observations 🥴 #radioastronomy #astronomy

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Mars Buttfield-Addison @themartianlife.com · 20/01/2025

I enjoyed the Ingold piece* and the top-quality responses it has prompted** but this whole discussion just tells me: 1. Video games have so many ways to touch you beyond the words characters say 2. @mike.reuben.games had the right idea about basic media critique years ago

Screenshot of a tweet from user kurt russell fan club: “ Decided from now on I’m reviewing movies on a 2D axis: star ratings for whether I like it, A/B/C ratings for if I respect it. For example: The Thing, B+, five stars; Hereditary, A, four and a half stars; Endgame, C, four stars; The Room, F, five stars; Babadook, B, two stars.”

Screenshot of a tweet from user kurt russell fan club: “Charting my opinions on movies and I’m even more sure this is the perfect film rating system.” Tweet image shows a 2D version lane graph where the X axis is enjoyment, the Y is respect. In the “do respect, didn’t enjoy” corner: Dead Man Walking, Babadook. In the “did enjoy, don’t respect” corner: Doctor Sleep, John Wick, The Room. In the “both respect and enjoy” corner: Steel Magnolies, The Shining, The Thing, Green Room, Avengers: Endgame. The remaining quarter is empty, presumably because those would be the disliked and non-respected movies you easily forget.

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Dr Paris Buttfield-Addison 🔜 MIGW26 @hey.paris · 18/01/2025

chihuahua

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European Space Agency @esa.int · 14/01/2025

#OTD 14 January 2005, ESA’s #Huygens probe made history as it touched down on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. This was humankind's first successful landing on a world in the outer Solar System. Relive those moments with this narrated video made with Huygens data 🔭👇 www.youtube.com/watch?v=svmG...

youtube.com

Huygens's descent to Titan's surface

YouTube video by ESA Space Science Hub

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Mars Buttfield-Addison @themartianlife.com · 09/01/2025

Excellence must be recognised, rewarded.

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Mars Buttfield-Addison @themartianlife.com · 04/01/2025

We went to breakfast, window shopped real estate, went to the beach, went swimming, had a bath, explored the garden, went on a sniffari around the neighbourhood, and ran and ran and ran around everywhere. Played games, found cool bugs, ate snacks, everything. A perfect dog day. Now totally zonked 😴

Photo showing the torso of a woman laying down on a couch wearing a large fluffy hoodie. Lying on her and completely fast asleep in weird positions are two tiny chihuahuas. Their back legs are entwined, their front legs are outstretched in midair like little overturned tables, and their necks are bent as they are both sleeping on an incline - one up and one downward. This is very cute and gives the overall impression that they were very tired.

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Mars Buttfield-Addison @themartianlife.com · 03/01/2025

what a crock this whole debacle is If only there were some way to instead turn $1 billion into better housing, healthcare or education for the state, as more and more Tasmanians are dying, starving, or sleeping rough 🤔⁉️

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Mars Buttfield-Addison @themartianlife.com · 03/01/2025

Drove five hours away to stay in a cottage in my favourite rainforest town. Got a yard for the dogs, rented a Starlink dish, brought some non-alc Tassie beers/ciders, downloading some sweet new Switch games. Living my best life.

A woman in casual clothes and messy hair sits in the grass in the shade of a tree up against the side of a low deck. Around her is a sunny garden of flowers. She is holding a Nintendo Switch Lite which is visibly downloading 1000xResist, and shows recently-played games Citizen Sleeper, Dredge, and Filament. Nearby sits an open can of Willie Smith’s cider, a clean wheelie bin with a Starlink dish sitting atop, and two to tiny chihuahuas sniffing around the grass.

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Mars Buttfield-Addison @themartianlife.com · 02/01/2025

I want to sit on a log and think about space.

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Mars Buttfield-Addison @themartianlife.com · 30/12/2024

Every December it’s like some sort of goth gf / pink gf trope with the husband about the holidays.

A selfie of a woman dressed in full Christmas garb - a red dress, bell earrings, a Santa hat, rainbow glasses and a big smile - and a man pulling a grumpy face who is wearing all black and a hat which says “Bah Humbug”.

A selfie of a woman dressed in full Christmas garb - a colourful shirt, bell earrings, a Christmas bows in her hair, rainbow glasses and a big smile - and a man pulling a grumpy face who is wearing all black and a hat which says “Bah Humbug”.

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Laine Nooney @ 🔥🗑️🔥 @lainenooney.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

omg a student somehow accidentally wrote an email addressed to a faculty-wide NYU listserv and my inbox is now a master class on who understands the difference between a listserv and an email chain

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