iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Matthew Varley

@varbles.bsky.social

629 followers 1.1K following 404 posts

He\Them. Reader, tabletop game enthusiast, video game player, and miniature painter. Principal software engineer making telephones ring in my day job. Mastodon: dice.camp/@varbles

Posts Replies Media

Matthew Varley @varbles.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

This was hard. I really tried to focus on games that were a root to what I like, but couldn't squeeze em all. Broad themes: exploration, story (especially emergent), moddable, and make your own fun. Except Spyro. That makes the list because it was my first real game. my9games.net/en/edit

Pick 9 games that define you.

Spyro, Mass Effect, Crusader Kings 2, Star Ocean: The Second Story, Oblivion, Halo: Combat Evolved, Rimworld, X-Com: Enemy Unknown, Homeworld

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Matthew Varley @varbles.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Time to read a nice book before bed to relax and decompress from all the sea monsters in Subnautica. The book:

A passage from a book describing a 60 foot long catfish-like leviathan leaping out of the water and crashing onto a 6 person sailboat.

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Matthew Varley @varbles.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

There's a spot going south where it stops twice on the same block.

A screenshot of the route map showing two southbound stops on the blockface around Greenwood Ave N and N 68th St.

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Matthew Varley @varbles.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Still amazed they never did this one.

Star Trek Voyager title card with the fake episode title "Twovok".

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Matthew Varley @varbles.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Star Trek TNG title card with the fake episode title "Fully Functional"

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Matthew Varley @varbles.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

Snagged this one in a white elephant book exchange.

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Matthew Varley @varbles.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

Larian is using generative AI? Well, damn, I didn't expect them to join the slopenning. RIP Larian, you had a good run. Also, incredible for them to torch all the good will they had built-up in a single sentence.

Snippet from the article.

"Under Vincke, Larian has been pushing hard on generative AI, although the CEO says the technology hasn’t led to big gains in efficiency. He says there won’t be any AI-generated content in Divinity — 'everything is human actors; we’re writing everything ourselves' — but the creators often use AI tools to explore ideas, flesh out PowerPoint presentations, develop concept art and write placeholder text.

The use of generative AI has led to some pushback at Larian, 'but I think at this point everyone at the company is more or less OK with the way we’re using it,' Vincke said.

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Matthew Varley @varbles.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

PAX Haul this year.

Picture of board games and RPG books.

Hunter + Hunted, Rebel Scum, Duck Börg, For All Mankind, Propolis, Fate of the Fellowship, The World Behind, Floral, Oh No We Crashed, Black Powder and Brimstone, Sentients, The Wildsea, Tales From the Lone Lands

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Matthew Varley @varbles.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

Ooo, good timing. Just started on them.

Primed, but unpainted Mass Effect miniatures.

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Matthew Varley @varbles.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

Minor one, but the ISBN is still the placeholder "x".

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Matthew Varley @varbles.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

Finished reading The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson last night. This book is absolutely magnificent - top 5 all-time for me. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Go read it.