iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 18/09/2026

I got early-access to @typesafeai.bsky.social's Jev model, and have had a bunch of fun with it: I hooked it up to my latest indie game to see how it navigates a virtual world. It never hallucinates choices or commands—and it's so fast, I had to slow down its decision making for the video! #gamedev

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 16/09/2026

This is the most excited I’ve been about frontier AI work ever. That’s because this is a model structurally designed to not generate text. To work on focused, structured tasks. To not hallucinate. Take a look: typesafe.ai/blog/introdu...

typesafe.ai

Introducing System One Models & Jev - TypeSafe AI Blog

TypeSafe AI is an AI lab building machine-native intelligence infrastructure for automation, designed to make decisions within software. Try our first System One Model, Jev, in early access.

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 13/09/2026

It’s finally happening. I’m entering my podcasting era. 👀

Picture of a white Shure MV7+ microphone mounted on a boom. In the background are a mixture of computer monitors, a crocheted creature, and indie game posters.

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 16/05/2026

And that's a wrap on my third game jam, and Ludum Dare #59! If you want a behind-the-scenes look at how I made "in:frequency", read my latest article: www.withcaer.com/logs/infrequ... Next up: Cleaning up the horrifying post-jam spaghetti code. #gamejam #gamedev #solodev #ldjam

withcaer.com

Creating 'in:frequency'

This April, I competed in Ludum Dare, a biannual event that challenges devs to create an entire game in a weekend. This log is a behind-the-scenes view of how I created my third game, Infrequency, dur...

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 14/05/2026

Another Ludum Dare, another accolades poster! "in:frequency" is my best-received title yet, placing 20th in Innovation, 84th in Audio, 102nd in Theme, and 333rd Overall (of 1,610 games). Coming soon: A behind-the-scenes post on how I created it, and what's next. #gamejam #gamedev #solodev #ldjam

Accolades poster for Ludum Dare 59 entry "in:frequency". It shows several of the placements of the game: 20th in Innovation, 84th in Audio, 102nd in Theme, and 333rd overall out of 1610 titles.

It features the text "attune to signa's digital topography and cast your signal, carving a path to the beacon through hills and valleys"

It features three accolade call-outs: "a mesmerizing and addictive world", "an innovative blend of sound and graphics", and "with caer's most fully-realized title yet"

It features a playful corner call out, too: "and $&!%ing confusing to play."

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 11/05/2026

What if I told you LLMs (and most AI models) aren't innovative? Let’s start with an analogy of bananas. Bananas growing on a tree are very much like novel inventions: Fascinating to look at, and potentially useful…but not immediately valuable.

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 29/04/2026

> “I want understanding to grow in my brain, not the LLM’s transient session. Writing to explain my thinking to others is how I refine that thinking […] To have an AI write for me is to cripple my own mind.” So much this.

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 28/04/2026

I earned a degree in rhetoric, and now I'm an AI engineer. What frustrates me about AI-generated writing is that it's not _writing_: It's text. #writing #rhetoric #ai

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 21/04/2026

Play "in:frequency": caer.cc/app/ld59 I survived #LDJam 59! This was my 3rd jam, and my 3rd game ever--all using a Rust engine I've built from the ground up over the past year. Somehow, the final WASM was only 1.2MB... Read more at: ldjam.com/events/ludum... #gamejam #gamedev #solodev #rust #wasm

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 20/04/2026

As day two of #ldjam draws to a close, I find myself reevaluating my decision to implement dynamic, traversable topographic contour maps in 2.5D. But I did do it. #gamedev #gamejam #rust #solodev #map

An isometric view of a work-in-progress game featuring a topographic contour map.

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 19/04/2026

As the first full day of #ldjam 59 draws to a close, I've finished 90% of my game concept docs, and started working on the colors, maps, and terrain system for my signal-inspired game. 😎 #gamejam #gamedev #rust #solodev #affinity

A picture of a simple tile sprite containing a sphere of light, edited in Affinity.

A picture of a field of sprites rendered in an isometric perspective, with overlapping contour lines.

A picture of a color palette, rendered with the `aer` command-line tool.

A picture of a field of colored sprites and contour lines in an isometric perspective.

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 18/04/2026

The first day dawns on #ldjam 59! The theme is “Signal”. I plan to make something that builds on my last few entries’ isometric style, with a vertical, multiplayer twist - and inspired by radio signals. Step 1: Figuring out the gameplay mechanic… 🙈 #gamejam #gamedev #solodev

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 17/04/2026

Who’s ready for this weekend’s Ludum Dare? I will once again be using my delightfully questionable and bespoke #rust engine, and dabbling with either multiplayer…or multiple platforms. #ldjam #gamejam #gamedev #solodev

A picture of the Panic! PlayDate showing the time as ten past nine on Friday, April 17th.

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 15/04/2026

Last week, I published my first article on @martinfowler.com's site (a milestone for me)! It's on a topic close to my heart: Mechanical sympathy, which distills concepts across domains into principles that minimize contention for hardware resources, leading to simpler code--and better systems.

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 24/02/2026

It's not every day I get quoted on the web! Also, I've a new favorite quote: "If you know your readers will likely be annoyed by the uncanny valley of LLM prose, then don’t let it generate your text. But if you’re writing a mandated report that you suspect nobody will ever read, then have at it."

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 21/02/2026

“The Venn diagram of developer experience and agent experience is a circle.” is my favorite quote from last week’s Pragmatic Summit in SF. Finally, we have a way to convince people to invest in developer experience… 😭 Read more @ chats.withcaer.com/pragmatic-su... #coding #engineering #dx

chats.withcaer.com

Is software engineering more than coding?

Did you know that roboticists don't always build robots? Let’s chat about how AI has sparked an existential crisis for some software engineers.

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 17/02/2026

My biggest takeaway from my time at @gergely.pragmaticengineer.com' summit: #code is becoming the least interesting for engineers to manage. What matters now is the intent behind it: The conversations that created it, the specs constraining them, and the product concepts that inspired them.

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 01/01/2026

Last year, my resolution was 160x144--the same as the original Game Boy. In 2025, I created my first two games ever, using my own #rust engine (check out some of the code: github.com/caer/recollect)! This year, my #resolution is much larger: 1748x2480. What’s yours? #indie #gamedev #art #code

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 31/12/2025

Companies don’t hire engineers to write code. They hire us to own the code that hits prod. Bombarded with millions of lines of legacy and #AI #code, teams need engineers to cut through the noise--to know #slop from salvage. With 2026 looming, remember: LLMs aren’t engineering leaders. You are. ❤️

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 22/12/2025

What if I told you that today’s AI are antithetical? As a writer, I use antithesis (“this isn’t X, it’s Y”) to add emphasis. But over the past few months, I’ve noticed LLMs liberally sprinkling it in at random. Look closely next time you use AI--you just might see more antithesis than em dashes.

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 03/11/2025

I found a #bug in my #zsa Voyager. I'm not sure how to patch it... 🤔 #keyboards #mechanicalkeyboards

A close-up view of a Ladybug embedded beneath a keycap on a ZSA Voyager keyboard.

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 30/10/2025

The results for my #LDJam game are in: I ranked 60th in mood and 82nd in audio out of 1391 games. This was my first time composing music, my second time using my own #rust engine, and a huge leap from my last jam! You can try the game for yourself on the web: caer.cc/app/ld58 #indiedev #gamedev

Poster for Caer's Ludum Dare #58 game, titled "recollect".

The poster lists several of the games rankings: 60th in mood, 82nd in audio, 136th in innovation, and 397th overall out of 1,391 submitted games.

The poster contains a brief description of the game: "In a world without sound, guide recco and collect records of music from a civilization long since past."

The poster contains summary accolades from several of the Ludum Dare reviewers, including the following statements: "a rare and beautiful audio experience", "a moody abstraction of exploring the unknown", and "an atmospheric buildup akin to 'Outer Wilds'".

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 07/10/2025

I made another (tiny) game with my custom #rust engine as part of the 72-hour Ludum Dare Game Jam! "re:collect: In a world without sound, play as Recco, and gather lost records of music from a civilization long since past." ldjam.com/events/ludum... #LDJam #indiedev #gamedev

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 23/05/2025

It's been a bit, Bluesky! Last month, I made my first-ever game during @ludumdare.com #LD57: Layered. It's a puzzler inspired by deep neural networks' hidden layers, built using my own #rust engine based on #macroquad. Now I'm working on "finishing" it~ Read more and try it @ caer.cc/logs/ldjam-57/

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 08/01/2025

Pro Tip: When you get an unexpected and "time sensitive" training email at work, report it as Phishing to your security team! Now you're an ethical procrastinator in the name of #cybersecurity. Or a corporate rebel. Or both. ❤️

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 01/01/2025

Happy New year, Bluesky! My New Year's resolution is a crisp 160x144px. hbu? #nails #electronics #cryptography

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 30/12/2024

I soldered my first header pins today! Thanks @adafruit.com for the lovely parts and tutorials that gave me the confidence to give this a go~ #making #opensource #electronics

Image of an Adafruit Monochrome 200x200px E-Paper display (model SSD1681) with freshly soldered header pins.

Image of an Adafruit Feather S3 w/ 2MB PSRAM with freshly soldered header pins.

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Reposted by Caer Sanders

Niki Tonsky @tonsky.me · 21/12/2024

I propose we replace semantic versioning with pride versioning

Diagram with large number: 2.7.123
First “2” is commented: Proud version. Bump when you are proud of the release
Second “7” is commented: Default version. Just normal/okay releases
Third “123” is commented: Shame version. Bump when fixing things too embarrassing to admit

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 12/12/2024

Want to try an unstable Rust feature without installing an entire Nightly toolchain? Use `RUSTC_BOOTSTRAP=1 cargo` instead of `cargo +nightly`!* *This flag disables `rustc`'s stability guarantees. Sharks might eat your binary. But it sure is nifty! #rust #rustlang #code #programming #opensource

Image of a text editor showing two commands, both of which run the Rust Cargo test command with JSON output enabled. However, the first command required a dedicated nightly toolchain, whereas the second command uses the users' default toolchain, but with stability guarantees disabled.

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 28/11/2024

I’m making a 2.5D game engine in Rust for fun, and got super confused when the isometric cube I drew didn’t look “right”. Today I learned: Most “Isometric” game art is actually drawn in a 2:1 “Dimetric” projection. (real artists: plz correct me if I’m wrong)

Picture showing the difference in the mathematical dimensions for isometric and dimetric drawings, highlighting that dimetric drawings can be designed such that a “floor” tile has a ratio of 2:1.

Picture showing an isometric cube overlapping a 2:1 dimetric cube, highlighting the width difference between the two projections.

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 10/11/2024

"Rhetoric" is a word that gets...lots of use. Although I'm a coder, one of my degrees is in rhetoric—so I wrote a log on where this word comes from, and what it means: www.caer.cc/logs/makers-... I'd love to hear the community's thoughts ❤️ #writing #writers #rhetoric

caer.cc

A Maker's Guide to Rhetoric

'It's a rhetorical question'—this statement comes up a lot, but do you know what 'Rhetoric' actually is? Let's seize the Exigency, and find out.

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 24/10/2024

I've competed in countless rounds of #DevOps mortal combat with #TensorFlow, #PyTorch, and wonky #ONNX runtimes—Burn looks like a lovely alternative for making production-ready #DeepLearning models! What do other #MLOps and #DataScience friends think?

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Caer Sanders @withcaer.com · 22/10/2024

Hi Bluesky! I'm Caer; I #code and I write about code. For my first post, here's my favorite #RustLang hack: Combine `#![doc]` with `include_str!()` in `lib.rs` to reuse a `README.md` as a crate's docs. ❤️ #rust #programming #opensource

Snippet of Rust code showing a module-level "doc" attribute using the "include_str!" macro to import a README.md as docs for a module.

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