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sam.apparance.uk
Sam Swain
@sam.apparance.uk
900 followers 240 following 350 posts
A child of the procedural generation. Long-time tools coder off of the games industry. Worked on Fable, NMS, Gloomhaven. Building crazy proc-gen technology: www.apparance.uk 👈 Try Unreal & Unity plugin for free! he/him ▪ forever 42 ▪ surrey, uk
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sam.apparance.uk
Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · Nov 17
Hello Bluesky! I'm a programmer who has worked on a few well known games, making lots of level editors, content tools, and technical architecture. My interest and involvement in procedural generation over the years has blossomed into my game focused proc-gen middleware called Apparance.
Collection of game logos and box-art that Sam Swain has worked on and the companies that made them: Flaming Fowl (Gloomhaven, Ironmarked), Hello Games (No Man's Sky), Apparance procedural middleware (Apparance Studios), Elixir Studios (Republic The Revolution), Salix Games (Maze), Lionhead Studios (Fable 2, Fable 3, Fable Heroes, Fable The Journey, Fable Legends), Silicon Dreams (Dogs of War, Lego Island 2), and Oxford Softworks (Intelligent Strategy Games 10, Go II Professional, Go III Professional).
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sam.apparance.uk
Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 6h
Stream is live. #ProcGen starts on the hour!
www.twitch.tv/ga5p0d3
sam.apparance.uk
Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 6h
Streaming again in an hour! Join me to see if I can get rooms joining up properly this time! :D
www.twitch.tv/ga5p0d3
Funky Diagnostics! Procedural Labels! Episode #9 (last week). Me in the corner waving. Unreal Editor in background showing procedural space station rooms with blue and red diagnostics boxes and labels.
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sam.apparance.uk
Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 6h
Looks cute. Maybe just stick with it for a while and see as you work with other aspects of the world 🥰
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sam.apparance.uk
Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 6h
Streaming again in an hour! Join me to see if I can get rooms joining up properly this time! :D
www.twitch.tv/ga5p0d3
Funky Diagnostics! Procedural Labels! Episode #9 (last week). Me in the corner waving. Unreal Editor in background showing procedural space station rooms with blue and red diagnostics boxes and labels.
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sam.apparance.uk
Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 11h
Yes, v good scifi horror.
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sam.apparance.uk
Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 20h
Nope (2022)
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sam.apparance.uk
Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 22h
Goodness, I forgot to post last weeks stream video! Never fear, it is here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIPt...

Also, I'll be streaming tomorrow at 1pm BST (12 GMT). Hopefully having worked out what's going on with the door/wall interaction logic 🤔
Proc-Gen Dev Stream #9 - Funky proc-gen diagnostics
YouTube video by Apparance
www.youtube.com
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Reposted by Sam Swain
glassbottommeg.bsky.social
Megan Fox @glassbottommeg.bsky.social · 1d
What's this? An actually reasonable, explanatory, clearly understandable take on what AI can and can't be reasonably expected to do (and how the "AI" that works has actually been in tools for years already)?

GOSH

Anyways this is real good
britthates.bsky.social
britt hayes @britthates.bsky.social · 2d
studio execs & major outlets claim AI is "inevitable" and poised to take over Hollywood. the reality is much different. i spoke with filmmakers, producers, and editors about how AI is actually showing up in productions – and what it still can't do:
Hollywood Has a Major AI Hype Problem
Studio execs and major media outlets claim that AI is "inevitable" and poised to take over film and TV. The reality is much different.
movieweb.com
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Reposted by Sam Swain
edmorrish.bsky.social
Ed Morrish @edmorrish.bsky.social · Jul 26
my new ai device will sit in a beer garden that backs onto a small river and drink three to five pints on a sunny late summer afternoon for you, leaving you free for more meetings and business calls
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sam.apparance.uk
Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 7d
Oops, starting a little late :/
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sam.apparance.uk
Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 7d
Back streaming #ProcGen dev again tomorrow, also back at 1pm BST (12 GMT).
www.twitch.tv/ga5p0d3
ga5p0d3 - Twitch
Games Developer, specialising in procedural generation, tools, and systems. Creator of the Apparance proc-gen plugin for Unreal and Unity.
www.twitch.tv
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Reposted by Sam Swain
ianmcque.bsky.social
Ian McQue @ianmcque.bsky.social · 8d
This. So much fucking THIS
naomialderman.bsky.social
Naomi Alderman @naomialderman.bsky.social · 8d
feels like yet again time to mention that the *videogames* industry (that's a creative industry, which people do creative degrees in) brings in more than twice the amount to the British economy as the fishing and steel industries *combined*
naomialderman.bsky.social
Naomi Alderman @naomialderman.bsky.social · 8d
I cannot understand what these people think the purpose of human life is?

It is *not* "pursue joy, deal justly, love well, try to understand as much and see as much of this beautiful world and of the deepness, richness and variety of human culture and experience as you can before you die"?
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Reposted by Sam Swain
mikebithell.bsky.social
Mike Bithell @mikebithell.bsky.social · 8d
Love the clarity of this message
zackpolanski.bsky.social
Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 9d
Let's make hope normal again.

youtu.be/qxt4HCjd7VA?...
Let's Make Hope Normal Again - Green Party Political Broadcast
YouTube video by Green Party of England & Wales
youtu.be
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Reposted by Sam Swain
jotatx.bsky.social
Json Momoa @jotatx.bsky.social · 8d
How cute that they used bubbles to depict the companies
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 8d
NVIDIA and OpenAi:

Concerns that their “increasingly complex and interconnected web of business transactions is artificially propping up the trillion-dollar AI boom.“

@bloomberg.com $NVDA 👀
www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
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sam.apparance.uk
Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 9d
Hmm, yes, some of the obvious shortcuts aren't suitable.
Road with sign saying "Unsuitable for heavy goods vehicles"
sam.apparance.uk
Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 9d
Perhaps a lesson in *mumble mumble* always questioning authority *mumble mumble* 🙄
sam.apparance.uk
Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 9d
I can only (at a stretch) assume that they were constrained by roads that can carry lorries/etc, or something, because there are plenty of ways that could be improved. 🤦‍♂️
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sam.apparance.uk
Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 9d
Got sent on this absolute fever-dream of a diversion on my way back from Epsom last night (ongoing overnight M25 junction works). I just followed the diversion signs assuming they would be the best way round. Took about half an hour extra. 😭
Map of where A3 crosses M25 showing closed road (black) and my intended route (green) with the crazy long diversion route (red).
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sam.apparance.uk
Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 9d
Wtf. Also, that last sentence, *chef kiss*
chronicleflask.katday.com
Dr Kat Day (she/her) @chronicleflask.katday.com · 9d
Daughter of Robin Williams, Zelda Williams 💔
zeldawilliams 20m From Create Mode •• Please, just stop sending me AI videos of Dad. Stop believing I wanna see it or that I'll understand, I don't and I won't. If you're just trying to troll me, I've seen way worse, i'll restrict and move on. But please, if you've got any decency, just stop doing this to him and to me, to everyone even, full stop. It's dumb, it's a waste of time and energy, and believe me, it's NOT what he'd want. To watch the legacies of real people be condensed down to 'this vaguely looks and sounds like them so that's enough, , just so other people can churn out horrible TikTok slop puppeteering them is maddening. You're not making art, you're making disgusting, over-processed hotdogs out of the lives of human beings, out of the history of art and music, and then shoving them down someone else's throat hoping they'll give you a little thumbs up and like it. Gross. And for the love of EVERYTHING, stop calling it 'the future. Al is just badly recycling and regurgitating the past to be reconsumed. You are taking in the Human Centipede of content, and from the very very end of the line, all while the folks at the front laugh and laugh, consume and consume.
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Reposted by Sam Swain
mikeachim.bsky.social
Mike Sowden @mikeachim.bsky.social · 9d
Damn. This is amazing. £325 per week, paid monthly, for 3 years - and the result was a profit for the Irish economy:
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...
Post from Threads user rodneyowl: "Ireland has declared the Basic Income for Artists scheme permanent. This will be officially announced in tomorrow’s budget. Details to follow. Congratulations to all who fought for it and the present and future artists of all sorts in Ireland. That includes me 👌We’re just comin to the end of a 3 year pilot scheme. It’s been a roaring success. For every €1 paid out to the 2000 participants, the government got €1.46 back. Can’t argue with that. Other countries are already taking note."
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Reposted by Sam Swain
malcolmnance.bsky.social
Malcolm Nance, Leading Resister @malcolmnance.bsky.social · 11d
TERRORISM EXPERT HERE:

This statement is a clear example of what is known as “State Terrorism”: When the dictatorship will order all instruments of its state security & intelligence apparatus against its own citizens to terrorize the population.
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sam.apparance.uk
Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 11d
Complaing about the odds actually being rigged... in a game called "Unfair Flips" 🤔
metacrab.org
Kara Ling @metacrab.org · 11d
The game in which the premise is "the odds are real but gamers struggle to conceptualize or even believe them" has negative reviews from gamers who don't believe the odds are real (game: Unfair Flips)
A 'Not Recommended' Steam review with 4 hours played Review text reads: It's a decent idea for a game where you flip a coin and depending on your percentage chances you get heads or tails. However the odds are a lie. You will flip tails 100 percent more than you will heads no matter what your percentage is. Even when you get it up to 60% you will still flip tails way more often then you will heads. The Dev can try to defend it, but when I flip the coin 2500 times and only hit heads a third of the time even when at 60% then the odds are broken or a lie. I've also watched gameplay and seen fellow players have the same flips so I know it isn't just me having bad luck. Still not bad for $2, but I'm saying no because the game is coded against you instead of it being fully on chance and luck.
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sam.apparance.uk
Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 14d
Pretty Aces!
The four ace card designs in the Fable card deck
sam.apparance.uk
Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 14d
The background too!
Microsoft Solitaire app with the Fable theme card deck and background.
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sam.apparance.uk
Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 14d
Oh wow, that's so neat. I never knew! 😍
eduardo.peculiarpath.com
Eduardo Hulshof @eduardo.peculiarpath.com · 14d
Did you know you can select the Fable Cards that came in the Fable Collectors edition as an option on the Microsoft Solitaire?

I have the actual physical deck, but learning this delighted me today

#fable, #fable3, #gamedev, #microsoft, #solitaire
a screenshot of a solitaire board showing the Fable Themed Cards.
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sam.apparance.uk
Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 14d
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