James Youngman
@jyoungman.bsky.social
2.1K followers 620 following 2.1K posts
He/him Game Designer, composer, writer https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/ten-lessons-over-ten-years http://jamesyoungman.bandcamp.com https://jyoungman.itch.io Senior Tech Designer at Elsewhere. All opinions my own. #gamedev | #gamedesign
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jyoungman.bsky.social
It's tricky. You don't want them over indexing on Unreal specifically, but yes, there's a lot of redundancy in teaching multiple engines.

But learning new engines and new scripting languages is part of the job of a game designer.

If they learn some C++, I think that covers text-based development.
jyoungman.bsky.social
I realized I misread your post. Is this for designer or engineering students?

Agreed that learning the first language is always tough, and C++ is a tough first language to learn.
jyoungman.bsky.social
The only concern I'd have is making sure they get text-based scripting experience in somewhere. Blueprints are great, but C# and Lua are also widely used and require a different mindset.
Reposted by James Youngman
trulyaliem.bsky.social
also comics characters should age normally. this is a generational art form and the characters i grew up with should stay the same age relative to me, stories and personalities maturing as time goes on.

there is no world where kate pryde should be younger than real-world me.
rphutch1975.bsky.social
What's an opinion about X-Men that'll get you sent to jail? Is Jean really interesting or really boring? Should Logan have stayed dead? Do you think a certain x-mens outfit is positively horrendous even though people seem to love it?

The Brood Saga is better than Dark Phoenix imo 🤷
jyoungman.bsky.social
💯

The lack of aging stunts development and limits storytelling opportunities. Also takes the narrative weight out from characters with extended life spans.
jyoungman.bsky.social
State of the art animatronic dinosaurs. Spare no expense on getting them as accurate and functional as possible.

Next, hide them in parks with supporting hardware so that they only appear randomly when there aren't many people around, and can't be detected when inactive.
Reposted by James Youngman
okwonga.bsky.social
It’s funny how black people are expected to reach across the aisle to voters like these, while no one ever expects them to reach across the aisle to black people. Amazing who gets to be human, and who doesn’t.
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
POLITICO: “.. They referred to Black people as monkeys and ‘the watermelon people’ and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies .. and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.

@politico.com
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
Reposted by James Youngman
annamegill.com
I'm holding a NaNoWriMo event in my narrative discord again this year, and I'm seeking prizes for the winners' raffle. I'm chipping in a book and game, but more prizes are needed. If you have any work (books, games, papers, etc.) you'd be willing to donate, please let me know. Thank you!
Reposted by James Youngman
kateclancy.bsky.social
I am being asked to tell my department which pieces of lab equipment should be supported with backup power because they expect rolling blackouts and brownouts in 2026 due to increased energy demands from AI. In case you're wondering how my day is going.
jyoungman.bsky.social
This was one of the early culture shocks for me when I moved there. When my new neighbor invited me to the pub, I figured we'd have a couple rounds. It was a Thursday after all.

We had six.
acollierastro.bsky.social
English vloggers will announce a 'cheeky drink' after work and then film themselves having 3 cocktails at 7pm. On a weekday.

I should move to England.
jyoungman.bsky.social
The Cetology chapter in Moby-Dick is genuinely fun to read. The people who skip it are hurting their own enjoyment because of a meme propagated largely by people who haven't read the book.
rachelfeder.bsky.social
Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat
Reposted by James Youngman
catacalypto.bsky.social
really good articulation. I’ve been spending time recently playing the Sims with a bunch of mods in order to experiment with surfacing these machine-reasons: I don’t want the weird little guys’ behavior to be more understandable, but I want to make it more *observable*, & that’s been very satisfying
notquitereal.bsky.social
a central principle—maybe THE central principle—in each of these is: sometimes you won't understand what the weird little guys do, and they'll do it for a machine-reason that you can only feel the edges of. but you will enjoy it when they do it
Reposted by James Youngman
mixedlinguist.bsky.social
One surprisingly heartbreaking thing about living in these times is seeing young people who finally made it to college/graduated/got a job/achieved the thing they’ve worked so hard for… just watch their opportunities disappear. And it’s even worse because absolutely none of this had to be happening.
jyoungman.bsky.social
This has been the most delightful part of Silk Song for me (rot13 to avoid spoilers)

Cynlvat qhrgf jvgu Furezn

Such a small thing, but it shows that they were paying attention to the little things
jyoungman.bsky.social
This bill, if passed and signed into law, would do so much good for American politics and democracy. I've called my Representative to advocate for it, and I hope you will, too.
fairvote.bsky.social
A range of reforms could end gerrymandering for good and make district lines less important. The best would be a national shift to #ProportionalRepresentation with multi-member districts, as embodied by the Fair Representation Act.

Learn why 👇
Improving redistricting with proportional representation - FairVote
The Fair Representation Act would improve redistricting by implementing multi-member districts and ranked choice voting for the U.S. House.
fairvote.org
jyoungman.bsky.social
Economic forces have meant that I haven't gotten to live within 1,000 miles of my pre-COVID community since I got vaccinated and it's hard to express how difficult it's been.
jyoungman.bsky.social
16 player Halo CTF was some of the best gaming of my college years.

Online gaming is great, but it isn't the same as being in the room with the people you're playing with.
jyoungman.bsky.social
Wrote a surf rock track today and it felt weird to compose a rock piece in a major key 😂
jyoungman.bsky.social
Thread
bretdevereaux.bsky.social
And the more the stronger the effect: your goal is for the thought to cross their mind, "if I do this, I can never go home again" - to conjure the near certainty of social ostracism and enduring, permanent, *universal* stigma.

Because the one thing humans fear more than death is shame.
Reposted by James Youngman
fairvote.bsky.social
18 cities and counties across the country are using #RankedChoiceVoting in their elections this year, including the largest cities in three states.

See where voters will use RCV in November, and where they've already used it in 2025 ⬇️
The 2025 elections using ranked choice voting - FairVote
18 cities and counties are using RCV in their 2025 elections – including the most populous cities in three states.
fairvote.org
jyoungman.bsky.social
"This weekend I played..."
impavid.us
In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand

I'll go first: Six page commercial lease.
jyoungman.bsky.social
I've been playing the game in French with English subtitles, partially for authenticity, but also because I'm interested in is tu/vous usage.

The problem is that in most scenes where it matters, I'm too emotionally invested to notice 😅