Tim Smith

Tim Smith

@torlack.bsky.social

Atheist, egalitarian, humanist, skeptic, game programmer and bassist. LGBTQ supporter. Opinions expressed here are my own and not that of my employer.

70 followers94 following135 posts

To Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk wherever you might currently be, a toast to a fine institution. It is a say day mixed with many wonderful memories. Thanks you two.

I asked Google AI the following question "How would an executive yell at a manager for wasting millions of dollars on an AI feature nobody wanted." OMG, the response.

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"... You didn't build a product; you built a monument to your own ego with the company's checkbook. Give me one reason why I shouldn't reorg your entire department today."

I asked Google AI the following question "How would an executive yell at a manager for wasting millions of dollars on an AI feature nobody wanted." OMG, the response.

"We just flushed millions down the toilet on a feature that adds zero shareholder value. Who signed off on this? We have uses screaming for basic stability, and instead, you gave them an AI tool they don't want and don't know how to use..."

"... removes a number of requirements... including that the proposal must be constitutional, factually accurate or have clear subject matter statements." Basically opening the door for the separatism petition which isn't constitutional.

Duane Bratt🇨🇦@duanebratt.bsky.social

No big deal, but the Alberta government just increased the fee to submit a citizen initiated petition from $500 to $25, 000. After the separatism initiative was approved, but before Corb Lund's coal mining petition gets re-approved. No political shenanigans going on here.

You thought seagull management was bad, have you been subjected to seagull code reviewers? "But but but, my opinions!!!" The Titanic just hit an iceberg, forgive me if I have little concern about the carpet in your suite.

As a low profile 20+ year dev, I feel this is an excellent summary of developer's perspective on "Stop Killing Games". TLDR: "This initiative is an important conversation that needs to be had. But it complicated..." My own thoughts below...

Alanah Pearce@alanahpearce.bsky.social

I'm late to this one because I specifically wanted to avoid the ~internet drama~ surrounding it, but I asked 20 game devs what they thought about Stop Killing Games. Some of these answers were genuinely fascinating - huge thanks to all the devs who helped out! youtu.be/ZtHPFvQ1Puw?...

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IP and licensing of that IP seems like it might complicate things. There have been instances of IP being pulled from a published game after the license expires. This seems like it might be possible to use this as a tool to thwart efforts by this initiative. I'm not an IP lawyer...

If a "publicly releasable server" is required and it diverges significantly from the server used internally, I fear that the quality of that server will be lacking. The video covers this under the notion of having to rethink the dev process. But it is an example of how things aren't trivial.

As a low profile 20+ year dev, I feel this is an excellent summary of developer's perspective on "Stop Killing Games". TLDR: "This initiative is an important conversation that needs to be had. But it complicated..." My own thoughts below...

Alanah Pearce@alanahpearce.bsky.social

I'm late to this one because I specifically wanted to avoid the ~internet drama~ surrounding it, but I asked 20 game devs what they thought about Stop Killing Games. Some of these answers were genuinely fascinating - huge thanks to all the devs who helped out! youtu.be/ZtHPFvQ1Puw?...

When it comes to 3rd party licensed software, the terms for client binaries and server binaries are significantly different. For server binaries, game devs have a LOT more freedom to license software that can NOT be distributed freely. This isn't a trivial problem to solve.

Googled an opinion I had to get thoughts from others on the subject. The Google AI summary agreed with my position. I'm not sure how I feel about that. (1) Yea me??? (2) God, I hope people don't take Google AI summaries as an authoritative opinion.

Jesus Christ. The conservative loser is coming to Alberta’s Battle River riding vacated by the newly elected MP. The PP of the Conservative Party had to come to the most hard core riding in the west to try for PM. Now we have two weasels to deal with in Alberta (no offence to weasels intended).

The notion of a "anti-Christian hate" hotline is moronic. Protestants reporting Catholics. Catholics reporting Protestants. Both reporting Mormons. And the Southern Baptists reporting the rest of the world. Mark my words. When they run out of people to demonize, they will go after each other.

Measles has an R value of 12-18. Someone with measles is expected to infect 12-18 in a susceptible population. If true, the doctor should have his licenses revoked.

Michelle R. Smith@bymichellersmith.com

A video showed a doctor with measles treating kids. RFK Jr later praised him as an ‘extraordinary’ healer. My @apnews.com story with comment from @unbiasedscipod.bsky.social @craigspencer.bsky.social @pauloffit.bsky.social -->

Conservative Party of Canada - tough on crime, tough on wokism, and (checks notes) tough on paper straws. There isn’t a day that goes by where I wonder when Canada will start taking the paper straw problem seriously.

Canada Conservative Party is talking about being more tough on crime and fighting against wokism. Thankfully we have a recent example of a party running on the same platform. We all know how that turned out.

The fake outrage over "buttongate" is hilarious. On one side we have a group of people who printed up a bunch of buttons. On the other side we have a group of top level party members slithering up to a fascist government. Yeah... not the same...

Tim Smith reposted

Replying to @kristadb1.bsky.social

You can register at the polling station! There's a table when you walk, you let them know you aren't sure if you are registered, and they might send you to another table, but like literally you can even register to vote right there! You moved? There's rules to help you vote! CHECK THE LIST

Tim Smith reposted

Replying to @antlervel.vet

VETERAN NARRATIVE DESIGNER/GAME WRITER IN DESPERATE NEED OF A JOB - Almost 20 years experience - Original writer/ND for mobile hit Lily’s Garden - Worked with big IPs like World of Warcraft, Marvel, DC - Experience with mobile, console, and PC Please, please, please help me. I am out of time.

linkedin.comStella Sacco - Saber Interactive | LinkedInVeteran in narrative, content, and creative direction for hit games like Lily’s Garden… · Experience: Saber Interactive · Education: Sage College · Location: New York · 500+ connections on LinkedIn. V...

The vast majority of game devs who worked their asses off to ship a game will never be publicly recognized by the industry. I helped win tons of awards for BioWare. Last time I checked, my wall of industry awards is EMPTY.

It does suck to not be able to accept an award because you have been laid off. But recognize you have been in a position of privilege to publicly accept an award in the first place. Behind every high profile developer is banquet hall full of no-name developers who are also out of work.

My Fellow Albertans: US style private healthcare sucks really bad. Yours Truly, US/Canadian Citizen Living In Alberta P.S. Conservatives sabotage our public healthcare system so they can point at it an go "Public healthcare sucks, we should have private healthcare." They don't care about you.

Tim Smith reposted