Darya
@daryam.com
I make videogames and talk about them. Currently with Epic Games. Giant Elder Scrolls nerd. Opinions don't represent employers.
Shipped a virtual pig that burps in command.
Quote this with what you have accomplished in 2025, no matter how big or small
Reading & writing has kept me alive this year.
Somehow, it’s been my most productive year as an author.
Here’s a guide to what I’ve published in 2025, in case you’ve lost track.
Individual links below but it’s all on itch: danifinn.itch.io
And elsewhere: books2read.com/ap/nAApPp/Da...
1/
Somehow, it’s been my most productive year as an author.
Here’s a guide to what I’ve published in 2025, in case you’ve lost track.
Individual links below but it’s all on itch: danifinn.itch.io
And elsewhere: books2read.com/ap/nAApPp/Da...
1/
December 27, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Shipped a virtual pig that burps in command.
Reposted by Darya
another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls
December 27, 2025 at 5:27 PM
another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls
Reposted by Darya
This post is the sign you’ve been waiting for to get into painting miniatures in 2026. Don’t worry about your skill level, or learning the lore, or having to play the game after - I promise you, you will thoroughly love the journey of simply painting a mini. It’s also so therapeutic. Do it :)
December 26, 2025 at 9:18 PM
This post is the sign you’ve been waiting for to get into painting miniatures in 2026. Don’t worry about your skill level, or learning the lore, or having to play the game after - I promise you, you will thoroughly love the journey of simply painting a mini. It’s also so therapeutic. Do it :)
Reposted by Darya
Happy 20th anniversary to "Samoyed and teddy bear" on Wikimedia Commons.
"This is a picture of my samoyed with a teddy bear. I release all rights to it, it would just be nice if her image could survive forever."
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sa...
"This is a picture of my samoyed with a teddy bear. I release all rights to it, it would just be nice if her image could survive forever."
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sa...
December 26, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Happy 20th anniversary to "Samoyed and teddy bear" on Wikimedia Commons.
"This is a picture of my samoyed with a teddy bear. I release all rights to it, it would just be nice if her image could survive forever."
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sa...
"This is a picture of my samoyed with a teddy bear. I release all rights to it, it would just be nice if her image could survive forever."
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sa...
Reposted by Darya
Sharing this link if you’re looking for a feed filled with really good art by human artists 💖
The list is curated by me and is regularly updated 👌
The list is curated by me and is regularly updated 👌
December 25, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Sharing this link if you’re looking for a feed filled with really good art by human artists 💖
The list is curated by me and is regularly updated 👌
The list is curated by me and is regularly updated 👌
Reposted by Darya
Essentially, I think that LLM-generated dialogue only makes sense if you believe that the product of writing is words.
But the product of writing isn't words, any more than the product of justice is prisoners, or the product of love is weddings. The product of writing is meaning.
But the product of writing isn't words, any more than the product of justice is prisoners, or the product of love is weddings. The product of writing is meaning.
I had five fascinating conversations for this RPS piece, gathering perspectives on genAI chatbots in games, as seen in Where Winds Meet. Thanks to @meghna.bsky.social, @pyrofoux.bsky.social, @maxkreminski.bsky.social, and @chrisgardiner.bsky.social www.rockpapershotgun.com/horrible-bor...
"Horrible", "boring", and "cheap": Experts pan new chatbot NPCs, but some leave room for optimism
We speak to a collection of developers and AI experts about the potential impact of LLM-powered NPCs in videogames.
www.rockpapershotgun.com
December 23, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Essentially, I think that LLM-generated dialogue only makes sense if you believe that the product of writing is words.
But the product of writing isn't words, any more than the product of justice is prisoners, or the product of love is weddings. The product of writing is meaning.
But the product of writing isn't words, any more than the product of justice is prisoners, or the product of love is weddings. The product of writing is meaning.
I think the plurbs would do just fine
December 23, 2025 at 5:08 AM
I think the plurbs would do just fine
Reposted by Darya
The 60 minutes piece on CECOT that was pulled is now publicly available
December 23, 2025 at 1:17 AM
The 60 minutes piece on CECOT that was pulled is now publicly available
What a charming way to spend a few hours!
(This is Make Room from @kenney.nl, on Steam sale right now)
(This is Make Room from @kenney.nl, on Steam sale right now)
December 21, 2025 at 5:55 AM
What a charming way to spend a few hours!
(This is Make Room from @kenney.nl, on Steam sale right now)
(This is Make Room from @kenney.nl, on Steam sale right now)
Reposted by Darya
Reposted by Darya
NEW from me on @gamedeveloper.bsky.social: I wasn’t going to write about the Larian AI backlash. Then I woke up at 5:30 this morning with a whole dang blog in my head.
How can you know if your workers are “okay” with using genAI tools if you have so much power over them should they push back?
How can you know if your workers are “okay” with using genAI tools if you have so much power over them should they push back?
December 18, 2025 at 8:13 PM
NEW from me on @gamedeveloper.bsky.social: I wasn’t going to write about the Larian AI backlash. Then I woke up at 5:30 this morning with a whole dang blog in my head.
How can you know if your workers are “okay” with using genAI tools if you have so much power over them should they push back?
How can you know if your workers are “okay” with using genAI tools if you have so much power over them should they push back?
Reposted by Darya
absolutely wild move by @oversightdemocrats.house.gov to allow comments on the dropbox folder with the epstein photos
December 18, 2025 at 7:29 PM
absolutely wild move by @oversightdemocrats.house.gov to allow comments on the dropbox folder with the epstein photos
I love when people come to reddit for help with their succulent and the pic is just eh deadest plant you've ever seen
December 15, 2025 at 10:25 PM
I love when people come to reddit for help with their succulent and the pic is just eh deadest plant you've ever seen
Reposted by Darya
Rival CDC in Avignon
Breaking: Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to announce on Monday that California has hired two former CDC leaders who accused the Trump administration of abandoning scientific standards.
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/14/u...
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/14/u...
California Hires Former C.D.C. Officials Who Criticized Trump Administration
www.nytimes.com
December 15, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Rival CDC in Avignon
Reposted by Darya
One easy fix would be to eliminate categories based on genre or whatever “indie” means and instead get granular about craft (best level design, best world, best combat, etc) which would probably pose other problems but at least make for more interesting conversations and honor specific people
December 13, 2025 at 6:51 PM
One easy fix would be to eliminate categories based on genre or whatever “indie” means and instead get granular about craft (best level design, best world, best combat, etc) which would probably pose other problems but at least make for more interesting conversations and honor specific people
Reposted by Darya
i'm not sure why "we need a new game for indie games" is trending (clair obscur?) but I'm just going to casually note that as someone who has been an Independent Games Festival judge for literally over a decade, you will NEVER find a single hard quantifier that cleanly separates "indie/not indie"
December 14, 2025 at 9:26 PM
i'm not sure why "we need a new game for indie games" is trending (clair obscur?) but I'm just going to casually note that as someone who has been an Independent Games Festival judge for literally over a decade, you will NEVER find a single hard quantifier that cleanly separates "indie/not indie"
Reposted by Darya
Doom studio id Software unionizes to secure AI protections, benefits: "We see the direction the industry is headed"
aftermath.site/id-software-un...
aftermath.site/id-software-un...
December 12, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Doom studio id Software unionizes to secure AI protections, benefits: "We see the direction the industry is headed"
aftermath.site/id-software-un...
aftermath.site/id-software-un...
There was a line in the Game Awards pre-show that said, "takes videogame IP and turns it into movie and TV magic" and I think that inadvertently says a lot about how this awards show views this industry.
December 12, 2025 at 2:52 AM
There was a line in the Game Awards pre-show that said, "takes videogame IP and turns it into movie and TV magic" and I think that inadvertently says a lot about how this awards show views this industry.
Reposted by Darya
at a certain level of any creative or intellectual collaborative job the main task is sin-eater: to fix what you can and get blamed for what you can’t, secretly knowing how much worse it would have been if you hadn’t done what you did.
December 10, 2025 at 4:18 AM
at a certain level of any creative or intellectual collaborative job the main task is sin-eater: to fix what you can and get blamed for what you can’t, secretly knowing how much worse it would have been if you hadn’t done what you did.
Reposted by Darya
Games are such a funny medium to generalize about because like, games is an absurdly broad umbrella that we've decided is one medium even though you can easily come up with two examples of a "video game" that are more unlike each other than any two movies or novels
December 5, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Games are such a funny medium to generalize about because like, games is an absurdly broad umbrella that we've decided is one medium even though you can easily come up with two examples of a "video game" that are more unlike each other than any two movies or novels
The exotic dancers in Suran + the nude version of Better Bodies. TES3 Morrowind.
What was your first adult/NSFW video game encounter?
Do you have a funny story, or remember a playground rumor?
My answer:
Overhearing my older brothers and cousins talking about a way to remove the nudity censor from first Sims game on PC. My young eyes couldn't believe it when I finally saw.
Do you have a funny story, or remember a playground rumor?
My answer:
Overhearing my older brothers and cousins talking about a way to remove the nudity censor from first Sims game on PC. My young eyes couldn't believe it when I finally saw.
December 3, 2025 at 6:58 AM
The exotic dancers in Suran + the nude version of Better Bodies. TES3 Morrowind.
Reposted by Darya
"The Art of K-Pop Demon Hunters" artbook (physical) is coming in 2026.
In the meantime, here's the free digital version.
>> theartofkpopdemonhunters.com
In the meantime, here's the free digital version.
>> theartofkpopdemonhunters.com
November 28, 2025 at 6:36 PM
"The Art of K-Pop Demon Hunters" artbook (physical) is coming in 2026.
In the meantime, here's the free digital version.
>> theartofkpopdemonhunters.com
In the meantime, here's the free digital version.
>> theartofkpopdemonhunters.com
Reposted by Darya
I Metahuman'd a TES3 Dunmer head mesh
November 28, 2025 at 7:00 PM
I Metahuman'd a TES3 Dunmer head mesh
Reposted by Darya
November 24, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Reposted by Darya
Turns out this was all much ado about nothing and Google isn’t using your Gmail to train AI and if wanna turn all that stuff back on you can get your spam filters back
Looks like the article has been updated to suggest maybe they misread the policy.
I see people complaining that this also disabled their spam filters, though I still see new messages showing up in spam so it's still working fine for me after disabling things.
I see people complaining that this also disabled their spam filters, though I still see new messages showing up in spam so it's still working fine for me after disabling things.
[Correction] Gmail can read your emails and attachments to power "smart features"
Did you know that Gmail can use your emails and attachments for its smart features? Here's how to check your settings.
www.malwarebytes.com
November 22, 2025 at 11:06 PM
Turns out this was all much ado about nothing and Google isn’t using your Gmail to train AI and if wanna turn all that stuff back on you can get your spam filters back