Graeme Devine
@graemedevine.com
Game designer that probably made some games you played as a kid, dog lover and a dad. Views expressed here are my own.
Pinned
Graeme Devine
@graemedevine.com
· Nov 13
Well since we're all back here... this still sums me up well, and Bella is smiling in that photo which is always good. Here's a slide of the few of the games I made over the centuries. You may have played some of them when you were young!
I loved the tile editor Virgin/Westwood used for their 2D games like this. I've forgotten Ed's last name from the Irvine office who wrote a lot of it, and I'm sure Westwood probably made their own, but I have fond memories of the magic that it seemed to easily make. It was one of the first "tools".
Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun (1992) | RPG | Sega Genesis | Westwood Associates
This neat adaptation of TSR's Hollow World setting for D&D combined top-down exploration and battles with first-person dungeons!
PSA: cast lightning in enclosed spaces may bounce back and wreck you.
This neat adaptation of TSR's Hollow World setting for D&D combined top-down exploration and battles with first-person dungeons!
PSA: cast lightning in enclosed spaces may bounce back and wreck you.
December 27, 2025 at 4:25 PM
I loved the tile editor Virgin/Westwood used for their 2D games like this. I've forgotten Ed's last name from the Irvine office who wrote a lot of it, and I'm sure Westwood probably made their own, but I have fond memories of the magic that it seemed to easily make. It was one of the first "tools".
Reposted by Graeme Devine
Well since we're all back here... this still sums me up well, and Bella is smiling in that photo which is always good. Here's a slide of the few of the games I made over the centuries. You may have played some of them when you were young!
November 13, 2024 at 5:51 AM
Well since we're all back here... this still sums me up well, and Bella is smiling in that photo which is always good. Here's a slide of the few of the games I made over the centuries. You may have played some of them when you were young!
I haven't taken that many photographs this year, probably 100 or so. I used to take a few a day of the dogs and spiderwebs and life and so forth, but since the world has gone all *waves hands around* I stopped. In 2026 I'm going to start taking photos again. Here's the rainbow Bella and I saw today.
December 27, 2025 at 7:35 AM
I haven't taken that many photographs this year, probably 100 or so. I used to take a few a day of the dogs and spiderwebs and life and so forth, but since the world has gone all *waves hands around* I stopped. In 2026 I'm going to start taking photos again. Here's the rainbow Bella and I saw today.
Okay, beating Stockfish at level 10 now by a factor of 2:1. That's an ELO of over 2400 I think (so Stockfish has one eye shut and one hand behind its back because it is... much better than that unleashed).
December 27, 2025 at 6:47 AM
Okay, beating Stockfish at level 10 now by a factor of 2:1. That's an ELO of over 2400 I think (so Stockfish has one eye shut and one hand behind its back because it is... much better than that unleashed).
Well this is encouraging, winning against Stockfish! To be fair I need to redo this, my AI is finding the opening book and Stockfish isn't so it becomes time constrained very quickly.
December 26, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Well this is encouraging, winning against Stockfish! To be fair I need to redo this, my AI is finding the opening book and Stockfish isn't so it becomes time constrained very quickly.
Results of overnight chess run, won 78 games, lost 18. But 8 of the losses were due to an illegal move! In my engine! I tracked down the bug to code I wrote two years ago that left a flag for pawn promotion in place. Very exciting! Also, bad.. bad bug.
December 26, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Results of overnight chess run, won 78 games, lost 18. But 8 of the losses were due to an illegal move! In my engine! I tracked down the bug to code I wrote two years ago that left a flag for pawn promotion in place. Very exciting! Also, bad.. bad bug.
Another 500 games overnight, today's AI vs. yesterday's. Big change today to time management (black in this picture) and move pruning. So far new AI is up 4 to zilch. My takeaway from the graph is that my new AIs eval is much calmer, it's not the roller coaster the old one was. This is good.
December 26, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Another 500 games overnight, today's AI vs. yesterday's. Big change today to time management (black in this picture) and move pruning. So far new AI is up 4 to zilch. My takeaway from the graph is that my new AIs eval is much calmer, it's not the roller coaster the old one was. This is good.
Narrator voice “In fact, the world had not run out of ideas, it was just that the lizard people running the world didn’t like the ideas we had”
America, you have spoken loud and clear: You do not like AI. But what if AI is the way to restart the world’s idea machine?
We’re running out of good ideas. AI might be how we find new ones.
What if the best use of AI is restarting the world’s idea machine?
www.vox.com
December 26, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Narrator voice “In fact, the world had not run out of ideas, it was just that the lizard people running the world didn’t like the ideas we had”
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!
December 26, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!
The problem with writing a chess AI on Christmas Eve is proximity to whisky. Testing takes a long time, you've got to run a lot of games with each change, which is normally a coffee sport for me. Except tonight not so much so ... we are done coding.
December 25, 2025 at 6:47 AM
The problem with writing a chess AI on Christmas Eve is proximity to whisky. Testing takes a long time, you've got to run a lot of games with each change, which is normally a coffee sport for me. Except tonight not so much so ... we are done coding.
This is what makes chess AI exciting to me. My new AI here is playing white, and it was losing the game until about turn 25 when black made a huge blunder, giving my AI the opening it needed. The graph here shows who the evaluator thinks is winning, above the line is white, below is black.
December 24, 2025 at 9:08 PM
This is what makes chess AI exciting to me. My new AI here is playing white, and it was losing the game until about turn 25 when black made a huge blunder, giving my AI the opening it needed. The graph here shows who the evaluator thinks is winning, above the line is white, below is black.
I think my biggest engine change this year was to stop using the C++ standard library.. that gave me about a 50% boost in nodes/sec. No more allocations. At all. Next up is PVS (Principal Variation Search) which should help pruning quite a bit.
Principal Variation Search - Chessprogramming wiki
www.chessprogramming.org
December 24, 2025 at 8:23 PM
I think my biggest engine change this year was to stop using the C++ standard library.. that gave me about a 50% boost in nodes/sec. No more allocations. At all. Next up is PVS (Principal Variation Search) which should help pruning quite a bit.
Going to have to up the level of Stockfish a bit.. encouraging! I found I can set the level via UCI.
December 23, 2025 at 6:09 AM
Going to have to up the level of Stockfish a bit.. encouraging! I found I can set the level via UCI.
First you fix the move generator, then the threading, then the move pruning, then the move generator again, then the move ordering, then finally.. well darn it, now I need to fix the time controls.
I was really smart last year, it's taking a bit to beat my old AI..
I was really smart last year, it's taking a bit to beat my old AI..
December 23, 2025 at 5:38 AM
First you fix the move generator, then the threading, then the move pruning, then the move generator again, then the move ordering, then finally.. well darn it, now I need to fix the time controls.
I was really smart last year, it's taking a bit to beat my old AI..
I was really smart last year, it's taking a bit to beat my old AI..
My Chess AI went 49 moves against Stockfish in my test tonight, which is encouraging enough to leave it trying again and again overnight. Stockfish generally has me on the rails by move 20, and always beats me by move 30 so the fact an AI I wrote goes that far, it boggles my mind I can write that.
December 21, 2025 at 7:11 AM
My Chess AI went 49 moves against Stockfish in my test tonight, which is encouraging enough to leave it trying again and again overnight. Stockfish generally has me on the rails by move 20, and always beats me by move 30 so the fact an AI I wrote goes that far, it boggles my mind I can write that.
Not sure if I'm doing this chess game right or not...
December 20, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Not sure if I'm doing this chess game right or not...
Two awesome people chatting game dev!
Many thanks to @crypticsea.bsky.social for agreeing to come on and chat about all things bridges and the building of bridges and the creation of the absolute classic Bridge Builder!
Next step, organize a 1,000 player Skate of Don't night!
youtu.be/RCCJEkVY_vg
Next step, organize a 1,000 player Skate of Don't night!
youtu.be/RCCJEkVY_vg
Let's Chat with Alex Austin - creator of Bridge Builder, Pontifex and Skate or Don't!
YouTube video by Ron's Computer Videos
youtu.be
December 19, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Two awesome people chatting game dev!
I'm not the father of indie games either, but there was a bunch of us in the late 70s and early 80s making "indie" games on cassette tapes selling them at markets and swap meets.
I won't diminish the impact Braid, World of Goo, and Castle Crashers had on indie commercialisation in 2008, but come on, calling Blow "the father of indie gaming"?
Cave Story, Aquaria, and Crayon Physics proved digital distribution viability years earlier, and DOOM owned the world a decade prior.
Cave Story, Aquaria, and Crayon Physics proved digital distribution viability years earlier, and DOOM owned the world a decade prior.
Okay please let's not call him that
December 18, 2025 at 9:40 PM
I'm not the father of indie games either, but there was a bunch of us in the late 70s and early 80s making "indie" games on cassette tapes selling them at markets and swap meets.
Been spiraling down a bit. Tinnitus has been really bad because of stress from *waves hands around*, which means I am not sleeping, which is making me more stressed which is making my tinnitus worse.
December 18, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Been spiraling down a bit. Tinnitus has been really bad because of stress from *waves hands around*, which means I am not sleeping, which is making me more stressed which is making my tinnitus worse.
Reposted by Graeme Devine
Y'all, I don't appreciate you nominating my contemporaries as the "father" of Indie games, since it makes me feel old. Also my generation had many of GameDevs inspire us (i.e. Shareware GameDevs).
I will however accept "Jeff Minter" as the "Uncle" of Indie Games.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Mi...
I will however accept "Jeff Minter" as the "Uncle" of Indie Games.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Mi...
Jeff Minter - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
December 18, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Y'all, I don't appreciate you nominating my contemporaries as the "father" of Indie games, since it makes me feel old. Also my generation had many of GameDevs inspire us (i.e. Shareware GameDevs).
I will however accept "Jeff Minter" as the "Uncle" of Indie Games.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Mi...
I will however accept "Jeff Minter" as the "Uncle" of Indie Games.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Mi...
True fact.
It sure is weird that the Terminator series just ended here with a TV show. You'd think a property this big would keep getting shitty movie sequels no one likes but we're lucky.
Please don't correct me.
Please don't correct me.
December 18, 2025 at 4:08 PM
True fact.
You know what? I'm going to designate today, in my power as, well, having no power, as "Take A Picture of your Dog or Cat" day.
December 17, 2025 at 7:50 PM
You know what? I'm going to designate today, in my power as, well, having no power, as "Take A Picture of your Dog or Cat" day.
I used to play Final Fantasy XIV every day for years. I was a high level black mage, knew all the rotations, had massive DPS. I just reinstalled it and loaded that character and... I'm going to have to start at level 1. I remember... nothing.
December 17, 2025 at 1:13 AM
I used to play Final Fantasy XIV every day for years. I was a high level black mage, knew all the rotations, had massive DPS. I just reinstalled it and loaded that character and... I'm going to have to start at level 1. I remember... nothing.