Mars Buttfield-Addison
@themartianlife.com
Academic in radio telescope instrumentation by day, game dev tools + scicomm by night
📍 lutruwita/Tasmania
💚 Skeets as @yarnspinner.dev
Find me at https://themartianlife.com
📍 lutruwita/Tasmania
💚 Skeets as @yarnspinner.dev
Find me at https://themartianlife.com
Pinned
👋 I’m a computer scientist + STEM communicator. Part-time PhD at @utas.bsky.social / CSIRO about space instrumentation, part-time dev for mostly education / NFP. Can program in whatever, for whatever.
Side-hustles in regional STEM outreach, @yarnspinner.dev. Married to @hey.paris. Space superfan 🖖🌱
Side-hustles in regional STEM outreach, @yarnspinner.dev. Married to @hey.paris. Space superfan 🖖🌱
Went to work without bringing the pups today, so husband has of course bought them a roast chicken and is at home trying to by their love / unseat me as dog favourite ☹️
August 21, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Went to work without bringing the pups today, so husband has of course bought them a roast chicken and is at home trying to by their love / unseat me as dog favourite ☹️
Reposted by Mars Buttfield-Addison
Our local Screen Museum’s call for contributions was the perfect excuse to get retro + realise a silly idea we’d had for a VN with live stills.
This celebration of ‘90s game hint hotlines is boasts a colourful mix of Tassie actors being goofy, and extensive lore of a fictional game company 👾🕹️⚔️
This celebration of ‘90s game hint hotlines is boasts a colourful mix of Tassie actors being goofy, and extensive lore of a fictional game company 👾🕹️⚔️
We got commissioned to make a thing for ACMI, the screen museum! So we’re (@secretlab.games and @yarnspinner.dev) making Hint Line ‘93, a little game about being a game hint line worker! It’ll be on the museum floor from 18 Sep later this year! Learn more from ACMI: www.acmi.net.au/about/media/...
August 15, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Our local Screen Museum’s call for contributions was the perfect excuse to get retro + realise a silly idea we’d had for a VN with live stills.
This celebration of ‘90s game hint hotlines is boasts a colourful mix of Tassie actors being goofy, and extensive lore of a fictional game company 👾🕹️⚔️
This celebration of ‘90s game hint hotlines is boasts a colourful mix of Tassie actors being goofy, and extensive lore of a fictional game company 👾🕹️⚔️
9 years ago today, I had spent the day playing board games with a boy I’d met less than two weeks before and had rapidly befriended. I kissed him for the first time and we started dating.
5 years ago today, we spent the day in escape rooms, then got married, surrounded by our closest friends.
…
5 years ago today, we spent the day in escape rooms, then got married, surrounded by our closest friends.
…
August 10, 2025 at 2:57 AM
9 years ago today, I had spent the day playing board games with a boy I’d met less than two weeks before and had rapidly befriended. I kissed him for the first time and we started dating.
5 years ago today, we spent the day in escape rooms, then got married, surrounded by our closest friends.
…
5 years ago today, we spent the day in escape rooms, then got married, surrounded by our closest friends.
…
Reposted by Mars Buttfield-Addison
I have a complaint about Avi Loeb's latest work and I want to speak to management.
medium.com/@steve.desch...
medium.com/@steve.desch...
This is not the quality of pseudoscience infotainment to which I have grown accustomed
Teasing the public with fraudulent or self-deluded promises of aliens used to mean something. It took work. It meant slapping together…
medium.com
August 8, 2025 at 6:24 PM
I have a complaint about Avi Loeb's latest work and I want to speak to management.
medium.com/@steve.desch...
medium.com/@steve.desch...
@theotherprc.bsky.social you know, I've come upon your website in passing before and I honest-to-god assumed it was a whole data visualisation design _studio_. Shocked to have a quick stalk this morning and find you're just one person. What a bloody awesome job you have!
August 7, 2025 at 3:49 AM
@theotherprc.bsky.social you know, I've come upon your website in passing before and I honest-to-god assumed it was a whole data visualisation design _studio_. Shocked to have a quick stalk this morning and find you're just one person. What a bloody awesome job you have!
at this point any Tasmanian who can rustle up 13 mates might as well report to gov house, see if Barb’ll let you form government
August 5, 2025 at 11:18 PM
at this point any Tasmanian who can rustle up 13 mates might as well report to gov house, see if Barb’ll let you form government
Saw a cool bottle of body wash. Was inspired to remake my website again, finally realising the monospace idea I’d had brewing for ages 💙
August 4, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Saw a cool bottle of body wash. Was inspired to remake my website again, finally realising the monospace idea I’d had brewing for ages 💙
Reposted by Mars Buttfield-Addison
thrilled to have had a microgame commissioned by ACMI for the Game Worlds exhibition!
@secretlab.games & @yarnspinner.dev, with lots of help from @themartianlife.com & other amazing folks are making “Hint Line ‘93”, a game about answering phones at a game hint line!
www.acmi.net.au/about/media/...
@secretlab.games & @yarnspinner.dev, with lots of help from @themartianlife.com & other amazing folks are making “Hint Line ‘93”, a game about answering phones at a game hint line!
www.acmi.net.au/about/media/...
ACMI’S Next Level Exhibition, Game Worlds, Coming September 2025
The epic realms of videogames are the focus of Game Worlds, a major new playable exhibition premiering 18 September 2025 to 8 February 2026 at Australia’s national museum of screen culture, ACMI.
www.acmi.net.au
July 31, 2025 at 3:57 AM
thrilled to have had a microgame commissioned by ACMI for the Game Worlds exhibition!
@secretlab.games & @yarnspinner.dev, with lots of help from @themartianlife.com & other amazing folks are making “Hint Line ‘93”, a game about answering phones at a game hint line!
www.acmi.net.au/about/media/...
@secretlab.games & @yarnspinner.dev, with lots of help from @themartianlife.com & other amazing folks are making “Hint Line ‘93”, a game about answering phones at a game hint line!
www.acmi.net.au/about/media/...
June 4, 2025 at 6:53 AM
The idea that you can cancel a mission with an instrument already in space is absurd. You can only cancel people monitoring it, or receiving its data.
This is akin to spending billions of dollars to build a telescope, just to then “cancel” people looking through it. www.nasa.gov/wp-content/u...
This is akin to spending billions of dollars to build a telescope, just to then “cancel” people looking through it. www.nasa.gov/wp-content/u...
www.nasa.gov
June 2, 2025 at 2:32 AM
The idea that you can cancel a mission with an instrument already in space is absurd. You can only cancel people monitoring it, or receiving its data.
This is akin to spending billions of dollars to build a telescope, just to then “cancel” people looking through it. www.nasa.gov/wp-content/u...
This is akin to spending billions of dollars to build a telescope, just to then “cancel” people looking through it. www.nasa.gov/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Mars Buttfield-Addison
I call Ruby a “Pocket Wolf” not just because she is small, but because she is a voracious shirt invader.
When she was scared of strange places as a baby, I’d put her in my hoodie pouch for comfort. To this day, anyone visiting the Yarn Spinner office runs the risk of her climbing into their shirt.
When she was scared of strange places as a baby, I’d put her in my hoodie pouch for comfort. To this day, anyone visiting the Yarn Spinner office runs the risk of her climbing into their shirt.
May 21, 2025 at 9:00 AM
I call Ruby a “Pocket Wolf” not just because she is small, but because she is a voracious shirt invader.
When she was scared of strange places as a baby, I’d put her in my hoodie pouch for comfort. To this day, anyone visiting the Yarn Spinner office runs the risk of her climbing into their shirt.
When she was scared of strange places as a baby, I’d put her in my hoodie pouch for comfort. To this day, anyone visiting the Yarn Spinner office runs the risk of her climbing into their shirt.
Reposted by Mars Buttfield-Addison
🎉 YARN SPINNER 3 IS OUT NOW 🎉
for Unity, Godot, VSCode + try.yarnspinner.dev
Including:
- Storylets, enums, simple "run this bit only once" syntax
- Better variables, easier-to-customise views
- Bugfixes + QoL improvements galore
- All-new docs + guides
Check it out at yarnspinner.dev/v3 💚
for Unity, Godot, VSCode + try.yarnspinner.dev
Including:
- Storylets, enums, simple "run this bit only once" syntax
- Better variables, easier-to-customise views
- Bugfixes + QoL improvements galore
- All-new docs + guides
Check it out at yarnspinner.dev/v3 💚
May 16, 2025 at 6:31 AM
🎉 YARN SPINNER 3 IS OUT NOW 🎉
for Unity, Godot, VSCode + try.yarnspinner.dev
Including:
- Storylets, enums, simple "run this bit only once" syntax
- Better variables, easier-to-customise views
- Bugfixes + QoL improvements galore
- All-new docs + guides
Check it out at yarnspinner.dev/v3 💚
for Unity, Godot, VSCode + try.yarnspinner.dev
Including:
- Storylets, enums, simple "run this bit only once" syntax
- Better variables, easier-to-customise views
- Bugfixes + QoL improvements galore
- All-new docs + guides
Check it out at yarnspinner.dev/v3 💚
The CFP is open for our 15th (!!) /dev/world Apple Developers Conference coming up this September in Naarm/Melbourne.
Whether you’re a dev, a designer, an admin, or something else, we’d love to hear from you. Come share your expertise with the loveliest crowd in the world! 📲 devworld.au/index.php
Whether you’re a dev, a designer, an admin, or something else, we’d love to hear from you. Come share your expertise with the loveliest crowd in the world! 📲 devworld.au/index.php
/dev/world/2025
/dev/world/2025 is Australia's longest running conference for macOS and iOS developers and designers.
devworld.au
May 14, 2025 at 11:33 AM
The CFP is open for our 15th (!!) /dev/world Apple Developers Conference coming up this September in Naarm/Melbourne.
Whether you’re a dev, a designer, an admin, or something else, we’d love to hear from you. Come share your expertise with the loveliest crowd in the world! 📲 devworld.au/index.php
Whether you’re a dev, a designer, an admin, or something else, we’d love to hear from you. Come share your expertise with the loveliest crowd in the world! 📲 devworld.au/index.php
Sitting at my desk, reading papers, working on my thesis, minding my own business, being watched by little office busybodies 👀
May 13, 2025 at 6:27 AM
Sitting at my desk, reading papers, working on my thesis, minding my own business, being watched by little office busybodies 👀
Reposted by Mars Buttfield-Addison
📣 In Yarn Spinner v3, we've also made significant changes to the API to simplify common flows. Including:
• custom dialogue views
• non-view components that know about the status of lines being presented
• variable changed events
• re-using line assets across multiple lines
+ many, many more!
• custom dialogue views
• non-view components that know about the status of lines being presented
• variable changed events
• re-using line assets across multiple lines
+ many, many more!
May 8, 2025 at 4:04 AM
📣 In Yarn Spinner v3, we've also made significant changes to the API to simplify common flows. Including:
• custom dialogue views
• non-view components that know about the status of lines being presented
• variable changed events
• re-using line assets across multiple lines
+ many, many more!
• custom dialogue views
• non-view components that know about the status of lines being presented
• variable changed events
• re-using line assets across multiple lines
+ many, many more!
Reposted by Mars Buttfield-Addison
In Yarn Spinner v3, we've also added a bunch of features that improve variables, making them more powerful and - in the Unity API especially - more native and nice to use.
• Runtime-computed "smart" variables
• Enum types
• Code generation to expose C#-side properties for each of your variables
🧵👇
• Runtime-computed "smart" variables
• Enum types
• Code generation to expose C#-side properties for each of your variables
🧵👇
May 7, 2025 at 8:20 AM
In Yarn Spinner v3, we've also added a bunch of features that improve variables, making them more powerful and - in the Unity API especially - more native and nice to use.
• Runtime-computed "smart" variables
• Enum types
• Code generation to expose C#-side properties for each of your variables
🧵👇
• Runtime-computed "smart" variables
• Enum types
• Code generation to expose C#-side properties for each of your variables
🧵👇
Reposted by Mars Buttfield-Addison
In Yarn Spinner v3, we've added a bunch of features that can simplify the structure of even the most complex narratives in Yarn.
Including:
• Run this content only once
• Run this content then jump back to where we were
• Dynamically select from some set of possible lines or nodes to run
🧵👇
Including:
• Run this content only once
• Run this content then jump back to where we were
• Dynamically select from some set of possible lines or nodes to run
🧵👇
May 7, 2025 at 4:57 AM
In Yarn Spinner v3, we've added a bunch of features that can simplify the structure of even the most complex narratives in Yarn.
Including:
• Run this content only once
• Run this content then jump back to where we were
• Dynamically select from some set of possible lines or nodes to run
🧵👇
Including:
• Run this content only once
• Run this content then jump back to where we were
• Dynamically select from some set of possible lines or nodes to run
🧵👇
It’s my birthday tomorrow and I have TWO meetings scheduled to argue with university peers/leaders about AI.
But tonight I got a glass of cider, early access Revenge of the Savage Planet co-op with the husband, a quick game of the new Citizen Sleeper solo-TTRPG before bed, and snuggly lap friends ❤️
But tonight I got a glass of cider, early access Revenge of the Savage Planet co-op with the husband, a quick game of the new Citizen Sleeper solo-TTRPG before bed, and snuggly lap friends ❤️
May 6, 2025 at 1:05 PM
It’s my birthday tomorrow and I have TWO meetings scheduled to argue with university peers/leaders about AI.
But tonight I got a glass of cider, early access Revenge of the Savage Planet co-op with the husband, a quick game of the new Citizen Sleeper solo-TTRPG before bed, and snuggly lap friends ❤️
But tonight I got a glass of cider, early access Revenge of the Savage Planet co-op with the husband, a quick game of the new Citizen Sleeper solo-TTRPG before bed, and snuggly lap friends ❤️
How I (Comp. Eng./quantitative) view my husband's (Informatics/qualitative) research methods versus how he views mine
May 6, 2025 at 12:24 AM
How I (Comp. Eng./quantitative) view my husband's (Informatics/qualitative) research methods versus how he views mine
We’ve had this beautiful baby for six months now and she is one today and a perfect angel ❤️
April 9, 2025 at 12:35 PM
We’ve had this beautiful baby for six months now and she is one today and a perfect angel ❤️
Reposted by Mars Buttfield-Addison
Even from my perch inside gamedev, I had no idea it was already this bad. The rot is spreading. A necessary, sobering read. (gift link)
‘An Overwhelmingly Negative And Demoralizing Force’: What It’s Like Working For A Company That’s Forcing AI On Its Developers - Aftermath
'I have had conversations about AI in a professional context that make me want to walk into the sea'
aftermath.site
April 7, 2025 at 11:39 PM
Even from my perch inside gamedev, I had no idea it was already this bad. The rot is spreading. A necessary, sobering read. (gift link)
So many times in recent years I have felt like everyone around me is on another planet.
When during the Black Summer fires the news said “stay indoors” but they didn’t. When COVID stayed but precautions didn’t. When climate change is ignored, social issues go unaddressed. AI shouldn’t surprise me.
When during the Black Summer fires the news said “stay indoors” but they didn’t. When COVID stayed but precautions didn’t. When climate change is ignored, social issues go unaddressed. AI shouldn’t surprise me.
April 7, 2025 at 1:01 PM
So many times in recent years I have felt like everyone around me is on another planet.
When during the Black Summer fires the news said “stay indoors” but they didn’t. When COVID stayed but precautions didn’t. When climate change is ignored, social issues go unaddressed. AI shouldn’t surprise me.
When during the Black Summer fires the news said “stay indoors” but they didn’t. When COVID stayed but precautions didn’t. When climate change is ignored, social issues go unaddressed. AI shouldn’t surprise me.
Reposted by Mars Buttfield-Addison
Once again our local federal senator is streaming! Show @nickmckim.bsky.social some support? #auspol www.twitch.tv/nickmckimgam...
NickMcKimGaming - Twitch
Nick McKim Gaming
www.twitch.tv
April 3, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Once again our local federal senator is streaming! Show @nickmckim.bsky.social some support? #auspol www.twitch.tv/nickmckimgam...
Procreate Pocket sketch of my just-woken-up husband doing his best “look how ugly I am” face/pose because he wouldn’t let me take a photo 🩷
March 17, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Procreate Pocket sketch of my just-woken-up husband doing his best “look how ugly I am” face/pose because he wouldn’t let me take a photo 🩷
Reposted by Mars Buttfield-Addison
get along to the fantastic @yarnspinner.dev talk from @mcjones.bsky.social today at #GDC25!
schedule.gdconf.com/session/inde...
#gdc2025 #gdc @officialgdc.bsky.social #gamedev
schedule.gdconf.com/session/inde...
#gdc2025 #gdc @officialgdc.bsky.social #gamedev
March 17, 2025 at 11:11 AM
get along to the fantastic @yarnspinner.dev talk from @mcjones.bsky.social today at #GDC25!
schedule.gdconf.com/session/inde...
#gdc2025 #gdc @officialgdc.bsky.social #gamedev
schedule.gdconf.com/session/inde...
#gdc2025 #gdc @officialgdc.bsky.social #gamedev