Mats
@travelmats.bsky.social
I've been making things for the Internet since 1995. Solo developing web apps. Open web idealist. Nostalgic futurist, enthusiastic tourist and art lover. There will be art retweets and travel photos.
I was ready to dislike Liam Hemsworth as The Witcher, but I actually think he did ok.
Just a shame everything else about Season 4 was awful. The story was just a medley of Hero's Journey tropes? It felt like the TV version of hanging out in the Witcher game world after finishing all the quests.
Just a shame everything else about Season 4 was awful. The story was just a medley of Hero's Journey tropes? It felt like the TV version of hanging out in the Witcher game world after finishing all the quests.
November 10, 2025 at 1:14 AM
I was ready to dislike Liam Hemsworth as The Witcher, but I actually think he did ok.
Just a shame everything else about Season 4 was awful. The story was just a medley of Hero's Journey tropes? It felt like the TV version of hanging out in the Witcher game world after finishing all the quests.
Just a shame everything else about Season 4 was awful. The story was just a medley of Hero's Journey tropes? It felt like the TV version of hanging out in the Witcher game world after finishing all the quests.
Reading the replies here makes me wonder how so many people are oblivious to how negative the experience is of being put on multiple slanderous lists.
Would they be OK if Palantir, Meta or Cambridge Analytica categorised people like this? If not why is it ok that BSky does?
Would they be OK if Palantir, Meta or Cambridge Analytica categorised people like this? If not why is it ok that BSky does?
I really wanted this social network to work for me. But apparently, I’m on the worst block lists out there… a bit unfair.
If you are interested in my research, follow me on LinkedIn.
If you are interested in my research, follow me on LinkedIn.
November 3, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Reading the replies here makes me wonder how so many people are oblivious to how negative the experience is of being put on multiple slanderous lists.
Would they be OK if Palantir, Meta or Cambridge Analytica categorised people like this? If not why is it ok that BSky does?
Would they be OK if Palantir, Meta or Cambridge Analytica categorised people like this? If not why is it ok that BSky does?
Reposted by Mats
Reposted by Mats
Adding an entirely new level of complexity to Trailmarks
October 21, 2025 at 6:17 AM
Adding an entirely new level of complexity to Trailmarks
Building up a new kind of troll farm with reasonable people flooding social media with thoughtful, centrist takes looking for common ground and empathic perspectives.
October 30, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Building up a new kind of troll farm with reasonable people flooding social media with thoughtful, centrist takes looking for common ground and empathic perspectives.
Adding an entirely new level of complexity to Trailmarks
October 21, 2025 at 6:17 AM
Adding an entirely new level of complexity to Trailmarks
On a more serious note: there really are *a lot* of non-developers in the game industry pushing this narrative of how indispensable they are in an apparently infinite supply of game studios.
Every talk about the games industry at SXSW Sydney:
“Ong I’m so busy and there’s so many game devs wanting to talk to me so here’s the 100 requirements for contacting me and I don’t have time to reply to you anyways” #gamedev #indiegames
“Ong I’m so busy and there’s so many game devs wanting to talk to me so here’s the 100 requirements for contacting me and I don’t have time to reply to you anyways” #gamedev #indiegames
October 17, 2025 at 12:56 AM
On a more serious note: there really are *a lot* of non-developers in the game industry pushing this narrative of how indispensable they are in an apparently infinite supply of game studios.
Every talk about the games industry at SXSW Sydney:
“Ong I’m so busy and there’s so many game devs wanting to talk to me so here’s the 100 requirements for contacting me and I don’t have time to reply to you anyways” #gamedev #indiegames
“Ong I’m so busy and there’s so many game devs wanting to talk to me so here’s the 100 requirements for contacting me and I don’t have time to reply to you anyways” #gamedev #indiegames
October 17, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Every talk about the games industry at SXSW Sydney:
“Ong I’m so busy and there’s so many game devs wanting to talk to me so here’s the 100 requirements for contacting me and I don’t have time to reply to you anyways” #gamedev #indiegames
“Ong I’m so busy and there’s so many game devs wanting to talk to me so here’s the 100 requirements for contacting me and I don’t have time to reply to you anyways” #gamedev #indiegames
Listening to a lot of talks about game publishers at SXSW Sydney today, and they sound insufferable? Is it so easy to find successful games that they can be so dismissive and arrogant with studios? Or is that an Australian thing? #gamedev #indiegames
October 15, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Listening to a lot of talks about game publishers at SXSW Sydney today, and they sound insufferable? Is it so easy to find successful games that they can be so dismissive and arrogant with studios? Or is that an Australian thing? #gamedev #indiegames
Reposted by Mats
I don't know but this seems suss for a fact checker for a travel guide. #trailmarks
August 18, 2025 at 11:37 AM
I don't know but this seems suss for a fact checker for a travel guide. #trailmarks
Still looking for someone to play-test! Lots of new things since this. DM me - it's fun game and I'd just like to see a 15-30 minutes screen recording. #gamedev #indiegames
Hey!
I'm looking for play-testers for the playable alpha of the travel and quiz game Trailmarks!
Just someone to play the game for 30 minutes or so on Zoom while I watch and ask some questions. In return, I'll give you the game for free when it launches!
Interested? DM me.
#gamedev #playtesters
I'm looking for play-testers for the playable alpha of the travel and quiz game Trailmarks!
Just someone to play the game for 30 minutes or so on Zoom while I watch and ask some questions. In return, I'll give you the game for free when it launches!
Interested? DM me.
#gamedev #playtesters
September 25, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Still looking for someone to play-test! Lots of new things since this. DM me - it's fun game and I'd just like to see a 15-30 minutes screen recording. #gamedev #indiegames
Reposted by Mats
When a typo in your Google search leads to new and exciting philosophical positions
September 22, 2025 at 9:25 PM
When a typo in your Google search leads to new and exciting philosophical positions
Reposted by Mats
Hey!
I'm looking for play-testers for the playable alpha of the travel and quiz game Trailmarks!
Just someone to play the game for 30 minutes or so on Zoom while I watch and ask some questions. In return, I'll give you the game for free when it launches!
Interested? DM me.
#gamedev #playtesters
I'm looking for play-testers for the playable alpha of the travel and quiz game Trailmarks!
Just someone to play the game for 30 minutes or so on Zoom while I watch and ask some questions. In return, I'll give you the game for free when it launches!
Interested? DM me.
#gamedev #playtesters
September 2, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Hey!
I'm looking for play-testers for the playable alpha of the travel and quiz game Trailmarks!
Just someone to play the game for 30 minutes or so on Zoom while I watch and ask some questions. In return, I'll give you the game for free when it launches!
Interested? DM me.
#gamedev #playtesters
I'm looking for play-testers for the playable alpha of the travel and quiz game Trailmarks!
Just someone to play the game for 30 minutes or so on Zoom while I watch and ask some questions. In return, I'll give you the game for free when it launches!
Interested? DM me.
#gamedev #playtesters
Reposted by Mats
Some of the most remarkable lost artefacts from the ancient world were the titanic wrecks of the Nemi ships, built for a Roman emperor.
In their first-century heyday they held gardens, palaces and baths in a floating wonderland. But barely a decade after their recovery, they were lost forever.
In their first-century heyday they held gardens, palaces and baths in a floating wonderland. But barely a decade after their recovery, they were lost forever.
September 1, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Some of the most remarkable lost artefacts from the ancient world were the titanic wrecks of the Nemi ships, built for a Roman emperor.
In their first-century heyday they held gardens, palaces and baths in a floating wonderland. But barely a decade after their recovery, they were lost forever.
In their first-century heyday they held gardens, palaces and baths in a floating wonderland. But barely a decade after their recovery, they were lost forever.
Hey!
I'm looking for play-testers for the playable alpha of the travel and quiz game Trailmarks!
Just someone to play the game for 30 minutes or so on Zoom while I watch and ask some questions. In return, I'll give you the game for free when it launches!
Interested? DM me.
#gamedev #playtesters
I'm looking for play-testers for the playable alpha of the travel and quiz game Trailmarks!
Just someone to play the game for 30 minutes or so on Zoom while I watch and ask some questions. In return, I'll give you the game for free when it launches!
Interested? DM me.
#gamedev #playtesters
September 2, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Hey!
I'm looking for play-testers for the playable alpha of the travel and quiz game Trailmarks!
Just someone to play the game for 30 minutes or so on Zoom while I watch and ask some questions. In return, I'll give you the game for free when it launches!
Interested? DM me.
#gamedev #playtesters
I'm looking for play-testers for the playable alpha of the travel and quiz game Trailmarks!
Just someone to play the game for 30 minutes or so on Zoom while I watch and ask some questions. In return, I'll give you the game for free when it launches!
Interested? DM me.
#gamedev #playtesters
Reposted by Mats
September 1, 2025 at 2:23 AM
September 1, 2025 at 2:23 AM
I made a few implementations of Eliza long before LLMs, and it was intense to read the logs at times. Particularly if it's given even the lightest anthropomorphization, like an avatar or typing indicator. And God forbid you give it a female avatar.
“What I had not realized is that extremely short exposures to a relatively simple computer program could induce powerful delusional thinking in quite normal people.”
Joseph Weizenbaum (creator of ELIZA), 1976
99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-...
Joseph Weizenbaum (creator of ELIZA), 1976
99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-...
The ELIZA Effect - 99% Invisible
Throughout Joseph Weizenbaum’s life, he liked to tell this story about a computer program he’d created back in the 1960s as a professor at MIT. It was a simple chatbot named ELIZA that could interact ...
99percentinvisible.org
August 29, 2025 at 1:21 PM
I made a few implementations of Eliza long before LLMs, and it was intense to read the logs at times. Particularly if it's given even the lightest anthropomorphization, like an avatar or typing indicator. And God forbid you give it a female avatar.
Sheesh, Platonic really gets into the cringe in Season 2 😬
August 28, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Sheesh, Platonic really gets into the cringe in Season 2 😬
So.. I started preparing to approach publishers for my game, and it went off the rails *immediately*. Now I'm instead in an Upwork dispute with someone who was going to make a slide deck for me 🤦♂️
The Internet has not been at it's best for me the last weeks... #gamedev
The Internet has not been at it's best for me the last weeks... #gamedev
August 23, 2025 at 5:09 AM
So.. I started preparing to approach publishers for my game, and it went off the rails *immediately*. Now I'm instead in an Upwork dispute with someone who was going to make a slide deck for me 🤦♂️
The Internet has not been at it's best for me the last weeks... #gamedev
The Internet has not been at it's best for me the last weeks... #gamedev
Damn, Upwork has literally monetized disputes in their system. I'm not sure this is the right incentivization for a platform...
It does explain why a seemingly simple contract went to a dispute almost instantly, though.
It does explain why a seemingly simple contract went to a dispute almost instantly, though.
August 21, 2025 at 2:12 AM
Damn, Upwork has literally monetized disputes in their system. I'm not sure this is the right incentivization for a platform...
It does explain why a seemingly simple contract went to a dispute almost instantly, though.
It does explain why a seemingly simple contract went to a dispute almost instantly, though.
Reposted by Mats
A spectacular timelapse flying over Mexico and the United States at night in the International Space Station.
August 19, 2025 at 10:23 PM
A spectacular timelapse flying over Mexico and the United States at night in the International Space Station.
I don't know but this seems suss for a fact checker for a travel guide. #trailmarks
August 18, 2025 at 11:37 AM
I don't know but this seems suss for a fact checker for a travel guide. #trailmarks