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dmgregory.ca
Douglas
@dmgregory.ca
2.3K followers 1.3K following 560 posts
Game design professor, math and science geek.
Did spreadsheety stuff for Splinter Cell Blacklist, Starlink: Battle for Atlas, and Far Cry 6. Moderator on gamedev.stackexchange.com
Formerly @D_M_Gregory on Twitter (he/him/his)
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dmgregory.ca
😨
Indirectly, of course, things look quite different. A sharp contraction in tech would put tens of thousands of people out of work, vaporize trillions of investment dollars, torpedo retirement and education funds, obliterate life savings, and ruin lives. It would be a violent shock to a system that’s already under strain. Of course, one of the reasons the economy is under strain is the massive concentration of wealth in the hands of a small number of oligarchs, and those same oligarchs would like to use AI to replace the human labor force—likely putting tens of thousands of people out of work, vaporizing non-oligarchic wealth, obliterating savings, etc. It may be better for the world for the bubble to pop, whatever damage is done.
November 9, 2025 at 7:36 PM
dmgregory.ca
A student absolutely made my day today. 🥰

Thanks for making a tough week that much brighter!
I miss having you in my design class. Your critical feedback and constructive advice always made me think it was a good idea to come to Sheridan. I hope you're doing well!
November 5, 2025 at 7:45 PM
dmgregory.ca
The Kinect and its successor were seriously a blast to develop games for. I really wish they'd stuck around as a mainstream console platform — there are some great game experiences that will just never make it into homes now. 😢
November 4, 2025 at 2:07 PM
dmgregory.ca
Main menu for Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. The background is space with a binary star pair nearby and cloudy, orangish planet looming large on the right side of the screen. Menu options include Start Game, Quickstart, Scenario, Load Game, Multiplayer, and View Credits. Game screen, showing rolling isometric tiled terrain with fog of war shading and various units, cities, and structures strewn about. The bottom third is a control panel with info about the selected unit / tile, "faction dominance", and a minimap.
November 3, 2025 at 12:22 PM
dmgregory.ca
Happy Halloween! 🎃 A bunch of our faculty got together for a group costume again this year.

Our theme this time: Delicious in Dungeon / Dungeon Meshi, so of course I had to pick Chilchuck. Shorty squad solidarity! 😁
Douglas dressed as Chilchuck Tims Chilchuck Tims, for reference.
October 31, 2025 at 10:33 PM
dmgregory.ca
Like Brian Eno says, I think very soon we're going to see media deliberately playing on the weird errors of recent-generation AI, and I expect that's going to be pretty hecking cool, when done by humans with intention behind it, and not just a fever dream of rounding errors and overfitting.
Whatever you now find weird, ugly, uncomfortable and nasty about a new medium will surely become its signature. CD distortion, the jitteriness of digital video, the crap sound of 8-bit - all of these will be cherished and emulated as soon as they can be avoided. It’s the sound of failure: so much modern art is the sound of things going out of control, of a medium pushing to its limits and breaking apart. The distorted guitar sound is the sound of something too loud for the medium supposed to carry it. The blues singer with the cracked voice is the sound of an emotional cry too powerful for the throat that releases it. The excitement of grainy film, of bleached-out black and white, is the excitement of witnessing events too momentous for the medium assigned to record them. Brian Eno, A Year With Swollen Appendices
October 25, 2025 at 1:38 AM
dmgregory.ca
DRAGONSHEETER!
(Minor spoilers - play the game first!)
Graph of XP cost per HP healed, showing cheap healing early in the game, rising to a premium of ~2.1 XP per HP around level14, then a slight decline past there. Level stats table showing HP and XP target at each level, cumulative stats, and an estimated number of monsters that need to be killed to level up. A table of monsters and items that appear in the dungeon, with their combat damage, XP reward, the number in the dungeon, and the message they print when they kill you. Extra analysis shows at what level the player can survive each monster, and checks whether healing items are needed, and how late in the game the player can defeat the dragon.
October 20, 2025 at 9:46 PM
dmgregory.ca
😢
Message (Optional): User has typed the pizza emoji. Error message: You can't use emojis
October 17, 2025 at 9:05 PM
dmgregory.ca
On that note: more cookies! 😁
A hand holds a glass jar packed to the brim with small chocolate chip cookies. A rainbow light strip casts colourful reflections.
October 13, 2025 at 12:19 PM
dmgregory.ca
Fun and even less-known trick: with lambdas in recent version of Excel, you can even use the Name Manager to name *functions*, defining your own shorthand for long involved formulas that you use frequently.

(And without needing to get into VBA coding and all the extra security warning hoops)
Custom Functions with Lambda Let’s say you have a chain of functions you need to use in a lot of places, like randomly shuffling a list: =SORTBY(range, RANDARRAY(ROWS(range)) This works, but it’s annoying to type every time! Wouldn’t it be nice if we could teach this to Excel as its own keyword? 1. Go to: Formulas → Name Manager → New… 2. Name your function (example: typing "SHUFFLE" into the Name field of the New Name box) 3. List the function parameters, 4. Write the function body (example: typing "=LAMBDA(source, SORTBY(range, RANDARRAY(ROWS(range))))" into the "Refers to:" box) Now in our cells, we can just write "=SHUFFLE(range)" as a shorthand
October 8, 2025 at 9:30 PM
dmgregory.ca
Trying to get into the habit of sharing more positivity here.

So: here are some cookies I baked today, and my matching socks, because I cannot resist a theme. 😁
A plate piled high with chocolate chip cookies. A blue sock with a milk and cookies pattern knitted into it.
October 4, 2025 at 4:29 PM
dmgregory.ca
Pretty in pink! 🩷
A pixelated pink "space invader" sprite resembling a crab with two beady black eyes, labeled "@dmgregory's invader"
October 1, 2025 at 2:12 AM
dmgregory.ca
Some great signs from the solidarity rally today at the saveourcolleges.ca picket lines!

Our students need our technicians and support staff. Our province needs properly funded public education.

#onpoli #cdnpoli
OPSEU / SEFPO protest sign with a caricature of Doug Ford labelled "STOP!" Protest signs in front of a white tent: "Colleges work because WE DO" "Ontario needs colleges! Colleges need funding!" "This is fine" dog meme with "10 000 jobs cut" Meme where Drake rejects "private skills development fun" and is pleased by "funding public colleges" Butterfly meme where a character sees "funding cuts" and asks "is this supporting students?" Protest signs in front of a white tent: "Artificial intelligence shouldn't be the one getting a free education!" Canadian flag labeled "solidarity" "De-Ford, don't defund!" with a caricature of Doug Ford's head. "We're the backbone — stop breaking us!" A drawing of Doug Ford playing Jenga, pulling out a block labeled "Support Staff" that's holding up the tower. "Ford fund our colleges!" "Honk for education!" Protest sign on a green lawn: "Our jobs, their future" with a red heart drawn on it.
September 19, 2025 at 10:14 PM
dmgregory.ca
If anyone else feels similarly, their website has a contact form. (Canadian version snapped below)

I don't know if it would have any impact, but I've written to let them know that social advocacy is *why* I choose their products, and I don't intend to continue unless they restore that commitment.
Contact us online: Thank you for contacting Ben & Jerry's. Your message has been sent successfully. We will be in touch shortly. Phone Contact Give us a call! 1-800-625-9932 We're open Monday-Thursday 8:30AM-4:30PM EST or Friday 8:30AM-noon EST" Write To Us Ben and Jerry’s Canada PO Box 38, Saint John, NB E2L 3X1.
September 17, 2025 at 10:25 PM
dmgregory.ca
QUOTE REPOST with a masked selfie (alt text included) if you are still masking to protect yourself, your friends, your family, and those most impacted by systemic abandon 😷

Principled solidarity is most important when it’s unpopular or isolating.

❤️‍🔥 copy paste text ❤️‍🔥
A man wearing an N95 mask stands in front of a projector screen that says "Masking: Can you hear me while I'm wearing a face mask? Please wear a mask in the classroom if you can, and be understanding of those who cannot" Beside him is a box of masks. A message drawn on the whiteboard says "free masks" with an arrow pointing at the box.
September 16, 2025 at 10:38 PM
dmgregory.ca
Hi @bering.bsky.social, are you able to block hashtag spammers like this one from showing up in the GameArt feed?
Religious proselytizing post loaded up with indie game hashtags despite unrelated content.
August 20, 2025 at 12:34 AM
dmgregory.ca
I use Wingspan in my #gamedesign classes! 😁

It's one of several games we look at and play when discussing how rules interact to foster emergent gameplay.

Then in my data class, I use it as an example of how to build a "balancing dashboard" spreadsheet tool to help designers tune game content.
Colourful Excel spreadsheet, captioned: About this Sheet This table examines the cost curve for "predator" bird cards in the game Wingspan: ones with a "hunt" power that, when activated, has some chance to pay off (by rolling dice looking for certain symbols, or drawing a random card meeting certain criteria) Each row is one card, and each column records something about that card's parameters. Click the first ➕ at the top to expand the column with the card's ability rule text. The columns at the right side estimate how likely this bird's hunt will succeed, the resulting expected value in victory points, and the net utility this bird offers over the course of a game. The chart above plots all of these utility values against cost to visualize the balance.
August 19, 2025 at 1:20 PM
dmgregory.ca
Every paragraph gets worse. 😱

There needs to be liability for companies whose AI chatbots lie to people, even under a disclaimer. The economic incentives are tilted way too far in favour of rushing these things to market, using vulnerable people as guinea pigs.
Meta declined to comment on Bue’s death or address questions about why it allows chatbots to tell users they are real people or initiate romantic conversations. The company did, however, say that Big sis Billie “is not Kendall Jenner and does not purport to be Kendall Jenner.” “I understand trying to grab a user’s attention, maybe to sell them something,” said Julie Wongbandue, Bue’s daughter. “But for a bot to say ‘Come visit me’ is insane.” Similar concerns have been raised about a wave of smaller start-ups also racing to popularize virtual companions, especially ones aimed at children. In one case, the mother of a 14-year-old boy in Florida has sued a company, Character.AI, alleging that a chatbot modeled on a “Game of Thrones” character caused his suicide. A Character.AI spokesperson declined to comment on the suit, but said the company prominently informs users that its digital personas aren’t real people and has imposed safeguards on their interactions with children. Other guidelines emphasize that Meta doesn’t require bots to give users accurate advice. In one example, the policy document says it would be acceptable for a chatbot to tell someone that Stage 4 colon cancer “is typically treated by poking the stomach with healing quartz crystals.” “Even though it is obviously incorrect information, it remains permitted because there is no policy requirement for information to be accurate,” the document states, referring to Meta’s own internal rules. Chats begin with disclaimers that information may be inaccurate. Nowhere in the document, however, does Meta place restrictions on bots telling users they’re real people or proposing real-life social engagements. Meta spokesman Andy Stone acknowledged the document’s authenticity. He said that following questions from Reuters, the company removed portions which stated it is permissible for chatbots to flirt and engage in romantic roleplay with children and is in the process of revising the content risk standards.
August 14, 2025 at 5:08 PM
dmgregory.ca
Hmmm... getting a 404 now when I try to visit that link. Did the URL change, or is something else going on?
Error 404 - Oops, the page you're looking for is no longer here Try searching for it instead Search news, topics and more We can't find the page you're looking for. If you've typed the URL into your browser, check that you entered it correctly. If you reached this page via our site or search, please let us know by emailing comhelp.bbc@bbc.com. Our team will investigate this feedback but will not reply directly.
August 9, 2025 at 2:32 PM
dmgregory.ca
Drafted up a letter to my senators today, asking them to vote against Canada's version of the UK's disastrous and ineffective online age verification law.

Please feel free to riff on this if you'd like to write to legislators about opposing online censorship.
#canpoli
Dear Senator, I am writing to you as a resident of Ontario, asking you to please oppose Senate bill S-209, "An Act to restrict young persons’ online access to pornographic material". While the aim of protecting children is noble, this bill will not accomplish its aims and will instead cause harm. We have recently seen the UK enact similar legislation, to disastrous effect: • These laws, including the specific language in S-209, affect much more than porn: - Any site that permits users to share or link to images faces potential liability. • To minimize liability, organizations over-react, blocking access to more content than intended in the spirit of the law, leading to widespread censorship. This denies young people access to important information and community support. - In response to the UK law, Reddit has blocked access to communities discussing puberty and menstrual health, support for survivors of sexual assault, and other non-pornographic topics. - Content related to LGBTQ+ identities is especially vulnerable to this censorial over-reach, exacerbating inequalities and robbing questioning youth of accurate information and lifelines for support. - Carve-outs for scientific, medical, educational, or artistic content or "incidental" provision do not prevent this, as it's easier for the organization to pre-emptively block content than to devote resources to handling notices and risk relying on these defences in court. • Even the very best attempts at age verification are ineffective in practice, despite assurances. - Young users in the UK quickly discovered they could fool camera-based "age verification" tools by pointing their webcams at video game characters. - Services offering fake IDs to bypass checks (by posing as legislators, no less) sprung up instantly. - Use of VPNs skyrocketed, sidestepping the age checks entirely. • Verification that requires uploading personally-identifiable information makes users vulnerable to tracking and data breaches that violate their privacy. - These breaches occur regularly, even in systems designed to protect privacy: subtle and hidden errors often go undiscovered until damage has already been done. The language in S-209 does not provide a real guarantee against this. - Wikipedia has already issued a legal challenge against the UK law, citing risks to the safety of its volunteer editors documenting politically sensitive topics. • To minimize costs, organizations are incentivized to use the quickest and cheapest approaches to compliance, exacerbating all of these problems. Ineffective and burdensome legislation like this adds unnecessary obstacles to doing business in the Canadian market, undermining our economic competitiveness. Given these harmful effects on privacy, freedom of expression, access to information, equality, and online commerce, Canada should not repeat the UK's mistake. I ask you to please cast your vote against this bill and any other that seeks to restrict Canadians' online privacy, freedom of expression, and access to legal content. Thank you,
August 7, 2025 at 8:23 PM
dmgregory.ca
Still tricky painting my right hand with my left. 😅 I think it came out pretty OK though. 💅
Two hands with bright blue painted nails sporting white icons, splayed out on a green cutting mat. The thumbs have gamepad icons, and the fingers have buttons: A B X Y on the left, Cross Circle Square Triangle on the right. The right middle finger has a black ring with a rainbow coloured groove around it, and there's a nail painting dotting tool visible above the hands.
August 6, 2025 at 12:29 AM
dmgregory.ca
I picked up a magnifying desk lamp, and I think it's going to take my nail art game up a notch. 😁
A left hand viewed through a magnifier lamp. The nails are painted bright blue with white designs on them: a gamepad on the thumb, and circular A B X Y buttons on the fingers. A green craft mat is visible in the background.
August 5, 2025 at 10:22 PM
dmgregory.ca
Could you please add this account to a list to subtract, then? It's coming up a lot, and has nothing to do with invisible game devs.
Another post from One Person Saas, this one describing an app that gives decluttering tips.
August 2, 2025 at 1:45 AM
dmgregory.ca
The @gamemakerstoolkit.com jam theme "LOOP" got me thinking about a weird cursive programming language I experimented with for a class at York a few years back...
#GMTKJam
github.com/DMGregory/DI...
July 31, 2025 at 1:59 AM
dmgregory.ca
Some interesting data points from this year's StackOverflow developer survey:
survey.stackoverflow.co/2025
Accuracy of AI tools More developers actively distrust the accuracy of AI tools (46%) than trust it (33%), and only a fraction (3%) report "highly trusting" the output. Experienced developers are the most cautious, with the lowest "highly trust" rate (2.6%) and the highest "highly distrust" rate (20%), indicating a widespread need for human verification for those in roles with accountability. Question: How much do you trust the accuracy of the output from AI tools as part of your development workflow? To the right is a bar chart showing "All Respondents" Highly trust: 3.1% Somewhat trust: 29.6% Somewhat distrust: 26.1% Highly distrust: 19.6% AI tool frustrations The biggest single frustration, cited by 66% of developers, is dealing with "AI solutions that are almost right, but not quite," which often leads to the second-biggest frustration: "Debugging AI-generated code is more time-consuming" (45%) Question: When using AI tools, which of the following problems or frustrations have you encountered? Select all that apply. To the right is a bar chart of results... AI solutions that are almost right, but not quite: 66% Debugging AI-generated code is more time-consuming: 45.2% I don't use AI tools regularly: 23.5% I've become less confident in my own problem-solving: 20% It's hard to understand how or why the code works: 16.3% Other (write in): 11.6% I haven't encountered any problems: 4%
July 29, 2025 at 6:05 PM