Hannah Dawson
@fairlysadpanda.bsky.social
Senior backend engineer, CCP Games London. VR games developer and artist. Sometimes do politics, mental health and north London permitting. Liberal Democrat, somewhat hawkish, very pro-Europe.
I use she/her pronouns, and I hope you have a lovely day.
I use she/her pronouns, and I hope you have a lovely day.
Pinned
Hannah Dawson
@fairlysadpanda.bsky.social
· Oct 21
Hey! I'm Hannah, a trans games developer (specializing in gameplay<->server engineering), a hobbyist artist and game designer, a VR enthusiast and sometimes a Liberal Democrat political activist.
If you follow this account, expect a smorgasboard of the above topics and some bad puns.
If you follow this account, expect a smorgasboard of the above topics and some bad puns.
After one month: I like Qobuz! Feels really algorithm-free so I'm not just getting endless auto-generated playlists, and they seem to make an effort to make it easy to find an album to listen to - and then buy if you want off their web store too.
Really like how focussed the app's front page is.
Really like how focussed the app's front page is.
November 20, 2025 at 5:39 PM
After one month: I like Qobuz! Feels really algorithm-free so I'm not just getting endless auto-generated playlists, and they seem to make an effort to make it easy to find an album to listen to - and then buy if you want off their web store too.
Really like how focussed the app's front page is.
Really like how focussed the app's front page is.
Good news for once, Unity's keynote at their developer conference was entirely free of LLM features and confirmed that the big engine move that should massively reduce CPU overhead has a preview coming soon.
Once the technical preview is out I'm excited to get started on Unity C# dev again :D
Once the technical preview is out I'm excited to get started on Unity C# dev again :D
November 19, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Good news for once, Unity's keynote at their developer conference was entirely free of LLM features and confirmed that the big engine move that should massively reduce CPU overhead has a preview coming soon.
Once the technical preview is out I'm excited to get started on Unity C# dev again :D
Once the technical preview is out I'm excited to get started on Unity C# dev again :D
I have just chipped in €25. Incredibly fun, well-made software, and you can use it to win an Oscar or make the next big video game.
Did Blender help you this year? Help back! 🧡
If every active user contributed $5 this month, Blender would be funded for the entire year 2026. Professional 3D software. No subscriptions. No limits. Just your support.
Do your part. Donate today.
www.blender.org/news/give-ba...
#b3d
If every active user contributed $5 this month, Blender would be funded for the entire year 2026. Professional 3D software. No subscriptions. No limits. Just your support.
Do your part. Donate today.
www.blender.org/news/give-ba...
#b3d
November 19, 2025 at 11:05 AM
I have just chipped in €25. Incredibly fun, well-made software, and you can use it to win an Oscar or make the next big video game.
Best read on the state of things is the government staggers onward to 2029, but I am not sure what happens if Labour manage to lose to the left in London and to the right in the shires. But the last time we had a properly apocalyptic meldown of the governing party was 1931.
November 18, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Best read on the state of things is the government staggers onward to 2029, but I am not sure what happens if Labour manage to lose to the left in London and to the right in the shires. But the last time we had a properly apocalyptic meldown of the governing party was 1931.
The only US chain I've ever encountered that got the "oh god, no, we are not going there" treatment when I was staying with a friend's family in Orlando was Red Lobster. I always wanted to go. An outright bad US restaurant chain must be _bad_.
November 17, 2025 at 7:57 PM
The only US chain I've ever encountered that got the "oh god, no, we are not going there" treatment when I was staying with a friend's family in Orlando was Red Lobster. I always wanted to go. An outright bad US restaurant chain must be _bad_.
It's incredible that leaving the ECHR is even being pretended to be policy by anyone, let alone leaving Labour in a situation where they're committing to refugee policy that is incompatible with it.
You can't leave the ECHR if you're the UK without withdrawing from the Good Friday Agreement.
You can't leave the ECHR if you're the UK without withdrawing from the Good Friday Agreement.
November 17, 2025 at 7:24 PM
It's incredible that leaving the ECHR is even being pretended to be policy by anyone, let alone leaving Labour in a situation where they're committing to refugee policy that is incompatible with it.
You can't leave the ECHR if you're the UK without withdrawing from the Good Friday Agreement.
You can't leave the ECHR if you're the UK without withdrawing from the Good Friday Agreement.
Broke: I live in Tottenham, it's kinda hard to campaign around here
Woke: ah but it's still worth doing the campaigning so people have a fair option
Bespoke: the fury of ten thousand suns cannot restrain my contempt for this Labour government, every single vote torn from their grasp is a victory
Woke: ah but it's still worth doing the campaigning so people have a fair option
Bespoke: the fury of ten thousand suns cannot restrain my contempt for this Labour government, every single vote torn from their grasp is a victory
November 17, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Broke: I live in Tottenham, it's kinda hard to campaign around here
Woke: ah but it's still worth doing the campaigning so people have a fair option
Bespoke: the fury of ten thousand suns cannot restrain my contempt for this Labour government, every single vote torn from their grasp is a victory
Woke: ah but it's still worth doing the campaigning so people have a fair option
Bespoke: the fury of ten thousand suns cannot restrain my contempt for this Labour government, every single vote torn from their grasp is a victory
????????????????????????????????
Hello? Hello yes I'm convinced, this is a simulation, I would like to go open that door in the sky like in the Truman Show now, yes
Hello? Hello yes I'm convinced, this is a simulation, I would like to go open that door in the sky like in the Truman Show now, yes
November 17, 2025 at 7:00 PM
????????????????????????????????
Hello? Hello yes I'm convinced, this is a simulation, I would like to go open that door in the sky like in the Truman Show now, yes
Hello? Hello yes I'm convinced, this is a simulation, I would like to go open that door in the sky like in the Truman Show now, yes
A Westminster spad is talking to a German friend at the pub.
Spad: "Well, at this rate Labour will be so completely unpopular the only path to power will be like your SDP - a coalition with the Greens and liberals."
German: "Jamaica?"
Spad: "No, they did it to themselves."
Spad: "Well, at this rate Labour will be so completely unpopular the only path to power will be like your SDP - a coalition with the Greens and liberals."
German: "Jamaica?"
Spad: "No, they did it to themselves."
November 17, 2025 at 6:21 PM
A Westminster spad is talking to a German friend at the pub.
Spad: "Well, at this rate Labour will be so completely unpopular the only path to power will be like your SDP - a coalition with the Greens and liberals."
German: "Jamaica?"
Spad: "No, they did it to themselves."
Spad: "Well, at this rate Labour will be so completely unpopular the only path to power will be like your SDP - a coalition with the Greens and liberals."
German: "Jamaica?"
Spad: "No, they did it to themselves."
This summarizes how stupid this refugee policy pitch is.
"I know British people do not want to close the doors" <- So who is this policy for? Aquaman?
"But" <- Why are you doing something you acknowledge your own now-increasingly-theoretical voter bloc hates?
"I know British people do not want to close the doors" <- So who is this policy for? Aquaman?
"But" <- Why are you doing something you acknowledge your own now-increasingly-theoretical voter bloc hates?
November 17, 2025 at 6:09 PM
This summarizes how stupid this refugee policy pitch is.
"I know British people do not want to close the doors" <- So who is this policy for? Aquaman?
"But" <- Why are you doing something you acknowledge your own now-increasingly-theoretical voter bloc hates?
"I know British people do not want to close the doors" <- So who is this policy for? Aquaman?
"But" <- Why are you doing something you acknowledge your own now-increasingly-theoretical voter bloc hates?
The UK has a smaller shadow economy than France, despite the latter having compulsory ID www.worldeconomics.com/Informal-Eco...
November 17, 2025 at 5:36 PM
The UK has a smaller shadow economy than France, despite the latter having compulsory ID www.worldeconomics.com/Informal-Eco...
One would point out that any Ukrainian here because their country is currently being invaded is an "irregular migrant". Wonder if government-by-headline has factored in the cost of creating a rigid and unkind refugee system when the next European war happens.
November 17, 2025 at 3:28 PM
One would point out that any Ukrainian here because their country is currently being invaded is an "irregular migrant". Wonder if government-by-headline has factored in the cost of creating a rigid and unkind refugee system when the next European war happens.
It's mad how you can summarize the steps to take for a moderate UK government atm as "do exactly what the opposite of your opponents in the press are calling for".
It's almost as if the government was elected to do the opposite of what their opponents in the press called for.
It's almost as if the government was elected to do the opposite of what their opponents in the press called for.
November 17, 2025 at 1:11 PM
It's mad how you can summarize the steps to take for a moderate UK government atm as "do exactly what the opposite of your opponents in the press are calling for".
It's almost as if the government was elected to do the opposite of what their opponents in the press called for.
It's almost as if the government was elected to do the opposite of what their opponents in the press called for.
I think this sums up my overall thoughts reading about this idiotic anti-refugee policy from the LD Home Secretary: there is no prize to being the second-preference vote in a FPTP election.
November 15, 2025 at 5:06 PM
I think this sums up my overall thoughts reading about this idiotic anti-refugee policy from the LD Home Secretary: there is no prize to being the second-preference vote in a FPTP election.
A prediction for 2029: Labour lose more deposits than any time in modern history.
November 15, 2025 at 4:48 PM
A prediction for 2029: Labour lose more deposits than any time in modern history.
Trying to understand the logic of shipping a VR headset that is intended to stream PC VR games, when your platform has exactly two VR games in its top 100 (VRC and No Man's Sky, technically), and not catering at all to the VRChat audience, and not providing any new VR games alongside the launch.
November 13, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Trying to understand the logic of shipping a VR headset that is intended to stream PC VR games, when your platform has exactly two VR games in its top 100 (VRC and No Man's Sky, technically), and not catering at all to the VRChat audience, and not providing any new VR games alongside the launch.
Steam Machine - incredibly bad buy as a below-TV games machine when competing against a Deck or similar (Remember that Playstation Vita TV thing, and how the Switch/2 are overwhelmingly used in handheld mode?) and whilst you can just get a PS5, Mac Mini, etc.
Awesome single-purchase work PC.
Awesome single-purchase work PC.
November 13, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Steam Machine - incredibly bad buy as a below-TV games machine when competing against a Deck or similar (Remember that Playstation Vita TV thing, and how the Switch/2 are overwhelmingly used in handheld mode?) and whilst you can just get a PS5, Mac Mini, etc.
Awesome single-purchase work PC.
Awesome single-purchase work PC.
Incredible how I can go from real hype to "whelp, that kills competent VR dead" in ten minutes, but them's the breaks. Going from lighthouses to SLAM is performance regression, not progress. Not sure the point of the Frame at all if it's ultimately a Quest clone.
November 12, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Incredible how I can go from real hype to "whelp, that kills competent VR dead" in ten minutes, but them's the breaks. Going from lighthouses to SLAM is performance regression, not progress. Not sure the point of the Frame at all if it's ultimately a Quest clone.
Valve is now shipping a headset that has worse audio, worse controller ergonomics and worse tracking than their 2019 headset, whilst killing both the Beyond and both Tundra and HTC trackers, as I'm unaware of anyone other than Valve manufacturing Base Station 2.0s.
November 12, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Valve is now shipping a headset that has worse audio, worse controller ergonomics and worse tracking than their 2019 headset, whilst killing both the Beyond and both Tundra and HTC trackers, as I'm unaware of anyone other than Valve manufacturing Base Station 2.0s.
Reposted by Hannah Dawson
i am now, unfortunately, dead.
if lighthouse dies I die
November 12, 2025 at 6:34 PM
i am now, unfortunately, dead.
Not sure if I buy the pitch that the Frame gets announced tomorrow and then Half-Life 3 next week, but HL3 _isn't_ a VR game, or maybe HL3 has a VR SKU with different content or something. If you announce the Frame, and then announce a huge game which doesn't need the Frame...
November 11, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Not sure if I buy the pitch that the Frame gets announced tomorrow and then Half-Life 3 next week, but HL3 _isn't_ a VR game, or maybe HL3 has a VR SKU with different content or something. If you announce the Frame, and then announce a huge game which doesn't need the Frame...
The problem with the BBC is that impartiality can mean a requirement to report without fear or favour, a requirement to make all sides heard, and a requirement to be a viewed as a "neutral" (or evenly-disliked) source by all wings, and those are not all achievable without screwing up all the time.
November 10, 2025 at 1:24 PM
The problem with the BBC is that impartiality can mean a requirement to report without fear or favour, a requirement to make all sides heard, and a requirement to be a viewed as a "neutral" (or evenly-disliked) source by all wings, and those are not all achievable without screwing up all the time.
The future of games development is Wagyu beef. Developers need to specialize on quality they can sell for a premium. AAA development has to be left to projects backed by nation-state investment funds/Chinese publishers/etc.
Win on quality and hope there is an audience.
Win on quality and hope there is an audience.
November 8, 2025 at 5:57 PM
The future of games development is Wagyu beef. Developers need to specialize on quality they can sell for a premium. AAA development has to be left to projects backed by nation-state investment funds/Chinese publishers/etc.
Win on quality and hope there is an audience.
Win on quality and hope there is an audience.
The conclusion from me having an existential crisis about games development is that you either crunch to ship someone else's project or you crunch to ship your own, and if you do the former, that product has to compete with products made in far more competitive countries like China.
November 8, 2025 at 5:52 PM
The conclusion from me having an existential crisis about games development is that you either crunch to ship someone else's project or you crunch to ship your own, and if you do the former, that product has to compete with products made in far more competitive countries like China.
At this point, weighing up everything, I am genuinely not sure what the future of western games is, especially on console. Looking at job adverts, I'm not seeing a healthy range of roles being offered at all.
Then again maybe there is just an easier answer: recession, stagflation, etc.
Then again maybe there is just an easier answer: recession, stagflation, etc.
November 8, 2025 at 12:55 AM
At this point, weighing up everything, I am genuinely not sure what the future of western games is, especially on console. Looking at job adverts, I'm not seeing a healthy range of roles being offered at all.
Then again maybe there is just an easier answer: recession, stagflation, etc.
Then again maybe there is just an easier answer: recession, stagflation, etc.