tobias xk / blѧxkcat
@teeeckskay.bsky.social
linguist, feminist, pop sentimentalist. sad singer, witch fiction writer, game designer, seldom fighter / oldschool tx melee player, protect our scene 💚💜🖤
Pinned
i probly should have expanded on this in-line, but the tension here is between design-communication & play-discovery, with a trend towards OVER-communication. the ostensible intent is to reduce the *requirement* of player discovery, but the greatest effect is reducing the ✨possibility✨ of discovery.
finally, i believe that in the domain of video games specifically, there is an apparent design philosophy that either does not value or explicitly minimizes "discovery" & the opportunity for "discovery"—& every game i've ever experienced that seems to subscribe could absolutely be improved by it
November 11, 2025 at 7:11 AM
i probly should have expanded on this in-line, but the tension here is between design-communication & play-discovery, with a trend towards OVER-communication. the ostensible intent is to reduce the *requirement* of player discovery, but the greatest effect is reducing the ✨possibility✨ of discovery.
i thought about this a bit & i think "discovery" is v likely my only answer. "secrets" was where i started & i can't rly conceptualize modern vgame design that wouldn't benefit—but i thought of, e.g. historic board games, & like... chess would not be enhanced by secrecy & already contains discovery
November 11, 2025 at 5:23 AM
i thought about this a bit & i think "discovery" is v likely my only answer. "secrets" was where i started & i can't rly conceptualize modern vgame design that wouldn't benefit—but i thought of, e.g. historic board games, & like... chess would not be enhanced by secrecy & already contains discovery
i wish i had the power to beam toph-yelling-at-tian-vs-tafokints-salty-suite directly into certain ppl's brains
November 11, 2025 at 4:12 AM
i wish i had the power to beam toph-yelling-at-tian-vs-tafokints-salty-suite directly into certain ppl's brains
Reposted by tobias xk / blѧxkcat
shiny new gallery page
commissions open
somebody hire us
commissions open
somebody hire us
October 2, 2025 at 8:31 PM
shiny new gallery page
commissions open
somebody hire us
commissions open
somebody hire us
he deserves smth quite different in fact
Under Greg Abbott, our costs have gone up, our health care remains expensive and out of reach, and our public schools have been defunded.
He does not deserve an unprecedented 4th term.
Texans deserve a new governor - one who's committed to hardworking Texas families, not wealthy donors.
He does not deserve an unprecedented 4th term.
Texans deserve a new governor - one who's committed to hardworking Texas families, not wealthy donors.
Gov. Greg Abbott launches reelection bid for 2026
While speaking to supporters at East River 9 in Houston on Sunday night, Gov. Greg Abbott launched his reelection bid for 2026.
www.khou.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:06 AM
he deserves smth quite different in fact
Reposted by tobias xk / blѧxkcat
Leftists really have to prioritize public libraries in budget fights.
November 8, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Leftists really have to prioritize public libraries in budget fights.
obviously i heard smth at some point (probably political speech) that sounded like this & caused me to write this out in my cadence notation indicating """meaningful""" pauses. but i have no fucking recollection of what or when it even was so this is just permanently one of my SublimeText tabs lmao
November 9, 2025 at 3:31 AM
obviously i heard smth at some point (probably political speech) that sounded like this & caused me to write this out in my cadence notation indicating """meaningful""" pauses. but i have no fucking recollection of what or when it even was so this is just permanently one of my SublimeText tabs lmao
Reposted by tobias xk / blѧxkcat
Part of the reason I think there isn’t as much pressure around stopping ChatGPT re: suicide/psychosis as compared to stuff like Panera Lemonade is because people are inclined to blame it on mental illness versus the tech, a kind of victim-blaming mentality that fits neatly into just world fallacy
November 8, 2025 at 12:29 AM
Part of the reason I think there isn’t as much pressure around stopping ChatGPT re: suicide/psychosis as compared to stuff like Panera Lemonade is because people are inclined to blame it on mental illness versus the tech, a kind of victim-blaming mentality that fits neatly into just world fallacy
as a groundfloor eli roth & oz perkins hater, this is kind of awesome
“I’ve got a great marketing plan, we’ll get the dumbest motherfucker in our industry, one that just nobody respects, and we’ll have him say the most asinine thing possible and that will be our pull quote, it’s surefire
November 8, 2025 at 2:54 AM
as a groundfloor eli roth & oz perkins hater, this is kind of awesome
Reposted by tobias xk / blѧxkcat
I _really_ blame Unity and Unreal for pushing variable-timestep gameplay as an unexamined hard-coded assumption (and worse, Unity defaulting their secondary "fixed update" to PAL-oriented 50fps rather than standard 60). Variable draw-times is rendering problem, _not_ a gameplay scripting problem.
November 7, 2025 at 6:54 PM
I _really_ blame Unity and Unreal for pushing variable-timestep gameplay as an unexamined hard-coded assumption (and worse, Unity defaulting their secondary "fixed update" to PAL-oriented 50fps rather than standard 60). Variable draw-times is rendering problem, _not_ a gameplay scripting problem.
Reposted by tobias xk / blѧxkcat
TRANSITION CO-CHAIR LINA KHAN!?!?!??!
November 5, 2025 at 4:38 PM
TRANSITION CO-CHAIR LINA KHAN!?!?!??!
Reposted by tobias xk / blѧxkcat
There is no academic freedom in the context of trump’s compact.
Agreeing to that thing poisons the well, and any “freedom” thereafter becomes relative to the whims of an ill-tempered autocrat.
Agreeing to that thing poisons the well, and any “freedom” thereafter becomes relative to the whims of an ill-tempered autocrat.
UT-Austin affirms a "non-negotiable" commitment to academic freedom, and its writers considered Trump's compact as "part of the context under which we were working."
As Trump’s Compact Looms, UT-Austin Affirms ‘Non-Negotiable’ Commitment to Academic Freedom
The statement also comes amid several high-profile cases in Texas pitting academic freedom against political pressure.
www.chronicle.com
November 6, 2025 at 5:14 PM
There is no academic freedom in the context of trump’s compact.
Agreeing to that thing poisons the well, and any “freedom” thereafter becomes relative to the whims of an ill-tempered autocrat.
Agreeing to that thing poisons the well, and any “freedom” thereafter becomes relative to the whims of an ill-tempered autocrat.
look there's a reason they call that meat that
November 6, 2025 at 1:14 AM
look there's a reason they call that meat that
Reposted by tobias xk / blѧxkcat
This is what I wrote at the time and I still believe it even though it made a lot of people mad.
inthesetimes.com/article/publ...
inthesetimes.com/article/publ...
The Library Is a Commons
A socialist former president of the American Library Association on why defending libraries is fighting capitalism.
inthesetimes.com
November 5, 2025 at 12:46 PM
This is what I wrote at the time and I still believe it even though it made a lot of people mad.
inthesetimes.com/article/publ...
inthesetimes.com/article/publ...
Reposted by tobias xk / blѧxkcat
Lots of great results across the country, except unfortunately in the state of Texas and the City of Austin, where I happen to live.
I have never more disappointed in Austinites than I am about Prop Q being voted down.
I have never more disappointed in Austinites than I am about Prop Q being voted down.
November 5, 2025 at 4:31 AM
Lots of great results across the country, except unfortunately in the state of Texas and the City of Austin, where I happen to live.
I have never more disappointed in Austinites than I am about Prop Q being voted down.
I have never more disappointed in Austinites than I am about Prop Q being voted down.
Reposted by tobias xk / blѧxkcat
California thanks for voting to help us out here in TX
November 5, 2025 at 3:43 AM
California thanks for voting to help us out here in TX
Reposted by tobias xk / blѧxkcat
jon bois names three smash bros games in the span of two seconds
November 4, 2025 at 3:29 AM
jon bois names three smash bros games in the span of two seconds
i had a handful of somewhat time sensitive things i was supposed to do before nine & i missed several of them in my excitement for oomfie getting to play Control for the first time lmao
November 4, 2025 at 3:24 AM
i had a handful of somewhat time sensitive things i was supposed to do before nine & i missed several of them in my excitement for oomfie getting to play Control for the first time lmao
Reposted by tobias xk / blѧxkcat
today’s information came out piecemeal, and people should be able to share their own situations on their own time, but I could share this much ^ as it is pretty cut and dry on the facts.
Teen Vogue also no longer has any trans staffers as of today.
Teen Vogue also no longer has any trans staffers as of today.
November 3, 2025 at 11:28 PM
today’s information came out piecemeal, and people should be able to share their own situations on their own time, but I could share this much ^ as it is pretty cut and dry on the facts.
Teen Vogue also no longer has any trans staffers as of today.
Teen Vogue also no longer has any trans staffers as of today.
Reposted by tobias xk / blѧxkcat
thank you for all the support; the statement from our union is now live here with some more reporting.
now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.
now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.
November 3, 2025 at 11:25 PM
thank you for all the support; the statement from our union is now live here with some more reporting.
now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.
now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.
Reposted by tobias xk / blѧxkcat
"left-wing" LLM training defenders love to go like "well in the post-copyright utopia this isn't an issue" and like we don't live in the post-copyright utopia. We live in a world where the one class getting away breaking these laws consists of huge companies and the victims are workers
November 1, 2025 at 4:55 PM
"left-wing" LLM training defenders love to go like "well in the post-copyright utopia this isn't an issue" and like we don't live in the post-copyright utopia. We live in a world where the one class getting away breaking these laws consists of huge companies and the victims are workers
tech companies pretend they're alll so smart & capable yet there isn't a single socmedia platform where i can use regex to simply hide every single post containing an '-oid' suffix
November 1, 2025 at 3:43 AM
tech companies pretend they're alll so smart & capable yet there isn't a single socmedia platform where i can use regex to simply hide every single post containing an '-oid' suffix
happy birthday darling, we love you v v v v v v v much 💚💜💛
October 29, 2025 at 5:01 AM
happy birthday darling, we love you v v v v v v v much 💚💜💛