And that's a wrap on my third game jam, and Ludum Dare #59! If you want a behind-the-scenes look at how I made "in:frequency", read my latest article: www.withcaer.com/logs/infrequ... Next up: Cleaning up the horrifying post-jam spaghetti code. #gamejam #gamedev #solodev #ldjam

Another Ludum Dare, another accolades poster! "in:frequency" is my best-received title yet, placing 20th in Innovation, 84th in Audio, 102nd in Theme, and 333rd Overall (of 1,610 games). Coming soon: A behind-the-scenes post on how I created it, and what's next. #gamejam #gamedev #solodev #ldjam

What if I told you LLMs (and most AI models) aren't innovative? Let’s start with an analogy of bananas. Bananas growing on a tree are very much like novel inventions: Fascinating to look at, and potentially useful…but not immediately valuable.

> “I want understanding to grow in my brain, not the LLM’s transient session. Writing to explain my thinking to others is how I refine that thinking […] To have an AI write for me is to cripple my own mind.” So much this.

I earned a degree in rhetoric, and now I'm an AI engineer. What frustrates me about AI-generated writing is that it's not _writing_: It's text. #writing #rhetoric #ai

Play "in:frequency": caer.cc/app/ld59 I survived #LDJam 59! This was my 3rd jam, and my 3rd game ever--all using a Rust engine I've built from the ground up over the past year. Somehow, the final WASM was only 1.2MB... Read more at: ldjam.com/events/ludum... #gamejam #gamedev #solodev #rust #wasm

As day two of #ldjam draws to a close, I find myself reevaluating my decision to implement dynamic, traversable topographic contour maps in 2.5D. But I did do it. #gamedev #gamejam #rust #solodev #map

As the first full day of #ldjam 59 draws to a close, I've finished 90% of my game concept docs, and started working on the colors, maps, and terrain system for my signal-inspired game. 😎 #gamejam #gamedev #rust #solodev #affinity

The first day dawns on #ldjam 59! The theme is “Signal”. I plan to make something that builds on my last few entries’ isometric style, with a vertical, multiplayer twist - and inspired by radio signals. Step 1: Figuring out the gameplay mechanic… 🙈 #gamejam #gamedev #solodev

Who’s ready for this weekend’s Ludum Dare? I will once again be using my delightfully questionable and bespoke #rust engine, and dabbling with either multiplayer…or multiple platforms. #ldjam #gamejam #gamedev #solodev

Last week, I published my first article on @martinfowler.com's site (a milestone for me)! It's on a topic close to my heart: Mechanical sympathy, which distills concepts across domains into principles that minimize contention for hardware resources, leading to simpler code--and better systems.

It's not every day I get quoted on the web! Also, I've a new favorite quote: "If you know your readers will likely be annoyed by the uncanny valley of LLM prose, then don’t let it generate your text. But if you’re writing a mandated report that you suspect nobody will ever read, then have at it."

“The Venn diagram of developer experience and agent experience is a circle.” is my favorite quote from last week’s Pragmatic Summit in SF. Finally, we have a way to convince people to invest in developer experience… 😭 Read more @ chats.withcaer.com/pragmatic-su... #coding #engineering #dx

My biggest takeaway from my time at @gergely.pragmaticengineer.com' summit: #code is becoming the least interesting for engineers to manage. What matters now is the intent behind it: The conversations that created it, the specs constraining them, and the product concepts that inspired them.

I've finally taken the plunge and started a Substack newsletter! Only time will tell if this was wise... 🤔 chats.caer.cc/resolutions #writers #writing #substack #games #robots

Last year, my resolution was 160x144--the same as the original Game Boy. In 2025, I created my first two games ever, using my own #rust engine (check out some of the code: github.com/caer/recollect)! This year, my #resolution is much larger: 1748x2480. What’s yours? #indie #gamedev #art #code

Companies don’t hire engineers to write code. They hire us to own the code that hits prod. Bombarded with millions of lines of legacy and #AI #code, teams need engineers to cut through the noise--to know #slop from salvage. With 2026 looming, remember: LLMs aren’t engineering leaders. You are. ❤️

What if I told you that today’s AI are antithetical? As a writer, I use antithesis (“this isn’t X, it’s Y”) to add emphasis. But over the past few months, I’ve noticed LLMs liberally sprinkling it in at random. Look closely next time you use AI--you just might see more antithesis than em dashes.

Watchtowr’s latest research makes for a fun read, and also a PSA on … *checks notes* … pasting credentials into online code formatters? labs.watchtowr.com/stop-putting... #cybersecurity #coding

I found a #bug in my #zsa Voyager. I'm not sure how to patch it... 🤔 #keyboards #mechanicalkeyboards

The results for my #LDJam game are in: I ranked 60th in mood and 82nd in audio out of 1391 games. This was my first time composing music, my second time using my own #rust engine, and a huge leap from my last jam! You can try the game for yourself on the web: caer.cc/app/ld58 #indiedev #gamedev

I made another (tiny) game with my custom #rust engine as part of the 72-hour Ludum Dare Game Jam! "re:collect: In a world without sound, play as Recco, and gather lost records of music from a civilization long since past." ldjam.com/events/ludum... #LDJam #indiedev #gamedev

It's been a bit, Bluesky! Last month, I made my first-ever game during @ludumdare.com #LD57: Layered. It's a puzzler inspired by deep neural networks' hidden layers, built using my own #rust engine based on #macroquad. Now I'm working on "finishing" it~ Read more and try it @ caer.cc/logs/ldjam-57/

Pro Tip: When you get an unexpected and "time sensitive" training email at work, report it as Phishing to your security team! Now you're an ethical procrastinator in the name of #cybersecurity. Or a corporate rebel. Or both. ❤️

Happy New year, Bluesky! My New Year's resolution is a crisp 160x144px. hbu? #nails #electronics #cryptography

I soldered my first header pins today! Thanks @adafruit.com for the lovely parts and tutorials that gave me the confidence to give this a go~ #making #opensource #electronics

I propose we replace semantic versioning with pride versioning

Want to try an unstable Rust feature without installing an entire Nightly toolchain? Use `RUSTC_BOOTSTRAP=1 cargo` instead of `cargo +nightly`!* *This flag disables `rustc`'s stability guarantees. Sharks might eat your binary. But it sure is nifty! #rust #rustlang #code #programming #opensource

I’m making a 2.5D game engine in Rust for fun, and got super confused when the isometric cube I drew didn’t look “right”. Today I learned: Most “Isometric” game art is actually drawn in a 2:1 “Dimetric” projection. (real artists: plz correct me if I’m wrong)

"Rhetoric" is a word that gets...lots of use. Although I'm a coder, one of my degrees is in rhetoric—so I wrote a log on where this word comes from, and what it means: www.caer.cc/logs/makers-... I'd love to hear the community's thoughts ❤️ #writing #writers #rhetoric

I've competed in countless rounds of #DevOps mortal combat with #TensorFlow, #PyTorch, and wonky #ONNX runtimes—Burn looks like a lovely alternative for making production-ready #DeepLearning models! What do other #MLOps and #DataScience friends think?

Hi Bluesky! I'm Caer; I #code and I write about code. For my first post, here's my favorite #RustLang hack: Combine `#![doc]` with `include_str!()` in `lib.rs` to reuse a `README.md` as a crate's docs. ❤️ #rust #programming #opensource