Steve de Niese
@stevedeniese.bsky.social
Lead/Game dev at Metal Pandas Studio. Founder and Creative Director at Assemblo. Sometime solo game dev. Programmer, artist, musician. Melbourne, Australia. 🇦🇺
https://linktr.ee/letterafterz
https://linktr.ee/letterafterz
Blizzard have me replaying warcraft 3 which is just crazy… It’s so good though.
September 17, 2026 at 10:55 AM
Blizzard have me replaying warcraft 3 which is just crazy… It’s so good though.
I’m hiring at the moment and we had hundreds of applicants. My HR guy makes a point of personalising rejection letters and trying to give people specific feedback and helpful tips. One person who got rejected called it ai slop, then left a 1 star review on my business simply saying we use AI…
September 13, 2026 at 5:01 AM
I’m hiring at the moment and we had hundreds of applicants. My HR guy makes a point of personalising rejection letters and trying to give people specific feedback and helpful tips. One person who got rejected called it ai slop, then left a 1 star review on my business simply saying we use AI…
Incredible 90s curtains
September 12, 2026 at 1:17 PM
Incredible 90s curtains
Mate of mine just shared a viral friendslop game called ‘Needle in a Haystack’ I tried to look it up on steam, but I think the AI bros got there first. Which one is the OG??
September 4, 2026 at 12:20 PM
Mate of mine just shared a viral friendslop game called ‘Needle in a Haystack’ I tried to look it up on steam, but I think the AI bros got there first. Which one is the OG??
My goodness, Big Walk is amazing.
September 1, 2026 at 1:17 PM
My goodness, Big Walk is amazing.
Came in to the office 2 hours early today to try and get in front, whole morning my pc has been failing and i've just been on customer support call…
August 31, 2026 at 12:02 AM
Came in to the office 2 hours early today to try and get in front, whole morning my pc has been failing and i've just been on customer support call…
Just spoke with my Nan, she’s 90 today and she told me she did a plank with her pt for her birthday haha
August 28, 2026 at 2:36 AM
Just spoke with my Nan, she’s 90 today and she told me she did a plank with her pt for her birthday haha
Oceansize are an absolute all timer for me. Favourite band easily, and such a big impact in my music.
www.guitarworld.com/artists/band...
www.guitarworld.com/artists/band...
Sleep Token love them. Progressive guitar heroes worship them. But they imploded spectacularly. This is the story of unsung prog icons Oceansize: “We put ourselves through hell because we knew we were...
Major players including Misha Mansoor and Yvette Young have cited Oceansize as an influence, yet the combustible UK outfit remain under the radar – in part because they simply cannot be imitated
www.guitarworld.com
August 27, 2026 at 8:08 PM
Oceansize are an absolute all timer for me. Favourite band easily, and such a big impact in my music.
www.guitarworld.com/artists/band...
www.guitarworld.com/artists/band...
Saving and loading without things breaking is the ultimate gamedev test of your wiles. Wyles? whyles? I think I may be procrastinating from working on the saving and loading bugs…
August 27, 2026 at 1:56 PM
Saving and loading without things breaking is the ultimate gamedev test of your wiles. Wyles? whyles? I think I may be procrastinating from working on the saving and loading bugs…
I hope that Witcher 3 remaster is compatible with saves. Literally in the middle of my (very overdue) Witcher 3 full playthrough and I don’t wanna have to restart for a 4th time.
Assuming it is though and in which (witch?) case I’m very excited for it!
Assuming it is though and in which (witch?) case I’m very excited for it!
August 26, 2026 at 1:14 PM
I hope that Witcher 3 remaster is compatible with saves. Literally in the middle of my (very overdue) Witcher 3 full playthrough and I don’t wanna have to restart for a 4th time.
Assuming it is though and in which (witch?) case I’m very excited for it!
Assuming it is though and in which (witch?) case I’m very excited for it!
Finally picked up a copy of the game design bible.
August 23, 2026 at 7:50 AM
Finally picked up a copy of the game design bible.
Went to a phone free warehouse gig last night to see Klangkuenstler, and was disappointed to see everyone with their phones out still recording.
August 21, 2026 at 11:32 PM
Went to a phone free warehouse gig last night to see Klangkuenstler, and was disappointed to see everyone with their phones out still recording.
Another UI system block out down - this time a quest hud and log.
August 19, 2026 at 1:30 PM
Another UI system block out down - this time a quest hud and log.
We’ve taken to calling the collectable things in Big Walk “Dongs”. Childish, I know. Just learned it’s modelled of Wilson’s Prom, so now they’re “Prom Dongs”.
August 19, 2026 at 8:35 AM
We’ve taken to calling the collectable things in Big Walk “Dongs”. Childish, I know. Just learned it’s modelled of Wilson’s Prom, so now they’re “Prom Dongs”.
An insight into the things i think about in the shower: Just had the realisation that if austin powers came out today, the time difference would be the equivalent of a spy from the late 90s instead of late 60s
August 18, 2026 at 9:22 PM
An insight into the things i think about in the shower: Just had the realisation that if austin powers came out today, the time difference would be the equivalent of a spy from the late 90s instead of late 60s
Sometimes you build a whole rostering system over a couple of weekends and noone notices, other times you throw in a bunch of new fonts in an evening and everyone is like HOLY SHIT! #gamedev
August 17, 2026 at 1:51 AM
Sometimes you build a whole rostering system over a couple of weekends and noone notices, other times you throw in a bunch of new fonts in an evening and everyone is like HOLY SHIT! #gamedev
I’m sure A* pathfinding works really well when you know what you’re doing but I feel like I have it working and then some
NPC will just get stuck in some new exciting way that makes me tear my hair out!
Oh, and good luck googling AI pathfinding in a post LLM world…
NPC will just get stuck in some new exciting way that makes me tear my hair out!
Oh, and good luck googling AI pathfinding in a post LLM world…
August 16, 2026 at 1:47 AM
I’m sure A* pathfinding works really well when you know what you’re doing but I feel like I have it working and then some
NPC will just get stuck in some new exciting way that makes me tear my hair out!
Oh, and good luck googling AI pathfinding in a post LLM world…
NPC will just get stuck in some new exciting way that makes me tear my hair out!
Oh, and good luck googling AI pathfinding in a post LLM world…
If that were true the digital store would already be cheaper, not more expensive than the physical releases.
Killing PlayStation discs could make PS Store games cheaper, according to a former Square Enix exec
www.eurogamer.net/ps-store-pri...
www.eurogamer.net/ps-store-pri...
August 16, 2026 at 12:23 AM
If that were true the digital store would already be cheaper, not more expensive than the physical releases.
Can’t stop working on the game, it’s basically all I want to do 24/7 atm. I am fixated.
August 15, 2026 at 11:30 AM
Can’t stop working on the game, it’s basically all I want to do 24/7 atm. I am fixated.
I’m feeling pretty chuffed rn. My playtesters unprompted are reporting enjoying exactly the things I was hoping they would around the juxtaposition of the dynamics.
August 14, 2026 at 2:23 PM
I’m feeling pretty chuffed rn. My playtesters unprompted are reporting enjoying exactly the things I was hoping they would around the juxtaposition of the dynamics.
Hit our internal deadline today for an updated playable pre-alpha build for the team. Feels good to finally close the loop on most of the major features to start iterating from.
August 13, 2026 at 11:06 AM
Hit our internal deadline today for an updated playable pre-alpha build for the team. Feels good to finally close the loop on most of the major features to start iterating from.
Dialogue tree or dialogue forest? Got the prototype placeholder “portal” just about ready and now I’m getting kinda attached to it.
August 12, 2026 at 1:55 PM
Dialogue tree or dialogue forest? Got the prototype placeholder “portal” just about ready and now I’m getting kinda attached to it.
For my marketing agency - I am hiring a content manager. You gotta be Melbourne based (cause you need to shoot local content), but it’s hybrid and you get to work with some pretty cool people in a bit of an unhinged workplace! What’s not to love?
assemblo.com/news/content...
assemblo.com/news/content...
We're looking for a Content Manager! – Assemblo
Assemblo is hiring a Content Manager in Melbourne to lead content strategy, social media, filming, editing and publishing for our clients.
assemblo.com
August 11, 2026 at 10:46 PM
For my marketing agency - I am hiring a content manager. You gotta be Melbourne based (cause you need to shoot local content), but it’s hybrid and you get to work with some pretty cool people in a bit of an unhinged workplace! What’s not to love?
assemblo.com/news/content...
assemblo.com/news/content...
Making a full scale video game is such an undertaking… I mean obviously, but god…
August 11, 2026 at 11:25 AM
Making a full scale video game is such an undertaking… I mean obviously, but god…
In this week's episode of usettling bugs - The carrot guy here is made of JUST a custom head, but the NPC building thing we made has default legs and torso, creating a disturbing carrot puppet.
August 9, 2026 at 9:21 AM
In this week's episode of usettling bugs - The carrot guy here is made of JUST a custom head, but the NPC building thing we made has default legs and torso, creating a disturbing carrot puppet.