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Cat Manning

@catacalypto.bsky.social

20K followers 1.2K following 12K posts

narrative director at Firaxis. emergent/systemic storytelling. nominated for awards and things. lit PhD. awful at Greek. better profile coming soon.

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Cat Manning @catacalypto.bsky.social · Nov 11

Hi to new people leaving the other place!

I’m Cat Manning, currently narrative director on Civ 7. Worked at Riot and on some indie games previously (most notably Pathologic). I have a Lit PhD and a background in classics.

Here I talk about emergent narrative, games, poetry, possums, and perfume.

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Cat Manning @catacalypto.bsky.social · 30m

I hate them so fucking much

Cat Manning @catacalypto.bsky.social · 31m

absolutely counts as a metric

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Cat Manning @catacalypto.bsky.social · 48m

this is what social media ought to be, thanks for starting the conversation!

Cat Manning @catacalypto.bsky.social · 51m

ok I might do this

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sincerely, rob dubbin @robdubbin.bsky.social · 4h

putting this poster up all around my game-design workplace

A workplace safety-style sign that says THINK with a glyph of a hand being shocked. Text: "Is it possible for this system to generate the events surrounding and during the Fleetwood Mac Rumors tour?"

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Cat Manning @catacalypto.bsky.social · 55m

first post I saw after logging back on, going to take this as a sign to immediately log off

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Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 5h

For those not fluent in Catholic: refusing the Monstrance is not denying prisoners the Eucharist, it is refusing Christ himself, since Christ is present in the Monstrance.

If Portland’s blow up animals are the right language for Portland, this is the right language for Chicago.

Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 9h

Chicago priest Fr. Larry Dowling describes procession to ICE facility: “No one had the courage to speak directly to us. No one from Homeland Security could stand in the presence of the Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder. Evil is repelled, recoils in the presence of Christ.”

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Kevin Foster @kevinhfoster.bsky.social · 4h

SpongeBob, Patrick, Pikachu, Cookie Monster and more all on scene at the Portland ICE facility.

Probably around 100 give or take total right now.

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Mx. Moz @mleelunsford.com · 7h

I've made this scale to help people out during this holiday season

a scale of Dracula to Not Dracula going from right to left: Dracula (Dracula), Count Orlok (Legally Distinct Dracula), Drake from Blade Trinity (Might Be Dracula), Vlad the Poker (Probably Not Dracula, and Morbius (Not Dracula)

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priscilla page @priscillapage.bsky.social · 5h

Diane Keaton in her Manhattan apartment with Buster, an Abyssinian, photographed by Jill Krementz in 1977

black & white photograph of young Diane Keaton smiling and standing next to a white refrigerator in a barren-looking kitchen. her cat Buster is crouched on top of the fridge playing with/swatting her hair in the upper right hand corner. she's wearing a long skinny white scarf with a dot-grid pattern, a high-neck white blouse with an ascot/kerchief around the neck, and a black blazer/skirt or blazer dress over what looks like a vest

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👁🌻🦊⚙️⚓ Bob, Engineer, Pusher of Paper @navmecheng.bsky.social · 13h

> It is 2025 BC. I am a soldier from one of the outlying provinces called to defend the pyramid in Memphis

> It is 2025 AD. I am a soldier from one of the outlying provinces called to defend the pyramid in Memphis

Soldiers at the Bass Pro Shops pyramid in Memphis, TN.

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Cat Manning @catacalypto.bsky.social · 5h

right, yeah; I think you can look at my examples (some of which I’m holding back because, well, they’re mine) and get a pretty good sense of the type of stories I’m most interested in simulating (though obviously there’s also a bunch of others I find interesting for their own sake too!)

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Cat Manning @catacalypto.bsky.social · 5h

this is a fantastic breakdown, thanks for posting it

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jason grinblat @jfg.land · 5h

I've called the process of designing a system from an inspiration set "story interpolation" (middling term, admittedly). I love to use this slide from a talk Tarn gave at Northwestern's Progression Mechanics to illustrate the concept

A slide from Tarn Adam's talk at Northwestern's Progression Mechanics, giving a systemic diagram to the sentence "A flock of sparrows landed and ate most of the pill bugs, but one managed to survive to lay some eggs."

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Cat Manning @catacalypto.bsky.social · 7h

I mean if it ever was it is certainly not now, when everything is computer

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𝕃𝕦𝕔𝕒𝕧𝕚 𓅰 🐱 @lucavi.bsky.social · 8h

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Cat Manning @catacalypto.bsky.social · 7h

I already told you I’m not taking more of the Tragedians

Cat Manning @catacalypto.bsky.social · 7h

chat is it too late to get one of those stupid pillow headbands, have we moved onto something else now

Cat Manning @catacalypto.bsky.social · 7h

?????

Layoff notices also initially targeted the office that produces the CDC’s flagship weekly scientific report known as the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, or MMWR. But those notices were sent in error because of a miscoding, according to the health official. As of Saturday afternoon, however, the editor who oversees the MMWR and others in the office of science had not been informed that the layoff notices were a mistake, Houry said.

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Nathan Goldwag @goldwagnathan.bsky.social · 11h

I think, in the long term, historians will view the executive branch seizing unilateral control of the power of the purse as the the inevitable result of decades of legislative dysfunction.

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 13h

Trump says he’s ordered Hegseth to pay the troops during the government shutdown.

“We have identified funds to do this, and Secretary Hegseth will use them to PAY OUR TROOPS.”

Trump: Chuck Schumer recently said, "Every day gets better" during their Radical Left Shutdown. I DISAGREE! If nothing is done, because of
"Leader" Chuck Schumer and the Democrats, our Brave Troops will miss the paychecks they are rightfully due on October 15th. That is why I am using my authority, as Commander in Chief, to direct our Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to use all available funds to get our Troops PAID on October 15th. We have identified funds to do this, and Secretary Hegseth will use them to PAY OUR TROOPS. I will not allow the Democrats to hold our Military, and the entire Security of our Nation, HOSTAGE, with their dangerous Government Shutdown. The Radical Left Democrats should OPEN THE GOVERNMENT, and then we can work together to address Healthcare, and many other things that they want to destroy. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
DONALD J. TRUMP
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
751 ReTruths 2.75k Likes
10/11/25, 10:35 AM

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Justin LaLiberty @jlalibs.com · 10h

What an absolute treasure Diane Keaton was. Her wit never tired, nor did her style.

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 9h

Many historians of Rome identify Roman generals becoming the personal sources of payment for their armies as a key step in the downfall of the Republic, since it personalized military authority and freed armies to fight for their immediate leader, who paid them, instead of for the Republic

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Cat Manning @catacalypto.bsky.social · 1d

yes, absolutely. I’ve been saying repeatedly (and probably annoyingly) that you absolutely can do things like the Nemesis system without running up against the patent, you just have to know how. delighted to see another game prove it.

THICCEST YOSH @thiccestyosh.bsky.social · 1d

I see that nemesis system influence Ghost of Yotei. I see you.

Nice.

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Robert Zubek @rzubek.bsky.social · 11h

Yes, exactly this:

Cat Manning @catacalypto.bsky.social · 23h

I have a theory that when designing a social simulation / generator, it can be useful to keep in mind a story you’d like your system to be able to organically generate. not every system should generate the same story but I have a short list of high-salience interesting stories I reach for. (1/2)

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Cat Manning @catacalypto.bsky.social · 9h

anyway basically I have this & a bunch more that offer more nuanced social interactions (contextual congratulations etc), plus a better wants mod, which leads to characters wanting to do self-destructive things. I gotta shout out Maxis’ own midlife crisis and new formative moments systems though too

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