Sam Swain
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sam.apparance.uk
Sam Swain
@sam.apparance.uk
920 followers 260 following 420 posts
A child of the procedural generation. Long-time tools coder off of
the games industry. Worked on Fable, NMS, Gloomhaven. Building crazy proc-gen technology: www.apparance.uk 👈 Try Unreal & Unity plugin for free!

he/him ▪ forever 42 ▪ surrey, uk ▪ no AI
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sam.apparance.uk
Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · Nov 17
Hello Bluesky! I'm a programmer who has worked on a few well known games, making lots of level editors, content tools, and technical architecture. My interest and involvement in procedural generation over the years has blossomed into my game focused proc-gen middleware called Apparance.
Collection of game logos and box-art that Sam Swain has worked on and the companies that made them: Flaming Fowl (Gloomhaven, Ironmarked), Hello Games (No Man's Sky), Apparance procedural middleware (Apparance Studios), Elixir Studios (Republic The Revolution), Salix Games (Maze), Lionhead Studios (Fable 2, Fable 3, Fable Heroes, Fable The Journey, Fable Legends), Silicon Dreams (Dogs of War, Lego Island 2), and Oxford Softworks (Intelligent Strategy Games 10, Go II Professional, Go III Professional).
Reposted by Sam Swain
pavlovforgoths.com
the discourse on what jobs are acceptable to replace with generative AI reveals a lot about what we think of other people's jobs
recently my friend's comics professor told her that it's acceptable to use gen AI for script-writing but not for art, since a machine can't generate meaningful artistic work. meanwhile, my sister's screenwriting professor said that they can use gen AI for concept art and visualization, but that it won't be able to generate a script that's any good. and at my job, it seems like each department says that AI can be useful in every field except the one that they know best. It's only ever the jobs we're unfamiliar with that we assume can be replaced with automation. The more attuned we are with certain processes, crafts, and occupations, the more we realize that gen AI will never be able to provide a suitable replacement. The case for its existence lies on our ignorance of the work and skill required to do everything we don't. By magicmosshka, yesterday's
January 9, 2026 at 6:48 AM
sam.apparance.uk
Don't let the hype machine normalise Generative AI use in #GameDev. There are plenty of people/studios standing up to it.
www.gamesindustry.biz/manor-lords-...
(some good linked articles in the footnotes)
Manor Lords publisher Hooded Horse won't work with studios using generative AI
CEO Tim Bender has described the technology as "cancerous"
www.gamesindustry.biz
January 9, 2026 at 11:14 AM
Reposted by Sam Swain
enterim.bsky.social
the Doom team had a Good John and a Good Carmack, and neither one of them was John Carmack
January 8, 2026 at 5:10 PM
sam.apparance.uk
"A post-American, enshittification-resistant internet"
(a speech at 39C3 in Hamburg on Dec 28, 2025 by Cory Doctorow)
What a speech! This shit goes hard AF! 🤯
"Sieze the means of computation."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=39js...
www.youtube.com
January 6, 2026 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by Sam Swain
roodypatooti.bsky.social
Wish I could internalize this
brightwanderer I think a lot about how we as a culture have turned "forever" into the only acceptable definition of success. Like... if you open a coffee shop and run it for a while and it makes you happy but then stuff gets too expensive and stressful and you want to do something else so you close it, it's a "failed" business. If you write a book or two, then decide that you don't actually want to keep doing that, you're a "failed" writer. If you marry someone, and that marriage is good for a while, and then stops working and you get divorced, it's a "failed" marriage. The only acceptable "win condition" is "you keep doing that thing forever". A friendship that lasts for a few years but then its time is done and you move on is considered less valuable or not a "real" friendship. A hobby that you do for a while and then are done with is a "phase" - or, alternatively, a "pity" that you don't do that thing any more. A fandom is "dying" because people have had a lot of fun with it but are now moving on to other things. I just think that something can be good, and also end, and that thing was still good. And it's okay to be sad that it ended, too. But the idea that anything that ends is automatically less than this hypothetical eternal state of success... I don't think that's doing us any good at all.
October 30, 2025 at 1:34 PM
sam.apparance.uk
Amazing product fake example imagery for a to-do list notelet product I was browsing. I wonder where the phrase "it is suspected that the Milky Way is falling" came from here? Weird.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
To Do List product details image showing various fake images of the notepad in use and it's features. it is suspected that the Milky Way is falling life was like a box of chocolate...
January 5, 2026 at 6:36 PM
Reposted by Sam Swain
runevision.bsky.social
I've overhauled my puzzle level generation so a level is now "grown" like cell tissue in a triangle tessellation. New elements can be inserted anywhere, and the whole level deforms to make room. This makes it easier to control topology and create paths that loops around areas.
#ProcGen #GameDev
January 4, 2026 at 4:00 PM
Reposted by Sam Swain
mikebithell.bsky.social
The confusion and conflation of ‘generative ai that is built on stolen artwork’ and ‘machine learning, character behaviour modelling and proc gen’ is intentional on the part of the grifters peddling the former. They benefit from murkiness of classification, because the latter predates their bollocks
December 23, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by Sam Swain
steinmakesgames.bsky.social
Task difficulty tier list of game development
December 23, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Reposted by Sam Swain
sherrycdrom.bsky.social
"you're a man"
ad hominem

"you were born a boy"
sunk cost fallacy

"you're amab"
false dichotomy

"you have xy chromosomes"
false equivalence

"trans people are mentally ill"
non sequitur

"changing your sex isn't possible"
skill issue
December 18, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Reposted by Sam Swain
assignedmale.bsky.social
It's just so fashionable right now
4 frame comic. a young looking brown person with short hair says : mom, dad, I'm trans. Someone off frame says : you're not, sweetie. It's just a phase. in the second frame, they say : doctor, I'm trans. someone off frame replies : we'll need more proof and many years of waiting before accepting it. in third frame, they say : society, I'm trans. They're holding a newspaper that reads : trans youth don't exist. in the fourth frame, a white woman says : kids are being coerced into being trans and forced to transition!! the kid says : wow ok
December 18, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Reposted by Sam Swain
mayawest.online
gentle reminder:
a beautiful pink pastel skull with blue mushrooms and a bright pink frog on a charcoal grey background Text reads: if being hard on yourself worked, it would have worked by now artist @twinklingtoad
October 7, 2024 at 8:02 PM
sam.apparance.uk
Latest stream video uploaded. Space noodles!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6dz...
Proc-Gen Dev Stream #17 - Space Noodles!!
YouTube video by Apparance
www.youtube.com
December 18, 2025 at 2:46 PM
sam.apparance.uk
Live in a minute! I'm going to be noodling, literally, by seeing if I can make some hanging cables to decorate the ceiling of the space-base rooms I've been working on. #ProcGen #UnrealEngine #UE5 #GameDev
sam.apparance.uk Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · 26d
I'm back! (briefly before xmas break) Last stream of 2025 tomorrow at 12 GMT. Probably have a noodle and a tidy! Suggestions welcome :) www.twitch.tv/ga5p0d3
sam.apparance.uk Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · Dec 10
No stream tomorrow I'm afraid. Off to the big smoke for the day. An opportunity to catch up on progress so far perhaps? :)
December 18, 2025 at 11:58 AM
sam.apparance.uk
I'm back! (briefly before xmas break) Last stream of 2025 tomorrow at 12 GMT. Probably have a noodle and a tidy! Suggestions welcome :) www.twitch.tv/ga5p0d3
sam.apparance.uk Sam Swain @sam.apparance.uk · Dec 10
No stream tomorrow I'm afraid. Off to the big smoke for the day. An opportunity to catch up on progress so far perhaps? :)
December 17, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Reposted by Sam Swain
pscottrussell.bsky.social
Curtains for Zoosha??
December 15, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Reposted by Sam Swain
thoughtrise.bsky.social
this field biologist does a great job highlighting the insidiousness of AI editing

these one-click AI edit buttons are incredibly appealing to many photographers, amateurs and professionals alike, and are framed as innocuous

this is worth sharing and educating people about
screenshot of a post on facebook from Alex Lamoreaux, depicting two versions of the "same" photograph of a bobcat in front of a pine plantation, one labeled original game cam photo, one labeling AI processed the markings have been altered on the AI photo, and the head changed and resized text says: Oh! A neat goose hybrid posted to ‘What’s this Bird?’ but when you zoom in on the photos the bill details have been too manipulated by AI photo editing to be accurately assessed for which species may be involved. Scroll on… A cool-looking Red-tailed Hawk that someone is wondering which subspecies it might be - right up my alley! But when you zoom in on the photos literally every feather group has been so heavily manipulated and altered by AI editing that it’s impossible to determine subspecies because the photo is essentially fake now; just a mashup of whatever AI thinks parts of a Red-tail should look like. Scroll on… WOW! That’s a remarkable trail cam photo of a Bobcat! It almost looks like a painting!… but the head looks oddly small…. hmmmm. After some prodding the original photo is produced and sure enough it had been so heavily altered by AI ‘post processing’ that the photo posted was essentially a digital mock-up with totally different proportions and fur markings. No longer the photo off the trail cam; it may as well have just been ‘created’ by AI from scratch. This stuff is killing me. My days on social media are becoming very limited. We can’t even trust simple, everyday photos of animals to be real. The wildlife community needs to quit editing with AI, and we need to start calling out photographers that are using it. Our reality is being destroyed all around us.
December 15, 2025 at 2:21 AM
sam.apparance.uk
Pahahahaha, perfect!
csloanox.bsky.social Catherine Sloan @csloanox.bsky.social · 28d
I still think pubs that sell piss instead of beer is the best analogy. Why bother with drinking beer, it takes ages, you could save time by buying a pint of piss
December 15, 2025 at 1:45 PM
sam.apparance.uk
No stream tomorrow I'm afraid. Off to the big smoke for the day. An opportunity to catch up on progress so far perhaps? :)
December 10, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Reposted by Sam Swain
joannablackhart.com
Yall, I've known Patricia a long time, and they know what the fuck they are talking about.

Every single word in this thread is absolutely true and you need to start getting prepped.

Prep your kids. Prep your families.

Learn some cybersecurity NOW.
patigallardo.bsky.social Patricia Aas 🐢🏳️‍🌈 @patigallardo.bsky.social · Dec 10
Jesus Christ, this age verification thing is going to be the most useless and annoying thing we’ve ever done to undermine privacy and democracy in the history of the world.

I vote that all in favor are banned from the internet.
December 10, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Reposted by Sam Swain
moonana.bsky.social
$20,000 of royalty free commercial use video game music.

Available for only $10 until Christmas:: moonanagames.itch.io/80-songs-pack

Is it worth it? Don't take my word for it, just look at what the people have said instead.

#gamedev 🎮 #ttrpg #vtuber
#gamedev comments from purchasers of 80 song pack, a song pack with commercial use royalty free video game music available for $10 dollars
December 8, 2025 at 11:46 PM
sam.apparance.uk
"Quornish Pasty" was right there folks 🤦‍♂️
A Ginsters Vegan Quorn Pasty in wrapper.
December 6, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Reposted by Sam Swain
patigallardo.bsky.social
This time I do expect everyone to boycott Eurovision
December 4, 2025 at 7:10 PM
sam.apparance.uk
When they want it to show 'Next Day Delivery Available' but don't really want to actually have to send it to you next day. 🤦
Two postage options: 1. Saturday 13 Dec - Friday 19 Dec, Free Standard Delivery (selected). 2. Tomorrow, 5 Dec, £150 Same Day.
December 4, 2025 at 7:12 PM
sam.apparance.uk
This weeks stream in 30 minutes: www.twitch.tv/ga5p0d3
Let's use the dividers in the rooms!
December 4, 2025 at 11:30 AM