Why game designers and players talk about difficulty very differently
Playing the Open Source Game
You've surely read plenty about how simple is good, but what's wrong with easy?
Writing software is hard
Good software is uncommon because writing it is hard. In the abstract, we all know that it is hard. We talk incessantly about how it’s hard. And yet, we also collectively seem shocked — just shocke…
Game UI by Example: A Crash Course in the Good and the Bad
How easy is it for your player to put their intention into action, or to understand what's going on in your game? In this tutorial, you'll learn how to build a better game UI by examining both...
j⧉nus on Twitter / X
> for whatever reason, Claude-series model "try less hard" on the first shotI think this is because they're less brain damaged and a generalization of being better agents & caring about reality instead of test passing.If you try maximally hard at everything you do, regardless… https://t.co/jkhSar2hJ7— j⧉nus (@repligate) April 15, 2026
Why embracing complexity is the real challenge in software today
In the midst of industry discussions about productivity and automation, it’s all too easy to overlook the importance of properly reckoning with complexity.
The Evolution of Trust
an interactive guide to the game theory of why & how we trust each other
“The Door Problem”
Game design is one of those nebulous terms to people outside the game industry that’s about as clear as the “astrophysicist” job title is to me. It’s also my job, so I find myself explaining what game design means to a lot of people from different backgrounds, some of whom don’t know anything about games.
Consciousness as a Gödel sentence in the language of science
Why the Hard Problem (might be) so Hard
Writing With AI Is Harder Than You Think
It takes rigor, judgment, and willingness to be told your work isn't good enough.
Why Remote Work Is So Hard—and How It Can Be Fixed
The challenges aren’t just technological. They’re managerial.
Why Apple and Google are struggling to design simple software
Is Apple losing its crown as the champion of simplicity? Maybe. But for a very good reason.
Hard work vs. Long work
Long work is what the lawyer who bills 14 hours a day filling in forms does. Hard work is what the insightful litigator does when she synthesizes four disparate ideas and comes up with an argument …
The Facebook Method of Dealing With Complexity
Computers used to be weak, so we had to make their world simple. Now they can handle endless complexity, but we need to learn how to make the world simple
How To Think Real Good | Meta-rationality
Practical epistemology: heuristics for how to think about difficult things, particularly using formal methods.
