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Ben Zeigler

@doublebuffered

JZig | DoubleBuffered. He/him/whatever. Gamedev programmer on Unreal Engine 5 with a bonus degree in Psychology. Neurodiverse and trying to make the internet better

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03.07.2023
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Latest posts by Ben Zeigler @doublebuffered

Definitely true! The big advantage of hiring junior devs over contractors (and LLMs) is that they eventually become solid contributors who don't make those mistakes. LLMs really disrupt that junior-to-senior career progression

04.03.2026 17:22 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I don't know about this, junior devs and contractors have been writing code that only works correctly in the golden path for many decades at this point. I've been treating LLMs as "smart junior devs who think too highly of themselves" and that has worked out well so far.

04.03.2026 17:01 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I personally go by the definition that something is "safe" if there is no reasonable action that can be taken to avoid the possible harm. IE talking to a stranger who randomly decides to harm you still counts as "safe" if you have no plausible reason to think it would be dangerous.

24.02.2026 20:24 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Tech leadership has always hated that they need to work with opinionated smart developers to accomplish their business goals. They're so excited about AI because they see it as a way to take away the decision-making power that individual workers have now

16.02.2026 21:11 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Shell Game: Minimum Viable Company Could you create a tech company staffed entirely by AI?

This podcast I listened to recently about one human trying to run an AI-staffed startup really drove that home to me, AI agents are very good at sounding like useless executives who don't actually do anything: radiolab.org/podcast/shel...

15.02.2026 20:11 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Bluesky Map Interactive map of 3.4 million Bluesky users, visualised by their follower pattern.

I made a map of 3.4 million Bluesky users - see if you can find yourself!

bluesky-map.theo.io

I've seen some similar projects, but IMO this seems to better capture some of the fine-grained detail

08.02.2026 22:59 πŸ‘ 7207 πŸ” 2161 πŸ’¬ 659 πŸ“Œ 4581

Reading the actual text, this only matters if you join age-restricted servers or channels, of which I am currently in 0. If this stays as an opt-in process, they're just doing this as a workaround to technically comply with the various laws. But, if they start auto-classifying it's all over.

09.02.2026 15:42 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
NATIONAL SHUTDOWNβ€”FRI. JANUARY 30

The National Shutdown protest against ICE is today in the US. I mostly work with non-Americans so won't be fully following it, but hypocritical support of important goals is better than staying silent: nationalshutdown.org

30.01.2026 16:42 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

This is what happens when a developer asks for help to do something useful, but management or HR rewrites the job posting into something else that is more "strategic" but can't be filled

30.01.2026 16:06 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Another Killing on ICE The right wing propaganda machine can’t spin the killing of Alex Pretti

Yesterday, I awoke to news of another ICE killing in MN. On Bluesky, the conversation was deeply critical of ICE. But I wanted to see how things were going on X. Surprisingly, the attempts there to blame the victim weren't getting as much traction as I suspected. So I wrote a thing.

26.01.2026 04:51 πŸ‘ 958 πŸ” 218 πŸ’¬ 20 πŸ“Œ 23

The last 24 hours have shown that nonviolent resistance is starting to work in the US.

The press has started to actually document the lies of the current administration, and the attempts to suppress dissent and instigate violence are backfiring.

25.01.2026 19:35 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I already walked home. It's not bad here yet but we'll see how the rest of the weekend goes!

24.01.2026 21:47 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I went to the Walk for Peace today and it was packed so here's someone else's photos. It was great to get a Buddhist talk on peacefulness right as the snow started. Everyone stay safe for the next few days, from the weather and everything else

24.01.2026 21:40 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

I've always liked this plan because even if it "fails" you will end up with fewer shitty cops which is better for literally everyone who is not a shitty cop

24.01.2026 19:13 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Hey Lee, some UE devs saw your video and we noticed your irritation about the stall on deleting actors. That should be fixable by setting bValidateUnloadedSoftActorReferences to false in the editor project settings, and I just changed the default to false for future engine releases

20.01.2026 19:58 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
Post image Post image Post image Post image

Happy 35th birthday ZZT!

Thank you for showing us that anyone can make a game

15.01.2026 18:07 πŸ‘ 77 πŸ” 32 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 10
A projector showing OpenTTD with a live jazz band

A projector showing OpenTTD with a live jazz band

Intro to Ace Combat music with game producer

Intro to Ace Combat music with game producer

Lighting during Ace Combat

Lighting during Ace Combat

Danimal Cannon playing with phone flashlights in background

Danimal Cannon playing with phone flashlights in background

Yesterday was an awesome final day at #MAGFest! It featured chill Transport Tycoon jazz jams, an Ace Combat cinematic experience with orchestra, and Danimal Cannon shredding the final boss track of a game I helped make (Soundfall)

11.01.2026 18:30 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Musical highlight of #MAGFest so far was definitely Kingdom of Zeal, who played some bangin jazz fusion covers of Crono Trigger music

10.01.2026 22:22 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
CYBRLICH booth

CYBRLICH booth

Esophaguys booth (I think)

Esophaguys booth (I think)

Retro console indie section

Retro console indie section

Eye of the Commando booth

Eye of the Commando booth

Lots of good stuff at the #MAGFest indie showcase like always! Bigger retro console section this year and said hi to my gaming buddy @madjackmcmad.bsky.social showing off Eye Of The Commando

09.01.2026 21:49 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Eh that IRC channel was only 30 years ago. Oh right

09.01.2026 01:25 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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@kayin.moe You were shouted out by @slowbeef.bsky.social at the obscure games panel at MAGFest. Also you should come to MAGFest

08.01.2026 22:52 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

On my first Amtrak journey up to MAGFest and it's so much better than driving on I95. Looking forward to the weekend and I'll actually post things for a few days!

08.01.2026 18:26 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I'm on my way up there now! I'll stop by your booth and say hi, or message you if I totally miss you

08.01.2026 18:24 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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We Asked Roblox’s C.E.O. About Child Safety. It Got Tense.

This interview is a snapshot into where tech companies are with online harassment right now.

They know how to end it, but they decided not to spend the money. They’re prioritizing growth (and profit) above all else. And they’re blaming YOU for logging on to the platform they designed to be unsafe.

21.11.2025 16:56 πŸ‘ 822 πŸ” 297 πŸ’¬ 21 πŸ“Œ 84
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Profiling Game Memory and Performance | Tutorial Tutorial explaining how to use the engine's built in Memory Profiling tools along with Unreal Insights

If anyone needs help with profiling and optimizing #UnrealEngine games, I just published a new tutorial walking through how to use Memory Insights and Mem Report. There isn't a lot of first hand information on how to profile so I thought I would write some down:

dev.epicgames.com/community/le...

03.11.2025 18:10 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Oh my god some fucking tech dingdong posted this on Twitter with the caption "AI games are going to be amazing" totally seriously, you have to watch it. You have to. In full screen.

24.10.2025 15:02 πŸ‘ 9499 πŸ” 2145 πŸ’¬ 1376 πŸ“Œ 2679

Obviously the country has bigger problems, but today I'm mad at Trump for ruining the start of my vacation. Flying is a complete mess right now

10.10.2025 18:50 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist on Steam Decades after the events of ENDER LILIES, Homunculi β€” sorrowful, artificial life forms β€” roam the land. In this dark fantasy Metroidvania, face formidable enemies and explore a bewitching post-apocaly...

Right now I'm playing a 2D souls-inspired metroidvania sequel. That's right, I'm playing Ender Magnolia which I'm really enjoying. Wait did some other game come out?

store.steampowered.com/app/2725260/...

05.09.2025 16:45 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Stuff in that genre is also called Acid Jazz or Downtempo which makes searching for it a bit hard!

29.08.2025 16:33 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

To focus on the important part: Trump has ordered every state's national guard to organize dedicated units devoted to "quelling civil disturbances" which is a terrifyingly vague goal

25.08.2025 18:40 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0