Mars Buttfield-Addison

👋 I’m a computer scientist + STEM communicator. Part-time PhD at @utas.bsky.social / CSIRO about space instrumentation, part-time dev for mostly education / NFP. Can program in whatever, for whatever. Side-hustles in regional STEM outreach, @yarnspinner.dev. Married to @hey.paris. Space superfan 🖖🌱

After 10 years of offering first-class, complete (we thought) dialogue solutions, we learned we had been missing the most important narrative design tool of all time: Tarot. We're sorry. We're listening, we're learning. And today, we've taken the first step: adding Tarot to Yarn Spinner 💚

Our local Screen Museum’s call for contributions was the perfect excuse to get retro + realise a silly idea we’d had for a VN with live stills. This celebration of ‘90s game hint hotlines is boasts a colourful mix of Tassie actors being goofy, and extensive lore of a fictional game company 👾🕹️⚔️

I have a complaint about Avi Loeb's latest work and I want to speak to management. medium.com/@steve.desch...

@theotherprc.bsky.social you know, I've come upon your website in passing before and I honest-to-god assumed it was a whole data visualisation design _studio_. Shocked to have a quick stalk this morning and find you're just one person. What a bloody awesome job you have!

Saw a cool bottle of body wash. Was inspired to remake my website again, finally realising the monospace idea I’d had brewing for ages 💙

thrilled to have had a microgame commissioned by ACMI for the Game Worlds exhibition! @secretlab.games & @yarnspinner.dev, with lots of help from @themartianlife.com & other amazing folks are making “Hint Line ‘93”, a game about answering phones at a game hint line! www.acmi.net.au/about/media/...

And again 🥃 #TasPol #PoliTas

The idea that you can cancel a mission with an instrument already in space is absurd. You can only cancel people monitoring it, or receiving its data. This is akin to spending billions of dollars to build a telescope, just to then “cancel” people looking through it. www.nasa.gov/wp-content/u...

I call Ruby a “Pocket Wolf” not just because she is small, but because she is a voracious shirt invader. When she was scared of strange places as a baby, I’d put her in my hoodie pouch for comfort. To this day, anyone visiting the Yarn Spinner office runs the risk of her climbing into their shirt.

🎉 YARN SPINNER 3 IS OUT NOW 🎉 for Unity, Godot, VSCode + try.yarnspinner.dev Including: - Storylets, enums, simple "run this bit only once" syntax - Better variables, easier-to-customise views - Bugfixes + QoL improvements galore - All-new docs + guides Check it out at yarnspinner.dev/v3 💚

The CFP is open for our 15th (!!) /dev/world Apple Developers Conference coming up this September in Naarm/Melbourne. Whether you’re a dev, a designer, an admin, or something else, we’d love to hear from you. Come share your expertise with the loveliest crowd in the world! 📲 devworld.au/index.php

Sitting at my desk, reading papers, working on my thesis, minding my own business, being watched by little office busybodies 👀

📣 In Yarn Spinner v3, we've also made significant changes to the API to simplify common flows. Including: • custom dialogue views • non-view components that know about the status of lines being presented • variable changed events • re-using line assets across multiple lines + many, many more!

In Yarn Spinner v3, we've also added a bunch of features that improve variables, making them more powerful and - in the Unity API especially - more native and nice to use. • Runtime-computed "smart" variables • Enum types • Code generation to expose C#-side properties for each of your variables 🧵👇

In Yarn Spinner v3, we've added a bunch of features that can simplify the structure of even the most complex narratives in Yarn. Including: • Run this content only once • Run this content then jump back to where we were • Dynamically select from some set of possible lines or nodes to run 🧵👇

It’s my birthday tomorrow and I have TWO meetings scheduled to argue with university peers/leaders about AI. But tonight I got a glass of cider, early access Revenge of the Savage Planet co-op with the husband, a quick game of the new Citizen Sleeper solo-TTRPG before bed, and snuggly lap friends ❤️

We’ve had this beautiful baby for six months now and she is one today and a perfect angel ❤️

Even from my perch inside gamedev, I had no idea it was already this bad. The rot is spreading. A necessary, sobering read. (gift link)

Once again our local federal senator is streaming! Show @nickmckim.bsky.social some support? #auspol www.twitch.tv/nickmckimgam...

Procreate Pocket sketch of my just-woken-up husband doing his best “look how ugly I am” face/pose because he wouldn’t let me take a photo 🩷

get along to the fantastic @yarnspinner.dev talk from @mcjones.bsky.social today at #GDC25! schedule.gdconf.com/session/inde... #gdc2025 #gdc @officialgdc.bsky.social #gamedev

Kinda funny how often this happens. People switch to Yarn Spinner saying they made a game with some other tool and it was a nightmare to localise/port/edit/finish. Maybe we should change our tagline to “Yarn Spinner: we’ll be here for your second game” 💁‍♀️

Sleep Saturday morning

Run by fellow Tassie studio @twoandahalfstudios.com, The Storyteller’s Festival is a celebration of narrative games that we love 💚 Huge discounts on Yarn Spinner faves including: - Venba 🥘 - Dredge 🚢 - Frog Detective 🔍 - Outcore 💾 - Scarlet Deer Inn 🪡 + more! store.steampowered.com/curator/4239...

tiny coworkers at the @yarnspinner.dev office #dogs #chihuahua

My favourite local Senator is getting some well-deserved viral attention across multiple platforms today. He’s not afraid to say it like is, and stand up against punching down. The major parties here rarely listen, but we won’t stop voting for him and he won’t stop trying 💚

This is how the world views the US. Australia calling out fascism, then adding that "Trump is a disaster for humanity and he belongs behind bars, not the oval office."

doing a PhD

the only copilot we program with

Thinking real hard about The Good Place Committee today.

Every astronomer the first time they do reduce radio observations 🥴 #radioastronomy #astronomy