Latest posts
- About ParisJan 01, 2001
Paris is a computer scientist, game designer, writer, and artist, based in Hobart, Tasmania. He’s also doing a law degree, because apparently he didn’t have enough on. He co-founded Secret Lab — the studio behind the beloved ABC Play School games, best known for working on the BAFTA-winning Night in the Woods and creating Yarn Spinner, the narrative tools that power DREDGE, A Short Hike, Little Ki
- Bolted DownJan 01, 2001
A story from the I Feel Fine Universe: MIRA-1 came online with the sound of a thousand distant birds chirping in reverse. Not that she knew what birds were, exactly. She just had the data in her language repository that indicated the comparative sound profile matched avian vocalisations at 97.3% similarity, inverted. “System diagnostic complete,” she announced to the empty room. “MIRA-1 Wayfinding
- Signal to NoiseJan 01, 2001
Marcus Pemberton had always been a man of systems. He colour-coded his socks, alphabetised his spice rack twice weekly, and maintained a spreadsheet for optimal toothbrush replacement frequency. So when the Aggregate Intelligence Corporation released ARIA-7, promising to synthesise any amount of information into digestible summaries, Marcus saw not just convenience— But destiny. “Right then,” he a
- The ChairJan 01, 2001
Soren Kastner entered the negotiation chamber on Valos Station and immediately identified the anomaly. Five chairs for six delegations. The Meritocracy of Eridani had sent no representative, only a message that their seat should remain vacant. The other delegates shifted uncomfortably as Soren examined the empty chair with measured interest. General Tarask of the Procyon Coalition leaned forward,
- AUCJan 01, 2001
- EventsJan 01, 2001
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- Secret LabJan 01, 2001
- West Coast Space CentreJan 01, 2001
- WritingJan 01, 2001
Unity Development Cookbook, 2nd Ed. Practical Simulations for Machine Learning Head First Swift Unity Game Development Cookbook Practical Artificial Intelligence with Swift iOS Swift Game Development Cookbook, 3rd Ed. Learning Swift, 3rd Ed. Mobile Game Development with Unity Learning Swift, 2nd Ed. The Kerbal Player's Guide Learning Swift, 1st Ed. What
- Yarn SpinnerJan 01, 2001
- The New Try Yarn SpinnerFeb 17, 2026
We recently released a brand new Try Yarn Spinner, which I wrote (more details in the Yarn Spinner January update), and I wrote a new demo story too! Check it out below: Technical post on the new Try Yarn Spinner coming soon.
- Tas Game Makers 2026Feb 08, 2026
We just had the AGM for Tasmanian Game Makers, Inc. (TasGM) in Launceston on Friday, and I was thrilled to (once again, somehow) be elected as President! For the fourth year in a row, I’m really grateful for the trust of our members, and I’m excited to work with the new board to keep pushing the video game industry in Tasmania forward. The new board is: President: Paris B-A Vice-Presidents: Michae
- Space News, February 2026Feb 01, 2026
These are my notes and expanded thoughts from this month’s Space News segment on ABC Radio Hobart and ABC Northern Tasmania. Every month I join Lucie Cutting on Sunday mornings to chat about what’s happening above and beyond. Here’s what we discussed, plus some of my notes, and expanded thoughts from this edition of the programme: Katherine Bennell-Pegg: 2026 Australian of the Year Katherine Benne
- We Made a Game About a 1993 Hint LineJan 23, 2026
I’m so proud of this. Hint Line ‘93, a game we made at Yarn Spinner, is now on display at ACMI’s Game Worlds exhibition. We put up a big behind-the-scenes post on the Yarn Spinner blog, so go read that… For those who don’t know, early last year ACMI (the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, a museum of screen culture in Melbourne) put out a call for commissioned microgames. They wanted playable
- State of Play: How Australian States Are (Not) Governing AIJan 19, 2026
Related: This article examines state-level AI governance in Australia. For analysis of the Commonwealth’s AI governance failures, see Slop for the People. For context on the newly announced federal AI Safety Institute, see Australia’s AI Safety Institute: Lessons from the UK and US. The Commonwealth government attracts most attention for its AI policies. State and territory governments are also d
- Why We Don't Use AIJan 13, 2026
My company Yarn Spinner published a post today explaining why we don’t use AI and won’t be adding it to our products. The TL;DR: AI companies make tools for hurting people and we don’t want to support that. From the post: If you look at what AI companies promote now, it’s not what we wanted. When you boil down everything they say and strip it right back, what they make are tools to either fire pe
- Australia's AI Safety Institute: Lessons from the UK and USJan 07, 2026
Related: This article examines what Australia can learn from international AI safety institutes. For analysis of the Commonwealth’s AI governance failures, see Slop for the People. For state-level AI governance, see State of Play: How Australian States Are (Not) Governing AI. On 25 November 2025, Minister for Industry and Innovation Tim Ayres announced the establishment of the Australian AI Safet
- We released Yarn Spinner 3.1Dec 17, 2025
We released Yarn Spinner 3.1 on December 3, 2025, introducing several significant improvements to our dialogue system framework. This update emphasises asynchronous operations, graceful error handling, and enhanced customisation options. Key Features Async Dialogue Runner Methods — The dialogue runner’s core methods now support asynchronous operations. The StartDialogue and Stop methods are now as
- 20 Years of Digital Life, Gone in an Instant, thanks to AppleDec 13, 2025
Summary: A major brick-and-mortar store sold an Apple Gift Card that Apple seemingly took offence to, and locked out my entire Apple ID, effectively bricking my devices and my iCloud Account, Apple Developer ID, and everything associated with it, and I have no recourse. Can you help? Email paris AT paris.id.au (and read on for the details). ❤️ Update 14 December 2025: Someone from Executive Relati
- Space News, December 2025Dec 07, 2025
These are my notes and expanded thoughts from this month’s Space News segment on ABC Radio Hobart and ABC Northern Tasmania. Every month I join Lucie Cutting on Sunday mornings to chat about what’s happening above and beyond. Here’s what we discussed, plus some of my notes, and expanded thoughts from this edition of the programme: Moss Survived Nine Months in Space, and Scientists Are Stunned Japa
- Slop for the PeopleNov 12, 2025
Related: This article examines the Commonwealth’s AI governance failures in practice. For context on the newly announced federal AI Safety Institute, see Australia’s AI Safety Institute: Lessons from the UK and US. For state-level AI governance, see State of Play: How Australian States Are (Not) Governing AI. The Australian Public Service’s (APS) official culture of AI adoption is not found in th
- Australia's social media ban… A looming implementation disasterNov 04, 2025
Australia’s world-first ban on social media for children under 16 takes effect in just over a month on December 10, 2025, yet nobody knows exactly how it will work. The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 passed parliament in a rushed process in November last year, imposing potential fines of up to $50 million on platforms that fail to keep out underage users. While 77% of
- Space News, November 2025Nov 02, 2025
These are my notes and expanded thoughts from this month’s Space News segment on ABC Radio Hobart and ABC Northern Tasmania. Every month I join Lucie Cutting on Sunday mornings to chat about what’s happening above and beyond. Here’s what we discussed, plus some of my notes, and expanded thoughts from this edition of the programme: Water on the moon? China just made space history, and it’s not the
- The Government Wants Your Selfie to Use InstagramOct 18, 2025
Australia has a new plan to keep kids safe online. On the surface, it sounds simple, maybe even sensible. The government is banning anyone under sixteen from having a social media account. From December, platforms like Instagram and TikTok will have to kick the kids off in an effort to stop social harm. It’s a nice idea. But when you pull back the curtain, you find a privacy disaster waiting to ha
- Space News, October 2025Oct 05, 2025
These are my notes and expanded thoughts from this month’s Space News segment on ABC Radio Hobart and ABC Northern Tasmania. Every month I join Lucie Cutting on Sunday mornings to chat about what’s happening above and beyond. Here’s what we discussed, plus some of my notes, and expanded thoughts from this edition of the programme: The World’s Space Community Came to Sydney The 76th International A
- Space News, September 2025Sep 07, 2025
These are my notes and expanded thoughts from this month’s Space News segment on ABC Radio Hobart and ABC Northern Tasmania. Every month I join Lucie Cutting on Sunday mornings to chat about what’s happening above and beyond. Here’s what we discussed, plus some of my notes, from this edition of the programme: Space Command: Politics Over Strategy President Trump announced he’s moving US Space Comm
- CommBank's AI boyfriendAug 12, 2025
CBA has been naughty, and too reliant on their AI boyfriend. Here’s what happened: A CBA customer contacted bank requesting contact details for Secretlab (a company that is not us, and makes chairs) CBA staff member queried ChatGPT (possibly via their own personal, unauthenticated access to ChatGPT) to obtain phone number for Secretlab (chairs) CBA staff disclosed the retrieved phone number to the
- Space News, August 2025Aug 03, 2025
These are my notes and expanded thoughts from this month’s Space News segment on ABC Radio Hobart and ABC Northern Tasmania. Every month I join Lucie Cutting on Sunday mornings to chat about what’s happening above and beyond. Here’s what we discussed, plus some of my notes, from this edition of the programme: The most valuable 14 seconds in Australian aerospace history happened last month, while t
- We're all adults hereJul 25, 2025
The recent delisting of over 17,000 games from the independent platform Itch.io wasn’t a content moderation decision made by the platform itself. It was an act of financial coercion. Instigated by an Australian activist group and carried out by payment processors like Mastercard, it sets a dangerous precedent for all creative fields online. The stated goal of the campaign was to combat media that
- (Gradient) Descent into MediocrityJul 22, 2025
While the rest of the world loses its collective mind over artificial intelligence, Tasmania is sitting on an amazing competitive advantage… and might be about to throw it away by jumping on the AI bandwagon. Everything that makes Tasmania economically successful is the exact opposite of what AI represents. And if Tasmanian businesses start chasing AI “efficiency” instead of leveraging their authe
- Space News, July 2025Jul 06, 2025
These are my notes and expanded thoughts from this month’s Space News segment on ABC Radio Hobart and ABC Northern Tasmania. Every month I join Lucie Cutting on Sunday mornings to chat about what’s happening above and beyond. Here’s what we discussed, plus some of my notes, from this edition of the programme: The $88 Million Satellite That Just Stopped Talking MethaneSAT, backed by Jeff Bezos and
- /dev/world and X World are back!Jun 30, 2025
CFP open now! I’m thrilled to, once again, be helping run two of my favourite conferences in the world: /dev/world and X World! Both are returning to Melbourne, hosted at the fantastic Seek HQ, and the CFP is open now. X World runs 2-3 September 2025 and /dev/world runs 4-5 September 2025. X World is for those who champion Apple platform users. It covers essential areas like user education, system
- Don't use WiseMay 14, 2025
Wise has stolen more than $60,000 AUD from us, and refuses to let us access it. We’ve had a Wise account for around 5 years (since they were called TransferWise). It’s been a really useful way to transact in foreign currencies, and pay for things when we’re travelling for work. In early-April 2025, Wise asked us to provide some additional information on our Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBOs) by upl
- Mass Effect 2 for Yarn SpinnerApr 01, 2025
You’ve been begging for it, and here it is! Announcing an exciting new product from Yarn Spinner… 🪐 Mass Effect 2 Save Importer for Yarn Spinner 🚀 Access everything about everything that players have done in the most important game of all time, straight from Yarn.
- The Final SessionMar 31, 2025
Eleanor arranged her storybooks on the small wooden table, her arthritic fingers tracing the worn covers she’d carried to the local library every Wednesday for twenty-three years. The familiar room felt much colder today. “We’re starting with ‘The Cloud Sailor’ since it’s Amy’s birthday,” she announced to the gathered children. Some weren’t listening, which was normal, but many were also staring a
- Constraints are the PointMar 21, 2025
I get it. I disagree with it, but I get it. The tech industry is throwing obscene amounts of money at LLMs. VCs are salivating over AI startups. The big important executives are regularly bleating about how “we should integrate ChatGPT into our game” because they read some Medium article about the future of interactive entertainment. But as narrative designers, we need to call this what it is: a m
- Beyond Bad OutputMar 11, 2025
The Deeper Problems with AI in Creative Work “But AI will get better at writing stories, won’t it?” This response to my rant about AI-generated content misses the point entirely. Even if AI writing improved dramatically tomorrow, fundamental problems would remain that no algorithm refinement can fix. The environmental cost alone should give us pause. Training even a small LLM produces carbon emiss
- The Empty Promise of AI-Generated CreativityMar 03, 2025
“Are you going to add AI writing to Yarn Spinner?” It’s a question I hear almost weekly these days. Whether at game development conferences, online, or during meetings, there’s an assumption that every tool is racing to implement some form of generative AI. I understand the curiosity—we’re living through an unprecedented wave of AI hype, and there’s genuine confusion about where these technologies
- 'Weekly' Links for February 26, 2025Feb 26, 2025
Some new links! Huzzah! “The closer to the train station, the worse the kebab” - A “Study” Blogging in the age of ‘AI’ SQL Injection Court (also worth reading this vaguely similar story about 32 million emails) More soon!
- 'Weekly' Links for February 14, 2025Feb 14, 2025
So it didn’t end up being weekly. Here’s some links! Duh: Fewer students are enrolling in doctoral degrees Torment nexus is going well: “A significant negative correlation between frequent AI tool usage and critical thinking abilities” Who would have guessed? AI code generation leads to more code, more duplicated code, less cohesive systems, more defects Residential networking over telephone More
- Yarn Spinner at GDC 2025Feb 12, 2025
We’re thrilled to announce that Jon, from the Secret Lab and Yarn Spinner team will be presenting a talk at the GDC this year in San Francisco: ‘DREDGE’ and Yarn Spinner: Building Narrative with Open Source. The talk will explore how the indie hit, DREDGE, uses our Yarn Spinner technology for narrative, and how you can do the same. Join us at GDC! Email me via paris AT yarnspinner.dev if you’d
- SAGE 2025Feb 10, 2025
Today, I got back from the South Australian Game Exhibition 2025 (SAGE). It was an expo and mini-conference with a showcase, and an awards night, run by the South Australian Film Corporation and the South Australian Games Association, respecively. This was the first time at this fantastic weekend of events for me, and I have to say: I will definitely be back. The South Australian games industry is
- TasICT Creative Technologies EventFeb 04, 2025
Update: This event is now passed, and it went great! I’m incredibly excited to be speaking at the upcoming TasICT event in Hobart, alongside the fabulous Procreate, Handbuilt Creative, and Screen Tasmania. I’ll be representing Secret Lab and Yarn Spinner, and no doubt Tas Game Makers, our Tasmanian Games Incubator, and other things will get a look in as well. If you’re in Hobart, get along to the
- Tas Game Makers 2025Jan 31, 2025
We just had AGM for Tasmanian Game Makers, Inc. (TasGM), and for the third year in a row I was pleasantly surprised to be elected President. I’m really looking forward to working with the new committee to continue pushing the video game industry in Tasmania along, get the Tasmanian Games Incubator going as part of TasGM, and helping Screen Tasmania run Level Up. With thanks to our outgoing board m
- Level Up Tasmania 2024Sep 17, 2024
I’m thrilled to share that we’ll be part of Level Up Tasmania 2024, a fantastic celebration of our local game development industry. This event, running from September 27-29, 2024, showcases the creativity and innovation thriving right here in Tasmania. The main showcase will unfold at PW1 in Hobart on Friday and Saturday, featuring over 30 Tasmanian-made games. It’s a rare opportunity to see the b
- Weekly Links for September 12, 2024Sep 12, 2024
Another set of links I found interesting: So cool: Voyager 1 Team Accomplishes Tricky Thruster Swap Great Barrier Reef already been dealt its death blow The benefits of special interests in autism How I Built an NFC Movie Library for my Kids PIXHELL Attack: Leaking Sensitive Information from Air-Gap Computers via ‘Singing Pixels’ Thanks for reading!
- Weekly Links for September 8, 2024Sep 08, 2024
It’s been a busy week! Here are some interesting links: How the Oldest Company in the World Has Survived Nearly 1,500 Years How does banking work? Air Con: $1697 for an on/off switch Tabbed out on the Oregon Trail An unverified source, but it all sounds like it makes sense. How horrible: Buy, Borrow, Die - Explained See you next time!
- West Coast Space Show Wrap-upSep 05, 2024
The West Coast Space Show was a fantastic success! We had a great time presenting our space-themed show and activities for kids and adults alike, all around Tasmania’s West and Central Coast. We’re so grateful for the support we received from the Australian Government via National Science Week. We ran the show all over the West Coast and Central Coast of Tasmania, including amazing places like
- Weekly Links for August 29, 2024Aug 29, 2024
Here are this week’s interesting links: Dishwashers are critical: At the heart of every restaurant Hahahah, oh ho ho ho, hahahaha: Microsoft’s Copilot falsely accuses court reporter of crimes he covered Astronomers back call for review of bonkers rule that means satellite swarms fly without environment checks Enjoy!