Denis Zlobin

E.g. I'm doing a little hobby project that involves time travel. I know you are great with those, and know how difficult it is to make a consistent set of rules without breaking the world logic. And I found that prompting "This is the rule, what can go wrong" really stimulates my thought process.

Definitely, and what's worse is as the model evolves, the more convincing it becomes at validating this dogshit. My initial concern about this tech was that if it becomes good enough it will start bypassing my "bullshit filter", so I started treating it as a sparring partner instead.

My best use case of LLMs (I’m far from a power user) is the opposite. “I have this new idea, destroy it by highlighting inconsistencies, logic mistakes and possible edge cases. Don’t propose any solutions, I want only criticism”

This way it makes me think more, not less.

Kazakhstan and Russia rates are so high because of mass privatization after the fail of USSR, when state-owned property was often given to the tenants for free. Not sure about other post-socialist countries, could have had some similar processes.

They are designed to be easily noticeable in a busy auditory scene, but since hearing is an automatic threat detection system, annoyance is a natural consequence.

This also answers why I don't even bother producing music these days and resort to synth videos on Youtube for the pure joy of the process.

Very informative page about the revenue structure of a modern indie musician, check it out!

YouTube video by Denis Zlobin Synth Performance, 06.01.2026. Digitone, Pulse 2, Octatrack, TEO-5 and other gear

Another synth video from me! This time I challenged myself to make a bit more complex piece of music with my synth setup.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFDG...

#SynthSky #DAWless

Holiday season is the best time of the year to rearrange one’s synth setup and improve ergonomics. Now I’m quite happy with it!

And now it has boring grindy exercises, daily streaks, leaderboards and a green mascot. Cargo cults suck.

In 2020 I used it to relearn some of the math concepts. I started with school algebra and went all the way to Euler’s formula and Bayesian probability just in a few months. Those were new to me, and 5 years later I still understand them on the conceptual level.

Brilliant was my favorite app of 2020 because it felt like you are actually learning things thanks to excellent instructional design. Fast forward to today, and it turned into another Duolingo clone, optimized for retention. Cargo cult at its worst.

Other worthy mentions: The Roottrees are Dead, Old Skies, Dispatch, Avowed.

Every year one game impresses me so much that I start seeing it in my dreams. This way my personal GOTY is always an easy choice. In 2025 it was Blue Prince, one of the most inspiring games I played in over a decade.

I simply don’t want any other humans in any game I play. Nothing against humans, I just prefer other ways of interacting with them.

There is a desperate need for better early-stage financing models. I imagine a Dispatch-like experience would be funded after a vertical slice. But getting a proper vertical slice (hitting the target quality mark) on a game like this is too expensive for self-funded teams.

Yes, but also what if they make an Emily in Paris game with the Nemesis system now.

This entire industry needs to get some proper sleep. Yes, everyone.

Then we can finally say that game industry peaked and relax a little bit?

Finished Dispatch in two sessions because I just couldn't stop playing. That rare feeling when you finish a modern game and don't feel any fatigue.

Fast travel is a mechanic, it doesn't have an intrinsically coupled narrative wrapper, which is up to the devs. In Witcher 3 nothing indicates the character teleporting, because nothing in the world reacts to it as is he did. But it could be different in other games.

I once had people on the Teams call talking to me from my electronic piano.

Imagine a “Text industry” awards where fiction books, poems, fashion magazines, newsletters and bluesky posts compete for the jury votes. What a stupid idea! Oh, wait.

How about

The next step is a bagpipe

Did they mean Xbox?

I skipped a few events, but otherwise talked to almost everyone about nearly everything and then had to waste a couple of full hours before the finale.

The failure points are mostly in the tutorial, the time mechanic is very soft, mainly to nudge you to make mindful choices, but overall there is enough time to solve everything while being curious about the details.

Have you played The Roottrees are Dead? Also Lorelei and the Laser Eyes has some similarities.

Being finite games that serve a small and hungry audience, they create a rising tide that lifts all boats. Instead of competing for audience attention like infinite games do, they grow their market together. This is healthy. I have a very good feeling about this niche.