Andy Glaister

Today, we’re thrilled to introduce Decagon Diagnostic Tools, designed to make AI agent iteration faster than ever before. As agents take on more complex workflows, understanding why conversations escalate or break down has become one of the biggest bottlenecks to iteration. Diagnostic Tools are purpose-built to replace manual review and guesswork with clear, prescriptive signal. The launch includes two core capabilities: • Escalation Drivers, which quantify which Agent Operating Procedures (AOPs) are responsible for the most handoffs to human agents • AOP Flow Analysis, which shows how conversations actually move through workflows and where unexpected drop-offs occur Together, these tools turn agent optimization into a fast, data-driven loop. Teams can see what’s happening across thousands of conversations and know exactly where to focus next. For more info, read our announcement blog in the comments.

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Just found this undocumented feature added in UE5.5+ which allows standard Editor Utility Widgets to be dockable as a main tab instead of requiring it to be nested. This is especially helpful for those making widgets that require larger real estate or embedded viewports. I was digging in C++ source the last little while to see how to achieve this but looks like it was added in a different, and more accessible form, for newer versions of the engine already.

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The Single Patient Record is finally moving from concept to evidence, and NHS England has kicked off the Test and Learn phase. Three technical proofs of concept are being tested in the Test and Learn phase: 1. A Hub & Spoke model to link regional records via shared APIs 2. A Central Integration Model for real-time national access 3. A Virtual Data Layer that joins data on demand, not by duplication Each approach asks the same question 👉 Can we join up care safely, securely, and simply - without starting from scratch? For years, we’ve talked about interoperability like it’s a technology problem. It isn't. It’s a design and delivery challenge - and this phase is a chance to test what "good" really looks like at system scale. The interesting part is the approach is open, collaborative, and grounded in reality - discovery with frontline users, not just design in meeting rooms. If it works, it could redefine how health data flows across the NHS. Not a single system. A single understanding of the patient. Finally.

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If your workflow for building multi-sampled libraries, managing audio assets, reconciling code differences, taking notes, working out tempo & pitch relationships, and other out-of-DAW tasks could use improvement you should check out this guide right here ⬇️⬇️⬇️ https://lnkd.in/e8M472Fv

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🎮 Steam finally fixed the biggest pain for indie devs. Valve just launched a personalized release calendar — a feed of upcoming games tailored to each player’s interests. It’s the biggest discovery update Steam has made in years. Until now, visibility on Steam was a lottery: 💀 Miss the “Popular Upcoming” window — and you’re invisible. 💰 Hit it — and you’re set. Now players will see their kind of games, and devs will finally get a chance to be noticed without massive marketing budgets. It’s like Netflix recommendations — but for games that actually deserve attention. The data impact isn’t clear yet, but the direction is right: personalization over virality, relevance over noise. Huge respect to Valve for moving Steam out of its legacy shell and giving indies a fighting chance again. #Steam #Valve #GameDev #IndieDev #GamingIndustry #Personalization #ProductDesign #Discovery #IndieGames #UX

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I want to demystify how ASGC tracks games industry job cuts so you understand what goes into the numbers The way we track industry reductions is far more rigorous than most people realize. I occasionally see comments wondering if we only use public announcements, WARN notices, or that we miss contractors, co dev teams, and non traditional roles. I understand why people might assume that, but that is not how our system works. Collecting jobs data is the most resource intensive process in our community because it shapes our support too. Step one is public information. We monitor news reports, company statements, WARN filings, and government notices. That is just the starting point. Step two is direct community reporting at scale. Every year I receive 5-10K+ messages, just related to job cuts, across LinkedIn, Discord, and email from people sharing what happened to them, their teammates, or their organizations. Much of this never appears in the press. It includes contractors, co dev partners, support studios, and indirect roles, not just FTEs at major publishers. Step three is individual signal tracking. I regularly review posts from professionals who are suddenly open to work or referencing team changes. These signals confirm patterns or reveal cuts that were not announced. All of this flows into a large internal tracking system that helps me understand not just how many roles were affected, but who was impacted, where, and when. That context allows our community to reach out and design support that matches reality rather than headlines. Is it perfect? No. I am still working to improve visibility in regions where transparency is lower. But I can say sincerely this process goes far beyond public records and is more comprehensive than any single external source. You may notice that, for a few years, I no longer publicly name organizations when cuts happen unless they request a Games Org support post. That is intentional. My goal is to avoid errors and avoid shaming, because I recognize that not every reduction comes from bad intent. Sometimes funding ends, contracts fall through, or projects conclude despite leaders trying to do right by their teams. Also, my approach is to build bridges and encourage quiet, meaningful accountability. I regularly hear that organizations know ASGC tracks layoff decisions and understand their actions will reach me, even with smaller or less visible cuts. That awareness, even without public callouts, can influence how situations are handled. Most importantly, workers know their experience is not invisible. Individual data is never shared publicly. People trust me with personal information, and I take that seriously. What I share are patterns, totals, and insights that help us mobilize support. So when we talk about industry cuts, please know this is not casual scorekeeping. It is the result of thousands of conversations and careful tracking to make sure every affected games person counts.

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We slashed our development time by 94%. And not by hiring a ton of engineers. We built something better: a system. Here’s how we made game dev faster, smarter, and repeatable ➡️

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When I first saw Tuomas Artman's post about Fixing Bugs First at Linear (link in comments), I nodded a bit, and then a lot. I'm so glad Thorsten Ball and I radically adhered to this from day 1 when building Amp at Sourcegraph. Here's what I've learned: • Fix Bugs Now (not First): The overhead to file an issue, prioritize the issue, assign the issue, and update the issue is often greater than the time it takes to fix it. Just Fix Bugs Now, right when you hit them or hear about them; don't bother filing an issue. The reporter need not be the fixer, but you must confirm it's going to be Fixed Now before you let go of it. • Backpressure: You will never be drowning in bugs if you truly Fix Bugs Now because you won't have time to build new features that would introduce new bugs. If you're drowning in bugs, it means you're insufficiently adhering to Fix Bugs Now, and new stuff is sneaking through. Fix that. Cut scope immediately if needed, no matter how painful. • Go Direct: When fixing a bug, devs talk directly to customers. No middlemen. Fixing Bugs Now for a real person you're talking to is rewarding and effective; anything else is grunt work that requires a lot more motivation and management pep talks. Plus, customers love talking to devs. • The 15-Minute Rule: From the moment a customer reports a bug, you need to be able to ship a fix to them within 15 minutes. Some fixes take longer, of course, but let's say it's a simple one-line fix: 15 minutes to the customer's screen. If it takes longer, you break the customer's flow, so they won't bother reporting most bugs (since they wouldn't benefit from the fix in their current task). Also, you kill the reward loop for your own devs and kill their focus, since they'll keep mentally tracking the bug until it's resolved. And if it takes days to ship a fix, then you'll need a process for tracking and communicating fixes, and so on, and all of a sudden the overhead dominates the time to code the fix. • Repeat Repeat Repeat: Fixing Bugs Now is so radically different that your team won't believe that you really, truly mean it at first. Or even after you've repeated it 10 times. You need to say it in every single team message for it to stick. Even knowing you need to repeat it more than you think, you won't repeat it enough. • The Stick: Yes, praise your team for Fixing Bugs Now. But for 80% of devs, the reality is you'll need to (at least once) give them direct, constructive feedback when they stray (with good intentions) from Fixing Bugs Now. You need to use the stick for it to stick: "I know you had good intent in building xyz feature while ignoring bugs, but that is not how we build here, and I need you to not do that again." • Sorry and Thanks: Bugs are a fact of life, but that doesn't make them OK. Call me old-fashioned, but I think you should apologize to customers when they hit a bug and thank them for raising it. Knowing you appreciate it, customers will give you more feedback.

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Everyone on my feed is talking about the $1 BILLION valuation of the Scopely / Pixel Flow by Loom Games! acquisition, but as a mobile game dev, I’m looking at something different: the mechanic they've used :)) You don't need to reinvent the wheel to build a unicorn. They took proven puzzle mechanics, gave them a massive twist, and combined them into something totally fresh. Playing with mechanics like this is a blast by Voodoo. Seeing a mobile game studio hit a $1 BILLION valuation in just a year is wild, but as a game dev studio, it's also a massive shot of motivation. top 3 takeaways from this deal: 1️⃣ Mash-ups = Innovation: You don't have to start from scratch. Take what works, combine it, and make it uniquely yours. 2️⃣ Hybrid-Casual is a Goldmine: Flawlessly mixing in-app purchases with ad revenue is what propelled them into the US Top-10 grossing charts in just months. 3️⃣ Global Hits, Local Roots: The Turkish gaming ecosystem just proved again that it's an absolute powerhouse. Massive congrats to Kübra Gündoğan, Emre Çelik, and the whole team!

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Pixel Flow has attracted a lot of attention over the past few months, with impressive growth and a seven-figure seed-round. In only five months, the game has risen steadily to $400k+ revenue per day from IAP alone. Revenue is c. $17 million. Loom Games, the company behind it, was only founded last year, so how did they do it? Before Loom, Kübra Gündoğan and Emre Çelik founded Crescive Games, which ran from 2019 to 2025.  Over that six year period, they released over 120 games, around 1.6 per month.  Seed investor Enis Hulli said: “Years ago … they tested a pixel crunching mechanic. The game itself didn’t perform. But a small group of users became completely obsessed with that one feature. Most teams ignore that. They didn’t. They kept chasing that anomaly for years. Rebuilding it across different mechanics, testing it again and again.” ➡️ They put the reps in to find a mechanic that worked. Kubra added: “[Pixel Flow’s] reception comes down to how deeply we analyse player experiences - and the strong insights we draw from that work.” Pixel Flow is a case study in how sustained experimentation can lead to breakout success in mobile gaming.  Today, it’s possible to test ideas on a tight loop until something shows real traction.  Once you have that, you can repeat the process to create a game loop that scales. Loom have shown what’s possible with the right vision and approach. A great example for those thinking of building something new. Thank you to AppMagic for the data.

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I've seen people talk about the "deprofessionalization" of game dev - that large game companies are becoming unsustainable and that smaller and indie devs are going to rule the market. Not that long ago, people were complaining about the reverse. The problem then was that all the smaller game companies were dying off and game dev was becoming "winner takes all". All the smaller companies were closing and everyone was going to have to go work at large mega corps. The return of smaller game studios can be a good thing, both for work, as well as the games created. more people taking more risks means more innovation and more "weird" games instead of only safe bets. Don't stress, the pendulum is just swinging back the other way.

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From side project to $150K in a year, all without a big team or big budget. Now, we’re handing it over. Yes we are about to sell another Game IP. (An Openworld Game TPS) I want to share what I learned from this project. Its about retention and session time. If you're building an open-world third-person shooter, whose revenue mostly rely on Ads then the two most important things to focus on are session time and retention. These directly impact how long players stay in your game and whether they come back tomorrow. To increase session time, make sure the world always feels alive. There should be something engaging nearby at all times—enemy encounters, loot drops, side missions, or environmental surprises. Layer short-term goals with long-term progression systems. Players should always feel like they’re making progress, even if they only play for 10 minutes. Combat should feel satisfying not just functional. Great sound design, impactful visuals, and responsive controls can significantly increase how long players stay in each session. Even traversal can boost session time when moving around the map feels smooth and enjoyable, players naturally explore more. For better retention, use systems that encourage daily interaction. Daily rewards, timed unlocks (like upgrades or crafting), and rotating missions give players a reason to return regularly. Push notifications work best when they feel meaningful reminders about finished upgrades or new events tend to perform well. Weekly events or limited time content can also create urgency. If something’s only available for a short time, players are more likely to log in frequently. Even ending missions with cliffhangers or unresolved story points can keep curiosity alive. In short, build a loop where players always have something to do now and something to look forward to later. That’s the foundation of strong session time and retention in any open world game. And here’s what I’ve learned the hard way: Selling a game doesn’t mean you’re giving up. It means you’re leveling up. You're turning finished work into fuel. You're freeing up brainspace for what's next. You're proving your process works, its not just luck. If you’re a fellow solo dev or small team trying to build something big. I’d love to hear where you focus mostly to grow your games. 👇 Drop your thoughts below. Let’s share strategies and grow together. #gamedevelopment #indiedev #retention #sessiontime #gamesales #openworldgames #gamedesign #entrepreneurship #html5games #unity3d #mobilegames

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