Gene Bond

As a follow-up to my vibe coding journey, I have now created - or am in the process - of creating four apps. As a non-engineer, it’s been a very interesting experiment and has taught me that ultimately vibe coding requires the same product approach you use in the traditional product development lifecycle. This should not have surprised me, but it did. For one, language matters. As in the traditional framework, don’t assume the tool understands your thinking without clearly articulating it. The tools approach vibe coding in a surprisingly human way. Given the right information, they will do exactly what you ask. Given too little info, they will make assumptions just like an engineer would. It was a great reminder of how PRDs still need to be clear, concise and specific, AND they cannot be created in a vacuum without close collaboration and input from engineering and other key partners. Community has been a recurring them for me lately as so many businesses focus on individual ideas rather than a cohesive, collaborative approach. Community helps you see around the curve in a way that a single-minded strategy cannot. The latter may initially succeed but long-term growth will be lost. Said simply, I couldn’t (and wouldn’t want to) do this alone (HT to Brian O'Neil). My ability to get this done – like everything – is so much stronger with multiple perspectives and inputs. More to come as I start iterating and publicly deploying these apps.

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Cassandra 5.0.4 was released today. This release includes major compaction improvements worked on by Jon Haddad Dmitry Konstantinov Caleb Rackliffe David Capwell and myself. Highly recommend upgrading if you are using 5.0, especially if you are using EBS or similar block devices.

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Unity 6.3 LTS is here! This release delivers the long-term stability, verified ecosystem, and real-world performance optimizations developers need for confident production development. With two years of dedicated LTS support (three for Unity Enterprise and Industry), consistent updates, stable platform coverage, and smoother upgrade paths between Unity 6 versions, Unity 6.3 LTS is built for the way teams develop today! For the full technical breakdown - including how 6.3 was production-verified - check out our blog: https://lnkd.in/eJubt26g

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ttconv 1.2.1 is released! The release brings order-of-magnitude speed-up for complex documents and fixes several critical bugs. https://lnkd.in/gpYCwGBF ttconv is a Python library and command line application for converting between popular timed text formats, including TTML, IMSC, VTT, SRT, STL and SCC. #subtitling #captioning #imsc #ttml #webvtt #accessibility

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For the first time ever, consumers have spent more in non-gaming apps than in games.  This is a remarkable shift in the app economy.  In 2025, IAP revenue from non-game apps surpassed that from games. Key takeaways:   - Consumers shelled out approximately $85 billion in apps last year.   - This is a colossal 21% yoy increase, and nearly 3x the amount spent just five years ago.   - Generative AI has played a significant role in driving this growth, but it's not the only factor.   - Almost all app genres reported positive IAP revenue growth, indicating a robust monetization landscape that is expanding beyond traditional gaming.  What does this mean for marketers?   - It is a wake up call to rethink your strategies.   - Non-gaming applications are not just add ons, they are pivotal to revenue growth.  As we continue to navigate this evolving space, the possibilities for tapping into this market are immense.  Lets talk about how you are planning to leverage this momentum and ensure your app is part of the non-gaming success story!  

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Over 50,000 IT employees were laid off in 2024 in Bengaluru alone. Most were displaced by the rise of AI. One of the hardest parts of getting laid off is re-entering the job market. Trying to convince a panel that it wasn’t a performance issue, but a situational decision. It’s not just exhausting, it takes a real toll on your confidence and mental health too. In India, the average job search now stretches 4-5 months. Most candidates apply to 100+ of roles, only to receive a few interview calls. As someone who’s been part of countless hiring discussions, here’s my advice: 1. Level up with AI, proactively If AI played a role in your layoff, let it play a role in your comeback. Use this time to create a case study: Solve a problem using AI and understand real-world use cases. 2. Reframe the layoff narrative Don’t sound apologetic. Sound self-aware. Focus on how you used this time to upskill and the added value you’re now equipped to bring to your next role. 3. Use the true potential of LinkedIn Share your case study on LinkedIn, tag stakeholders of those companies and start a conversation with product folks to get real time feedback. Hiring managers are far more likely to trust candidates who can showcase their skills through real work. A strong portfolio builds credibility in a way a resume alone can't. If you’re hiring, look beyond the layoff. If you’ve been laid off, your career isn’t over. Keep trying. I’m open to speaking with anyone going through this journey. DMs are open.

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I often get asked if we use Behavior Trees for the birds in Forever Pets. The answer is no, and here's why: 1. Constrained parallelism. BTs offer only limited parallel execution. Most implementations (for example, Unreal Engine's Parallel node) require one child to be a single task node. Real people and animals do lots of things on overlapping timelines. The body of Aria below in the video has more than a dozen things going on at any given moment (root, head, eyes, tail, breathing and so forth). 2. Low reusability. Trees and animations are tightly coupled: you end up reinventing behavior branches for each new creature instead of sharing generic logic across species. 3. Poor scalability and performance. As you add actions or richer environments, tree size (and its CPU footprint) grows exponentially. In a VR game with dozens of pets, that quickly becomes unsustainable. 4. High production overhead. Every tree demands dedicated behavior designers, animators and engineers to craft and maintain bespoke nodes, leading to heavy people-costs. Let me know if you found this useful and I can dive deeper into Behavior Trees and the alternative we've developed (Behavior Composition). Do you like Aria's red hat? That's the exclusive reward we've added for our alpha players. Join the alpha to claim it: https://lnkd.in/dU73rqPd

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It’s always exciting to see how our customers are using Decagon agents, but it’s especially meaningful when it helps people access the benefits they deserve. The team at Propel, Inc recently ran two tests using Decagon agents to assist SNAP recipients facing interruptions in their benefits. The results? Faster outcomes, higher success rates, and deeply human experiences. ✅ Faster benefit restoration ✅ Positive user sentiment ✅ Seamless switch into native languages - without any explicit instruction Our agent supported open-ended conversations with people navigating stressful, high-stakes situations that can vary based on geographic location, benefits tier, and time of month. It identified missing benefits, explained the path forward, and adapted language support on the fly. No scripts. Just real, responsive help. I’m incredibly proud of what the Propel and Decagon teams have accomplished. It’s not just about what AI agents can do, but what they should do: support people, with empathy, clarity, and speed.

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This week I'm on the ground at IAAPA Expo 2025, and I’m heading in with one question: What’s actually useful for operators, developers, and creative teams working at the intersection of digital systems, guest experience, and immersive storytelling? IAAPA hosts 40,000+ attendees and 1,100+ exhibitors across 500,000 square feet. Show up without a plan and you’ll end up wandering through fog machines and plush mascots while the genuine innovations hide in the corners. As someone who helps build the platforms and connected systems powering next-gen attractions, this is my scouting plan. A Show About Story + Systems This year’s theme highlights how stories "come alive," but what stands out is how grounded it is: guest inclusion, data-driven design, AI-assisted creativity, and operational efficiency. The industry is shifting from "build the big ride" to "build the ecosystem the guest moves through." 1. Guest Experience 2.0 Gen Alpha expects personalization, continuity, frictionless UX, and accessibility from the start. I’ll be looking at how vendors define a core guest identity, how apps integrate with ticketing and POS, and whether rules, AI, or both drive personalization. Accessibility is also getting overdue attention. I’m watching how those principles show up in app UX, content systems, and entitlements. 2. AI, Data, and Real-Time Decisioning Everyone will talk about AI, but there is a big gap between gimmick and infrastructure. I’m looking for platforms that integrate ride data, POS, guest behavior, staffing, weather, and demand prediction into a single decision engine. The operators who win the next decade will anticipate guest flow rather than react to it. So I will be asking how vendors ingest data, what they expose (webhooks versus batch), and whether operators can actually understand why the AI acts. 3. Immersive and Interactive Tech Robotics companies and others are bringing serious motion and VR hybrids along with new immersive formats. I’m evaluating whether these attractions produce structured telemetry, generate per guest or per session data, and support flexible content pipelines. If an experience cannot talk to a platform such as loyalty, player state, achievements, or dynamic triggers, it becomes an island. The future is connected, persistent, and data-aware. 4. Hospitality, Premium Spaces, and Monetization From cabanas to modular VIP lounges and competitive socializing concepts, many vendors will be present, offering ways to extend dwell time and increase revenue. I’m focused on the digital activation layer: booking, entitlements, personalization, lighting and AV presets, RFID and NFC integrations, and how these touchpoints feed the broader journey. Formerly static spaces are becoming programmable, which is a significant opportunity. If you are heading to IAAPA and want to compare notes, or if you are exploring how to make your digital ecosystem more connected, intelligent, and profitable, let’s meet up.

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Music tech is evolving fast, but where are the biggest opportunities? Plugin Alliance leader Mo Volans shares his experience.

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Client:  "How do we get spend depth above $100k for a hybrid-casual game?" Wittle Defender (Habby) is the latest, and arguably most casually-packaged example of the AFK Arena-inspired ‘Idle RPG’ economy. For anyone who hasn't worked on 'Idle RPGs', the most defining features of the genre, from the economy perspective, are: 1) DEEP reliance on gacha duplicate fusion. 2) A reasonably small pool of heroes (20-40, not 200). 3) Automation of nearly all inventory management. 4) Economies that are VERY generous to players who engage consistently, while being VERY extractive for whales who are impatient enough to pay 'retail price' to progress. In these games, gachas are pulled thousands of times.  Most pulls yield duplicates of heroes already owned, and dupes are instantly converted into currencies (often element and rarity-specific). The result is a casual, accessible experience with extraordinary spend depth. In WD’s case, just 8 Mythic Heroes (so far) generate $𝟰𝟮𝗸 of ‘gacha fusion’ spend depth alone, by virtue of needing 37 copies* ea. at a 2.5% drop rate from primary gacha, at $3.60 per pull. How can one achieve similar spend-depth design for games without character collection? WD’s treasures (account-level gear) system uses gacha duplicate fusion similarly to add $𝟴𝟳𝗸 more spend depth.  Each of WD's 36 common treasure types can be fused all the way through the tree to max-rarity, but each requires 𝟭𝟬𝟴𝟬 𝗰𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗲𝘀 to do so. While WD has about $170k spend depth today, the economy systems convert new content into additional spend depth very rapidly. If WD releases one new Mythic hero (with corresponding 2 treasures) weekly (+$10k), the game will cross $300k spend depth in just 3 months. That said, we expect that Habby will do much more, both on the systems and content front. FWIW, I'm not saying that this game is guaranteed to succeed.  As a player, my initial reaction was that the gameplay was too automated and repetitive for my tastes. But when it comes to basic economy design, WD is yet another Habby exemplar that hybrid-casual developers can study and model.

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Staying Safe at GDC in San Francisco – Some Tips GDC is next week, and while SF is a fantastic city, it’s always good to keep a few safety tips in mind. A few things to be aware of: • The Tenderloin: look, it’s notorious it’s probably right between your hotel and Moscone; If you can, avoid walking through this area, especially at night. Stick to well-lit streets with lots of people. • Hotel Room Meetings: No one should expect you to meet in a hotel room for any reason. It’s always okay to say no and on this point…. • Meeting People for the First Time: Even if someone seems totally legit, be mindful about where and how you meet them. Public spaces are best. • Watch Your Drinks: Especially at open GDC events or badge events without guest lists. Better safe than sorry. • You Can Say No: Everything is optional; parties, meetups, whatever. Don’t feel bad about setting boundaries. • Be Aware of Your Surroundings: last year I met a person who had been followed all the way home the previous night from an event. A good reminder to stay aware when leaving events. If something feels off, trust your instincts. Autonomous Waymos and Lyft/Uber are available in the city. • Don’t Share Your Hotel Info Casually: It’s easy to make small talk about where you’re staying, but it’s best to keep that private. • Door Wedges for Hotels: A simple but great extra security measure. • Don’t Leave Your Bag Unattended: Even for a second. • You Don’t Need Much Cash: Almost everywhere takes Apple Pay or cards, so there’s no need to carry a lot of cash. • Wear Comfortable Shoes: You’ll be walking a lot. • Bring a Light Rain Jacket: SF weather can be unpredictable, and you don’t want to get caught in a sudden drizzle. • Local Help: I’m local, so if you ever get into a situation where you need help or just feel a little lost, message me here. I’m online all the time. • Health & Hygiene: Bring hand sanitizer and wipes. Don’t share equipment without cleaning it first—no one wants to spend the week sick. • Explore SF!: If you have time, check out the town, especially the west side of the city; also Golden Gate Park, the California Academy of Sciences, the Presidio, or even take the ferry to Sausalito. There’s amazing food outside of the conference area. GDC is an incredible time to connect, learn, and have fun. Just keep an eye out, take care of yourself, and look out for each other. See you there!

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Last fall, we began integrating our technology into Houdini, and since then, we’ve showcased it in multiple public demonstrations. Hundreds of artists have since joined our alpha testing program, providing invaluable feedback that has helped us refine certain aspects of the integration. Unlike Unreal Engine, where our focus was on real-time use cases, many Houdini users prioritized quality and asset size reduction above all else. Additionally, larger studios—especially those with custom platform setups—highlighted the need for Linux support and CPU-based computation. Addressing these requirements demanded significant redesign and development efforts, but we’re pleased to confirm that these features will be available upon release. This experience highlights the need to consider the target computation platform when developing new software. While our technology was originally built on GPU shaders, its scalable architecture allows it to run efficiently everywhere—from mobile devices to CPUs—maximizing accessibility. Vendor lock-in can be a double-edged sword: while it enables rapid prototyping and deployment, it may limit scalability when expanding to other platforms. Though CPUs offer less raw power than GPUs, they provide a critical advantage: no VRAM limitations, which is a major pain point when working with large assets. This makes ZibraVDB a reliable solution across all platforms, even with some computational overhead, while still delivering significant asset size reduction. This is particularly valuable for production studios, which often struggle with high storage costs and network bottlenecks during rendering and asset transfers. Stay tuned for updates—we’ll announce when the integration is widely available. If you’d like early access, apply for alpha testing today because soon it’s over - see the link in the first comment! #ZibraVDB #OpenVDB #VDB #Compression #rendering #CGI #Houdini

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Watching junior potential rot away hurts. Two young devs turned down our help to do it themselves. Sadly, 7 years later, the game still isn’t finished. We were asked to step in on that project back in 2021. Two developers. One barely 17. Their demo was performing incredibly well on Steam, but both were new and never shipped a game before. The publisher brought us in to help with production planning and technical evaluation. To make sure the game could actually cross the finish line. We embedded a few people. Got to know the team, the code, the plan. Everything pointed to a clear truth: they needed more hands to ship. Then came the Slack message from the devs: “We don’t need you. We’ll do it ourselves.” Probably ill-advised by people outside the industry, they believed doing it themselves was the way to maximize their share of the revenue. Technically true, but a bigger share of zero is still zero. When I checked the Steam page recently, it said “In development since 2017.” Remembering that one always stings. Because they had something truly special. Help doesn’t mean taking control, but it means giving a project the structure, people, and experience it needs to exist at all. Ownership means nothing if what you own never reaches players. Do what’s right for the project. Not for pride or for percentages.

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The RPG industry just hit an inflection point that most developers are missing. We're watching the boundaries between mobile and PC gaming dissolve in real-time. But instead of recognizing this as the birth of something new, the industry keeps trying to force outdated categories onto experiences that transcend them. It's time for a new framework. RPGs have evolved through distinct generations, each solving the limitations of the previous while creating new possibilities. The first generation emerged in the 1980s with early PC titles like Ultima and Wizardry. These games established the core DNA but were limited by primitive hardware and tiny audiences. The second generation arrived with console dominance in the 1990s and 2000s. Final Fantasy, Elder Scrolls, and Mass Effect brought cinematic storytelling and massive worlds to mainstream audiences. But they remained tethered to living room experiences. The third generation came with mobile gaming's rise in the 2010s. Suddenly RPGs could reach billions of players worldwide. The trade-off? Most mobile RPGs sacrificed depth for accessibility, creating a false choice between reach and sophistication. Now we're entering the 4th generation. 4th generation RPGs reject the artificial limitations that defined their predecessors. They deliver console-quality experiences that work seamlessly across mobile and PC platforms. Real-time strategic combat that's intuitive on touch but deep enough for hardcore players. Narrative systems that create genuine emotional connections, not just progression mechanics. Cross-platform experiences where your choices matter regardless of how you play. This isn't about better graphics or faster processors. It's about fundamentally rethinking what becomes possible when you stop accepting the constraints of previous generations. UnGodly represents the first true 4th generation RPG. Our Affinity System creates emotional bonds between players and characters that evolve based on genuine interaction, not scripted events. The dark fantasy setting explores themes that respect player intelligence while delivering the visceral satisfaction that made RPGs legendary. Cross-platform design means the experience adapts to your device without compromising depth. We've invested significant time in development because building the future requires rejecting shortcuts. This vision has attracted backing from leading investors who recognize potential in the gaming space. They understand that the companies defining 4th generation RPGs today will dominate the next decade of gaming.

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