Computer scientist and educator. Creator of ChessCraft. Senior computer scientist at Environment Canada.
"They’re weak." "Weak?" "Yes. They’re weak." "Weak?" "Very. I’ve gone to different parts of their realm. I can even walk on their holy grounds. I’ve killed their best warriors, and taken some to bed. They’re pitiful. Absolutely and completely frail and weak." "That’s impossible …
Foreword Days after first watching Obsession (2025 film) it's still on my mind. Then driving to (and from) Ottawa and listening to dark wave witch house music I felt an unusual need to get creative like I was 20 again. So I took some notes and later wrote this horror …
Greetings, stranger. I'm not surprised to see your kind here. Many adventurers have traveled this way since the recent troubles began. No doubt you've heard about the tragedy that befell the town of Northwood. Some say that Surtr, the Lord of Fire, walks the world again. Since at least 2005 …
This post is a chronological tour of all the types of art assets in ChessCraft (images, sounds, music, voice) and how they were made. A ton of different methods were used. There's 200+ chess pieces made by me in GIMP, the adventure map was hand drawn on paper then scanned …
This is how I like to get all my news and information in 2026. Writing it all down should help me sort, cut, and review my media diet. Maybe you'll find this useful too - if you like what I like anyway. This mega list is sorted best to merely good …
I've had this on my mind for years. What if you made a graph of sickness versus happiness with respect to paid sick days? Here's my first good attempt. Your graph may be different than mine because: I have paid sick days. I feel some duty to my work. I …
I'm a senior computer scientist for the government of Canada, there since 2018. Sometimes reality doesn't reflect the official messaging in government. So this page lists some of my own guidelines, truths, and tools that have most helped my career in government and guard my sanity. I hope this page …
I've often liked year-end reviews like from Wendover Productions . So here's another for ChessCraft. See also: 2024 2023 2022 Metrics This year ChessCraft passed one million installs . Curiously, the page on Google Play still reports just 500,000 several months later! I guess Google doesn't care about my vanity metrics …
Wow! How about that. Do I get a gold plaque from YouTube now? I still remember celebrating 100,000 in 2021: And if we really go back , 100 in 2019: I guess I like round numbers. If you haven't passed it yet, I recommend celebrating your one billion second birthday …
Sometimes a merge request (MR) doesn't merit a code review (CR) because AI was used in a bad way that harms the team or the project. For example: Code deletion would improve the MR a lot. You don't know the basics of the language you submitted. Documentation spam. Blatantly inconsistent …
I often see these questions online: "I have no work experience. How do I get my first software job?" "I got laid off with only have 2 years of experience. How do I get a software job?" "What certs can help me get a software job?" I'm a team lead …
I've often liked year-end reviews like from quanta magazine . So here's another for ChessCraft like last year and the year before that . Metrics It's been 7 years since I started working on ChessCraft on 2017-12-30 . We're now at 920,000 installs with 260,000 this year. I thought I might …
Here's my experience attending the founding convention of the Canadian Future Party (CFP) in November 2024 in Ottawa. Members voted for the first time on policy, leadership, and a constitution. Here I write about procedural problems and I propose modern solutions. ( Version française ) Context The Canadian Future Party (CFP) officially …
Voici mon expérience au congrès fondateur du Parti avenir canadien (PAC) en novembre 2024 à Ottawa. Les membres ont voté pour la première fois sur les politiques, la direction et une constitution. Ici, j'écris sur les problèmes de procédure et je propose des solutions modernes. ( English version ) Contexte Le Parti …
The human internet is dying. Facebook has shut down 5.4 billion fake accounts this year Two-thirds (66%) of all tweeted links were shared by suspected bots. Reddit is full of bots: thread reposted comment by comment, 10 months later AI has created some big problems with election integrity, spam …
Sometimes my friends, family, colleagues, or online communities ask me this question: "If you could wave a magic wand to make one change in public service, what would it be?" I'd create a new tool for managers in government called "displacement". Here's how it works. Disclaimer The opinions here are …
After some big disappointments at Environment Canada, I decided to take three months off in May, June, and July of 2024. Now that my time off is coming to a close I thought it would be nice to jot down all the nice ways I got to spend my time …
Since 2018 I've heard thousands of feature request ideas. By far the most popular feature request is to share your own custom images for pieces. Well it's finally here! I've just released version 1.16 on Google Play and Steam. It should be available within a few days, starting with …
This page describes a point system where public servants and their managers can autonomously identify what their minimum work-from-home (WFH) day count should be. Why RTO Some politicans are more transparent than others about why return-to-office (RTO) is so important to them: "Three days is a good start," Ford said …
Every so often someone asks me what I thought about the master's program in education technology (instructional design) at Concordia University in Montreal. If that's you, you've come to the right place. Overall I'm happy I enrolled. However the master's was just an outlet for my own self-drive and did …
I've often liked year-end reviews like from quanta magazine . So here's another short one for ChessCraft like last year . 660,000 Installs It has now been 6 years and 2 days since my first git version of ChessCraft. Remarkably, the rate of installs per month is still increasing. We're now …
Today I'm excited to say I'm moving to a new team! They build AI prototypes in the cloud for Environment Canada (ECCC). On paper this is like a dream job! On this page I'll go over key details, the job description, and highlights. Key Details One year assignment starting November …
When I help with government hiring I often give the same suggestions to hiring teams. So I wrote this page as a starting point. I focus on IT hiring but this also applies generally. If these points resonate with you, I'd love to help you with your hiring. Important note …
After years of strange problems and bad performance with MongoDB, this week I successfully migrated chesscraft.ca to PostgreSQL. This took lots of preparations, went smoothly, and is performing great, so I thought I'd write about it. Writing here is cathartic. Also, others might find it useful. Performance Look what …
I've just released version 1.15 on Google Play and Steam. It should be available very soon on Steam, and a few days from now on Google Play. What's new in 1.15 : Folders in the crafting hub! Filter by title or description text. Eight new piece rules: acidic, blacksmith …
I've just released version 1.14.0 on Google Play and Steam. It should be available very soon on Steam, and a few days from now on Google Play. What's new in 1.14: View the top boards and pieces this week, month, year, etc. Backup and restore progress online …
I've often liked year-end reviews like from quanta magazine or Wendover . So why not do a short one for ChessCraft? 336,000 Installs It has now been 5 years and 1 day since my first git version of ChessCraft. Remarkably, installs per month are still steadily going up, even though …
The free ChatGPT AI gave excellent or perfect answers to all my real ECCC interview questions: code writing and soft skills. This post is written for public servants that need to know about the latest AI tool called ChatGPT. We should all understand what kind of text and interview answers …
The views expressed here are my own, and do not express the views of my employer or my union. Here's my experience attending my union's annual general meeting . I felt some empowerment but mostly outrage and boredom. Clearly my union is sclerotic and archaic. We gathered to vote and share …
If you love your stable diffusion art made with a vague prompt, consider checking out the artist instead. I've made many thousands of SD images and I'm having a blast . I also love seeing what others have created . But I've only recently been able to put into words something that …
What's more important to you: climate science or social justice? Canadian politics is better when all parties are strong. How can the Green Party of Canada (GPC) recover its legitimacy and relevancy? Here I describe a simple and likely controversial membership test. I can't think of any other way forward …
I often see these questions online: "What are the differences between private and public sector IT?" "What makes you stay in government IT?" "Aren't government IT workers underpaid?" This page is my list of the best things about public sector IT. Disclaimer: The views expressed here are my own, and …
Most training videos are really bad. This is troublesome to me because I must constantly re-explain my philosophies and processes to colleagues or volunteers. This page aims to help. Over the years I've made over a hundred training videos for public servants, high school and university students, workshops, and the …
I like that the full ChessCraft game is free and ad-free, and yet it is monetized. It has been a challenge describing this monetization strategy succinctly. I wish there were a word for it. In this post I'll explore how words like "donationware", "freemium", and "nagware" aren't a good fit …
This amazing release has the most new piece and board rules ever in a single update! I've also added seven new languages. As usual, it may take a few days for Google to make the update available to everyone. I must extend a special thanks to Politique 2.0, Maria …
Richard Stallman may be a legend in the world of software, but he also has decades of history promoting a toxic environment in software communities. Due to this, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) has been pressured to kick out Stallman from the board of directors, which they did, though he …
Today I'm incredibly excited to announce a test release of ChessCraft with online multiplayer! If you are a beta tester on Google Play, you'll soon get the latest version 1.12 which allows you to play your friends online. Just like release 1.4 where you could share your designs …
So... I bought myself a ChessCraft mug. Is that vain? I'm really happy with this awesome mug! In case anyone else is interested, here's a link to the new online store: ChessCraft Bazaar . Good to note: these are printed individually by Zazzle so they are quite pricey, and I hardly …
I thought this was a small update, but then I reviewed all my changes and I surprised myself! Collect "relics" in adventure mode. Be a spectator with the new AI versus AI mode. Occasional ambient music. Bishop/Rook slide range editor increased from 0-3 to 0-5 Choose piece movement animation …
Two great new features have been added! Restrictors prevent nearby pieces from moving and/or attacking, and Gems which you collect and spend to open gates. There's also a great new trailer to replace the first one that I made 18 months ago. And of course, bug fixes and UI …
This small update is all about convenience features and bugfixes. Fixed a bug where the AI thinks a very long time then makes illegal moves. Undo button in the board editor. Drag release drift. Swap button for white/black when placing pieces in the board editor. New piece abilities: move …
Before I ramble too much about the random board generator, I must thank: Luigi Annicchiarico Johan Estévez Selianin Alexander - for volunteering to fully and thoroughly edit my Italian, Spanish, and Russian translations! This was a lot of work. More than most people may realize. Internally, ChessCraft has over 500 different …
This is a fun one! Ever since I started working on ChessCraft in January 2018, I've wanted "iron pieces". I've published 1.7 on Google Play - it will be available to you sometime in the next few days when Google approves it. This is one of my oldest feature ideas …
Updated: 2025-01 This page is a description of the artificial intelligence (AI) in ChessCraft. This page assumes you: have seen a gameplay video , or played around a bit with the ChessCraft board editor and piece editor have some introductory chess ability, like how to checkmate a king with just a …
Apparently, some of you have been very busy making lots and lots of custom boards and pieces. A popular request is to sort and filter your creations, so here it is! So you could, for example, see a list of only boards that you've created sorted small to big. Fun …
So I'm told (by many of you) that achievements are a critical element of mobile games. Well here we go! I thought I'd get started with these two: using at most two seconds every turn to win. using at most three minutes to win. The stars on the badge indicate …
I'm extremely excited to share this new version! You can now share your creations online. Sharing creates your own web page on the ChessCraft website like this one . Your friends can then use the share code to play your custom boards and custom pieces. Or, backup your favourites online before …
The new version of ChessCraft is here! What's new, you ask? Premoves Choose a visual theme: minimalist, or wood. Say au revoir to English! Play ChessCraft in one of eleven languages. That was something. Computer complexity and human complexity tips. Kangaroos. Bug fixes and UI improvements. Thanks for all the …
This wonderful update includes a new human versus human mode , ranged attack pieces (which attack without moving), and board preview thumbnails. I also removed restrictions on naming boards and pieces. Finally, many UI tweaks and some bug fixes. Thank you all for your patience on this new version. I've had …