xot

https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@xot

Nullius in verba

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relay.momostr.pink

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Last Notes

2026-06-19 22:27:02 GMT

"The real horror of ‘Alien’ and how it explains why we’re not paid enough"
NPR
https://www.npr.org/2026/06/19/nx-s1-5863604/alien-monopsony-wages-inequality

2026-06-04 23:34:53 GMT

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I always wanted one, but they were out of reach. My 15C was neat, but I lusted for a 16C. I accepted the Casio CM-100 "Computer Math" as a compromise. It's a little hard to find but a lot cheaper. It has very good bitwise functions, and I love this era of Casio design.
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/116/694/441/276/143/213/original/a6621be9ca2498d8.jpg

2026-06-04 14:59:28 GMT

The HP 16C is back, baby! The price isn't insane either. I really WANT one, but I do not NEED one. The JRPN 16C app is not a bad way to scratch the itch.
https://hpcalcs.com/product/hp-16c-collectors-edition/

2026-05-10 20:20:15 GMT

The GOAT ... er ... YAK.
"YOU SHOULD GO WATCH Heart of Neon! Seriously!"
Behind The Scanlines
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXmv_h5d0zM

2026-04-16 17:15:01 GMT

A weird sense memory triggered this image in my mind. This is the first thing I drew in a drawing program I wrote for my Apple II Plus back in the day. I think I was brainstorming a zoomed drawing feature on the left. Call MoMA!
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/116/415/494/753/803/697/original/1b0ef887e2fdc7f0.png

2026-03-17 23:20:51 GMT

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Ah, of course. If you don't mind me asking, what kind of hardware is required to run a model like that?

2026-03-17 21:52:43 GMT

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Impeccable timing. Claude is having a bad day.
https://status.claude.com/

2026-01-20 23:58:26 GMT

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😬

2026-01-19 23:22:50 GMT

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33 files changed, 718 insertions(+), 568 deletions(-)
No souls perished.

2026-01-18 03:30:33 GMT

Refactoring every bus-connected component in my emulator surely won't break anything.

2026-01-12 22:18:58 GMT

This new Apple II game is an incredible take on Frogger and Crossy Road. It's extremely well-made and has varied and fun challenges. Bravo, Ben and Paul Wasson.
https://www.lasermego.com/a2sw/froggo
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/115/884/430/452/479/424/original/0219c9467032398b.jpg
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/115/884/430/857/276/520/original/f82b010129e0be76.jpg

2026-01-12 17:52:33 GMT

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There is room for improvement, but this is much better. Dark Magenta looks sufficiently red, Light Blue looks less purple, Yellow looks less green, and Purple looks pleasingly grapey.

2026-01-12 17:51:18 GMT

I finally got smart and quit writing weird formulas to get my composite color decoding to look right. Now I can load raw images into Affinity Photo, tweak the colors until I like them, and use those tweaks to create a LUT texture for a new color correction shader. Why did that take me so long?
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/115/883/394/665/319/652/original/0dd82d5c85c3eb5a.png

2026-01-03 00:21:09 GMT

What a great hack!
"It sounds dumb but they really fixed a typo with a human leg"
https://youtu.be/dUkLYOPRYH4?si=4T523pEWbPRS-sN1

2025-12-30 06:31:44 GMT

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The layout engine is working great. Those little frames around the debug modules? That used to be a terrible hack. Each module is an independent text console but their frames were drawn separately on a giant console in the background. Now each console draws its own frame in an all new terrible way.
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/115/807/109/262/918/225/original/633cd7a92b603621.png

2025-12-26 02:41:47 GMT

Frank Cifaldi: "Merry Christmas! If you'd like to spend 45 minutes celebrating video game history with me, we're about to debut The Untold Story of the Nintendo Entertainment System. I worked on his ALL YEAR, and I genuinely think it will reshape how we all think about the system."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJvpRGibFhg

2025-12-26 02:37:45 GMT

The Advent of Compiler Optimizations has wrapped, and what a fascinating series it was. If you're a coder and you missed it, check it out and learn what absolute folly it is to try to outsmart the compiler.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-BwR-Cw0Gk&list=PL2HVqYf7If8cY4wLk7JUQ2f0JXY_xMQm2

2025-12-22 21:14:13 GMT

I finally made some progress with a layout engine for my emulator's debugger. The manual layout I've been using (right) is a nightmare to manage and essentially impossible to change at runtime. The new system (left) easily handles dynamic element insertion, deletion, resizing, and container fitting.
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/115/765/283/704/605/291/original/3f47b135756a009f.png
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/115/765/284/041/259/828/original/602aa9fccff25e99.png

2025-12-20 06:08:45 GMT

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Beautiful. 😍

2025-12-20 04:41:25 GMT

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Submitted by an unnamed correspondent to Nature and published April 20, 1876.
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/115/750/055/596/656/520/original/0281bfd0c18ea894.jpg

2025-12-17 20:38:58 GMT

The PIXELFALLS browser-based game engine looks pretty neat! It's reminiscent of the PICO-8 retro "fantasy console". Edit sprites, levels, Lua code, and music all in one place. Play and share your games in the browser. Limited early access.
https://youtu.be/GtOV6r2YslY?si=PO_FnbZXIkWdb2Hz
https://www.pixelfalls.co.uk

2025-12-15 04:32:17 GMT

Added a fun memory heatmap to my Apple II emulator. The black area represents the 64K address space. It shows memory accesses in real time, blue for reads and red for writes. It still needs some work, but the proof of concept works. Ultimately, it should show all memory, not just the address space.
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/115/721/708/091/510/902/original/f4b1934560fa6a20.mp4

2025-12-14 16:07:59 GMT

How accurate is the Analogue3D really? Kaze points out many problems but there is hope they will be fixed. It's not a bad product, it's just not yet the one they are advertising.
https://youtu.be/wrbyP7y5z80?si=mK7ka1L68__XrJpy

2025-09-30 01:07:05 GMT

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Damn, Marty. Your style is shining so bright in these Blender animations.

2025-09-09 17:25:04 GMT

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Right in the nostalgia bone. I was dragged kicking and screaming from Photoshop 7 to CS 2, self-pirated by Adobe themselves. That was the last kind thing they ever did. 😂

2025-08-29 05:33:05 GMT

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Amazing find! 🤯

2025-08-21 10:19:31 GMT

This explanation of the SHA3 message digest algorithm is remarkably clear. It seems complicated at first yet it's elegantly handled by embarrassingly parallel bitwise operations. I don't know who might find this as interesting as me, but here it is if you do.
https://youtu.be/fzlflyw7X2I?si=3h33hfwEEzIOzCNQ

2025-08-05 13:58:43 GMT

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Making it so would be an really interesting project.

2025-07-30 02:24:33 GMT

Illuminating BSC 2025 talk by Wassim Alhajomar on vehicle simulation for game developers.
Wassimulator -- Programming Vehicles in Games
BSC 2025
https://youtu.be/MrIAw980iYg?si=y7NaGKOpjJ111Pj-

2025-06-08 12:47:16 GMT

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Wow! Great work.

2025-06-04 17:56:09 GMT

After this talk, you might finally understand quaternions.
* actual understanding may vary
"Quaternions" by Freya Holmer
Nordic Game Jam 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMvIWws8WEo

2025-06-04 03:57:42 GMT

It never fails. The ultimate Atarians are always from Poland.
"Polish engineer creates postage stamp-sized 1980s Atari computer"
Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/polish-engineer-creates-postage-stamp-sized-1980s-atari-computer/

2025-06-03 21:56:37 GMT

Fascinating discovery.
"In Paper Mario, the Dry Dry Ruins dungeon is laid out in an extremely curious manner internally. ... the rooms are not centered on the coordinate origin. ... they form a cylinder, as seen in the images from various angles."
https://www.suppermariobroth.com/post/785276520509931520/peardian

2025-06-03 17:19:20 GMT

It is to my lasting shame that I only learned of this song today. What an astonishingly rich pastiche of, and tribute to, Zappa.
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Genius In France
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwFf9vGRqcs

2025-06-03 15:47:58 GMT

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The nerve of this guy. He'll do anything.

2025-05-19 21:15:40 GMT

"Making Video Games in 2025 (without an engine)" by the splendid and cool Noel Berry, who worked on some (or many) of your favorite indie games.
https://noelberry.ca/posts/making_games_in_2025/

2025-05-17 14:36:05 GMT

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Thanks to Ian Brumby.

2025-05-17 14:26:49 GMT

This is a lovely biography of Roe Adams III by Hiromasa Iwasaki. Little has been written about Roe, and while his credits are short, they include both foundational CRPG pillars, Ultima and Wizardry, which is incredible. Read how he revitalized a stagnant genre.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CzhUPh4ZjIkL8t5d0o4CHip8WkgALPqv0XnPNEu7l_I/edit?usp=sharing

2025-04-17 23:38:53 GMT

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Stunning. Also, hi Liam!

2025-04-17 18:58:08 GMT

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Mass educational malfeasance.

2025-04-16 02:59:50 GMT

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I'm impressed. I took a crack at it myself but figured it would be too much work without it in my hands. The manual is a lifesaver.

2025-04-15 18:37:58 GMT

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Fork of MAME with FROB functionality by Goldnchild:
https://github.com/goldnchild/mame/tree/frob

2025-04-15 18:37:17 GMT

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Reverse-engineered FROB by Bradley Bell and Curt J. Sampson:
https://gitlab.com/retroabandon/apple2-re/-/tree/main/frob

2025-04-15 18:30:09 GMT

Thomas Cherryhomes is on a roll. He recently started posting information about The FROB, an Atari 2600 debugger that used the Apple II as a host. Now two community members have managed to reverse-engineer the hardware, and another has it running in MAME.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkfZBKysvFE

2025-04-14 20:08:18 GMT

Speaking my language: "Programmers take a bug and find a fix for it. We are going to take a fix and find a bug."
The Secret Update of Super Mario Bros. 3
Behind the Code: Version Control
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOOlcSVU3p0

2025-04-13 22:16:48 GMT

How can you not love Lizzo?
Lizzo: Love in Real Life/Still Bad Medley (Live) - SNL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qob2dZ2B5ig

2025-04-13 16:03:47 GMT

Trump voters.
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/114/331/498/945/102/585/original/dbdc01a2c77079b7.jpg

2025-04-13 14:26:09 GMT

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I'll take that Platinum //e, thank you.

2025-04-12 17:30:21 GMT

I'm feeling confident AI will destroy us in the stupidest ways possible.

2025-04-09 22:19:19 GMT

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The great Robert Cavey.

2025-04-09 20:52:20 GMT

Justice - Neverender (Starring Tame Impala)
Live at Accor Arena 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9uMoTMbyrQ

2025-04-06 21:39:51 GMT

Hey. You don't need to try that idiotic generative AI Quake 2 thing. It is at least as bad as you imagine and probably much worse. There is no joy in it and it is an unimaginably colossal waste of resources. Please do not reward these arsonists with your attention.
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/114/293/184/182/767/244/original/29a573c467144f8a.jpg

2025-04-06 16:58:19 GMT

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He said this in 2020 in response to George Floyd protests.

2025-04-05 21:29:06 GMT

Kaze Emanuar: "I analyzed every Shader in Mario 64, Here's how they work"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJJC6FJKu58

2025-04-05 04:55:03 GMT

Peak computing.
https://mastodon.social/@moshboy/114283491111692611

2025-04-05 04:38:24 GMT

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In their defense, their desktop UI is pretty shit as well.

2025-04-03 15:14:39 GMT

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Perhaps, though the lowest-tier Steam Deck is technically inferior to the Switch 2 by a wide margin and costs more once you buy a dock for it.

2025-04-02 12:02:28 GMT

Look, Dear ImGui, I'm real happy for your success, but you've made searching for general IMGUI knowledge basically impossible.

2025-04-01 22:34:53 GMT

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In that case consider doing it with a shape table with scaling and rotation and some stack tricks.

2025-03-30 16:46:33 GMT

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Fancy new Cadius return code?

2025-03-28 22:34:17 GMT

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I'm not as flexible as I used to be.

2025-03-28 14:48:41 GMT

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Peter Wyngarde performance is criminally underrated.

2025-03-27 20:12:24 GMT

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Yech but true.

2025-03-27 16:09:15 GMT

Digital delivery of games remains extremely problematic from a rights perspective but Nintendo's Virtual Game Card system is a step in a positive direction for once.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWwyh74MXXY

2025-03-27 09:11:52 GMT

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Amazing!

2025-03-25 22:34:21 GMT

I don't get it but I love it.
"What is PLUS times PLUS?"
2swap
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcVA8Nj6HEo

2025-03-24 23:59:46 GMT

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Man, that HP-16C keeps grabbing my eye but the PicoCalc looks awfully sweet too.

2025-03-24 23:52:35 GMT

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I see you're in Memphis.

2025-03-22 17:02:00 GMT

This stuff never fails to be fascinating.
White_Pointer Gaming: "More graphical tricks in classic games - Your questions answered!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F12xqhwcjWs

2025-03-20 02:27:25 GMT

$5,000,000,000 share / 6000 games = $833,333
That is shockingly high.
https://mastodon.social/@GIbiz/114188798252151856

2025-03-19 09:03:31 GMT

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Years ago, before Cintiq, I had a tiny Wacom and I don't think I managed to do a single productive thing with it. Today's tools seem like true force multipliers. Six months ago I nearly bought a hybrid laptop-tablet with a stylus. Instead, I went with something less expensive with good battery life. Though I have twinges of regret, the truth is I haven't drawn seriously for 25+ years. I should probably stick to paper until I feel like the passion is back.

2025-03-19 06:50:55 GMT

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How important would you say the graphics tablet has been to your growth as an illustrator?

2025-03-18 05:41:48 GMT

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No fooling. I'm thinking about building a new PC in a couple of months and I'm wondering if there is any point.

2025-03-18 03:43:57 GMT

For all you AY-3-9813 heads out there.
Trixter: "After months of work, I'm happy to release my documentary featurette on a very rare DOS sound card (how's that for niche?). If you have any friends who are into DOS sound cards, the Apple II, music on personal computers in the 1980s, forward this to them; they might like it."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eeo4INoGyRY

2025-03-17 23:43:32 GMT

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They won't recognize a Constitutional Crisis until Trump burns the original document.

2025-03-17 23:35:25 GMT

This is incredible. Mats Engstrom implemented an 8080 with 74-series logic in Helmut Neemann's Digital. Here it is running Zork after booting CP/M.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUId6w7LU_M

2025-03-16 10:11:43 GMT

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Congrats on the release, Colin! Very impressive development time.

2025-03-16 08:37:04 GMT

Illustrator and effects artist Tom Sullivan is a delight.
"Secrets of the Original Evil Dead Necronomicon!"
Adam Savage's Tested
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFDg1NTKerw

2025-03-15 07:41:51 GMT

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Incredible word choice.

2025-03-14 06:17:07 GMT

A parable:
I watched a Godot tutorial and the dude opened up the project settings and typed a word into a box and the thing he wanted instantly appeared and I thought to myself, "Goddammit, GameMaker."

2025-03-14 05:30:48 GMT

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I got you, fam.

2025-03-13 01:31:16 GMT

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Vegemite sandwich.

2025-03-11 20:45:14 GMT

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Beautiful.

2025-03-11 20:28:41 GMT

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What a wild, deeply unfortunate ride.

2025-03-09 18:01:32 GMT

This is a very interesting technique. I'm surprised this isn't better known. The same channel explained sampling theory last week and has loads of other image processing videos.
"How a 40-Year-Old Trick Solves Seamless Image Blending"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7qa7i0K9C4

2025-03-09 07:03:59 GMT

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It only takes a modicum of genuine jurisprudence to send those freaks into orbit.

2025-03-09 07:01:50 GMT

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It's a nazi bar now, guys.

2025-03-09 06:46:29 GMT

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So the font "Pricedown" has nothing to do with "The Price is Right". Got it.

2025-03-07 01:51:54 GMT

Heck yes! Heck, I say!
"Ghost - Satanized"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGR2M2mBJXU

2025-03-06 19:03:24 GMT

I expected a policy reversal. A full-blown denial that it even happened is a surprise.
"Brother denies using firmware updates to brick printers with third-party ink"
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/brother-denies-using-firmware-updates-to-brick-printers-with-third-party-ink/

2025-03-05 15:39:03 GMT

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They make good products, too. I've always recommended them for both their product performance and their policies. But I can't recommend them until they reverse this lock-in baloney.

2025-03-05 02:48:38 GMT

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I've got an older printer that I don't think is capable of updating itself. I hope it lasts as long as my previous laser, it's a champ.

2025-03-05 01:49:27 GMT

Honeymoon's over.
"Brother accused of locking down third-party printer ink cartridges via forced firmware updates, removing older firmware versions from support portals"
https://www.tomshardware.com/peripherals/printers/brother-accused-of-locking-down-third-party-printer-ink-cartridges-via-firmware-updates-removing-older-firmware-versions-from-support-portals

2025-03-03 10:26:09 GMT

Interesting and useful regardless of platform.
"GameMaker: Custom pseudorandom number generators!"
https://yal.cc/gamemaker-custom-prngs/

2025-03-02 21:25:45 GMT

I'm utterly enraged that the new Grok logo is kinda good.
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/114/094/947/830/459/911/original/115deeb240921c13.png

2025-03-02 21:11:08 GMT

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I tried it for a while in 2021 and liked it. It performed well, had good features, and ran the extensions I needed. Something about it irritated me but I don't remember what. It's worth trying and was one of the best candidates when I was searching for Chrome off-ramp.

2025-03-01 15:59:00 GMT

https://mefi.social/@best_of_mltshp/114085910432707357
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/114/088/000/758/287/286/original/51a59412351c82b7.jpg

2025-02-28 17:04:16 GMT

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Is there another option?

2025-02-28 16:21:23 GMT

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Sick!

2025-02-25 15:51:05 GMT

For those playing along at home, here is a Project 2025 Tracker. Those freaks have set an amazing pace and should be done in no time.
https://www.project2025.observer/
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/114/065/320/358/568/882/original/d9fd4a6953e64b79.png