https://arkhatic.com/writing Field notes on engine systems, security, and composition by Arthur Dutra. en Wed, 03 Jun 2026 05:16:59 GMT https://arkhatic.com/writing/calibration-as-infrastructure https://arkhatic.com/writing/calibration-as-infrastructure Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT Six stages, four tensions, and the engineering decisions that determine whether a detonation lab earns its keep. How specimens enter, deploy, detonate, are observed, are analysed, and are archived, with notes on the tradeoffs that recur at every stage and the boring parts that compound over years. Architecture and decisions, not code. Engineering register, not academic. Security https://arkhatic.com/writing/thermal-wall https://arkhatic.com/writing/thermal-wall Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT Mobile silicon stopped being transistor-limited and became heat-limited. This is a deep dive on what actually moves the heat (graphite, vapor chambers, fans) and the software that decides who gets throttled first, read across two device classes that answer the same thermal equation in opposite directions. Hardware https://arkhatic.com/writing/below-the-burn-line https://arkhatic.com/writing/below-the-burn-line Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT Three tiers, four attribution surfaces, and the analyst posture they are all calibrated against. Why operator infrastructure decomposes into long-haul, redirector, and staging tiers, what discipline each tier requires across DNS, TLS, behavioural, and financial surfaces, and how the operator's own workstation becomes the single point of correlation that none of the tier discipline addresses. Architecture and decisions, not configuration. Methodology, not playbook. Security https://arkhatic.com/writing/world-that-bears-my-name-teardown https://arkhatic.com/writing/world-that-bears-my-name-teardown Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT The technical companion to the composition writeup. Same track, opposite lens: what the rendered audio measures, why a beat tracker reads the meter wrong, how the dynamics are engineered across four minutes, and the one master decision the numbers say I got wrong. The why lives in the other post; this is the how. Composition https://arkhatic.com/writing/world-that-bears-my-name https://arkhatic.com/writing/world-that-bears-my-name Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT Ashlight's main theme is sung from inside the error the whole game is about not repeating. This is what the song means, why the melody climbs while everything beneath it falls, and how an arrangement learns to confess. Composition https://arkhatic.com/writing/reversal-in-reverse https://arkhatic.com/writing/reversal-in-reverse Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT The same architecture from the other direction. Why a layered .NET dropper has three layers and not two or four, what each layer is solving for, and which defender assumptions the design quietly presupposes. A composite reference design drawn from the artefact dissected in Three layers deep and adjacent commodity infostealer campaigns through 2024 and 2025. Architecture and decisions, not source. Companion to the reverse-engineering writeup. Security https://arkhatic.com/writing/three-layers-deep https://arkhatic.com/writing/three-layers-deep Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT Three layers down into a 1.1 MB junk-padded batch script: from cmd.exe macro obfuscation through a PowerShell shellcode loader to a Donut-packed implant living inside explorer.exe. The dropper hides its payload steganographically in 3,500 lines of comments, renames powershell.exe to evade name-based detection, and uses a 7-byte memory marker for cross-reboot idempotence. Companion to the incident writeup. Security https://arkhatic.com/writing/cutest-trap https://arkhatic.com/writing/cutest-trap Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT A fake Minecraft launcher infected my friend α's machine on a Tuesday evening. By morning, an operator had used the stolen access to upload triggering content to α's Google account, log out, and let the platform's own automated child-safety detector erase the witness. The malware is the carrier; the kill switch is the story. The technical reverse-engineering lives in the companion post. Security https://arkhatic.com/writing/ashlight-audio https://arkhatic.com/writing/ashlight-audio Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT Ashlight's audio isn't decoration, it's a core gameplay pillar that has to deliver frame-aligned legendary telegraphs, an AI hearing system that reads player footsteps, and a Lucidity scheduler that fires phantom cues without ever lying to the player during real combat. Here's the middleware decision, the 10-RTPC contract that binds Unity to FMOD, and why the most interesting audio code in the game lives outside our codebase. Engine systems https://arkhatic.com/writing/project-sato https://arkhatic.com/writing/project-sato Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT Project Sato's hot path needs sub-100ms latency, atomic bid ordering, and listener cost that doesn't blow up under load. RTDB delivers two of three; Firestore delivers none. Here's why I split them, and what the split costs. Fullstack https://arkhatic.com/writing/saturn-shader https://arkhatic.com/writing/saturn-shader Fri, 08 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT How I rebuilt a Wallpaper Engine's Saturn simulation as the hero element of a portfolio site: Keplerian propagator for the moons, procedural ring shader, and ~5000 ring particles. Engine systems https://arkhatic.com/writing/ashlight https://arkhatic.com/writing/ashlight Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT The systems work behind Ashlight: a custom render feature stack, dynamic dread budget, and the editor tooling that made it possible to ship without burning the team out. Engine systems https://arkhatic.com/writing/minecraft-review https://arkhatic.com/writing/minecraft-review Mon, 20 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT Reviewing Minecraft in 2026 as a commercial product instead of a cultural phenomenon, held against the genre specialists that overtook it (Terraria, Factorio, Valheim, Dwarf Fortress) and against Mojang's own resources. The honest score is well below consensus, and the gap between best and important is the most interesting thing about it. Play · Critique