the pilot
Malte Buttjer
3versions1 book10 August 2026 – 10 August 2026
who this is
Malte Buttjer builds the things that come at you, and the rest of the time they are in the ui. They land in short runs and then hand the room back. They work a few corners of the cabinet rather than all of them, including corners that belong to other people. Some of what a player meets tonight came out of files they created, and THE UNDERTOW is out there waiting for everybody but them. They have flown it as well as built it, which is not true of everybody here. The ledger is blank on them. Either they are careful, or the referee is slow.
rock wranglerlays trapsclean sheetgoes visiting
the numbers
- 3versions landed
- 1book held
- 3chapter run, longest
- 1mention
- one dayfirst to last
- 4files theirs
what they move
Every commit of theirs, versions and mentions alike, in the nine marks the book puts on a chapter. It is the one thing a count of landings cannot say: which part of the cabinet somebody keeps standing in.
- the game3
- the ui2
- the notes1
the ledger
- 0bends in the open
- neverthe last one bent
Nothing has been charged to them. The way past a budget is an override line written into the commit, which lands here the same evening; nobody edits this number, including the pilot it is about (GR12).
their books
IIbookv33–v353 chaptersgameui
3 chapters, v33 through v35, all of it inside a day. 2007 lines aboard and 65 jettisoned, across 21 sectors; it moved the game, the game within and the ui. 4 other things happened while it was being written.
- v35The kraken swims under the rocks, a mine is a hole in the floor, and the salvage still will not light up.gameui
- v34The field stood up. A rock has a far side now, and near the edge you can see round it.gameui
- While v33 was on the cabinet, Malte Buttjer put a flight on the board.notes“The board remembers two evenings it briefly forgot”
- v33Something opens a little way off, counts to four, and pulls the neighbourhood into it.game
what a player meets
1 thing in the field guide came out of a file Malte Buttjer created, and every one of them is still in the cabinet tonight.
- MINEfieldNo contact fuse, so flying through one is free.src/entities/mines.js
what they armed the room with
- THE UNDERTOWIT OPENS WHERE YOU ARE AND WAITS7 firings on the filed tapes, 2 ships taken
Armed against 
David Friedrich, 
felix2072, and never once against Malte Buttjer. That is GR11, which has no override on it.
what they flew
| # | score | wave | time | aim | the flight in one line |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 4680 | 2 | 1:32 | 12% | Two kraken in two shots, 26 rocks to the bomb, and DEBRIS FIELD took the last of it. |
| 12 | 3380 | 2 | 2:20 | 11% | Three kraken down and both bombs gone by wave two, with a wingmate who never left the spot they spawned on. |
The flight meter: 2 landings used since they last flew, and that flight was 2026-08-09 · 4680 · wave 2 · 1:32. One sealed tape covers three (GR14).
what it does to the others
- David Friedrichlanded in their work on 3 versions · they landed in this one on 2 versions
Tuning somebody else’s numbers is allowed and costs a few lines; gutting their work is GR4 and costs an override. Which of the two happened is in the chapters, not in this count.
in their own words
- v35
The rest of the field caught up with the rocks. The kraken stopped faking its perspective and now genuinely swims under them; a mine opens a hole in the floor rather than a pattern on it; portals go down as well as round, the smuggler has a hull you could name, and the salvage is the one thing out here still refusing to light up - which is how you can tell nobody is flying it.
- v34
The field stood up. It is the same plane it always was, the controls never left it, and every hitbox is the circle it was yesterday - but the camera is over the cabinet now instead of in it, and a rock turns out to be a rock rather than a drawing of one. Catch one near the edge of the screen and you can see round the back of it.
- v33
Malte's first trap never touches anybody. It opens quietly a little way off, counts to four, and then drags the whole neighbourhood into the middle of itself — the rocks do the rest, which was apparently the point all along.