She Codes AI & Games. Here's How She Defines Creativity | Himashi Naurunna

Send Us A Message! We'd love to hear your thoughts!Engineering without creativity shows up in the product. Every time. Himashi Naurunna has been inside enough products to know — and in this episode she explains exactly what that means.📥 Get the Sri Lanka Podcast Tour Magazine — free download:https://stan.store/TheCreativeOdysseyPodcast/p/get-inside-the-creative-odyssey-magazine?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bioHimashi Naurunna is an Associate Tech Lead in AI/ML at Gapstars, a former game developer at Rivertune Games, and a First Class Honours graduate in Computer Software Engineering. She's based in Nugegoda, Sri Lanka, and she has one of the clearest creative philosophies of any guest this show has had — she just doesn't frame it that way, because she doesn't need to.In this episode, recorded at Hatch.lk startup hub in Sri Lanka, Himashi and Sheran cover:- The game that sparked everything — Ori and the Blind Forest — and the moment she thought "if they can do it, I can do it too"- How gaming became the gateway from finger painting into coding and eventually into machine learning- What creativity actually means inside a world of logic, code, and algorithms- Why AI is built from human creativity — and why that makes it a creative tool rather than a threat- Building Yokai L — the mobile game where every micro-decision from jump height to damage buffers was a creative act- The line that landed hardest: when you engineer without creativity you can see it in the product- Engineers and burnout — why they're married to each other, and what gets you through the 3AM bug spiral- The blob tracking algorithm she posted on Instagram that inspired people she never expected- AGI — what it is, what it isn't, and why the dream isn't just intelligence but creative intelligence- Why humans are, structurally, already a form of AI — and what that reframe does to how you think about what we're building- How Sri Lankans respond to AI engineers — and what Himashi says back- Why Hatch.lk is the Silicon Valley of Sri Lanka and why building around builders is the only proper way to do itThis episode is part of The Creative Odyssey Podcast Sri Lanka Series, recorded live at Hatch.lk startup hub, Colombo, Sri Lanka.─────────────────────────────GUEST─────────────────────────────Himashi NaurunnaAssociate Tech Lead, AI/ML — GapstarsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hansa-naurunna-013324197Instagram: @lia.likescookies─────────────────────────────FIND THE SHOW─────────────────────────────🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/12SGsSsLz4DqlLFwxigjXX🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/pl/podcast/the-creative-odyssey-podcast/id1750306317🌐 Buzzsprout: https://thecreativeodysseypodcast.buzzsprout.com📩 Email: [email protected]📥 Sri Lanka Magazine: https://stan.store/TheCreativeOdysseyPodcast/p/get-inside-the-creative-odyssey-magazine?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio─────────────────────────────PRODUCED BY─────────────────────────────Odyssey House MediaRecorded at Hatch.lk startup hub, Sri LankaSupport the show