Stellae in Igne

Stellae in Igne is indeed not the first computational art piece I've ever created. In fact, it's not even the first video game I've ever had the pleasure of working on. This is, however, my first completed video game (albeit with some glitches that I did not have time to work out). The ending is a bit of a cliffhanger, but that just means that if I ever decide to release the game to the public that I will have something more to work on. The game engine is coded in RGSS3, which is a special derivative of the Ruby programming language.

I can definitely say that Ruby is a bit different than any other language I've experienced, though most similar to Python. Despite that, the game has over one hundred different if statements and while loops, as well as some switch statements that were specific to RGSS3. Creating the artwork was actually the easiest part. It took much longer to actually implement the artwork into the game than it did to actually create them.

I had a lot of fun working on this game, though I ended up putting nearly 40 hours of work into the game (almost 6 hours of work every day). I feel the game turned out extremely pleasant, as it does exactly what I had envisioned - to create an interactive experience while also being able to show my artistic ability twofold. Not only was I able to include several new pieces created in NetLogo and NetLogo3D, I was able to unleash my creative ability through the storytelling of the game.

The title of the cohesive piece is Stellae in Igne, which means "Stars on Fire" in Latin. There are a few reasons for this - the stars are indeed on fire, which is why we see them in the night sky. The game is based in a futuristic universe where humans have finally colonized the Milky Way. The Latin gives a nice little ring off the tip of one's tongue. Blaise, the "star" protagonist, was on fire while creating the game (metaphorically speaking of course).

There are several smaller pieces included in the game, such as Icecatcher, Bent Razor, Circular Calendar, and Flyingstar. I feel that the titles have their own little niche for these pieces. Each were combinations of various objects I saw in my work. Icecatcher, for example, reminded me of my Dreamcatcher piece, but a bit more icy. Bent Razor was so named because it looks sharp enough to cut, yet mangled in such a way that it would be useless to use. Circular Calendar saw me reminisce about the 2012 Doomsday that we all survived, with the circular Mayan calendar. Finally, Flyingstar was so named because it looks like a star, yet to get there it was required that the turtles fly out.

All in all, I am especially proud of my work and would like to work on it some more if I get the free time during the spring. I put in a few "Easter Eggs" for anyone that plays the game; you know, like shamelessly calling myself the Creator and telling you that you won't get past my little tricks and schemes. But I'll let you find the Easter Eggs, it's more fun that way.

 

Finally, I have included a download link for anyone that would like to play the game. It is a self-extracting executable which can be run on Windows and WINE for Linux. Unfortunately there is no port for Mac OSX, but you can still play it if you run it in a virtual machine. It is currently hosted on MediaFire, but I may move it to my personal website at a later date. 262MB of [compressed] data is a lot of bandwidth for one download, not to mention having a few connection problems with my webhost. But I digress. I hope you enjoy what I have created and if you find any bugs, feel free to let me know on either Facebook or Google+.

Download link: Stellae in Igne Download

Generative Artwork by Deskriptiv.de

I found a really interesting website for generative art. It is in German, but it is not too difficult to navigate through. It is all high resolution, though I do not know which software was used to create the art.

The art has various techniques used such as recursion, as you can see in the image above. You can see the other artwork by going here.

Solidarity

To further extend upon my solar system theme, I created a video which shows rotation of each of the major planetary bodies (sorry Pluto, you aren't a planet anymore) and the central star, the Sun. The animation shows a full day around the axis of rotation for the planets, though the animation shows the rotation on a 90° plane instead of the exact radial angles. The music used was created by Teknoaxe, who produces royalty-free music under the CC Attribution license.

Particle Effects with a Mosaic Image

With my latest creation using 2D particles Triangulum Rush, I use an animation where a bunch of particle stars start coming together to form the Triangulum Galaxy. The particles also glow while coming into place to give the impression of the galaxy's sun starting to form. A video will be added later, though it will take several hours of rendering since the program can't take advantage of multiple cores (though having a good graphics card is helping).

3D Particle Effects

With the latest engine by Electronic Arts, particles have become extremely realistic. With the addition of three-dimensions for particles, we can now create photorealism in video games. Smoke, mist, fog, fire, snow, rain, water, and even  cloth can be emulated with particles. The following is EA's Frostbite 3 engine.

A Display of Magnetism

With my latest dabble into art, I wanted to create a pseudo-magnetic field with particle effects. I setup the canvas initially by creating four central "spots" of some kind of metal. After the setup, four magnets are placed into the corners which draw the particles depending on where they were originally located. The particles are given a small initial velocity in which they are "captured" by the magnets. Particles continue to be created and eventually die. This is semi-unrealistic, but having several million particles on a 130x130 canvas would crash the program (and these poor Linux lab computers).

Particle Effects

Some movies, such as Avatar, have been created entirely from computer aided design. HowStuffWorks explains that in the movie The Perfect Storm, there are only two scenes which are completely natural - in fact, some of the movie scenes are done entirely by graphics designers.

Photo from ILM

Particles have become extremely popular in CAD and special effects, especially in Industrial Light and Magic techniques. They are used extensively in video games and movies. Particles are used for all manner of effects; ranging anywhere from fire, smoke, water, snow, rain, or dust. In the following video game engine by Ubisoft, which is yet to be released, you can see many of these particle effects such as snow, smoke, and water.

Generative art

Generative art. What exactly this means could change depending on who you ask, much like the definition of art as a whole. For this class specifically, we talk mostly of computer generated art, which is around us daily. Advertisements use them, video games use them, even scientists use them for modeling.

Matt Pearson, the author of Generative Art - A Practical Guide Using Processing, gives an astute look into the medium. While not everyone can use processing algorithms (computing specifically), it is a powerful platform. Computer generated art, more into the field of graphic design, has even created hyper-realistic models which are created through a simplified GUI - though still using predetermined algorithms, such as a digital "paint brush". Below is a digital rendering - not a photograph.

Monarch Butterfly, Masaki Mochizuki

Some games such as Minecraft also use predetermined algorithms to generate landscapes. No two worlds are ever alike, yet they are still uniform in their creation. Artists can further create new works through this tool. Below is the synthesis between Mojang, the creators behind Minecraft, and several players who want to express their talents through the game.

Feathered Dreamcatcher

The following piece depicts the individual feathers that make up a Native American dreamcatcher, rightfully named Feathered Dreamcatcher. While the strands are individualistic, they are still synthesized into a cohesive unit. The work started as a single, lightweight feather, but as more agents were added the feathers began to form into a singular unit which allowed for the circular shape. The agents were then moved into position so that they could emulate the dreams. The agents spiraling outward represent the good dreams which are released. The chaotic origin dictate a place for the bad dreams to be caught.

The full, high resolution picture can be seen below.