@Evolving_Art
June 14, 2016
I have a new project to unveil: @Evolving_Art – a Twitter Bot that evolves art.
Huh?
Long story short, go here and check it out!
Short story long:
For a while, I’ve been trying to figure out an interesting way to showcase evolution. The closest I got was in the creature-walking simulator The Fittest (check out that prototype here). It’s fun to watch, and I find it really compelling – but it’s not terribly interactive. And of course it isn’t. Evolution is all about letting things run their course. Creatures are born. The ‘best’ creature reproduces. And, over time, the creatures tend to get better.
In the back of my mind I’ve been brainstorming other projects that could balance the interaction and the lack-of-interaction a bit better.
And a few weeks ago one of those ideas bubbled up to the top: why not let people be the selective force of evolution? Instead of picking winning creatures based on how far/fast they run… people could just vote on their favorites. It could be something as human as “which work of art is the prettiest?”
A Twitter Bot felt like a great fit. A couple times a day, the bot could post the latest generation of creatures (works of art, in this case) up on its Twitter feed, and whoever wants to can vote. After 12 hours or so, votes are tallied, and the winner makes some similar – but mutated – ‘offspring.’
It makes people a core part of the project, while at the same time involving them only very little. You don’t stare at creatures evolving for hours on end… you just send a tweet and get on with your day. And, slowly but surely, over time, the art will evolve.
Into what? I have no idea. Maybe it will make something beautiful! Maybe it will just be random. Maybe we’ll find out that people seem to prefer the color green?
There’s only one way to find out… keep an eye on @Evolving_Art, and if you are so moved, feel free to join in and vote!
-Andy
The Two Sides *rematch* – FBF
June 13, 2016
Every now and then – I… fail… at a Feel Bad Friday. I know, I know – how could I? I built the game — I should be able to beat every level you could throw at me.
But sometimes, I don’t.
I’m not above a rematch, though. So this “week” I took on The Two Sides by A Random Player again – a level that didn’t go so well before. But this time? Well, you’ll have to watch to find out:
Thanks to A Random Player for sharing the level, and also for giving me tips for how to beat it 🙂 If you want to check out the level yourself, head here.
-Andy
No Waste (FBF)
May 27, 2016
This week for Feel Bad Friday, I had been planning on playing through 69F4 again — flipping that red switch finally. But, as you’ll see in the video, that doesn’t quite pan out.
So instead, it’s No Waste, by A Random Player. And oldie but goodie – this is a level from a simpler era. Does that mean the level itself is easy? You’ll have to watch to find out…
A big thanks to A Random Player for sharing the level with us. If you’d like to try it yourself, you can grab the code here. (If you dare!)
-Andy
69F4 (Feel Bad Friday)
May 20, 2016
We’re back again – reaching some semblance of consistency perhaps in this weekly endeavor? This week for Feel Bad Friday – I take on 69F4 by, who else, NealCruco. Enjoy watching me squirm:
If you want to try out the level yourself, you can grab it here. Thank you, NealCruco, for sharing it with us! As you can tell, I had a lot of fun.
-Andy
Hydrogen’s Mysterious Attraction
May 16, 2016
One of the most common questions I’ve gotten about Bond Breaker is this: why in the world should Hydrogen attract protons? Something seems fishy, and I try to answer it once and for all in this video:
This is the second installment in my TestTubeGames Explains series (you learn about how magnetism is really just electricity here)
Bond Breaker on Greenlight
May 13, 2016
Bond Breaker has been played over 250k times! (Which, I’ll note, is 250 trillion nano-plays) The web-version of the game has been quite well received, so I thought I’d try to bring it to PC/Mac!
All the joys of playing the game on your computer, with none of the issues with getting WebGL to work!
(It’d still be free, naturally)
I posted it up on Steam Greenlight to see how people would respond to the idea. So far, I’ve gotten very positive feedback about it. It’s a vote-based system… so if you want to see a downloadable version of Bond Breaker 2.0, you can give it a thumbs-up here.
A377 (Feel Bad Friday)
May 13, 2016
Another week, another Feel Bad Friday — this time I take on a new level by NealCruco: A377. It’s a level about shortcuts? Or about the lack of shortcuts? You’ll just have to watch to find out:
A big thank you to NealCruco for sharing this level — and also for keeping on me to keep recording these videos! 🙂
If you want to check out the original post for A377, you can find it here. Good luck!
-Andy
You only get one Jump Rope (FBF)
May 6, 2016
Back with another Feel Bad Friday this week (Are we getting consistent again? Who knows!)
This time I take on You only get one Jump Rope by A Random Player. It’s an older creation – and was actually the inspiration for Random’s later level, Juggling.
If you want to try the level yourself, you can grab the code here. A big thanks to A Random Player for sharing it with us!
-Andy
7-Segment (Feel Bad Friday)
March 19, 2016
We’re back this week with a player-made level in The Electric Shocktopus. In fact, A Random Player-made level called 7-Segment.
In it, A Random Player somehow managed to not only build a computer (that can operate a digital display)… but also make it so you need to hack the computer to beat the level.
Confused? Then give this a watch:
Still confused? Great, me too. Wow. I have no more words right now, I’m just stunned. Incredible. Definitely worth a watch.
And worth a play, as well – to grab the code yourself, head here.
-Andy
Speed – FBF
March 11, 2016
This week, in honor of the release of Bond Breaker 2.0, I figured I’d give it a spin for Feel Bad Friday.
I took on Speed, a level by A Random Player, from way back in the day when we were running the Bond Breaker level making contest. Ah, memories! Well, I popped back into the level, and saw if I could beat it… and you can see the results below…
A big thanks to A Random Player for sharing this level with us! If you’d like to grab the level code yourself, you can find it here. Or if you just want to play around with Bond Breaker 2.0 (which, I’ll add, it totally and unequivocally free), you can do so here.
-Andy