DEVOLVE: Generative design in 4096 bytes or less

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A byte is the basic unit of measurement of information storage in computer science. In many computer architectures it is a unit of memory addressing, most often consisting of eight bits. A kilobyte (KB) is made up of 1,024 bytes. A megabyte (MB) is made up of 1,024 × 1,024 i.e. 1,048,576 bytes… Byte

Will Wright's Spore game was finally released 3 weeks ago and I still need to find some time trying it out myself. I've been closely following the development of this ground breaking game, not only because it'll hopefully introduce a large number of kids (and adults) to the core concepts of evolutionary theory and see them applied in practice (important in a time where Intelligent Design is being pushed in schools instead), but also because much of the game is based on generative & procedural techniques.

This systematic, rule based approach to game design has never been applied to such an extent and level of detail before. The 2006 video below is a conversation between Will Wright, Brian Eno and Stewart Brand (another hero of mine) about the the application and implications of different generative techniques in a wide variety of creative applications. It also has a part where Will demonstrated an early prototype to explain the core ideas of Spore… Highly recommended viewing!

Another interesting thing about Spore is that in order to realise & implement many of his generative ideas, Mr. Wright employed a large number of people with a background in the demoscene. The videos below should be testament to the incredible talent and skills present in this art subculture & community, still largely outside (by choice) of the spotlight on the usual generative art scene. Maybe this has to do that evolution and competition have always been core ingredients of the demoscene, and yes, more than often technical feats have been in that cultural foreground. Yet I think the sheer compression ratio of ideas achieved & required by many demoscene productions is a highly creative feat in itself, which should not be underestimated. This is especially true for the extremely low file size limits of some demo competitions.

Below I've selected some outstanding recent productions of the 4K category. Before viewing the videos below please remember that each entire piece (visuals & audio) is generated in realtime and its filesize is 4096 bytes (4KB) or less. Compared to the already compressed filesize of the videos the original realtime versions still are 2000-3000 times more efficient whilst being able to be reproduce itself at much higher resolutions without any additional cost. But whilst impressive, it's not even the filesize that really matters here. The important distinction is that these media are generated dynamically and the software just contains the necessary configuration and rules for reproduction. The small filesize then just helps this reproduction, i.e. in the case of Spore, an entire species' generative “DNA” fits into the header of a small image file which can easily be shared with others.