Worship the Penguin: Adventures with sprites, chiptunes, and lasers

This paper provides a review of recent projects developed through the author’s creative practice and activities across multiple computing and games technologies platforms. These include: a 2D game project made in Unity; an Arduino-based laser puzzle; chiptune breakbeat music made on a Commodore 64; the archival of a collection of Amiga demoscene disks; PETSCII graphics; a controller adapter for the Amiga; and a DJ/VJ performance. While playfully exploring new trajectories, these projects broadly reflect on-going themes present in the author's previous work, such as explorations of the aesthetic paradigms presented by vintage computers, 1990s rave culture, and synaesthesia. The paper will address the various challenges and methodologies used to realise these projects; pedagogical considerations; and the pandemic context in which they have been created and presented.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Jonathan Weinel

Conference

Publication date: July 2021

Publication date (Print): July 2021

Pages: 89-96

Affiliations

[0001]School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences

University of Greenwich

London, UK

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/EVA2021.14

SO-VID: b08f38a8-8b40-4291-930f-44a7033d4d88

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Proceedings of EVA London 2021

Conference acronym: EVA 2021

Conference number:

Conference location: London

Conference date: 5th July – 9th July 2021

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: AI and the Arts: Artificial Imagination

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/EVA2021.14

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

Commodore Computers (1982) Commodore 64 Programmer's Reference Guide. Financial Times Prentice Hal.
S. Cunningham, H. Ridley, J. Weinel, and R. Picking (2020) Supervised Machine Learning for Audio Emotion Recognition: Enhancing Film Sound Design Using Audio Features, Personal and Ubiquitous Computing. [Cross Ref]
Demozoo (2021) Soundcat demos archive. Online: https://demozoo.org/sceners/121306/
D. Norman (2013) The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition. Philadelphia: Basic Books.
T. Polgár (2005) Freax: A Brief History of the Computer Demoscene. CSW-Verlag, Winnenden.
Revision Demparty (2021) Revision Online 2021 -Compo - ASCII/ANSI/PETSCII [YouTube video]. Online: https://youtu.be/kdjze7BI9VU (Accessed 18 April 2021).
T. Silver (1983) Style Wars [documentary film]. Public Art Films.
Soundcat (2021) EkTune [chiptune music], Assembly Winter '21: Streaming Music Compo, 15 March 2021. Version available online: https://youtu.be/4nxJ-QSAjk0
J. Thysell (2021) Reading Sega Genesis Controllers with Arduino. Online: https://jonthysell.com/2014/07/26/reading-sega-genesis-controllers-with-arduino/ (Accessed 18 April 2021).
Transmission64 (2021) Transmission64 [online demoparty]. Online: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/999155708 (Accessed 27 April 2021).
Valve (2020) Half-Life: Alyx [virtual reality game]. Windows/Steam.
J. Weinel (2018) Inner Sound: Altered States of Consciousness in Electronic Music and Audio-Visual Media. New York: Oxford University Press.
J. Weinel (2019) Virtual Hallucinations: Projects in VJing, virtual reality and cyberculture. In: J. Weinel, J.P. Bowen, G. Diprose, and N. Lambert (eds), EVA London 2019 (Electronic Visualisation and the Arts) 2019. [Cross Ref]
J. Weinel (2020) Visualising Rave Music in Virtual Reality: Symbolic and interactive approaches. In: J. Weinel, J.P. Bowen, G. Diprose, and N Lambert. (eds), EVA London 2020 (Electronic Visualisation and the Arts) 2020. [Cross Ref]
J. Weinel (2022, forthcoming) Explosions in the Mind: Composing Psychedelic Sounds and Visualisations. Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Sound.

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Commodore Computers (1982) Commodore 64 Programmer's Reference Guide. Financial Times Prentice Hal.

[2] S. Cunningham, H. Ridley, J. Weinel, and R. Picking (2020) Supervised Machine Learning for Audio Emotion Recognition: Enhancing Film Sound Design Using Audio Features, Personal and Ubiquitous Computing. [Cross Ref]

[3] Demozoo (2021) Soundcat demos archive. Online: https://demozoo.org/sceners/121306/

[4] D. Norman (2013) The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition. Philadelphia: Basic Books.

[5] T. Polgár (2005) Freax: A Brief History of the Computer Demoscene. CSW-Verlag, Winnenden.

[6] Revision Demparty (2021) Revision Online 2021 -Compo - ASCII/ANSI/PETSCII [YouTube video]. Online: https://youtu.be/kdjze7BI9VU (Accessed 18 April 2021).

[7] T. Silver (1983) Style Wars [documentary film]. Public Art Films.

[8] Soundcat (2021) EkTune [chiptune music], Assembly Winter '21: Streaming Music Compo, 15 March 2021. Version available online: https://youtu.be/4nxJ-QSAjk0

[9] J. Thysell (2021) Reading Sega Genesis Controllers with Arduino. Online: https://jonthysell.com/2014/07/26/reading-sega-genesis-controllers-with-arduino/ (Accessed 18 April 2021).

[10] Transmission64 (2021) Transmission64 [online demoparty]. Online: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/999155708 (Accessed 27 April 2021).

[11] Valve (2020) Half-Life: Alyx [virtual reality game]. Windows/Steam.

[12] J. Weinel (2018) Inner Sound: Altered States of Consciousness in Electronic Music and Audio-Visual Media. New York: Oxford University Press.

[13] J. Weinel (2019) Virtual Hallucinations: Projects in VJing, virtual reality and cyberculture. In: J. Weinel, J.P. Bowen, G. Diprose, and N. Lambert (eds), EVA London 2019 (Electronic Visualisation and the Arts) 2019. [Cross Ref]

[14] J. Weinel (2020) Visualising Rave Music in Virtual Reality: Symbolic and interactive approaches. In: J. Weinel, J.P. Bowen, G. Diprose, and N Lambert. (eds), EVA London 2020 (Electronic Visualisation and the Arts) 2020. [Cross Ref]

[15] J. Weinel (2022, forthcoming) Explosions in the Mind: Composing Psychedelic Sounds and Visualisations. Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Sound.

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