Blog 02 – Generative Art – srauch

I’m inspired by the landscape-generating algorithm Minecraft uses to build its maps. Each Minecraft world has a completely unique map, but they are generated piecemeal rather than all in one go–the map is built one 16×16 block “chunk” at a time under the player as they wander. The worlds are built a layer at a time, using a 64-bit random number called a seed that determines the shape, biome, and finally content of each chunk, though the game also relies on “smoothing” functions that ensure biomes blend logically into one another–for example, there won’t be a snowy forest next to a desert. 

The landscape-generating algorithm Minecraft is the soul of the game. It creates in the player a sense of thrill and wonder about exploring a completely unknown landscape spreading out around them – a feeling that’s hard to come by in a highly connected 21st-century world. In a more technical sense, it’s also nifty in that it allows the game itself to be quite small–the whole thing, fresh out of the box (so to speak), takes up less than a gigabyte, making for an easy download.