illucia: a modular codebending instrument

illucia: a modular codebending instrument from paper kettle on Vimeo.

Follow-up to this post.
"illucia is a codebending instrument.

Codebending is the exploration of software with "patch points." Patch points expose the inner workings of computer programs, and allow for atypical connections between things like games, music making software, office suites, etc.

illucia is a USB device with physical jacks that correspond to software patch points, which can be connected and disconnected using patch cables. Thus, illucia is a console for routing information between computer programs, and opens strange relationships across systems that don't usually interact - it turns systems themselves into play objects.

I've written several codebendable games / programs that open their inner workings via patch points. Fascinating and unexpected things happen when connecting otherwise-unrelated programs:

Video games can play other video games. Music synthesizers can control word processors. Feedback loops turn everyday software tropes into generative art. Simple AI is patchable. Anything controls (and can be controlled by) anything; in codebending, every system becomes an instrument with a unique voice, ready to control, and be controlled.

illucia is a physical instrument to explore these kinds of connections - it is a way to treat systems as playgrounds.

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This video is a teaser/trailer: it features illucia, and the first wave of codebendable games that I've created:

PCO (Paddle Controlled Oscillator): a classic ball and paddle game. When pushed, it morphs into a function generator and spills abstract art.

Soviet Life Sequencer: falling Tetromino pieces generate step sequencer patterns, all remixable by Conway's Game of Life.

War Machine: a crosshair blasts colorful explosions into a dense nest of shoots that approach from above

Miserable Pile of Secrets: a codebendable text editor

I'll be releasing these games in a few weeks. All will be 100% free to download, and open under Creative Commons.

You don't need illucia to codebend or interact with these games - they speak OSC and can easily be routed into each other, or other programs / physical controllers. Visit paperkettle.com/​codebending for more information

I finished illucia and these games several months ago, and have been steadily working on other material since then... This is just the beginning. I'm quite busy at the moment, and I've got a lot of surprises in store.

More videos and deeper documentation are on the way... RSS/Bookmark/Twitter/FB for information

paperkettle.com/​

twitter.com/​paperkettle

https://www.facebook.com/paperkettle"