paper kettle blog

super mario spacetime organ (illucia & soundplane)

chris — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 03:57:45 +0000

A critical inquiry into Super Mario Brothers.

In this video, I directly manipulate the RAM state of Nintendo’s Super Mario Brothers to transform it from a game into a strange instrument.

First, I play the game as it is traditionally played.. but I have access to the game’s memory, so I change Mario’s Y position using the Madrona Labs Soundplane (a surface that sends data to the computer about where it is being touched). This is how I hover Mario during the playthrough.

Also, before I start playing, I flip a switch on illucia that I assigned to trigger recording â€” not video, but actually recording the entire memory state of the NES for each game frame.

Think about it – Mario’s universe is held in RAM, which the NES uses to draw his world for each frame of the game. By recording the entire state of the NES memory for every frame, I’m able to go back to any moment in Mario’s life.

So then I use the X-axis of the Soundplane to sweep through the timeline of Mario’s universe.

Not only that, but the Soundplane is multitouch, so I use a second finger to specify start and endpoints in a playback loop. Technically, this is similar to the way samplers and granular synths work in audio.. but with the entire memory state of the NES. Conceptually, it is like Super Mario meets Groundhog Day. Mario’s universe computer/time machine gets caught in hellish loops.

Then I start using illucia to send alien data into various other places in Mario’s universe, which makes for all sorts of audiovisual insanity amidst the spacetime loops. This is sort of like circuit bending, but in a protected sandbox – at any point I can revert back to the clean recording of RAM states (aka moments in Mario’s universe).

I then try to go back to “playing” the game, watching Mario navigate a melting world of glitched-out ephemera. I then push things into full on glitch insanity. I use a pair of rubberband mallets on the Soundplane to jump around in Mario’s universe while leaving illucia to send a heavy stream of alien data into Mario’s RAM state. I eventually (accidentally/luckily) land at a place that triggers the game over music, and end the take.

Disclaimer:

I don’t condone piracy or the distribution of Nintendo’s IP. I’m posting this video as part of a critical-cultural project.

(Further – although the emulator tools I used to make this performance are fully legal, I’m not distributing any other materials related to making these interventions into NES games, so please don’t ask.)

The video is shown with the intention of stimulating critical thought about the role of software in our lives.

My hope is to get people to think more about the everyday software in their lives. By showing that there are other ways one could interact with this well-known cultural artifact, hopefully I can inspire others to consider: Who decides how and what we see in a computer program? What is hidden? What sorts of strange other things lurk beneath the surface of our trained expectations?
What if we lived in a culture that deeply embraced the expressive possibilities of computer programs? What if we encouraged curiosity about the interior of the systems that compose game worlds? Is that curiosity and critical inquiry itself not a form of play?
Indeed there are platforms that embrace this sort of approach, but many don’t. In fact, many close it off. What if we prioritized this sort of inquiry more? Might we find new frontiers for communication or even human knowledge and representation? What is a videogame, and how can it relate to all this?

Prototype designs!

chris — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 08:32:41 +0000

Hexagons, banana jacks, and laser cutters.
Designing out loud.. more to be done!

Control – a NES controller to Eurorack synthesizer module

chris — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 06:35:16 +0000

Jordan Bartee and I co-designed a module for Eurorack that allows you to control your synth with a NES controller! It was my first panel design for Euro, and it was a lot of fun – I’m quite pleased with the layout’s personality. We finished our prototype tonight, and will release all our work as Open Source Hardware after some more testing. Excitingly, Control will be a part of Jordan’s larger Ming Mecca voltage controlled video game system.

It outputs button presses as gates, logs X/Y axis activity as steady DC voltages, has a Machinedrum inspired turbo mode, and listens for cheat codes that turn it into a fantastically quirky oscillator…

February 2012 run of pk/ss ROMs!

chris — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 22:27:50 +0000

3/7/2012 Update: orders are closed! Thanks for your interest!

Post remains for historic value.

Another mÂµTown run! Please read these instructions carefully.Â What is available:

4 EEPROM set for Piston Honda

1 ÂµP (split Âµp with special stage, featuring 2A03/SID waveforms)
PocketMonster ÂµP (Serge Creature waveforms)
pll ÂµP (Schumann PLL waveforms)
Brainrom ÂµP (1 hour of my brainwaves)

These will be painted single colors.

Orders are open as of today, and will close on March 5th, 2011. I will purchase the necessary EEPROMs on March 6th based on the number of orders, and burn/mail asap.

IMPORTANT:Â Please make sure the mailing address in your paypal account is correct.

If it isn’t where you’d like these mailed, you MUST indicate so in the comments of your paypal order, and include the address you’d like it sent to. All orders will be shipped based on paypal transaction records.

More info about the ROMs can be found here.

illucia on ModMTV

chris — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 20:29:46 +0000

I was interviewed for MTV Brasil’s ModMTV! The first segment appears around 3 minutes, with more toward the end of the episode (soundtracked with New Order’s Ceremony, awesomely).

We started with an interview in Union Square’s park, then moved down into the subways where they filmed me patching video games on the new portable illucia prototype.

illucia.com and deterritorializer tease

chris — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 07:45:13 +0000

Up and running with my new illucia “deterritorializer” prototype!

www.illucia.com

I’ll have a rough model onsite at Maker Faire NY next week. More info in the coming weeks!

Codebendable illucia games are out: Soviet Life Sequencer, PCO, War Machine.

chris — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 21:29:19 +0000

Are you on Google+? Circle me and say hi!Â http://www.paperkettle.com/+

Soviet Life Sequencer, PCO, and War Machine are now freely available on the main page. They’re all compatible with the new .illuciamoduleÂ router utility (Mac,Â Windows) too.

Also, I’m opening a waiting list for “codebending” / patchable instruments.Â There are roughly 15-20 spots available right now. I’m building a design similar to the illucia unit seen in my videos, but smaller, more portable, & with a generic layout so that it can be used for many applications (music, video games, video, word processing, programmer’s developer tool, cat picture remix engines, etc). Drop me a line here if you’re interested.Â I’m also open to the possibility of doing one-off custom patchable instruments – I have several otherworldly designs that would be impractical to mass produce, but I would love to bring them to life for the right owner.

Community forums are live! Game framework for Processing coming

chris — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 21:19:26 +0000

http://www.paperkettle.com/community is live!

It is an open space to interact with other people using patchable software. Feel free to share cool findings & patches, ask questions, etc!

Also, it will soon include forums for a Processing Game framework…!

3 friends and myself have steadily built a platform (codenamed “H”)Â to write games in the Processing programming language. We felt that the Processing community might appreciate some more game tools. The Processing user base has tons of creativity, and we believe they could push games in all sorts of interesting and expressive directions. Some features of our framework:

Built around Processing’s workflow and style. Notion of “Beings” in a “World,” where all “Beings” have draw() methods (I enjoy thinking of them sort of like mini sketch windows).
Easy communication with other games – all controls are abstracted. OSC based patching / “codebending” tools built in. Play your games with midi instruments, other games, or anything.
Events (including collisions and incoming controls) are handled through an easy-to-use registration system.
Built in physics. Modular optimizations. Game logic freed from draw thread.
Camera is a “Being,” and thus can follow other “Beings,”Â have physics, and generally do interesting things.
Animated Sprite library (that works like a beat slicer)

We completed a working Alpha in May, and had a weekend game jam. Jen & Ryan made a version of the incredible machine with vector fields. Sam made an infinite platformer. I made a generative, patchable “bullet hell” shmup game.

We have some refactoring and documentation to take care of, and then we’re opening for a public beta. If you’re interested in participating, contact me here with “Processing beta test” in the subject.

You can make traditional games with our framework, but we’re really excited to see what sort of creative new things the Processing user base might do with this!

mÂµTown returns: limited physical ÂµPs pressing

chris — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 18:17:10 +0000

Update: This pressing is closed – all orders have shipped! If you missed the window but would like to purchase a physical set (unpainted), contact me and I’ll try to accomodate. Here is the gist of the original post for historical purposes:

mÂµTown phases out of the void for a week!

4 EEPROM set for Piston Honda

1 ÂµP (split Âµp with special stage, featuring 2A03/SID waveforms)
PocketMonster ÂµP (Serge Creature waveforms)
pll ÂµP (Schumann PLL waveforms)
Brainrom ÂµP (1 hour of my brainwaves)

More info about the ROMs can be found here.

This project was a lot of fun, and your enthusiasm for these chips has been really rewarding. Thank you!!!
Chris

sls & pco: video games that can play video games

chris — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 14:51:12 +0000

This video previews 2 of my modular games (Soviet Life Sequencer and Paddle Controlled Oscillator) patched in a feedback loop. All of these games can be patched and played independent of my illucia controller.Â In this video, I use Max/MSP to do all the patching, but you can interact with these games and patch using any environment that allows OSC message routing.

I’m going to release the games (and demo patch program from the video) very soon!