Creating Glitch Graphics

I’m sure most programmers have accidentally created graphics glitches in the past – corrupt image files, incorrect texture maps, that sort of thing, and I’ve certainly encountered them many times as a games player… y’know, the sorts of things that make Lara Croft look like this:

However, I’ve only just become familiar with intentional glitching of graphics data for artistic effect – so called glitch art.

You can see some great examples in the glitch art pool on Flikr, which no doubt the artists have spent some considerable time compositing and refining, but I thought I’d try out a much simply technique using nothing more than a hex editor (such as XVI32)

So, start with an image file (JPG/PNG/whatever – doesn’t really matter), load it up in a hex editor, and then search and replace some bytes with another set of random bytes. For example, try replacing the byte 5D with the byte D5:

 

Or, if you’re feeling a little more confident, try replacing the byte pair 97 5D with a text string, “NIGD”.

 

Or, try adding non-ASCII characters and replacing string of different lengths too, or add messages in to the file:

 

After each replacement, save as a new file and try to load it up in an image viewer. If you’re lucky, you might have generated an interesting glitch effect. If you’re unlucky, you might just have a corrupt image file, in which case revert back to the previous save and try something else.

It’s also worth noting that since PNG/BMP/JPG store byte data in different formats, you’ll get different effects from each, so try experimenting.

With a handful of random replacements, you can convert an image from:

to the altogether more interesting…:

The Norwich Game Expo, or “breaking one’s New Year’s resolutions”

Every year I set New Year’s resolutions. Many years I don’t succeed in keeping them, but I still believe that there’s a benefit in having thought about what you want to change in your life, and at least making a start towards doing something about it.

For 2013, I set myself a resolution that, before the end of the year, I would finish and publish one of the many ideas I’ve had for a computer game (which I’ve had floating around my head since about the age of 9). Even though it’s only April, I don’t think I’m going to make it, but I’m not concerned  because other good things have happened as a result.

Having set the resolution, I decided to become more active in my local indie game development group – the Norfolk Indie Game Developers. As a result, I’ve met a bunch of really nice and talented people, and I’ve enjoyed giving a presentation on Game A.I. to the group (having not presented at a major event since SQLBits VIII, back in April 2011, it was good to get back into it).

Then, following a meeting with my friend Adrian Cooke, director of Norwich Sound + Vision, I now find myself co-organising the Norwich Game Expo – a public event in Norwich on October 11th/12th 2013 showcasing some of the creative game dev talent going on in the East of England.

I’ve spent the day planning the event: speaking to sponsors, funding organisations, media organisations, and I feel excited and energised. Despite being only an “adopted” Norfolkian, I’m proud to represent the technical and creative talents of Norwich and the East of England, and I’m looking forward to showing the rest of the world some of that greatness too. Expect to hear a lot more soon.

 

ReMVPed

I just received notification to say that I’ve been re-awarded the Microsoft MVP award for 2012.

Which is nice.

Monitoring your MP’s activity… on Google Maps?!

A few days ago I went on a tour of the Houses of Parliament (a present from my wife – I didn’t realise that you couldn’t just walk in off the street – you need to approach your MP to sponsor you!). One point that particularly interested me was when our tour guide mentioned several ways in which the activity of parliament has become more transparent through the use of technology, including live televised debates, streamed webcasts, and online public voting records etc.

Here in the UK, the TheyWorkForYou website has been massively influential in publishing a wide range of easily-accessible statistics on the parliamentary activities of all UK MPs, Lords, and Northern Ireland MLAs. You can browse the site to see which debates a member of parliament has turned up to, how they voted, the transcript of any speeches they made, and much more.

Here’s an extract of the voting record for my local MP, Simon Wright, for example:

As a keen supporter of active democracy, I’m all for holding MPs accountable (and, if you’re reading this in the UK, I strongly recommend you visit www.theyworkforyou.com and check up on whether your MP is really representing your views). However, even I was a little surprised to see some of the detailed monitoring that now appears to be in place: not satisfied with merely overseeing their political activities, it appears that MPs Tessa Jowell, James Gray, Simon Hughes, and Andrew Miller have been fitted with GPS-tracking devices so you can actually monitor their exact movements. At least, that’s what Google Maps seems to suggest when you zoom in on the Palace of Westminster

I suggest Google might want to do a little cleansing of their POI data there… someone’s even submitted a “review” for Tessa Jowell!