ABSTRACT

Generative design is the artistic practice where an artist uses external systems (rules, algorithms, organic processes) to complete an artwork. Commonly utilized in video game design, generative design suggests an aesthetics of human-machine interaction, as machine decision-making partially shapes the experience of the player. In generative games, then, the relationship between designer, system, and audience dynamically shapes the conception, production, and reception of the game as a text.

The interaction between designer, system, and audience unfolds in three ways. Firstly, by applying generative methods, the designer is explicitly de-centered, instead creating an environment in which systems somewhat-autonomously interact with entities. Secondly, generative games frame players as both entities within the game-world and agents from outside of it. Thirdly, generative games produce unexpected or emergent outcomes. Emergence is a product of the tension between decisions made by designer, system, and player(s). In essence, generative games produce novel worlds into which players are thrown, forcing them to learn to dwell within them. As Gianni Vattimo argues in Art’s Claim to Truth, in such artworks where “the hermeneutic circle is conceived in more existentialist terms, the act of interpretation is dramatized” (85).

Further analysis of the interpretive drama found in games which utilize generative methods, especially as these texts continue to pervade popular culture and daily life, can unpack theories of intentionality, presence, and creativity in modern digital contexts. To elaborate these theories, I examine generative methods found in Hello Games’s No Man’s Sky. In this game the relationship between designer, text, and player produces emergent narratives with each subjective experience of the text, suggesting that human-machine interaction is inherently processual and relational.

摘要

生成设计是艺术家使用外部系统（规则、算法、有机过程）来完成艺术品的艺术实践。生成设计通常用于视频游戏设计，它提出了人机交互的美学，因为机器决策部分地塑造了玩家的体验。那么，在生成游戏中，设计者、系统和受众之间的关系动态地塑造了游戏文本的构思、制作和接受。

设计师、系统和受众之间的互动以三种方式展开。首先，通过应用生成方法，设计者明确地去中心化，而是创建一个系统在某种程度上自主地与实体交互的环境。其次，生成游戏将玩家定义为游戏世界内的实体和游戏世界外部的代理。第三，生成游戏会产生意想不到的或紧急的结果。涌现是设计师、系统和玩家决策之间紧张关系的产物。从本质上讲，生成游戏产生了玩家被投入的新颖世界，迫使他们学会居住在其中。正如詹尼·瓦蒂莫 (Gianni Vattimo) 在《艺术对真理的主张》中所说，在这些艺术作品中，“解释学圈是用更存在主义的术语来构想的，解释的行为被戏剧化了”（85）。

对利用生成方法的游戏中发现的解释性戏剧进行进一步分析，特别是当这些文本继续渗透到流行文化和日常生活中时，可以在现代数字环境中揭示意向性、存在性和创造力的理论。为了阐述这些理论，我研究了 Hello Games 的《无人深空》中的生成方法。在这个游戏中，设计者、文本和玩家之间的关系会随着文本的每个主观体验产生新兴的叙述，这表明人机交互本质上是过程性的和关系性的。