Puzzlescript Studies

2021 - 2022

Begun prior to and continued through a residency at Plexus Projects in Brooklyn, I created a series of dozens of small games, "art toys", experimental narrative stories, and generative artworks within the Puzzlescript game engine. Puzzlescript is a web-based puzzle creation game engine by Steven "Increpare" Lavelle. Designed around the mechanic of block-pushing games, Lavelle's tool is flexible enough to allow a variety of games and toys to be created within the environment

The best process I know to learn a programming language, tool, or artistic technique is to make lots of work with that method. I began modestly and over the course of several months built a series of increasingly-complex and varied projects in Puzzlescript. The language is a modal matching language where items/actions on the left side are matched on the board, then replaced by a result on the right side. All 'sprites' are created in 5x5 grids of ASCII characters and listed colors, then drawn or arranged in gridded levels. Rules and goals are (optionally) written and applied.

Some of the projects I created were simple and more complex puzzle games, but I also created arcade games, 2d adventure worlds, random music and generative visual environments, and experimental simulations.

Puzzlescript is a unique tool, language, engine and platform. There is nothing else quite like it. Its affordances and utility inspire and stimutale me to create new work, languages, and tools for artists and creators.

Links

Puzzlescript Studies mini-site

Residency December 2021 - January 2022 Plexus Projects. Brooklyn, NY.