So you want to build a generator by Kate Compton

Golan Levin considers this article, “So you want to build a generator” by Kate Compton, to be “foundational for generative art” along with Max Bense’s “Projects of Generative Aesthetics” (1965). The “beginner-level advice essay” applies equally well to “practiced experts” and explains how to create various types of generators, including Twitterbots, level generators and art-making bots.

The essay guides readers through defining their “artist-in-a-box’s” output, identifying desirable and undesirable properties, and exploring different generative methods such as distribution, parametric, tile-based, grammars, constraint solvers and simulations. The essay highlights the level of human intentionality in generative art and its so-called “autonomous” processes. It emphasizes the challenges and difficulty of understanding these high-level human creative processes and translating them into computational, generative methods. Compton’s (galaxykate0) work serves as a comprehensive resource for both novice and experienced generator builders, fostering creativity and innovation in digital art and procedural generation.