Blog

9 years of AlejoLab

19/4/2022

A simple entry for a not so special date.

On April 19 2013 I created this site. Just before starting to write this post I thought it was 10 years so that means time is not passing as fast as I think.

So many things have happened in the last 9 years, but I will save the full review for the 10 years mark.

Do virtual plants have DNA?

18/11/2021

No, they don't.
But that's the boring answer, if you want to know more. You'll have to watch the video. I talk about how I'm designing the equivalent of plant DNA for my evolution simulation "Alien Plants"

Alien Plants is back

16/4/2021

Alien Plants gets a new update and a new video!

This is a minimal update to release the game for PC, you can download it from https://alejocamaleon.itch.io/alien-plants-v1

And I'm already making a new and improved version. More details in the video:

More projects coming

18/12/2019

I have been working hard on a project that will be published at the end of January.
This project represent the kickstart of the relaunch of my creative projects. I will be using Youtube to show what I have been doing.

Before I publish it I have to restart things a bit. I'm scheduling some other videos for the next weeks.

www.youtube.com/c/Alejolab

ANSI music player

25/6/2015

Ansi music

Define a simple monophonic tune in a string of plain text, then the player will generate tones for the notes creating the music. This tune player uses the ANSI music format, was also used by QBasic.

For example, this is how "Somewhere over the rainbow" looks like:
O3T120L2CO4CO3L6BGABO4L2CO3L2CL2AL1GL2CFL4EL6CDEL4F
L3DL6O2BO3CDL4EL2C

You can also read more about the ANSI music history and specs.
I'm working on this player to use it in TruequeGS, a project for teaching the principles of game design to kids.

Download ANSI TUNE PLAYER

Includes txt with some tunes for you to guess!

Trippy dot art generated by artificial neurons

5/11/2014

ANNDART stands for Artificial Neural Network Dot Art. It's a toy I created testing an artificial Brain framework. Notice I say "Brain" because I avoid saying it's a proper neural network. Proper ANNs are supposed to have learning and training capabilities and are more strictly defined mathematically. Mine doesn't have that because my intention is to use it with random mutations in genetic algorithms with natural-artificial selection.

Moral choices as a game dynamic

25/9/2014

This post is a tweet gone big replying Tim Wicksteed about his recently announced game 'Big Pharma',

@alejocamaleon Ah, you're the first person who actually wants to play it as a nice guy ;)
— Tim Wicksteed (@TwiceCircled) September 24, 2014

First I need to say I know very little about the game itself, and I don't really know how Tim is handling the moral choices in his design. This conversation was a trigger and I decided to share my thoughts on the topic.

'Big Pharma' seems to propose a moral dilemma to it's players: Going for the cash or contributing to humanity?

MiniTower prototype released

13/2/2014

Imagen

It's time to start testing the MiniTower prototype!
Download it here.
It deserves some explanation first because it's some early stuff.
Keep reading for some notes on prototype making and game design.

#PTower Dev Diary 3: "Magic circles"

11/2/2014

Imagen

Welcome, this is Ptower dev diary 3.

Some people have asked me to extend myself a bit further into the concept and ideas behind the design of Ptower. So, this is what I'm doing in dev diary 3.

Keep reading for the full video and transcription.

#PTower Dev diary 2: "Happy new year!"

10/2/2014

Imagen

A funny rig to say happy new year.
Find the video after the break, featuring some concept art for the "hanging rocks room" and a full resolution version of the complete image.