Art without a Frame

At some point, a programmer or soon-to-be programmer might wonder how games are made. Eventually they will create one. The game won't be original, but it'll teach basic game design. In the early days of computers, the game was text based. Shortly after, it was a top-down game or side scroller.

But a few years ago a programmer would try something like Minecraft, which features something the others don't: a compelling terrain. How are the generated terrains of Minecraft so complex and seamless? What is the programmer's secret? The answer is a noise function, such as Perlin noise.

Only after learning of these noise functions could the programmer create the generative terrains. Once they did, they found beauty in what was created. New landscapes were conjured before their eyes, varying with each instantiation. Perhaps they took a screenshot to share with other programmers. Their friends might have even shared the enthusiasm. But no one would say, "You should put a frame on that."

That was then. It is different now.