#ben porter

[sitting-on-me-bum]

The low tide haul-outs of grey seals can exceed 200 in number during the year. This bull seal chose an interesting spot to see out a particularly stormy day: amongst a growing mound of sea foam!

© Ben Porter

[procedural-generation]

cosmic.txt

A generator of planets, a maker of universes. A generator by Ben Porter.

I like the asymmetric variation: there’s some planets that are small and barren:

While others are busy and bustling:

You can see the interactive version here: http://bp.io/galaxy/#

There’s also a Twitter bot version, which is where I first spotted it: https://twitter.com/cosmic_txt

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Three heath moth traps are used between spring and autumn by Bardsey Bird Observatory to monitor the island’s moth populations. The canary-shouldered thorn is amongst the brightest of visitors to the autumn traps.

© Ben Porter

[sitting-on-me-bum]

The island is home to the UK’s fourth largest breeding colony of manx shearwaters. With over 20,000 pairs, their bizarre calls fill the night sky from March through to August when they return to land under the cover of darkness.

© Ben Porter

[sitting-on-me-bum]

The seas surrounding the island are infamous for their treacherous nature. The wild seascapes can be spectacular, even more so when seabirds such as this gannet glide effortlessly over the wave-tops.

© Ben Porter

The low light of winter makes for some brilliant photographic opportunities, especially when coupled with wild, stormy conditions. Here, a Herring Gull battles into a particularly strong southerly gale through such a scene.

[procedural-generation]

Dynamic vs. Static Generation

During the week of GDC, Ben Porter started NotGDC, a non-event for game developers who couldn’t make it to GDC. His contribution was this essay about procedural generation (a topic that he knows a thing or two about).

I’m personally not sure if I like the terminology, since “dynamic” gets overused for a lot of stuff, but the distinction between just-in-time/run-time and pre-generated but still procedural content is an important one. Run-time generation gets a lot of the press, since it’s obvious to the end-user, but construction-time generation has been a quiet workhorse in a lot of production pipelines.

Indeed, a lot of new techniques start out as artist tools and only later get re-purposed for real-time use. But because players seldom see them, there’s not as much awareness of just how much of game development is really tools development.

https://medium.com/@eigenbom/dynamic-vs-static-procedural-generation-ed3e7a7a68a3#.3uirqymwh

(Check out the other NotGDC articles too! https://eigenbom.github.io/notgdc2017/ )

[themnmovieman]

Pike River Review: No Settlement for Grief

Pike River Synopsis: In the aftermath of an explosion that rocked the Pike River Mine and took 29 lives, two women step up to fight for accountability.Stars: Melanie Lynskey, Robyn Malcolm, Lucy Lawless, Erroll Shand, Madeline McCarthy, Ben PorterDirector: Robert SarkiesRated: NRRunning Length: 138 minutesMovie Review in Brief: Lynskey and Malcolm are stellar in this restrained but powerful true…

Pike River Review: No Settlement for Grief

[bob-the-movie-man-film-reviews]

One Mann's Movies Film Review of "Pike River". A NZ-set film based on a true-life disaster that really hits hard. 4.5/5.

Pike River (4.5*): A Film That Deserves A Major Worldwide Release.