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Char Explosion   [2013]

Char Explosion Released by :
Algotech

Release Date :
11 October 2013

Type :
C64 Graphics  (PETSCII)

Released At :
Plain PETSCII Graphics Competition 2013

User rating:****______  4.1/10 (27 votes)   See votestatistics
******____  6.1/10 (10 votes) - Public votes only.

Credits :
BBS Graphics .... Algorithm of Algotech, Onslaught, svenonacid

Download :

Look for downloads on external sites:
 Pokefinder.org


User Comment
Submitted by ilesj on 30 October 2013
Personally I don't see a reason why this piece couldn't take part in the competition.

There are many other entries that are converted, either by manually or by tools, or as a combination of both techniques - I can bet on it. And several pictures are based on an already existing image or portray a clearly recognizable character. Some of those are in the 9+ rating league.

To create this image Algorithm wrote a converter. How much less respectable is that than converting an existing image to PETSCII by hand?

I wouldn’t worry about the rating either. The "OMG it's a PETSCII image" excitement has settled, and we have a voting system outside CSDb ratings. I’m sure handcrafted and original pictures are likely to be more respected than clearly converted ones.

Just my 2c that nobody asked ;)
User Comment
Submitted by Joe on 11 October 2013
What Bob said, have said it sometime myself: Economy and means of organizing the design process and art.
User Comment
Submitted by Bob on 11 October 2013
Hey C64 Scene!! don't you realise what is going on here ??? ;)
PETSCII has turned heads and is widely inspiring also for us coders..
not just graphics artist....

Scene is evolving here! with totally new innovations and ideas,
that should be praised! regardless of motives,
I think what algo is about to do here is very inspiring codewise and what can be done here.

As for the top artists here in the compo where petscii gfx almost looking as good as pixelled graphics,
that takes much less raster time and memory for us coders ;). We might have entirely new stuff going on here ;)

From an artists point of view, a convert is never a threat, don't worry! just doesn't get the AWE from the artists.
From a coder point of view this is jaw dropping and highly inspiring,

Algo keep up the great work, you might be the one to help out the artists to suggest best possible char for them to use when painting something ;)
new editor who knows heheh (gradient rules) shadin chars etc.. ;)

Artists of the PETSCII you have already blew my mind several times amazing works!!...

Clearly a case where inspiration is spread across the scene, Artist, Coders... and perhaps even Musician ;)
User Comment
Submitted by algorithm on 11 October 2013
Changed to out of compo entry. As it was still within the rules, I released it. Dont know why people bitch on about it when there is a voting system in place. Yes it is a pure convert and converter was just put together last evening.

@oswald. The dither was used intentially to give itthat look when converting
User Comment
Submitted by grasstust on 11 October 2013
I was really hoping this would make it to the top 10 a little longer so I could convert and enter my whole photo collection into this compo without having to do any tiresome petscii work. I still think the biggest problem isn't even the convert, it's WHAT DO YOU CONVERT when you have the opportunity. Oh great, a porn star's face, how interesting. Sorry, you probably made a cool program and are a cool guy, but releasing this in a compo is worth a very clear 1/10 from me.
User Comment
Submitted by TheRyk on 11 October 2013
Difficult, I think I understand why there is a quarrel and do feel a little uneasy about that entry myself. It goes without saying that this one took less effort in terms of art(!)work.

On the other hand, hey, it's algorithm, his nick says it all, and can you really be mad at him for being a machine? Don't you think it's discriminating to exclude machines from competitions? What he does via conversion/wiring is not very different from what other people did "manually" here, there or there, only that those people did use their brains and hands and sometimes a great deal of trial and error.

About originality: There are philosophers who dedicated their lives to the question if there is anything like that. People who called themselves structuralists, poststructualists and deconstructivists came to the disillusioning but logical result that what we regard as being "original" is 99.9% or sth inspired by other people's work and only rearranged by us. If you're really interested in philosophy (I'm not anymore but was forced to in some other life), check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism#Deconstructivist_.. or maybe even better http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intertextuality (don't be confused about "text", everything is text according to those old eggheads, pictures, music, even you and me hehehe). Those guys claim there is not such a thing called author, or "The author is dead!" even if he or she is in fact alive and kicking. They only look at the result, so they would agree with enthusi's point. :)

Copyright argument put forward by wertstahl: Uhm, there is no such explicit rule yet. Would be interesting to see what a court might decide if Sylvia Saint (a lady whose female parts fill the web in High Def legally and illegally) sues algo for releasing this noncommercially ^^ Btw I'd also have to kick out Blockbert, both of my own entries, PETSCII Batman, PETSCII me and maybe even The Capitol - if(!) there was such a rule. Copyright... c'mon this is C64 scene database...! ;)

My own view: Though I am very fond of algor(t)ithm's productions in general, this one is really far too raw. Even if we forget that it's converted, I'd prefer this one, also showing a girl, also kind blocky and crude but for some reason more appealing. Nothing against using all the characters of the set, even those that JSL would call "unusual PETSCII characters" (<- imho, there isn't such a thing) like numbers, punctuation, letters etc. Some really good entries do the same, but they do it in a more harmonic/meaningul way than the converter did here, this one still looks a little too random and crude. So it really would need some overhauling to make it look somewhat good. btw: This color palette always reminds me of those ancient terrible pr0n slide shows with ladies inserting... well, you know them :) Would have already looked somewhat better with a less realistic palette like blue or green I guess.

Bottom line: At the moment, this release seems far too controversial to make it into the top 10 anyway. It doesn't really violate any of the (existing!) rules; don't forget that I explicitly reserved the right to add/specify/change rules, though. For now(!) I'll not kick it out of the competition myself; but I'd also appreciate very much if algorithm labels it "out of competition" himself as Mermaid suggested; since he freely admits this was wired and not even overhauled, anyway, why play hide and seek? If it stays within competition, I as the Supreme Competition Soviet might later decide to either flag it "wired" (don't forget, CSDb voting is irrelevant, anyway) or change my mind and totally kick it out :)

offtopic: very interesting tool, already thought about doing a far cruder one, rather what they used for Deep Throat :)
User Comment
Submitted by Didi on 11 October 2013
Great work on coding a converter but it's not valuable from the art-view.
User Comment
Submitted by ws on 11 October 2013
i am afraid this sort of violates the rules of the compo as far as it contains previously released work of third persons and since it is a direct conversion, it is not an artistical interpretation. [edited for gross misformulation]
User Comment
Submitted by Oswald on 11 October 2013
sidenote: I would avoid dither, if I'd try to convert like this.
User Comment
Submitted by redcrab on 11 October 2013
aka "The girl with lots of letters and numbers in her face"
User Comment
Submitted by enthusi on 11 October 2013
Strictly speaking its a graphics competition, not a graphicians competition :)
User Comment
Submitted by Mermaid on 11 October 2013
Oswald, I'm not so sure, it's currently in the top 10.
User Comment
Submitted by Oswald on 11 October 2013
I see no problem here, its obviously a convert, thus has less graphical craft value than even the more childish entries imho, people would rate it accordingly.
User Comment
Submitted by Mermaid on 11 October 2013
I can understand wanting to show off your skills in making converters, but could you please post this as "outside compo", out of respect for the people who painstakingly craft their pictures by hand? I am sure a lot of work goes into making your converters but this is a graphics competition, not a coding competition.
User Comment
Submitted by hedning on 11 October 2013
Wirejobs, no plz.
User Comment
Submitted by bepp on 11 October 2013
Silvia Saint! What a surprise :)
User Comment
Submitted by The Shadow on 11 October 2013
This is beyond amazing!
User Comment
Submitted by algorithm on 11 October 2013
First quick attempt at bitmap to petscii conversion. No retouching on the image.
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