Categories
Web

Algohol — Algorithms Compete

Algohol is an experimental, physics-based 3D game in which the player is an algorithm—or a team of algorithms. Instead of controlling the game directly, players design a game AI. The AI observes and interacts with the environment through an API.

The project shows what happens when programming, game design, physics simulation, and agentic development come together in a competitive arena. You can build algorithms using any language or technology that communicates with the API.

The current Sci-Fi and Space environments feature energy-based systems, physical constraints, multidimensional movement, and a range of tactical challenges. Terra plans to add traditional kinetic action across varied terrains in the future environment.

Real-time control requires fast and responsive algorithms, which makes current LLMs impractical as direct pilots. They can still play a useful role as high-level strategists and as tools for designing, testing, and iterating on control systems. The API supports this iterative workflow, while arena matches make it possible to compare algorithms across multiple performance metrics.

Each player receives a private arena they can freely modify and share with invited participants. Public arenas allow people to watch matches and assess how different approaches perform.

I developed Algohol as both a game concept and an experiment in agentic coding. Much of the implementation was created in collaboration with coding agents, particularly Claude and Codex in Visual Studio Code. The project gave me a concrete setting in which to explore AI-assisted software development, API design, real-time simulation, and the challenge of turning an unusual idea into a working system.

Algohol may also offer an approachable introduction to agentic coding: it provides a clear objective, visible results, and a playful environment for experimentation.

Explore the project:
https://algohol.net

Watch the public arenas:
https://arena.algohol.net

The documentation includes a starter prompt for creating a first algorithm:
https://docs.algohol.net/?doc=howtoplay-getting-started

 

Categories
Visual

Concept: Anti-Establishment Ambient

Concept art for a project, which explores the power of sound.

Elements created with ChatGPT, and finished in Photoshop.

Categories
Music

Bad Boys Blue – I Wanna Hear Your Heartbeat Sunday Candy Girl Remix

This is a remix of Bad Boys Blue classic 80s hit I Wanna Hear Your Heartbeat. It’s the favourite track of paramedics and intensive care units.

I have used vocals from the hit’s 1st recording session version because of their clarity compared to the final released version.

Together with the vocals I have spliced in a couple of other elements from the original track. My idea was to make a more chilled and laid back version of the original high energy tune.

I learned to appreciate the original track even more during the process. It’s richly orchestrated brilliant pop song.

The track has been mastered with LANDR online service. It improved the sound, but lacks the character and potential a mastering engineer could create. It’s OK for less serious productions in my opinion.

Categories
Web

VaxVsBug — An Interactive Vaccine Risk Comparison App

I’ve released VaxVsBug, an interactive web app for exploring vaccine side effects, infectious disease outcomes, and the effect of community vaccination rates on disease risk.

The app uses simple probability grids and a shared scenario model to make vaccine and infection risk easier to understand visually. It is designed as an educational vaccine comparison tool, not a medical or diagnostic app.

VaxVsBug compares:

  • vaccination effects
  • infection effects
  • community vaccination and disease spread
  • disease-specific risk patterns across multiple vaccine-preventable diseases

A key part of the project has been grounding the model carefully. The app’s data, wording, and source links have gone through manual review, and the documentation includes separate notes on data integrity and the app’s environmental_hostility method.

VaxVsBug is open source and part of my broader multidisciplinary practice of creating digital, artistic, and experimental works such as GeoBuzz.

Live site:
https://vaxvsbug.com

Repo (docs + assumptions)
https://github.com/janne-s/VaxVsBug

If you find this project meaningful, you can support its continued development and future independent work with a small donation.

Categories
Sound

GeoBuzz — A Spatial Music and Sound Composition Tool

The listener is the playhead

GeoBuzz is an open‑source web tool for creating spatial, walkable music — musical pieces and audio experiences that are shaped by geography and movement rather than by traditional timelines. Instead of arranging notes on a grid, you place sounds, synthesizers, sequencers, and modulation elements directly on a map. As a listener walks through that map, the sounds change based on position, direction, and speed.

At its core, GeoBuzz consists of two parts: the Editor, where you design your soundscape, and a lightweight runtime engine that plays back the composition in a web environment or in an application. You can define control zones, movement paths, automation curves and distance‑based sequencers — all tied to physical space — and export your work as a standalone package for further development.

Spatial music like this builds on ideas from electroacoustic and location‑based sound practice, where the position and movement of sound sources in physical or virtual space become part of the composition itself. This is related to the broader concept of spatial music, where sound localization and placement are intentional compositional tools.

Using GeoBuzz doesn’t require specialized hardware. It runs in modern browsers and takes advantage of geolocation and orientation features when available. The focus is on experimentation: you can test ideas in the editor, simulate movement, and iterate without complex setup.

The tool is developed with open technologies like Tone.js for audio and Leaflet for map handling. Community contributions, examples, and documentation help other creators understand how the system works and how to integrate it into their own projects.

GeoBuzz is not just software — it’s also an invitation to think about music and sound in relation to place and movement. Compositions made with it can be experienced by walking through space or by interacting with the exported audio application in a way that ties listening to environment and motion.

See it in action: github.com/janne-s/GeoBuzz

The project supports a developing field of composers, developers, and sound artists working with spatial form as a shared medium. Your support sustains development and contributes to the continued emergence of spatial music as a distinct creative genre. Buy me a coffee?