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Throughout history, creature-based content has been a highly valued source of entertainment. With the introduction of evolved virtual creatures (or EVCs) by Karl Sims in 1994, a new source of creature content became available. Despite their immediate appeal, however, EVCs still lag far behind their natural counterparts: Neither their morphology nor their behavior is sufficiently complex. This dissertation presents three contributions to address this problem. First, the ESP system, which combines a human-designed syllabus with encapsulation and conflict-resolution mechanisms, is used to approximately double the state of the art in behavioral complexity for evolved virtual creatures. Second, an extension to ESP is presented that allows full morphological adaptation to continue beyond the initial skill. It produces both a greater variety of solutions and solutions with higher fitness. Third, a muscle-drive system is demonstrated to embody a significant degree of physical intelligence. It increases morphological complexity and reduces demands on the brain, thus freeing resources for more complex behaviors. Together, these contributions bring evolved virtual creatures, in both action and form, a significant step closer to matching the entertainment value of creatures from the real world. / text

This thesis examines the nature of the way body language and movement is perceived in the context of abstracted sculptures. The way these abstracted sculptures become creatures and the evolution thereof. It also explores the ways that concepts are altered in response to different media, evolving yet further.

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This essay follows closely the process of making the work for my degree project. The aim of the text is to reflect as much as possible the entire journey of my thinking and doing, demonstrating how one of the main concepts of the work, metamorphosis, served the final purpose of the project, to build a world for bizarre creatures made of colorful piles of clothes. The methods used were looking for inspiration material online i.e. a performance by Ingri Fiksdal, several drag performers, or a music video by the band Primus, bringing in Posthuman theory and decolonial thinking as well as readings on the grotesque, including writers like Rosi Braidotti, María Lugones, and Sara Cohen Shabot respectively, taking an excessive amount of notes on diary form, and playing dress-up in the studio. The information that surfaced while all the above was combined, is presented in quite a raw form here, not as one smooth text, but as chunks that mirror where my process was at each moment. More so than anything else, this essay demonstrates the messiness of a/my artistic process and acts as a mind map of interests as they get closer to some kind of crystallization. / <p>This master work includes both a performing and a written part.</p>

<p>This creative thesis includes the first six chapters of <em>Aud of the Dead</em>, a novel that combines the genres of speculative science fiction, supernatural fiction, and dystopian fiction. The purpose of the novel is to provide an entertaining example of the soft science fiction genre where the plot exists for the characters, not the other way around.</p> <p><br></p> <p>The novel’s main protagonist is Aud, who was born on Earth in the year 2000. In the year 2024, Earth was invaded and subjugated by aliens called the Impixi. Years later, amid a successful Human rebellion, the actions of another alien species, the Architechs, left Earth in an apocalyptic shroud of toxic dust, vapor, and ash that would ultimately wipe out all life on the planet. But not every Human that died stayed dead. Millions of them became what would later be classified as a new sentient species, named “Anima” by the multigalactic scientific community. The former Humans, however, don’t believe they are a new species; they believe they are the ghosts, or “spectres,” of their living selves, and on their dead homeworld now called Quietus, they are essentially present-day Humans stripped down to the relentless pathos of the living dead. </p> <p><br></p> <p>The novel begins one hundred years after Earth’s apocalypse when the All Worlds War has come to an end. Aud is returning home from playing her part in the war when she suddenly finds herself responsible for an “Unquiet” called Ometa, a new Anima that was not born Human and did not die one century ago on Quietus. Ometa was an Architech in life, and now Aud must keep that epic secret while teaching Ometa how to navigate existence as an Anima. At the same time, Ometa teaches Aud how to overcome the limitations of living as the dead. </p>

Nature is full of mysterious creatures which fascinate and spark imagination. In my final project, What Crawls Beneath, I take a closer look at what drives my interest in creatures that simultaneously attract and repel. Drawing on inspiration from parasites and dinosaurs, I was able to create a piece that represents the danger and beauty that nature so masterfully brings together. The importance of process is discussed as I consider the traditional methods of working with clay and how they affect the outcome of the artwork.

<p>In this essay I discuss the magical creatures in the Harry Potter series; not the complete series but Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Many scholars say that the Harry Potter novels are didactic, moralist books in different ways. What I investigate is if the magical creatures in the novels can be read as metaphors for issues that the teenage reader finds difficult to deal with and if they could also offer ways to help. More specifically I look at the giant and the werewolf as metaphors for separate types of outsiders who have to try to handle the prejudice of others; one being strange because of genes and one because of an illness. I also look at the house-elf as a metaphor for various oppressive situations one can encounter as a child and also for how to cope with change. In connection to the house-elves I also discuss racism and social class. The last two creatures I investigate are the Dementor as a metaphor for depression and the Boggart as a symbol for fear. My conclusion is that one can read these creatures as symbols or metaphors for difficulties for teenagers in various ways and that these interpretations almost always also offer a way to handle said difficulty.</p>

Recent years have seen an increase in alternative forms of religiosity and spirituality. In particular, a variety of alternative metaphysics and spiritualities are developing that explicitly integrate fiction, particularly fantasy, within their various paradigms. Such worldviews are notable in that they are not limited to the traditional realms of religious and spiritual engagement, but rather they extend comfortably into the worlds of contemporary popular and digital culture. This thesis is an exploration of the joint locales of fiction and new media as they relate to various forms of contemporary alternative metaphysics and spirituality. Starting with the particular case of the Otherkin, this thesis seeks to contextualize alternative beliefs that utilise fiction in relation to the broader cultural context within which they are occurring. This focus upon contextualisation emerges from the position that religious and spiritual ideologies that are heavily premised within popular culture will likely resist etic interpretation unless viewed in light of other contemporary non-religious cultural behaviours. This thesis endeavours to achieve three main goals: firstly, the provision of general information about the Otherkin as an exemplary instance of this confluence of themes; secondly, an exploration of parallel and intersecting behaviours and philosophies to be found within popular culture and occulture; and thirdly, to utilise an interpretative framework for such beliefs that does not require recourse to consumerist narratives. The discussion of alternative metaphysical beliefs and their situation finds its locus in the Otherkin; a loosely affiliated group of individuals who believe themselves to be in some way non-human. The types of creatures the Otherkin associate themselves with are sourced from numerous locales, from ancient mythological and folkloric narrative through to contemporary films and games. By exploring the various representations of the entities as well as the locales within which they occur, this thesis tracks a path through fiction and mythology, fan cultures and world creation, and occulture and the Internet.

The aim of the diploma thesis, Mythology as a Source of the Harry Potter Series, is focused on inspirational sources which influenced the writer Joanne Kathleen Rowling. It organizes the mythology of characters and animals in successions of stories about Harry Potter. The basis of the thesis is the formulation of terms mythology, myth, Carl Gustav Jung's archetype and the analysis of encyclopaedic sources (Encyklopaedia Mythica). The main emphasis is put on the comparison of these features of mythology and archetype with literary characters and animals in particular stories about Harry Potter.