Renders Game

The work and its context

Renders Game is project 415 on the Art Blocks V2 core contract 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, published under the canonical slug renders-game-by-mountvitruvius and credited to MountVitruvius. The indexed project record reports a completed edition of 325 of 325 invocations, runtime p5@1.0.0, and the official description: Renders Game is a note to myself on creativity. I will often believe strongly in an idea, yet, once realised, and I'm confronted with the reality of the output, it leaves me unsatisfied. So I take it apart, find a detail that I love, and grow something new from that tiny piece. It's a constant process of discovery. Eventually, I'll find a result that feels right , but only once it's staring back at me. The name of this piece is a tongue-in-cheek nod to Orson Scott Card’s 1985 science fiction novel, Ender’s Game, as well as to the countless outputs I’ve produced during this creative process. In the book, Ender trains relentlessly. Only once he's completed his final exam (what he believes to be another simulation) does he discover that it was actually real , the final battle to save humanity. In my own creative process, most of the steps along the path likewise feel like practise, with the satisfaction of achievement only revealing itself after the work stares back at me, complete. This has been one of my longest running creative processes to date, having been re-written and re-conceived many times over. It's worthy of the name. ## About This piece treads a balance between the abstract and the literal. The generative structure draws inspiration from cubism - procedurally generated curves of various complexity are grown, layered, intersected, and then broken into fragments of constantly shifting scale. Painting each fragment in turn reveals an abstraction of the original curves and lines, viewed through the algorithm's interpretation. Each fragment is illustrated using prominent, simple lines - a nod to the literal. These are rendered using ink-like outlines and bold, loose colour application. It draws inspiration from contemporary ink illustration, balanced against the natural precision of digital tools. Not completely organic, yet not completely digital. ## Keys: Number keys 1-4 - Debug views Number key 5 - Re-render from seed s - Download rendered image ¹²

Those figures are current index observations retrieved on 2026-09-19, not a reconstruction of the original public sale announcement. Atlas position is a catalogue ordinal and is not the on-chain project ID. The live collection page and the Hasura projects_metadata row agree on title, slug, contract, and project ID after a filtered query that used the exact slug. ¹²

Contract 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069. Aspect ratio indexed as 0.72. Website https://www.mountvitruvius.art.

This essay treats the stored artist program, four independently identified outputs, and a freshly checked AB5D holding (or an explicit collection gap) as primary evidence. Metadata traits are cited only when they were returned for the same V2 contract token IDs that were visually inspected. They do not replace looking at the pictures. ³⁴

Conception and development

The official project description is the development account used here. Interview or dossier sentences that name a different slug are not treated as statements about this series. Renders Game is a note to myself on creativity. I will often believe strongly in an idea, yet, once realised, and I'm confronted with the reality of the output, it leaves me unsatisfied. So I take it apart, find a detail that I love, and grow something new from that tiny piece. It's a constant process of discovery. Eventually, I'll find a result that feels right , but only once it's staring bac

The development account used here is the specific source named in the citations, not a paraphrase of an artist-dossier page. Where that account is an official project description written in the artist's voice, that limit is stated rather than upgraded into an unpublished studio diary. Where an interview exists, the sentences that actually name Renders Game are the ones relied on. ⁵¹

Secondary pages that only repeat the marketplace listing are not treated as independent conception sources. ²⁵

How the work was constructed

The complete artist program for slug renders-game-by-mountvitruvius was retrieved from projects_metadata.script filtered by that exact slug. The UTF-8 payload is 24230 bytes with SHA-256 386a372aae808332b875a2a594164e10fd0186bade39f2c7ba12f83e083e9fb2. Runtime on the project record is p5@1.0.0. The script was read in full; it was not executed in this research session. ⁶

The stored generator is 24230 bytes, SHA-256 386a372aae808332b875a2a594164e10fd0186bade39f2c7ba12f83e083e9fb2, runtime p5@1.0.0. Detected source markers: setup, draw, noLoop, createCanvas, keyPressed, tokenData, hash, colorMode. Named functions include C, He, Ne, Oe, Pe, Qe, Re, Ve, Xe, et. tokenData.hash is read in source. Output then follows the drawing path those functions implement. Token 0 observation: Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1729x2400px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 152,137,129). File size 7565126 bytes. Indexed features: Scale Regular; Border Detail gap; Palette Sin; Tension Medium; Pen Weight Small; Straussian False; Genome Base Giant; Contrast Range Light

Visual claims come from inspected media-proxy PNGs plus indexed token features.

Seed handling is visible in the retrieved program: tokenData.hash is read in source. Time and interaction behaviour in code is: Source contains noLoop. The inspected PNG is a finished still. Live motion was not stopwatched. A handler found in source is not the same thing as a control that was pressed in a live renderer during this session; tested controls are listed only when an actual key or pointer action was performed. ⁶⁷

External dependencies are those declared by script_type_and_version plus any library identifiers inside the file. Public visibility of the stored script does not grant a right to redistribute the raw artist source in this package, so the analysis cites functions and byte length rather than reprinting the program. ⁶⁸

The mint

Indexed chronology for project 415 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069 is as follows. First token minted_at is 2023-01-24T15:48:11+00:00. activated_at is 2023-01-26T16:57:35+00:00. start_datetime is 2023-02-13T18:00:00+00:00. completed_at is 2023-02-13T23:12:35+00:00. Invocations stand at 325 of a maximum 325, with complete=true on the retrieved row. ²³

Calculated intervals from those timestamps: first mint to activation is 2.05 days; activation to start_datetime is 18.04 days; start_datetime to completion is 5.21 hours; first mint to completion is 20.31 days. These are differences of indexed clock fields, not a claim about when a web storefront button became visible to every collector. A first mint that precedes start_datetime is treated as an early or reserved mint unless a separate allocation record is produced. ²³

Indexed clocks: first 2023-01-24T15:48:11+00:00, activated 2023-01-26T16:57:35+00:00, start 2023-02-13T18:00:00+00:00, completed 2023-02-13T23:12:35+00:00. Early first-mint timestamps are not labelled reserved without a separate allocation record.

Historic per-token ETH prices for the original public sale were not recovered from a primary price table during this session and remain unresolved. Any floor price visible on a marketplace page in 2026 is a current listing observation, not the 2021 ask. ¹²

Copyright and licensing

The project record stores the artwork licence label 'CC BY-NC 4.0'. That string includes an explicit 4.0 version and is treated as Creative Commons version 4.0. Code rights for the artist program are not separately labelled on the same field; they are treated as unknown rather than assumed identical to the artwork deed. ²⁸

Artwork label copied exactly as 'CC BY-NC 4.0'.

Third-party runtime p5@1.0.0 is a separate rights object from both the artwork outputs and the artist source. p5.js, three.js, and ordinary browser JavaScript each keep their own licence texts. This package does not redistribute those libraries. ⁶⁸

Original essay prose in this package is dedicated CC0-1.0 by the research operator. That dedication does not change the artwork, code, or dependency licences.

Close reading of examples

Renders Game #0 is token 415000000 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, minted 2023-01-24T15:48:11+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1729x2400px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 152,137,129). File size 7565126 bytes. Indexed features: Scale Regular; Border Detail gap; Palette Sin; Tension Medium; Pen Weight Small; Straussian False; Genome Base Giant; Contrast Range Light Indexed features returned for this V2 token: Scale Regular; Border Detail gap; Palette Sin; Tension Medium; Pen Weight Small; Straussian False; Genome Base Giant; Contrast Range Light. ³⁹⁴

Renders Game #1 is token 415000001 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, minted 2023-02-12T18:05:23+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1729x2400px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 85,82,84). File size 7340403 bytes. Indexed features: Scale Regular; Border None; Palette Fisherprice; Tension Low; Pen Weight Small; Straussian False; Genome Base Filled; Contrast Range Medium Indexed features returned for this V2 token: Scale Regular; Border None; Palette Fisherprice; Tension Low; Pen Weight Small; Straussian False; Genome Base Filled; Contrast Range Medium. ³⁹⁴

Renders Game #10 is token 415000010 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, minted 2023-02-13T00:00:23+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1729x2400px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 118,99,105). File size 7544463 bytes. Indexed features: Scale Regular; Border Margin; Palette Beige Box; Tension Low; Pen Weight Medium; Straussian False; Genome Base Filled; Contrast Range Strong Indexed features returned for this V2 token: Scale Regular; Border Margin; Palette Beige Box; Tension Low; Pen Weight Medium; Straussian False; Genome Base Filled; Contrast Range Strong. ³⁹⁴

Renders Game #20 is token 415000020 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, minted 2023-02-13T18:10:35+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1729x2400px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 109,106,103). File size 7610728 bytes. Indexed features: Scale Medium; Border Construction lines; Palette Frank Minimal; Tension Medium; Pen Weight Tiny; Straussian False; Genome Base Filled; Contrast Range Medium Indexed features returned for this V2 token: Scale Medium; Border Construction lines; Palette Frank Minimal; Tension Medium; Pen Weight Tiny; Straussian False; Genome Base Filled; Contrast Range Medium. ³⁹⁴

The AB5D header candidate is token 415000047 (edition 47), currently indexed to 0xdd19308a9731cdecb67e0d80ca6823394208c045, which is one of the three linked addresses returned for username ab5d on 2026-09-19. That ownership match is a present-tense index observation, not proof of continuous custody since mint. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 1729x2400px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 106,100,98). File size 6870363 bytes. Indexed features: Scale Regular; Border Margin; Palette Fisherprice; Tension Medium; Pen Weight Medium; Straussian False; Genome Base Filled; Contrast Range Medium ¹⁰³⁴

Motion, interaction, and audio: Source contains noLoop. The inspected PNG is a finished still. Live motion was not stopwatched. The static PNGs document halt or preview states. They are not by themselves proof that a live loop is still running, nor proof that a work is silent. No soundtrack was heard from these pages during this session. ⁴⁷⁶

Significance and limitations

Renders Game is project 415 by MountVitruvius on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069. The close readings above are the evidence for what the stored program outputs.

Unresolved research questions that remain after this pass: (1) What was the exact public-sale unit price in ETH at start_datetime, supported by a contemporaneous primary source rather than a later floor? (2) For tokens whose live renderer was not stopwatch-timed, what is the measured wall-clock period of one full cycle or one completed progressive draw? (3) What contemporaneous primary source records the original public unit price in ETH? (4) Incomplete Control aside, do any of the three current AB5D wallets later acquire or dispose of the header token used above after 2026-09-19? ²¹⁰⁷

This package is a draft for human review. Structural validation tests file shape, not the truth of seeing or of licence interpretation.