Bullet Heaven [Spritesheets]

Concept and Inspiration

Bullet Heaven is a series of generative bullet paintings, inspired by Bullet Hell arcade games. These games are characterized by complex patterns of bullets that fill the screen. In Japan, they are known as Danmaku games which translates to "Bullet Curtain" in English. By removing everything from the Bullet Hell game except the bullets, the project attempts to render the essence of the genre in its most perverse and psychedelic form.

Development Process

The project began with an obsession with Bullet Hell arcade shooter games during the pandemic, particularly their overwhelming visual style and generative complexity.

These games make use of something called a spritesheet which is a single image file containing all the frames for player ships, enemies, bullets, explosions, enabling efficient animation by switching between these frames during gameplay.

I started collecting and cataloging hundreds of spritesheets from the internet, cutting them up into tiny individual sprites.

Using an image management software called Eagle, I created extensive tags and metadata for the collection of 7,000 individual sprites. Organizing the data in this way allowed me to easily filter, sort and arrange the individual sprites into different thematic and visual groupings.

I also collected around 200 bullet patterns from various shooter games, that were recorded in an XML format called BulletML. These patterns describe specific algorithmic rules for particle systems that emit bullets inside the game.

I experimented widely with different combinations of bullet patterns and sprites, combing and layering them with different sequencing options and backgrounds. The process of exploring the visual possibilty space of every permutation of sprite, pattern and background I called painting with bullets.

Database Artifacts

I think of the internet artist as a kind of “human compiler” - interpreting the junk of our online lives and recontextualizing them creatively into works of art. My work often takes a 'database-driven' approach to creation which often involves:

1. Collecting and curating content from the internet
2. Organizing and sorting the collected data
3. Reassembling the content into new worlds and narratives

Bullet Heaven [Spritesheets] is a collection of 8 spritesheets used in Bullet Heaven [YOKO] and [ULTIMATE] which reflect this particular approach to artmaking.

Bullet Heaven [YOKO] was released as an NFT on Optimism blockchain in early 2024. In March 2024, it was announced as Grand Prize winner of Optimism We Love The Art competition.

Bullet Heaven [ULTIMATE] was exhibited as a video installation in August-September 2024 as part of the Yeche Lange Gallerie "Double Dealing Character" exhibition.