![[intro.png]] # **Worldmaking.xyz is a concept cabinet and a design toolkit.** *This is a work in progress, with many missing parts. Everything in here is connected - use the links to navigate through.* Worldmaking is a research website initiated by Damjan Jovanovic in 2021, in order to explore the idea of establishing a new design paradigm. As a design paradigm, worldmaking employs video game technologies and artificial intelligence to explore new ways of modeling and perception. **It moves the conversation about design from objects to worlds.** Worldmaking challenges the notion that there is one fixed world. We live in a time of proliferation of constructed, internally coherent worlds, which pop up everywhere, from politics to video games. It is evident today that humanity exists in different, overlapping and entangled worlds. How are our worlds made, how are they designed? As a design idea, worldmaking foregrounds symbolic systems like computation, languages, art, theoretical systems, or any other notion of coherent symbolism we can think about. We are involved in making and remaking worlds through symbolic, artistic or scientific activities. We produce these worlds through our investment in symbols. It's interesting to think about this as a possible outlet from the oppositional, adversarial framing we have about the one true world, where everyone thinks their worldview is right and others are wrong. Worldmaking points to rethinking of this through design, through interdependence, connection, and creativity. It is a pluralistic ethos and approach to design. The most important idea in worldmaking for me is that everything we do is already an act of design, our ideas, notions and beliefs are partial outcomes of an endless and ongoing creative process in which we are all immersed. Games are structures that make this condition very visible, as they make internal coherences of systems legible, and show what it means to make an artificial world. Another point is that there is a need for a special kind of expertise that can deal with designing and organizing these worlds and that is where architects possibly have a unique advantage. These notions are central to my research interest in the intersection of games and architectural design. I do believe that we as architects have a unique perspective on how worlds are constructed and inhabited. Some of the main themes include: [[Game]], [[Play]], [[Simulation]], [[Model]], [[System]], [[Space]], [[Software]], You will find multiple folders on the left side: **Log** is my daily/weekly/monthly update. **Projects** are the ongoing research works I am developing. **Concepts** are a collection of terms that I keep coming back to in my thinking. These are still in progress, and sometimes vaguely defined. **Texts** are completed writings. Some of them were published elsewhere and some weren't. **References** are important texts of other authors. The term 'Worldmaking' comes from [Nelson Goodman's](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/goodman-aesthetics/) book called '[Ways of Worldmaking](https://publish.obsidian.md/worldmaking/References/Ways+of+Worldmaking)'. **Damjan Jovanovic is co-founder of the Los Angeles-based game design studio [Lifeforms.io](https://lifeforms.io/) and serves as faculty at [SCI-Arc](https://www.sciarc.edu/). He is an artist and designer working at the intersection of video games, artificial intelligence, and architecture. Jovanovic's work has been exhibited internationally, and his writings on design, games, and worldmaking have been featured in a range of established publications. He completed his Master of Arts in Architecture postgraduate degree at the Städelschule in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2014, at which he subsequently served as design faculty.** [https://lifeforms.io/](https://lifeforms.io/) [http://sciarc.edu/](http://sciarc.edu/) An older personal archive is at: [https://dmjn.net/](https://dmjn.net/) ### License: <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png" /></a><br /><span xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/InteractiveResource" property="dct:title" rel="dct:type">worldmaking.xyz</span> by <a xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" href="https://worldmaking.xyz" property="cc:attributionName" rel="cc:attributionURL">Damjan Jovanovic</a> is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License</a>. ### You are free to: - **Share** — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format - **Adapt** — remix, transform, and build upon the material - for any purpose, even commercially. ### Under the following terms: - **Attribution** — You must give [appropriate credit](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/#), provide a link to the license, and [indicate if changes were made](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/#). You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. - **ShareAlike** — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the [same license](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/#) as the original. - **No additional restrictions** — You may not apply legal terms or [technological measures](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/#) that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits. The license applies to the following sections of the website: Blog, Concepts, Projects and Texts. All the work in the References folder is the intellectual property of those authors and is not part of this license.