David Morgan-Mar

Last updated

David Morgan-Mar
David Morgan-Mar.jpg
Other namesDangermouse
Occupation(s)Author, designer, optical engineer
Website http://www.dangermouse.net/

David Morgan-Mar (also known as DangerMouse) is an Australian physicist, [1] known for his webcomics [2] and for creating several humorous esoteric programming languages. [3] He is also the author of several GURPS roleplaying sourcebooks for Steve Jackson Games, as well as a regular contributor to Pyramid magazine. [4]

Contents

Morgan-Mar is a Ph.D. graduate from the University of Sydney, Australia, and has worked on camera, lens, and image processing projects at Canon. [5] [6]

Comics

Morgan-Mar has produced, or been involved in producing several webcomics. These include Irregular Webcomic! , Infinity on 30 Credits a Day, Darths & Droids, Square Root of Minus Garfield and mezzacotta.

Irregular Webcomic!

Irregular Webcomic! is a photo comic that consists mostly of photographs of Lego characters [1] and sets with speech balloons added above them. The art also includes photographs of painted miniatures as well as of the author and background scenes. The strip has several (usually) distinct casts of characters (called "themes") with many different kinds of jokes and story arcs.

The comic started around the end of 2002. It ended late in 2011, but was resumed in April 2015 following a successful Patreon fundraiser.[ citation needed ] The strip updates every weekday, with reruns appearing on other days.

Infinity on 30 Credits a Day

Infinity on 30 Credits a Day is an idea that was developed by David Morgan-Mar in response to a poll he conducted, asking the fans of Irregular Webcomic! whether they would create a webcomic, given the ability to do so. It is a webcomic created entirely through collaboration between the 500 or so fans that signed up to help. Essentially, the creation of each comic was a collaborative effort by several people, chosen for their skills.[ citation needed ]

The comic started off with many contributions, but input tapered off during 2008.[ citation needed ]

Darths & Droids

Morgan-Mar helps to produce Darths & Droids as part of a group of eight friends known as the Comic Irregulars. [7] Inspired by DM of the Rings , [8] Darths & Droids follows players of a role-playing game that follows the Star Wars franchise, though takes place in a world where Star Wars itself was never created. Concepts from Star Wars, such as lightsabers' deflection abilities, midichlorians, the Gungan race and main characters are either made up by the players themselves or hastily invented by the Game Master after the players go off his prepared plot line. [9] In a review, Fantasy Magazine said: "Aside from being a wonderfully fun send-up of the Star Wars movies themselves, Darths and Droids plays with conventions of tabletop gaming and makes loving fun of the basic player archetypes... If you aren’t a fan of either Star Wars or Dungeons and Dragons, this isn’t the comic for you. But anyone with that overlapping geekery should do themselves a favor and check this comic out." [9]

Esoteric programming

Morgan-Mar has created a number of esoteric programming languages, including Piet, Ook!, [3] and Chef. [10] He invented Piet, where the code is an image rather than text, as part of an esoteric programming language project. [11] Chef produces code in the apparent form of recipes, and one user has produced a recipe that both functions as a program and as genuine baking instructions. [10] [12] Some of them are full Turing-complete languages while others are simple jokes, often based upon the idea of how a given group (e.g. chefs, orangutans, or necromancers) would be expected to program. [13]

Morgan-Mar has also created esoteric algorithms, particularly sorting algorithms. His “intelligent sort” algorithm (a parody of intelligent design) which does no actual sorting, but simply suggests that any sufficiently complicated list is already sorted according to the whims of a sorter implying any further sorting is unnecessary, was referenced in the "Feedback" section of New Scientist . [14] The Intelligent Design Sort algorithm just says that information must already be sorted according to the will of a great unknowable being, instead of actually sorting the information. [15] Another algorithm, "LenPEG", is an image-compression algorithm that always reduces the standard test image Lenna to an output file of one byte, drastically outperforming the standard methods in benchmark tests. [16]

Writing

Morgan-Mar is also the author of several GURPS roleplaying sourcebooks for Steve Jackson Games, as well as a regular contributor to Pyramid magazine. [4]

He helped to write the CiSRA Puzzle Competition, [17] which ran from 2007 to 2013, and a successor, the Mezzacotta Puzzle Competition, which ran in 2016. [18]

Scientific work

Morgan-Mar was one of the inventors on the 2013 patent "Determining a depth map from images of a scene", [19] and on the 2014 patent "Geometric parameter measurement of an imaging device". [20] [21] Morgan-Mar worked at Canon until 2019 when he was made redundant. [6] [22]

Related Research Articles

<i>Bunnies & Burrows</i> Tabletop fantasy role-playing game from 1976

Bunnies & Burrows (B&B) is a role-playing game (RPG) inspired by the 1972 novel Watership Down. Published by Fantasy Games Unlimited in 1976, the game is centered on intelligent rabbits. It introduced several innovations to role-playing game design, being the first game to encourage players to have non-humanoid roles, and the first to have detailed martial arts and skill systems. Fantasy Games Unlimited published a similar second edition in 1982. Frog God Games published a revised third edition in 2019 from the original authors. The game was also modified and published by Steve Jackson Games as an official GURPS supplement in 1992.

An esoteric programming language is a programming language designed to test the boundaries of computer programming language design, as a proof of concept, as software art, as a hacking interface to another language, or as a joke. The use of the word esoteric distinguishes them from languages that working developers use to write software. The creators of most esolangs do not intend them to be used for mainstream programming, although some esoteric features, such as visuospatial syntax, have inspired practical applications in the arts. Such languages are often popular among hackers and hobbyists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C-3PO</span> Robot character from the Star Wars universe

C-3PO or See-Threepio is a humanoid robot character in the Star Wars franchise. He is a protocol droid designed to assist in etiquette and translation, and is fluent in over six million forms of communication. The character appears in all nine films of the Skywalker Saga—which includes the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy and the sequel trilogy. Anthony Daniels portrays C-3PO in all the Skywalker Saga films and the standalone film Rogue One, and voices the droid in the animated film The Clone Wars. In addition to films, C-3PO appears in television series, novels, comics, and video games.

<i>Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire</i> 1996 multimedia project created by Lucasfilm

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire is a 1996 multimedia project created by Lucasfilm. The idea was to create a story set between the films The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and to explore all commercial possibilities of a full motion picture release without actually making a film. The venture was intended to reinvigorate interest in the franchise ahead of the theatrical Special Editions of the Star Wars trilogy released the following year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">General Grievous</span> Star Wars character

General Grievous is a character in the Star Wars franchise created by George Lucas. He was introduced in the 2003 animated series Star Wars: Clone Wars, before appearing through computer-generated imagery in the 2005 live-action film Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. Wood reprised the role in the 2008 animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the 2024 anthology series Tales of the Empire.

Chuck Whelon is a British, internationally published author and cartoonist, based in San Francisco, California, United States.

Templar Arizona is a webcomic written and drawn by Charlie Spike Trotman. It was hosted on Webcomics Nation. Trotman describes Templar, Arizona as "a story about a town, and the people who live there", specifically referring to the city of Templar as a character rather than a setting. The neologism "culture fiction" was coined to describe it.

Erfworld was a story-driven fantasy/comedy webcomic and independently published graphic novel about a master strategy gamer summoned into and stuck inside a wargame running from December 2006 to its abrupt cancellation in October 2019. It featured contemporary memes and pop culture references.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Omohundro</span> American computer scientist

Stephen Malvern Omohundro is an American computer scientist whose areas of research include Hamiltonian physics, dynamical systems, programming languages, machine learning, machine vision, and the social implications of artificial intelligence. His current work uses rational economics to develop safe and beneficial intelligent technologies for better collaborative modeling, understanding, innovation, and decision making.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anki (software)</span> Free and open-source flashcard program

Anki is a free and open-source flashcard program. It uses techniques from cognitive science such as active recall testing and spaced repetition to aid the user in memorization. The name comes from the Japanese word for "memorization".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darth Maul</span> Star Wars character

Darth Maul is a character in the Star Wars franchise created by George Lucas. He first appeared in the prequel film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999). Maul returned in the animated television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels (2014–2018), as well as the standalone film Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018). Lucas had intended for Maul to feature in the sequel film trilogy, but these plans were discarded when Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012.

Computer humour, also known as hacker humour, is humour on the subject of computers or their users.

Sandra and Woo is a comedy webcomic written by a German author, Oliver "Novil" Knörzer, and drawn by an Indonesian artist, Puri "Powree" Andini. It is published in English and German. The first strip was put online on 19 October 2008 and the black-and-white comic strip was updated twice a week after. The last regular strip before the current hiatus was posted on 26 November 2022. A new strip, reusing existing art, was posted on 12 August 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Weir</span> American novelist (born 1972)

Andrew Taylor Weir is an American novelist. His 2011 novel The Martian was adapted into the 2015 film of the same name directed by Ridley Scott. He received the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2016 and his 2021 novel Project Hail Mary was a finalist for the 2022 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E. M. Carroll</span> Canadian comics author

E. M. Carroll, previously credited as Emily Carroll, is a comics author from Ontario, Canada. Carroll started making comics in 2010, and their horror webcomic His Face All Red went viral around Halloween of 2010. Since then, Carroll has published two books of their own work, created comics for various comics anthologies, and provided illustrations for other works. Carroll has won several awards, including an Ignatz and two Eisners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doctor Aphra</span> Star Wars character

Chelli Lona Aphra, or simply Doctor Aphra, is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. Created by writer Kieron Gillen, artist Salvador Larroca, and editors Jordan D. White and Heather Antos, she first appeared in Marvel Comics' 2015 Darth Vader Canon comic book series. Aphra became a breakout character, and began appearing in her own ongoing spin-off comic series, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra, from 2016 to 2019, before relaunching in 2020. Aphra is the first original Star Wars character not from the films to lead a Canon comic series.

Casey and Andy is a webcomic series written and illustrated by Andy Weir. Following the adventures of two mad scientists and of their friends and acquaintances, it was typically updated three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays throughout the early 2000s, primarily with a gag-a-comic format, including ongoing storylines and running gags.

Kill Six Billion Demons—also referred to as Kill 6 Billion Demons, K6BD, and KSBD—is a fantasy/new weird webcomic, written and illustrated by Tom Bloom (né Parkinson-Morgan) under the name "Abbadon", and published in print by Image Comics. It was created in 2013 and is yet to reach its finale, though current updates take place in what the author considers to be the series' final book. There are six books in total, named Kill Six Billion Demons, Wielder of Names, Seeker of Thrones, King of Swords, Breaker of Infinities, and Wheel Smashing Lord.

References

  1. 1 2 Bradley, Stephanie (20 November 2008). "Another brick in the wall". The Newcastle Herald . p. 43.
  2. ↑ "Jane Goodall Meets Webcomics". Wired . 8 August 2006. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015.
  3. 1 2 Basu, Saikat (30 July 2012). "10 Programming Languages You Probably Never Heard Of". MakeUseOf. Archived from the original on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  4. 1 2 "GURPS Update". Warehouse 23. Archived from the original on 23 September 2014.
  5. ↑ Morgan-Mar, David. "The Flowers in My Mind". Redbubble.com. Archived from the original on 14 September 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  6. 1 2 "Irregular Webcomic! News Archive". www.irregularwebcomic.net. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  7. ↑ Chapman, Samantha (18 February 2009). "The Comic Irregulars — Creators of Darths & Droids | Fantasy Magazine". Fantasy Magazine. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  8. ↑ "Darths & Droids". Darthsanddroids.net. 2 January 2011. Archived from the original on 20 September 2015. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  9. 1 2 Chapman, Samantha (17 February 2009). "Webcomic Review: Darths and Droids | Fantasy Magazine". Fantasy Magazine. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  10. 1 2 "Interview with David Morgan-Mar". esoteric.codes. 10 February 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  11. ↑ "Piet: Turing-complete abstract art". 8 January 2016.
  12. ↑ Worth, Mike (31 March 2013). "Baking a Hello World Cake". mike-worth.com. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  13. ↑ Morgan-Mar, David. "Morgan-Mar's Esoteric Programming". Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2007.
  14. ↑ "Feedback". New Scientist : 84. 12 May 2007. Retrieved 12 May 2007. Subscription required
  15. ↑ "Why Not: A Sorting Algorithm Based on the Fake-Theory of Intelligent Design".
  16. ↑ Morgan-Mar, David (7 January 2017). "DM's Esoteric Programming Languages - LenPEG". www.dangermouse.net. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  17. ↑ "CiSRA Puzzle Competition 2012". 13 May 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  18. ↑ Morgan-Mar, David. "1C: Free Image Market" (PDF). Mezzacotta.
  19. ↑ "Determining a depth map from images of a scene".
  20. ↑ "US Patent Issued to Canon on Aug. 26 for "Geometric Parameter Measurement of an Imaging Device" (Australian Inventors)". 29 August 2014. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  21. ↑ "Geometric parameter measurement of an imaging device".
  22. ↑ Tyrrel, Gary (4 February 2019). "Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes". Fleen. Retrieved 28 August 2019.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.