Three Body Problem

Physics simulation exploring n-body orbital mechanics and chaos theory. This was my first series and what got me started on generative/code art, as well as pixel art—the earliest outputs frankly look like shit.

The Beginning

This is where it all started. A 24+ piece series published on hicetnunc (now viewable on Teia) exploring what happens when three gravitating bodies interact over time. The physics is straightforward—Newtonian gravity with collision mechanics—but the emergent behavior is anything but predictable.

The series evolved from experimental chaos to refined motion. Early pieces were raw physics experiments, learning how to make the simulation stable while still producing interesting orbital dynamics. Later pieces like luna theory | EMULATOR refined the visuals and added collaborations (like the ambient soundtrack by @bisdvrk).

What It Taught Me

Working on this series was formative in several ways:

• Emergence from simple rules: Three bodies, one force law, infinite variety
• Deterministic chaos: Same initial conditions always produce the same result, but tiny changes cascade unpredictably
• The value of iteration: The early outputs look rough because I was learning both the physics and the pixel art simultaneously
• Long-form observation: These pieces are meant to run for extended periods—watching orbital decay in real-time reveals patterns you can't predict by inspection

This series established themes that would carry through all the later work: entropy, emergence, and the tension between determinism and unpredictability.