Concept + References / Inspiration
This sketch visualizes thoughts as a living system, behaving somewhere between a school of fish and coral formations. I was especially drawn to corals as a reference, not just visually but structurally. Corals are collective, slow, reactive organisms that grow through accumulation and interaction rather than control. That felt very aligned with how thoughts operate.
Instead of treating thoughts as isolated units, I approached them as a soft ecosystem. They cluster, avoid, drift, and react to an external stimulus, which in this case is the mouse acting as a “focus point” or “idea.” When the interaction is calm, thoughts gather and stabilize. When it becomes too fast or erratic, they scatter, almost like a disturbance in water.
There’s also influence from generative systems like flocking and steering behaviors, but I wanted to move away from purely mechanical logic and make it feel more emotional. The system shifts between states: wandering, focusing, and panicking. That transition is what makes it feel alive to me.
Code Highlight (something I’m proud of)
One part I’m particularly proud of is the behavior system tied to mouse speed, especially how it shifts between different “mental states”:
let panic = this.flee(mouse);
panic.mult(3.5);
this.applyForce(panic);
this.maxspeed = 10;
} else if (mouseX !== 0 && mouseY !== 0) {
let arriveForce = this.arrive(mouse);
let separateForce = this.separate(allThoughts);arriveForce.mult(1.0);
separateForce.mult(1.5);this.applyForce(arriveForce);
this.applyForce(separateForce);
this.maxspeed = 4;
} else {
let wanderForce = this.wander();
wanderForce.mult(0.5);
this.applyForce(wanderForce);
this.maxspeed = 2;
}
I like this because it’s simple but expressive. It turns a technical input (mouse velocity) into something that feels psychological. The system isn’t just moving, it’s reacting, almost like attention and overwhelm are being simulated.
Embedded Sketch
Milestones
✦ milestone 1 baseline dots
it started as just points on a screen, nothing intelligent, nothing reactive. just scattered presence. like the baseline state of a mind before anything kicks in, just existing, quiet but full.
✦ milestone 2 random motion
then they started moving, but without direction. drifting, floating, no purpose. it felt like background thoughts, the kind that just pass through you when you’re not paying attention to anything specific.
✦ milestone 3 steering toward focus
this is where intention entered. everything began to move toward the mouse, like trying to focus on something. it’s not perfect, it overshoots, it adjusts, but there’s a clear pull. like when you’re trying to gather your thoughts into one place.
✦ milestone 4 separation
once everything started gathering, it became too much, everything overlapping, collapsing into one point. so separation was introduced. thoughts began to keep distance from each other, like needing space to think clearly. it stopped being chaos and started feeling structured.
✦ milestone 5 trails (memory)
then memory appeared. each thought started leaving a trace behind it. nothing fully disappears anymore. even when it moves on, something lingers. this is where the system stopped feeling like motion and started feeling like time.
✦ milestone 6 color and mood
movement started affecting visuals. faster thoughts became brighter, more intense. slower ones stayed softer. the system began expressing mood, not just behavior. it became less about where things are and more about how they feel.
Reflection + Future Work
This project made me think a lot about how behavior systems can move beyond being purely functional and start becoming expressive. Small parameter changes completely shift the emotional tone of the piece, which I found really interesting.
If I were to develop this further, I would push it in a few directions. I want to explore more coral-like growth over time, where thoughts don’t just move but also accumulate or leave behind structure. Right now, everything is transient, but memory could become spatial.
I’m also interested in introducing clusters or hierarchies, where some thoughts carry more weight or influence others, instead of everything behaving equally. That could create moments of tension or dominance within the system.
Visually, I would refine the trails to feel even more organic, maybe closer to underwater motion or bioluminescence. Sound could also be interesting, where movement generates subtle audio feedback tied to speed or density.
This feels like a starting point for thinking about systems as emotional landscapes, not just simulations.