> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.killscreen.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Videogame generates worlds based on your webcam, horror ensues
- URL: https://www.killscreen.com/videogame-generates-worlds-based-your-webcam-horror-ensues/
- Published: 2015-07-31T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2015-11-17T17:31:56.000Z
- Description: We drive into the future using only our rearview mirror. — Marshall McLuhan Ian MacLarty’s Reflections inspired one of those “whoa the future is here” moments in me. I remember years ago, I felt like I was in the goddamn Jetsons the first time I ever Skyped with a person half way across the world. I
- Author: Jess Joho
- Tags: News, 3D, Ian MacLarty, landscape, reflections, The Future, Virtual Reality, Webcam, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-26 09:39

> We drive into the future using only our rearview mirror.   
>  
> — Marshall McLuhan  
>  

Ian MacLarty’s [*Reflections*](http://ianmaclarty.itch.io/reflection?ref=killscreen.com) inspired one of those “whoa the future is here” moments in me. I remember years ago, I felt like I was in the goddamn *Jetsons* the first time I ever Skyped with a person half way across the world. I mean webcams—next you’ll be telling me we can talk to people on our watches, too!

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/25/84/2584b75d-4bd6-4cce-8259-f1d1c65abbb5/content/images/previously/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/reflections_1_big.jpg)

But *Reflections* is less cartoon sci-fi fantasy future, and more nightmarish surrealism made possible by technology. Like a mirror image of our mutated digital souls, *Reflections* generates a 3D landscape based on the visual feed from your webcam. A more humbling experience I have never known than to watch the contours of my face transform into the peaks and valleys of a virtual world.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/25/84/2584b75d-4bd6-4cce-8259-f1d1c65abbb5/content/images/previously/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/reflections_big.jpg)

Standing on the flesh-colored ground, I looked up only to spot two pale, white suns high in the sky. Then they blinked. And I realized they were actually my eyeballs distorted into pitiless spheres of horror. When I shared a screenshot with the Kill Screen staff, [one intern](https://twitter.com/thesaintoftous?ref=killscreen.com) dubbed me “lumpy space Sauron.”

one intern dubbed me “lumpy space Sauron”

But surreal doesn’t even begin to cover an experience like *Reflections*. It doesn’t just render a world from a static image of your face. It moves in response to your movements, a funhouse mirror that creates a distorted dimension instead of just an image. If you smile, the world suddenly splinters into a kaleidoscope of red gums and white spikes. If you try to get your dog in front of the webcam (as I did), he becomes Cloud Dog Jesus, with monuments springing forth to worship him above and below.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/25/84/2584b75d-4bd6-4cce-8259-f1d1c65abbb5/content/images/previously/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/screen_shot_2015-07-30_at_3.12.59_pm_big.png)

All I know is that if *Reflections* somehow gets VR support, brains might start imploding.

You can generate your own horror-filled dimensions on your browser for free [here](http://ianmaclarty.itch.io/reflection?ref=killscreen.com).