Two Bit Bears Generation 3: From Pixels to Polygons
Two Bit Bears dropped the latest in our phased on-chain exponential evolutionary experience this week: Generation 3 Bears. Upon first glance, these Bears may look unique to anything you’ve seen on-chain—and they are. But like most things in the Two Bit Bears Universe, there is more than meets the eye.
The Two Bit Bears project is a metaphor for the speed of Web3 and the NFT space. It took 50 years for technology to advance from Pong, one of the first computer games ever created, to the hyper realistic games and experiences we’ve grown accustomed to today. In the NFT space, advancements happens fast. Very fast. And within three months time, our Bears have evolved from two pixels, to voxels, to the more complex shapes that make up Generation 3.
So what will come in Generation 4? Well, time will tell. But for now, we’re going to tell you a little bit more about what makes these Generation 3 Bears so important.
The Experience
Generation 3 Bears are born from breeding. Two Generation 2 Bears of the same species mate on cubs.cloud (our dedicated breeding and adoption server) and a glorious Generation 3 Bear is born. You can see the Bears who have already been created on OpenSea.
The beauty of this process is that it is exponential and evolutionary, and it’s never too late to get on board. It’s a choose your own adventure game, but with Bears, and it only gets more hyper-realistic as we move through the phases. Those who embark on this adventure have the unique opportunity to create their own experience by choosing the traits (such as species and mood) that carry through their Bear family tree.
Here are a few more details about Gen 3 Traits:
- Holders get to choose which of their two Generation 2 parent moods will be dominant and pass down to their Generation 3 Bear
- Generation 2 Bears can only breed one time, and create one Generation 3 Bear. You can check a Generation 2 Bear’s Breeding Status here.
- Generation 3 Bears have their parent’s eyes, with a percentage of fur color dependent on Generation 2 RGB
- Generation 3 Species, Mood, Scarring and Family Name (our inspirations in the art, design, and NFT space) will all have a direct impact on Generation 4
The Art
Up to this point, artwork has been clean and minimalistic (while still maintaining its supreme hyper-realism, of course). The design direction of Generation 3 was aimed at finding a sweet spot between the Two Bit Bears recognizable branding and moving toward more complex artwork. Clean lines, branded color palettes, and complexity within simplicity remain a cornerstone of each Generation, and Generation 3 was aimed to fit right in while still pushing the boundaries. After many iterations, the Polygonal Bear was born.
You all know how much we love pixel art. We didn’t move away from pixels because we don’t appreciate the design, but because pixels no longer made sense in our exponentially evolving universe. And, of course, because we wanted to challenge ourselves—try something new, on-chain.
The gradients, which are built into almost every polygon, really help to bring the Bears to life in a way that simple flat shapes could not. The scarring (or glitches) also help to set them apart. 30% of bears have one scar, and half of those Bears have two. Gold scarring, especially double gold scarring, is the most rare.
Every Generation 3 Bear is unique. Aside from the obvious differences in Species, Background, Scarring, Mood, and Name, each Bear has a unique facial structure. But this we’ll talk more about when we speak about the Tech.
The Tech
These Bears are created 100% on-chain and at the moment of minting. They are completely generative, on-chain ERC 721 with computationally manipulated facial attributes and limitless SVG scalability.
SVGs and Polygons
All Bears are SVGs that can be infinity scaled and never suffer from loss of quality. Moving away from pixel art was a bold move when it came to building this artwork on chain. Each and every point is built in code—and able to be randomly manipulated within our constraints.
Manipulated Facial Attributes
Instead of attribute replacement, which is commonly used in generative art, Generation 3 Bear facial structures are built from moving and shifting the points of the SVG from within a coded range. This means that we don’t have separate attributes for a Bear’s cheek, for example — the cheek itself is being generated upon mint to create a round face versus a chiseled jaw. The vector art for the four distinct Bear species was initially created, and once built, the technology did the rest.
Scars
The scarring system is based on “allowed” or “off-limit” rules. Certain shapes can hold scarring, while others can not. These are generated randomly within these rules, and for each shape, the code pays special attention to gradients.
At first glance, the art may not look as exceptionally distinct and what you might be used to in some other collections—but they are all in fact not only provably unique, but built upon generations on the blockchain. Aside from this art making sense for our brand and experience, we have chosen this route because of something even more powerful: this is the ground work for a new way of creating systems that build characters on-chain.
This space is still so new. There is so much for us to learn. So much new territory to explore. So much ground to be broken. Just as we have pushed the boundaries of the evolution-based breeding mechanics, we are pushing the boundaries of on-chain tech. And this is only the beginning, for all of us.
Just as early game creators needed to be clever / creative to make the most out of the space in each cartridge, we are learning to push the boundaries of on-chain contracts through unique forms of innovation.
The Community
Lastly, and most definitely not least, so many have said that the community makes the project. We have wholeheartedly agreed with this, and taken it a step further—by standing by our belief that the community is the project.
But it’s not enough just to say it.
When it comes to Generation 3, the community is also in the project. All First Name traits are named after our Membears, chosen amongst early and active members in the community, those who have helped and supported us along the way, and those who have inspired us. We truly wish we could have added each and every one of you (ah, on-chain contract restrictions,) but we do still have one more generation to go, after all…
Evolving from Pong, to Nintendo, to Play Station…what started as a metaphor became an entire world. We have many plans for the future of this project, from our vision for Generation 4 Bears that will become a reality in a couple of short months, to the Bear Den, to announcements about expanded utility for Generation 1 and Generation 2 Bears.
If you want to learn more, listen to our latest Livestream Event, or read through our previously published Medium posts. You can also join our Discord, where you can hang out with the people behind the Bears—the most wonderful, most helpful community we have ever seen.
Thanks for Bearing with us.
