How is meaning constructed in interactive, immersive electronic spaces? The way that sign systems operate in these virtual worlds is changed by their transmutational nature, immediacy, and manipulation of human perception. The Artefact project explores the “language” of computer-mediated space as it is expressed in games - its unique internal logic and properties.

Increasingly, we are immersed in high order simulacra that offer more intimate relationships with our media than those that have been possible before. Simulation has become integral to reality itself, and we adopt the beings and experiences of these simulations into our own lives.

On another level, Artefact is part of an ongoing investigation of the semiotics of digital space and human-computer interaction. In a virtual world, both the elements that constitute the world, and the world model or system, are equally important in signifying meaning. In the process of investigation, elements such as characters, objects, and icons are identified, decoded, and transmuted into a world model, which combines iconic ideals with personal specific imagery. Semiomorph actualises a hybrid model such as this into a coherent alternative world.

Artefact: Semiomorph explores “semiotic morphism”, a “systematic translation between sign systems” in which signified messages can be mapped onto various signifiers, multiplying and mutating instances of semiosis. The term captures the shape-shifting plasticity of relationships between sound, image, text, and users in virtual worlds; the interactions through which meaning is made, transformed and remade dynamically and synaesthetically in real time.

In Semiomorph typical modes of representation - word, data, icon or simulation - coexist in the virtual space. Each mode is personified by a group of game characters competing for screentime. The objects and space can be represented using any of the four modes of representation - word is Mt.Ke,I-t, data is D-Glypha, icon is Specular, and simulation is Realamon.

The goal of the game is to collect enough energy to create a significant shift in the graphical representation of the world. This is a semiomorph. During play you may shift your mode of representation, which will change the rules of play. You must avoid opposing entities and blast icons. The relationships within the world can change suddenly through activation of power-ups and muticons.