In the much anticipated Zelda sequel,
Tears of the Kingdom, the player embarks on an open-world adventure that skillfully merges a meticulously designed physics-based sandbox environment with an engaging techno archaic lore. Expanding upon the impressive elemental mechanics in its predecessor, water, fire, wind, and electricity are all malleable and interactable variables in this game world. The player is infused with an ancient artifact that grants them the ability to glue together any object or item from the environment, extending the entirety of its environment as a creative medium. Whereas in the physical world we may glance over the environment, this augmentation of experience disrupts and deliberately refocuses our attention to the essence of play or adventure. The
community's viral creations have been an amazing spectacle, showcasing solutions to in-game puzzles, inventive ways to fight monsters, efficient transportation methods, and resourceful farming techniques. One user I came across, by the name “c7fab” on youtube, created
logic gates with beams of light emitting from an in-game device cleverly blocked by physical blockades powered by rotating wheels. The clip serves as a catalyst, filling practical gaps in elemental computation, sparking imagination, inspiring visions of computers fueled by visible light and the intriguing possibilities of using other elemental properties through accessible tools and structures found all around us. In a
separate video, Tony Hinderman showcased a simple 3-bit calculator, capable of adding three inputs and generating two outputs, using an array of in-game items such as metal cubes, fire hydrants, weapons, wheels, and spring-like trampolines.
The significance of logic gates in Tears of the Kingdom is not their functionality, but rather how they relate to the game’s lore, narrative, and mythology. For those who are willing, this recontextualization of computational knowledge can now be discovered or applied to our experience of the world in itself. How we define a computer can become a retelling and one of mythological rediscovery as evident in the experience of this procedural rhetoric. Storytelling becomes a profound vehicle for meaning, allowing individuals to make sense of, relate to, and resonate with a redefining of our reality as well as expand and shape the narrative dynamically, adapting to its unfolding complexity. A story of Elemental Computation is made not of a single perspective but instead a kaleidoscope of the individual, community, and environment, to piece together and cultivate the natural beauty of the algorithmic into a future we wish to inhabit.