Hexells

Hexells is a small interactive art experiment where a touch can disturb a living-looking field of texture. Swipe through different pattern systems, then watch local rules turn your input into something far less orderly.

What is Hexells?

Hexells starts with a grid of cells, but it does not behave like a tidy puzzle board. The page invites you to touch the display and lets the pattern react as a collective, producing shifting textures from nearby cell-to-cell communication. A sideways swipe changes the pattern, so a short visit can move between distinctly different visual moods without a menu hunt. It is closer to a curious digital terrarium than a game with an objective. There is no score to protect or right answer to find; the pleasure is in making a small interruption and watching the system carry it somewhere unexpected. The project comes from Alexander Mordvintsev's artificial-life research work and was also listed in SIGGRAPH's 2021 virtual Art Gallery.

What you can do there

• Touch the display
• Swipe sideways to change patterns
• Swipe upward to share a pattern

Why we picked it

It gives a technically serious idea an immediate, tactile entrance. You do not need to understand Neural Cellular Automata before touching the surface; the reaction itself is the invitation to linger and wonder what the nearby cells are passing along.

How to get the most from it

Open Hexells and give the display a tap or touch. Swipe left or right to switch to another pattern system. When one arrangement catches your eye, pause and let the motion unfold; the page also advertises an upward swipe for sharing a pattern.

Good to know

This is an exploratory visual piece, not a guided tutorial or a goal-driven game. The current research did not verify browser support, accessibility features, performance, data practices, or the present-day behavior of any sharing feature. The display was not screenshot-tested in this pass.

Who made it, and when?

Alexander Mordvintsev is the credited creator or organization.