I've chosen to talk about a fellow CMU student's project for this Looking Outwards report. The project, Hermit, was made by Lingdong Huang for his 15-112 term project in 2015 and is fairly well known throughout the school. It is a procedurally generated interactive environment.
I like this work because I think it's elegant and sophisticated, especially considering the constraints under which it was made (python, 112 term project deadlines). It is aesthetically pleasing, and it has a narrative. The elements of the project all work together to create something that is able to give the viewer a peaceful feeling.
I did open up the code for the project, but I don't think I'm well versed enough in generative art to know what each part of the program is doing. I do know that it is recursive at its root, but I don't know how he used that to get the generative result achieved.
In terms of effective complexity, I would say it leans more on the side of order rather than chaos. The project is predictable and clean but still interesting in the many possibilities it offers in terms of interaction and uniquely generated landscapes and creatures.
Check it out here: