MiAO World

MiAO, a Chinese gaming company specialising in voxel-style games and artificial intelligence, commissioned us to design and develop its website. The brief was clear: capture the spirit of 1980s gaming through pixel typography, glitch effects and a monochromatic black-and-white palette.

Our approach began with the integration of a pixel-style Unifont, adapted to include Chinese characters and accommodate MiAO’s predominantly Chinese audience. The landing page opens with a pixel-based glitch effect that transitions from white to black, setting the tone for the experience. Text, menus and buttons then appear through a typewriter effect, recalling the early interfaces of 1980s computing.

To express MiAO’s dynamic and ever-evolving universe, we created an endlessly generative voxel cityscape, uniquely generated for each visitor. Built around two interconnected Simplex noise fields, the environment combines a custom pixel shader with subtle lens distortion and glow effects. The result is a constantly changing digital landscape that draws on the experimental spirit of early computer graphics and gaming.

Throughout the website, each section introduces a different glitch pattern, generated through custom code. Titles shuffle into position, while a subtle horizontal-line indicator provides a visual reference for navigation. Inspired by MS-DOS loading screens, the body copy also appears progressively, unfolding section by section.

MiAO's gaming community is built around creative freedom and self-governance, with players acting as architects of their own virtual worlds. Reflecting this philosophy, the website adopts a deliberately low-level visual language. Text resembles a terminal interface, accompanied by glitch effects that explore the fragile balance between failure and success in the creative process.

Navigation remains intuitive without relying on a conventional menu. Visitors can move through the website by scrolling, using the keyboard arrows or pressing the number keys from 1 to 7. This interaction draws directly from the simplicity of 1980s gaming controls.

The MiAO website brings together generative design, custom code and retro gaming references to create an interactive digital experience that reflects the creative possibilities of MiAO's gaming universe.

Web Development:
Yannick Gregoire