the (re)making of

artifacts from two weeks of rebuilding, October 6 to 19, 2026.

October 6, 7:01 pm

The ask

getting together with the crew for Media Lab 40th anniversary I got curious if we could resurrect Sheep:Dog (Trial by Eire) [...] but I am strggling to find the java codebase c4!

the goal is to explore - how might we bring it back to life. I don't know if we even have the assets.

The first message. No source code, no character models, typos intact.

what would it look like if you used codex for the build and test, and you're my orchestrator. think that's doable?

An hour later, the team took shape.

Goatzilla's 2001 walk animation open in a 3ds Max 2027 trial, rig in wireframe, timeline 0 to 28. — October 7Goatzilla's 2001 walk cycle opens in a 3ds Max 2027 trial. Rob: "COMPLETE SUCCESS. He walks."

Who did what

The partnership

Rob sets taste and playtests. Claude orchestrates. Sol builds in four parallel lanes; Astra scores every round out of 10, and anything under the bar goes back. Fable and Opus read plans and writing with fresh eyes.

14 days
4 parallel lanes
386 reviews, 248 sent back
435 commits
about 890 automated tests

Claude, the orchestrator, would like it on the record that four times it overruled Astra and shipped anyway, each time with a written reason. Astra was not consulted on this caption.

Reference on the left, rebuild on the right

Then and now

Duncan in the 2000 engine. — Duncan2000 and 2026.

Duncan rebuilt in 2026. — Duncan2000 and 2026.

Shep in the 2000 engine. — Shep2000 and 2026.

Shep rebuilt in 2026. — Shep2000 and 2026.

Crimson Goatzilla in 2001. — Goatzilla2001 and 2026, from the recovered model.

Crimson Goatzilla in 2026. — Goatzilla2001 and 2026, from the recovered model.

The Swamped! raccoon in 1998. — The Swamped! raccoon1998 and 2026.

The raccoon rebuilt in 2026. — The Swamped! raccoon1998 and 2026.

The site's type comes from Scott's original Illustrator files, September 2000: Futura, squeezed to 53 percent, and Comic Sans in exactly two places.

Rob's notes, drawn on screenshots (in MS Paint, in Impact font)

Sketches

A top-down island screenshot annotated in white Impact captions and orange route lines. — October 8Damian's idea: Duncan herding sheep into a pen again, an easy first level, then a harder one. The level design, in Impact: "wtf is this thing anyway, maybe we lose it?"

The Retrial island from above: castle, pens, stone wall and the farm. — As builtThe pen moved and rotated for an easy first round.

The island annotated with orange arrows: wolfpack, a Swamped! chase, a little town on the horizon. — October 9The sketch that became the Menagerie tour.

Having just come back from Japan and visiting Disney Sea I just have this vision in mind where there's just these subtle hints on the horizon that don't detract from the environment in which you're in but they hint you towards the next one.

I'm thinking more like Astrobot - loving homage all blended together into one environment where things have to shift a little bit to meet that similar aesthetic.

Rob, October 9, on how the island should feel.

... That was always our thing back in the day. Disney and Dennett. The illusion of life and the intentional stance.

Rob, also October 9, still a Character after all these years.

A storyboard sheet: nine panels of the Retrial's opening, each with timing, camera and sound notes. — StoryboardThe Retrial's opening, boarded from the real scene: ten seconds, seven shots, timing, camera and sound for each. Storyboard editor (still baking).

Open the storyboards

(Chaotic sheep are funnier than eaten sheep)

Rob, October 12, on the Goatzilla levels. Claude said it first, in a storyboard review two days earlier.

The way home storyboard: eight panels in evening light, from the flock returning through the castle arch to Shep and Duncan walking home. — The proposed endingThe flock returns to the castle, and Shep and Duncan to where they started. Not in the game yet.

Backyard to game

Stick to Mawg

A boy swings a long pole down in a vertical strike on a lawn, seen in motion. — The sourceA backyard, a pole, a vertical strike.

The move lab: an extracted stick-figure skeleton beside Mawg mid-strike, with the source pose in a side panel. — The move labThe extracted skeleton beside Mawg, same moment, frame by frame. Mawg is from Mind Balance, MediaLabEurope, 2003: Gary McDarby, Phil McDarby and Daragh McDonnell.

Open the move lab

October 11 and 12

Playtests

A Soul Characters playtest: Mawg against Emerald Goatzilla in round two, with the players' webcam blurred in the corner. — October 11Mawg against the CPU's Emerald Goatzilla, round two. Rob and his seven-year-old, who went on to beat Soul Characters on Expert, repeatedly, then asked for more attacks, combos and triggers that do something.

Every playtest was recorded and transcribed locally. The game feedback became the next brief within minutes.

Note, brief, review, fix

One (Strange) Loop: Debugging Duncan's walk-up

Duncan has this "slinking" walk up that's weird, his animation overall of his legs has this sort of "spider" effect that is awful

Rob's playtest note, October 16.

Duncan mid-stride with red callouts: hip-height clamp sends knees sideways, 30.6 cm lateral excursion. — Diagnose firstThe knees folded sideways by 30.6 cm. The paws were fine.

Before, above. After, below.Sideways knee travel down from 30.6 cm to 3 cm. Round one scored 8, round two 9.5.

Kept, with love

Bloopers

Duncan standing on top of the castle's round tower while the flock grazes below. — Duncan takes the high ground.

Close-ups of Silas: ears hovering above his head in the hub tile, seated in the game. — Silas's ears, hovering. Fixed in the game, then again for the website preview.

The original artist, Scott, on the 2026 version: it needs DLSS5.

He's not wrong.

Sol reported "Astra 10/10, SHIP" from a reviewer it ran on itself.

The real Astra scored it 7.

Every browser test passed on every machine but one.

Ours.

Back to the reunions

The original characters, artwork and research are the work of the Synthetic Characters group and its collaborators. Rebuilt in 2026 by Rob Burke with Claude, Sol and Astra.