“Gazers” 101
A guide to choosing a Gazer, by virtau.eth

gm! So you’ve been hearing a lot about Gazers, the fascinatingly complex (and somewhat mysterious) Moon phase inspired work of generative art by Matt Kane. And you’re ready to collect your first piece (of many!). So what are some things that you should consider when choosing? Let’s get right to it!

😍 Aesthetics

It goes without saying that aesthetics and what speaks to *you* should play a major part in your selection process. There are *lots* of traits that directly affect the aesthetics and appearance of each piece in different ways, so explore and play around with traits like the “Color Theory” ones to discover patterns.

But Gazers are constantly evolving and changing (like us!), especially every New Moon (~29.5 days), and each period is called a “lunation.” So if you’re looking at the thumbnails on OpenSea, they’re going to be static snapshots from a past lunation. Instead, consider using the Market view on Matt’s gazers.art site, where you can pick the “current lunation” option from the dropdown to see what each piece looks like today. It’s also interesting to switch to different lunations to see the (~monthly) evolution. Additionally, Gazers also change more subtly during the course of a day; use the “3 moon icons” toggle buttons under the thumbnails to see what they look like at midnight, dawn/dusk, and noon each day.

🌕 Moon Shapes and Sizes

The “Moon” and “Moon Size” traits determine the shapes and sizes of the Moons. They’re mostly self-explanatory. But if you like surprises, consider the 🎲 Moons, which will take on random Moon shapes every month.

(Relatedly, there are similar 🎲 values for the Color Theory Ambience, Color Theory Style, and Frame Offset traits that randomize those aspects every New Moon)

🔭 Visualize

While most Gazers have a fixed Moon size, the 14 Gazers with the rare “Visualize” trait give their collectors the ability to adjust the Moon size to their preference by clicking and holding the mouse down and dragging along the horizontal axis.  

🖼️ Backgrounds

The “Night” background (almost black) is the most common, while “Slate” (dark gray) and “Aluminum” (light gray) are more rare. Aluminums, in particular, have a dramatically different and distinct aesthetic.

🌔 Default Hemispheres

“Northern” hemisphere Moons are the most common, where the top layer representing the illuminated side of the Moon sweeps from right-to-left over the course of the month. “Southern” hemispheres are less common, and sweep from left-to-right. “Equator” Moons that sweep bottom-to-top are the rarest, and sought after.

🕒 Clocks

Most Gazers are “Calendar Only” which means they show the changing Moon phases over the course of the month. However, there are 4 rarer, sought-after Clock/Timer types that can toggle between two modes by pressing the “0” key.

  • In Clock mode, a “24 Hour Clock” displays a layer that represents the current hour of the day.
  • And an “Hour, Minute & Seconds Clock” - the rarest of them all - has three layers.
  • “Minute Timers” have a layer that ticks/sweeps from one side to the other every second over the course of a minute; these are less rare than H:M and H:M:S Clocks, but some collectors enjoy the more dynamic ticking/sweeping of Timers.

📅 Origin Moon Dates

The 🌑📅 trait (which also has corresponding “Origin Moon” trait) represents important milestones in Matt Kane’s life and growth as an artist. There’s a story for each event. But these dates also express themselves in Gazers in terms of the speed of movements that you see in each piece – the older the Origin Moon date, the faster the movements are, so they’re generally more sought after. Compare the earliest date to the latest one to see how they differ. Additionally, the related “+1 Frame Every” trait determines how long before the speed increases by 1 frame/sec; i.e. the movement in every piece will get faster and faster over time, forever, and at different rates.

🎉 Celebration Windows

On the yearly anniversaries of their Origin Moon dates, Gazers enter a “celebration” mode, where they express themselves very differently from their usual forms. Additionally, every 33 New Moons (~months) from their Origin Moon dates, Gazers become special “Blue Moons” and celebrate by becoming huge. And finally, there are some other yet-to-be-discovered special occasions when Gazers also celebrate. All of these are really fun to watch! The “Celebration Window” trait determines how long these celebrations last – 24 hours is the most common, and 144 hours is the longest. Longer is better, so you can spend more time enjoying them.

💭 Reflect

The “Reflect” trait is very cool. Because Gazers evolve into something new every New Moon, a version that you really like today will soon be gone forever – a nice reminder to live in the moment, and appreciate the present. But the “Reflect” trait is a “hack” for Gazers that have it – it lets you go back in time and see every previous form since the Origin Moon date. Press the “5” (prev) and “6” (next) keys on any of the Gazers that have an “unlocked” Reflect trait to experience this for yourself. The values of this trait tell you how many New Moons (~months) after the Origin Moon date it takes for the Reflect feature to unlock; e.g. “Reflect after 24 🌑s” on a “9/7/2021” Origin Moon date means that reflection will be unlocked in ~2 years on 9/7/2023. And some Reflects will unlock well past our lifetimes, which represents Matt’s vision of Gazers becoming a “generational evolution of experience.”

🚀 Rockets

Gazers with the 🚀 trait are very special. There are only 9 of them, each with a different date in 2022. For a while, we didn’t know what this trait meant. Now we partially know. On Feb 23rd, 2022 (the first date in the series), the collector of Gazer #362 was airdropped a piece from Matt’s new “Voyage” collection – a ticket 🎟️ for something that hasn’t been revealed yet.

🎁 Gifts

This one’s a mystery that’s yet to be revealed. 240 Gazers have this trait, 136 of which show a male artist 👨‍🎨🎁, and 104 a female artist 👩‍🎨🎁. The Gazers collector community believes this will have some value that justifies a premium over the floor for these pieces, and Matt has kinda-sorta hinted that we’re onto something :), but we’re all eagerly waiting to find out…

And that’s a wrap! Hope you found this guide helpful; it’s a reflection of the collective discoveries and insights of many members of the Gazers Discord. I’ll keep it updated as we discover and learn more. Reach out on Twitter if you have questions or suggestions! And come join the Discord – you’ll find one of the friendliest, nerdiest, most helpful, and most engaged groups of people (including Matt!) in there.