In a reminder of how curiosity in retro gaming, programming and technology can combine to dramatic affect online, a video exploring 'How "oldschool" graphics worked' has gone viral this week. Published by The iBookGuy on 17th August, it's already amassed over one million views at the time of writing.
It's a great watch, primarily because it breaks down and explains in simple terms some basic concepts of how pixel and sprite-work was produced on the Commodore 64 and NES. In what is only part one of a series, it's explained how artists in the '80s dealt with limitations in colours per cell to nevertheless produce impressive work, in addition to showing how the coding works on a basic level.
It's a fascinating watch, and a breakthrough for the channel that may see it carry on with the series for some time yet. Check it out and let us know what you think.
Comments 15
I think 'affect' in the first sentence of this article should be 'effect'.
Anyway, that's a really cool and interesting video, I hope there'll be more of it. A version focusing on early 3D graphics in the N64/PS1 days would be fascinating!
@DarthNocturnal "Had"? We are still in that period. Luckily it seems to be waning a little bit.
That's a good video, amazing how devs were able to do so much with so little back then.
I like this guy. This was a cool video. Reminds me of being in 1st or 2nd grade in the early 90s, trying to look at archaic game development books. Lol. I feel like the stuff in those books that I could barely spell now make sense!
Oh man, if only there was something like youtube back when I was tinkering with the Apple ][e computers my parents would borrow from where they taught. I had to rely on dated books from the library and the peeks and pokes always confused me so I stuck with basic and high level drawing commands. HIRES was so slow this way and LORES had huge pixels. Made a couple action games that way, though.
Hard to believe it got that many views, but then I already knew all this.
Really awesome video. People don't understand the wizardry behind a lot of early games
This reminds me. I need to learn how to use petitte computer before the new version comes out. I wonder where the new version is.
I was born on the tail-end of the 8-bit era but this stuff has always fascinated me. I remember mentioning to my buddy that the reason I love the games from that era is the limitations of the machines made for some very interesting and unique decisions on the part of the designers. Same can be said of the film industry going from rubber suits and cel drawn animation to CGI. It's cool that we have it now, but it's not the same.
Ah, yes, the iBookGuy! I remember watching a few of his videos, the main one being about whether it was still plausible to use an iPhone 2GS in the present day. He does great videos, but his sound effects are really "bogus". There's no other word for it.
@AshFoxX it's actually also why so many GameBoy, GBA and DS games are well-regarded: they restricted what the game devs could do, and then we got gems that would push them beyond our imaginations for the technically-restricted platforms (I'm still amazed that Max Payne Advance ever happened).
(1:34) What's a "Nintento"?
>__>
It deserves to.
Very nice breakdown. I really enjoy technical stuff like that. I'll definitely be looking for the future parts.
Interesting. I never new Mario consisted of 4 sprites. I thought he was 1 big sprite.
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