http://giraffe.cat/90scockpitfreakout daily 0.75 2017-01-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447362770292-SPSB8C8GHUWTIM7B90FE/TitleScreen1280.png Nineties Cockpit Freakout https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447362770292-SPSB8C8GHUWTIM7B90FE/TitleScreen1280.png Nineties Cockpit Freakout https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1483791033105-5DA18UD5902H31C0T8FW/NCFScreenshot2.png Nineties Cockpit Freakout http://giraffe.cat/old-games-2 daily 0.75 2016-05-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447704181798-73X7R6W4MRSY6QRX4J8Q/33-Atari+770+XAX+1.jpg Old Games 2 - Atari 770 XAX, Pages 1 & 2 These two pages mostly deal with the peripherals that come with the Atari 770 XAX: A power supply, a joystick, a joypad (Which is actually a twin joystick), a printer, a disk drive (Which was initially a cassette player, but I used a black pen to make it look like there was a disk in it. I didn't really know what disks looked like), an Atari T-Shirt, two paddle controllers, another joystick, some stickers, a tape box, two books and a keyboard with only 10 keys because I couldn't be bothered drawing them all. The games, from left to right, are Strong Man, Tarzan, Scrape, Atari Master, Moon Watcher, Space Roundly and Greedy Catapillers. Tarzan looks kind of cold, and I think the name Space Roundly was suggested by my friend Steven. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447704181798-73X7R6W4MRSY6QRX4J8Q/33-Atari+770+XAX+1.jpg Old Games 2 - Atari 770 XAX, Pages 1 & 2 These two pages mostly deal with the peripherals that come with the Atari 770 XAX: A power supply, a joystick, a joypad (Which is actually a twin joystick), a printer, a disk drive (Which was initially a cassette player, but I used a black pen to make it look like there was a disk in it. I didn't really know what disks looked like), an Atari T-Shirt, two paddle controllers, another joystick, some stickers, a tape box, two books and a keyboard with only 10 keys because I couldn't be bothered drawing them all. The games, from left to right, are Strong Man, Tarzan, Scrape, Atari Master, Moon Watcher, Space Roundly and Greedy Catapillers. Tarzan looks kind of cold, and I think the name Space Roundly was suggested by my friend Steven. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447704181914-LDX9CYB32609LSACI4BU/34-Atari+770+XAX+2.jpg Old Games 2 - Atari 770 XAX, Pages 3 & 4 Several 770 XAX games came with action figures of the main characters. Robocop is pretty self-explanatory (Although I imagine I drew this before playing the Atari ST Robocop game). Dax seems to be based on Diamonds on the Atari 800, which was in turn inspired by Dig-Dug. I don't really know what's going on in Trytron, but it, and Palt, appear to be side-scrolling shoot-'em-ups. Castle Doom is probably another clone of Adventure. On the second page are two larger games, with Stop! being equally as important a franchise as Star Wars. The second screenshot of Star Wars features someone, presumably Luke Skywalker, in his underwear. I never saw Star Wars as a kid. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447704183679-EZQB1UICVUVBXX4M56AF/35-Atari+770+XAX+3.jpg Old Games 2 - Atari 770 XAX, Pages 5 & 6 Minefild (sic) seems to put you in charge of a tank shooting down parachuting soldiers. The fact that Pong already existed didn't stop me from using the name for one of my own games. It looks like the aim of the game was to throw a ball at certain targets. Sog! has you controlling a mouse over two screens, one in which a cat precipitates on you, and another which is a maze full of cheese. Spoon-All also has a maze, but puts you in charge of a spoon. Or an insect, I can't remember which. In Nit you play as a wide robot that produces wool from the top of its head. Ups and Downs was based on a screenshot of Roadblasters that I saw, but the name itself was a corruption of Up'n Down, neither of which I had played. Manta Force is based on some toys I had, and Pitstop is a top-down racing game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447704183470-BXA66F8DCT96W7MMGSVL/36-Atari+770+XAX+4.jpg Old Games 2 - Atari 770 XAX, Pages 7 & 8 On the left page are: Dinosaurs, which was almost certainly inspired by Prehistoric Isle in 1930). Rundown, which has some pretty weird feet. The reason you can't read the title very well is because there are power-ups at the top of the screen, probably taken from Transmuter. Food Fight is just a drawing of a game that existed, but which I never played. Spot On is a join-the-dots game with the cursor from Eastern Front 1941 for the Atari 800. Nit 2 doesn't seem to add much to the original. Educate was there because I just assumed every home computer needed educational software of some sort. Mighty Mouse is based on a cartoon, and I can only apologise for Robo-Cock. On the right page are Boxing, Flight Power, and Zapp!, the latter of which also featured a similar power-up system to Transmuter. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447704186505-4QWGUS3IXM9PY2YDXFPH/52-Sky-Diver.jpg Old Games 2 - Sky-Diver Inspired by the fact that my dad made cassette covers for the albums he recorded, I also made cassette covers for some of the games I made up. The instructions for Sky-Diver read: "How to play. Land your Sky-Divers on the moving landing pads. Try to avoid birds and rocks. The man will now jump off the pad. Press fire to release parachute. Hints: If you land on a bird you will go werever it goes. If a rock or a bird hits you, you will lose a live. Good luck! Loading: Switch computer on and hold down Start & Option then press Return." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447704177566-DQQ4L4K8EBBWITFQKRSB/24-Space+Invaders+2.jpg Old Games 2 - Space Invabers 2 I didn't get around to writing any description for this one. It doesn't look like a particularly inspired sequel. I also remember making a cover for a game called Long Shot, which was a Space Invaders clone where the shots you fired were about twice as long. I like how I've called this Space Invabers 2 on the spine. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447704178271-DO6JH4FM201I5GXYCEAK/25-Iorn+Maiden.jpg Old Games 2 - Page of Games 1 Crab Atack (sic) has 4 different zones: Sea, Tree, Swamp and Forest (The four areas where crabs are most commonly found). Iorn Maiden (sic) seems to involve punching a mask. I remember being disbelieving when I discovered how 'iron' was spelled. I'm not sure whether I drew this before I found out, or drew it after and was in denial. Capcutter is one of my more straightforward ideas; although the bird flying away from the scissors with a cap on its back poses some questions. Look! is completely bewildering to me; an astronaut, a watch, and a platform from Chuckie Egg. Rally-Way combines top-down racing with a side-scrolling view. Seedy involves dropping seeds from a space ship. Shooting Stars is a weak joke, portrayed very literally. Run! sees you running away from lions. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447704179063-9LRBWTC8L71GPBCEKOLF/26-Seedy.jpg Old Games 2 - Page of Games 2 I expanded on the Seedy concept a lot on this page. Whereas Level 1 just saw you planting seeds with a spaceship, Level 2 offers a choice of 3 doors, next to what looks like a demon on a throne. Behind each of the doors are three pretty varied levels. I kind of want to make this game, although most of the drawings are indistinct enough that I'd have to take a number of liberties with the concept. Beloms is based on a mini-game from Grand Monster Slam, which I hadn't played at the time, but saw in a magazine. Battle of the Beloms takes the idea of that game, and goes nuts with it. Monster Mash is just a bunch of stupid crap I drew, and Smoker carries a serious message. That's a sumo wrestler on the right side of the screen. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447704189698-5MS965HY1FHVR34TZ70V/74-Remakes.jpg Old Games 2 - Remakes All of these are remakes of previous drawings. The Troll actually features a troll this time, although it still has two doors, one closed and one open. I'm impressed at the effort I put into Big Trouble in Little China, compared to the half-assed effort I made of it before. Space Maze gets a name, a player character in the form of a green blob with arms, and a fourth level (Albeit a rather empty one). Spy Fight is basically just Spy Hunter on foot. Beloms and Look! get remade, neither of them particularly benefiting from the addition of colour. I'm disappointed that I never finished Level 2 of Look! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447704175072-JDDXUZCNKZI7RH2Q4R0O/17-Mad+Max.jpg Old Games 2 - LCD Mad Max A handheld LCD games console, probably more along the lines of the Gameboy than Game & Watch, judging by the complexity of Mad Max. The game itself probably had nothing to do with Mel Gibson film, I just thought it sounded cool, and made a typical flip-screen platformer with the name. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447704176522-2PUO4S6M8CKPYT71FXBI/18-Jam%2C+Jelly+Busters.jpg Old Games 2 - 9 Games These were on the page after the previous LCD game, but I'm not sure if they were intended as games for it. Fancy Paper Colector (sic) and Hello Again were both remakes of two of my sister's games (More on those in the next post). Vanguard and Space Invaders 2 both put you in charge of ships that take up most of the screen, so I'm not sure what I envisioned the gameplay as being. Jam is just a title screen. Jelly Busters was a play on Ghostbusters, but with jellyfish. Jet Fighter looks like Combat for the Atari 2600, but with a ground. Indy 500 is racing game with two very spiky walls on either side of the car. Space Race looks like it may have been inspired by Rescue on Fractalus. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447704174191-CJJ9RVZQLDXDUGOY5U12/04-Super+Chick.jpg Old Games 2 - Super Chick This is Super Chick. Every animal should have a shot at being a superhero. "4 chick. 2 brown Hens" is my favourite thing about this drawing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447704175624-B5X1QTFLW5RMM4NNFWX2/19-Micro+Machines.jpg Old Games 2 - Micro Machines Most of the Micro Machines I had as a kid were cheap knock-offs. I had a fuel station play set. I guess my idea for this game was just that you drive around visiting various buildings. I enjoy how quickly I gave up on colouring the road. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447704176441-54JUQ4ZTHSYYCI0UPTQZ/20-Untitled+Racing+Game.jpg Old Games 2 - Car Stunts No name for this one, but it was almost certainly inspired by ATV Simulator on the C64, which my friend Steven owned. I was kind of obsessed with the idea of driving cars over ramps as a kid. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447704176900-JQ29Y2D3K9SUIMN699D7/23-Fancy+Dress+Party.jpg Old Games 2 - Fancy Dress Party I gave up on Fancy Dress Party pretty quickly. It was a bit optimistic of me to label it 'level 1', as if I would ever make a second level. I think the object of the game was to dress fancily, rather than to wear fancy dress. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447704184198-SFP613F3FKBEJF8RVQVB/37-Alien+Attack.jpg Old Games 2 - Alien Attack Alien Attack is another LCD game, which I never quite finished. I went to the effort of drawing the various LCD sprites, so it was probably a bit later than most of the drawings. This was most likely based on the Tiger Electronics Terminator LCD game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447704184941-S9WTFHNT6C6NEREYPEG3/45-High+Buster.jpg Old Games 2 - 4 Games I got a bit creative with colouring techniques here. High-Buster stars a man in very short shorts, like many of my older drawings where I seemed to have trouble drawing any clothing more complicated than underpants. Zarkon is a side-scrolling shooter where you blast your way through scenery. The enemies in Ogles are actually made up of the letters o, g, l, e and s. Pit Warriors is just based on a screenshot of Barbarian 2 I saw. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447704186934-NP12WY2JCQW7CVGJ6VUZ/66-Trans-Formers.jpg Old Games 2 - Trans-Formers I'm not really sure what to make of this page. Next to all of the drawings I drew close-ups of certain parts of the image. I kind of feel like I wasn't responsible for the first drawing, though. The 'In' and 'Out' signs don't really look like my hand-writing. The top four drawings are seemingly platformers full of insects and ghosts. Trans-Formers was clearly me compensating for the fact that there were no official Transformers games for the Atari 800. The bottom right drawing is of Sky-Diver. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447704187849-KCKX0XTQ2FQ0T8NO4GDX/67-3-D+World.jpg Old Games 2 - 3-D World I'm guessing these were my ideas for a range of Tomytronic 3D LED games. I was always obsessed with the idea of owning one, but I never did. Neither Brain-Box or Tree-Man lend themselves to the format, however. I guess I liked the idea of the branches of a tree sticking out at you? Race fits better, but I couldn't be bothered elaborating on the idea in any way. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447704185190-NFPEUNMSJW255RHQ7AK2/51-Bank+Raid.jpg Old Games 2 - Bank-Raid I assume the idea in Bank-Raid's first screen is to enter the bank whilst avoiding the policeman, on the right. Once inside, you have to make your way through a maze of false walls, which can be pushed around. You goal appears to be a bomb, as opposed to money? Who knows. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447704188625-Q5DWPMBO4RQ84636KW2U/68-Catacoons+%26+More.jpg Old Games 2 - Pen Drawn Games The first two drawings are of Pole Position and Rally Speedway respectively. Gems features a man in his underpants, and a castle that I think my dad drew (I doubt I could deal with isometric projection at the time. Climber is a platformer with some weird slimy walls. Ugley (sic) has pools of slime and was seemingly an experiment to see how stupid I could make the main character look. Catacoons features an unfortunate typo. My dad drew the background and suggested the name, and I drew the poorly-rendered knight. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447704188393-RSTQ7698TT8TD16A3XFT/69-Asteroids.jpg Old Games 2 - Clones I feel like the top game was inspired by some Atari 2600 game in particular, but I can't remember it. The mothership/tractor beam combo is again reminiscent of Lone Raider for the Atari 800. The bottom drawing is just Asteroids. http://giraffe.cat/blog daily 0.75 2024-04-30 http://giraffe.cat/blog/2024/4/30/the-sirena-expedition-postmortem-part-2 monthly 0.5 2024-04-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/fdee6280-8813-4454-9393-f5a844ff54a4/SteamStats2.png Blog - The Sirena Expedition, Postmortem, Part 2 - Make it stand out Wishlists on Steam since the game’s Steam page went live. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/643006cc-584f-4d59-841a-b7cd20e1c817/Steam+Scream+23+Sirena.png Blog - The Sirena Expedition, Postmortem, Part 2 - Make it stand out Key art for the Steam Halloween sale announcement. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/a939bb18-017f-472b-bb20-ef2a0dd50dca/SteamStats1.png Blog - The Sirena Expedition, Postmortem, Part 2 - Make it stand out Sales figures on Steam. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/503e037e-ebb9-415d-b954-5ddd05a6d35b/Gears13.gif Blog - The Sirena Expedition, Postmortem, Part 2 - Make it stand out Playdate Prototype. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/7689d80d-acfc-4774-b6df-764e01474125/Elajjaz.png Blog - The Sirena Expedition, Postmortem, Part 2 - Make it stand out Elajjaz reacting to the ‘helmet reveal’. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/26bb5b76-8ef2-44e2-afdc-b75dc37b3d6f/SteamStats3.png Blog - The Sirena Expedition, Postmortem, Part 2 - Make it stand out Daily active users on Steam. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/b34907ed-5e0a-4287-84bf-e567a9dee9b4/SirenaExpeditionScreenshot04.png Blog - The Sirena Expedition, Postmortem, Part 2 - Make it stand out Atmosphere. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/e52d9967-811e-45ec-91a4-afa84bde4d2c/Nemure_in_Peace.png Blog - The Sirena Expedition, Postmortem, Part 2 - Make it stand out Nemure_In_Peace reacting to the second ‘helmet reveal’. http://giraffe.cat/blog/2024/4/11/the-sirena-expedition-post-mortem-part-1 monthly 0.5 2024-04-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/fc07de27-5dce-4b67-bb7a-2a0b8178f1f2/BlockTooFar.gif Blog - The Sirena Expedition, Postmortem, Part 1 - Make it stand out The distance the player can teleport can feel arbitrary. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/4782dbc1-bcdf-4868-a100-c83593c99658/RooftopPlatforming.png Blog - The Sirena Expedition, Postmortem, Part 1 - Make it stand out An overview of the Rooftop Platforming section. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/6e3d8661-44b3-455e-a870-9c1e671cfb3f/StorageRoom2.png Blog - The Sirena Expedition, Postmortem, Part 1 - Make it stand out One of the three main walls in the Storage room, showing three routes the player can take. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/c11e1d6c-c75e-48f4-b07f-ae088a527084/BlockTeleport2.gif Blog - The Sirena Expedition, Postmortem, Part 1 - Make it stand out Swapping places with a block. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1fae3461-ef62-4050-b4ee-4d613d21cb07/BlockDebug1.gif Blog - The Sirena Expedition, Postmortem, Part 1 - Make it stand out Visualisation of how the teleportation mechanics select a target. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/53e8ea35-aee4-4660-a5cc-3a4fad902ca0/RooftopBlocks.png Blog - The Sirena Expedition, Postmortem, Part 1 - Make it stand out Two spots in the Rooftop section where blocks that you might have missed are highlighted. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/3e50442c-8bc2-4a1c-846a-5d2d02b15c5a/Jam-ReleaseComparison.png Blog - The Sirena Expedition, Postmortem, Part 1 - Make it stand out Comparison between the Game Jam build (left) and release build (right). http://giraffe.cat/blog/2021/9/15/the-sirena-expedition-post-mortem-part-2-underwater-happenings monthly 0.5 2024-04-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1631724056570-8FUNMYOE5KIAAJ08QSCX/FogMaterial.png Blog - The Sirena Expedition Jam version, Postmortem Part 2 - Underwater Happenings - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1633956943008-BO0MF62OESJYJAIDT2YH/Ambience.png Blog - The Sirena Expedition Jam version, Postmortem Part 2 - Underwater Happenings - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1631725896080-PXZ7NWQPSTZMQ8Q7K558/WavyMaterial.png Blog - The Sirena Expedition Jam version, Postmortem Part 2 - Underwater Happenings - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. http://giraffe.cat/blog/2021/9/13/the-sirena-expedition-post-mortem-part-1-emulating-the-playstation-and-level-design monthly 0.5 2024-04-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1631552787773-DG8IMUHXTUY3Y4W0CW2C/LevelLayout1.jpg Blog - The Sirena Expedition Jam version, Postmortem Part 1 - Emulating the PlayStation, and Level Design - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1631547860738-N7C47IDP9SC81Y6YH5J4/Screenshot2.png Blog - The Sirena Expedition Jam version, Postmortem Part 1 - Emulating the PlayStation, and Level Design - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1631550639952-9O4YIMDYLBSO6GH2GN99/BSP.png Blog - The Sirena Expedition Jam version, Postmortem Part 1 - Emulating the PlayStation, and Level Design - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1631552808018-E8KF3EDDYBLEC275EJLS/LevelLayout2.jpg Blog - The Sirena Expedition Jam version, Postmortem Part 1 - Emulating the PlayStation, and Level Design - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. http://giraffe.cat/blog/2021/7/23/haunted-ps1-summer-of-shivers-jam-dev-diary-1 monthly 0.5 2021-09-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1627060808115-1QS6JAB64JJNWQ8BTDMA/Aquanaut1.gif Blog - Haunted PS1 Summer of Shivers Jam, Dev Diary #1 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. http://giraffe.cat/blog/2021/7/9/project-clockwork-dev-diary-2 monthly 0.5 2021-07-09 http://giraffe.cat/blog/2021/6/28/project-clockwork-dev-diary-1 monthly 0.5 2021-06-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1624894457680-3MJ0L8MOTN84K63LNECZ/Gears13.gif Blog - Project Clockwork Dev Diary #1 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. http://giraffe.cat/blog/2017/1/7/business-guys-on-planes monthly 0.5 2017-01-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1483788839247-HE1WXSYQAQGD68R27HUN/image-asset.png Blog - Business Guys on Planes http://giraffe.cat/blog/2015/11/23/childhood-game-design-part-4 monthly 0.5 2016-05-06 http://giraffe.cat/blog/2016/4/7/nineties-cockpit-freakout-is-at-egx-rezzed monthly 0.5 2016-04-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1460063093325-1HJH6PL826KIKW74MRUA/image-asset.jpeg Blog - Nineties Cockpit Freakout is at EGX Rezzed! http://giraffe.cat/blog/2015/11/19/childhood-game-design-part-3 monthly 0.5 2015-11-19 http://giraffe.cat/blog/2015/11/16/childhood-game-design-part-2 monthly 0.5 2015-11-18 http://giraffe.cat/blog/2015/11/15/childhood-game-design-part-1 monthly 0.5 2015-11-15 http://giraffe.cat/blog/category/Dev+Diary monthly 0.5 http://giraffe.cat/blog/tag/game+development monthly 0.5 http://giraffe.cat/blog/tag/project+clockwork monthly 0.5 http://giraffe.cat/old-games-1 daily 0.75 2016-05-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447585644644-OHYFA0VEJRKEXB25TO1N/70-Space+Maze+1.jpg Old Games 1 - Space Maze Levels 1 and 2 This game doesn't have a name here, but I found a later drawing where I recreated it and named it. The first screen appears to be inspired by Lone Raider on the Atari 800, which had a maze-like level, and also levels where you got beamed in and out of a mothership. I think the second screen was mostly drawn by someone else, a collection of shapes which I added to and drew a stickman at the bottom of. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447585644644-OHYFA0VEJRKEXB25TO1N/70-Space+Maze+1.jpg Old Games 1 - Space Maze Levels 1 and 2 This game doesn't have a name here, but I found a later drawing where I recreated it and named it. The first screen appears to be inspired by Lone Raider on the Atari 800, which had a maze-like level, and also levels where you got beamed in and out of a mothership. I think the second screen was mostly drawn by someone else, a collection of shapes which I added to and drew a stickman at the bottom of. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447585644392-0SG5KCVJXP1KLV65ZRYM/71-Space+Maze+2.jpg Old Games 1 - Space Maze Level 3 I'm not sure what the intention with this level was, but the lines on either side imply that it plays like Pong. It seems most likely that it was inspired by the Atari 800XL Pong clone Video Classics/Blip, which had a mode set in space with two asteroids floating around. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447585643780-3ACHD6T36FBKB6ENX030/32-Unnamed+Games.jpg Old Games 1 - Unnamed Games These are all pretty abstract, and I don't remember anything about them. I assume the car in the second game is supposed to have a gun turret on top of it, not a Google Streetview camera. The final game has a snake/crocodile hybrid probably inspired by the crocodiles from Donkey Kong Jr, which features in a number of my drawings. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447585643955-P68S68D19TJNO8F0YC27/09-Hill+%26+Finder.jpg Old Games 1 - Hill & Finder Hill sort of looks like it started with a drawing of some hills, to which I just added a bunch of things to collect/avoid. I assume you control the snowmobile thing in the top left. The Donkey Kong Jr crocodile returns in Finder! The player presumably controls the blue car-with-a-drill-on-the-front, which was inspired by the cars from Indy 500 on the Atari 2600. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447585646098-LW6Z84N7Z2O31Q6W447Q/08-Binbag.jpg Old Games 1 - Eat 'em Up, Binbag, Zapp Head Eat em Up looks like I was going for a Pac-Man clone, but couldn't be bothered drawing an entire maze. Binbag is a game that I would genuinely play. I could be wrong about this, but I feel like the wrecking ball was inspired by the boss from the end of the third level of Robocop on the Atari ST, which would date it at around 1990. Zapp Head is self-explanatory. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447585645239-4OQH6RZSO1IR495Y3GH9/72-The+Troll.jpg Old Games 1 - The Troll & Big Trouble in Little China The Troll looks pretty boring. I re-imagined it in a later drawing, and added an actual troll, which is sorely lacking from this drawing. I would probably have seen Big Trouble in Little China in 1988, which I means I was probably 7 when I drew this. It shows. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447585645809-NV7XQ4XIU2VSWOW9ZUZJ/73-Dune+%26+Bye-Lock.jpg Old Games 1 - Assorted Games From the same sheet of paper as The Troll and Big Trouble in Little China. All I knew about Dune was that it had sand-worms in it, which I obviously drew as a brown snake. Bye-Lock sounds like it was just a phrase that popped into my head. I did actually play Pole Position 2 in an arcade, but I'm not sure where I got the banked track from. In Space sort of looks like Space Combat with fortresses. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447618727969-143N0LO9IQO0UJCO3OBE/28-Adventure+1.jpg Old Games 1 - Adventure Clone, Page 1 This was drawn on four pages torn out of a school notebook, and is clearly inspired by Adventure on the Atari 2600. Like most people, I assumed the dragon I saw in screenshots was some kind of bird, but I also assumed that you played as it. The crocodile/snakes make a return, and this time they clearly have legs. There is also a dagger and two diamonds, for some reason. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447618728908-7O5HBYS8JTNDCZG6Z6FA/29-Adventure+2.jpg Old Games 1 - Adventure Clone, Page 2 This one gets a bit further away from what Adventure was, featuring a battleship, a bipedal robot, and some kind of mechanical swan. I don't really know what I was thinking. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447618730023-NT97FRSZEOI1LFQIFSJN/30-Adventure+3.jpg Old Games 1 - Adventure Clone, Page 3 You have won! The final screen features three brick walls, two wooden trap-doors, and two yellow things that look like beaks. There appears to be a castle at the top, which is your reward for victory. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447618729921-5GGMKVTMAOEFVHNWQ2Y3/31-I+Don%27t+Know+What+This+Is.jpg Old Games 1 - What Is This I don't know what this is. It was on the back page of the Adventure Clone. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447618731089-BGMXBA93C3YXFGFYYAHU/46-Save+the+Wale.jpg Old Games 1 - Save The Wale (sic) A number of my drawings took the form of LCD games, although it's hard to tell from Save The Wale as I drew everything in colour. There's a distinct lack of understanding of ergonomic controls, but I think a lot of LCD games from the period got this wrong, too. The presence of a punch button implies that you have to save the whale through the application of violence. I'm not sure what the coloured dots in both the main image and the small screenshot are meant to represent; a jellyfish, maybe? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447618731852-VC9V47K4LX7QZV3N4I1L/47-Alien+Invaders.jpg Old Games 1 - Alien Invaders Alien Invaders is another LCD game from the same page as Save the Wale. Helpfully, the buttons for Left and Right are reversed. The first level seems to play like Asteroids, except that you play as the alien ship that appears periodically. In level 2 it seems like you have to abduct people. The second half of the page seems like a failed drawing of Save the Wale that I gave up on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447618724367-KILWY2LQNC0I3BH69JAL/62-Bug+Lift+%26+Others.jpg Old Games 1 - 5 Games David and Goliath must have been around the time I was learning about the story in religion class at school (This becomes kind of a running theme later, with absurd results). Fly Trap is pretty straight-forward. The red object on the left appear to be a box full of plant food. Man-Hole appears to feature a long-fingered Hulk. Ghosts! is clearly from the time when I was obsessed with the Ghostbusters game on the Atari 800. Bug Lift looks like a kind of reverse Pooyan, where you have to shoot insects scrolling upwards. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447618725734-DUI168VYE6H09IAWLUR5/10-Odd+Corse.jpg Old Games 1 - Speed + Power & Odd Corse (sic) Looking at it now, I can't tell if Speed + Power was supposed to be a motor racing game, or an athletics game. That's what I get for representing things with dots. Odd Corse, with its misspelled title, is basically just a collection of things that I threw together. I never drew level 2. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447618724739-WD70TYDHZYOXAB4P9ZIA/63-The+Fly+1.jpg Old Games 1 - The Fly, Page 1 When I was around 7 or 8, I found a drawing at school that one of the younger children had made that appeared to be of a bunk-bed. As I was playing a lot of Donkey Kong at the time, I drew some characters over the top of it, and used it as the backdrop for a platformer called The Fly. I was hoping to find the original drawing, but all I found was this booklet that I made describing the game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447618726117-WYYUD4464BQJ291AG3PL/64-The+Fly+2.jpg Old Games 1 - The Fly, Pages 2 & 3 'The Fly is a game of skill and quick reaction'. I feel like this was taken from something else, or maybe my dad suggested it. I replicated the original drawing here, but it's quite hard to make a lot of it out. The description on the right reads: "When you eat the power block you can kill the wellwhos. But watch out it doesn't last long. The idea of the game is to rescue the Princess Fly. Have a look on the other page, if you look closely some of the wellwhos have a spot on them and when you eat them they give you more power to eat more wellwhos. How to play: Move the fly up the ladder". I feel like 'wellwhos' was a misspelling of 'wheelos'. I clearly intended to create more levels, but stopped mid-way through describing the first. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447618728320-VL102S4AHSSJO3XFMBAN/27-Star+Wars.jpg Old Games 1 - Star Wars 1 & 2 More interesting misapprehensions. The two Star Wars drawings on the left were based on screenshots of the Empire Strikes Back for the Atari 2600, but I incorrectly assumed that you played as the AT-AT, so in level 2 I drew it in a side-scrolling platformer. Star Wars 2 was probably based on a screenshot of Jedi Arena for the Atari 2600, hence the circular arena, but with gameplay that was more like Space War. I have no idea what's happening in the final image. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447618726853-VRWG8CLOSNLXK6TNBGYC/16-Street+War.jpg Old Games 1 - Street War Trilogy The Street War series consists of three top-down games in which you play as a car with a large gun mounted on top of it. Again, clearly influenced by Adventure, but I just drew a load of arbitrary shapes for enemies. The top left image probably wasn't anything to do with games, it was just a drawing that I'd done which I wasn't happy with, so I decided to use the rest of the sheet of paper. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447618732762-NMUJ99DO4NIRHOZDZQGU/50-Computer.jpg Old Games 1 - Computer I don't really know why several of the games here are labelled 'Computer'. The top left image is very similar to the first page of the Adventure clone I drew, and the top right image is the same as the forth drawing from those pages. I get the impression that I made these drawings afterwards. Everything else is kind of mixed up; there a rocket launch second from the left at the top, a kind of stacked Space Invaders clone to the right of that, two Pole Position clones below them (One of which added the innovation of a brick wall in the middle of the track), and a skiing game which seems to imply that I thought the aim of slalom skiing was to jump over tennis nets. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447618727230-SKQOM303BMHWN4KDKN7S/22-Look+Out+Below.jpg Old Games 1 - Look Out Below Look Out Below presumably starts with you being kicked off a building and having to climb your way back up. It was probably inspired by Stuntman for the Atari 800, which I haven't been able to find any screenshots or videos of! It was pretty similar to the 2600 Spiderman game, at any rate. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447618730604-4K8IPQNVJMD72D4ZME5I/44-Speed+Race.jpg Old Games 1 - Speed Race Speed Race is Pole Position with guns. Pole Position's billboards were something I assumed all racing games had to have. http://giraffe.cat/other-peoples-games daily 0.75 2016-05-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447961721069-9F1LLNT9UJ988N573QF9/01-Farter+%28Front%29.jpg Other People's Games - Farter Farter was my sister's attempt at an LCD game. The machine is shaped like a cloud of fart. It has a Fart! button. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447961721069-9F1LLNT9UJ988N573QF9/01-Farter+%28Front%29.jpg Other People's Games - Farter Farter was my sister's attempt at an LCD game. The machine is shaped like a cloud of fart. It has a Fart! button. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447961720994-GMA6YB6TMTQUK96ICEJ8/02-Farter+%28Back%29.jpg Other People's Games - Farter: Instructions My sister's writing is much easier to read than mine, but I'm going to transcribe this anyway, because it's funny: "You have to escape from the baddies by blowing a fart at them. Each fart slows them down. Collect the fart captules and you will be give 4 farts. If you run out of farts you lose a life. Each level is harder. Good luck on your farting." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447961722248-AEJGRU8YSG5WO3JMQ27Y/03-BlueFart.jpg Other People's Games - Blue Fart The first drawing here is actually one of mine. I never named it, but it seems to involve running from a tiger in a jungle. The remaining two are by my sister: Blue Fart seems to have only one aim, which is to do a fart. My Head Is Sunkan Inn! explains very little. My sister always had a stranger imagination than I did. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447961723809-OU74IUND00I6ZMOFF807/11-CocoPops.jpg Other People's Games - Coco Pops I'm pretty sure Coagri was a drawing of the wrapping paper from an orange that my sister had added a level and lives display to. I think the drawing underneath it is actually Fancy Papper Cloctor 2, which means it was a sequel to the game I posted last time and not, as I initially thought, the game that I'd based my drawing on. The rest of the page is taken up by Super Game: The Surch For Coco Pops. The top drawing seems to be based on Jungle Hunt, but everything else is copied from the back of a box of Coco Pops. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447961727909-MAR7OZPBWPJCBTW1OJJB/21-Hello.jpg Other People's Games - Hello Hello. "You have to say hello to the other guy". A game that spawned a number of sequels, the first of which was in my previous post, and drawn by me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447961723678-4D7PJHBZPZA9Q0DH2NMO/12-Me%21+Me%21+Me%21.jpg Other People's Games - Me! Me! Me! This was the first of a collection of four drawings that came in a small, hand-made envelope. In Me! Me! Me!, 'You have to gusse witch is me. Harder levels each time'. The instructions for You! You! You! read, 'Same as 'Me!' only differnt people'. Mum! Mum! Mum!'s instructions read 'Same as Me Mum You.' https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447961725340-C6IGDJ2QIUANKCJIXO3M/13-Clascill+Tapes.jpg Other People's Games - Clascill Tapes Clascill Tapes is the second drawing from the envelope of games. The instructions read 'Dad has to pick the right tape. If he picks the wrong one he dies'. My Dad went through a phase of listening to a lot of classical music, which no doubt inspired this one. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447961725626-KUYJ1MXHDPU6FTXJN4BF/14-Hello+Again+3.jpg Other People's Games - Hello Again 3 Hello Again 3's instructions simply read, 'You know how to play. Good luck'. I haven't been able to find Hello Again 2. The third game in the series seems to add little except improved graphics. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447961728168-DARHGAK1QECXHZ82PYYG/15-Number+One.jpg Other People's Games - Number One!! Number One!! is the final drawing from the envelope of games. The instructions read, 'You have to find the magizine called Number One'. Presumably the gameplay was similar to Clascill Tapes. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447961728739-L80YEDGLG6EX02YKM28V/53-Cat+Rescue.jpg Other People's Games - Cat Rescue! I'm pretty sure Cat Rescue! is one of my sister's, although the drawing of the man with boxing gloves kind of looks like something I'd do. That's definitely her handwriting though. The game itself seems like it may have been inspired by Cuthbert Goes Walkabout. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447961729278-ULIUROAGVOVY1C5L8UMM/54-Cat+Rescue+Jr+1.jpg Other People's Games - Cat Rescue Jr. The title screen for Cat Rescue Jr., in which the pink cats from Cat Rescue are still being held hostage, by ants, and must this time be rescued by a black and white cat instead of a person. The naming of this game, as a sequel, was almost certainly inspired by Donkey Kong and its sequel, Donkey Kong Jr. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447961729931-VONO08OP4ADDQ7LYNY3J/55-Cat+Rescue+Jr+2.jpg Other People's Games - Cat Rescue Jr The game itself is clearly inspired by Donkey Kong with its ladders, and Donkey Kong Jr with its keys. Whereas Cat Rescue! featured a fairly nondescript bug, the enemies in Cat Rescue Jr are clearly ants. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447961730480-S1141DC5GM10FQPFP8G2/65-The+Ant.jpg Other People's Games - The Ant! I'm actually not sure if my sister drew this or not; The Ant! has more in common with Cat Rescue Jr than it does with my games, and that doesn't look like my handwriting. The gun with legs does look like something I'd draw, though. Overall I'm putting it here because it was on the same kind of paper as Cat Rescue and Cat Rescue Jr. I feel like the game may have been a sequel to The Fly. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447961731249-KH1X57F0YLMDML3MW8W4/75-Maria+1.jpg Other People's Games - Sprites So this is the piece of paper with Maria's drawing on it. It was a very wide piece of paper, with drawings on both sides, so I've had to split it across four images. This first one features drawings that I think were mine, which I'd drawn grids around. I think the reason I did this was because I'd seen images of how sprites were designed using graph paper in a magazine. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447961731950-RNV5KKCGP9852QVJE8DW/76-Maria+2.jpg Other People's Games - Various Games Again, I think these are all mine, but the messiness of them implies that they're among the earliest drawings I have. They feature a number of centipedes, ghosts, spaceships and insects. The central image is of a game where you control a ship avoiding boulders falling into a canyon, and seems oddly familiar to me. The last drawing at the bottom is at of a pyramid with two pillars on either side of it, with electricity arcing between them, and may have been inspired by the showdown with Gozer from Ghostbusters (The movie, not the game). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447961732444-N4R9NFGOAPK0761NKXLF/77-Maria+3.jpg Other People's Games - More Sprites Same technique as before of drawing a shape and placing a grid around it. I supposed the intention was to choose which pixels would be part of the sprite based on how much of the drawing filled each box, but I never actually did that. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447961733260-E93YJVWOPZPJUOYJ849T/78-Maria+4.jpg Other People's Games - 3Ti This, finally, is Maria's drawing, on the left. From what I remember, it represents a graveyard, with a witch and two ghosts. The witch and the ghosts were probably drawn by me. The drawing on the right was a tracing of an outline of a stain on the paper. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447961733642-J8QKRHRIZV96J9SXLNG7/79-Bungle+in+the+Jungle.jpg Other People's Games - Bungle in the Jungle Bungle in the Jungle is the first of Andrew's games. The layout of the game resembles board games more than it does video games, which presumably was his main frame of reference. I did have three other drawings of his that I wasn't able to find: Watch the Birdies, Haunted Hill of Horrors, and Best in the West, starring Billy the Kid. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447961734122-QK1WLUE7MJ06J4XT60J1/80-Scared+of+Heights.jpg Other People's Games - Scared of Heights Scared of Heights is probably the least like a board game. It looks pretty chaotic, though. I don't think anyone's getting out of this alive. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1447961734722-5LQFC3G8W8NJAI6G8DAV/81-Monster+Masher.jpg Other People's Games - Monster Masher Monster Masher is a series of fights against various grotesque monsters! The final enemy is a cobra, which seems like a bit of an anti-climax. http://giraffe.cat/new-gallery daily 0.75 2016-05-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1448315363448-159C4G0JN4L59SXL17SP/48-ASCII+9.jpg ASCII & ZX81 - Hello Again I'm not sure where this version of Hello Again fits into the series canon, but it seems like a straight ASCII remake of my sister's game 'Hello'. Javilin was inspired by Los Angeles 1984 for the Atari 800, a port of Track & Field. Superman places you as the superhero in a world where every criminal is attempting to rob a bank. I honestly have no idea what's happening in Space Mines. I think I may have got the name from a book of type-in program listings. Duck Hunt is an ASCII version of the NES light gun game. Rally Car is another Pole Position clone, and clearly shows that I knew nothing about motorsports. Beetles is a top-down insect shooter, and Spiderman is an ASCII version of the Atari 2600 game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1448315363448-159C4G0JN4L59SXL17SP/48-ASCII+9.jpg ASCII & ZX81 - Hello Again I'm not sure where this version of Hello Again fits into the series canon, but it seems like a straight ASCII remake of my sister's game 'Hello'. Javilin was inspired by Los Angeles 1984 for the Atari 800, a port of Track & Field. Superman places you as the superhero in a world where every criminal is attempting to rob a bank. I honestly have no idea what's happening in Space Mines. I think I may have got the name from a book of type-in program listings. Duck Hunt is an ASCII version of the NES light gun game. Rally Car is another Pole Position clone, and clearly shows that I knew nothing about motorsports. Beetles is a top-down insect shooter, and Spiderman is an ASCII version of the Atari 2600 game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1448315363495-NDDW46LMCGXSI9MECL5D/49-ASCII+10.jpg ASCII & ZX81 - St. Patrick St. Patrick starts a tradition of 'games based on things that I was learning about in history class at school'. Jumper is a very simple Mario-style platformer that also starts something of a tradition. Dragon has you riding a dragon and fighting other dragons. Neither dragons can fly, seemingly. Miner's mines are land mines, as opposed to coal mines. A subtle distinction. Food Fight is again based on the Atari 800 game that I never played. I was kind of obsessed with it for some reason. Marathon was an interesting twist on my interminable Pole Position clones, in that it featured an athlete instead of a car. I... don't know how Mines is different from Miner. Space Whomp has you shooting space whomps. From what I remember, the whomps would rotate around the central circle and attempt to hit you. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1448315364893-09MLU5IZYMLJIQQ1LMC2/56-ASCII+11.jpg ASCII & ZX81 - My Bill The top-left drawing is actually the total cost of two school books I'd bought. I appropriated the rest of the page for game drawings; most of these are quite hard to make out. Top right is Craft, a top-down horizontal-scrolling shooter where you fly over a street shooting... birds? Shooting was probably inspired by Army Days for the Commodore 64; I'm pretty sure there was a level where you shot at tanks, but I haven't been able to find a video of it. Pich Run looks like it should have been an American Football game, but was probably actually just about running on a school Sports Day. Canoes looks like it may have been influenced by a screenshot I saw of Colorado for the Atari ST. In Rays you shoot people with ray guns. Defend! is just Kaboom!, but played right-to-left instead of top-to-bottom. Monser is a typo of Monster, and has you shooting at a monster in a forest. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1448315364969-7KF1S3677VVD7BUS9P1N/57-ASCII+12.jpg ASCII & ZX81 - Jump! Jump! is also based on Los Angeles 1984 for the Atario 800; specifically the high jump game. Farmin' is a fairly dry-looking simulation of running a farm. Conversely, Slurry gives you a shield and tasks you with defending yourself from pig-excrement being expelled from a slurry spreader. Jump! II is the long jump game from Los Angeles 1984. Vampire appears to be identical to the Superman game from a couple of pages back, except that you're now evil. Hi-Rise appears to be a top-down shooter where you fly a plane. Formula 1 is another Pole Position clone, except that it adds something I always wanted from Pole Position: A map showing your current position. In Space! you are an astronaut that has to jump over hurdles and avoid low-flying spaceships. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1448315360226-YKWI79AFDX8YGSX4GM61/40-ASCII+5.jpg ASCII & ZX81 - Wooden Horse 'Games based on things I was learning about in history class' is about to go into overdrive over the next few pages. Wooden Horse is clearly based on the wooden horse of Troy, although it's unclear what the gameplay could possibly be. Alien is kind of like Space Invaders, with a mothership that abducts your ground ships. Columbus was another gem mined from history class. Caveman puts you in charge of defending your cave from.. a horse? Space Invaders is a simplistic ASCII port. King's House is a quiz game where you have to answer questions to build a house out of blocks. For a king. Invasion is a clone of Scramble. Piano lets you record a sequence of notes and play it back. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1448315360407-78CZCKN8M90TYEZ3CDGZ/41-ASCII+6.jpg ASCII & ZX81 - Pirate Hockey was based on Major League Hockey for the Atari 800. Pirate is pretty ambitious, although all three levels seem to involve largely similar combat. I'm also not sure whether the second pirate in level 3 is standing on top of a shack or something, or whether he has massive legs. Hover is a typo of 'Hoover', and seems to be a game where you vacuum up bombs. I don't quite know what Hell is about, but I made judicious use of the ^ symbol. Flyer is a vertically-scrolling shoot-'em-up, and Platforms is basically just Bomb Fusion. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1448315361838-XWZKJCMO88Q60N3S9Z5O/42-ASCII+7.jpg ASCII & ZX81 - Volley Ball Volley Ball is a pretty boring-looking sports game. Kratae is horribly misspelt, and probably based on Bruce Lee for the C64. Both Asteroids and Centipede were attempts to recreate the arcade games. Diving was probably based on one of the many Olympics sports collections. I don't remember anything about Jumblies, but it seems to involve a kind of sea monster. Fire! Fire! was based on Fire Fighter for the Atari 2600. Grace Darling is another game inspired by what I was learning about in history class; rescue the survivors of a shipwreck by ferrying back and forth in a small boat, one at a time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1448315361900-GILCY60NE36155VXUYWK/43-ASCII+8.jpg ASCII & ZX81 - The Cliff The Cliff appears to be a game in which you throw a rope to the top of a small cliff, and then climb up it. I don't think you were supposed to avoid the birds, they were just there for added realism. Horse Race looks like fun. Flight Simulator was never going to work as an actual game, but allowed me to imagine what the cockpit of an aeroplane would look like in ASCII. With a bird for added realism. Knights Quest features a castle surrounded by what I assume were supposed to be dragons. Rescue the princess, woo. I don't really know what my intention with Fart was, other than that you're trapped in a maze full of fart, and you have to escape whilst holding your breath. William Tell is another game from history class. Surfing was most likely based on California Games' surfing event. With a bird for added realism. Golf implies that I thought most golf courses had a building of some description near the green. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1448315358650-GXCUFZJKTRWA3BBQXNRR/38-ASCII+3.jpg ASCII & ZX81 - Fee Fair Skatebordin' is a top-down racing game featuring a skateboard roughly the size of a car. The rest of this sheet is taken up by various drawings of a fun fair simulator, many of which are pretty ambitious. Fee Fair featured an arcade game, first-person dodgems and a roller coaster, and a ride that spins you around. The last two don't seem hugely interactive. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1448315358780-KNQ12M16V8FSHDWZK3H8/39-ASCII+4.jpg ASCII & ZX81 - Ghostbusters Ghostbusters is just an ASCII rendition of the Atari 800 game of the same name. This was probably drawn in 1989 or 1990, around the same time as the previous ASCII drawings. I think I found this sheet in about 1994, and added the remaining games to it, in the ZX81 style that I'd moved onto, starting with a pretty wonky rendition of Street Fighter 2. Fast Football was an attempt to do something slightly dynamic and 3-dimensional. Miner is a side-scrolling platform game. Alien Alert seems to involve fending off UFOs from a rooftop. Hole is a vertical platformer that doesn't seem like it would be out of place as a modern post-Spelunky roguelike. Its main character is identical to that of Jumper, but that's almost certainly just because of the limitations of a two-character-high sprite. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1448315357057-YBKPQMUG2EDA57DYTV3G/05-ASCII+1.jpg ASCII & ZX81 - Attack!! Attack!! is a one-on-one beat-'em-up where I decided that the best way to make your opponent intimidating was to just make them twice the size of the player character (Final Fight and Double Dragon did this all the time). Skyscraper I think has you on top of a building, fighting people that climb up the sides. Notice how I got bored of drawing the windows. Jack the Ripper shows a startling lack of awareness of the horror of the source crimes. Piccy is the first of a number of 'games' where I just tried to draw something cool with the ZX81 character set. Heli's almost certainly based on Silkworm, which let you control both a helicopter and a Jeep. Boxing was an attempt to get to grips with perspective. Racing looks intensely unfair, given your car is almost exactly the same size as the road. Starship is just a bunch of shapes. Cross Country appears to be a top-down racing game where you control people running, and was probably inspired by Codemasters' BMX Simulator. I appear to have lost the second game in the Jumper series; Jumper III adds some much needed verticality, in the form of a mountain. Knite is a poorly-spelled one-on-one fighting game. I got bored of drawing Chess almost immediately after I started. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1448315356807-K8O2I7GAUE3R0ULAY0CW/06-ASCII+2.jpg ASCII & ZX81 - Cycling Cycling is based on the BMX mode from California Games. Space Ace was my attempt to port the shitty laserdisc game to the ZX81. I'm pretty sure Bart Simpson was drawn before I'd ever watched The Simpsons, so it made sense to me that he would be punching a dog? I don't know. Cats!! features two actual cats we had. Cat "n" Mouse was just another top-down racing game. Jumper IV turns the series on its head by switching to a top-down perspective! The three sprites at the bottom were intended to show the character's jumping animation. St. Dragon is a ZX81 translation of Saint Dragon, and was probably based on a screenshot. Killer Tomatoes was based on the 90's cartoon Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, which in turn was based on the 70s film of the same name. Teeth is just a game where you eat things. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1448315366238-IEES9TZ3N3RAWATCDW4C/59-ZX81+2.jpg ASCII & ZX81 - Robo This is the first of four pages that were pulled out of a school notebook, which I seemed to use initially to just redraw ASCII games from earlier pieces of paper, but then ended up drawing ZX81 games on. I assume Robo has you playing as the square-headed robot in the middle. Airplane was possibly intended to be a side-scrolling simulation of landing a plane, I think. The three people in the top right indicate the number of lives you have remaining. Everything else on this page is redrawn from one of the earlier pages. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1448315367273-FTAO74DM5SPLGB0OMZ9N/58-ZX81+1.jpg ASCII & ZX81 - Karate I don't think Karate is a remake of Kratae, as it doesn't feature a ladder. I did at least learn to spell the word correctly. Turtles is based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game, which I played on holiday in Coventry in 1990. Sea packs a diver, and octopus and a sea urchin into limited space. Jumper V switches up the perspective again, this time going for an isometric vibe, like Zaxxon. Piccy 2 depicts a spaceship crashing into the ground. Chopper is another ambitious flight simulator, this time having both an external view and a cockpit view on screen at the same time. Jet-Packin' has a vertical orientation because of how badly I drew the grid lines, but is actually quite relevant in the mobile age. Night Frights is another Adventure-style game, and was mostly an excuse to draw a skeleton. Disappointingly, you appear to have to shoot fish in Diver. I think the next game is called Arny, as opposed to Army, and might be a game about Arnold Schwarzenegger? Demons Lair doesn't have an apostrophe, but it does have a cool demon head. I don't know why my cool-looking 3D ball-racing game is called Killer!. Race Fever is another Rally Speedway clone. Piccy 3 is a half-assed drawing of a house. Blast It! is both a title and an imperative. Santa is a remake of Special Delivery for the Atari 800. Ninja's protagonist doesn't have any arms. Circus features four games crammed into one screen, and is based on Fiendish Freddy's Big Top O'Fun. Air Games features hoverboards, and I guess Surfin' does as well. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1448315368100-ZTRRZ41T749MNQESTA7L/60-ZX81+3.jpg ASCII & ZX81 - Crash-Dive Circle-o-Graph was an attempt to draw a spirograph-style game, but I abandoned it when I realised it would be basically impossible with the ZX81 restrictions I was imposing on myself. Crash-Dive seems to involve landing a spacecraft on a planet. I even drew the atmosphere! Turrican is a remake of the Atari ST version of the game. I don't know what my intention was with Sequences; It looks like you had to draw a car with ZX81 characters in the first screen, and then drive it in the second screen. Jet Ski is a game that I very nearly made in STOS Basic. Best Piccy in the World is a picture of a dinosaur. It's all right. Dino-Hunt features a T-Rex, a Pterodactyl and what looks like a Brachiosaurus. Another Piccy is a picture of a heart. I was running out of ideas at this point, obviously. Devil's Domain features a winged demon, and what I assume is the player's character, an angel. Alien Zone is just another collection of things. Double Dragon II might actually be based on Double Dragon III - The Rosetta Stone. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1448315369442-DPKKMQIB06EHRN0ENKDE/61-ZX81+4.jpg ASCII & ZX81 - Star Wars Star Wars features a ZX81 Darth Vader, and appears to be mostly based on The Empire Strikes Back on the Atari 2600. WWF is based on WWF Wrestlemania on the Atari ST. Xenon II is also based on the Atari ST version of the game. Lotus 2 is based on Lotus Turbo Challenge 2. Jumper VI: Time Warp is the first game in the series to have a subtitle, and though it's hard to tell, is played from a perspective behind the character. I assume that's supposed to be a river in front of him. Rampage is based on the arcade game, but I couldn't be bothered drawing more than one building. Tarraparranarrax is stupid. Rambo is based on the C64 version of the game. Asser Fart and Al Jarreau were both drawn by my sister, attempting to copy the ZX81 style by drawing horizontal and vertical lines everywhere. Ghostbusters is again based on the Atari 800 game, but specifically the Slimer sections. Pit is quite vague about its potential gameplay. Motorbike is another twist on my Pole Position clones, but was probably more based on Super Hang On. Prepare to Die features a large winged enemy that I think was supposed to be a humanoid bee. Witch is a picture of a witch. Superman shows I was clearly running out of motivation, and Dog Fight goes against my trend of re-imagining contemporary 16-bit games for the ZX81, by being a remake of Space War. http://giraffe.cat/dot-gobbler daily 0.75 2017-01-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1483790669164-OO1HFL4CW2FRXPVM9GTB/Screenshot2.png Dot Gobbler https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1483790669164-OO1HFL4CW2FRXPVM9GTB/Screenshot2.png Dot Gobbler https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1483790675891-V9XZJBX4SWDTJ8J7PCGD/Screenshot3.png Dot Gobbler http://giraffe.cat/business-guys-on-planes daily 0.75 2019-08-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1483792115709-P1A9AL3UGE7W6XZH6RAV/TitleScreen2.jpg Business Guys on Planes https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/563dfbeee4b055bc3c43534a/1483792115709-P1A9AL3UGE7W6XZH6RAV/TitleScreen2.jpg Business Guys on Planes 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