‘Retro’ visual aesthetics are everywhere. They’re in the games we used to play, they’re in marketing, pixel art. It’s a movement. It’s part of our cultural consciousness. But it’s easy to forget that the ‘pixel’ look was a result of processing limitations. How did it all work? This video does a phenomenal job of explaining all that.
It’s honestly fascinating, and it’s all to do with these grids.
I’m not the kind of person who normally enjoys wallowing in the technical details of video games — how they work, why they work — but this video does such a tremendous job of breaking down all the details of early video game visuals in a way that the layman can process. I found it utterly fascinating. I’m sure for a number of you, especially those who work in the games industry, this will be elementary stuff but I
I also can’t unsee it. I’m looking at footage of old video games and all I’m seeing is goddamn grids.
I am inside the Matrix now.
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