Watching the young ‘uns today playing games like Minecraft takes me back to the late 80s / early 90s when I used to create graphics for the Commodore Amiga using tools such as Deluxe paint and Photon paint. The resolutions we had back then plus the number of available colours were not as great as they are today. We had to learn techniques such as anti-aliasing and cross-hatching to give the illusion of smooth graphics with less rigid edges.
Why people want games with blocky-looking graphics escapes me, but it does trigger memories of nostalgia for the days when I had to create such graphics every time I see such games. Memories of Beneath a Steel Sky, Universe, and Monkey Island. Or the Amiga scene demos.
Now where did I store those old floppies..
Category: nostalgia
There’s nothing for you in the past
There’s nothing for you in the past. It’s worth repeating that to yourself once in a while. There’s nothing for you in the past.
Many of us spend way too much of our time thinking about things that happened in the past. How we could have done this or that. Maybe if we made this decision, or chose that job, or that friend. Or maybe we reminisce on the good old times. Ruminate on what it would be like to bring something back, or to revisit something again.
It can become self destructive and can hinder both your direction in life and your mental health. Stop living in the past and live in the present. The past is a lonely place full of memories where nothing can be changed. Move on with your life, focus on the present and the future.
Remembering computer fairs
I saw an advert on FB recently for a local computer fair and it took me back twenty years to when I used to be a frequent visitor to them. I’d buy everything I would need to build a desktop PC from scratch and I would assemble it immediately when I got home. I’d haggle over each and every component umming and ahhing over specifications and budgets. Those were the days.
Today I prefer portability. Either a laptop or a bluetooth keyboard to turn my smartphone into a laptop. Something that I can slip into my backpack and set-up anywhere. Desktops seem so.. retro. Bulky, heavy, taking up too much space and not portable at all.
Still, it was enjoyable, albeit briefly, to recall the fun I had going to computer fairs and building a PC from scratch all those years ago.
A love letter to Crash magazine
I have many fond memories of my childhood. One such memory was looking forward to receiving Crash magazine each month. I’d save up my pocket money and without fail I’d buy the magazine as soon as it hit the shelves. One time I was on a family holiday in the highlands of Scotland and I persuaded my family to take a trip to the nearest town with a newsagent just so that I could buy a copy!
Once I held my copy in my hands I would devour the contents, reading every article from cover to cover. The artwork and images were amazing and my young mind loved both the feel of the publication as well as the contents. I would take so much care to peel-off the sticky-tape holding the cassette to the front cover so that the precious cover art was not damaged. I’d load the cassette into my 48k+ Spectrum as soon as I could to try out all the free software on it.
As the years wore on I would enjoy other magazines such as Heavy Metal and Omni, but none matched my first love that was Crash magazine. The feeling it brought opening up a new world to me, one that would dominate my life for the next thirty years as I delved deeper and deeper into the world of computing.