I think this period of PC games is strange because it isn’t like when retro games blew up and everyone played them - if I mention these games I doubt many can relate, as there are many many games based on cartoons and books, there’s so many. I don’t know. It’s like the world of gaming has already expanded so much by the time I got into them, but wow, the difference between those games then and games now.. I remember playing very specific PC games on the school Mac (or PC?) (at the time, the devices were still chunky) in the boarding house, and it was this penguin platform game - and this marble game where you are the marble - and this very simple one where you look at these scrambling bugs across the screen and you smash them with your mouse as fast as you can. games back then were so simple. there’s a sort of niceness about simplicity. these days we’d have no patience for something so simple. it’s kind of sad - kind of like modern animation and 2D animation - like the difference between Disney’s Snow White and Elsa in frozen two when you can see the stitching on her clothes, crystal clear on the big screen.
I don’t know what I’m trying to say here but, I tried to look for gameplay for those games I played and I did find some for the bigger ones I played - and I cannot describe the utter strangeness when seeing these games being played on a platform of a video on YouTube - how the ratio is more square than a ‘normal’ yt video is - how the resolution sits.. also, just how much I can remember - like I remember the sound barbie’s paintbrush makes. it’s a really peculiar and niche feeling that’s hard to place when you are tugged by a distant memory of great enjoyment and you try your best to relive those best days and you simply cannot access it. I remember the utter excitement of just opening the game, the adrenaline rush in a challenge with Peter Pan , seeing pixels, even back then when they were normal to see individually, move across the screen. it was and still is wonderful, but in a different way.
I guess I’m trying to think about nostalgia because, it is so specific to each person - If I used imagery of personal nostalgia like this - it wouldn’t mean anything to the viewer. so is there any point at all?? I suppose that’s why some artists like to use collective nostalgia or paint scenes from iconic scenes in film. But of course, there are endless paintings on personal nostalgia, infinite, and they are still very emotional. I don’t know, I guess I just want to explore this imagery a bit more. I took some screen recordings (with sound - perhaps I can use for video collages) and I can take screen shots from the footage as well - but I am excited to add these to my archive of growing images - and video games being a very large part of that.
I think amongst the ones I mentioned above, only repunzel and tinker bell were three dimensional, (you can walk around the space freely) in some parts - there were still a lot of 2D elements in gameplay like point and click. the repunzel one actually had quite an interesting concept (and it’s so funny because back then I used to think it was so scary and hard - but I look back now and it’s so simple and straightforward) - basically you have to save the castle - repaint everything and customise everything like furniture and rugs and chairs in each room (it was the most exciting thing) and use the magic paintbrush to paint bits back in. there’s a jewel in each room you needed to collect to place back in the princes crown (he got turned into stone) anyway, I enjoyed this game immensely and I still do enjoy it looking back on it. it’s just strange thinking about how this can mean absolutely nothing to the next person.
perhaps a style could be nostalgic - like how the developers who made the video game cuphead, hand drawn their characters inspired by 1930s cartoons. and added in many subtle homages to retro games. I think it’s wonderful. perhaps I could do something similar too. use the ‘pixel’ and gameplay somehow. this reminds me of Chris marker’s work. To me that project was reminiscent of the PC games i used to play in school in nz even though he’d never been there. I guess one thing can make you think of your own nostalgic memory. I’ll keep these safe in my archives for future use.
