Atari VCS Myst “Demake”

[avidphantasm]

Maybe I was too young to "get" Atari games, which I played on a hand-me-down Colecovision with the 2600 emulator/adapter ca. 1986, but I always thought Atari games were kinda lousy. The system was just too primitive (compared to Colecovision let alone C64 and NES) to enable good enough graphics and sound to set my imagination free and really make me want to play the games again and again. To this day, I have the most desire to play SNES and some NES games, but feel no desire to revisit Atari games. This isn't to knock those that do, I just feel like NES and especially SNES and Genesis games really hit a sweet spot in terms of interesting enough graphics and sound without being burdened by 3D or photorealism (which I generally don't want in games, not that I'm much of a gamer). Atari's graphics and sound were just too abstract.

[MegaDeKay]

You might have felt differently if you hadn't started out with a Colecovision, the games for which were miles ahead of the VCS. When the 2600 was about the only thing going, people didn't have much to compare against until the Intellivision came along. We just had Atari and we liked it.

[code_duck]

I feel about the same. I grew up with a 2600, and liked the games when I was 4-7. In more recent times, while I’ve gone through periods where I replayed C64, Sega Master System, Genesis and Amiga games, nothing for the 2600 held my interest for long. It’s simply too primitive.

[dep_b]

I thought Beamrider, Jungle Hunt or H.E.R.O were pretty nice to play again. But there's not that much I would revisit otherwise. Funny enough Colecovision barely seemed better than Atari to me back in the days, but I started out with a Commodore 64 before a neighbor kid got that one. I was playing Commando and International Karate by that time.

[Waterluvian]

I love this.

I’ve been making games as a hobby, but I’m terrible at graphics. I finally found personal success when I went for retro, low res stuff. It’s a lot easier to fake it (but arguably much harder to really nail the aesthetic.)

[logicprog]

I'm in the same boat, being in love with making games but really quite terrible at graphics (and with no real enjoyment for learning either, sadly). I tried pixel art several times, but ended up solving my dilemma with parser interactive fiction instead. I lucked out in that a) I'm an excellent writer and b) I'm obsessed with puzzle-y, simulationist games with a lot of exploration and atmosphere, so parser IF is perfect for me.

[le-mark]

It is sooo depressing to show off a game you put your heart into only to hear “the graphics suck”. It turned me off from the hobby a long time ago.

[Schiendelman]

I struggle with the same thing! I have a great core loop but can't make it not look terrible. :)

[sedatk]

This would have been the best thing Atari had if it came out in the 80’s. Computer magazines would have gone crazy. Very nice work.

[mock-possum]

Man those screenshots are rough - recognizable in some cases because I played the shit out of Myst when I was a kid, but unintelligible I’m guessing for those with no basis for comparison.