ATMcashpoint

@atmcashpoint

Nerdy about LucasArts and Sierra video games, Star Wars, architecture, JRR Tolkien. He/him/fhtagn. Also on mastodon.social under the same username.

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ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· 25d

Early screenshots from a 1994 WIP version of Interplay's Star Trek: Starfleet Academy for PC, before it became an FMV game released three years later. #startrek #starfleetacademy #interplay

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· 28d

Post a game you remember playing that nobody else remembers

Monty Python's Complete Waste of Time, 1994.

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· Jul 10

how your email finds me

A picture of a tarasque, a medieval dragon-like creature allegedly tamed by St. Martha, from an illuminated manuscript Book of Hours painted by Jean Poyet in the 15th century, known as the Hours of Henry VIII.

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· Jul 10

Left: A bad quarto. Right: A bad pinto.

The title page of the 1603 "bad quarto" edition of William Shakespeare's Hamlet.

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· Jul 6

tumblr user @epicsause-official might just be on to something here

A screenshot of two posts by user @epicsause-official on Tumblr.

The first says: "I think we are long overdue for a game that does the reverse of 90s first person shooters and actively makes fun of the player for picking the hard difficulty"

The second says "heres kinda what I mean" and includes an illustration. The illustration shows a hand-drawn black-and-white mockup of a game difficulty selection screen. The names and descriptions of three difficulty levels are featured, next to three different player portraits.

The top of the screen says "Select Difficulty."

The upper difficulty level is next to a portrait of a bespectacled, acne-scarred nerd with large teeth, wearing a bowtie. The text reads '"I'm compensating for my complete lack of a social life!" (Harder enemies, less useful pickups'

The middle difficulty level, which has a selection arrow next to it, features an average-looking guy with his mouth open and smiling in an enthusiastic manner. The text here says '"Alright, let's see what this is all about!" (Recommended for first playthrough)'

The bottom difficulty level has a picture of a Duke Nukem-esque Cool Guy with a smile showing perfect teeth, a colossal chin, sunglasses, and a ridiculously perfect hairstyle with not one strand out of place. In fact, his hair and chin are so perfect they're rectangular in shape. The text reads '"Sorry, I'm too busy PLOWING my GIRLFRIEND to play this game!" (More items, you kill enemies faster)'

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· Jul 4

Strong Rigel VII vibes

A matte painting of a fortress on Rigel VII in "The Cage," the first Star Trek TOS pilot, painted by Albert Whitlock.

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· Jun 25

This demo wasn't the last time Lucasfilm/LucasArts would embarrassingly misspell their own name. The Adventurer issue #14 (Winter 1996-97) featured this full-page spread touting X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, "exclusively from LucusArt's."

A page from LucasArts' The Adventurer magazine #14 (Winter 1996-97), with a full-page splash ad for X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter. Promo text at the top manages to misspell the company's name in two different ways at once: "It's the ultimate battle. It's the ultimate game. Exclusively from LucusArt's."

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· Jun 8

so clearly Zelda has to be French (dressed like Marianne in WWI-era posters maybe) and Link needs her help to take on the Demon Kaiser Ganondorf (also ideally Marianne!Zelda has at least one tit out)

A 1917 French WWI propaganda poster, showing Marianne with a boob out.

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· Jun 8

More examples, from Indiana Jones and the Great Circle's Vatican City level. In some areas you have Ionic pilasters supporting Doric entablatures (the horizontal part above the columns). Or the columns are set way back from the entablatures they supposedly hold up. IRL these issues aren't present.

A screenshot from Indiana Jones and the Great Circle's Vatican City level, showing a wall with Ionic pilasters holding up a Doric entablature.

Another screenshot from Indiana Jones and the Great Circle's Vatican City level, showing a wall with Doric pilasters that are deeply recessed compared to the entablature above them that they supposedly hold up. In proper classical architecture the top of the column shafts should be parallel with the front face of the entablature above it.

The Belvedere Courtyard of Vatican City in real life, without the architectural problems shown in the previous two screenshots.

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· Jun 8

One of the most egregious examples of bad video-game architecture is the Massachusetts State House in Fallout 4, which A) violates the basic rule that porticoes should have an even number of columns so you can have a door in the middle B) is based on an actual IRL building so they had no excuse.

The Massachusetts State House as seen in Fallout 4, with a front portico that has five columns so the doorways within it are off-center.

The actual Massachusetts State House as built by Charles Bulfinch, with a bunch more columns which are even in number so the door can actually be in the center of the building.

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· Jun 3

The clay bust used for the closeup of Brauggi in Sierra's Quest for Glory 1 VGA remake, plus a screenshot (apparently flipped) of the closeup in-game. From the 1994 children's book Know the Score by Gloria Skurzynski, about how computer games are made. #sierra #questforglory #adventuregames

An image of the clay bust used for the character closeup of Brauggi in Sierra's Quest for Glory 1 VGA remake, next to a screenshot (apparently flipped) of how it appears in-game, from Gloria Skurzynski's 1994 children's book Know the Score.

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· Jun 3

Early character design sheet for Robin Hood with descriptive text by Christy Marx, for Sierra's Conquests of the Longbow. From the 1994 children's book Know the Score by Gloria Skurzynski, about how computer games are made. #sierra #robinhood #conquestsofthelongbow #adventuregames

An early character design sheet for Robin Hood in Sierra's Conquests of the Longbow. Rough sketches of front, side, back, & 3/4 front and back views of Robin appear. Robin wears a sleeveless jerkin with a crenellated lower hem and a hood thrown back, and a belt with a pouch on the left side. Beneath the jerkin he is wearing a long-sleeved shirt with a bracer on his left arm, hose, and cuffed boots of some sort. He also appears to have a vandyke rather than a full beard.

Beneath a handwritten label "Description of Character" there is some typed text by Christy Marx:

"A muscular man of average height in his late 20s.

Pending further research for accuracy, I want to see him dressed in a thigh-length jerkin over a shirt which is several inches longer than the jerkin, leather belt, pouch on belt, hose (thick, woven hose), breeches which stop at the bottom of the knee, horn hung on a cord over his left shoulder, short (around the ankles) soft-leather boots with pointed toes, and a bracer for his left forearm (being right-handed). He will not wear a hat, but will have a hood which hangs down in back though maybe be partially obscured by the quiver. He won't wear gloves or finger stalls (leather fingertip protectors.)

I see Robin as generally muscular, but lithe, not muscle-bound. He is nimble and agile. However, his arms and chest would be the most heavily muscled from a lifetime of drawing the powerful longbow and using the quarterstaff. (Skeletons of archers from this time period actually show deformation of the arm bones from the constant strain of drawing longbows.)

He will have his arrows in a leather quiver which hangs upon his back, angled toward his right shoulder for an over-the-shoulder draw with his right hand. The arrows will have bodkin heads.

He will not carry a sword or buckler.

He will carry a short, all-purpose dagger hung from his belt, in the center of his back, also angled for a right-hand draw.

He will carry his longbow in his left hand.

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· May 29

TIL from the Fate of Atlantis TCRF page that there's an unused alternate cursor design in the game files. tcrf.net/Indiana_Jone... #indianajones #fateofatlantis #lucasarts #adventuregames

Screenshots of an unused alternate cursor design from Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, shaped like a squareish line drawing of a right hand with pointer finger extended. The cursor color flickers between white and gray hues, like the crosshair in the published game. The screenshots were taken by hex-editing a save file.

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· May 26

If I wrote this article, I would've been sorely tempted to leave everything else the same (including the inline photo of Genghis Khan) but have the "Khan" hyperlink in "Khan, Hitler, and Tralchar" link to this guy.

Ricardo Montalban as Khan in Star Trek II.

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· May 26

she's Mephistopheles, I'm telling you. Henry Irving tried to warn us

An excerpt from the script of Henry Irving's adaptation of Faust performed at the Lyceum Theatre in late 19th-century London. The text was adapted from Goethe's original German play by librettist WG Wills. It starred Irving as the demon Mephistopheles, and the theater's business manager was Bram Stoker, author of Dracula.

The excerpt:

"Faust: By what pretence canst thou forbid me, fiend?

Mephistopheles: Thou answer'st me
As if I were some credulous, dull mate.
I am a spirit, and I know thy thought.
You think you may be fenced round by-and-by
With sprinkled holy water, lifted cross--
While you and your pale saint might hold a siege
Against the scapegoat -- 'gainst the devil here.
Ere that should be I'd tear thee limb from limb,
Thy blood I'd dash upon the wind like rain,
And all the gobbets of thy mangled flesh
I'd scatter to the dogs, that none should say
This carrion once was Faust!
Yon cottage would I snatch up in a whirlwind,
At dead midnight, like pebble in a sling,
And hurl it leagues away, a crumbled mass,
With its crushed quivering tenant under it.
Dost know me now?

Faust: Fiend, I obey.

Mephistopheles: When hell's aroused in me, beware!

(Business.)

End of Act II."

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· May 7

It's in Howard Park in Wilmette. The steeple was salvaged from a school on the site of the park that was torn down. When I saw Westworld for the first time, I went "hey, this reminds me of the park behind my house in Illinois!" Not surprising that the Nolans lived nearby, I guess...

A photo of Howard Park in Wilmette, Illinois, showing a copper steeple on a short brick pedestal rising straight out of a flat expanse of grass.

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· May 1

Are they the re-edited Adventures of Young Indy versions with footage added to smash two episodes together into TV movies? It would blow my mind if there were still stations playing the original one-hour Young Indy Chronicles episodes with bookends featuring 90-year-old eyepatch Indy.

A photograph of actor George Hall as a 93-year-old Indiana Jones, wearing an eyepatch, from the original one-hour versions of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· Apr 27

Funnily enough, there's a tapestry that shows up in the climax of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle that made me think of this scene from Broken Sword.

A tapestry with four panels seen in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· Apr 23

I've always wondered if that poster for Die Nibelungen was an inspiration for this painting of the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

A painting of a knight crossing a chasm to obtain the Holy Grail, seen in Henry Jones Sr.'s house in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· Apr 23

An early version of the Kyrandia 3 box art, featuring a 2D painting instead of a 3D render. From an ad in PC Gamer US volume 2 #1, January 1995. #kyrandia #legendofkyrandia #adventuregames #westwood #westwoodstudios

An early version of the Kyrandia 3 box art which uses a 2D painting instead of a 3D-rendered scene.

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· Apr 21

For similar reasons, in the EGA version only, highlighted inventory items appear with red text outside Meathook's house because the Hook Island sign needed an extra slot for color cycling.

A screenshot from Monkey Island 1 EGA, showing how outside Meathook's house, the text GUI highlights inventory items in light red rather than bright magenta.

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· Apr 14

despite everything, it's Stilicho or possibly Aetius, it's unclear

One half of a late Roman ivory consular diptych, showing a figure who might be Stilicho or Flavius Aetius.

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· Mar 24

The animation of the tiny train in the Lucasfilm Games logo in the VGA & FM Towns versions of Indy Last Crusade was actually recycled from a cut opening screen that appears in the EGA non-interactive demo! #indianajones #lastcrusade #lucasarts #lucasfilmgames #adventuregames

A screenshot from an EGA non-interactive demo of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The image shows a desert landscape with a train passing through it along tracks in the far distance, a shot that doesn't appear in the full game. The game's title, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", is superimposed over the screen, along with the subtitle "The Graphic Adventure", which likewise does not appear in the full game (despite being on the box).

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· Mar 20

DUNC

In the sietch the Fremen come and go, talking of Duncan Idaho.

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· Mar 19

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· Mar 17

In versions between 2001-2 and 2010, the art in AGDI's KQ1 & KQ2 fan remakes was much different, and in the case of KQ1, arguably inferior to Sierra's 16-color SCI0 game. The changes in 2010 made both fangames far more visually appealing. #kingsquest #adventuregames #sierra

The leprechauns dancing in the Leprechaun King's throne room, in Sierra's 16-color SCI0 remake of King's Quest 1.

The leprechauns dancing in the Leprechaun King's throne room, in a pre-2010 version of AGDI's fan remake of King's Quest 1.

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· Mar 16

RIP to William C. Dietz, author of the Dark Forces trilogy of novellas adapting the adventures of Kyle Katarn. He was also known for writing one of the first Halo novels, Halo: The Flood. #starwars #darkforces #darkforcessaga #kylekatarn #halo #theflood #bungie #lucasarts

The covers of the three Dark Forces novellas by William C. Dietz: Soldier for the Empire, Rebel Agent, and Jedi Knight.

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· Mar 16

Marty Supreme (1417-1431)

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· Mar 12

ATMcashpoint@atmcashpoint· Mar 2

boobs out: sexy bald: also sexy