break open the chamber, two dozen angry triangles throb out
September 2, 2019 8:06 PM Subscribe
take in the black and white cyberpunk mood of lvl374, all pixels and chromatic aberration and android dystopia, scenes from a game that never existed and you can't forget playing
Strong Blame! energy.
That's a compliment.
posted by Reyturner at 8:59 PM on September 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
That's a compliment.
posted by Reyturner at 8:59 PM on September 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
Strong Blame! energy
yeah! see also:
lorn - anvil (slyt, cw: suicide, body horror)
posted by qbject at 9:22 PM on September 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
yeah! see also:
lorn - anvil (slyt, cw: suicide, body horror)
posted by qbject at 9:22 PM on September 2, 2019 [2 favorites]
It looks like every image has blue and red components. I wonder if it's intended to work with old-style 3D glasses?
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 9:42 PM on September 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 9:42 PM on September 2, 2019 [1 favorite]
Strong Blame! energy.
Yes, this seems equal parts Blame! and Ghost in the Shell, maybe with a little Akira thrown in.
One thing I noticed is that a lot of the animations seem to be running at much higher framerates than actual old games (from when "pixel art" was a necessity rather than a retro aesthetic choice) could generally manage.
It reminds me of playing some old PC games on newer computers than they were designed for, where graphical elements could get kind of energetically fidgety because the way they were animated made assumptions about CPU clock speeds that no longer held.
Cool graphics but some nasty dismemberment of a woman about a half dozen panels in
Given that the character appears to be either a full cyborg or entirely artificial I would assume that's something she can come back from (those are wires coming out of her head), unless it's intended as one of the game over screens or something.
It looks like every image has blue and red components. I wonder if it's intended to work with old-style 3D glasses?
I assume that's just intended to mimic the chromatic aberration you could get on old TVs, although as I recall that was more a thing with VHS tape playback and not so much video games.
posted by Wandering Idiot at 12:22 AM on September 3, 2019 [3 favorites]
Yes, this seems equal parts Blame! and Ghost in the Shell, maybe with a little Akira thrown in.
One thing I noticed is that a lot of the animations seem to be running at much higher framerates than actual old games (from when "pixel art" was a necessity rather than a retro aesthetic choice) could generally manage.
It reminds me of playing some old PC games on newer computers than they were designed for, where graphical elements could get kind of energetically fidgety because the way they were animated made assumptions about CPU clock speeds that no longer held.
Cool graphics but some nasty dismemberment of a woman about a half dozen panels in
Given that the character appears to be either a full cyborg or entirely artificial I would assume that's something she can come back from (those are wires coming out of her head), unless it's intended as one of the game over screens or something.
It looks like every image has blue and red components. I wonder if it's intended to work with old-style 3D glasses?
I assume that's just intended to mimic the chromatic aberration you could get on old TVs, although as I recall that was more a thing with VHS tape playback and not so much video games.
posted by Wandering Idiot at 12:22 AM on September 3, 2019 [3 favorites]
My brother once noted that we've hit a point where we're running out of media artefacts to signify an era. Scanlines, chromatic aberration, limited colour palette, etc. are all things of the past. What have we got now? Shaky vertical video? Overdone deshake?
What will filmmakers use in 2050 to indicate that a clip is "so very 2020"?
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 2:26 AM on September 3, 2019 [6 favorites]
What will filmmakers use in 2050 to indicate that a clip is "so very 2020"?
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 2:26 AM on September 3, 2019 [6 favorites]
Fake lens flare.
posted by nickzoic at 2:42 AM on September 3, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by nickzoic at 2:42 AM on September 3, 2019 [5 favorites]
What will filmmakers use in 2050 to indicate that a clip is "so very 2020"?
don't forget to like and subscribe and hit that notification bell
posted by NMcCoy at 2:43 AM on September 3, 2019 [11 favorites]
don't forget to like and subscribe and hit that notification bell
posted by NMcCoy at 2:43 AM on September 3, 2019 [11 favorites]
My brother once noted that we've hit a point where we're running out of media artefacts to signify an era.
I feel like this is something people have been saying for decades. I always assume we only really notice artifacts after the fact, once something better comes along and the old standards become dated. I mean, that's what makes it retro, right? I can bet today's media will look pretty low-resolution in the future, based only on the fact that I remember being amazed by 720p HD. Plus, we still have limitations on color palettes, there are still limitations on sound recording, and that sort of thing. Games are especially funny when it comes to this, though -- I remember a review of Max Payne in 2001 gushing about how we'd finally reached the point where games were truly photorealistic, indistinguishable from real life. Which is funny now because that's definitely not the case. As great as today's games look, they're still not actually anywhere near perfect -- like, off the top of my head I can picture a few top-end games where you can peek between clumps of grass and see a flat surface with a kind of greenish, pebbly texture. Not to mention weird clipping problems, quirks in character animations, clothes and hair behaving not-quite-right, and straight-up glitches like someone's face disappearing.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 3:32 AM on September 3, 2019
I feel like this is something people have been saying for decades. I always assume we only really notice artifacts after the fact, once something better comes along and the old standards become dated. I mean, that's what makes it retro, right? I can bet today's media will look pretty low-resolution in the future, based only on the fact that I remember being amazed by 720p HD. Plus, we still have limitations on color palettes, there are still limitations on sound recording, and that sort of thing. Games are especially funny when it comes to this, though -- I remember a review of Max Payne in 2001 gushing about how we'd finally reached the point where games were truly photorealistic, indistinguishable from real life. Which is funny now because that's definitely not the case. As great as today's games look, they're still not actually anywhere near perfect -- like, off the top of my head I can picture a few top-end games where you can peek between clumps of grass and see a flat surface with a kind of greenish, pebbly texture. Not to mention weird clipping problems, quirks in character animations, clothes and hair behaving not-quite-right, and straight-up glitches like someone's face disappearing.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 3:32 AM on September 3, 2019
Oh yeah, and framerates! I'd be curious to see if higher framerates ever become the norm, in which case today's lowish framerates will look pretty distinctive.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 3:40 AM on September 3, 2019
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 3:40 AM on September 3, 2019
Well you'll always have stylistic trends as "artifacts." Early digital reverb did in fact have a distinctive sonic signature recognizable to people in the know but more than anything what everyone can tell you is that people used a whole lot of it in the decade after it became available.
posted by atoxyl at 3:56 AM on September 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by atoxyl at 3:56 AM on September 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
What will filmmakers use in 2050 to indicate that a clip is "so very 2020"?
Two dimensional video constrained to a rectangular border.
posted by soy bean at 4:22 AM on September 3, 2019 [5 favorites]
Two dimensional video constrained to a rectangular border.
posted by soy bean at 4:22 AM on September 3, 2019 [5 favorites]
Some of the scenes and character design remind me of Gris (previously).
posted by Otherwise at 4:29 AM on September 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Otherwise at 4:29 AM on September 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
What will filmmakers use in 2050 to indicate that a clip is "so very 2020"?
Vertical video. YouTube controls at the bottom.
posted by Foosnark at 4:34 AM on September 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
Vertical video. YouTube controls at the bottom.
posted by Foosnark at 4:34 AM on September 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
panel #6 made me think of Aeon Flux.
posted by lemon_icing at 4:50 AM on September 3, 2019
posted by lemon_icing at 4:50 AM on September 3, 2019
Given that the character appears to be either a full cyborg or entirely artificial I would assume that's something she can come back from (those are wires coming out of her head), unless it's intended as one of the game over screens or something.
Well, yes, but the sexy-young-female-android whose body is an object that can be controlled, taken apart and put together via technology isn't exactly a progressive trope.
posted by signal at 5:38 AM on September 3, 2019 [3 favorites]
Well, yes, but the sexy-young-female-android whose body is an object that can be controlled, taken apart and put together via technology isn't exactly a progressive trope.
posted by signal at 5:38 AM on September 3, 2019 [3 favorites]
What will filmmakers use in 2050 to indicate that a clip is "so very 2020"?
Blue skies. Water you can see through. Seasons. Beaches. Non-white people treated as equals.
posted by signal at 5:42 AM on September 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
Blue skies. Water you can see through. Seasons. Beaches. Non-white people treated as equals.
posted by signal at 5:42 AM on September 3, 2019 [2 favorites]
> rum-soaked space hobo: What will filmmakers use in 2050 to indicate that a clip is "so very 2020"?
Maybe more "2010s" than 2020, but datamoshing.
I forgot I had iTunes on when I put on my headphones after opening that YouTube video, and for a while I thought the cacophonous interplay of two songs was intentional.
posted by Rock Steady at 10:32 AM on September 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
Maybe more "2010s" than 2020, but datamoshing.
I forgot I had iTunes on when I put on my headphones after opening that YouTube video, and for a while I thought the cacophonous interplay of two songs was intentional.
posted by Rock Steady at 10:32 AM on September 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
I think I figured it out: framerate artefacts!
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 11:57 PM on September 5, 2019
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 11:57 PM on September 5, 2019
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posted by bonobothegreat at 8:12 PM on September 2, 2019 [2 favorites]