Technabob » ascii http://technabob.com/blog Cool Gadgets, Gizmos, Games and Geek Stuff Sun, 27 May 2012 19:00:43 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 This was an Old School Triumph: Asciiportal http://technabob.com/blog/2009/09/29/asciiportal-old-school-portal-clone/ http://technabob.com/blog/2009/09/29/asciiportal-old-school-portal-clone/#comments Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:18:21 +0000 Alisha K. http://technabob.com/blog/?p=20632 Portal… was never a pile of eyeball candy or anything–it looked as good as it needed to look, with some really neat visuals that resulted from looking through portals, adorable turret buddies, and delicious cake, but it’s not like anyone was trying for a graphical feat there. However, this]]> So, Portal was never a pile of eyeball candy or anything–it looked as good as it needed to look, with some really neat visuals that resulted from looking through portals, adorable turret buddies, and delicious cake, but it’s not like anyone was trying for a graphical feat there. However, this new take on Portal really can’t be accused of depending on graphics–because it’s all in ASCII.

tb asciiportal

I love Portal, but I have to say that I find it hard to get too terribly excited about these offshoots and remakes simply because Portal, to me, is GLaDoS–she was half the fun of the game! It’s not that I don’t love the puzzling power of the portal gun (I do; I so do) for its own sake, I’m just less entertained by a Portal experiences without one of the most compelling personalities in all the history of gaming.

Yeah, I’m a fan.

That said, even with my prejudices, this particular take on the portals looks incredible. Thanks to the color scheme and the little companion cube touches, the sparse look is utterly charming. It looks great in gameplay, too:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I’m struggling with this new (old?) experience of talking about the “look” of ASCII “graphics,” but it’s true! This looks good. And fun. And it’s got portals. I’ll just put Jonathan Coulton’s “Still Alive” on repeat and nerd out while I play ASCIIpOrtal, I guess.

[via IndieGames]

]]> http://technabob.com/blog/2009/09/29/asciiportal-old-school-portal-clone/feed/ 0 Do a Little Stargazing With Your Nintendo Ds http://technabob.com/blog/2009/01/22/do-a-little-stargazing-with-your-nintendo-ds/ http://technabob.com/blog/2009/01/22/do-a-little-stargazing-with-your-nintendo-ds/#comments Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:30:58 +0000 Alisha K. http://technabob.com/blog/?p=7895 Between the inventive homebrew community and all the “practical” software titles available at retail, you can do just about anything with a Nintendo DS these days, and in March, you’ll even be able to use your DS as an interactive star chart. Provided you can read Japanese, of course.

tb strsknv

The Hoshizora Navi (roughly Sky Navigator) cartridge contains a positional sensor that follows your movements and the DS, and the software will update the screen as you move, to reflect your current view of the sky and stars. The app is packed with information, too, with a dictionary of terms, guides to our sun and moon, thousands of stars and various constellations. Nor are you limited to the current sky; the app allows you to view any sky between the years 1900 and 2099. That’s the future, folks… but it doesn’t come cheap: Hoshizora Navi sports a hefty price tag at ¥8,190 (more than $90 US). That’s how they’re adding a “gaming” aspect to the software: it’s so pricey that you’ll have to go on some sort of crazy money-finding adventure just to buy the thing.

[Official site via DSF]

]]> http://technabob.com/blog/2009/01/22/do-a-little-stargazing-with-your-nintendo-ds/feed/ 1 Ascii Curtain has Plenty of Character(S) http://technabob.com/blog/2008/03/15/ascii-curtain-has-plenty-of-characters/ http://technabob.com/blog/2008/03/15/ascii-curtain-has-plenty-of-characters/#comments Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:01:41 +0000 Technabob http://technabob.com/blog/2008/03/15/ascii-curtain-has-plenty-of-characters/ This cool fabric curtain may look like a tree from afar, but once you’re up close, you’ll see that it’s made of tens of thousands of tiny ASCII characters.

ascii curtain

Created by Dutch designer Nienke Sybrandy, the huge (18′ x 11′) curtain panel was digitally printed with dot matrix characters to give the impression of intricate tree branches from a distance.

Now if only I could get her to make me one with some real ASCII art on it, I’d hang ‘em all over my house.

[via NOTCOT]

]]> http://technabob.com/blog/2008/03/15/ascii-curtain-has-plenty-of-characters/feed/ 1 Hardest Platform Game Ever, and It’s in ASCII http://technabob.com/blog/2007/02/03/hardest-platform-game-ever-and-its-in-ascii/ http://technabob.com/blog/2007/02/03/hardest-platform-game-ever-and-its-in-ascii/#comments Sat, 03 Feb 2007 22:47:42 +0000 Technabob http://technabob.com/blog/2007/02/03/hardest-platform-game-ever-and-its-in-ascii/ If you’re into platformers and you think you can beat them all, you’ve gotta check out this Flash-based game from Japan, Jineseiowata no Daibouken.

This game will kick you in the ass (twice), then serve it to you for dinner. It’s loaded with all sorts of fun tributes to classic platform games. Best of all it’s all rendered using super-advanced ASCII characters instead of fancy graphics, proving once again that game play is King, not how many polygons you can push.

For those of you without the patience of a saint, some diligent player has posted this walkthrough of a chunk of the game on YouTube (beware of spoilers):

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I managed to get a whopping 30 seconds into the game before I met certain death with big pointy teeth. See how far you can get.

[via Kotaku]

]]> http://technabob.com/blog/2007/02/03/hardest-platform-game-ever-and-its-in-ascii/feed/ 7