Do you ever wonder about the burning existential questions … What was “ANSI art”? What was a “bulletin board”? Were there ANSI comics? Heck, how do you even define "comics"? … Well, I've got some answers: breakintochat.com/blog/2025/12... #retrocomputing #textmode #history #comics #webcomics

#pixelart #EGA #TheNameOfTheRose #WilliamOfBaskerville #SeanConnery

Mistigram: "I think there must be something wrong with me, Linus. Christmas is coming, but I'm not happy. I don't feel the way I'm supposed to feel." This alienated scene from 1965's #ACharlieBrownChristmas was adapted by Cthulu for this date in last year's ADVENT24 #ANSIart #AdventCalendar.

Hey everybody! This is today! In fact, it's RIGHT NOW! Come check it out!

Here the poster I made for The Cookie Collective Crash Party that will take place at the Club Communale in Saint-Ouen on January 24. (1/5) #live-coding #demoparty #creativecoding #gamedev

It's Commander Keen 1-3's 35th ANNIVERSARY! It was wonderful making them with John Romero, John Carmack, and Adrian Carmack. And heartwarming to hear fans loved them. Homages: paranoidcactus.itch.io/captain-neat... paloblancogames.itch.io/sally-neptune Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command...

Happy 33rd Anniversary (yesterday) to Commander Keen in… Goodbye Galaxy! Fun two-part platforming release by #id. Fond memories. #commanderkeen

Ok, played through the whole game. A few glitches, and a couple of inconsistencies with the original game, but other than that everything is pretty solid. Recommended.

members.ans, 2005-03-16 from ftp.mimic.ca (FTP)

#TELNET #BBS #90s #CHAT #MRC #IRC #A-NET_ONLINE Don't forget the MRC grAvY trAIn meet up today! 21:00 BST 16:00 EST 13:00 PST thE grAvY trAIn LIVE erb.pw/y/tgt20251122

Duke Nukem Redux: sfjake.itch.io/duke-nukem-r...

These are amazing ko-fi.com/s/3683ca94cb

Protip: Games that use generative A.I. for its "artwork" is allowed to be pirated because the devs are ok with taking other people's work without compensating them.

Mistigram: Cthulu drew Batman's nemesis ##TheJoker (bowdlerizing 'Jingle Bells'), from the Nov 1992 second episode of ##BatmanTheAnimatedSeries, for this date in last year's ADVENT24 ##ANSIart ##AdventCalendar. We found it as a BBS door on the web board at https://angstridden.net/

UC-CYOTE.ANS, 1994-03-24 from ftp.sunet.se/pub/pictures/ (FTP)

#TELNET #BBS #GAMES #90s #NEW #CHAT More sneak peaks of soon to be released RDQ3 and soft-released Bot Wars. a-net.fyi bbs.a-net.online - Telnet:1337, SSH:1338, RLogin:1339

FV-EVO1.ANS, 1997-06-05 from The Equalizer BBS (other)

It's very early on and probably not read for public but I did add the @mistfunk.bsky.social advent calendar to my custom #bbs thing that I'm working on. Don't even need an "account" just hop over to angstridden.net and type `play advent` at the prompt.

Mistigram: introducing ADVENT25, our third annual ##ANSIart ##AdventCalendar. Enclosed is an executable program, and every day this month up to Dec 25th it will display that new date's illustration and allow you to view the previous screens.

Time to update the Kannons ‘N Katapults wiki @kirkman.bsky.social! KNK25 is here with multiplayer kastle wrecking action! The legendary game BBS Door game has been remastered! @a-net-online.bsky.social @hypernode.bsky.social #knkremastered #bbsdoor

#SNEAKPEAK #TELNET #BBS #GAMES #90s #DRAGON #A-NET_ONLINE Sneak Peak at the Intro for Red Dragon Quest's Newest Edition, Red Dragon Quest III In pre-beta stages now. Lots of new updates/features/ansi, and more!! bbs.a-net.online Telnet: 1337, SSH, 1338, RLogin, 1339 On A-Net Game Server

GH-INFI1.ANS, 1994-09-06 from dark domain - the artpacks.acid.org collection (CD-ROM)

CD!LO0P.ANS, 2002-05-12 from dark domain - the artpacks.acid.org collection (CD-ROM)

Mistigram: from last year's MIST-30 artpack collection, celebrating 30 years since the establishment of our (now vintage) computer art community, here's a lovely #ASCIIart logo by our guest Darokin ironically celebrating #ANSIart. (Hey, we like to mix it up, too!)

Void Heaven logo (2022) www.facebook.com/vvoidheaven/

VK-EI1.ANS, 1994-11-19 from dark domain - the artpacks.acid.org collection (CD-ROM)

#THANKSGIVING #GIVETHANKS #FAMILY #TELNET #BBS #GAMES #CHAT #MRC #IRC #90s Happy Thanksgiving Eve!! =:-) I hope everyone arrives at their destinations safe & sound. May you enjoy your time with family & friends! A-Net Online BBS - a-net.fyi bbs.a-net.online Telnet: 1337, SSH:1338, RLogin:1339

Playing (and finishing) "Thieves' Guild" with its front-end was difficult, but a worthwhile adventure. I loved it so much, I also interviewed its creators, recovered its source code and posted it on GitHub! breakintochat.com/blog/2020/09... (8/8)

Thieves' Guild for the Atari ST is my favorite example of a front-end for a BBS game. It added pixel art, voice samples, and sound effects to what was normally a plain-text fantasy adventure. I cannot overstate how cool the art is in this front-end. breakintochat.com/blog/2020/09... (7/x)

TradeWars 2002 was so popular that it spawned an entire cottage industry of third-party helper programs. One of those helpers, TWTerm, automated repetitive tasks so players could quickly build wealth. It wrapped a GUI around the ANSI text interface. breakintochat.com/blog/2020/09... (6/x)

Meanwhile, GTERM for Land of Devastation added a high-resolution SVGA interface to the game. In retrospect, I wish they had devoted less real estate to displaying inventory, and much more to the viewer that shows images of the game world. breakintochat.com/blog/2020/09... (5/x)

In contrast, OOIITERM for Operation Overkill II didn't add pixel graphics, but it did enhance the experience with much faster ANSI menus, and cool SoundBlaster effects. The modern-day terminal SyncTerm has built-in support for OOIITERM's special effects. breakintochat.com/blog/2020/09... (4/x)

One of the better-known examples is "Pit Terminal," which added EGA graphics to classic combat game "The Pit." (Surprisingly, though, the pixel art of the combat arena where most of the action happens is not much more detailed than the ANSI text version.) breakintochat.com/blog/2020/09... (3/x)

Some decided to break free of the limits of BBS technology by creating their own custom terminal programs ... front-end clients. In 2020, I wrote a case study titled "A different way to play" looking at several of these computer curioisities. breakintochat.com/blog/2020/09... (2/x)

🕹️☎️ Some gaming history for your Thanksgiving week. In the early 1990s, programmers writing online games for BBSes faced a LOT of constraints, from slow modems to extremely limited sound and graphics. How did they work around those limitations? (1/x) #retrocomputing #gamedev #retrogaming #bbs

Central HQ "spy themed" menu set and logo (2019)

CRNGACD3.ANS, 1992-08-09 from The WaREZ HouZE BBS: wbiz 0300 - 0309 (other)

PEOPLE/EDDIEVAN.GIF

(As the guy who developed the AtasciiTube site for viewing ATASCII animations, it does seems like I should have tried this a long time ago.) breakintochat.com/collections/... #retrocomputing #vintagecomputing #textmode #bbs #textart

LOGOS/SMILEY.GIF

ConstructiveChaos #BBS is in #spooky mode for the rest of #October! Swing on by for some ghoulish fun! conchaos.synchro.net

I almost missed #caturday Enjoy this #ascii night stalker.

Mistigram: this, the central subject of a vertical ##ANSIart triptych by Nitron promoting Cyberdyne Systems BBS with a celebration of the ##anime ##Robotech, was included in last year's science fiction-themed MIST0524 artpack collection.

Mistigram: this ##ANSIart portrait of ##MimaKirigoe from ##SatoshiKon's 1997 ##PerfectBlue was drawn by Cthulu and included in last month's ##anime-themed MIST0825 artpack collection.

Mistigram: this ##ANSIart portrait of ##Ranma's ##RyogaHibiki as ##PChan the piglet was drawn by @zeusii.bsky.social for Martin Kazmaier's ##anime-themed Shurato's Heavenly Sphere BBS. It was included in last year's MIST-30 artpack collection.

Mistigram: you've all seen the meme - the android ##YutaroKatori from the 1991 ##TheBraveOfSunFighbird series points at a butterfly and asks if it's a pigeon? But you've never seen it drawn before by LDA in ##ANSIart. This was included in last month's ##anime-themed MIST0825 artpack.

Mistigram: returning once more to the #anime #CowboyBebop, this suite of mini #ANSIart illustrations on the subject was drawn by @consolejockey.bsky.social and included in last year's MIST-30 artpack collection.

Mistigram: Cthulu drew this quick #ANSIart sketch of a Star Child from #StudioGhibli's 2004 adaptation of #HowlsMovingCastle for use as an infofile header in last month's #anime-themed MIST0825 artpack collection.

Mistigram: this iconic moment from #StudioGhibli's 1992 #PorcoRosso was illustrated by Cthulu (easy linework) and LDA (incredible sunset engineer) for last month's #anime-themed MIST0825 artpack collection. “I'd rather be a pig than a fascist.”