Back in 1992, @iangilman.bsky.social (the programmer behind Living Worlds, not the artist) did the animations for the shareware arcade game Maelstrom. Today it's being re-released for free on Steam, iOS, Android, and the web! steamcommunity.com/app/4239950/...

People are still making beautiful new color cycling pixel art! Check out this amazing piece from Steffest and learn how he made it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyB5...

Happy December! 🌲❄️ #pixelart "Arrived well after dark last night—at end of my reserves. Climb up mountainside much more arduous than anticipated. For now, given run of castle library and told to spend day resting and recovering."

Happy November! 🌞🌲 #pixelart "Have just discovered beautiful lake. Will camp briefly and adjust to rising elevation’s impact on breathing and stamina. Lake providing abundant fish and aquatic vegetables to smoke and store in preparation for ascent beyond tree line."

Happy October! 🎃👻 #pixelart "Could not get to sleep at all, so sat up watching ruins, and was ‘rewarded’ at last with clear sight of unnatural and deeply unsettling display — as if some slow, indecipherable calamity were reenacted again and again before me."

Happy September! 🌊⛵️ #pixelart "Woken this morning by noisy sea birds, just in time to see fleet of white sails heading out to open sea beyond distant promontory."

Happy August! 💦🐠 #pixelart "Surf here quite small, and water astonishingly clear. While swimming well off-shore, spotted odd formations far beneath surface..."

I never posted this here, but I made a pretty big write-up over on Tumblr for anyone interested in learning #pixelart! It's a guide on software, fundamentals, jargon and resources. Since links are legal on Bsky I can share it: www.tumblr.com/tofupixel/75... #tutorial Hope someone finds it useful!

Happy July! ☀️🌵 #pixelart "Saw very large convoy of cargo-laden wagons leave fortress this morning and head west toward distant mountain range. No idea what this was about, but clearly SOMETHING ELSE lies west of here. Have decided to find out what."

Happy June! 💎💦🌈 #pixelart "And, most amazing of all—entire chambers covered in truck-sized crystals of what appears to be Amethyst—which reflect the pale bioluminescence like a million chandeliers. If only there were some way to bring just one back home, would be set for life."

One of the images in here looks familiar @iangilman.bsky.social moxie.org/2024/09/23/a...

Happy May! 💧🌈🌿 #pixelart "After days of travel through woods I swear were haunted, have emerged at last to a spectacular sight! Heard the roaring of it for nearly half an hour before hacking through dense scrub willow and tangled vines to gape at the falls themselves."

Happy April! 🌳🌿🌸 #pixelart "Came last evening to forest pool, which proved to host large bank of bioluminescent, night-blooming flowers. Small curled petal at flower base yields truly delicious nectar—in only tiny amounts, alas."

Happy March! 🌧🌈🌷 #pixelart "Have just come over ridge to discover astonishing vista! Three massive stone pillars atop obviously modified hilltop above broad plain beyond. Pillars look like undressed stone, but placement does not seem natural."

If you're curious, this post from the beginning of the project has a good overview of the history, technology, and artistry behind the Living Worlds: iangilman.medium.com/living-world... #pixelart

Happy February! 🌤❄️ #pixelart "Spotted immense doorway structure carved out of nearby peak. Clearly no natural formation. Upon climbing to investigate, discovered small, strangely warm lake of melted water."

Wow, Moxie Marlinspike gave a shout out to the Living Worlds color cycling scenes in his keynote at the Black Hat conference last year! He gives a pretty good description of the technical details as well. It starts at 14:45: youtu.be/MAJP-fAf8MI?...

We're working on a "next" set of Living Worlds and looking for pixel artists interested in color cycling and creating such "living" scenes! Please spread the word 😊 #pixelart iangilman.substack.com/p/next-livin...

Happy New Year! 🎉❄️ #pixelart "It worked! The portal device...I’m here. Wherever ‘here’ is. In a range of mountains, up to my shins in snow. Flurries frequent. As it was summer where I came from, portal has sent me ...to a different hemisphere, or—someplace farther?"

We recently updated the Living Worlds app to work with new Android phones. If you tried to get it before and were told it's not compatible, you should be able to get it now! play.google.com/store/apps/d...

All of the animations I'm posting here come from the Living Worlds app, where these #pixelart scenes really come to life, changing throughout the day and from day to day! pixfabrik.com/livingworlds/

Exactly right! This piece is from Mark Ferrari in 1993, just a few years after he worked on the Lucasfilm adventure games Loom and The Secret of Monkey Island. 😊

being able to use Living Worlds as my phone wallpaper and see it change over the course of a day and across a year is literally my favorite thing about Android

Happy December! 🌲❄️ #pixelart This is part of a series of 12 scenes, one for each month. The story actually starts in January, so think of this as a preview of things to come 😉

Hello Bluesky! Where are my #pixelart people?