(Forgive my English, I use an automatic translator). When I was young, there was a video game on a website that I loved to play over and over again.
Problem is, I can't remember the title and a simple description wouldn't help me find it. Because, looking back, it has all the elements of a classic 2D platform game, even the fact that there were levels where gravity reverses must have already existed in previous games.
From memory, the only thing that set it apart was its distinctive graphics. I was extremely charmed by it, and I'm still marked by this unobtainable game. And for some time now, I've been looking for it.
Since it's not enough to tell you it's 8-bit, to describe what it really looked like, I drew a portrait of the main character. As you can see, it wasn't 8-bit like the 1st Mario, but more like the Atari 2600 games. However, I don't think it was originally a game for that console, or even one that old, but just a retro-style single-player web game.
I created this sketch by modifying a screenshot of a matchstick man in 8-bit. This is not a screenshot of the game.
But that's just it. I said it at the beginning of my talk. I can't remember the title. That's problem number 1 in my research. All I have is a childhood memory as a clue.
Unfortunately, I'm not a good enough draughtsman to reconstruct the levels.
I'm afraid your main research clue is just my sketch of the protagonist.
But that's just it. I said it at the beginning of my talk. I can't remember the title. That's problem number 1 in my research. All I have is a childhood memory as a clue.
Unfortunately, I'm not a good enough draughtsman to reconstruct the levels.
I'm afraid your main research clue is just my sketch of the protagonist.
Did it seem like an authentic Atari title or a fan game using the Atari style?
But that's just it. I said it at the beginning of my talk. I can't remember the title. That's problem number 1 in my research. All I have is a childhood memory as a clue.
Unfortunately, I'm not a good enough draughtsman to reconstruct the levels.
I'm afraid your main research clue is just my sketch of the protagonist.
Did it seem like an authentic Atari title or a fan game using the Atari style?
A fan game using the Atari style, from very far away.
The heads of the characters/creatures were made up of just one or two pixels, without any faces.
I can't remember everything, but I'm sure there were purple bats, very pixelated. Everything is VERY pixelated.
And it never had a black background, unlike many Atari 2600 games, from which it takes a lot of its style.
When I was a child/teenager. It must have been before 2013. I can't remember exactly when.
To give you a better idea. I was born on 9 March 1995. The first time I discovered the Internet was around the time of the first Star Wars 3 trailers. So in the very early days of YouTube.
I have a question that might help us find my game.
When was the very first video game to have the concept of reversing gravity according to levels? Answering this question will help us get a better idea of the development context. Unless it has always existed in videogame history. No?
I have a question that might help us find my game.
When was the very first video game to have the concept of reversing gravity according to levels? Answering this question will help us get a better idea of the development context. Unless it has always existed in videogame history. No?
I have a question that might help us find my game.
When was the very first video game to have the concept of reversing gravity according to levels? Answering this question will help us get a better idea of the development context. Unless it has always existed in videogame history. No?
I looked it up and it said Geometry Dash 💀
No, it must be older than that.
When I say, "reversed gravity", I'm talking about walking on the ceiling, the floor becoming the wall and so on. The correct term is "anti-gravity in video games", but there's no Wikipedia article on it.
Maybe it's more recent than I thought. Because there's a wikifandom that claims it's a mechanic that would have first appeared in Mario Kart 8 (in May 2014). All the other video games I could find that talked about anti-gravity were also racing games, so they had nothing to do with my game.
So maybe we should look into "platform games with anti-gravity". Although I'm pretty sure he's not going to distinguish between those and any other platform games. He already seems to have trouble not equating anti-gravity with racing games. Probably because platform games are never labelled 'anti-gravity', because it's anecdotal.
When I say, "reversed gravity", I'm talking about walking on the ceiling, the floor becoming the wall and so on. The correct term is "anti-gravity in video games", but there's no Wikipedia article on it.
Maybe it's more recent than I thought. Because there's a wikifandom that claims it's a mechanic that would have first appeared in Mario Kart 8 (in May 2014). All the other video games I could find that talked about anti-gravity were also racing games, so they had nothing to do with my game.
So maybe we should look into "platform games with anti-gravity". Although I'm pretty sure he's not going to distinguish between those and any other platform games. He already seems to have trouble not equating anti-gravity with racing games. Probably because platform games are never labelled 'anti-gravity', because it's anecdotal.
Well I know it's older than that. I was just joking about how stupid the answer was. I'll try to look for some Atari Fan Games.
When I say, "reversed gravity", I'm talking about walking on the ceiling, the floor becoming the wall and so on. The correct term is "anti-gravity in video games", but there's no Wikipedia article on it.
Maybe it's more recent than I thought. Because there's a wikifandom that claims it's a mechanic that would have first appeared in Mario Kart 8 (in May 2014). All the other video games I could find that talked about anti-gravity were also racing games, so they had nothing to do with my game.
So maybe we should look into "platform games with anti-gravity". Although I'm pretty sure he's not going to distinguish between those and any other platform games. He already seems to have trouble not equating anti-gravity with racing games. Probably because platform games are never labelled 'anti-gravity', because it's anecdotal.
Well I know it's older than that. I was just joking about how stupid the answer was. I'll try to look for some Atari Fan Games.
If it helps. There were levels that reminded me of 1982's The Pitfalls. Especially in the aesthetics anyway.
But the early levels were mostly grey platforming, on a grey background (different shades of course). That's why I doubt it was really an Atari game put on the internet, but rather a simple inspiration. Maybe it's just me who has preconceived ideas about Atari games? 🤔