Ode to Magritte the Magician

Those '90s Games

I was recently hired to create an intro clip for a YouTube gamer. Doing intros is pretty usual stuff that a lot of people want, but what was unique about this gig, was that the guy wanted it to look and behave exactly like it was the early ‘90s. The age of NES! (We used to call it just TV Video Games)

You see, he’s a Minecraft player and absolutely loved the retro games. This meant I had to figure out what made those games look and sound and feel the way they used to, which in turn meant – Game Time! :D

For those of you who didn’t know, you can still play all the games that you used to, as a kid. There are emulators and Virtual ROMs(Links at the bottom of the post) available, that let you load up any NES game from any of the  ’99 in one’, ’21 in one’ or what used to be me and my brother’s favourite – ’76 in one’, that you used to own. Remember these? We used to call them cassettes :D

We now call those games 8-bit games, because those Nintendo systems had an 8-bit graphics processor. 8 bit, in terms of colour depth, is just 256 colours that could be displayed on screen. The creators had to make games containing visuals and audio, that could be processed by these processors to be rendered on screen. The result was that the visuals would be very low resolution and the music would be just beeps and clicks, varying in tone and tempo.

But, this did not hold them back one bit. Boy oh boy, they created some of the best games ever. It was so engrossing that I remember my parents used to hide the gaming system up in the loft and let us play only during the holidays. We had a Chinese Replica NES like the one in the picture below – I don’t think the actual NES was available in India then. The best part was, everyone had it and when cousins used to visit during the holidays, they brought their cassettes with them and we would sit and play these new games for hours on end. The system was powered by a 9V adapter and we usually kept running out of adapters, because the coils inside got burnt from being used too much. So another rule imposed by my mom came into effect at our house – switch off as soon as the adapter got heated up :D Like King Robert says, “Those were the days!”

Coming back to my gig, I figured out ways to create and bring pixel art (Artwork that is pixelated :D) to life. I put it all together and found that it looked like the retro games all right, but it definitely didn’t feel like it. Not being able to figure out what was wrong, I asked the gamer if he saw what was wrong with it. He saw it a couple of times and kind of blurted out that it was too smooth. Of course! Having strived to achieve smooth motion when animating things, I had bluntly done the same thing on this video as well. But again, the processors of the day, permitted only about 6-8 frames per second, which was way less than the animation standard of 12 frames per second that made Tom and Jerry and other Hannah Barbera cartoons super smooth. So back I went to make the video more choppy (Never have I ever done that before :D ).

Below are a couple of wonderful sites I discovered while roaming the internet, looking for 8 bit music to use with my video:

Make your own 8 bit Music - Link

An MIT Scratch project that lets you create your own 8 bit music.

An amazing YouTube channel that puts out 8 bit remixes of popular songs. Absolutely loved it. Here's the Link.

Also, here are the links to download the NES Emulator and the Roms. Enjoy reliving the 90s!

Virtual NES - Link 

ROMS - Link

Armur Animates

August 15th has always been a special day for me personally. I think it started when I wore a lot of makeup and played the role of a Terrorist in an Independence Day skit at school. That was when I learnt to let go of my inhibitions and started moving out of my comfort zone. I guess that taught me the valuable lesson that all good things lie outside your comfort zone and it is up to you to go seek it. Since then, I have done all sorts of crazy things on August 15th, including walking the ramp in a Fashion Show :)
Last year, it was another crazy leap, when I bumped up my personal goals and ambitions in cycling, from that of an endurance rider to that of a racer. How did I do that? I went ahead and got myself a shiny racing road bike - the Fuji Roubaix 1.3 :D Crazy investment, but one that has paid off in ways that I had not even imagined.That brings us to this year and my announcement! Not something crazy and spontaneous, but something I've been working on for several months now. I'm launching "ARMUR ANIMATES" - my own animation studio, offering Character Animation, Motion Graphics, Animated Intros, and Whiteboard Animation services.
From wondering "How the hell did they make that cartoon?", after re-watching every single Tom and Jerry Cartoon, (I bought the DVD set as a gift for a kid to enjoy, ended up watching it all first before gifting it :)) to actually understanding the process and making the characters actually do stuff, I've completely enjoyed the experience so far. Launching this studio and offering my professional services to others is taking it to the next level - which is beyond my comfort zone. Hence, perfect for Independence Day :D
Here's the intro video I've put together for the launch of Armur Animates: