Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

MacPaint Art from the Mid-80s Still Looks Great Today

blog.decryption.net.au

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 210 posts

Re: MacPaint Art from the Mid-80s Still Looks Great Today

#121

Post by roughly »

HPsquared wrote: post #35

Similarly, some cave paintings still look awesome. https://www.bradshawfoundation.com/lascaux/

One thing I read a while back noted that the cave paintings were also painted under and for specific lighting - namely, dim, flickering fire - and that under those conditions the paintings took on an even more expressive character.

What’s wild is that would be true for every single human work up to about the mid-1800s. Art - and architecture - would be made to be seen either in sunlight, with its attendant shadows and shifts throughout the day, or by firelight, which flickers and shifts on its own.

Re: MacPaint Art from the Mid-80s Still Looks Great Today

#122

Post by tinco »

mattbettinson wrote: post #113
seabombs wrote: post #21

There's a term I read about a long time ago, I think it was "aesthetic completeness" or something like that. It was used in the context of video games whose art direction was fully realized in the game, i.e. increases in graphics hardware or capabilities wouldn't add anything to the game in an artistic sense. The original Homeworld games were held up as examples. Anyway, this reminded me of that. Making these picture…

Maybe recency bias cause I’m playing it right now, but Breath of the Wild comes to mind

It might be but it's hard to tell because it's such a recent game. The Wind Waker might be a better example because it's now 20 years old and still renders and plays basically as if it's current gen on modern hardware.

Re: MacPaint Art from the Mid-80s Still Looks Great Today

#123

Post by AndrewStephens »

seabombs wrote: post #21

There's a term I read about a long time ago, I think it was "aesthetic completeness" or something like that. It was used in the context of video games whose art direction was fully realized in the game, i.e. increases in graphics hardware or capabilities wouldn't add anything to the game in an artistic sense. The original Homeworld games were held up as examples. Anyway, this reminded me of that. Making these picture…

I am not a game purist and modern games are just fine, but I do not see the point of AAA games employing 300 artists to model blades of grass that have no gameplay effect. Sure, the screen shots lot great but unless you are making GrassSimulator2000 it would have been better to use those resources for something else.

Re: MacPaint Art from the Mid-80s Still Looks Great Today

#124

Post by z3c0 »

mattbettinson wrote: post #113
seabombs wrote: post #21

There's a term I read about a long time ago, I think it was "aesthetic completeness" or something like that. It was used in the context of video games whose art direction was fully realized in the game, i.e. increases in graphics hardware or capabilities wouldn't add anything to the game in an artistic sense. The original Homeworld games were held up as examples. Anyway, this reminded me of that. Making these picture…

Maybe recency bias cause I’m playing it right now, but Breath of the Wild comes to mind

I don't know, I think some improved hardware would greatly improve the aesthetics of the Lost Woods, which severely drops in frame rate when docked. Handheld, the diminished fidelity at 720p buys back some frames.

I'd be inclined to agree about some older Zelda games though, namely Wind Waker. I replayed it on GCN recently, and can attest that HD Wii U version really didn't add anything to the aesthetics.

Re: MacPaint Art from the Mid-80s Still Looks Great Today

#125

Post by copperx »

sovietswag wrote: post #117
dahart wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Switched on Bach is one of my favorite albums of all time.

You should take a listen to Tomita as well then! There is so much beautiful music in the world

Way too much, in fact, if we go by daily Spotify uploads.

Re: MacPaint Art from the Mid-80s Still Looks Great Today

#126

Post by shermantanktop »

giraffe_lady wrote: post #95
madaxe_again wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similarly, Liszt made full use of what modern, powerful pianofortes are capable of - although were he a man of our times, he’d probably have been fronting a heavy metal band.

Western classical music had a strong tradition of taking advantage of cutting edge technological advances, especially in metallurgy but also advanced woodworking techniques like lamination making large soundboards possible and pushing the bounds of acoustic amplification. It wasn't until I think around the advent of recorded music and electric amplification that it settled into a fairly stable set of instruments & so…

Settled, or ossified? Sure, there’s modern classical with more adventurous instrumentation, but that’s not what the moneyed retirees down at the opera house want to hear.

The music of the classical canon is unbelievably fantastic, and it deserves respectful treatment, but the genre has lost the audience for cool new sounds. It’s very unfortunate.

Re: MacPaint Art from the Mid-80s Still Looks Great Today

#127

Post by copperx »

giraffe_lady wrote: post #95
madaxe_again wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similarly, Liszt made full use of what modern, powerful pianofortes are capable of - although were he a man of our times, he’d probably have been fronting a heavy metal band.

Western classical music had a strong tradition of taking advantage of cutting edge technological advances, especially in metallurgy but also advanced woodworking techniques like lamination making large soundboards possible and pushing the bounds of acoustic amplification. It wasn't until I think around the advent of recorded music and electric amplification that it settled into a fairly stable set of instruments & so…

Classical and jazz just stopped trying and standardized the instruments. Other types of music are more open to incorporating new instruments. At least that's how I feel.

Re: MacPaint Art from the Mid-80s Still Looks Great Today

#128

Post by pjerem »

tinco wrote: post #122
mattbettinson wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe recency bias cause I’m playing it right now, but Breath of the Wild comes to mind

It might be but it's hard to tell because it's such a recent game. The Wind Waker might be a better example because it's now 20 years old and still renders and plays basically as if it's current gen on modern hardware.

Except Wind Waker is actually a good and a bad example. Its art style has not aged but the HD remaster (on Wii U) is still better looking.

Re: MacPaint Art from the Mid-80s Still Looks Great Today

#129

Post by dehrmann »

AndrewStephens wrote: post #123
seabombs wrote: post #21

There's a term I read about a long time ago, I think it was "aesthetic completeness" or something like that. It was used in the context of video games whose art direction was fully realized in the game, i.e. increases in graphics hardware or capabilities wouldn't add anything to the game in an artistic sense. The original Homeworld games were held up as examples. Anyway, this reminded me of that. Making these picture…

I am not a game purist and modern games are just fine, but I do not see the point of AAA games employing 300 artists to model blades of grass that have no gameplay effect. Sure, the screen shots lot great but unless you are making GrassSimulator2000 it would have been better to use those resources for something else.

There's a solid chance GTA VI will include a lawn mowing minigame.

Re: MacPaint Art from the Mid-80s Still Looks Great Today

#130

Post by bredren »

AndrewStephens wrote: post #123
seabombs wrote: post #21

There's a term I read about a long time ago, I think it was "aesthetic completeness" or something like that. It was used in the context of video games whose art direction was fully realized in the game, i.e. increases in graphics hardware or capabilities wouldn't add anything to the game in an artistic sense. The original Homeworld games were held up as examples. Anyway, this reminded me of that. Making these picture…

I am not a game purist and modern games are just fine, but I do not see the point of AAA games employing 300 artists to model blades of grass that have no gameplay effect. Sure, the screen shots lot great but unless you are making GrassSimulator2000 it would have been better to use those resources for something else.

As a person who spent a great deal of time restoring a long neglected backyard to include a small lawn to play on, I am interested in playing GrassSimulator2000.
Post reply on HN