Source: https://pixelmaker04.itch.io/

The graphical capabilities of many systems of the late 70s and early 80s were naturally very limited. Much more creativity - away from billions of polygons, shaders and texture maps - was required to create something stunning.

And what kind of pull-ups did developers and designers make back then, to bring us users into exciting and adventurous worlds.

But PixelArt plays a big role again today! Many retrogame concepts are based on the idea of reduced resolution and color palette, and many consoles - such as the pico8 fantasy console reviewed in issue #11 - benefit from this retro vibe.

Jacob Bullock - known on Twitter as PixelMaker04 - is striking in the same vein. A few days ago, he unveiled the first official release of DitherPaint81 - a graphic design tool for the ZX Spectrum.

The predecessor DitherPaint99 was aimed at the TI99/4A. The current version runs on Sinclair ZX81 /Timex 1000 computers.

The idea of DitherPaint is already obvious from the name, but this video shows the program in action, should you still wonder.

Fancy a little PixelArt? What are you waiting for?