Seriously Strange: Boxzum Accidental Pixel Calligraphy

I have a soft spot for old games from my childhood. Games like - StarCraft (best game ever, no contest), Undying, Total Annihilation, Diablo, Hexen-Heretic, Crusader, Moto Racer X, Little Big Adventure, Fallout, Karmageddon... They all appeared in a right time when i was really looking for some intense experiences. I still feel the influence of those games in my own stuff - they shaped the way i perceive things and understand the inner workings of certain elements. For example, level designer from Moto Racer X really helped me to understand the importance of intuitive level design the hard way. Or Doom Total Conversion packs showed that you can use the fundamental mechanics and take them into very different direction. Back in the day - there was this outlaw Frontier feel to game design - something that is now polished and adjusted and stinks like WWE. Also - nostalgia of some sorts. That's why i'm using ClassicReload to tame my thirst for the old stuff.

Today I was trying to find Warcraft 2. Because the gameplay music makes you play harder. Love that feeling. And my search was erratic for some reason. I guess it was all because i was using a different browser with VPN - search engine results were giving me creeps.

And then i stumbled upon BOXZUM. And it was rude kind of glorious.

Boxzum is a Snake-like game for DOS. As far as i can understand - you need to fight against two other snakes. Initial sessions were complete failure or triumph of hilarity. I had no idea what the player needed to do in order to make progress. I was stumbling in first seconds of every bout. Quick search gave me zero information on the subject. But i've grown without manuals - so i wasn't running scared - i've continued to play it while being completely out of context - because that's what real gamers do (bahahahaha).

Soon i've found out that BOXZUM makes rather curious patterns. And so i decided to make more of those patterns - instead of actually trying to beat the game. Sometimes it happens that way. Because you take more than the game gives.

This resulted in a series of patterns that you can view below. Some of them are simplistic, other seem to be peculiar, there are also some that remind me of some cryptic asemic writing. Anyway - it was fun to do.

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