iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

hoolis @hollerpots.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I see it. I see I have 8 minutes. And so, I wait.

Hm, I need to adjust my script. A couple colors got interpolated and invalid...

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Enjoyed some time outside earlier. More fodder to play with EGA high-res. In the afternoon I sent Europa Panic 1.2 to friends to try a friendlier non-expert mode. I'll post that once they give me the green light.

Power lines through an overgrown cleared way between trees under a cloudy sky. EGA Hi-res, dithered to the best 16 colors of the 64 available.

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Return to Zork was broken and bonkers but we love it anyway. Rest assured your point isn't lost, text adventures are purposeful and distinct. I love them. I'm trying so hard not to look up this new ghastly thing. I'll just get angry.

A pallate cleanser. This intro is the only 3D Zork I'll allow.

A low resolution raytraced still from Return to Zork for DOS showing a boarded up white house from the introduction.

hoolis @hollerpots.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

"I'll make something totally different this time." One day later. "So, three islands. On each island, four smaller locations. ... Wait a minute... This sounds familiar."

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hoolis @hollerpots.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

This and Vistapro were my favorite tools with the VR Madness book. I still use them!

I've on and off poked at POV-ray for about the same amount of time, much less successfully, and always wanted to get good with it. It still appeals to me much more than Blender, so I really applaud your work!

The manuals are always one of my favorite parts. Is this POV-ray?

Emmy @emmfoolery.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Reposted by hoolis

The DOS game jam has officially started! 😊

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Haha, I am so glad you enjoyed it! Just wait until you get the secret ending, and find out who all the food is for.. Thank you for streaming it, and for the new jam! I really wanted to pop on, but I'm in the wrong timezone.

Buttprince @buttprince.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Oh, dang it, sorry @emmfoolery.bsky.social I should have documented the "Expert" default. There is a, er, less diabolical mode 😅

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Reposted by hoolis

Bayeux EGA pixel art test 2, I worry this might be a little too... what critics might describe as... "Un-look-at-able." I'm not super worried about it being "ugly", so much as literally hurting one's eyes to look at, physically. Feedback welcome and appreciated!

pixel image of a mock up of a Bayeux Tapestry based EGA palette compute game. a man and a dog stand on either side of a church, surrounded by wiggle plants in the margins.

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No. This is beautiful. Don't stop. The pain means it's working.

It's funny, in your last example, without my glasses, it's easier for me to read the pixel font. I had to squint to read the modern. It's the spacing, I think. So there, now you have a accessibility argument to be a purist, too 😅 Great blog.

(This is scaled up and not quite the right aspect ratio previewed in Aseprite, but you get the idea)

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hoolis @hollerpots.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

This photo I took a while ago is extra creepy in EGA hi-res. Experimenting with ideas for the next DOS project.

A photo of a tree with a "one way do not enter" sign that the tree's bark is consuming. It has been reduced to a predetermined indexed palette, dithered and scaled.

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"dedithering" Those... those cretins

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hoolis @hollerpots.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Sometimes I think Dr. Quandary isn't a real doctor.

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hoolis @hollerpots.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

You can indeed rearrange the palette (nice way to fake a "fade out") but can't name any games that plane limited for speed.

Jaybee @jayb33.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Reposted by hoolis

Cole Dröws, with permission from the rights holder, released the unpublished UK English version of Blackout. Blackout is a 1997 non-linear point-and-click psychological horror game filmed on Beta with hand crafted sets and stop motion puppets. coledrows.itch.io/blackout

coledrows.itch.io

Blackout 97 by Cole Dröws

Escape your fate - if you can

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hoolis @hollerpots.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

This is a cool, relaxing experience set to some very smooth, somber OPL2 music. #msdos #opl2 aarnig.itch.io/road

aarnig.itch.io

Project Road by Aarni

DOS adventure game demo with pre-rendered backgrounds

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hoolis @hollerpots.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Team CDROM for the physical aesthetics of a nice jewel case.(This is awesome either way!)

hoolis @hollerpots.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

A friend just got the secret ending at long last. Cosmic truths were revealed. ... He also 100%ed it in 14min with 0 losses on the default "expert" mode. Good grief I can't even do that.

hoolis @hollerpots.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Great, now I want to play a Doom FMV adventure. woe-industries.itch.io/myst-fps

hoolis @hollerpots.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

So concludes a persistent desire to make this "wrong" 70s scifi interpretation of Venture a little more right. (I'm with the illustrator. A laser speargun is cooler than a bow and arrow. They'll never know.)

The box art for the home console release of Venture. Showing a shirtless muscled hero armed with a yellow speargun wired to a battery backpack. Monsters emerge in the dark. "Venture / Exidy / Based on the real arcade game"

hoolis @hollerpots.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Oh, the jukebox and settings are enabled for the browser now, too. So for those who like to flip through the sound test in games as much as I do, enjoy. It's my first stab at OPL2, something I've always wanted to do.

hoolis @hollerpots.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Europa Panic! v1.1 is now posted! Bugfixes, new difficulty modes, and a PDF that explains... the dietary preferences of the invading aliens. You know, important need-to-know things. hollerpots.itch.io/europa-panic... #dos #ega #adlib

hollerpots.itch.io

v1.1 Released: Bugfixes, Expert mode, Extras!

Europa Panic v1.1 is now out! Smoothing some rough edges. Difficulty : There are two modes, with “Expert” now the default. This is close to 1.0, with some nerfing I did before release reverted. Di...

hoolis @hollerpots.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

...update, runs great in Wine :-)

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hoolis @hollerpots.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Loved Seiklus, very relaxed

hoolis @hollerpots.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

v1.1 might come as soon as this weekend. Little things, like finally tightened some of the hitboxes. Meanwhile, I have an idea for a halloween pallate cleanser. As soon as I can figure out PCM via PC speaker. It is a requirement that a creaking door sound play via 1-bit DAC...

Anatoly Shashkin💾 @dosnostalgic.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Reposted by hoolis

Happy 45th birthday to the original IBM PC and PC DOS! 🎉🎂🥂

IBM Personal Computer model 5150 with a printer.
Photo from Science Museum Group Collection.
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

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hoolis @hollerpots.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

WELL DONE! ...YOUR STOMACH GROWLS

hoolis @hollerpots.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

The next milestone is someone seeing the ending other than my spouse 😅 I was really happy how it turned out. 3 endings possible! Well, 4 if you include rage quitting. That's valid. hollerpots.itch.io/europa-panic #msdoa #ega #adlib

hollerpots.itch.io

Europa Panic! (DOS) by hoolis

A nod to 1981's Venture, this is an arcade romp for your family 386. EGA/Adlib/Beeper

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hoolis @hollerpots.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Ha! Thank you! This is unexpected and delightful. It really seals the "Registered" experience.

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hoolis @hollerpots.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Hot dog, I sold a DOS game in 2026. You there, you know who you are, high five. You are a connoisseur of the arts. As a reward for this milestone, all may gaze upon Scrambles, the Europa Station Mascot.

A terrier mix dog in a NASA bandana sitting alertly next to an inflatable astronaut in front of a neblua

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hoolis @hollerpots.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Haha, I'm in a good place, oh heck that would be amazing!

hoolis @hollerpots.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

OK, having posted that, a friend reported the bundled Windoze download with vanilla DosBox is a bit rubbish. Re-uploaded with mildly tweaked dosbox.conf files, and the bundled one now uses DosBox-Staging. hollerpots.itch.io/europa-panic...

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hoolis @hollerpots.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

That's a little joke about testing! it's pretty darn tested, I just want to leave the door open to realizing I forgot something on Tuesday at 3am.