iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Living Worlds @livingworldsart.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I guess this is old news (more than a month) by now, but in case you missed it, Mark Ferrari is working on Thimbleweed Park 2! www.grumpygamer.com/twp2_announce/

grumpygamer.com

Thimbleweed Park 2

Ron Gilbert's often incoherent and bitter ramblings about the Game Industry

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Living Worlds @livingworldsart.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Before the Living Worlds, Mark Ferrari did color cycling art for a game called Heaven & Earth. @iangilman.bsky.social has been bringing the puzzles from that game back to life, and has recently revived Mark's original color cycling playing pieces! iangilman.substack.com/p/clockwork-...

iangilman.substack.com

Clockwork Goldfish Color Cycling

Mark Ferrari's original artwork is back!

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Living Worlds @livingworldsart.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Back in 1992, @iangilman.bsky.social (the programmer behind Living Worlds, not the artist) did the animations for the shareware arcade game Maelstrom. Today it's being re-released for free on Steam, iOS, Android, and the web! steamcommunity.com/app/4239950/...

steamcommunity.com

Announcing Maelstrom 4.0 :: Maelstrom General Discussions

Maelstrom is an open source port of the original shareware game for the Macintosh by Ambrosia Software. It is a fast-action, asteroids-like game, with classic pixel graphics and original sounds. In ad...

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Living Worlds @livingworldsart.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

People are still making beautiful new color cycling pixel art! Check out this amazing piece from Steffest and learn how he made it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyB5...

youtube.com

The Vision - Creating a Color Cycling Image for the Commodore Amiga

YouTube video by Steffest

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Living Worlds @livingworldsart.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

Happy December! 🌲❄️ #pixelart "Arrived well after dark last night—at end of my reserves. Climb up mountainside much more arduous than anticipated. For now, given run of castle library and told to spend day resting and recovering."

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Living Worlds @livingworldsart.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Happy November! 🌞🌲 #pixelart "Have just discovered beautiful lake. Will camp briefly and adjust to rising elevation’s impact on breathing and stamina. Lake providing abundant fish and aquatic vegetables to smoke and store in preparation for ascent beyond tree line."

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Living Worlds @livingworldsart.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

Happy October! 🎃👻 #pixelart "Could not get to sleep at all, so sat up watching ruins, and was ‘rewarded’ at last with clear sight of unnatural and deeply unsettling display — as if some slow, indecipherable calamity were reenacted again and again before me."

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Living Worlds @livingworldsart.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

Happy September! 🌊⛵️ #pixelart "Woken this morning by noisy sea birds, just in time to see fleet of white sails heading out to open sea beyond distant promontory."

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Living Worlds @livingworldsart.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

Happy August! 💦🐠 #pixelart "Surf here quite small, and water astonishingly clear. While swimming well off-shore, spotted odd formations far beneath surface..."

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Reposted by Living Worlds

Tofu @tofupixel.bsky.social · 02/11/2024

I never posted this here, but I made a pretty big write-up over on Tumblr for anyone interested in learning #pixelart! It's a guide on software, fundamentals, jargon and resources. Since links are legal on Bsky I can share it: www.tumblr.com/tofupixel/75... #tutorial Hope someone finds it useful!

A screenshot of a tumblr post reading:

"Title: So you want to learn pixel art?
Subtitle: Part 1 of ??? - The Basics!

Hello, my name is Tofu and I'm a professional pixel artist. I have been supporting myself with freelance pixel art since 2020, when I was let go from my job during the pandemic."

Two images comparing artistic improvement, the left is of a rudimentary tree, and the right is of a statue in a wall recess surrounded by plants and dappled light.

"My progress, from 2017 to 2024. IMO the only thing that really matters is time and effort, not some kind of natural talent for art.

This guide will not be comprehensive, as nobody should be expected to read allat. Instead I will lean heavily on my own experience, and share what worked for me, so take everything with a grain of salt. This is a guide, not a tutorial. Cheers!"

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Living Worlds @livingworldsart.bsky.social · 06/07/2025

Happy July! ☀️🌵 #pixelart "Saw very large convoy of cargo-laden wagons leave fortress this morning and head west toward distant mountain range. No idea what this was about, but clearly SOMETHING ELSE lies west of here. Have decided to find out what."

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Living Worlds @livingworldsart.bsky.social · 21/06/2025

Happy June! 💎💦🌈 #pixelart "And, most amazing of all—entire chambers covered in truck-sized crystals of what appears to be Amethyst—which reflect the pale bioluminescence like a million chandeliers. If only there were some way to bring just one back home, would be set for life."

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Living Worlds @livingworldsart.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

Happy May! 💧🌈🌿 #pixelart "After days of travel through woods I swear were haunted, have emerged at last to a spectacular sight! Heard the roaring of it for nearly half an hour before hacking through dense scrub willow and tangled vines to gape at the falls themselves."

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Living Worlds @livingworldsart.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

Happy April! 🌳🌿🌸 #pixelart "Came last evening to forest pool, which proved to host large bank of bioluminescent, night-blooming flowers. Small curled petal at flower base yields truly delicious nectar—in only tiny amounts, alas."

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Living Worlds @livingworldsart.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Happy March! 🌧🌈🌷 #pixelart "Have just come over ridge to discover astonishing vista! Three massive stone pillars atop obviously modified hilltop above broad plain beyond. Pillars look like undressed stone, but placement does not seem natural."

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Living Worlds @livingworldsart.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

If you're curious, this post from the beginning of the project has a good overview of the history, technology, and artistry behind the Living Worlds: iangilman.medium.com/living-world... #pixelart

iangilman.medium.com

Living Worlds for iOS / Android

We’re bringing a classic series of dynamic pixel art scenes back to life on modern devices!

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Living Worlds @livingworldsart.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Happy February! 🌤❄️ #pixelart "Spotted immense doorway structure carved out of nearby peak. Clearly no natural formation. Upon climbing to investigate, discovered small, strangely warm lake of melted water."

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Living Worlds @livingworldsart.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

Wow, Moxie Marlinspike gave a shout out to the Living Worlds color cycling scenes in his keynote at the Black Hat conference last year! He gives a pretty good description of the technical details as well. It starts at 14:45: youtu.be/MAJP-fAf8MI?...

youtu.be

Keynote: Fireside Chat with Moxie Marlinspike

YouTube video by Black Hat

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Living Worlds @livingworldsart.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

We're working on a "next" set of Living Worlds and looking for pixel artists interested in color cycling and creating such "living" scenes! Please spread the word 😊 #pixelart iangilman.substack.com/p/next-livin...

iangilman.substack.com

Next Living Worlds

Calling all pixel artists!

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Living Worlds @livingworldsart.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

Happy New Year! 🎉❄️ #pixelart "It worked! The portal device...I’m here. Wherever ‘here’ is. In a range of mountains, up to my shins in snow. Flurries frequent. As it was summer where I came from, portal has sent me ...to a different hemisphere, or—someplace farther?"

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Living Worlds @livingworldsart.bsky.social · 26/12/2024

We recently updated the Living Worlds app to work with new Android phones. If you tried to get it before and were told it's not compatible, you should be able to get it now! play.google.com/store/apps/d...

play.google.com

Living Worlds – Mark Ferrari - Apps on Google Play

Classic dynamic pixel art from Mark Ferrari.

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Living Worlds @livingworldsart.bsky.social · 23/12/2024

All of the animations I'm posting here come from the Living Worlds app, where these #pixelart scenes really come to life, changing throughout the day and from day to day! pixfabrik.com/livingworlds/

pixfabrik.com

Living Worlds - Art by Mark Ferrari

This new Living Worlds app is a modern recreation of a set of dynamic pixel art scenes first published in the early 90s...

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Reposted by Living Worlds

Living Worlds @livingworldsart.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

Exactly right! This piece is from Mark Ferrari in 1993, just a few years after he worked on the Lucasfilm adventure games Loom and The Secret of Monkey Island. 😊

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Reposted by Living Worlds

Kevin Vognar @somnule.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

being able to use Living Worlds as my phone wallpaper and see it change over the course of a day and across a year is literally my favorite thing about Android

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Living Worlds @livingworldsart.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

Happy December! 🌲❄️ #pixelart This is part of a series of 12 scenes, one for each month. The story actually starts in January, so think of this as a preview of things to come 😉

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