Elite (C64): Revolutionary in its time, the interface of the legendary computer game for the C64 features a simple but ingenious way of displaying three-dimensional space and movement just within a small part of a low-resolution screen. The in-space-locator, for example, is an elliptical projection of a circle where relative height is represented by vertical lines. Based on the strict logic of space-travel, the controls for the spaceship were reduced to simple rolling and up/down-movements. With graphics basically kept in black and white, the system manages to immerse the player in a whole universe that takes months to explore. We present this project not as a part of retro-gaming but because of the unique flight-command interpreter. Elite was originally written in 1984 by British artistic programmers Ian Bell and David Braben for the BBC Microcomputer. It has since been converted to many platforms. According to Ian Bell, the best conversions were for the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Acorn Archimedes. Link
monochrom is an art-technology-philosophy group having its seat in Vienna and Zeta Draconis. monochrom is an unpeculiar mixture of proto-aesthetic fringe work, pop attitude, subcultural science, context hacking and political activism. Our mission is conducted everywhere, but first and foremost in culture-archeological digs into the seats (and pockets) of ideology and entertainment. monochrom has existed in this (and almost every other) form since 1993. [more]
