Post #2099479

2026-04-28 16:39 UTC

anyone else obsessively play The Incredible Machine growing up? when i was a teenager, it was pretty rare to have games that ran in VGA/EGA hi-res modes. so whenever i came across one, it was a rare treat. TIM runs in 640x440 using non-square pixels. that&#39;s already a fairly uncommon graphics mode in its time. even weirder: the original diskette for it reads &quot;256 color&quot; on it. except..... the game isn&#39;t 256 colours! not even close. it is a *16 colour game*. it uses the standard EGA palette colours with one tweak: it replaces screaming pink magenta with a warm gold. it manages pull off the 256-colour-like look through dithering. zoom in to the screenshots to see how the artist creates really beautiful texture and colour ramps using just 2-3 colours. (e.g. the gold plating in the first pic) #sierra #dynamix #dosGaming #retrogaming #msdos

Replies (20)

@justinto@mas.to 2026-04-28 16:42

@vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net I played so much TIM and TIM2. I've never found another game that has scratch that itch as well

Open ##2200608
@vyr@princess.industries 2026-04-28 16:49

@vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net yep, i had the Mac version and my siblings and mom and i probably put a hundred hours into it minimum

Open ##2200611
@lina@mastodon.catgirl.cloud 2026-04-28 16:51

@vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net TIM2 was one of my absolute favourite games as a kid!

Open ##2200614
@minterpunct@gamemaking.social 2026-04-28 16:54

@vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net I never played the DOS version, but my middle school computer lab had the Windows 95 version on every PC, so after finishing my work in 10 minutes I played it obsessively for the remainder of class 5x a week. I grew up with consoles, TIM was the first time I ever "got" computer games. One of the greats

Open ##2200616
@exquisitecorp@merveilles.town 2026-04-28 16:58

@vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net i loved this game as a kid. haven't played it 25 years. i think i'll install it on dosbox.

Open ##2200625
@Owlor@meow.social 2026-04-28 17:02

@vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net This thing was a significant part of my childhood

Open ##2200627
@wolfin@were.party 2026-04-28 17:02

@vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net @Owlor@meow.social I was one!

Open ##2200628
@devlin@topspicy.social 2026-04-28 17:10

@vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net I remember having a demo of it, but I can't for the life of me remember where I got that demo from

Open ##2200629
@Vyothric@mastodon.social 2026-04-28 17:14

@vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net Not obsessively - my sister was way better at puzzle games than me so I probably spent more time watching. I did finally get round to playing through the whole game a few years ago and it was great.

Open ##2200630
@hoolis@oldbytes.space 2026-04-28 17:30

@vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net Oh, even cooler than that, if I recall. 640x350 with 16 colors selected from 64, if it was the standard EGA hires. It's a really neat planar mode I'm using for my next project, which if I recall Gateway could also use (as well as the less exotic 640x480x16 selectable from... 16) I irrationally love this mode, sorry to miss the point 😅

Open ##2200631
@astifter@mastodon.astifter.com 2026-04-28 17:33

@vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net Me, me, me! 🙋‍♂️ Adored this game!

Open ##2200634
@Die4ever@mastodon.gamedev.place 2026-04-28 17:37

@vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net I loved this game, but I played TIM2 a lot more

Open ##2200635
@betahuman@mastodon.gamedev.place 2026-04-28 18:53

@vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net 640 x 480, on the standard 4:3 monitors of the time, has square pixels, so I'm curious how this somehow ended-up with non-square pixels for you...

Open ##2200636
@llanion@masto.ai 2026-04-28 19:13

@vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net "Phew!"

Open ##2200637
@billgoats@bitbang.social 2026-04-28 23:35

@vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net A truly incredible game :D

Open ##2200638
@studioumluft@mastodon.gamedev.place 2026-04-29 05:38

@vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net Just played it a few weeks ago (and 30 years earlier): https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@studioumluft/116325748250701372

Open ##2200639
@oscherler@tooting.ch 2026-04-29 07:16

@vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net Yes, I loved it.

Open ##2200640
@kirby@cathode.church 2026-04-29 11:21

@vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net VGA was so flexible, quite amazing! And I do love high res, low color art, Japanese computer games got incredible results with just 16 colors.

Open ##2200641
@quincy@chaos.social 2026-04-29 15:04

@vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net I liked it a lot

Open ##2200643
@pixel@oldbytes.space 2026-04-30 03:45

@vga256@mastodon.tomodori.net i spent many many many hours playing that. so much fun

Open ##2200644