Friday, December 10, 2010

Light Cycle (Tron)

So I watched Tron tonight. Hadn't seen it since I was a kid. I can see why I didn't latch onto it way back when. It's a rather dry movie with fewer action scenes than I remember, and a strange plotline that seemed more about computer bits and information than video games. But I can see its influence; the film is way ahead of its time. The weird thing is that while I didn't care for the movie itself when I was younger, I was surrounded by the look, feel, and sounds from the related products. So while I don't remember the movie plotline, I certainly remember going on the Peoplemover and seeing those scenes over and over again in the speed tunnel. And hearing the game sounds in countless arcades. And playing Discs of Tron in college, when a surviving machine allowed me to hone my skills. But that's a post for a different time....

I actually wanted to make a Discs of Tron character, but those sprites are way more complicated than I expected. They're full of added colours that you just don't notice under a machine with a working blacklight. More complicated sprites also mean they're way larger than you'd picture. Even this light cycle is surprisingly tall for such a tiny object on the monitor. And since it was the only section of the game that I rather enjoyed, I went with this. Even though I'm terrible with pretty much each of the four levels on that game. That seems to be a recurring theme here on this blog.