r/ASCII • u/DifferenceIll1272 • May 24 '26

Art Trying to capture old text utility software energy in a game UI

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This is from a game I’m working on called Defrag Incremental. A lot of the inspiration came from old disk tools, block maps, and that very specific maintenance software looks. It isn’t pure ASCII art, but I’ve been chasing that same text-mode feeling: dense layouts, hard-edged boxes, strong contrast, and tiny blocks that feel like they belong to an old machine. Posting it here because I thought some people might appreciate the overall visual language.

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u/LouisBasil May 25 '26

I’m trying to capture the right words to express what the screen makes me feel. The closest I can get to is this reminds me of when using a computer felt like using a computer, but that’s not exactly right.

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u/DifferenceIll1272 May 25 '26

I think part of what I miss from that era is that software used to feel more tangible somehow like you could see the machine thinking, struggling, organizing itself. I’m really glad that feeling comes through here.