2 ms·
> I miss when gaming in general was less mainstream and more weird like this. To me, this is a continuum with the box art of early games, where because the gra
by pjc50 1y ago
> I miss when gaming in general was less mainstream and more weird like this.
To me, this is a continuum with the box art of early games, where because the graphics themselves were pretty limited the box art had to be fabulous. Get someone like Roger Dean to paint a picture for the imagination. https://www.rogerdean.com/ https://www.rogerdean.com/
The peak of this was the Maplin electronics catalogue: https://70s-sci-fi-art.ghost.io/1980s-maplin-catalogues/ https://70s-sci-fi-art.ghost.io/1980s-maplin-catalogues/ ; the Radio Shack of UK electronics hobbyists, now gone entirely. Did they need to have cool art on the catalogue? No. Was it awesome? Yes.
- pavlov 1y agoThis great interview with Roger Dean about his career in games was recently posted: https://spillhistorie.no/2025/10/03/legends-of-the-games-industry-roger-dean/ https://spillhistorie.no/2025/10/03/legends-of-the-games-ind... Turns out that the Psygnosis developers in the 1980s used him as a kind of single-shot concept artist. They would commission the box art first, then use that as inspiration for designing the actual game to go inside the box.
- Gud 1y agoReminds me of the Anderson Bruford Wakeman & Howe 12” cover: https://row.rarevinyl.com/products/anderson-bruford-wakeman-howe-anderson-bruford-wakeman-howe-gatefold-german-vinyl-lp-album-record-209970-518816?shpxid=4ebcf15e-7bd7-4ad5-862c-d4d3eb968a83 https://row.rarevinyl.com/products/anderson-bruford-wakeman-...
- rsynnott 1y agoHuh. I hadn't actually realised Maplin was gone entirely. They closed in Ireland a while back, but I put that down to a general trend of marginal UK high-street retailers (Argos etc) pulling out of Ireland, but still existing in some form in the UK. Weird shop; they never really got rid of any stock that was even theoretically useable, so it was at least partially a museum of outdated gadgets.