WMW

Webpages with highly inventive presentation. Effort first.(21 total)

Spectrum Crap Games Competition [jump here] [permalink]
The ZX Spectrum 48k was the machine that made the British computing scene. Its humble hackish origins were what introduced a generation of programmers to their craft. It also served to entertain many growing up in the 1980s with its vast and varied selection of games. This computer was long discontinued by the time I was born, but I admire its simplicity and what it symbolises. Modern systems are inscrutable; they hide their workings from the user. They aren't nearly as approachable to program. In this spirit, there is held a 'crap games contest' every year where a group of Spectrum enthusiasts attempt to create the worst game they can for the system. The entries may be browsed on this site - itself taking heavy inspiration from the Spectrum's graphics palette.
Heaviness: Now Loading... CSSCGC	Eccentricity: 9/10
Submitted: 21/10/2023	Visit Spectrum Crap Games Competition

Some Proxy I Used To Know [jump here] [permalink]
"Banned, blocked, restricted from accessing internet? Proxied, firewalled, socked? Nuked, flooded, attacked, trojaned, hacked in IRC, ICQ and chat rooms? Unable to use internet telephony?" - then here are the people who will help. Introducing Somebody Proxy. Never mind a VPN. Hide behind a humble proxy, and get back onto those services. Proxy technology is so old that the authorities won't even be checking anyway, so take that NordVPN! This site was last updated in 2000, but it is still online. Presumably the proxy still works, but I'm not quite willing to pay the $49 monthly fee to verify that!
Heaviness: Behind Twelve	Eccentricity: 9/10
Submitted: 01/10/2023	Visit Some Proxy I Used To Know

Future Blues [jump here] [permalink]
Future Blues is where you can learn everything you'd want to know about the Anime series Cowboy Bebop. It's a fansite from the era of real fansites, there is commentary, details of the episodes, character bios, music from the score, and of course a guestbook. The website has been styled to Eastern visuals and blends some of its own ideas in a maverick way. Given that the Anime series chronicles the adventures of space-faring bohemians, this style is entirely fitting. It has been online since 1999. The site was last updated in 2021 to announce that Netflix had premiered a live action adaptation of the story.
Heaviness: Light	Eccentricity: 4/10
Submitted: 21/07/2023	Visit Future Blues

Grimace's Birthday [jump here] [permalink]
It is 2023. The McDonald's corporation needs a new marketing ploy. Something perhaps to tap into this 'gaming' thing the kids are raving on about. They finally decide to make a game. Of all the platforms they could've selected, the Gameboy Color is what they elected. Some say this is a conscious attempt to tap into nostalgia, but I think they chose the GBC because it was current the last time their marketing department played a game. Either way, we've a skateboarding purple fellow who needs to round up his friends for his birthday. Who can't relate? The game is a genuine Gameboy Color ROM that may be played inside the browser, complete with a contemporary website to house it. The ROM may be downloaded here and played on a real GBC. Some details of how it was made is here should you wish to build your own GBC game in 2023 or later.
Heaviness: Super Size Me	Eccentricity: over 9000 calories/10
Submitted: 11/07/2023	Visit Grimace's Birthday

Twelve Men [jump here] [permalink]
A curious fusion of East and West meets in this website; it takes visual cues from Tarantino film openings. The webpages flash from a TV/VCR combo, perhaps being retrieved from tape in real time, broadcasting the artistic achievements of the person or entity known as Twelve Men. Is it one man, or twelve, or is it even a man who has originated these creations? Who can tell, but the anime recommendations and street photography makes it worth a visit.
Heaviness: Light	Eccentricity: 8/10
Submitted: 01/07/2023	Visit Twelve Men

Wipeout Flythrough [jump here] [permalink]
Enjoy a cabin view tour of the tracks made famous by the F3600 anti-gravity racing league. This website offers a peek at the future of motorsport racing. It is also rumoured that this website will be preserved to train drivers for the league, set to commence in 2052. You don't have to wait thirty years thanks to this site; click the link and get psyched! As an aside, this is a very impressive web demo that takes the original Wipeout (1995) resource files and renders them using WebGL. The source code may be enjoyed here and the writeup telling how the author did it is here. This demo is written purely with the author's own JS knowledge combined with publicly available documentation of the data file formats. Curiously, the Wipeout source leaked earlier this year. It will be curious to see what anyone does with the combined knowledge.
Heaviness: Adrenaline Rush	Eccentricity: 5/10
Submitted: 18/06/2023	Visit Wipeout Flythrough

Cat Bounce [jump here] [permalink]
Cat bounce is worth a visit, given that this is something that cats are not known to do in real life. Here you can see this hypothetical depicted. Colourful visuals accompany the experience.
Heaviness: Medium	Eccentricity: 5/10
Submitted: 24/09/2022	Visit Cat Bounce

Ultimate Oldschool PC Font Pack (int10h.org) [jump here] [permalink]
The author of this website has worked carefully to recreate various system fonts from the days of text mode displays. He's faithfully reproduced them in TTF and various modern formats, meaning they will scale properly on modern systems. But I'd argue that's less a spectacle than the website itself, which is a tribute to 256-colour goodness crafted with much affection. Don't miss the homepage either. It's a perfect melding of demoscene and DOS TUIs.
Heaviness: Modest	Eccentricity: 10/10
Submitted: 13/08/2022	Visit Ultimate Oldschool PC Font Pack (int10h.org)

ZOMG ZUFALL (Flash Loops Archive) [jump here] [permalink]
A website of random flash loops set to suitable musical accompaniment. As of today, there are 7977 available. These are very much the kind of random creativity that only the Web can provide. Note: Not all are worksafe or kid friendly! Though from my quick browse I found nothing seriously alarming, but just a heads-up, this is a place of unbridled creativity. The example from the screenshot may be seen here, it is a squirrel gradually losing touch of sanity to the tune of Napoleon XIV's They Are Coming To Take Me Away. Charmingly, they are all made in Adobe Flash but have the modern Ruffle player available. This means they are real flash but work in browsers ancient and modern without the need for any plugin.
Heaviness: Light	Eccentricity: 9/10
Submitted: 09/07/2022	Visit ZOMG ZUFALL (Flash Loops Archive)

Persepolis Reimagined [jump here] [permalink]
Go on a tour through the city of Persepolis, thanks to this highly detailed 3D rendering of the ancient city. Some say it was built by King Darius himself, who was known to be a crack at WebGL.
Heaviness: CPU Carnage	Eccentricity: 4/10
Submitted: 17/04/2022	Visit Persepolis Reimagined