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atmcashpoint.bsky.social
ATMcashpoint
@atmcashpoint.bsky.social
290 followers 180 following 1.5K posts
Nerdy about LucasArts and Sierra video games, Star Wars, architecture, JRR Tolkien. He/him/fhtagn. Also on mastodon.social under the same username.
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atmcashpoint.bsky.social
From Conan: Scourge of the Serpent #3 (script Jim Zub, art Ivan Gil, colors Jão Canola).

Ma'am your outfit choice of "elaborate headdress and broad collar necklace, gauzy loincloth, sandals, and tits out" continues to slay

(also wasn't her hair blonde in previous issues?)
A splash page from Conan: Scourge of the Serpent #3, showing a vision of a woman from the ancient past. She is wearing a golden headdress, of a different design than the ones she wore in previous issues. This headdress has a large red jewel on the forehead, and three green spikes protruding from the brow. Her long black hair is worked into dreadlocks. Around her neck there is a broad collar necklace, reminiscent of Egyptian usekh collars, adorned with many red jewels. Beneath the necklace her chest is bare. She has bracelets on her forearms and wrists, alternately of rectilinear gold and of some sort of green material worked into the shape of a snake. A similar green snake circlet (or are they actual snakes?) is wound around her right thigh. A golden girdle, whose front is shaped like two snakes with heads facing each other, encircles her waist. From the front of the belt hangs a long panel of gauzy fabric which serves as a loincloth. On her feet there are sandals. Behind her in the ether appear the coils of writhing green serpents.
November 28, 2025 at 4:42 AM
atmcashpoint.bsky.social
love how the Composite pilasters on Il Redentore have rectilinear shafts but elliptical bells in their capitals
A photograph of the facade of the Church of Il Redentore in Venice, designed by Andrea Palladio. The main portico of the facade has four engaged Composite pilasters. The inner two pilasters are actually round half-columns, but the outer two have rectilinear shafts that taper as they ascend. The upper capitals of the rectilinear pilasters have bells that are not rectilinear, but rather elliptical in shape. The entablature over the Composite columns has a style usually used with the Corinthian order. A smaller engaged portico with only two round half-columns frames the front door, though the entablature of this smaller portico recurs on the outer edges of the facade, with half-pediments set against the outer edges of the larger main portico. This smaller portico and the flanking half-pediments are supported by Corinthian columns, but the entablature above them has a style that is normally Composite. The playful alternation of Composite and Corinthian columns and entablatures is characteristic of the somewhat Mannerist style in which Palladio worked, despite his architecture being boldly classical and correct, yet also serene, in its overall outlines.
November 28, 2025 at 3:57 AM
atmcashpoint.bsky.social
The game files of a prerelease demo for #IndianaJones and the #FateofAtlantis preserve the overhead Sea Monkey sprite from the lost ship combat in #MonkeyIsland 1 - including the missing foremast from where it breaks off in this scene!
Overhead views of a sailing ship drawn in 16 colors, with a central mainmast and rear mizzenmast plainly visible but the foremast missing. The sprite is preserved in the files of a prerelease demo in Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, where it was used as a placeholder for a Nazi submarine, but was almost certainly drawn as an overhead sprite for the Sea Monkey in the lost ship combat in Monkey Island 1.
November 18, 2025 at 3:40 PM
atmcashpoint.bsky.social
For an example of Charles' usual high sartorial standards, here he is in morning dress, with fashionable lapel piping on his black morning coat & waistcoat, and a white slip under the waistcoat opening. Next to him is his brother, the former prince credibly accused of being a pedophile rapist.
A photo of the disgraced former Prince Andrew and his brother King Charles standing together. The photo is from the waist up, but both men appear to be wearing black morning coats and black double-breasted waistcoats along with black neckties. Andrew's outfit is simpler, as the morning coat is of ordinary suit fabric with plain peak lapels, and his waistcoat lapels are relatively plain too. However, his tie, which is rumpled, is secured by a diamond tie-pin bearing his brother's royal monogram. Charles' morning coat has a different fabric that appears to have a slight fuzziness to it, like the cloth more often seen on overcoats. The edges of the lapels are trimmed with narrow black piping, perhaps of grosgrain. His black waistcoat has its lapels trimmed with the same piping, and it has a white linen slip lining the under-edges of the neck opening. He is wearing a pocket square that is white with black stripes, and his black tie, which is well knotted and properly positioned, is held in place by an identical diamond tie-pin.
November 13, 2025 at 8:26 PM
atmcashpoint.bsky.social
plus a commemorative postcard of L'Oiseau Blanc with headshots of Nungesser and Coli, with Coli wearing a more ordinary eyepatch under his flying gear
A postcard depicting the airplane L'Oiseau Blanc (The White Bird), with text in French saying "Nungesser and Coli - The Heroes of the Paris-New York Raid. Seaplane: P. Levasseur; motor: Lorraine-Diétrich." The plane was intended to be able to land on water in case of emergency. The postcard also has closeups of Nungesser and Coli in their leather flying jackets and caps. Coli is wearing an eyepatch under his leather flying cap, along with a piece of white gauze poking out from under the patch.
November 5, 2025 at 9:17 PM
atmcashpoint.bsky.social
here's another photo of Nungesser and Coli shortly before their disappearance, where you can see the black monocle in better light
A photo of Charles Nungesser and François Coli standing together outdoors, shortly before the disappearance of their airplane L'Oiseau Blanc over the Atlantic. Both are wearing civilian suits and ties. Nungesser is smiling, while Coli has a more serious expression on his face. Coli's black monocle is clearly visible in the daylight.
November 5, 2025 at 9:09 PM
atmcashpoint.bsky.social
François Coli and Charles Nungesser, pilots of the airplane L'Oiseau Blanc, lost trying to cross the Atlantic Ocean in 1927.

Coli lost an eye in World War I and wore a black-tinted monocle afterward.

This is the kind of drip I suspect @qsy.bsky.social & @funereel.bsky.social would appreciate
Photographs of François Coli and Charles Nungesser, the French pilots of the airplane L'Oiseau Blanc (The White Bird), which was lost while attempting to cross the Atlantic Ocean from east to west in 1927, shortly before Charles Lindbergh's successful flight in the other direction. Coli is shown in a French army uniform, wearing a black monocle over his right eye, which he lost during World War I. Nungesser is pictured in the cockpit of a plane, wearing a leather cap and goggles.
November 5, 2025 at 9:03 PM
atmcashpoint.bsky.social
good news for this guy
Screenshots from Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, showing Indy backstage at Sophia's presentation in New York, giving a newspaper to a stagehand. The stagehand says "Well, well, the late edition... I wonder if the Dodgers won?" Screenshots from Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, showing Indy backstage at Sophia's presentation in New York, giving a newspaper to a stagehand. The stagehand says "Well, well, the late edition... I wonder if the Dodgers won?" Screenshots from Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, showing Indy backstage at Sophia's presentation in New York, giving a newspaper to a stagehand. The stagehand says "Well, well, the late edition... I wonder if the Dodgers won?"
November 2, 2025 at 4:33 AM
atmcashpoint.bsky.social
From Conan: Scourge of the Serpent #1 & #2 (script Jim Zub, art Ivan Gil, colors Jão Canola).

Ms. Gordon, your ancestral counterpart wears an extremely fashionable outfit and I suggest you start wearing it at all times.

(also Zub's Conan comics are extremely good, highly recommended)
Scenes from Conan: Scourge of the Serpent issues #1 and #2, showing Evelyn Gordon, a blonde woman in 1930s attire, along with visions seen by another character in which her form is overlaid by that of an ancestral counterpart. The ancestral woman who appears in these visions resembles the modern Evelyn, but has a much more serious expression. She is bare-breasted and wears an elaborate headdress with a snake-head crest and a long fabric train covering her dreadlocked hair, a broad collar-style necklace reminiscent of an Egyptian usekh that also has a snake motif, and bracelets on her upper arms. Scenes from Conan: Scourge of the Serpent issues #1 and #2, showing Evelyn Gordon, a blonde woman in 1930s attire, along with visions seen by another character in which her form is overlaid by that of an ancestral counterpart. The ancestral woman who appears in these visions resembles the modern Evelyn, but has a much more serious expression. She is bare-breasted and wears an elaborate headdress with a snake-head crest and a long fabric train covering her dreadlocked hair, a broad collar-style necklace reminiscent of an Egyptian usekh that also has a snake motif, and bracelets on her upper arms.
November 1, 2025 at 2:23 PM
atmcashpoint.bsky.social
"It is, as I believe the kids these days put it, morbing time."
A photo of Dr. Morbius (Walter Pidgeon) from Forbidden Planet.
October 20, 2025 at 12:10 PM
atmcashpoint.bsky.social
An Amiga press build of #MonkeyIsland 1, shown in The One magazine #35 (August 1991).

This build is mostly like the final version, but in some cutscenes the screen was vertically centered - something also seen in prerelease builds of MI1 and #LOOM on other platforms.
#lucasarts #adventuregames
A prerelease screenshot of Monkey Island 1 for Amiga, showing Guybrush talking to the Melee Island lookout in the intro. The screen is vertically centered, a feature not found in the final release. A prerelease screenshot of Monkey Island 1 for Amiga, showing the closeup of sword trainer Captain Smirk when Guybrush first meets him. The screen is vertically centered, a feature not found in the final release. Also, no smoke is emanating from Smirk's cigar.
October 19, 2025 at 8:05 AM
atmcashpoint.bsky.social
It also looks like the second screenshot has a WIP version of the VGA background of the deck of LeChuck's ghost ship.
#monkeyisland #lucasarts #adventuregames #lucasfilmgames
The background art of the deck of LeChuck's ghost ship in the VGA version of Monkey Island 1.
October 3, 2025 at 4:26 PM
atmcashpoint.bsky.social
and then there was Sierra's ad for KQ4 that was directly in response to that EA one:
A vintage ad for King's Quest IV by Sierra On-Line. Its headline reads "Can A Computer Game Make A Person Cry? King's Quest IV did on June 4, 1988!"
October 2, 2025 at 3:16 PM
atmcashpoint.bsky.social
Roger's mocap sprite was likely just a placeholder to use in "bullshots".

The sprite has 60 colors, including transparency.

Sierra VGA games tended to use a common pool of ~64 colors for virtually all the in-game sprites. A single 60-color sprite would never work in a fully developed build.
An image of an early motion-capture sprite of Roger Wilco from Sierra's Space Quest IV, cropped out of the background on which it was placed and set against a neutral backdrop for transparency.
September 25, 2025 at 6:32 PM
atmcashpoint.bsky.social
I guess the official title of Disney's next Star Wars project is "The Star Wars Mandalorian and Grogu".
#starwars
The title card in the most recent trailer for the upcoming Star Wars film The Mandalorian and Grogu, which has the text arranged so that it appears to read "The Star Wars Mandalorian and Grogu" when read strictly from left to right.
September 22, 2025 at 4:06 PM
atmcashpoint.bsky.social
The image with a cursor has a line of distorted pixels in the upper-left corner. Similar glitches in the upper left appear in several backgrounds in a leaked beta version of #SpaceQuest 4, and in other games like SQ4 EGA and even #KingsQuest 5!
@wilcoweb.bsky.social
#sierra #adventuregames
A screenshot from a leaked pre-release beta version of Sierra's Space Quest IV, showing Roger outside his time pod in Ulence Flats in the Space Quest 1 time period. In the upper-left corner of the screen there is a glitched horizontal line of black pixels visible against the purple sky, a strange error that is encoded into the background art for some reason. A screenshot from the VGA floppy version of Sierra's Space Quest IV, showing Roger outside his time pod in Ulence Flats in the Space Quest 1 time period. The upper-left corner no longer has a line of glitched black pixels. A screenshot of the intro of the EGA version of Sierra's Space Quest IV, showing the closeup of Roger being shown the hologram of Sludge Vohual. In the upper left corner there is what appears to be a horizontal line of distorted pixels, including several black pixels and a few in other colors. A screenshot of the VGA floppy version of Sierra's King's Quest V, showing the closeup of the harpies. In the upper left corner there is what appears to be a horizontal line of distorted pixels, including several black pixels and a few in other colors.
September 22, 2025 at 2:34 AM
atmcashpoint.bsky.social
This WIP motion-capture Roger sprite also appears in a preview in French magazine Génération 4 #025 (September 1990).
@wilcoweb.bsky.social
#sierra #spacequest #adventuregames
Scans of a preview of Sierra's Space Quest 4 from French magazine Génération 4 #025 (September 1990). The preview features several early screenshots of the game, featuring Roger wandering around Xenon and the Galaxy Galleria mall. Roger's sprite is still an early iteration based on motion-capture of a live actor, without much cleanup, so his hair is dark rather than blond. No other animation besides Roger's walking sprite appears in these screenshots, raising the possibility that they might have been mocked up for previews. Scans of a preview of Sierra's Space Quest 4 from French magazine Génération 4 #025 (September 1990). The preview features several early screenshots of the game, featuring Roger wandering around Xenon and the Galaxy Galleria mall. Roger's sprite is still an early iteration based on motion-capture of a live actor, without much cleanup, so his hair is dark rather than blond. No other animation besides Roger's walking sprite appears in these screenshots, raising the possibility that they might have been mocked up for previews.
September 21, 2025 at 11:43 PM
atmcashpoint.bsky.social
Wow, that's a sprite of WIP motion-capture Roger! From a Textfiles.com search, it seems that image appeared in a set of GIFs found on several shareware CDs.

There are actually two variants, one with & one without the cursor. The cursor-less file is usually dated August 19, 1990.
#spacequest #sierra
An extremely early screenshot of Sierra's Space Quest IV, showing the area on Estros where the Sequel Police timepod can show up. Roger is walking forward. His sprite is an early iteration with a motion-captured person, without much cleanup work having been done. The person is wearing a costume basically the same as what Roger wears in the final game, but their hair is dark rather than blond. The upper status line is a blank black space, without any game title written on it. A slightly different version of the previous screenshot. This version has a small pixelated distortion in the upper left of the screen, something also seen in a leaked pre-release beta build of Space Quest IV. Another change is that the white SCI pointer cursor appears in the lower right corner.
September 21, 2025 at 11:38 PM
atmcashpoint.bsky.social
Hirst's statue pays particular homage to the statue of St. Bartholomew in Milan Cathedral, sculpted by Marco d’Agrate in the 1560s:
September 18, 2025 at 8:46 AM
atmcashpoint.bsky.social
The real shocker is how Charles' white tie (technically a unique royal variant called a "Windsor uniform", as if they need an excuse for more fancy clothes) fits so badly for such a famous clotheshorse.

Once again, Prince Philip had a much better version in 2009.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsor...
An image of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip meeting with the president of India, Pratibha Devisingh Patil, and her husband, Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat, in 2009. Patil is wearing a stunning blue gown, while Queen Elizabeth is wearing a champagne-colored dress with a blue sash. Shekhawat is wearing a black suit with a Nehru jacket and a red pocket square. Prince Philip is wearing a Windsor uniform variant of white tie, with gold buttons on the tailcoat, as well as red upper collar and cuffs. His tailcoat fits well, so that the white waistcoat worn beneath it does not poke out from below.
September 18, 2025 at 8:31 AM
atmcashpoint.bsky.social
White tie is difficult to get right and requires precise fittings. It's almost never worn even by US presidents, so slipups on visits abroad are not unusual.

Here's Barack Obama in 2011, wearing a tailcoat that *almost* fits, while Prince Philip's fits like a glove.
Images of Barack and Michelle Obama meeting Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip in 2011. Obama and Philip are both wearing white tie. The fit of Obama's tailcoat is slightly off, so that a hint of white waistcoat peeks out from under the cutaway front of the black tailcoat. Philip's tailcoat fits perfectly, however. Images of Barack and Michelle Obama meeting Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip in 2011. Obama and Philip are both wearing white tie. The fit of Obama's tailcoat is slightly off, so that a hint of white waistcoat peeks out from under the cutaway front of the black tailcoat. Philip's tailcoat fits perfectly, however.
September 18, 2025 at 8:22 AM
atmcashpoint.bsky.social
UK state visit update: surprisingly, Trump is wearing a white tie outfit that fits properly, unlike the one he wore on his last UK state visit.

Even more astonishingly, the notoriously clothing-obsessed King Charles is wearing a tailcoat that fits very poorly.
A picture of Donald Trump and King Charles standing together, along with their spouses. Trump is wearing a white tie outfit with a black tailcoat that fits properly, so that the sides of the white waistcoat do not peek out from under the tailcoat's cutaway front. Charles is wearing a modified version of white tie known as the "Windsor uniform" sometimes worn by British royals, where the tailcoat has a red upper collar and and cuffs, as well as gold buttons. However, Charles' tailcoat is extremely ill-fitting, as his white waistcoat does peek out from under the cutaway front of his coat. A photo of Donald Trump and the late Queen Elizabeth II during Trump's first state visit to the UK in 2019. Trump is wearing an extremely ill-fitting white tie outfit, with the white vest peeking out in vast swathes from under the cutaway front of his black tailcoat.
September 18, 2025 at 8:17 AM
atmcashpoint.bsky.social
what if I centered your title screen, LucasArts, huh, how about that
#thedig #lucasarts #adventuregames
The title screen of LucasArts' The Dig as it appears in the intro cutscene. The word "The" appears in smaller text above the central I in the larger word "Dig". However, the "The" is notably off-centered compared to the letter I below it, and the overall logo is also slightly off-centered with respect to the screen edges. The title screen of The Dig, as altered by me for fun to improve the centering. The word "The" is now properly centered above the "I" of "Dig", and the overall logo is centered with respect to the screen edges.
September 17, 2025 at 1:14 PM
atmcashpoint.bsky.social
Nice. Presumably it has to be better than the ZX Spectrum version of the Fate of Atlantis Action Game. ;)
September 16, 2025 at 1:20 PM
atmcashpoint.bsky.social
The death screen in Rise of the Dragon.

More games should have an ending screen that says "THEND"
#dynamix #riseofthedragon #sierra #adventuregames
A screenshot of the death screen in Dynamix's Rise of the Dragon. The words "the end" in lowercase scroll past each other in animation, resulting in a frame where they form the single word "thend".
September 14, 2025 at 5:31 PM