When imagination filled the screen

We old-new gamers started playing when all we could see on the screen was a handful of pixels, and our imaginations filled in the rest. We saw characters, worlds and adventures where others might have seen only simple shapes.

It was fun, and there was something amazing about controlling what happened on the television screen—after finding your favourite cartridge, putting it in the console and, sometimes, blowing on its contacts in the hope that it would work.

The promise on the cover

One of the best things about gaming back then—and sometimes one of the most disappointing—was the feeling of buying a new game. Before you had played a single minute, the artwork on the box could take you somewhere else. It promised worlds to explore and adventures to live, and your imagination began playing long before the console was switched on.

From imagination to play

That is where this site comes in. That Old New Gamer is a project inspired by those images from the past. With the help of today’s AI tools and technology, we want to explore how the worlds we imagined from those covers might become playable games: adventures that capture what the artwork promised, brought to life with the resources we have today.

Build the tools. Bring the dreams to life.

Our ambition is to build an open-source AI and game-engine tool that helps turn the worlds imagined on classic covers into playable games. We want to automate as much of the process as possible while aiming for the best quality we can achieve and keeping creative people in control.

This is a vision we want to develop together. Game developers, designers, artists, musicians, AI enthusiasts and old and new gamers all have a place here: share your ideas, contribute your skills and help shape the tools and adventures of tomorrow.

Explore the art that started the adventure

Discover the cover art that sparked our imaginations and the stories behind some of the classics.