Welcome to a new column where I will write about artists who I admire and have been a great influence on me. The name of the article may, or may not be a reference to a certain spy movie. ;)

For the honourable first, I’ve chosen Henk Nieborg. While his name is probably only known by pixel art enthusiasts, this Dutch artist was my first big inspiration, somebody that I looked up to, both in the terms of actual level of skill as well as future career – I was a teenager back then, still early on the road to find my way. Fascinated by game design and pixelart (Which at the time, seemed easier than other types of art, which in my opinion now, is very far from truth and I don’t know how I did get that idea – I think that each medium or art discipline has it’s own specifics and it’s not possible to objectively say that any is easier or harder over the other.) Henk blew my mind when I discovered him and it’s very likely I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing now if it wasn’t for his work.

Contra 4 (Nintendo DS/2007)

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This is the first entry to the series! From time to time, I will write about games I consider good looking and why – not limiting myself to first person shooters, or the PC platform, stay tuned!

In the second half of the 80’s and in early 90’s, Amiga was The Computer. Until IBM PC’s started to outclass the Amiga, it’s multimedia capability was unmatched. The games offered great graphics and sound for it’s time. It was also a platform for the creative individuals because of the available software for creating your own art (Even 3d models and renders!) and music. The software and hardware expansion Video Toaster improved the 3d rendering capability and allowed the Amiga users to work on video post production at home, which was quite revolutionary at the time – it had a lot of features which were available only in the expensive studio equipment by that time.

Being a strict PC gamer for a long while, I’ve discovered plenty of interesting stuff later, in the age of internet. ;) The first person shooters really kicked of in the 90’s, which was a time when the PC started to outrun the Amiga in the “arms race”. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there are Amiga exclusive FPS titles, most of them arriving late to the party (1995-1997). Of course, I’m thinking about “3d”/2.5d shooters, not the ones of “moving crosshair” kind, or the 90 degree limited, faux 3d environment – like in plenty of RPG titles like, for example, Wizardry. Technically, there’s plenty of games on Wolfenstein 3-D tech level, and some are a little more advanced – keep in mind that the non-upgraded hardware wasn’t suited too well for 3d/2.5d games. I’ve picked some titles I consider visually, or technically, most interesting/inspiring.

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