Awesome Ascii

The subtitles, aka closed captions on videos, usually help people know what they are saying on screen. However, animator Ubonga shows that YouTube’s closed captioning feature can be used to display custom animations. We had no idea you could select the color for each letter like that. Ubonga also knows how to get #1 on Trending whenever he wants.

This online time-waster is an endless canvas where anyone can post messages and create art entirely from ASCII characters. It provides an ever-changing environment that will have you coming back to see how it evolves. Be aware, since it’s unmoderated, you can expect some offensive text and images to sneak in.

This upcoming open-world sci-fi game from developer Andrey Fomin has a retro vibe inspired by early computer games, like those on the TRS-80. The characters, backgrounds, weapons, and objects are made entirely out of ASCII characters. Play an early demo in your browser here, and sign up for Early Access on Steam.

Game fanatic Bluedrake42 takes a look inside of the truly unique visuals of MrGumix’s work-in-progress game ASCIICKER, which features a 3D world made up entirely out of ASCII text characters. What it currently lacks in gameplay, it makes up for in creativity. You can play around with it in your web browser here.