Instant Graphics and Sound

How do you raise awareness of a cool but obscure graphics format used by BBSes on an overlooked computer platform in the late 1980s and early 1990s?

Well, you could start by writing a six-part, 14,000-word in-depth history of it.

https://breakintochat.com/blog/category/instant-graphics-and...

Then maybe you could recruit some artists and retrocomputing enthusiasts to help make an artpack full of new images and new animations showing it off!

https://mistigris.org/packs/IGNITE01.ZIP

That's basically what I did!

I assembled IGNITE 01, a new artpack released by Mistigris computer arts and Break Into Chat, featuring 18 images and animations created in "Instant Graphics and Sound" (IGS) format for the Atari ST.

IGS was obscure even its heyday. Like RIPscrip, it's a plain-text protocol for encoding graphics, sound effects, and music. But it predates RIP by several years, since it was created specifically for the Atari ST, it has constraints unique to that platform and different from the PC.

I hope my history series and artpack might elevate the profile of IGS, and maybe interest a few more people to try making stuff with it.

If you're not into downloading and unzipping artpacks, etc, you can also experience IGNITE on YouTube with this nine-minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS_riObN32o