Recreation of a font from "Proxima", a 2000 public-domain homebrew SHMUP game by Alan Obee for Game Boy Color. This font is used on the title screen and high-score screens (though the high-score version is built of tiles and looks much more detailed).
.#$!? are inventions - not present in the original font, but useful nonetheless.
A star font which combines a pixelated look with halftone shading.
It needs some form of antialiasing to be legible at small sizes. (See sample below or try the Pixel views). At larger sizes, you can use it with or without antialiasing!
Original size: 12pt (use multiples of this value for pixel perfection)
For this font I decided to do several things I almost never do with other pixel fonts.
First is the use of an 8*8 grid. I consider this size tough to work with so I tend to stay away from it, preferring X*7 or X*9.
Second is the rounding or softening of all 90° angles. 3- and 4- way intersections are exempt from this rule. However, some other acute angles were rounded as well.
Third is kerning, which helps ease this font back into microfont territory a bit by reducing excess space. I usually design pixel fonts so they don't need this, but not this time!
Fourth is the embrace of asymmetry throughout most letterforms, which is almost a natural consequence of making a font on the 8*8 grid.
Fifth is extending MmWw. I usually try to truncate these letters to fit my grid. Sometimes I make a symmetrical design for them, but this time I just let 'em sprawl.
Despite all these differences in methodology, I think this font looks rather like a hybrid of "Marengi" and "AMFA". Very pleased with the result!
A pixel font for Western-style music notation. This allows treble and bass staff to be read and written at very small sizes, making it useful for pixel games, pixel comics, or anything else that needs to be at extremely low resolution.
Given the limits of the chosen method along with the limits of staff notation itself, this font won't please every musician. All suggestions are welcome for improving this one!
Original size: 10pt (use multiples of 10pt for pixel perfection)
------------------------------------------------------------------
USAGE
Read the wiki article on scientific pitch notation if you need help understanding note-names.
_ draws staff lines.
` or ~ at the beginning mark your staff as either a bass or treble staff.
Use a letter from R-Z and then one from r-z to mark the time signature. (Most songs are in 4/4).
Use UPPER CASE to notate for bass staff.
Use lower case to notate for treble staff.
Use <.1234567890,> and {?!@#$%^&*()+} to mark sharps and flats respectively. I recommend using these markings to REPLACE the notes they are meant to alter, rather than writing them next to the notes as you would with traditional staff.
Create some new staff lines between each note to seperate the notes in time. When you place notes without these spaces, notes will stack up on one another. You can use this principle in different ways to create chords and arpeggios.
------------------------------------------------------------------
BASS STAFF
A - A1, B - B1
C - C2, D - D2, E - E2, F - F2, G - G2, H - A2, I - B2
J - C3, K - D3, L - E3, M - F3, N - G3, O - A3, P - B3
Q - C4 (middle C)
------------------------------------------------------------------
TREBLE STAFF
a - A3, b - B3
c - C4, d - D4, e - E4, f - F4, g - G4, h - A4, i - B4
j - C5, k - D5, l - E5, m - F5, n - G5, o - A5, p - B5
q - C6
------------------------------------------------------------------
SYMBOLS & MARGINALIA
_ - blank staff
RSTUVWXYZ’"' - beat divisions
rstuvwxyz“”‘ - beat times
`~ - treble and bass clefs
- - 8va/octave up
<.1234567890,> - sharp symbol in various vertical positions
{?!@#$%^&*()+} - flat symbol in various vertical positions
There is no "natural" symbol. Your writing should take this into account.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Have fun!
An experiment to see if my drawing tablet would be compatible with Fontstruct. Seems to work fine, although I have to draw slowly to avoid broken lines! Despite having to move my arm very slowly, I still managed to create this font from scratch in 9 minutes.
This looks like the freehanded pen letters that I drew back in high school for my comics, particularly "Poodle Caboodle". I went over a few areas more than once, to simulate what I used to do to correct pen drawings.
A 2x2 design which started with a "split" aesthetic and ended up with a "stenciled" one. I embraced the change and now all these glyphs are functional as stencils. They contain minimal stacking and no composites.
In some cases the inside is connected to the outside at only one point. If you decide to use this for stencilling, I recommend using a stout material for the stencil and storing it with care.
The name comes from one of the many, many old joke bands which I created.
Recommended: Use with kerning turned on!
Wood-engraving script used by Ajurru people of Planet Ashr within my video game series, "Endless Sea of Stars". This script dates from 2010, when I first created the Ajurru within the simulated metaverse, ESOSVM. This is iteration 27 of the script, the one which appears in countless forms within the original ESOS story.
This script was designed for Ajurru scribes to show their skills with stone tools. Thus, it contains an immense number of curves and right angles. Most Ajurru consider this script to be overly-ornate, and so it is mostly used in a traditional context - for government records, memorials, and the like.
The "G" from this script is also the inspiration for another font, "Wall Dye".
A font I designed for the animation series, "The Boris Barkov Show". This is made to look blocky and industrial, but still fairly modern. It's mostly built on a 5x5 grid, and is perfectly useable as a pixel font, but is meant for high-res applications.
The show's titlecards only use this font in uppercase. But, I designed a lowercase for the sake of accessibility.
The show is about a stereotypically Russian, mustachioed, ushanka-wearing pug named Boris Barkov. Apart from speaking both English and Russian, he's able to play the video game "Escape From Tarkov", wield a sword and rifle, and carry and throw objects despite his lack of opposable thumbs. His nemesis is PugB (the Americanized "Rambo" pug) and he's rumored to have shady dealings with Sam Yippington, the Latvian Dachsund arms dealer...
Version 1.3: Added Polish.
* $ * £ * ¢ * ¥ * $ * £ * ¢ * ¥ * $ * £ * ¢ * ¥ * $ * £ * ¢ * ¥ * $ * £ * ¢ * ¥
Another simple experiment with composites, this time trying to make a font which can easily accomplish a "diamond encrusted" or "disco floor" style effect within my graphics software.
SPOILER: I succeeded. :D
* $ * £ * ¢ * ¥ * $ * £ * ¢ * ¥ * $ * £ * ¢ * ¥ * $ * £ * ¢ * ¥ * $ * £ * ¢ * ¥
This is a cloneA clone of Marengi with some brick-substitution and filters applied. Has a "rightward" momentum that seems to push my eyes along as I read, as well as a connectedness which makes words seem nice and solid despite being segmented.
This is a clone of MarengiA pixel font made to look like fire! Now you can answer (and ask!) your burning questions...
Drawing and editing these takes more time and effort than most other forms of pixel art. Don't expect them to look perfect without some time and effort from YOU, as well. An effect like this requires hand adjustment of every part at every stage.
The coloring, infill color, and effects you use with this font make a drastic difference as to what looks are evoked by its shapes! Scroll down for lots of examples. :^)
Alternates on lowercase!
*
TODO: Alternates for .,?!@_*#$%&()+/:;<=>[\]^`[|]~†123456890
Original size: 18pt (use multiples of this value for pixel perfection)
This is a work in progress.
After making Ticketmeister, I got curious about the idea of 35mm film glyphs. I wanted to see how accurately the shape and proportions of the film could be recreated with Fontstruct bricks. I used a 1px = 1 square = 1mm conversion, and think I've nailed the original film look. It's symmetrical, so one glyph in isolation will look as if it were spliced out.
"Space" lacks borders, so it can be used to show a continuous reel - useful for enlarging and making imagery with.
A tear-off ticket design. I went for the slightly gaudy look which is associated with carnivals and arcades.
While making this I also got the idea for a font which looks like a 35mm reel with little scenes on each segment...
Original size: 14.25pt (use multiples of this value for pixel perfection)
Made on a whim as a result of rediscovering an old design (see sample).
It's pixel perfect at 12pt, 24pt, 36pt, etc. :^)
Since the inspiration image had only uppercase in it, I took some style liberties with the lowercase. The result is mildly comical!
Welp, I had to make something like this sooner or later... :^)
Like most of my pixel fonts, this was made at the smallest legible size I could manage, so that it could be useful even to small-canvas pixel artists.
More glyphs later, perhaps? Depends on the use I find for this in my games (and your comments).
Original size = 26px (Use multiples of 19.5pt for pixel perfection)
The name is inspired by Slab City, California. Search that name on Youtube for some interesting documentaries and such!
Going for an industrial sci-fi look. The hard angles give these letters the appearance of being made by some kind of tape or roller.
This font was originally designed to be uppercase only. So, the lowercase might be considered as an alternate set.
Original size: 24pt (24pt, 48pt, etc. look most crisp when not using antialiasing)
A connected script which attempts to depict an obvious ductus or flow to the writing. To set this one apart even more from my others, I built the capitals on a 6x6 grid.
The name comes from yet another old joke band.
Original size: 5.25pt (use multiples of this size for pixel perfection)
The main font used by MARENGI Omnisystems in my video game series, "Endless Sea Of Stars". These letterforms can be found engraved into or projected onto practically every piece of MO technology. This script was designed in 2011 to be suitable for printing, logo design, art, and many other purposes. It lacks the constant height which most of my other pixel fonts have, but makes up for it with its bookish appearance.
Unfortunately, replicating the exact design of the antialiased version of this font is impossible, not only on FontStruct, but on all software other than ESOSVM. This is because ESOSVM uses a custom renderer which makes use of proprietary techniques. Marengi HD comes close, but not very.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Versioning:
2.6 (19Aug2018) - "bdďđ" were perfected. Space width reduced.
2.5 (20Jul2018) - "IÌÍÎÏø" were perfected and massive kerning work began.
2.4 (15Jul2018) - "J" was perfected and several letterwidths were altered.
2.3 (18May2018) - "hnru34679ÀÁÂÃÅÈÉÊÌÍÎÏÑÒÓÔÕØÙÚÛÝÞßàáâãåæçèéêìíîïñòóôõøùúûý" were perfected.
2.2 (17May2018) - ":;gjty%/\ÂÆÊÎÔÛâæêîôû¼½¾" were edited for more consistency and readability.
------------------------------------------------------------------
MIV: 8.74
Original size: 11pt (use multiples of this value for pixel perfection)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Donjon16: My take on a dungeon font. Create your layout with A-Z, move the caret to right after the room you want to edit, then type the letter for a trap, monster, and/or object and it will appear in that room. You can stack multiple smaller creatures or objects inside a room.
When one room's opening runs into another's wall, it makes a distinctive notch in the wall. I consider these to be closed or secret doors, but your design doesn't have to have them. :^)
Only the smaller monsters/items can fit into the corridors. However, you can fit up to three of the smaller monsters into a single corridor (5 if you use the 4-way corridor)!
This was actually designed to make minimap graphics for one of my games, and derives some inspiration from the maps in early Zelda games (The Legend of Zelda, The Adventure of Link, Link's Awakening, Link to the Past, etc.).
•: • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • :
- ROOMS & MAP SYMBOLS -
ÀÁÂÃÄÅÆÇÈÉÊËÌÍÎÏÐÑÒÓÔÕ = floor number markers (B7 to F16)
×ØÙÚ = compass markers (North, East, West, South)
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP = 16x16 rooms
RSTUVW = corridors
space bar = empty voids
•: • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • :
- PLACEABLE THINGS -
(These all have a negative spacing, so they must be typed AFTER the room you want to put them in.)
X = teleporter or Magic Stone
YZ = stairs up/down (They take up the entire room)
0123456789 = traps & hazards - spike trap, pit trap, ice trap, trapdoor trap, teleport trap, arrow/dart trap, etc. (They can overlap monsters; use some discretion)
abcde,fghij,klmn = small monsters - kobolds/goblins, humanoids/skeletons, slimes (They appear in a cross or X shaped grid, max 5 per room, 9 if you use them together)
opqr,stuv = medium monsters - skulls, bats/imps (They appear in corners, max 4 per room)
wxyz = big monsters - knight, dragon, serpent, big skull (They take up the entire room)
!@#$%^&*()[]{}\|<>?/:';" = equipment - weapons, armor, potions, maps/scrolls, runes, compass, and more (Usually takes up a whole room)
`~_=-+ = gold, gems, key, chests (Usually takes up a whole room)
àáâãäåæçèéêëìíîïðñòóôõö÷ = special characters (NOT YET IMPLEMENTED)
•: • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • :
- TIPS -
Make the dungeon layout first, THEN start adding things to it.
Better to have a treasure vault guarded by monsters in the next room than to try to cram them all into the same room. The same holds true with many traps.
If you use the floor number markers, you can have up to 23 floors in all - 7 below-ground and 16 above-ground.
•: • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • :
Official font of AMFA (formerly ATMA), the main rival of MARENGI Omnisystems in Endless Sea Of Stars. Appears throughout my games (especially those using the ESOS and ESOS-Lite engines) and is used as the main font of ESOS Terminal A (the one doing the super-long survey).
Between 2012 and 2014, ESOS Journey-Depth AI entities collaborated to produce this specific arrangement of pixels as the most legible form of 1px wide, monochrome 8x8 Latin for electro-optical systems (Marinan Interpretability Value 9.29).
This font is useful if you want to write some really efficient text recognition software for a robot with a camera, or if you want a pixel font which elicits a high degree of reading accuracy. Some would argue that the uppercase makes it less readable, but you'll be hard pressed to find another font that is THIS readable in uppercase only!
This is a cloneFrom various games written in my ESOS engine.
When Malil Ehnetahine wishes to speak, she calls up the wind to bring her Temper Tree leaves, which form the shapes of these letters.
This font is accurate to the ingame font and is finished.
Proxima Punch with all curves changed to angles. A more engraved look.
This is a clone of Proxima PunchA bricks experiment in which the bricks are made of bricks. (Yo Dawg.) The name comes from a Duck Game map created by my amazing friend, Star. It seemed fitting. :^)
Original proportions are reached at sizes that are multiples of 21pt! Use 21pt, 42pt, etc. to get them.
Best with antialiasing turned off, although you can do smooth stone, gel, or gem-like looks with different antialiasing modes in your graphics software.
A style built on a tall ellipse. Bold line on the left, narrow line on the right. (The glyphs )]}¿¡ break this rule for the sake of aesthetics.)
See also: Proxima Punch Pixel
Yet another polygonal font, this time a diamond. :^)
This one was also designed to combine symmetry and asymmetry. Some letters have central lines and some have offset lines. In this way a greater variety of designs was made possible.
Continuing on the theme of choosing a regular shape and making an alphabet out of it.
Looks best at smaller sizes (<24pt) and with antialiasing/ClearType turned on.
Can this be done better with filters? Probably, but I still have to learn those... :D
An uncircled version of Misplaced Baubles.
Most characters have the same height so that they can be used alongside Misplaced Baubles and other fonts of mine.
This is a clone of Misplaced Baubles