**ASCII Art in Video Games and Digital Media**

Art with ASCII is something everyone is familiar with at one point or the other; that they might not know. It is very popular nowadays, but [ASCII text art](https://photo-to-text.com/ascii-text-art/) has been around for decades; it means pictures created from letters, numbers, and symbols. ASCII, short for the American Standard Code for Information Interchange, can be said that characters are converted into artwork. But did you ever wonder how does an ASCII art relate to video games and digital media? Let's dive in!

**ASCII Art in the Gaming World**

It can be said that for real gamers, **ASCII art** will probably recall a bit of memories. So in the early years of, what today is called IT years, video games were restricted with technology, and its hardware components. High-resolution graphics? Forget about it! But, instead of crafting visuals, game developers began using ASCII characters.

This meant that they were controlling not just a player but a hero that in earlier games was represented, in fact, by nothing more than a “@” symbol or a simple letter. Early stages of gaming, particularly in the later part of 1970s and the 1980s again had a great dependence on this character bending. Games such as “Rogue” (1980), dungeon-crawler in its genre–used plain text/ASCII to indicate everything from the walls to monsters.


Who could imagine fighting a dragon that is consisting only of letter ‘‘D’’ Still, the game was interactive, and the art worked from these characters was turned into almost a necessity. Despite the major advancements of graphics of video games ASCII art remained cute and nostalgic element in some modern indie games.

Few games even today have titles such as Dwarf Fortress, released in 2006, built using ASCII as the main graphical foundation. This has helped ASCII art to stay a relevant and loved form by some gaming communities.

**Advantages and Disadvantages of ASCII Art in Digital Media**

When it comes to using ASCII art in the acquisition of digital media, we can see its advantages and disadvantages for sure. However, it might just be that someone has to design a piece of art from characters and that needs finesse, imagination, and care. Now, that we know how ASCII art could be created, it is about time that as assess the benefits and drawbacks of its usage in the twenty first century.

**Advantages:**

**Low bandwidth:** The one of the biggest benefits of using ASCII art in the context of digital media is reduced sizes. Since it is text-based, it does not consume much data, and hence appropriate for sites that must operate with increased speed.
**Unique aesthetics:** By so doing, ASCII invokes a sense of nostalgia that arguably can be found in none other art form. It provides digital creations an old or simple aesthetic that can hit the ground running.
**Universal compatibility:** Due to the fact that ASCII characters are included for the basic text set in most systems it is compatible with most modern and even almost all of the old technologies that include computers and even the newest smart phone technologies.

**Disadvantages:**

Limited detail: As mentioned, ASCII characters are relatively basic compared to today’s graphic characters, so you inexplicit cannot design intricate levels of designs. However, this restriction can be a bother to artists who may wish to be a little more creative.
**Not for everyone:** While some clienteles definitely enjoy the nostalgia that ASCII art provides, whereas, others might argue that it is low resolution, crude, and not as sophisticated as new art styles currently in the market.
**Requires skill:** Quite contrary to the expectation, the show just proves that is very challenging to build intricate pictures out of basic symbols. Essentially, converting words into art requires a great amount of designing skills and proportions as well as creativity at work.

**ASCII Art in Modern Gaming**

Even if [ASCII art](https://www.asciiart.eu/) is something you only associated with old days, it can be used in contemporary video games. Especially indie game developers use it That way they can offer retro charm and creativity that players love.

Because of this, we see the benefit of development in employing ASCII characters for its simplicity that does not complicate graphical design but leaves developers to come up with other aspects that include game mechanics, narrative or the next fresh idea for a game.

One of them is “Dwarf Fortress.” Even though overall it is a deep simulation with many mechanics involved in the game, it remains loyal to ASCII art, so you do not need amazing graphics to have devoted players.

These ASCII visuals provide greatly add to the feeling of discovery when in this enormous, random-generated world. This is all about leaving the gaps open and letting the players do the work and this is where ASCII art is at its best. For instance, modern games like “Hackmud,” a text-based multiplayer hacking game, employs ever popular ASCII art to give the player a vintage hacking feel.

It can be seen as quite efficient to incorporate a sense of the game’s history with the present and the game’s present features, in a single smooth motion.

Furthermore, in many games, the visuals set a stylized pattern for example, pseudo ASCII art to build fake computer terminals, or interfaces that will look this way on purpose. These elements provide a kind of additional approach to the game for the player.

**How ASCII Art Influenced Digital Media**

**ASCII art** is not the creation of art confined in the gaming domain only. It has successfully extended to various regions of the new media. At that time, when the sites themselves were rather primitive, and few graphic images could be used, the spaces could be filled with ASCII designs.

ASCII art was extremely minimalist to fit early websites, let alone email signature. While its use has certainly declined, it can still be found frequented in sites and columns, chats, and boards which still embrace its retro style.

**ASCII in Coding and Programming Communities**

The coding world continues to embrace ASCII art. The American movie Face/Off has ASCII graffiti on the computer, ASCII art has basically been everywhere in computer culture. For example, you can come across cool designs or text art in the comment section of code files where people just add some emotions along with comments.

The text creativity of ASCII art can be used on websites like GitHub and Stack Overflow, where one doesn’t necessarily want or is able to post images. This type of expression even if it is just a logo, a chart or even a quick illustration continues to be used in today’s complicated highly intensive software development phase.

**ASCII Art in Social Media and Marketing**

Well, surprise! Surprisingly enough, ASCII art found its way into brands’ marketing strategies as well. It is sometimes done as a fun way to get someone’s attention or sometimes they revert to it as part of the old school cool. An appealing and witty ASCII art can easily spread on the web – from such social sites as [Twitter](https://twitter.com/photo_to_text) or Reddit.

Having to employ simple characters can actually be a drawback but also is an artistic decision which targets young individuals into tech, geeky, retro things. Moreover, with emergence of such styles as minimalism, brands have noticed that ASCII art is an entertaining way to step out of the frame of more conventional graphic design.

ASCII pieces are not a rarity in email newsletters, website promotions, or a component of digital product layout.

**Future of ASCII Art in Video Games and Digital Media**

While today’s world is familiar with high definition graphics, **ASCII art** still enjoys its popularity in a comparatively limited sphere. Future of ASCII art is generally secure, reviving indie games and retro visuals proved that such imagery won’t fade anytime soon.

Its unpretentious design, compatibility and usage for almost anyone, and its ability to appeal to the childhood of people make it favoured among artists in search of another way to express themselves. I concur because modern computer-oriented media has more and more implementations of minimalist styles, and ASCII art is no exception to that.

As long as consumers find joy in simplicity and characters for building up stories, ASCII art will always be around in providing new and improved ways. From independent games to pixel-styled games, retrogames, and even corporate identity, art with ASCII shows that doing more with less is possible.