Advent of Fonts 2023

December 2023 saw the third year of my Advent of Fonts project where I published a 24-day advent calendar of 8x8 pixel on Mastodon.

Many were original designs or significantly-extended (normally at least adding a lower-case) and made it into my ZX Origins the straight ports and conversions are listed here as they are not part of that collection.

Those ports needed a home, so as usual they are presented here.

Day 2 — Pirates

Sid Meier is a legend in the gaming world and his 1987 game Pirates! was quite the jaunt into the Caribbean.

While ported to many systems the Amiga version stood out for its gorgeous small pixel font which is reproduced here for your viewing and download pleasure in the usual crazy number of formats. Download Pirates! font.

Day 4 — GEOS64

The GEOS desktop UI from Berkley Systems in 1986 is an incredible feat — achieving what took the Mac a 16-bit processor and over twice the memory. The 64’s resolution required carefully designed typography and “BSW” system fonts were proportionally rendered to great effect.

Included here are bold and non-bold as well as the tiny desktop icon font as a bonus! Download GEOS64 fonts.

Day 6 — GoldenAxeZX

SEGA’s 1989 mythical side-scrolling beat-em-up made a splash at the arcades as heroes set out for revenge on the notorious DEATH=ADDER. The arcade features an unremarkable sans face so it’s surprising that the graphically-limited ZX Spectrum brings a much more thematic typeface along for the ride.

Here’s that font supplemented with my own additional lower-case+symbols. Enjoy! Download GoldenAxeZX font.

Day 8 — Hunchback

While there have been many Hunchback games Ocean’s 1986 “Hunchback — The Adventure” is where where we can find a typographical gem.

This scrawling old-English handwriting features some lovely ornate capital letters all squeezed into lovely 8x8 pixel blocks. The game itself also has some lovely 16x16 drop-caps for later exploration. Download Hunchback font.

Day 10 — 4am Tektura

4am is well-known in the Apple 2 community. His precise copy-protection removal from Apple 2 floppy disks has helped preserve hundreds of previously missing titles.

4am’s Total Replay collection includes a smart 8x8 adaptation of Motter Tektura — Apple’s choice of font during the Apple 2 reign. Download 4am Tektura font.

Day 12 — Kingsmill

This font seems to have first appeared in Tony Kingsmill’s 1990 ZX Spectrum text adventure Revenge of Chaos. It is a fun, friendly, yet old-style typeface also used in his sequel Talisman of Lost Souls.

What’s curious is that the lower-case appears in other games like the unreleased 1988 game Escape from Khoshima but the upper-case is unique and matches very well. Download Kingsmill font.

Day 14 — Odin

A clear font with lovely swashes across the top of each capital letter for additional flair and extravagance.

I found this typeface hidden away in a 2016 PDF titled “ShadowM’s GEOS Font Catalog”. While intended to be used with a proportional font renderer like other GEOS fonts it fits into an 8x8 container. Download Odin font.

Day 16 — Uni9

Uni9 is another GEOS font this time attempting to reproduce the incredible Universe font in a mere 9 point size. It’s a very nice adaptation and the fixed-width renderer here doesn’t quite do the font justice (note the trimming of g and y to squeeze it in to 8 pixels). Download Uni9 font.

Day 18 — Discworld

Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels are a fantastical comedic romp through a crazy world of heroes, villains and improbable but familiar situations.

The 1995 graphical adventure loosely follows the “Guards, Guards!” book and adorns the game with gorgeous art and voice acting and a small pixel font for us to admire. Download Discworld font.

Day 20 — Atari ST 6x6

The Atari ST used the GEM “Graphical Environment Manager” for its desktop UI and this cute little 6x6 font deviated from the usual GEM one to provide something that felt compact but without too much compromise. Download Atari ST 6x6 font.

Day 22 — Vilas9

Another great find from the depths of GEOS history this font gives MacOS Venice font vibes but in just 8x8 pixels with a slightly rougher feel that make it a great choice for old or mythic themed adventures. Download Vilas9 font.

Day 24 — Ultimate

Ultimate produced great Spectrum games in the early 80s. One of their iconic games was Knight Lore which was a huge hit on the Speccy.

The game featured a modified Underwurlde font, subsequently used on Nightshade & Pentagram. This conversion includes both combined with my own lower-case characters and an artistic-licence “case” version that reworks some of the glyphs. Download Ultimate fonts.