a pixelated unicode font that can be read at small sizes.
14 sept '22, 17:47:11 hkt / massive update. added coptic, spacing modifier letters and improved readability.
Some time after I decided to unleash Pixelbabania VI Deluxe onto the world, I deemed it appropriate to also create a light version to go alongside it. Had a good bit of fun making sure things looked right with this font, which also explains why I decided to fix its sister font while I was at it.
Here it is, at last. And just in time for the start of a new season, wherever in the world you all are.
4/12/2023 : Fixed up a few more glyphs of Box Drawing to make them work proper with their fellow glyphs.
This is my imagination of how Cyrrilic and Latin letters would look like if were more "runic".
Recreation of the pixel font from Graftgold/Hewson Consultants' "Ranarama" (1987) on the ZX Spectrum.
This recreation includes the handful of futhark runes used in the game, though one of the runes appears to be made up.
The same font is used in the Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64 ports, though the runes are slightly different.
Only the characters present in the game's tile set have been included.
Written language of the Skalmish, people within my simulation ESOSVM. These were the people initially used to colonize the universe "Rskalmwayt" wherein several stories take place, including Dheen's Folly and Trap Farmer Brer Brah. 5132 random selections were taken from Oinai stock and placed on Planet Fyromr, and their descendants became the Fyromrese. Tandem AIs then began to refine and alter remnants of Unified Oinai language into this.
Glyphs of this style can be seen on cave walls, objects, signs, records, etc. dating up to the time when I began to intervene in the workings of the Rskalmwayt simulation (ESOSVM Canonical Year 16573440000). They were always pixel art - no high-res renditions of these shapes were ever created, so there's ample room for reinterpretation.
Like most Runic languages (including Elder Futhark), these glyphs have a specific ordering associated with them. Additionally, in written Skalmish the glyphs which make up a word are always written in alphabetical order. Glyphs have no associated sound components. They were used to record gestural communications, so there's no way to speak them. Had this language been spoken, however, it probably would have used a priority-based system wherein certain glyphs were pronounced before others or preferentially stressed. Kind of like Thai language, but way more convoluted.
I took a look at the very first font I published and looking back at it now, I couldn't help but think I could have done better and gone much further with it. Having learned a few things along the way when I was working on the light version of Pixelbabania, I decided to invest some time into working on a much improved version of Pixelbabania VI, while once again following a self-imposed limitation. This time, I decided to go with 6x9 (with some exceptions) to allow a bit more wriggle room and to make characters with accents much nicer, and even decided to change up some of the characters to improve their look. Not only this, I decided I'd try and see if it was possible to add more characters from other sets and thus far, it had gone quite nicely.
After so much time on and off, now I share with you the fruits of my labor and love.
Note: I have done what I could to get N'ko and to a lesser extent Adlam to play nice; unfortunately I could not get the tone marks to actually just go above or below the characters properly, therefore they will take residence right next to the character, taking up another space. Apologies for any inconvenience caused to those who type in those languages.
04/12/23 : Fixed up a few more glyphs in Box Drawing to make them look and work proper with the others.