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​Get ready for an adventure beyond your wildest imagination!
You have questions. Outer space has the answers! Modern-day social media and AI technology are brought to life in the Sci-Fi tales of 8-bit Cosmos. For we all know, without fiction, there would be no science.

Transport yourself to a mind-blowing universe of cosmic computers and amazing aliens!
Illustrated in classic 8-bit pixel art!

• Cheer for Captain J. Peg as he defends the 8-bit Cosmos with his Galactic Interstellar Fleet!
•  Cringe in terror as the evil robotic zombie Botnet seeks to destroy the 8-bit Cosmos!
•  Relax at the Space Bar, groove to the wild wavy sounds of the Funkisites, and party with a dancing banana!
•  Journey to alien worlds to see the future of social media, crypto banking, AI art, and chatbots!

With 90 pages of amazing B&W pixel illustrations and imaginative stories, 8-bit Cosmos is a must-read for anyone who loves science fiction and the unbelievable history of computers.

Written and illustrated by
Joe Lacey
Forward by
Demetrius P. Idle, PNG/UFO
 (Planetary Nebula Guide / United Future Oddballs)

I made my first book, 8-bit Kingdom: Medieval tales of computer technology  because of my love of classic arcade games of the 80s and my interest in mythology and folklore. When I completed the book, I knew I wanted to do another that would take place in outer space. Two years later, 8-bit Cosmos: Sci-Fi tales of computer technology was completed!  This book explores more deeply our modern-day social media and technological advancements (or setbacks depending on how you look at them.) It's also quite sarcastic and funny. If you've spent any time on social media, or interacted with an AI chatbot,  I think you'll enjoy this book. Believe it or not, I drew all the art by hand using a computer, but without the use any AI technology. Amazing, I know.

There's something joyful in those little jagged edges and square circles moving around the screen. They have an innocence and are loaded with personality and often humor. When writing and illustrating 8-bit Cosmos, I strove to bring this personality and humor to each page.

I made the art board 160 x 160 pixels in order to preserve that classic arcade feel. It’s impressive just how much character and emotion can be expressed in even the smallest pixel art image. A great amount of information can be delivered just a few pixels. Thirty pixels can depict a heroic fighter or cowardly person. It all depends upon the exact placement of the pixels. A pixel placed high - the character is happy, a pixel placed low - the character is angry. The idea of simple pixel art is actually an oxymoron. It can can be quite a challenge placing the correct pixel in the correct location to achieve the correct effect.

So, zoom into the 8-bit Cosmos! A collection of tales that blend retro gaming, personal computing, and social media all illustrated in classic 8-bit b&w pixel art!

I made this book because of my love of classic arcade games of the 80s. There is something joyful in those little jagged edges and square circles moving around the screen. They have an innocence and are loaded with personality and often humor. When writing and illustrating 8-bit Kingdom, I strove to bring this personality and humor to each page – with pixels!

Time to talk about Pixter, the hand-held Fisher-Price creativity system; a digital art studio, music machine, camera, and video game console all in one. Manufactured from 2000-2007, Pixter is the first and only handheld gaming console produced by Fisher-Price. It's also the first digital touch screen toy for kids, making it an important addition to the world of digital art. Controlled with a tethered stylus, Pixter, is pre-loaded with drawing activities and games, and offers a number of additional cartridges, both licensed and original. As a contract artist, I helped design some of the base unit's activities, cartridge games, and 8-bit animations.

All B&W Pixter images are displayed in 2 colors – black and white (the white being the empty space of the view screen) on an 80x80 working area. When early digital games moved into color, the palette would often be very limited, sometimes only 8, 16, or 32 colors, with some of these colors being almost identical. My early 8-bit art was done this way, and I can tell you, it could be tough sometimes to make it all look nice. Luckily, by the time Fisher-Price released the Color Pixter, we were using 128 colors with a 160x160 working area. The artwork was a lot easier to make. But, despite the increased size and color of the working area, I particularly love B&W 8-bit animation. One pixel to the left or right could be the difference between a happy bunny or a sad bunny.

Over the course of eight years Fisher-Price released six variations of Pixter:

Pixter B&W 80x80 screen.
Pixter Plus 10 additional activities and 20x storage.
Pixter 2.0 Wirelessly send images to another Pixter 2.0.
Color Pixter 128 colors 160x160 screen.
Pocket Pixter Keychain-sized B&W 80x80 screen.
Pixter Multi-Media Now with video editing.
​
Over the course of ten years, I worked on a number of Fisher-Price 8-bit animated games, not all Pixter. While working on these games, I developed the standard practice that was adopted by Fisher-Price for fast review of animated assets. This meant a bit more work on my end as I had to construct each animation frame into a single file that was playable with just one click. This came in handy not only for simple animations, but to mock up a non-interactive version of the actual gameplay for the programmers to review. It greatly increased the speed of the review process, allowed me to see how the animations would look, and allowed me to make adjustments.

I shot this video to show you the consoles and some highlights from three games. I decided to use the COLOR PIXTER game unit as it has a brighter screen with better contrast. It just looks better when shooting a video. But, despite this, I still prefer the original B&W PIXTER.

There are over 24 B&W Pixter game cartridges. Along with other artists, I helped out on several of them, supplying art support for specific game segments. ​Here are a few of them: