25 Year Old Fish Is More Efficient Than Pirate Software

What up, I'm Kroulk, and I'm making a Yandere Simulator clone. In this devlog we'll talk about: Ever wonder what happens when you dig into old PC game files like a curious kid? In this video, I dissect Insaniquarium Deluxe sprites, uncover how retro games handled transparency with transparency masks, and reveal wild game dev optimization tricks that slashed my VRAM usage from 2GB to just 23MB! As a toddler I was already rooting through game files — specifically Insaniquarium Deluxe (still one of my favorite games to this day). Those weird black & white images next to the colored sprites? That’s a clever old-school transparency mask technique. No alpha channel, pure 1-bit masks to save precious space on early PCs. We also compare crispy pre-rendered sprites from Fallout 1 and Insaniquarium What You’ll Learn: How old games used masks for transparency (white = opaque, black = transparent) Why retro sprites have that signature “old PC game” look Modern optimization: color-keyed transparency with a single-line shader (pink screen style!) Cutting VRAM usage dramatically while keeping sprite quality Game dev updates: broken GridMaps, level redesigns, and why I’m rebuilding parts of the game I also address your comments about file hashing, JSON generation tools, and future plans for game mechanics + art direction. If you love retro game techniques, pixel art, sprite optimization, indie game development, or just watching chaotic devlogs where everything breaks then gets fixed, this one’s for you. Like if you learned something new Subscribe for bi-weekly game dev chaos Comment: What’s the weirdest thing you’ve found digging through game files? #GameDev #IndieGameDev #RetroGames #Insaniquarium #PixelArt #SpriteOptimization #VRAM #UnityGameDev #Godot #IndieDev #Fallout #GameDevelopment #RetroGaming #Optimization #CodingTips #yanderesimulator Download The Game: https://kroulk.com/ Patreon:   / kroulk   Kofi: https://ko-fi.com/kroulk Discord:   / discord   Twitch:   / kroulk