What is 'Liero' Anyway? Let's Dig!

No seriously, digging is one of the main mechanics in the game.

Image sourced from Wikipedia 

Liero first came out in 1998. It was released by Finnish programmer Joosa Reikkinen for MS-DOS. The game was inspired by Worms, a turn-based artillery game. (We'll dig into Worms another time, it's a classic, too!).

An Instant Classic

Liero, sometimes differentiated from it's successors by calling it "Liero 1.33" or "DOS Liero" takes me back to the days of my IBM laptops. I had three different laptops over the years. You know the ones, 2.5 inches thick, weighed a ton and sounded like a jet engine. Liero can run on Windows 3.1, but it definitely works better on Windows 95 or 98. It also runs on Windows XP. My laptops were 3.1, 95 and 98 respectively. Each serving as a central Liero space at one point or another.
Picture it: It's a Saturday morning. Everyone's doing their thing around the house. From my room, can be heard the sounds of Liero. Floods of nukes that look like tennis balls for some reason. "Control missiles" that were the coolest thing ever, because you could pilot them with the directional keys, creating these giant circles of countless amounts of them. These things took "unleash hell" to a literal level. "Hey bro, watch this!" I hear, as I look to my left and see that iconic grin on my brother's face. The 8-inch laptop screen, with it's 1.5-inch thick bezel, flashing, lagging and the tinny little speaker doing its best to capture every explosion, shell, particle, gut splatter and the respawn timer. 

I'm not even mad. We're both bursting out laughing at this ridiculous game. We're tunnelling, digging and basically playing Minecraft before it was cool. Suddenly it's full-on Armageddon mode. The entire screen shaking like it's going to fall out of the bezel. The speakers causing the keyboard to rattle. We loved this game. Friends come over? We play Liero. Come inside for lunch? Let's take it to the computer and play Liero while we eat. Liero was a household word growing up.

Mind Blown

Even though Liero came out on DOS, and by no means had any kind of fancy graphics, it already captured our imaginations.  Those little earthen battlefields, randomly generated with each boot of the game (unless you used to janky level editor to create a specific map) were entire little universes. They were warm. They were safe (in the predictable way, not the floods of grenades way...). To this day whenever I see a Liero map, I feel warmth and familiarity. Who knew a game with so much pixelated destruction could also be comforting? 

Then, Along Came Liero Xtreme 

Our house wasn't the only place that saw Liero action. An entire online community bloomed and, with the author's approval, distributed several alternate and forked versions of the game. Liero Xtreme showed up around 2006, and quickly transformed into the still-loved OpenLieroX. These versions expanded on the original concept with a whole new engine capable of scripting and modding. Custom maps, skins and weapons galore, and online multiplayer! To this day, you can still open the game and quickly host a server instance. The community has mostly gone quiet over the years, but some dedicated players and small pockets still persist.

Just the other day, I had someone join my server and we played! It was awesome!

I recently stumbled upon this nugget where Albert Zeyer, one of OpenLieroX's main devs, explains that while there is still passion for the project, life and responsibility has moved into other things, so there isn't time/energy to focus on the game anymore. Rather than abandoning the project and letting it disappear. The source code has been directly published, and permission given to fork it and continue the project. 

So, now what?

I still cling to Liero. Not just for nostalgia-sake, but because I realize how this game and others like it inspire me to learn more about game development and pursue my own projects. I also still find great joy in loading up OpenLieroX or even Liero 1.33 and playing a few rounds. I've also been considering taking a crack at the OLX source code myself. If not to release my own version, to at least learn from it and gain an understanding of the inner workings of one of my favourite games. 

Want to join in on the Pixelated Dirt & Glory that is Liero?

https://www.liero.be/ <-- Official Liero Website
https://www.openlierox.net/ <-- OpenLieroX Website

 Check out the Liero/OpenLieroX websites, at least for starts. There's lots of other great community Liero content out there on the great, wide web! These sites have all kinds of resources for modding, custom weapon/map packs, server hosting instructions, and even running old versions on newer systems. Jump in, dig holes, blow stuff up and leave a comment about your own Pixelated Dirt & Glory.

General Update + Welcome Back - Jan 2026

General Update + Welcome Back

Welcome Back, and Happy New Year!

2026 is upon us (which is absolutely insane, isn’t it?), and I think I speak for a majority when I say there’s a feeling in the air - across Discord servers, Reddit subs, and social media comment sections alike - of returning. A quiet pull back toward simpler ways with tech, games, and the internet.

I feel this is far more than nostalgia talking. It’s a longing - a logical, emotional, and mental response to years of doom-scrolling, algorithm-chasing, and corporate influence and overreach. People don’t merely miss the simplicity of an MSN or IRC chatroom; they’re actively reaching out, searching for modern equivalents - and they’re finding them.

One such example is HexChat, a lightweight, but deeply customizable and powerful little IRC client that'll take you straight back to 2005. 

HexChat Official Site

Going Back to Simpler Tech

It doesn’t have to be anything complicated - No flashy ceremonies or Instagram posts. Sometimes it’s as simple as realizing that the things we used to love and enjoy were never gone; we just started focusing on other things.

We’ve moved six times in five years, across multiple provinces, and in every place we’ve dragged along the PlayStation, GameCube, N64, and others. They still work. They still play their warm, iconic startup chimes. They’re ready when we are.

We’re only two weeks into this new year, and already I’ve had a good friend over. We’ve played a few rounds of Smash Bros. Melee, run some races in Mario Kart 64, and even fired up the Morph-o-Rays in Ratchet & Clank UYA.

So, What's on the Project List For This Year?

- "Welcome Back", a 'revival' of my YouTube channel starting with a series featuring simple recordings of Minecraft beta 1.7.3. No embellishments, no extras, no algorithm-matching edits. Just me, Minecraft and a mic.

Check it out --> HERE

- "Downstairs PC V2", an era-accurate rebuild of one of my family's most beloved and enjoyed entertainment systems. It's an Acer eMachines case with a later 00s board and parts, running Windows Vista Ultimate (stripped of useless bloat) and even loaded with a copy of the original system's HDD contents. We're talking everything from game saves to pictures, documents and media from 15-20 years ago. All intact and given a new home on an age-old system. We'll pick up the weird PnP controllers and play!

- Servers, hosting, web dev and more! With our move complete and a wonderful, stable place to call home, I plan to dive into all manner of nerdy projects, including dusting off some skills and ideas I haven't touched in a good long while. 

Let's Hang Out & Play

Grab a controller, click into that weird folder of games that you haven't touched in 10 years, and have some fun! Feel free to share your adventures and discoveries, too. 

Rabbit Trail: Winter Vibes

Rabbit Trail: Winter Vibes on the 00s Internet

There was a frosty chill in the air
Yet somehow, winter felt warm and welcoming when you logged in to Miniclip or MSN. That cool, ice-blue background on every site, those animated snowflakes drifting down the navigation panel, and every UI (that’s User Interface) topped with a layer of icing-like snow — it all just felt right.

Winter-themed games, everywhere!

Every major Flash or browser gaming site had a dedicated “Winter Games” section, chock-full of titles themed around snow sports, Christmas, ice crystals — and of course, penguins.

Let's look at a few: 

Adventure Elf

In Adventure Elf, you play as Oliver the Elf, navigating through icy, holiday-themed levels to retrieve the stolen presents. But watch out for those pesky penguins!

You can actually still play this game
--> Here
Or through FlashPoint
--> Here

SkiFree

While not originally a browser game, you could occasionally find bootleg versions of the 1991 classic SkiFree floating around on gaming websites and winter-themed forums.

My favourite thing about this silly little game has to be its ability to be both simple and intricate at the same time. One moment, you’re whipping down a snowy slope without a care in the world, dodging the occasional randomly generated tree. The next thing you know, you’re being chased by a snow monster! How far did you get in this game?

Play it in the 2020s:
--> Here
And also in FlashPoint. Let's set some new high scores!

Club Penguin, Habbo Hotel, and lots of other virtual hangout spots

Every one of ’em. Club Penguin had winter and Christmas-themed parties. Habbo Hotel released festive furniture and held holiday events. The best ones were when they gave away a furniture item as a Christmas gift every day in December — and you had to race to the family computer to get online and claim it before it was too late!

Poptropica, Webkinz, and all manner of other online worlds followed suit. It was a magical time of synchronized seasonal celebration. You couldn’t log into one game without seeing conversations about the others — “Hey, don’t forget to claim today’s gift on Habbo!”

You can still play and experience these awesome winter joys, today!

Club Penguin via the many CPPSs 
--> Here
Habbo Hotel (Including the recently-released Habbo Origins, which is basically Habbo Hotel as it was in 2005!)
--> Here
Poptropica
--> Here
Webkinz
--> Here

It really was a cool vibe (pun intended)

I’m going to call it the “winter-net” — the yearly transformation of the web into shiny, colourful, sparkly fun during the colder months — and I think it needs to make a comeback!

Actually, that reminds me… flips through notebook — Note #671: “Make a winter-themed Pixelated Dirt and Glory asset pack.”

Come to think of it, Liero — PDaG’s main art inspiration source — has a whole lineup of winter and Christmas-themed mods, especially in Liero Xtreme and OpenLieroX.

So, what does the internet of the 2020s look like during the winter?

Let’s find out together! Leave a comment with your finds — any website, social media platform, game, or piece of software that leans into that awesome, nostalgic winter theme. Let’s hear it!

I know VLC Media Player still dons a little Santa hat on its traffic cone icon. That one’s stood the test of time — it still pops up every year, and I can’t help but smile when I see it.

Happy 20th, Club Penguin!

Happy 20th, Club Penguin!

In the year 2005, a game was launched that would go on to become a viral phenomenon, and a huge inspiration.

"Waddle Around and Meet New Friends"

Image courtesy of Global News Kelowna

And we did just that. Club Penguin became so much more than just a penguin-themed chat room — it was a world all its own. It was a goofy, welcoming place where you could eat all the digital pizza and ice cream you wanted while dancing at every occasion and in every place. You could dress your penguin in countless combinations of silly clothing and items. Club Penguin inspired creativity and fun through its awesome parties and events, which often tied into real-world celebrations and holidays. The Halloween Party is by far my favourite, followed by The Fair and the April Fools' Party.

Club Penguin sadly shut down in 2018, but as the saying goes, “Waddle On.” And waddle on, we do.

So, Now What?

*leans in close and speaks quietly* You can still play Club Penguin today... technically.

That’s right — through the power of what I like to call “the super-nerds”, the game’s legacy lives on in the form of private servers and fan-made spin-offs, keeping that 2000s-era internet community energy alive and well.

To avoid any potential issues with a certain large company that may or may not approve of these projects, I’ll refrain from posting direct links here. But all one has to do is Google “Club Penguin,” and you’ll find them. Some of these remakes stay remarkably true to the original, complete with monthly parties, familiar items, and those iconic mini-games.

What’s really neat is that the majority of players on these spin-off servers are the same people who grew up with the game. There’s an unspoken respect among the community — if you ask, “Hey, where’s the pin?” you’ll get a chorus of “Coffee Shop!” Just stay clear of the Pizza Parlour... the drama in there is exactly the same as it was all those years ago — which, while annoying, is also kind of awesome to see. People never forget something as unique and as deeply woven into daily life as Club Penguin.

Is that Thin Ice: Home Edition?

Let's go back to the mid-late 00s for a moment

It’s 2005, and it’s early November. The sky outside is grey and cold — even though it’s still early afternoon, it already feels like dusk. The computer lab is open as an alternative to spending recess out in the cool, dreary weather. You walk in and feel the warmth of thirty-plus computers whirring away, the monitors still CRTs with that comforting hum and glow.

Nearly every screen shows a snowy scene filled with colorful penguins waddling around. Club Penguin is all the rage (along with Robot Rage — but that’s for another day). The teachers groan, unsure what to make of these viral game phases that seem to come and go, but this one seems harmless enough. They give the occasional, “Your assignment is finished, right? Before you go on Club Penguin.”

The Club Penguin era during elementary school was something to behold. “Let’s go sledding!” someone shouts from across the room, and suddenly there’s a flurry of mouse clicks as a whole crowd of digital penguins moves en masse to the top-left corner of the screen, switching rooms.

There was a time — one that seemed like it would never end — when any computer, whether at school or at home, had Club Penguin on the screen. After school, it was always a race between siblings; whoever reached the computer first got to waddle around and try to tip the Iceberg.

So many cool mini-games!

Many epic wipe-outs on this hill!

Sled Racing was by far my favourite of the many games scattered across that snowy island. Ice Fishing, Find Four, Pizzatron 3000, and Cart Surfer were all must-plays.

Playing the mini-games earned you in-game currency — Coins — which you could use to buy clothing, puffles, and igloo furniture or upgrades. Occasionally, there’d be free items released during parties and events.

The scramble to collect those freebies was real! Before the era of DLCs and microtransactions galore, Club Penguin kept it simple: a $6.99 monthly membership. You paid (or rather, your parents did), and you had access to everything — all the clothing items, all the igloo décor, and all the upgrades.

As a non-member, you could only purchase player card backgrounds, penguin colours, and the classic blue and red puffles. But for those of us who grew up in low-income households, we still found ways to enjoy Club Penguin just as much without the perks of paid membership — and it was legendary.

The fan-made versions have full membership by default, which is a bonus!

I was dedicated!

I won’t lie — I spent a lot of time waddling around and collecting every pin, free party item, and player card background I could get my penguin’s flippers on. I’d sneak down to the computer first thing in the morning, long before anyone else was up, just to explore all the updates whenever a new party or room was released.

By the time we got to school, I had the rest of my class asking, “Where’s the new hat?” and crowding around my screen in awe. It was really cool. Club Penguin was its own little niche — a place of comfort and familiarity.

The Sad Part

As we grew up playing this goofy penguin game and watching it evolve, the world around us changed too. Games — like everything else — started becoming all about the money. Club Penguin was sold to that aforementioned very large company in 2007, and things began to shift.

While there were still plenty of cool new features, characters, mini-games, and places to explore, the game gradually started to take on that unmistakable corporate feel. Items that used to be free were now locked behind paywalls. Mini-games were chopped up and restricted by membership requirements. Even membership itself became a tiered system, with different levels offering different perks.

While clever from a marketing standpoint, it was a hard blow for the fun-loving, long-time fans. Finally, in 2018, the game shut down for good. The official version closed — but it was never forgotten.



Waddle On! & Happy 20th Anniversary, Club Penguin.

I’ll never agree with what that very large company did to the game. The original Club Penguin lives on in a special place close to my heart, preserved in memories of simpler times and snowy screens glowing in dimly lit computer labs. Every so often, I still log into one of those fan-made “super-nerd” versions for a binge of epic, nostalgic proportions — and to take in the Halloween Party, which, actually, starts pretty soon.

Halloween's Coming!

As a once-dedicated Club Penguin player, I couldn’t let the 20th anniversary pass without saying something — without giving this gem of a 2000s game the attention and credit it deserves. If you share similar memories or ties to Club Penguin, maybe take a moment to waddle back into one of the fan remakes... and of course, Waddle On.

Club Penguin in 2025! Happy 20th, CP!

Pixelated Dirt and Glory Welcomes You

Press START to play

There’s a hum in the room.
Not from the lights. From the tower.
You know the one—beige, scuffed, stickers half-peeled, but it still powers on. Every time.

The desk is a bit too cluttered. A CRT monitor leans back like it’s been through some things. There's a 3.5" floppy in the drawer labelled only “maps – use these.” You don’t remember writing that. You don’t remember forgetting it either.

Outside, the world scrolls past—news feeds, synthetic voices, flashing thumbnails asking you to click just one more.
But here, inside, is a game from 2002 that just launched in 0.3 seconds.
No updates. No accounts.
Just you, and a rocket launcher.
And 15 bots with IQs of soggy toast.

You catch yourself grinning.

Welcome back.

A floppy disk containing well-loved game maps

This is Pixelated Dirt and Glory
A small corner of the web built for creativity, curiosity, and a bit of good old-fashioned fun.

No subscriptions. No pop-ups. No clickbait. Just the kind of nerdy thoughts, tech rambles, and gaming nostalgia that used to fill the internet before it got crowded.

I post about forgotten (and sometimes not-so-forgotten) hardware, games, and other rabbit trails that spark a sense of “hey, I remember that!”

Bookmark the site, drop by once in a while, and follow along as this little project grows — one pixel at a time.

~~~~~
You're still here? Impressive. 

To reward your patience, curiosity and/or boredom, I will explain the main inspiration of Pixelated Dirt and Glory: Liero

Liero was released in 1998 — a DOS-era gem built by Finnish developer Joosa Riekkinen. It was simple on the surface: two little worms in a dirt arena, blasting each other to bits with pixel guns and grappling hooks. But beneath that simplicity was chaos incarnate — fast, fluid, and endlessly replayable. It felt like Worms after chugging three slurpees. 

Liero on the main menu in Windows XP, in 2025!

 

It’s the perfect metaphor for what this site’s about: creative chaos, retro grit, and a kind of digital playground where old ideas still feel alive and ready to dig.

Want to go on a nostalgic adventure? 

Even now, almost three decades later, you can still play Liero! 

Grab the game -->  Here
And grab DOSBox, a program to help you run it on modern systems --> Here

If you really want to go old-school, setup WASD and the left side of the keyboard for one player, and the arrow keys/right side of the keyboard for the other! Two players on the same keyboard?! Yup. No online play, no accounts or servers, just good old-fashioned mayhem! 

Liero gets even better.

The original Liero, inspired by Worms (including some of the same weapon styles and names), is limited to two players and same-system play, but in 2003 came Liero Xtreme. Developed by Vincent Lahaye, this version is a complete Windows-friendly remake and expansion of Liero. It includes:
- Custom weapons and levels
- Online and LAN play
- Smoother graphics and higher resolutions
- Mod support
Naturally, the modding community exploded! (pun intended, because Liero) The game got endless mods inspired by popular games and IPs. 

Development on Liero Xtreme slowed around 2006, but then, thanks to a strong fan base, came OpenLieroX. 

Screenshot courtesy of openlierox.net

OpenLieroX directly forked from Liero Xtreme source, which had been partially opened by the dev community and it brought with it:
- Linux and macOS ports
- Network code overhaul
- New modding/scripting capabilities 
-Better performance, stability and modern resolution support. 
To this day, OpenLieroX is still maintained sporadically by open-source contributors. It remains the "modern" Liero. 

And much like Liero, you can absolutely download OpenLieroX and play it!

--> Here 

What does the future of Liero look like?

There's a very simple answer to that question: Whatever we want it to look like! We can still pass the classic Liero 1.33 from PC to PC via floppies (though USB is probably easier), or fire up a little server and engage in some pixelated dirt and glory!