The background scenes on this site are pixel-art landscapes licensed for commercial use from the artists listed below. Thumbnails are grouped by the theme/cycle they belong to; click any thumbnail to pin it as the active background.

For a full-bleed view with no chrome, see the background showcase.

Been changing things? restores the normal cycle, default panel opacity, and clears any pinned image.

More controls (theme, time of day, page opacity, text outline, backdrop blur, and so on) live in the gear icon at the top-right of every page.

Ocean

before_sunrise+sunrise
before_sunrise+sunrise Free Game Assets
morning
morning Free Game Assets
afternoon (1/2)
afternoon (1/2) Free Game Assets
afternoon (2/2)
afternoon (2/2) PIXEL_1992
evening
evening Free Game Assets
sunset
sunset PIXEL_1992
after_sunset
after_sunset Free Game Assets
night
night Free Game Assets
rain (weather)
rain (weather) Free Game Assets

Forest

before_sunrise+night
before_sunrise+night PIXEL_1992
sunrise+morning
sunrise+morning Quantum Quasar Studio
afternoon
afternoon Quantum Quasar Studio
evening
evening Quantum Quasar Studio
sunset+after_sunset
sunset+after_sunset PIXEL_1992

Mountain

before_sunrise
before_sunrise Quantum Quasar Studio
sunrise
sunrise Quantum Quasar Studio
morning (1/2)
morning (1/2) Quantum Quasar Studio
morning (2/2)
morning (2/2) PIXEL_1992
afternoon
afternoon PIXEL_1992
evening
evening PIXEL_1992
sunset+after_sunset
sunset+after_sunset PIXEL_1992
night
night PIXEL_1992

Winter

before_sunrise+night
before_sunrise+night Free Game Assets
sunrise+sunset+after_sunset
sunrise+sunset+after_sunset Free Game Assets
morning
morning Free Game Assets
afternoon
afternoon PIXEL_1992
evening
evening Free Game Assets
snow (weather)
snow (weather) Quantum Quasar Studio

Medieval city

Specials

halloween
halloween PIXEL_1992

Artists

How the day cycle works

The renderer picks a band from the local clock with a cosine-interpolated solar shift of ±1.5 h applied to the morning- and evening-side edges. The 12:00 noon junction is anchored, so the morning / afternoon hand-off stays put across the year. Southern Hemisphere flips the phase (winter solstice in June).

Seasonal cycle — times and default images

This table shows, for every band, when it runs (clock window at the equinoxes, then the summer and winter solstice windows for Northern Hemisphere) and which image displays in the theme that "Seasonal" picks for that season.

Band Clock window (equinox / summer / winter solstice) Spring (forest) Summer (ocean) Fall (mountain) Winter (winter)
before_sunrise05:00 – 06:00
summer 03:30 – 04:30
winter 06:30 – 07:30
P1992 / forest / night (reused from night)FGA / ocean / sunrise (reused from sunrise)QQS / mountain / sunrise_1FGA / winter / night (reused from night)
sunrise06:00 – 07:30
summer 04:30 – 06:00
winter 07:30 – 09:00
QQS / forest / morningFGA / ocean / sunriseQQS / mountain / sunrise_2FGA / winter / sunrise_and_sunset
morning07:30 – 12:00
summer 06:00 – 12:00
winter 09:00 – 12:00
QQS / forest / morning (reused)FGA / ocean / late_morningQQS / mountain / early_morning → P1992 / mountain / late_morningFGA / winter / morning
afternoon12:00 – 16:00
summer 12:00 – 17:30
winter 12:00 – 14:30
QQS / forest / afternoonFGA / ocean / afternoon → P1992 / ocean / late_afternoonP1992 / mountain / afternoonP1992 / winter / afternoon
evening16:00 – 18:00
summer 17:30 – 19:30
winter 14:30 – 16:30
QQS / forest / eveningFGA / ocean / eveningP1992 / mountain / eveningFGA / winter / evening
sunset18:00 – 19:30
summer 19:30 – 21:00
winter 16:30 – 18:00
P1992 / forest / sunsetP1992 / ocean / sunsetP1992 / mountain / sunsetFGA / winter / sunrise_and_sunset (reused)
after_sunset19:30 – 20:30
summer 21:00 – 22:00
winter 18:00 – 19:00
P1992 / forest / sunset (reused)FGA / ocean / after_sunsetP1992 / mountain / sunset (reused)FGA / winter / sunrise_and_sunset (reused)
night20:30 – 05:00
summer 22:00 – 03:30
winter 19:00 – 06:30
P1992 / forest / nightFGA / ocean / nightP1992 / mountain / nightFGA / winter / night

Artist short names: FGA = Free Game Assets, P1992 = PIXEL_1992, QQS = Quantum Quasar Studio. Arrows ("→") in a cell mean a multi-frame band that walks through several images in order.

Weather variants

Trigger when Weather = Always (whenever an eligible variant exists for the current band) or Sometimes (single per-page-load coin flip; ~17.5 % chance).

  • Ocean — rain covers morning, afternoon, and evening → FGA / ocean / rain_daytime
  • Winter — snow covers before_sunrise, sunrise, morning, afternoon, and evening → QQS / winter / snow

Medieval city — seasonal-static

No diurnal cycle. The current month chooses the variant:

  • Dec / Jan / Feb → winter
  • Jun / Jul / Aug → summer
  • Mar–May / Sep–Nov → spring_and_fall

Specials

  • Halloween (Oct 15 – Oct 31) overrides the night band on whichever theme is active → PIXEL_1992 / specials / halloween

Seasonal theme picks

When Art Theme = Seasonal, the date and hemisphere choose which theme renders.

  • Northern: Dec–Feb winter · Mar–May forest · Jun–Aug ocean · Sep–Nov mountain
  • Southern: Jun–Aug winter · Sep–Nov forest · Dec–Feb ocean · Mar–May mountain

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