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Saxonia Issue 02 Part 015
Demoscene? Yes! - A Look Back
by Zito/1oo%^mOOdS^[S]carab
[l
Still doing my job in the Amiga scene - asciis and swap less
than editing these days - because I have fun this way and it
doesn't matter less then half as much as in real life that
it is (though virtual) real work mostly. So except my
neverending hardware troubles, nothing ever made me thinking
to leave the scene so far. (Even some lately mudthrowing on
me did not.) But what is it, that keeps me here? The reason
for not switching to some other kind of project or scene.
What lets me say "yes" every new day? What does the
demoscene mean for me?
Do not fear: This is not going to be another article asking
again the question what the sense of the scene is, or why we
love it. This question can not be really answered as it
lies in our hearts and minds or has already been answered a
thousand times in former diskmags. I was just wondering,
while filling out the survey for the coming Mindcandy2
DemoDVD with Amigademos, what comes due to which reason(s)
to my mind, when I have to name the things that mean for me
the demoscene - in past and present. And when the survey
has been successfully sent, I thought to make a little
article about the demos I listed featuring the why and for
what. And maybe - besides being just an egomaniac driven
article - it also shows some of the few newcomers what is
worth to be watched as they surely missed the one or the
other file in the mass of output the Amigascene had a long
time.
[d NuSkool & between
When I had to name only one demo that impressed me most in
the late ninties, I would directly say [1 "Myster & Tremor" by
Embassy[0 (get the patch to the fixed version). The guys
behind this sadly very unknown group are those who are
Creative Minds these days, for those who did not know. And
this demo is simple totally different. Another way of a 3d
engine, another style of sound, another way of presentation
than all the rest I have ever seen so far. Uniqueness is
the point, something not seen often, especially these days.
A second one were [1 "When We Ride On Our Enemies" by Skarla,[0
the inofficial descendants of Sanity, a demo with the best
and fastest 3d engine I know. Of course standard looking
compared to Embassy's, but though the best standard with a
damned good tune timed to the whole show. (Only the
simple/cheap pictures inbetween do not fit and destroy the
overall look a bit!)
Apropos 3d, of course the newer [1 "Lapsuus" by MatureFurk[0 , the
demo that had beaten all PC demos when it was released at
Assembly! And the older astounding [1 "Relic" by Nerve Axis[0 ,
which was a hit in quality of the engine back then.
Something I of course shall not forget is [1 "Nexus7" by
Andromeda.[0 The classical nuskool demo with blur and plasma
zoom and calm steps in 3d.
Some newers I think that have to be mentioned, especially
because everybody is talking about the oldskool and the
mid-ninties hits and forgets about the later great demos,
are [1 "I-Surf" by IRIS[0 with great music and damned good ideas.
This starts with the introduction and ends with the
endscroller. And inbetween not a singel bit of crap.
(Beaten by LightII maybe, but this view might be caused by
the relevance of Breakpoint'03.) As also is the sadly last
demo of [1 Abyss[0 from 1998's TP named [1 "Wildlife".[0 Genial
ideas, cool design and music. All in the typical Abyss
style.
One of my alltime favorites, not only because of the genial
graphics of Razorback, is [1 Tulou's "Mortality".[0 Good themed
show and fitting music. At last one should not forget about
[1 "April In Paris"[0 presented and released by [1 Up Rough.[0 Some
quite different hiphop street design. Sadly Up's only big
executable production so far.
Of course there are some more that should be mentioned here
by [1 Ephidrena, Loonies, TBL[0 and so on, but the ones listed
above simple fell out of the usual production row and stood
in my mind for a long time.
[d Oldskool
When I think oldskool, of course the first demo I have every
seen pops up in my mind: [1 "Megademo" by Red Sector Inc.[0 The
first real demo ever and therefor - but of course also
because of the effects musics, graphics and ideas - a legend
in the scene. But also [1 "Sunstone" by the Half Brains Team,[0
their only production as far as I know, is a classical
trackmo, made of ideas and fun featuring a second disk
consisting of tiny games in scene style. In my opinion far
better - because of making not only fun - than [1 Budbrain's
2nd Megademo.[0
[1 "Amiga Rules",[0 the [1 World Of Commodore demo by Sanity,[0
including the [1 "Stardust Memories"[0 which made [2 Jester[0 a
legend, should not be forgotten here. TRSI's demo from this
party simple vanishes besides this masterpiece of timing,
music, graphics and code.
Also an alltime classic is of course [1 "Rampage" by TEK (The
Electronic Knights).[0 Sometimes a bit strange in ideas and
music, this demo just rules still today! Even if it can not
play in the same league as [1 Anarchy's "3d demo II"[0 (Remember
that a hd fix is available!), [1 Odyssey by Alcatraz,[0 the only
5 disks demo ever, or its competitor done by [1 The Silents:
"Hardwired".[0
And at last something really special, as it was just one
time copied, but never reached: [1 "In A World Of Ascii" by
ImpactDK.[0
[d The Sum
Of course these are not the only demos worth to be watched.
These are even not the creme of what the Amigascene is
capable to offer. A lot of good and guiding groups are
missing. This is just what came into my mind by thinking
half an hour, what I would like to be shown to a public that
does not unconditionally belong to any computer scene - the
consumers of Mindcandy2.
This list is of course subjective. This list is of course
no alltime chart. This list is for sure colored by my
personal history. And this list is definitively not showing
the whole range of the Amigascene's abilities. But above
all it does not change any character of the title of this
article. And that's it!
