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DemoScene Starter Kit 3 05
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³ WHAT OPERATING SYSTEM? ³
³ PART 5 OF THE DEMOSCENE STARTER KIT V.3.0 by Zippy of Utopia. ³
³ DO NOT DISTRIBUTE SEPERATELY FROM THE STARTER KIT. ³
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This must be the most drastic change of view made in history...
Since v.2.0, I've gone from condemning Java and Windows
to understanding that we'll have to end up using Windows,
and that it _is_ in fact possible to make good demos in Java...
This section become smaller when I removed my Java-criticism,
so to make up for that, I have included Snowman's famous
01 March, 1998 announcment concerning Winmos.
Snowman's 01 March Announcment:
[
Greetings PC Demo Scene,
The final issue of DemoNews was slightly depressing. Though the
articles were high quality, many of seemed to take a fatalistic view of
the future PC Demo Scene. My interview was no exception. There were
several who wrote me email, asking why I was leaving the scene.
[From the final DemoNews]
"The end of DemoNews is indicative of the end of an era but not the end
of the scene. People change. Technologies change. The world changes,
but the same fundamental precept of the scene remains. Push the machine
where it was never built to go and have some fun along the way. As long
as the SCENE I grew up with is around in some capacity, you will
continue to find me an active contributer."
However, the scene I grew up with is having some problems right now.
Everyone is stuck in this self-consuming loop of depression. Veterans
are often found reminiscing about the "glory days", discouraging
would-be newbies from joining and participating in our scene. We are
chasing away the very people who should become the next generation of
our community. This must stop.
The PC Demo Scene has traditionally been DOS-based. I can still recall
how funny it was trying to get demos to run under Windows back in 1993.
You might have had slightly better luck trying to get your floppy drive
to read a slice of cheese. In 1996, I was amazed when I got a few demos
to run successfully under Windows. In 1998, I was NOT surprised when
almost all of the demos from The Party 7 ran under Windows without
crashing.
We have been carefully dancing around the issue for years. Now it is
time to confront it directly. The PC Windows Demo Scene. It is a scary
thought. Real PC demos produced to run under Windows only with no DOS
compatibility? Blasphemy. Or is it? The world IS moving to a Windows
environment and it seems only natural that our scene will follow.
When I put together the final issue of DemoNews, it was my intention to
gradually distance myself from the scene. I had planned on working with
the archive and my group until the PC DOS Demo Scene days were over.
Like I said, I do not like loose ends. I like closure. Ironically
enough, my final goal in the scene was to try and help it end in a
dignified fashion. I don't mean this to sound presumptuous. I simply
intended to keep up maintenance on The Hornet Archive until there were
no more uploads and our file graveyard was complete -- a testament to a
decade's worth of work by a wonderful community. Epitaph: "We were
here! May our greets still be watched on PC emulators 20 years from
now."
Then I started thinking about how much the scene has influenced my life
-- about how I am a better person for the experience. After the
feedback I received from the final DemoNews, I know many of you feel the
same way. There are hundreds, if not thousands of you out there who
consider your lives better as a result of the PC Demo Scene.
Then it happened. I suddenly realized that the PC Demo Scene does not
have to end. I realized that a new Windows scene can be birthed and
carefully guided to maturity. A PC Windows Demo Scene CAN achieve the
same level of eliteness in 1999 that the PC DOS Demo Scene had back in
1993. A Windows scene CAN restore our once-respectable image in the
public's eyes. There are even groups like TBL who have been pushing to
jump start this new scene and yet many have us have done nothing but
condemn them for their efforts. This must stop. I'm not saying that a
Windows scene has a 100% chance of succeeding, but we should at least
give it an opportunity to prove itself. All we need is a little faith
and a lot of patience.
Starting today, The Hornet Archive accepts and encourages native
Winmoes. We are not converting it to a Windows archive. We are simply
going to do what we can to allow both of these independent scenes to
have files that cohabitate.
A /demos/windows/1998 directory has been created and there are now three
productions in there (Stash, Astral Blur, and Final Reality). All three
of these Winmoes are being stored and cataloged in packed .exe format,
ready to be downloaded and executed with a few simple clicks. No
unzipping or installation is required (er... except for Final Reality).
We have been working with TBL for the past few weeks in order to get
these new raw .exe versions online in time. From what I understand, a
Winmoe version of Jizz is also supposed to be completed in the next day
or two.
An /incoming/demos/windows directory has been made for your uploading
convenience. Phoenix will continue to catalog DOS demos, while Trixter
and I catalog Winmoes. We have added a new party marker called "dwin"
so that parties with windows demos can be more easily cataloged. There
are now links on the main page of our archive to "Winmoes", and to The
Black Lotus's "Win32 Demo Programming Page".
Why all the hype? Perhaps it was improperly motivated, but I wanted the
rest of you to get pumped up. When I finally posted this announcement,
I wanted you to have a lot of energy. There you go. Now you have
something to direct your attention to.
Why 01 March 1998? No reason. It was an arbitrary date chosen at
random. I'm tricky like that. :)
Our destiny is not sealed.
We are not doomed.
We have a CHOICE, and I have made mine.
Make your decision today to keep this scene alive!
Humbly yours,
Snowman / Hornet - r3cgm@hornet.org
01 March 1998
]
These are good words from Snowman. He made us all wake up.
He said: ding-ding, end of round 1, let round 2 of the demoscene begin.
Hmmmmm... As a bit of a downer, I've included some of my opinions... :)
A lot of people think that the scene has to move on to Windows '95.
A lot of people protest against this. Some people suggested Java!
Err... I used to think that Java was totally impossible as a demo-platform..
I still don't think it should be the main demo-platform... But..
It should be _a_ demo-platform. I used to think it was completely impossible
to make demos in Java, but when I saw Komplex's Java-demo at TG98,
I understood how wrong I was. It was totally amazing, and it made me see
that it is totally possible to make _good_ demos in Java.
I've got Win'95, and MSDOS7. Windows is however more of a feasible option.
I don't really like it, but Snowman is right (I'm referring to his 01 March
announcement). We need to move on if we are to keep the demoscene alive.
We don't care about Bill, and the normal users who just wanna click on
an icon, and be amazed by a spreadsheet. But we care about all the rest.
We care about the 'power-user' who knows some stuff about his system
and would love to be in the demoscene if he only knew it existed.
We care about keeping the demoscene alive for more than one generation.
We care about keeping this underground culture of ours alive for decades
to come. Will it be nessecary to move totally out of our 'undergound'
nature to do this, or will something like that cause the definitive death
of the demoscene? Nobody knows, 'cause we haven't tried yet.
However, I have given up the fight for DOS... The move to Windows has now
become inevitable, and we must make the best out of the situation.
Maybe it will bring some new talent into the scene.
I'd also like to say that 3Dfx really rocks, so lets try starting to code
for 3Dfx at the same time as moving to Win'95.
I *love* 3Dfx...but that doesn't have anything to do with OS's
(works under most systems), so I won't talk about it in this section any more.
I think Unix or Linux could be a cool option. Very powerful, with a lot
of the same advantages as Win'95 just not directed towards the utter newbie.
The only problem is that we still wouldn't recruit new sceners,
and it just doesn't seem to be happening anyway.
Then we have DemOS.... This could be cool, but a lot of
people lack faith in this idea.
The scene is facing a bumpy part in it's history, and it seems to me that
the thing that would be best for the *current* scene is to stick with
DOS, but if we don't want the scene to die, we have to give in and end up
using Windows'98 or 2000 or something. Errr... Maybe even Java...
Although Java isn't an operating system, it's a programming language.
It shouldn't really be relevant if it's a Java-demo or not.
You rearly ask if a demo is made in C++, ASM, or Pascal, do you?
Unless we do *something* then we are going to be the last demosceners.
This is beginning to get very Asimovian :), so lets move on to some facts.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ Name ³ Positive ³ Negative ³
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³ Win'95 ³ Multitasking ³ Crashes a lot ³
³ ³ "Everybody" uses it ³ *Very* commercial ³
³ ³ DirectX5 ³ Slower than DOS ³
³ ³ SoundCard-compatibility ³ It's by MS ³
ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´
³ DOS ³ Fast ³ If you mess up you do bigtime ³
³ ³ Power to the coder ³ Average user hates it ³
³ ³ Crashes rarely ³ It's by MS ³
³ ³ Your program has full control³ No Multitasking ³
³ ³ Doesn't eat your RAM ³ ³
ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´
³ UNIX/Linux³ Multitasking ³ Very uncompatible ³
³ ³ Fast ³ Difficult ³
³ ³ Great networking-capabilities³ Few people use it ³
³ ³ It's not by MS ³ ³
ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´
³ OS/2 ³ Multitasking ³ "Nobody" uses it ³
³ ³ It's not by MS ³ It's boring ³
³ ³ It's cheap ³ ³
ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´
³ DemOS ³ Made for the DemoScene ³ It seems never to get finished ³
³ ³ It's not by MS ³ Has to emulate DOS-interrupts ³
³ ³ It's free ³ The DemoScene would be isolated³
³ ³ No bullshit, 100% demos ³ The DemoScene would slowly die ³
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Java is not included, because it's not an operating system.
Judge for yourself...
Look at the stuff people still do with C64's & Amiga's!
Whatever happened to beeing loyal to a system?
Finally I'd like to mention a little obscure niche of the scene which hasn't
been mentioned much by anyone: The console scene.
There are people who code demos for all sorts of consoles using
cartridge-backup systems, memory-carts, emulators, etc.
I could mention The Sega Megadrive, the SuperNintendo, the Sega GameGear,
and even the Nintendo GameBoy!! 8 bit processor, 4 colour-screen!
Is that cool or what?! Lately also the programmer's version of the
Playstation. I see the Nintendo64 as a good demo-system as well.
It has one hell of a processor, and there's a '64DD' add-on for it
which lets you save stuff on some sort of floppy disk.
Not only that, but due to the power of the machine and the limitations
of the cartridge-system, a lot of games use real-time generated cut-scenes!
Take a look at StarFox64 (LylatWars if you live in europe)..
Sounds like something suitable for demos to me.
I suppose I'm contradicting myself a bit here. "Be loyal to a system" I say,
and now I'm telling people to explore strange new formats.
Perhaps what I'm trying to say is "Be loyal to a *good* system"..
Yeah, I think that's it.. Find out for yourselves.
Zippy / Utopia
[EOF]
