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Demo News 139
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Subscribers : 2658
DemoNews 139 - 26 January 1997 Archive Size : 3918M
>------------------------------------------------------------------ Contents --
Introduction
Calendar
Week In Review
Top Downloads
New Uploads
Articles
A Graphician's Tip Book - Part 9 .............. Shaithis
General Information
>-------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction --
Hello all, and welcome to DemoNews 139.
_____Introduction
Sorry about not releasing DemoNews last weekend. We had some file reviews,
but no articles. In hindsight, I really should have released an issue. Now
there are 125k worth of "New Uploads" that I haven't printed yet, due to the
maximum size (64k) of this newsletter.
_____Big Demoscene, Little World
By night, I work on Hornet Archive. By day, I work on other archives housed
on ftp.cdrom.com. After seeing the numbers of new uploads for Linux,
FreeBSD, OS/2, DOS, Windows 3.1/95/NT, Bible, Project Gutenberg, Games, Ada,
etc., I have come to the conclusion that the demo scene is one of the most
prolific "scenes" in existence.
A quick check tells me that 784 productions have been cataloged on the Hornet
Archive so far this year. That's over 30 per day!
On a happy note, we are expecting significant storage upgrades on wcarchive
very soon. We will be swapping out 4 2.8 gig drives and installing 5 9.2
gig'ers. That's an increase of about 34.8 gigs. I have secured the Hornet
Archive a solitary spot on one of the new drives. I don't know how long
we'll be the sole owners of that drive but for a while it should give us some
breathing room.
_____Trixter Jr.
"Samuel George Leonard, son of Jim (Trixter) and Melissa (Catwoman), was born
at 3:50am on January 23rd. No handle as of yet. ;-) He'll grow up in a world
where computers are as common as television sets and phones. The demoscene
of his day will be completely different from ours. Weird." - Trixter
Our best wishes go out to Trixter and his wife this week, and to the start of
2nd generation Hornet members. :)
_____RAR and TraxWeekly
I have a minor gripe about the RAR discussions in TraxWeekly. For the past
couple of weeks, people have been debating whether RAR is better than ZIP for
compressing songs. I don't have a problem with the discussion, but I do
think the methodology these people are using leaves a bit to be desired.
First off, you don't decide whether one utility is better than another based
solely on the difference in compression ratio of mech8.s3m. You test
hundreds of songs, some with little pattern data, some with a lot of pattern
data, some with 16-bit samples, some with similar samples, some with small or
large samples, songs in different formats, songs with different numbers of
channels, etc.
Second, don't discount the currently popularity of .zip and the utilities
that work with it. Until recently, you couldn't even compile RAR 2.00b3
under FreeBSD (which made it a big no-no for Hornet Archive). We're not
really opposed to using RAR on the Hornet Archive, but I want to see some
more concrete data before we do.
_____Conclusion
Snowman / Hornet - r3cgm@hornet.org
>------------------------------------------------------------------ Calendar --
Date Event Location Contact Points
------------ ------------------- --------- ----------------------------------
09 Dec 1996 Movement Israel civax@kinneret.com
27 Dec 1996 The Party 6 Denmark theparty@vip.cybercity.dk
www.theparty.dk
* <-- YOU ARE HERE
31 Jan 1997 PC96 Brazil x@wm.com.br
wm.com.br/~x/pc96.html
15 Feb 1997 General Probe 3 Poland s146630@ire.pw.edu.pl
neutron.elka.pw.edu.pl/~mszklano
02 Mar 1997 Invasion Finland invasion@xuq.nullnet.fi
www.koillismaa.fi/invasion
28 Mar 1997 Mekka & Symposium Germany amable@aol.com
28 Mar 1997 SiliConvention Germany www.siliconvention.com
04 Apr 1997 X Takeover Holland x97take@dds.nl
11 Apr 1997 The Trip Italy keyby@jnet.it
www.logicom.it/trip
30 May 1997 Scream Canada scream97.educ.infinit.net
furb@total.net
22 Aug 1997 AntIQ Hungary aboy@ttk.jpte.hu
www.jpte.hu/~aboy
25 Aug 1997 The Place To Be 5 France www.mygale.org/05/dadu
>------------------------------------------------------------- Week In Review --
-- /demos ------------------------------------------------------------------>
:: Phoenix / Hornet - phoenix@hornet.org
_____TP6 Entry Comments
I must say, I was a bit disappointed by The Party 6 demos and intros this
year, so much that I don't think they're even worth a full-length review.
Normally, the winning demo gets a 4.5 star rating but not this time. It
seemed like a lot of votes went toward good buddies and jokes, rather than
high quality.
Quick Demo Synopsis (ones I've checked out so far)
1. Alto Knallo by FEB - OK, it has one nice looking vector scene, but..
that's it! And the music, ugh.. didn't go for it. No gfx either.
This must've won through all the Amiga voters.
2. Megablast by Orange - Probably the PC favorite. Has a long animation
followed by various standard Orange effects, with a little 3D to boot.
Nice music by Dune. The demo is rather long, but ends abruptly.
3. Venus by Fudge - another nice one, mostly vector scenes though.
5. Empire by TPOLM - original! Cool music, funny intermission, and
better effects than we're used to from TPOLM. :)
7. Compost by Orange - simple but stylish.. a 70s theme (a bit of a
stereotype, however), and music by Sulphur.
8. Helsinki Mon Amour by Plant - this is a 6mb SLIDESHOW. Of photographs,
no less. Argh.
9. Min Lada.. (forgot the whole name) by Goto 10 - ACK, total garbage.
15. Tone by Eufrosyne - should've placed WAY higher. Very nice graphics
and music, good looking effects (even if they're slightly overdone :)
The fast forward key is one of the best ideas to hit the scene. Too
bad this demo locks up on my machine midway. :(
16. Downtown by Abyss - not the latest effects, but good graphics and
catchy music.
20. Dreams by Kosmic - the only N. American entry? A few good effects
and of course pretty good music, but no real design or graphics.
26. Sand 3 by Rectum Cauda - if you know rC you know what to expect. :)
32. Xamen by Solid - certainly did not deserve last place. Short, but
has decent, original design and music.
Quicker Intro Synopsis
1. Deesbab by Orange - pretty lights, but same old Dune music.
2. Junior by Amable - stylish music, cute duck-go-round part. :)
3. Ashes by COMA - spastic, typical COMA style, see below..
4. Cosmic Space Arabi by TPOLM - no offense but when TPOLM places
high in the intro compo, that says something about the rest. :)
5. The Astonishing Tribe by Yodel - nice vectors but rather short.
6. Huge Crowd by Zeb+Barti - no, I'm not changing my GUS port from 260h
just so I can get this to work. :)
7. Jade by Shock - good design and music, though the effects get a
little dull after a while.
8. Daze by Urinate - very cool design and nice breakbeat music. But
guys, don't thank us, thank Oxygene. :)
11. Adrift by Wild Light - an impressive intro but.. not much after that.
13. Velvet 3 by Fatal Justice - nice vector scenes, but poor music and
unoriginal design.
(many others but I'll stop here)
For the record, I checked out some of the C64 demos from TP6 and they
included such effects as polar flaring, embossed pillars, textured tunnels,
tilting landscape, and 7-bit color video. So I think it's time for the PC
scene to get moving, before even these guys catch up. :)
_____New Demo Highlights
"Tuhka" by COMA - 2nd at the Demolition 2 '96 intro compo. If you watch this
and their later TP96 intro, "Ashes", you'll see and hear a lot of
similarities. COMA has picked up an Amiga scene trick of "remixing" demos,
that is just changing a few routines and reentering them at different compos.
It may work for them but it's not a tactic I necessarily appreciate. Anyway,
the intro. In 80k it features a tune with breakbeat loops, a fullscreen
video clip and a small raytrace animation, and bunches of simultaneous
tunnel-like effects. I found it a lot less annoying than Ashes. :)
Code: 8 Music: 7 Graphics: 8 Overall: 8/10 (1996/c/cmatuhka.zip)
"D'Orzo" by Recreation - winner of the Text Mode Demo compo. This was
another one to just barely get a four-star rating. Even though it uses pure
80x50 text mode, it has all the effects and design of a normal demo. It
features vector scenes, 3d blob morphing, embossing, and simple
zoom/rotation. The best part is that it runs well on a 486. :)
Code: 8 Music: 7 Graphics: 8 Overall: 8/10 (1996/r/rcn-orzo.zip)
_____Comments
Maybe I'll save them for a special "bitch and whine" edition of the
weekly review. :)
-- /music ------------------------------------------------------------------>
:: Snowman / Hornet - r3cgm@hornet.org
_____Music Disks
I'll bet you're surprised to see me writing this column. Anyway, this past
week I decided to get down and dirty and review some stuff myself (something
I don't do much anymore). Many surprises awaited in /incoming/music/disks.
I've started making heavy use of our "description" field, as you will see in
the New Uploads section below.
Here's a list of "you should get these" for this week:
Firestorm 3 by Firelight is out (you probably already knew that). Firelight
is getting noticeably better with each release.
Deceased Ambition by Vincent Voois. I hadn't even heard of this guy until I
reviewed his music disk. Many of the songs were so-so, but a couple really
stood out. Be sure to check out "Global Conquest 1/2". Do be warned, this
guy seems depressed and indicates that he's releasing an anthology of his
music since he'll no longer be tracking. Maybe I'm reading too much into it.
Blur Plastiq by Mellow-D. Jak is an absolutely incredible tracker. His
music is catchy, polished, and professionally done. Get this disk.
Eko "S" by Zake. When I first started going through the songs in this disk,
I had forgotten who Zake was. Then I got to "Shiva Shanti" and it all came
back. The first time I met Zake was in Mellow-D's apartment right before
Assembly '96 started. Zake brought over a mini-disk with his compo tune. We
were all very impressed. The title track for this disk is rather odd (not
bad, just a little unusual).
Subsonica #1 by Mellow-D, KxMode, Stinger, Darkwolf, GD, Hunz, and Skie. This
group disk has some really kick ass tunes. What brought this people
together? Who knows, but it worked.
_____Gripes
If you're going to upload a music disk, please do not include sub-directories
in the .zip that contain embedded .zip files that when extracted have to
overwrite crufty text files. I actually deleted a disk because of this and
mailed the author.
A big Slam! goes out this week to Dopa Pack #1. See the description for
details. Note: "Slam!" is (c) 1997 - r3cgm Enterprises.
_____Random
Cubic Player is now officially produced by Pascal, _not_ Cubic Team.
A couple of the directories in /music were changed. There is not a
/music/educate, which contains educational programs/utilities/texts for
musicians. There are only 3 files in there now but I expect this to grow in
the near future.
Check out Impulse Tracker Throbber! This /unusual music program replaces the
big "N" Netscape icon with an animated Impulse Tracker icon. It's a bit
difficult to appreciate until you actually try it. This utility serves no
purpose and I love it. :)
>------------------------------------------------------------- Top Downloads --
This represents combined ftp/http transfers for the last 7 days.
Total files downloaded : 188,952
Size of files downloaded : 30,597,181k
Times File Description
----- -------------------------------- --------------------------------------
-- /demos ------------------------------------------------------------------>
167 /1995/a/animate.zip Animate by Schwartz
145 /1993/s/symbolog.zip Symbology by Admire
135 /1993/u/unreal11.zip Unreal v1.1 by Future Crew
124 /1993/0-9/2ndreal1.lzh Second Reality by Future Crew [1/2]
115 /1993/c/cd2_trn.lzh Crystal Dreams 2 by Triton
114 /1995/n/nooon_st.zip Stars (bugfixed) by Nooon
113 /1993/0-9/2ndreal2.lzh Second Reality by Future Crew [2/2]
95 /1992/c_dream.lzh Crystal Dreams by Triton
94 /1995/c/countdwn.zip Countdown by Realtech
91 /1993/p/panic.lzh Panic by Future Crew
-- /music ------------------------------------------------------------------>
85 /songs/1996/s3m/a/athought.zip Another Night of Thought by Zastar
80 /songs/1996/s3m/i/im_chron.zip Chronologie Part 4 (remix) by Karsten
75 /songs/1996/s3m/i/im_empir.zip The Hidden Empire by Karsten Koch
70 /songs/1995/s3m/a/aryx.zip Aryx by K. Koch
51 /songs/1996/s3m/f/fa-bung.zip Animated Bunghole Power by Future Assa
49 /songs/1996/s3m/f/fm-mech8.zip Mechanism Eight by Necros
48 /songs/1996/xm/p/pg_fujis.zip Toki-Gaba (Fujisaki) by Tanigon
48 /songs/1995/s3m/c/ctgoblin.zip Catch That Goblin by Skaven
46 /songs/1994/s3m/chariot.zip Chariots of Fire by HMW
44 /songs/1996/xm/x/xr-circ.zip Squared Circles by Xerxes
-- /graphics --------------------------------------------------------------->
14 /images/1994/i/incest5.zip Incest by Pentalysion
13 /programs/vector/veced300.zip 3D Vector Editor by Grey Cat
12 /programs/editors/gfx2b93.zip Grafx 2.00 Beta 93 by Sunset Design
12 /images/1996/a/aa_gargo.zip The Gargoyle by Coolhand
12 /disks/1996/pls_sun.zip Sun by Lazur of Pulse
11 /images/1996/m/mystic.zip Mystical by Madman
10 /images/1996/v/voyeur.zip Voyeur by Visualize
10 /images/1996/h/hardcore.zip by Boss
10 /images/1996/a/abc_pien.zip Pani Pienkowa by Grass
9 /programs/convert/bmp2avi.zip BMP to AVI by Paul Roberts
-- /code ------------------------------------------------------------------->
74 /effects/water/water.zip Water by De-Phassed
64 /effects/water/hq_water.zip Heart Quake's water source by ARM of I
58 /effects/rotozoom/pasroto.zip Cache Optimized Roto-Zoomer by Pascal
55 /effects/fire/burn.zip burn by Frank Paxti
53 /effects/scroll/motionrd.zip Motion Read Me by Patch of Avalanche
51 /tutorials/denthor/tut21.zip Asphyxia VGA Demo Trainer #21 by Denth
51 /effects/3d/3dtext.arj Textmode Texture Mapping,Plasma, and 3
50 /tutorials/denthor/tut05new.zip Tutorial 5 in C by Snowman of Hornet
48 /tutorials/denthor/tut01new.zip Tutorial 1 in C by Snowman of Hornet
47 /tutorials/denthor/tut04new.zip Tutorial 4 in C by Snowman of Hornet
-- /incoming --------------------------------------------------------------->
100 /code/wavepic.zip
97 /code/linefire.zip
79 /TP96/demo/alto.zip
79 /TP96/demo/1sttime.zip
76 /code/mds06rc1.zip
75 /TP96/demo/megademo.zip
64 /TP96/demo/mental.a01
64 /TP96/demo/euforia.zip
>--------------------------------------------------------------- New Uploads --
All ratings are subjective.
Filename Size Rated Description
------------------------------- ---- ----- ----------------------------------
-- /demos ------------------------------------------------------------------>
/1993/a/akm-chan.zip 326 ** Change Disk by Arkham
/1993/a/akm-dem3.zip 234 **+ Demo 3 by Arkham
/1993/a/akm-glob.zip 5 **+ Globule Trace by Arkham
/1994/0-9/2cents.zip 584 [n/a] 2 Cents by Mental Design -
| ASM94:demo:10:
/1994/a/akm-carr.zip 25 ** Carrie by Arkham
/1994/a/akm-hema.zip 8 **+ BBS Hematie by Arkham
/1994/a/akm-mama.zip 9 ** BBS Don't Trust Your Mama by
| Arkham
/1994/b/bliq.zip 1389 **+ Black Liquids by Native Force -
| TP94:demo:XX:
/1994/d/dawn.zip 726 ***+ Dawn by TEI - ASM94:demo:20:
/1994/i/instinct.zip 661 *+ Basic Instinct by B-Ware -
| ASM94:demo:XX:
/1994/i/intropic.zip 58 ** In Tropic by Mikki -
| ASM94:in64:XX:
/1994/j/jff-int2.zip 17 *+ 2nd Little Intro by JFF
/1994/j/jff-intr.zip 17 *+ First Intro by JFF
/1994/j/jff-jckt.zip 81 ** Jocketro by JFF
/1994/k/kone.zip 85 + Akesdisk by Kone - ASM94:demo:XX:
/1994/l/lammas.zip 41 * Demo by Lammas - ASM94:demo:XX:
/1994/m/manifest.zip 615 **+ Manifestation by 3rd Foundation -
| ASM94:demo:XX:
/1994/m/meltdown.zip 661 ** Meltdown by SPA - ASM94:demo:17:
/1994/o/otherd.zip 208 **+ Other Dimension by Midnight Moon -
| ASM94:demo:XX:
/1994/p/penguin.zip 1378 *+ The Penguin Experiment by
| Zweilight Tone - ASM94:demo:XX:
/1994/r/remote.zip 314 **+ Remote Control by Neurotica -
| ASM94:demo:XX:
/1994/r/revenge_.zip 56 *+ Bamses Revenge by Satsuma Design -
| ASM94:in64:XX:
/1994/s/starlite.zip 481 *** Starlite by Nordic Vision -
| ASM94:demo:XX:
/1994/w/waytofin.zip 1782 *** Way To Finland by Real Time -
| ASM94:demo:XX:
/1994/w/wl.zip 1574 ** Wasteland by SCC - ASM94:demo:XX:
/1995/a/akm-dem5.zip 1285 *** CPC Is Back v2 by Arkham -
| TP94:demo:XX:
/1995/j/jff-bbs3.zip 7 **+ BBS Direct Connection by JFF
/1995/j/jff-call.zip 12 ** BBS Call It by JFF
/1995/j/jff-chic.zip 63 ** Chicago by JFF
/1995/j/jff-pomm.zip 56 ** Pomme by JFF
/1996/0-9/5c_tw.zip 628 *** Textmode Windows by Five Coders -
| TMDC96:demo:06:
/1996/a/ad_lame.zip 79 ** True Lameness by Alpha Design -
| TMDC96:demo:08:
/1996/a/antimaat.zip 115 * Antimaat by XL
/1996/a/aor_fbi.zip 722 *** Fundamental Bias by Amour
/1996/a/astralf.zip 979 **+ Astral by Virtual Rage, Phoenix
/1996/b/beyond.zip 2276 ***+ Beyond by Immortals -
| MOV96:demo:02: : GUS/SB/PAS,VESA
/1996/b/blm-hbbc.zip 33 *+ BBS Brain Coma by Bloom
/1996/b/blm-im.zip 2 **+ I'm by Bloom
/1996/b/bspdrip.zip 1460 [n/a] Drip by BSP - MOV96:demo:03: :
| VESA,SBPro@220/5/1 ONLY?!
/1996/d/dentaali.zip 498 *** Dentaalispirantti by tAAt -
| TMDC96:demo:03:
/1996/e/est_pray.a01 792 **** Pray by Esteem [2/2] -
| MOV96:demo:01: :
| P5,GUS/SB/PAS,VESA
/1996/e/est_pray.arj 1422 **** Pray by Esteem [1/2] -
| MOV96:demo:01: :
| P5,GUS/SB/PAS,VESA
/1996/e/excuse.zip 621 **+ Excuse by YOE - MOV96:demo:04: :
| GUS/SB/PAS,VESA
/1996/k/ktv_1296.zip 571 *** KFMTV 2 (Nightvision) by Kosmic
/1996/m/mathro.zip 19 **+ Mathro by Technolord of Chaotic
| Visions
/1996/n/noc_perp.zip 518 *** Perplexity by Noice
/1996/p/p2b4_d3.zip 116 ** Flower by Zen - P2B96:demo:??: :
| GUS,VGA (S3 only?)
/1996/p/puke4kb.zip 13 ***+ Puke by Borzom of Exotic Designs -
| MOV96:in4k:EE: : 386,VGA
/1996/r/rcn-orzo.zip 765 **** D'Orzo by Recreation -
| TMDC96:demo:01:
/1996/s/sima.zip 36 + Sima by TTOM - MOV96:in64:EE: :
| jokedemo
/1996/s/snc-cow.zip 396 Cow by Sync - *+:MOV96:demo: :
| GUS/SB/PAS
/1996/s/spspot.zip 1225 *** Spaceless Spot by tAAt -
| TMDC96:demo:05:
/1996/t/textosis.zip 347 **+ Textosis by Vinlandia -
| TMDC96:demo:07:
/1996/t/tremor2.zip 415 ***+ Tremor by Demolition -
| TMDC96:demo:02:
/1996/t/txtc.zip 465 **+ Textasy by The Enterprise Crew -
| TMDC96:demo:04:
/1996/w/wired.a01 329 **+ Wired by Jourgensen [2/2]
/1996/w/wired.arj 1422 **+ Wired by Jourgensen [1/2]
-- /music ------------------------------------------------------------------>
/disks/1994/ciadsk01.zip 649 * CIA Musicdisk #01 by CIA
/disks/1994/ciadsk02.zip 1218 * CIA Musicdisk #02 by CIA
/disks/1994/ciadsk03.zip 1120 *+ CIA Musicdisk #03 by CIA
/disks/1994/ciadsk06.zip 1214 *+ CIA Musicdisk #06 by CIA
/disks/1994/ciadsk07.zip 1593 *+ CIA Musicdisk #07 by CIA
/disks/1995/c/ciadsk08.zip 2300 ** CIA Musicdisk #08 by CIA
/disks/1995/c/ciadsk09.zip 872 ** CIA Musicdisk #09 by CIA
/disks/1995/m/mndfk002.zip 1453 ** Mindfuck #2 by Misfits
/disks/1995/m/mndfk003.zip 696 ** Mindfuck #3 by Misfits
/disks/1995/m/mndfk004.zip 656 ** Mindfuck #4 by Misfits
/disks/1995/r/rt_corin.zip 1280 ***+ Corinne Dreams by Realtech
/disks/1996/a/abducted.a01 1422 **** Abducted by GeeWhiz Records [2/3]
/disks/1996/a/abducted.a02 45 **** Abducted by GeeWhiz Records [3/3]
/disks/1996/a/abducted.arj 1422 **** Abducted by GeeWhiz Records [1/3]
/disks/1996/b/blackmtl.zip 3647 ***+ A Tribute To Black Metal by Samael
/disks/1996/c/c_mental.zip 2243 *+ Mentality by Coiled : Song titles
| and concept were good.
/disks/1996/c/cia-cn01.zip 1009 * Metallica Music Collection by
| Cerebral Neurosis of CIA
/disks/1996/c/cia-dk02.zip 724 ** CIA's Music Disk #2 by CIA
/disks/1996/c/ciadk-01.zip 647 ** CIA Music Release #1 by CIA
/disks/1996/c/craw_wk.zip 1422 *** Week by LakEEE : Kenji's music is
| just so fun to listen to!
/disks/1996/d/daitpck.zip 118 **+ Deceased Ambition (IT Pack) by
| Vincent Voois [1/4] : Only 1
| song... not bad, but come on...
| one song!?
/disks/1996/d/damodpck.zip 297 **+ Deceased Ambition (MOD Pack) by
| Vincent Voois [2/4] : 3 tunes.
/disks/1996/d/daptmpck.zip 1977 **+ Deceased Ambition (PTM Pack) by
| Vincent Voois [3/4] : A couple
| decent tunes in here.
/disks/1996/d/das3mpck.zip 1064 **+ Deceased Ambition (S3M Pack) by
| Vincent Voois [4/4] : This is
| the best pack of the bunch...
| some really jazzin songs.
/disks/1996/d/daxmpck.zip 4944 **** Deceased Ambition by Vincent Voois
| : At 5 megs, you might not want
| to download this. Trust me, you
| do. There are a couple totally
| kick ass tunes in here... this
| guy is good.
/disks/1996/e/eamd3.zip 1023 ** Euji Acha's Music Disk 3 by Euji
| Acha of Sector X-10h
/disks/1996/e/eamd4.zip 1377 ** Euji Acha's Music Disk 4 by Euji
| Acha of Sector X-10h
/disks/1996/e/eamd5.zip 1824 ** Euji Acha's Music Disk 5 by Euji
| Acha of Sector X-10h
/disks/1996/f/firest_3.zip 2718 **** Firestorm 3 by Firelight : Some
| really good tunes in here... be
| on the lookout for Firestorm 4
| (which more than likely will get
| 4.5 stars in our ratings).
/disks/1996/f/fm-plast.zip 2262 ****+ Blur Plastiq by Mellow-D of Five
| Musicians
/disks/1996/f/fnfc_01.zip 1540 *** Free Noise for Charlie by Charlie
| Brown Records [1/3] : A wide
| range in quality levels for
| songs in this disk. On the
| whole, not bad.
/disks/1996/f/fnfc_02.zip 1506 *** Free Noise for Charlie by Charlie
| Brown Records [2/3]
/disks/1996/f/fnfc_03.zip 1083 *** Free Noise for Charlie by Charlie
| Brown Records [3/3]
/disks/1996/f/fr-refle.zip 1416 *** Reflections by Dustbin of Fatal
| Rage : Professionally organized.
/disks/1996/g/g_plq.zip 1150 *** Pointed Little Quill by Quantum
| Porcupine of Grey
/disks/1996/g/gem-luna.zip 2947 *** Random Lunacy by Gemini
| Productions
/disks/1996/g/gem-soft.zip 3299 ** Bitter Softness by Galahad of
| Gemini Productions : Pretty good
| sample choice, decent rythum and
| structure, unfortunately a bit
| out of tune.
/disks/1996/k/kmd_ekos.zip 2557 ***+ Eko "S" by Zake of Kosmic : If I
| could have given 3.75 stars on
| this one I would have. This guy
| is talented and can touch the
| funky beat. I think he's also
| Mellow-D's cousin or something.
/disks/1996/m/m1-7days.zip 1419 ***+ Seven Days by Liam The Lemming :
| no interface
/disks/1996/m/m_rush.zip 386 ** Rushmore EP by The Fox II : 2 mods
| doesn't exactly qualify as a
| musicdisk. Author seems
| friendly.
/disks/1996/m/mnc-anth.zip 2285 ** Monaco's Anthology by Monaco : The
| songs are kind of old but a
| couple are fairly good. Comes
| with a Windows 95 interface.
/disks/1996/m/mndfk005.zip 1436 **+ Mindfuck #5 by Misfits
/disks/1996/m/mndfk006.zip 693 *+ Mindfuck #6 by Misfits
/disks/1996/m/mndfk007.zip 1156 ** Mindfuck #7 by Misfits
/disks/1996/p/ph-1296a.zip 1401 *** Phluid 12/96 by pHluid [1/2] : no
| interface
/disks/1996/p/ph-1296b.zip 1295 *** Phluid 12/96 by pHluid [2/2] : no
| interface
/disks/1996/s/sc-md1.zip 521 *+ Scrape Music Disk #1 by Scrape
/disks/1996/s/sky_dopa.zip 1284 *+ Dopa Pack #1 by Riders of Skyjump
| Team : This isn't tracking, it's
| creative sampling. 5 out of 6
| songs in here use very extended
| CD sample rips and the author
| does not credit the originals.
| There are copyright notices
| everywhere, which doesn't really
| make sense since most of the
| songs were ripped from CD (i.e.
| that little (c) isn't even
| valid).
/disks/1996/s/spl9612.zip 303 *** Spleen December by Spleen
/disks/1996/s/sub01.zip 2013 **** Subsonica #1 by Mellow-D, KxMode,
| Stinger, Darkwolf, GD, Hunz,
| Skie : All of the tunes in here
| are really good... a couple even
| at the 4.5 star level.
/disks/1996/s/submerge.zip 248 *** Submerged (fixed exe) by Sublevel
| 3 [1/3]
/disks/1996/t/tan-ant1.zip 1311 ***+ Ancient Tracks by Tangerine of T-
| Rex [1/2] : This guy is
| consistenly good and even
| samples some of his own stuff (a
| lost art). This pack was
| released in 1996 but contains
| his tunes from 1995. I wish I
| knew what he was doing these
| days.
/disks/1996/t/tan-ant2.zip 613 ***+ Ancient Tracks by Tangerine of T-
| Rex [2/2] : This guy is
| consistenly good and even
| samples some of his own stuff (a
| lost art). This pack was
| released in 1996 but contains
| his tunes from 1995. I wish I
| knew what he was doing these
| days.
/disks/1996/t/tan-modl.zip 978 *** Mod Lover by Tangerine of T-Rex :
| A lot of his samples are
| original.
/disks/1996/t/tr07_vot.zip 181 *** Traxism Compo #7 : A few good
| songs, a few bad ones.
/disks/1996/u/u-lucid3.zip 1790 ***+ Lucid Volume 3 by b0b, Keith 303,
| Vivid, Stinger of Lucid
/disks/1996/v/voyage.zip 1213 *** Voyage by Andromeda : This disk
| shows all the signs of a very
| talented musician. Something
| just isn't coming together
| though.
/disks/1997/0-9/0l_insd1.zip 1398 ***+ The Inside Music Disk by Ooze
/disks/1997/0-9/0l_shade.zip 1073 *** Shade by Ooze
/disks/1997/b/bmbretro.zip 627 ** Retrospective by Viper : One song
| in this disk really stands out
| (Strobofobic). Too bad it
| wasn't released individually
| where it would have got a much
| higher rating.
/educate/theo_bks.zip 5 Theory Books : A great list of
| books dealing with musical
| theory, and composition.
/educate/theory.zip 53 Theory : A bunch of texts on music
| theory I've collected. Its
| mainly begginer stuff, (scales,
| chords, etc) but some of it
| might go a little further...
/programs/convert/mid2xm13.zip 497 MIDI to XM File Converter v1.3 by
| Ian Luck
/programs/convert/xm2mid.zip 117 Xm2Mid Package : Converts
| Fasttracker II's extended
| modules to standard midi files.
| Effects: Set Volume, Jump loop,
| Position jump, Set Speed/BPM,
| Pattern break
/programs/emulate/remus04e.zip 40 Remus v0.04e : Generic protected
| mode sound card emulator. Allow
| you to use programs with sound
| cards you do not have. Very
| ALPHA. Emulates Speaker, D/A on
| LPT, Gravis, more to come...
/programs/emulate/stsou31.zip 516 Atari-St SoundChip Emulator v3.12
| by Leonard of Oxygene
/programs/mixers/mm5_1.zip 88 Master Mixer v5.1 : Full range SB
| mixer (All functions)
| Undocumented controls enabled!
| Automatic "clicks" removal. Can
| save 6 different mixing configs.
| Can replace ALL SB drivers at
| BOOT. Boots your PC (DOS) in + a
| second. Unlimited number of
| Special Effects. User definable
| Chorus/Reverb+editor. [v5.1:Fix
| OPL3, AWE32, PC Spk level.] Does
| DSP Reset, EMU Reset. Win95 Ok!
| Can enable/disable any function.
| Command-line "QuickLoading" (tm)
| Sets your mixer in 1/4th a
| second!
/programs/players/cp16echo.arj 0 Cubic Player v1.6 Echos by Buzz
/programs/players/fcwin.zip 175 Amiga Futur Composer player for
| Win95 by Leonard of Oxygene :
| Plays FC4 files (8 included in
| this file)
/programs/players/mikit003.zip 50 MikIT v0.03b by MikMak by MikMak :
| IT player for Win95/NT w/full
| NNA and DCT support
/programs/players/mld216.zip 41 The Unchained Melody v2.16 by Mak
| : MOD/S3M player for GUS
/programs/players/mmp4382.zip 104 The Multi Module Player v4.382 by
| Charles Attard : SB Only
/programs/players/rplay017.zip 427 RDOS Player v1.7 : OPL2/OPL3 music
| module player for your ears.
| FIRST generic adlib player in PC
| world at all. Coded in 100%
| assembler. It's fast with x-
| mode graphic analyzers and
| other. Supports module packing
| and about 16 adlib module
| formats (AGD, HSC, RAD, D00 plus
| more...)
/programs/samplers/snarrl16.zip 24 Acid Snarrl v1.6 : Sample
| synthesizer for DOS
/programs/trackers/ast110.zip 401 All Sound Tracker v1.10 by
| Cagliostro : AWE32 only?
/programs/trackers/digitr32.zip 230 DigiTrakker v3.2 by N-Factor : MDL
/programs/trackers/itinfo.zip 23 ITInfo v0.1 by Gregorio Javier
| Gutirrez Barroso : ITInfo gives
| information of IT Modules and IT
| Samples
/programs/trackers/liq127.arj 116 Liquid Tracker v1.27 : SB and PAS
| only (what's with that?)
/programs/trackers/sndinfo.zip 24 SoundInfo v0.1 by Gregorio Javier
| Gutirrez Barroso : Gives
| information about FAR, IT, ITS,
| S3M, ULT
/programs/unusual/it_throb.zip 2 Impulse Tracker Throbber for
| Netscape Navigator 2.0 and up by
| David Menkes : Replaces the big
| "N" Netscape icon after the
| location field with an animated
| Impulse Tracker icon. This
| rules!
/songs/1993/mod/sundance.zip 221 ****+ Sundance by Purple Motion -
| ASM93:m4ch:??:
/songs/1993/mod/walkntit.zip 121 ***+ Walk 'n Titanize by Dizzy of CNCD
/songs/1993/other/hapyslam.zip 184 *** Happy Slam by Reepicheep : 669
/songs/1993/s3m/skyrider.zip 128 ****+ Skyrider by Purple Motion of
| Future Crew - TP93:mmul:??: : A
| classic.
/songs/1994/mod/m/murderpa.zip 372 *** Murders of Passion by Lava -
| TP94:m4ch:XX:
/songs/1994/mod/t/tangosis.zip 100 **** Tango Sister by Chromag -
| TP94:m4ch:XX:
/songs/1994/mod/u/unboredf.zip 203 ***+ Unbored Fantasies by Kallestrup -
| TP94:m4ch:22:
/songs/1994/mod/v/vaglubri.zip 235 ***+ Vaginal Lubrication by Yolk -
| TP94:m4ch:XX:
/songs/1994/mod/v/voodoosp.zip 159 **+ Voodoo Spacefrog by RMX -
| TP94:m4ch:XX:
/songs/1994/mod/v/voodspec.zip 92 ** Voodoo-Spezial by Mr. Melody -
| TP94:m4ch:XX:
/songs/1994/mod/w/wastedyo.zip 173 ***+ Wasted Youth by ICS -
| TP94:m4ch:XX:
/songs/1994/mod/w/whatdafu.zip 272 ***+ What Da Funk by Ome -
| TP94:m4ch:XX:
/songs/1994/mod/w/windhog.zip 266 *** Wild Hog Walk by Ger -
| TP94:m4ch:XX:
/songs/1994/mod/w/womaninh.zip 163 *** Woman In My Head by Dahaul -
| TP94:m4ch:XX:
/songs/1994/mod/w/wralix.zip 298 *** Wralix by Lucifer - TP94:m4ch:XX:
/songs/1994/mod/y/yackcow.zip 70 ***+ Yackow by Woober - TP94:m4ch:XX:
/songs/1994/mod/y/yeah.zip 292 *** Yeah by Lord Semtex -
| TP94:m4ch:XX:
/songs/1995/other/harmdiso.zip 44 *** Harmonic Disorder by Dreamfish -
| DS95:mmul:04: : Whacky MOD
| Format
/songs/1995/s3m/a/amigamia.zip 52 *** Without You by ?? of FH -
| ENL95:mmul:??:
/songs/1995/s3m/h/harley.zip 57 Leaves by Harley of VI -
| ***:ENL95:mmul:
/songs/1995/s3m/l/lookers.zip 318 ** Join No Good For Me by XPEH of
| Lookers - ENL95:mmul:02:
/songs/1995/s3m/o/ol-astr.zip 269 *** Astral Transgression by Tangerine
| - ENL95:mmul:08:
/songs/1995/s3m/o/ol-part.zip 146 **+ Be Ready For Kommunism by
| Tangerine - ENL95:mmul:08:
/songs/1995/s3m/q/qmg-em.zip 304 ** Evil March by Rogers of QMG -
| ENL95:mmul:04:
/songs/1995/s3m/q/qmg-iwr.zip 129 *+ Ill When Roll by ?? of QMG -
| ENL95:mmul:??:
/songs/1995/xm/n/nr-alien.zip 415 **+ The Alienation by Netrunner -
| ENL95:mmul:01:
/songs/1995/xm/n/nr-stres.zip 374 *** Stress by Netrunner -
| ENL95:mmul:01:
-- /graphics --------------------------------------------------------------->
/disks/1996/0l_cerl1.zip 34 ** ??? by Cereal
/images/1996/a/abc_clau.zip 106 *** Claudie by Grass
/images/1996/d/dq-vibes.zip 35 ***+ Vibes by Damaq - SKE96:grfx:07:
/images/1996/l/l_etoile.zip 161 **+ L'toile by VelluV - SKE96:grfx:??:
/images/1996/m/manhead.zip 40 *+ Man Head by EZ Man
/programs/editors/gfx2b93.zip 399 Grafx 2.00 Beta 93 by Sunset
| Design : Multi-resolution bitmap
| paint program
-- /code ------------------------------------------------------------------->
/3d/docs/3d_math.zip 11 **+ 3d math by Lithium of VLA :
| Explanations of some 3d math
| concepts - I remember not
| getting the 3d rotations working
| correctly when I first started
| programming, but I'm not sure if
| that's my fault or the fault of
| the doc. Most of the docs are
| some simple linear algebra.
| They spell out the equations in
| the end for those who can't
| completely understand them. Text
/3d/docs/3dbasics.zip 2 * 3d basics by Synergist : Some
| basic 3d documentation - I'd
| never want to tell someone that
| this doc is a good place to
| start. The person writing this
| has no concept of structures,
| which severely ease the
| programming of complex things
| such as 3d systems. Text
/3d/systems/3dvect39.zip 373 ***+ 3d vectors by John McCarthy : A
| complete 3d vector system - No
| complex shading, but has a full
| camera model, gif loader, object
| loader, etc, etc... Takes some
| time to figure out. Assembler,
| protected-mode
/3d/trifillers/flat/fpoly256.lz 33 **+ fx 3d kit by Dave Stampe : A Y
| mode filler and line routine -
| Well documented and good
| comments. Poor asm style when
| it comes to stack handling. It
| would be difficult to learn from
| this code. Assembler, real-mode
/3d/trifillers/gouraud/ggouro2. 65 *** Gouraud shader source by Jedi of
| Sector One : Source for a
| gouraud filler, requires GEMA to
| compile - Needs GEMA. No useful
| comments. For TASM and MASM
| users, remember that GEMA's
| nmenonics are operation source,
| destination. Assembler,
| protected-mode
/audio/converters/amm.zip 29 *+ Audio Manager III by Kenneth Foo
| Chuan Khit : A loader for amm
| files - A proprietary format not
| generated by any trackers that I
| know of Assembler, real-mode
/audio/converters/mod15ins.zip 29 + 15313115 by Fred of TFL-TDV : A
| format converter for 15
| instrument mods to/from 31
| instrument mods - Useless! Even
| the file_id.diz says it's a
| joke. Rather boring on the
| humor scale. No code.
/audio/detection/gusenv.zip 1 ** GUS Environment by Patch : Grabs
| the Ultrasnd environment for you
| - Good for those who don't know
| how to find an environment
| variable, but it doesn't tell
| you much. It may give you a
| place to start. Assembler, real-
| mode
/audio/detection/gusrev02.zip 12 * GUS Revision by data : GUS
| revision detector v0.2b - Isn't
| this in the manual that comes
| with the GUS, or somewhere on
| the board? No code.
/audio/detection/oplid.zip 30 * oplid by ? of Audiotrix : Detects
| what type of OPL chip is on your
| sound card - An ad for audiotrix
| more than anything else. No
| code. It looks like there
| should be more files in the
| archive than there are.
/audio/docs/awe32prg.zip 36 ***+ AWE 32 "documentation" by Judge
| Dred : Useful documents for AWE
| 32 programming - Beats the shit
| out of Creative Lab's released
| information. Text
/audio/docs/d00formt.zip 3 ***+ d00 format by Joachim Fenkes :
| Docs of the d00 format used by
| Adlib player and Edlib tracker -
| Docs for those who need them.
| Docs are also available with the
| EdLib tracker, but these are a
| little more thorough. Text
/audio/players/advhsc18.zip 56 *** HSC player by Antares : A TPU for
| FM playback of HS C files - Has
| examples on how to use the unit.
| real-mode
/audio/players/amod095.zip 106 ** Adrenalin MOD player by Beta of A-
| Men : A mod player for pascal
| and has a TSR to play music in
| the background - No SB support,
| horrible documentation, little
| to no support. real-mode
/audio/players/asmod09s.zip 88 ** AmoebaSoft MOD Player by Jonathan
| E. Wright of AmoebaSoft : A mod
| player for Pascal - No SB
| support, bad documentation, only
| supports MOD files. real-mode
/audio/players/bwsb120a.zip 318 *** Bells, Whistles, and Sound Boards
| by Lee Schlunder : A Music
| player library - Interfaces from
| Pascal. Has support for a few
| formats and a decent variety of
| sound cards. Assembler, real-
| mode
/audio/players/bwsb120b.zip 505 *** Bells, Whistles, and Sound Boards
| by Lee Schlunder : A Music
| player library - Interfaces from
| Pascal. Has support for a few
| formats and a decent variety of
| sound cards. Assembler, real-
| mode
/audio/players/cpmik02.zip 18 ** Cubic Player Music Interface Kit
| by Kortal of Wizardry : A music
| player - Doesn't have the sound
| player code, is buggy, supports
| only GUS and S3M. Assembler,
| real-mode
-- /mags ------------------------------------------------------------------->
/1996/bsr-0008.zip 11 ** Belgian Scene Report Issue 8 by
| Baxter : Text Only
/1996/sub00004.zip 761 **+ Subkult Issue 4 by Dr. Dyregod &
| Ko
-- /party ------------------------------------------------------------------>
/reports/1996/sncwir96.zip 690 *** Wired '96 Party Report by Sanction
| - WIR96::: : VESA,GUS/SB,8MB
>------------------------------------------------------------------ Articles --
---------------------------------------------------------------------------->
:: "A Graphician's Tip Book - Part 9"
:: Shaithis / Immortal Coil - shaithis@buffnet.net
_____Introduction
Hello all,
Been awhile, eh? Let me explain myself. I went home for christmas break.
Sadly, going home for christmas break means I have connection to the net for
a month. Thus, I couldn't get my lovely articles to Snowman and all you
people who await this column (there's at least six of you now...right? ;) had
to go without for awhile. Anyway, I'm back, and with me I bring text. This
particular one can be entitled "Building the better grass tile".
Before I start, however, let me thank Rhythm Greene for punching me in
the arm a few weeks ago and pointing out the idiocy of the last column's
statement "320x240x256 is more or less a standard vesa mode". It's not.
It's mode-x (I believe), and it's a pain to work with. :) For that reason,
we've switched our little RPG to 320x200. But don't worry yourselves over
that, it doesn't affect any of the tips I gave in my last article. At any
rate, thanks to glenn, and onward...
_____Building The Better Grass Tile (Fun with Spray Paint)
Alright, so as of last week, I left you with a dark green square with some
light green, wavy lines on it. Not a terribly stimulating tile, to be
certain. The members of my group weren't particularly impressed either, and
so we decided we had to do better. Along the way, we discovered a bunch of
mistakes that are probably made often (mistake number one is and has been
made by a variety of artists for various game companies throughout the course
of time. Once in awhile, it's pulled off anyway, but usually it could have
been done better).
I'll emphasize again that these are mistakes _we_ (my group) made, NOT
mistakes that we arrogantly believe we are above. Far from it, believe me.
If you've made these mistakes, I assure you that you have my deepest respect,
because if you haven't made them, you probably haven't been trying very hard.
_____Number 1
*Mistake #1* Grass isn't all green. Think about it. Go out to your
backyard and look at it if you have to (although for those of you in my
region of the US all you'll probably see is snow). At any rate, you'll
probably notice there's also a lot of brown in there.
In actuality, there's also blues, oranges, yellows, reds, and just about
every color of the spectrum (But you need a couple of light color and design
courses to train your eyes to see that, and still half the time it's hard to
believe). Anyway, considering the fact that we're only working with a 16x16
pixel tile, we stuck to just brown and green.
*Solution #1* Brown and Green. Two great tastes that taste well... mediocre
together. But with a little effort, you can make that combination work
together like a well oiled machine. Your best bet is to use the spraypaint
tool. Everytime I talk about the spraypaint tool, I get two responses: "The
spraypaint tool is useless" or "The Spraypaint tool is great!" To those of
you in the former crowd, I humbly suggest you haven't played with it enough.
We took our 16x16 dark green square and, using our first 16 greens, created a
gradient. For two reasons, we left the top two and the bottom two off the
gradient, giving us twelve colors. First, our effects engine deals a lot
with hue fades, so we needed some room for that. Second, grass is rarely so
dark it is virtually black, or so light that it's virtually white.
We "sprayed" the green square with the spray paint tool, after selecting our
gradient. This gave us a very random spread of pixels, all green, but
varying in intensity and saturation. We repeated this with a brown
gradient. This gave us a rather random looking jumble of browns and greens,
which leads on to the next problem...
_____Number 2
*Mistake #2* Completely random green and brown pixels rarely look like real
grass. This one's pretty much a given. At times, they can be passed off,
but for the most part a little thought and some basic background design in
your tiles can give a much better impression of grass, while still managing
to look quite random.
*Solution #2* I hope you're reading this whole column before you start
trying grass tiles, or you're going to hate me for this. :) Start with a
pattern. We scrapped the aforementioned random tile, and restarted. We took
a dark green tile, drew a relatively erratic pattern (but by placing the tile
next to itself, we were able to ensure that some lines would appear to
"cross" the 16x16 border. More on that below). Now we repeated the step
above involving the gradients and the spray paint tool. Because the spray
paint tool randomly sprays pixels, enough of the original texture was left
behind to give the tile more cohesiveness then it's predecessor.
_____Number 3
*Mistake #3* Too much brown makes your grass look very muddy. The need is
very much there for finding a good balance between greens, browns, and the
hues in between. There are ways to balance your colors with relative ease,
and they are discussed below.
*Solution #3* We added a third gradient, which I'll call "Olive Green". This
allowed us to have pixels that were both green, brown, and a mixture of the
two. Now the tile was really starting to look like something. The only
problem? Well, that's mistake number four.
_____Number 4
*Mistake #4* It's very easy to make grass tiles look too repetitious.
Conversely, if you make each tile too random, they won't blend and the breaks
between tiles will be altogether too obvious.
*Solution #4* We took six of the same grass tile, and placed them in a
vertical column, with one line of white space between each. We selected each
of our three gradients, and using the shade tool, darkened and lightened the
various pixels (This method is described in my fourth dpaint article. If you
didn't read it, then shame on you! :) Now we had six different tiles that,
when placed together, create a very random, yet still coherent patch of
grass.
The tiles range from light to dark, and can be placed in ways that make the
patch of grass appear shaded, without it being terribly evident how the
effect was achieved. This, of course, involves some experimentation, but I
shall leave that part up to you. :)
_____Conclusion
There you have it, "Building a better grass tile" from start to finish. Don't
expect the world to beat a path to your door... that's for building a
mousetrap, but you can expect any game you're working on to have a much
greater level of depth and realism in its tiles. This process can be applied
to a variety of tiles, ranging from grass to wood to stone (and even to skin
tones, albeit with a lot of work). Experiment, play around, and see what you
can come up with. If nothing else, come up with a bunch of plausibly useful
tiles. :)
That's the article for this time. Again, sorry about the wait. I hope it's
been worth it. Next time, I'm going to jump right into the long awaited (and
still multiple-undo-less, grrrr) Photoshop 4.
>------------------------------------------------------- General Information --
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_____DemoNews
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