The Day
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
