Demoscene
Encyclopedia
The demoscene is a computer art
subculture
that specializes in producing demos
, which are non-interactive audio-visual presentations that run in real-time
on a computer. The main goal of a demo is to show off programming
, artistic, and musical skills.
The demoscene first appeared during the 8-bit era
on computers such as the Commodore 64
, ZX Spectrum
and Amstrad CPC
, and came to prominence during the rise of the 16/32-bit
home computer
s (the Amiga
or Acorn Archimedes
in the UK and Germany, and the Atari ST
). In the early years, demos had a strong connection with software cracking
. When a cracked program was started, the cracker or his team would take credit with a graphical introduction called a "crack intro
" (shortened cracktro). Later, the making of intros and standalone demos evolved into a new subculture independent of the software (piracy) scene.
s, most home computers of a given line had relatively little variance in their basic hardware, which made their capabilities practically identical. Therefore, the variations among demo
s created for one computer line were attributed to programming alone, rather than one computer having better hardware. This created a competitive environment in which demoscene groups would try to outperform each other in creating amazing effects
, and often to demonstrate why they felt one machine was better than another (for example Commodore 64
or Amiga
versus Atari 800 or ST
).
Demo writers went to great lengths to get every last bit of performance out of their target machine. Where games and application writers were concerned with the stability and functionality of their software, the demo writer was typically interested in how many CPU
cycles a routine would consume and, more generally, how best to squeeze great activity onto the screen. Writers went so far as to exploit
known hardware errors to produce effects that the manufacturer of the computer had not intended. The perception that the demo scene was going to extremes and charting new territory added to its draw.
Recent computer hardware
advancements include faster processor
s, more memory
, faster video graphics processor
s, and hardware 3D acceleration. With many of the past's challenges removed, the focus in making demos has moved from squeezing as much out of the computer as possible to making stylish, beautiful, well-designed real time artwork - a directional shift that many "old school demosceners" seem to disapprove of. This can be explained by the break introduced by the PC world, where the platform varies and most of the programming work that used to be hand-programmed is now done by the graphics card. This gives demo-groups a lot more artistic freedom, but can frustrate some of the old-schoolers for lack of a programming challenge. The old tradition still lives on, though. Demo parties have competitions with varying limitations in program size or platform (different series are called compo
s). On a modern computer the executable size may be limited to 64 kB or 4 kB. Programs of limited size are usually called intros
. In other compos the choice of platform is restricted; only old computers, like the 8-bit Commodore 64
, or the 16-bit Amiga
, or Atari ST
, or mobile devices like handheld phones or PDAs
are allowed. Such restrictions provide a challenge for coders, musicians and graphics artists and bring back the old motive of making a device do more than was intended in its original design.
s can be found among the so-called display hack
s. Display hacks predate the demoscene for several decades, with the earliest examples
dating back to the early 1950s.
Demos in the demoscene sense began as software cracker
s' "signature
s", that is, crack screens and crack intro
s attached to software whose copy protection
was removed. The first crack screens appeared on the Apple II computers in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and they were often nothing but plain text screens crediting the cracker or his group. Gradually, these static screens evolved into increasingly impressive-looking introductions containing animated effects and music. Eventually, many cracker groups started to release intro-like programs separately, without being attached to pirated software. These programs were initially known by various names, such as letters or messages, but they later came to be known as demos.
Simple demo-like music collections were put together on the C64 in 1985 by Charles Deenen
, inspired by crack intros, using music taken from games and adding some homemade color graphics. In the following year the movement now known as the demoscene was born. The Dutch groups 1001 Crew and The Judges, both Commodore 64-based, are often mentioned as the earliest demo groups. Whilst competing with each other in 1986, they both produced pure demos with original graphics and music involving more than just casual work, and used extensive hardware trickery. At the same time demos from others, such as Antony Crowther
(Ratt), had started circulating on Compunet
in the United Kingdom. On the ZX Spectrum
, Castor Cracking Group
released their first demo called Castor Intro in 1986. The ZX Spectrum demo scene
was slow to start, but it started to rise in the late 1980s, most noticeably in Eastern Europe
.
s) on the screen per frame, or the number of DYCP
(different Y Character position) scrollers on a C64. These days, there are organized competitions, or compos, held at demoparties
, although there have been some online competitions as well. It has also been common for diskmags
to have voting-based charts which provide ranking lists for the best coders, graphicians, musicians, demos and other things. However, the respect for charts has diminished since the 1990s.
Party-based competitions usually require the artist or a group member to be present at the event. The winners are selected by a public voting amongst the visitors and awarded at a prizegiving ceremony at the end of the party. Competitions at a typical demo event include a demo compo, an intro compo (usually 64K), a graphics compo and a music compo. Most parties also split some categories by platform, format or style.
There are no criteria or rules the voters should be bound by, and a visitor typically just votes for those entries that made the biggest impression on him or her. In the old demos, the impression was often attempted with programming techniques introducing new effects and breaking performance records in old effects. Over the years, the emphasis has moved from technical excellence to more artistic values such as overall design, audiovisual impact and mood.
The demoscene constitutes the most part of its own audience, with the opinions of the community itself considered the most valid. For example, it is often considered lame to win large events with works that appeal to the non-demomaking masses but do not adhere to good demoscene aesthetics. However, most of the demos regarded as the best of all time have appealed both to the demomaking community itself and a larger audience.
In the recent years, an initiative to award demos in an alternative way arose by the name of the Scene.org Awards
. The essential concept of the awards was to avoid the subjectivity of mass-voting at parties, and select a well-renowned jury to handle the task of selecting the given year's best productions on several aspects, such as Best Graphics or Best 64k Intro.
A demoparty is an event which gathers demomakers and provides them competitions to compete in. A typical demoparty is a non-stop event lasting over a weekend, providing the visitors a lot of time for socializing. The competing works, at least those in the most important competitions, are usually shown at night, using a video projector
and big loudspeaker
s.
Demoparties started to appear in the 1980s in the form of copyparties where software pirates and demomakers gathered to meet each other and share their software. Competitions did not become a major aspect of the events until the beginning of the 1990s.
Demoscene events are most frequent in Europe
, with around fifty parties every year. For comparison, there have only been a dozen or so demoparties in the United States
and Canada
in total (such as Spring Break and NAID). Most events are local, gathering demomakers mostly from a single country, while the largest international parties (such as Breakpoint and Assembly) attract visitors from all over the globe.
The demoscene still exists on many platforms, including the PC
, C64
, MSX
, ZX Spectrum
, Amstrad CPC
, Amiga
, Atari
, Dreamcast and Game Boy Advance
. The large variety of platforms makes their respective demos hard to compare. Some 3D benchmark programs also have a demo or showcase mode, which derives its roots from the days of the 16-bit platforms.
There are several categories demos are informally classified into, the most important being the division between the "full-size" demos and the size-restricted intros, a difference visible in the competitions of nearly any demo party. The most typical competition categories for intros are the 64K intro
and the 4K intro, where the size of the executable file is restricted to 65536 and 4096 bytes, respectively.
A typical demo is created by a demogroup, which is a team of demosceners. Although some demogroups boast dozens of members, the number of individuals involved in a single production rarely exceeds ten. Since the demogroup is also a major way of self-identification for demosceners, even individual creations are usually associated with a group.
A demoscener is typically specialized in a certain area of creativity. The traditional division is in coders, graphicians and musicians, who are specialized in programming (often including overall design), still graphics (including 2D art and 3D modelling) and music, respectively. There are also demosceners who have little involvement in the actual demomaking but that do considerable work in areas such as party organizing.
Although demos are still a more or less obscure form of art even in the traditionally active demoscene countries, the scene has had an impact on areas such as computer games industry and new media art
.
A great deal of European game programmers, artists and musicians have come from the demoscene, often cultivating the learned techniques, practices and philosophies in their work. For example, the Finnish company Remedy Entertainment
, known for the Max Payne
series of games, was founded by the PC group Future Crew
, and most of its employees are former or active Finnish demosceners. Sometimes demos even provide direct influence even to game developers that have no demoscene affiliation: for instance, Will Wright names demoscene as a major influence on the Maxis
game Spore, which is largely based on procedural content generation
. Similarly, at QuakeCon
in 2011, John Carmack
noted that he "thinks highly" of people who do 64k intro
s, as an example of artificial limitations encouraging creative programming.
Certain forms of computer art have a strong affiliation with the demoscene. Tracker music, for example, originated in the Amiga games industry but was soon heavily dominated by demoscene musicians. . Currently, there is a major tracking scene separate from the actual demoscene. A form of static computer graphics where demosceners have traditionally excelled is pixel art
; see artscene for more information on the related subculture.
Over the years, desktop computer hardware capabilities have improved by orders of magnitude, and so for most programmers, tight hardware restrictions are no longer a common issue. Nevertheless, demosceners continue to study and experiment with creating impressive effects on limited hardware. Since handheld consoles and cellular phones have comparable processing power or capabilities to the desktop platforms of old (such as low resolution screens which require pixel-art, or very limited storage and memory for music replay), many demosceners have been able to apply their niche skills to develop games for these platforms, and earn a living doing so.
Some attempts have been made to increase the familiarity of demos as an art form. For example, there have been demo shows, demo galleries and demoscene-related books, sometimes even TV programs introducing the subculture and its works.
The museum IT-ceum in Linköping, Sweden, have an exhibition about the demo scene.
Sometimes a demoscene-based production may become very famous in technical contexts. For example, the 96-kilobyte FPS
game .kkrieger
by Farbrausch
uses procedural content generation algorithms that are quite common on today's 64K intros but largely unknown to the computer games enthusiasts and the US-based game development community.
Computer art
Computer art is any art in which computers play a role in production or display of the artwork. Such art can be an image, sound, animation, video, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, videogame, web site, algorithm, performance or gallery installation...
subculture
Subculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...
that specializes in producing demos
Demo (computer programming)
A demo is a non-interactive multimedia presentation made within the computer subculture known as the demoscene. Demogroups create demos to demonstrate their abilities in programming, music, drawing, and 3D modeling...
, which are non-interactive audio-visual presentations that run in real-time
Real-time computing
In computer science, real-time computing , or reactive computing, is the study of hardware and software systems that are subject to a "real-time constraint"— e.g. operational deadlines from event to system response. Real-time programs must guarantee response within strict time constraints...
on a computer. The main goal of a demo is to show off programming
Computer programming
Computer programming is the process of designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code of computer programs. This source code is written in one or more programming languages. The purpose of programming is to create a program that performs specific operations or exhibits a...
, artistic, and musical skills.
The demoscene first appeared during the 8-bit era
History of video game consoles (third generation)
In the history of computer and video games, the third generation began on July 15, 1983, with the Japanese release of both the Nintendo Family Computer and Sega SG-1000...
on computers such as the Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
, ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
and Amstrad CPC
Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom,...
, and came to prominence during the rise of the 16/32-bit
Motorola 68000
The Motorola 68000 is a 16/32-bit CISC microprocessor core designed and marketed by Freescale Semiconductor...
home computer
Home computer
Home computers were a class of microcomputers entering the market in 1977, and becoming increasingly common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single nontechnical user...
s (the Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
or Acorn Archimedes
Acorn Archimedes
The Acorn Archimedes was Acorn Computers Ltd's first general purpose home computer to be based on their own ARM architecture.Using a RISC design with a 32-bit CPU, at its launch in June 1987, the Archimedes was stated as running at 4 MIPS, with a claim of 18 MIPS during tests.The name is commonly...
in the UK and Germany, and the Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
). In the early years, demos had a strong connection with software cracking
Software cracking
Software cracking is the modification of software to remove or disable features which are considered undesirable by the person cracking the software, usually related to protection methods: copy protection, trial/demo version, serial number, hardware key, date checks, CD check or software annoyances...
. When a cracked program was started, the cracker or his team would take credit with a graphical introduction called a "crack intro
Crack intro
A crack intro, also known as a cracktro, loader, or just intro, is a small introduction sequence added to cracked software, designed to inform the user of which "cracking crew" or individual cracker was responsible for removing the software's copy protection and distributing the crack...
" (shortened cracktro). Later, the making of intros and standalone demos evolved into a new subculture independent of the software (piracy) scene.
Concept
Prior to the popularity of IBM PC compatibleIBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...
s, most home computers of a given line had relatively little variance in their basic hardware, which made their capabilities practically identical. Therefore, the variations among demo
Demo (computer programming)
A demo is a non-interactive multimedia presentation made within the computer subculture known as the demoscene. Demogroups create demos to demonstrate their abilities in programming, music, drawing, and 3D modeling...
s created for one computer line were attributed to programming alone, rather than one computer having better hardware. This created a competitive environment in which demoscene groups would try to outperform each other in creating amazing effects
Demo effect
Demo effects are computer-based real-time visual effects found in demos created by the demoscene.The main purpose of demo effects in demos is to show off the skills of the programmer...
, and often to demonstrate why they felt one machine was better than another (for example Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
or Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
versus Atari 800 or ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
).
Demo writers went to great lengths to get every last bit of performance out of their target machine. Where games and application writers were concerned with the stability and functionality of their software, the demo writer was typically interested in how many CPU
Central processing unit
The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...
cycles a routine would consume and, more generally, how best to squeeze great activity onto the screen. Writers went so far as to exploit
Exploit
Exploit can mean:*Exploit *Exploit *Exploit *Exploit *Exploit, a 2009 Adobe Flash game by Gregory Weir*The Exploits River, the longest river on the island of Newfoundland-See also:...
known hardware errors to produce effects that the manufacturer of the computer had not intended. The perception that the demo scene was going to extremes and charting new territory added to its draw.
Recent computer hardware
Computer hardware
Personal computer hardware are component devices which are typically installed into or peripheral to a computer case to create a personal computer upon which system software is installed including a firmware interface such as a BIOS and an operating system which supports application software that...
advancements include faster processor
Central processing unit
The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...
s, more memory
Memory
In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory....
, faster video graphics processor
Graphics processing unit
A graphics processing unit or GPU is a specialized circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory in such a way so as to accelerate the building of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display...
s, and hardware 3D acceleration. With many of the past's challenges removed, the focus in making demos has moved from squeezing as much out of the computer as possible to making stylish, beautiful, well-designed real time artwork - a directional shift that many "old school demosceners" seem to disapprove of. This can be explained by the break introduced by the PC world, where the platform varies and most of the programming work that used to be hand-programmed is now done by the graphics card. This gives demo-groups a lot more artistic freedom, but can frustrate some of the old-schoolers for lack of a programming challenge. The old tradition still lives on, though. Demo parties have competitions with varying limitations in program size or platform (different series are called compo
Compo
Compo may refer to:*A slang word in the demoscene for "competition".*A character from the British TV series Last of the Summer Wine named Compo Simmonite, played by Bill Owen.*British army field rations....
s). On a modern computer the executable size may be limited to 64 kB or 4 kB. Programs of limited size are usually called intros
Demo (computer programming)
A demo is a non-interactive multimedia presentation made within the computer subculture known as the demoscene. Demogroups create demos to demonstrate their abilities in programming, music, drawing, and 3D modeling...
. In other compos the choice of platform is restricted; only old computers, like the 8-bit Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
, or the 16-bit Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
, or Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
, or mobile devices like handheld phones or PDAs
Personal digital assistant
A personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...
are allowed. Such restrictions provide a challenge for coders, musicians and graphics artists and bring back the old motive of making a device do more than was intended in its original design.
History
The earliest computer programs that have some resemblance to demos and demo effectDemo effect
Demo effects are computer-based real-time visual effects found in demos created by the demoscene.The main purpose of demo effects in demos is to show off the skills of the programmer...
s can be found among the so-called display hack
Display hack
A display hack is a computer program with similar purpose to a kaleidoscope: to make pretty pictures . Famous display hacks include munching squares and smoking clover. Some display hacks can be also implemented by creating text files which contain numerous escape sequences for a text terminal to...
s. Display hacks predate the demoscene for several decades, with the earliest examples
First video game
There are numerous debates over who created the first video game, with the answer depending largely on how video games are defined. The evolution of video games represents a tangled web of several different industries, including scientific, computer, arcade, and consumer electronics.The "video" in...
dating back to the early 1950s.
Demos in the demoscene sense began as software cracker
Software cracking
Software cracking is the modification of software to remove or disable features which are considered undesirable by the person cracking the software, usually related to protection methods: copy protection, trial/demo version, serial number, hardware key, date checks, CD check or software annoyances...
s' "signature
Signature
A signature is a handwritten depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. The writer of a signature is a signatory. Similar to a handwritten signature, a signature work describes the work as readily identifying...
s", that is, crack screens and crack intro
Crack intro
A crack intro, also known as a cracktro, loader, or just intro, is a small introduction sequence added to cracked software, designed to inform the user of which "cracking crew" or individual cracker was responsible for removing the software's copy protection and distributing the crack...
s attached to software whose copy protection
Copy protection
Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy obstruction, copy prevention and copy restriction, refer to techniques used for preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media, usually for copyright reasons.- Terminology :Media corporations have always used the term...
was removed. The first crack screens appeared on the Apple II computers in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and they were often nothing but plain text screens crediting the cracker or his group. Gradually, these static screens evolved into increasingly impressive-looking introductions containing animated effects and music. Eventually, many cracker groups started to release intro-like programs separately, without being attached to pirated software. These programs were initially known by various names, such as letters or messages, but they later came to be known as demos.
Simple demo-like music collections were put together on the C64 in 1985 by Charles Deenen
Charles Deenen
Charles Deenen , is a Dutch computer/video game Audio Director, Music Composer, Sound Designer & Mixer. He is also known for his music and sound efforts for games of C64 and Amiga era. He was one of the first demosceners....
, inspired by crack intros, using music taken from games and adding some homemade color graphics. In the following year the movement now known as the demoscene was born. The Dutch groups 1001 Crew and The Judges, both Commodore 64-based, are often mentioned as the earliest demo groups. Whilst competing with each other in 1986, they both produced pure demos with original graphics and music involving more than just casual work, and used extensive hardware trickery. At the same time demos from others, such as Antony Crowther
Antony Crowther
Antony 'Ratt' Crowther is a former designer, programmer and musician of Commodore 64 games. During the 1980s he worked for Alligata, Gremlin Graphics and later Crowther's own company, Wizard Development....
(Ratt), had started circulating on Compunet
Compunet
Compunet was a United Kingdom based interactive service provider, catering primarily for the Commodore 64 but later for the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST...
in the United Kingdom. On the ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
, Castor Cracking Group
Castor Cracking Group
Castor Cracking Group was a demo group from Sweden, and were active on the ZX Spectrum during 1986-88. They were one of the first groups for the ZX Spectrum with their release of Castor Intro early in 1986....
released their first demo called Castor Intro in 1986. The ZX Spectrum demo scene
ZX Spectrum demos
ZX Spectrum demos are demos made for the ZX Spectrum and compatible computers. The demo scene on the Spectrum can probably be traced back to Castor Cracking Group, The Lords and a few other groups and individuals back in 1986...
was slow to start, but it started to rise in the late 1980s, most noticeably in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
.
Competition
The demoscene is a largely competition-oriented subculture, with groups and individual artists competing against each other in technical and artistic excellence. In the early days, this competition came in the form of setting records, like the number of "bobs" (blitter objectBlitter object
A Bob was a graphical element first used by the Amiga computer. Bobs were hardware sprite-like objects, movable on the screen with the help of the blitter coprocessor....
s) on the screen per frame, or the number of DYCP
Commodore 64 demos
The Commodore 64 demos are demonstrations of what can be done to push the limits of the Commodore 64 computer, made by programmers, musicians and artists....
(different Y Character position) scrollers on a C64. These days, there are organized competitions, or compos, held at demoparties
Demoparty
A demoparty is an event that gathers demosceners and other computer enthusiasts to compete in competitions. A typical demoparty is a non-stop event lasting over a weekend, providing the visitors a lot of time to socialize. The competing works, at least those in the most important competitions, are...
, although there have been some online competitions as well. It has also been common for diskmags
Disk magazine
A disk magazine, colloquially known as a diskmag, is a magazine that is distributed in electronic form to be read using computers. These had some popularity in the 1980s and 1990s as periodicals distributed on floppy disk, hence their name...
to have voting-based charts which provide ranking lists for the best coders, graphicians, musicians, demos and other things. However, the respect for charts has diminished since the 1990s.
Party-based competitions usually require the artist or a group member to be present at the event. The winners are selected by a public voting amongst the visitors and awarded at a prizegiving ceremony at the end of the party. Competitions at a typical demo event include a demo compo, an intro compo (usually 64K), a graphics compo and a music compo. Most parties also split some categories by platform, format or style.
There are no criteria or rules the voters should be bound by, and a visitor typically just votes for those entries that made the biggest impression on him or her. In the old demos, the impression was often attempted with programming techniques introducing new effects and breaking performance records in old effects. Over the years, the emphasis has moved from technical excellence to more artistic values such as overall design, audiovisual impact and mood.
The demoscene constitutes the most part of its own audience, with the opinions of the community itself considered the most valid. For example, it is often considered lame to win large events with works that appeal to the non-demomaking masses but do not adhere to good demoscene aesthetics. However, most of the demos regarded as the best of all time have appealed both to the demomaking community itself and a larger audience.
In the recent years, an initiative to award demos in an alternative way arose by the name of the Scene.org Awards
Scene.org Awards
The Scene.org Awards are the demoscene awards established by Scene.org in 2003. They are given annually to the creators of the best demos or intros that year. The winners are selected by a jury, consisting of acclaimed sceners from all around the globe...
. The essential concept of the awards was to avoid the subjectivity of mass-voting at parties, and select a well-renowned jury to handle the task of selecting the given year's best productions on several aspects, such as Best Graphics or Best 64k Intro.
Parties
A demoparty is an event which gathers demomakers and provides them competitions to compete in. A typical demoparty is a non-stop event lasting over a weekend, providing the visitors a lot of time for socializing. The competing works, at least those in the most important competitions, are usually shown at night, using a video projector
Video projector
A video projector is an image projector that receives a video signal and projects the corresponding image on a projection screen using a lens system. All video projectors use a very bright light to project the image, and most modern ones can correct any curves, blurriness, and other...
and big loudspeaker
Loudspeaker
A loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer that produces sound in response to an electrical audio signal input. Non-electrical loudspeakers were developed as accessories to telephone systems, but electronic amplification by vacuum tube made loudspeakers more generally useful...
s.
Demoparties started to appear in the 1980s in the form of copyparties where software pirates and demomakers gathered to meet each other and share their software. Competitions did not become a major aspect of the events until the beginning of the 1990s.
Demoscene events are most frequent in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, with around fifty parties every year. For comparison, there have only been a dozen or so demoparties in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in total (such as Spring Break and NAID). Most events are local, gathering demomakers mostly from a single country, while the largest international parties (such as Breakpoint and Assembly) attract visitors from all over the globe.
Demo types
IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981...
, C64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
, MSX
MSX
MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi, then Vice-president at Microsoft Japan and Director at ASCII Corporation...
, ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
, Amstrad CPC
Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom,...
, Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
, Atari
Atari
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
, Dreamcast and Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
. The large variety of platforms makes their respective demos hard to compare. Some 3D benchmark programs also have a demo or showcase mode, which derives its roots from the days of the 16-bit platforms.
There are several categories demos are informally classified into, the most important being the division between the "full-size" demos and the size-restricted intros, a difference visible in the competitions of nearly any demo party. The most typical competition categories for intros are the 64K intro
64k intro
A 64k intro is a demo where the size of the executable file is limited to 65536 bytes. At demo parties there is a category for this kind of demos, where the one that gives the best impression wins....
and the 4K intro, where the size of the executable file is restricted to 65536 and 4096 bytes, respectively.
Groups
A typical demo is created by a demogroup, which is a team of demosceners. Although some demogroups boast dozens of members, the number of individuals involved in a single production rarely exceeds ten. Since the demogroup is also a major way of self-identification for demosceners, even individual creations are usually associated with a group.
A demoscener is typically specialized in a certain area of creativity. The traditional division is in coders, graphicians and musicians, who are specialized in programming (often including overall design), still graphics (including 2D art and 3D modelling) and music, respectively. There are also demosceners who have little involvement in the actual demomaking but that do considerable work in areas such as party organizing.
Impact
New media art
New media art is a genre that encompasses artworks created with new media technologies, including digital art, computer graphics, computer animation, virtual art, Internet art, interactive art, computer robotics, and art as biotechnology...
.
A great deal of European game programmers, artists and musicians have come from the demoscene, often cultivating the learned techniques, practices and philosophies in their work. For example, the Finnish company Remedy Entertainment
Remedy Entertainment
Remedy Entertainment is a Finnish computer game developer founded in 1995 and based in Espoo, Finland. The company is best known for its Max Payne and Alan Wake series of video games.-History:...
, known for the Max Payne
Max Payne
Max Payne is a BAFTA Award–winning third-person shooter video game developed by Finnish developers Remedy Entertainment and published by Gathering of Developers in July 2001 for Microsoft Windows. Ports created later in the year for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and the GameBoy Advance were published by...
series of games, was founded by the PC group Future Crew
Future Crew
Future Crew is a now-defunct Finnish demogroup who created PC demos and software, active mostly between 1992 and 1994.-History:The group was founded in 1986 by PSI as a Commodore 64 group, before moving to the PC demoscene in 1988; other members included, over time, Trug, Wildfire, Pixel, ICE,...
, and most of its employees are former or active Finnish demosceners. Sometimes demos even provide direct influence even to game developers that have no demoscene affiliation: for instance, Will Wright names demoscene as a major influence on the Maxis
Maxis
Maxis is an American company founded as an independent video game developer in 1987. It is currently a subsidiary of Electronic Arts . Maxis is the creator of one of the best-selling computer games of all time, The Sims and its first sequel, The Sims 2...
game Spore, which is largely based on procedural content generation
Procedural generation
Procedural generation is a widely used term in the production of media; it refers to content generated algorithmically rather than manually. Often, this means creating content on the fly rather than prior to distribution...
. Similarly, at QuakeCon
QuakeCon
QuakeCon is a bring-your-own-computer computer gaming event with a competitive tournament held every year in Dallas, Texas, USA. The event, which is named after id Software's game Quake, sees thousands of gamers from all over the world attend every year to celebrate the company's gaming dynasty...
in 2011, John Carmack
John Carmack
John D. Carmack II is an American game programmer and the co-founder of id Software. Carmack was the lead programmer of the id computer games Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, Rage and their sequels....
noted that he "thinks highly" of people who do 64k intro
64k intro
A 64k intro is a demo where the size of the executable file is limited to 65536 bytes. At demo parties there is a category for this kind of demos, where the one that gives the best impression wins....
s, as an example of artificial limitations encouraging creative programming.
Certain forms of computer art have a strong affiliation with the demoscene. Tracker music, for example, originated in the Amiga games industry but was soon heavily dominated by demoscene musicians. . Currently, there is a major tracking scene separate from the actual demoscene. A form of static computer graphics where demosceners have traditionally excelled is pixel art
Pixel art
Pixel art is a form of digital art, created through the use of raster graphics software, where images are edited on the pixel level. Graphics in most old computer and video games, graphing calculator games, and many mobile phone games are mostly pixel art.- History :The term pixel art was first...
; see artscene for more information on the related subculture.
Over the years, desktop computer hardware capabilities have improved by orders of magnitude, and so for most programmers, tight hardware restrictions are no longer a common issue. Nevertheless, demosceners continue to study and experiment with creating impressive effects on limited hardware. Since handheld consoles and cellular phones have comparable processing power or capabilities to the desktop platforms of old (such as low resolution screens which require pixel-art, or very limited storage and memory for music replay), many demosceners have been able to apply their niche skills to develop games for these platforms, and earn a living doing so.
Some attempts have been made to increase the familiarity of demos as an art form. For example, there have been demo shows, demo galleries and demoscene-related books, sometimes even TV programs introducing the subculture and its works.
The museum IT-ceum in Linköping, Sweden, have an exhibition about the demo scene.
Sometimes a demoscene-based production may become very famous in technical contexts. For example, the 96-kilobyte FPS
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
game .kkrieger
.kkrieger
.kkrieger is a first-person shooter video game created by German demogroup .theprodukkt which won first place in the 96k game competition at Breakpoint in April 2004...
by Farbrausch
Farbrausch
Farbrausch, or Farb-rausch, is a German group of demomakers who made themselves particularly famous in the demoscene in December 2000 with a 64k intro called "fr-08: .the .product". "Farbrausch" literally translates to "rave of color", "color rush" or "color frenzy" in English...
uses procedural content generation algorithms that are quite common on today's 64K intros but largely unknown to the computer games enthusiasts and the US-based game development community.
See also
- Computer art sceneComputer art sceneThe phrase computer art scene, or artscene for short, refers to a community of individuals and groups that are both interested and active in the creation of computer-based artwork.-Early computer art:...
- DemoDemo (computer programming)A demo is a non-interactive multimedia presentation made within the computer subculture known as the demoscene. Demogroups create demos to demonstrate their abilities in programming, music, drawing, and 3D modeling...
- DemogroupDemogroupDemogroups are teams of demosceners, who make computer based audio-visual works of art known as demos. Demogroups form a subculture collectively known as the demoscene....
- DemopartyDemopartyA demoparty is an event that gathers demosceners and other computer enthusiasts to compete in competitions. A typical demoparty is a non-stop event lasting over a weekend, providing the visitors a lot of time to socialize. The competing works, at least those in the most important competitions, are...
- List of demos by year
- NetlabelNetlabelA netlabel is a record label that distributes its music through digital audio formats over the Internet...
- Module fileModule fileModule files are a family of music file formats originating from the MOD file format on Amiga systems used in late 1980s...
(MOD music)
Specific platforms
- Amiga demosAmiga demosAmiga demos are demos created for the Commodore Amiga home computer.A "demo" is a demonstration of the multimedia capabilities of a computer . There was intense rivalry during the 1990s among the best programmers, graphic artists and computer musicians to continually outdo each other's demos...
- Apple IIgs demosApple IIgs demosThe Apple IIgs demoscene goes back to the days of the original Apple II series in the 1980s, when software crackers would put "signature screens" at the beginnings of games of which they had broken the copy protection....
- Atari demosAtari demosAtari demos generally refer to demos created for the Atari ST home computer.- History :The Atari Demo Scene can probably be traced back to a group called "The Exceptions" who created a series of music demos in 1987. In 1988 the Atari Demo scene gathered further momentum with the release of the...
(Atari ST) - Commodore 64 demosCommodore 64 demosThe Commodore 64 demos are demonstrations of what can be done to push the limits of the Commodore 64 computer, made by programmers, musicians and artists....
- Commodore VIC-20 demosCommodore VIC-20 demosCommodore VIC-20 demos are demos written for the Commodore VIC-20 home computer.On many classic 8-bit platforms, such as the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spectrum, the organized activity of democoding was started by crack intros, a side product of software cracking...
- Text mode demosText mode demosText mode demos are real-time calculated computer animations which make use of the native text graphic mode common on the IBM PC compatibles. The text mode demo scene is one of many different facets of the demoscene....
- ZX Spectrum demosZX Spectrum demosZX Spectrum demos are demos made for the ZX Spectrum and compatible computers. The demo scene on the Spectrum can probably be traced back to Castor Cracking Group, The Lords and a few other groups and individuals back in 1986...
Websites and products
- Demoscene.tv
- Hornet Archive
- MindCandyMindCandyThe MindCandy DVDs are video compilations of demoscene demos. These DVDs are the result of the DemoDVD Project, a collaboration between several Hornet members.-Volume 1: PC Demos:...
- Pouët
- Scene.orgScene.orgScene.org is a non-profit organization, providing the currently largest demoscene file repository. It was founded in 1996 by Jaakko "Mellow-D" Manninen, though originally it existed as ftp.fm.org, an FTP-server for releases from the group Five Musicians. In 1997, it re-opened as Scene.org...
Further reading
- Vigh, David and Polgár, Tamás ("Tomcat"): FREAX Art Album. CSW-Verlag 2006
- DEMOing: Art or Craft? 1984-2002 (PDF), Write-up by Shirley Shor about the demoscene
- Demoscene Research - bibliography of scientific publications about the demoscene.
- The Demoscene (PDF), Flyer by Digitale Kultur e. V. about the demoscene
- Vigh, David: Pixelstorm (PDF), - selected artworks of demoscene graphicians 2003, bugfixed 2007
- Demoscene & Paris art scene http://www.mustekala.info/epublish/1/36 - Special issue of mustekala.info webzine focused on demoscene with several articles, some only on Finnish though.
- Top 10 Demos That Will Blow You Away deep article about demoscene art made by PCPLUS paper magazine
External links
- demoscene.info, A webportal providing information on the demoscene
- slengpung.com, Pictures from parties and demoscene related events
- demoparty.net, Database of past and future demoparties, location and travel info
- bitfellas.org, Demoscene community and information portal
- http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=23541762087, What Is Demoscene? an introductory movie by demoscene.tv.
- Scenery Home of the Scenery demoscene history research project.
- Pouet.net Database of demos, with download links