Nordic Scene Review 03
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Nordic Scene Review #3: Autumn Chaos
Nordic Scene Review #3: Autumn Chaos
[Puterman]
Welcome to another chaotic issue of
Nordic Scene Review. I guess the first
thing you'll notice (or rather, have
already noticed) is that the charset is
the same. Well, don't blame me, blame
Twoflower for disappearing into some
art school in Amsterdam. His sudden and
unexpected absence means that there's no
text by him in this issue either, so all
you get this time is the ramblings of
me and Nightlord. Oh well, who cares,
we're still the best editorial staff in
the world.
Well, let's see if Nightlord has
anything interesting to say...
[Nightlord]
Hello dear readers. I must say I am in
quite a good mood nowadays. There has
been quite a content explosion in the
scene lately and I am happy with it. I
do not remember a more active 3 months
since 2003 when I first returned to
the scene.
There is more than half a dozen demos
that I considered quite large scale and
high quality. Plus maybe two dozens of
lesser stuff. We were also bombarded by
diskmags and blogs. That is as bombarded
as you can get in 2005.
It was interesting to see the reactions
to NSR#2. Some people think we are mean
in our criticism. Believe me when I
tell you this, we really are not half
as mean as we could be. Sometimes,
I watch some crap and think to myself
"oh my god please end this torture soon
before I go blind" then pull myself
together and write "This demo is quite
unexiting, hopefully the authors will
improve bla bla". So please at least
give as much criticism to the demos you
say we are mean towards as you give to
us on this issue.
Speaking of being mean, I also think
this is going to spread. Now that
Game Over(view) and NSR are quite
well received among the larger part
of the scene, I expect more diskmag
writers to follow a meaner style of demo
reviews. Also sceners giving reactions
on csdb and pouet will probably follow
this trend. So ladies and gentlemen,
I say be prepared to see a little more
tense times ahead of us. To those who
plan to write mean demo reviews in the
future, just make sure you know enough
about what you are being mean against.
But all in all I think demos are now
going to be talked about more than
before, not just in the diskmags but
also in csdb and pouet reactions. And I
think there is some credit we deserve in
NSR for this. Having said that I think
we should pass on most of the credit we
receive to ALIH.
Now let us see whether the scene will
be able to hold this much activity over
the winter.
Credits
Text: Puterman and Nightlord
Music: Radiantx of Panda Design
LCP Demos
LCP Demos
Sphaeristerium by Instinct, Triad
and Horizon
[Puterman]
I still haven't managed to watch the
whole demo, so I'll just comment on the
stuff I've actually seen. The vector
part crashed on my 128d, and the colour
cycle part crashed on the C-64 + 1541-II
combo, while the Oceanic managed to
keep it alive for a few more seconds.
I guess the C-64 might not dig the
VSP abuse. Sometimes watching demos on
the C-64 can be pretty difficult...
I think I agree with most people
that this was the best demo at LCP,
but it does it by using brute force.
Some of the code seems to be really
nice and there are some cool ideas,
but it's definitely not a demo to watch
if you're more into flow and content.
The linking is a bit sloppy, with empty
screens during loading, and the music
isn't really anything special either.
[Nightlord]
The music was interesting at the
beginning for me. But I start to get
bored of the quite repetitive tune
around the canyon part. Than the music
becomes the weakest link of this demo
in my eyes.
[Puterman]
It might have been a good idea to
use more than one tune... The vector
animation that's read from disk is a
nice idea, but the execution is far from
perfect. The colours are ugly and the
idea of moving around in an abstract
city doesn't exactly feel fresh.
The crucified zombies was a nice touch,
though. The moving colour scroller is
nicer, but the empty linecrunch area
makes it all look a bit empty.
The circle parts, which I suppose were
made by Iopop, are nice, but it feels a
bit like recycled ideas from Borderline.
The canyon (or whatever) part is the one
that really sticks out, lots of big,
fat thumbs up for that one. I always
appreciate it when people make something
that looks original, even if they're
just reusing some old effect.
[Nightlord]
Surely a powerful demo. Surely one of
the best in 2005. There is something
that scatters my focus when I try to
put together my reflections on this
piece. First of all I was looking
forward to more Twoflower pieces than
just one in the Turn Disk part (and
one in the note). Then there are some
nice Iopopish parts although I agree
with Puterman that some of them have
a feeling of being recycled. I did
not like the background of the vector
city, rasters being wider than the
animation frame. but streaming data
from the drive is definitely a nice
and interesting idea. But the design
of the city buldings etc. could be more
interesting... I loved the color cycler
and the canyon parts. The end part is
also a lot more interesting than first
catches the eye. I am kind of stunned by
the overlay of three layers (the shadow,
the circles and the logo).
[Puterman]
That end part thingy sounds intriguing.
Too bad I can't get that far...
[Nightlord]
Unfortunately as good as this demo is
I do not think it will be a part of my
"hmm let me sit back and watch a demo
now" collection. But great to see
Jackasser and Pernod in action.
[Puterman]
To sum it up, it's far from perfect,
but it has some nice parts, and that's
all I really need.
Smart Girls Hate Booze by Booze Design
It should be obvious to everyone that
this was never supposed to be a really
kick-ass demo, but it's nice to see
Booze relaxing a bit after flexing
their muscles in Tsunami. There's a
lot of potential in this demo, and now
and then it gives me that special Booze
vibe, while some parts of it just seem
pointless.
[Nightlord]
This is the first time I think we see
something from all three of them (HCL,
Dane and Jailbird). Something I have
been looking forward to since Dane
joined in, but it is not "the demo" I
was expecting. Anyway still a Booze demo
is a Booze demo and we mortals should
be thankfull to receive one before the
next Floppy.
[Puterman]
The 4x4 stuff is pretty ugly, but at
least it's in the 3 leftmost chars,
which might be candy to some of the
people who appreciate coding effort.
[Nightlord]
Unlike Puterman, I actually liked the
first 4x4 effect very much. And the
scroller is really nice and HCL's
dedicating it to us makes me feel
obliged to code one that beats it. We'll
see whether I will be able to do that.
I did not like the greets zoomer and the
rotating faces that much. The graphics
were nice overall, the girl with the
cube being the top. The music with the
classical vibes relates well to the
smart girls and definitely provides
for an interesting and fun listening
experience.
[Puterman]
The graphics are also a mixed bag: some
of the pictures are really nice, while
some of them are just boring and ugly.
Still a good effort from someone who's
officially left the scene. But maybe
he's back again. It's hard to keep
track of all the people who leave the
scene and then return.
All in all it's sort of nice, but it's
lacking the in your face effects that
you've come to expect from HCL. I guess
we'll have to wait until the next demo
for more of the standard Booze quality.
[Nightlord]
Looking forward to the real killer demo
from this trio.
Hello: Friend by Fairlight
To refer to the recent VN#45
article this demo is as art as it can
get. Hollowman pretty much denies the
entire coding side of demo making
and fully storyboards a network of
"concepts". I hate using the word
concept now that it feels emptier and
emptier. But anyway.
I know a lot of people will not like
this demo. I know Tdj will like it. And
I know that I will like it although I
can not quite figure out why. And you
will see that when you read this review.
Why the stupid car crash metaphor? That
was the line I kept thinking over and
over after I watched this demo. That
was so powerful to me. Maybe the
most powerful line I ever read in a
demo. Even more powerful than the
paragraph in Thief (the one about
actions being not sticky).
Then I think about the music. It annoys
and consumes me. It probably is intended
but still makes me not want to watch
it again.
But the "look out the window"
scenes... I relate a lot to them (as
you can see in Broken) I feel at home
in those parts.
But the general hires high contrast
graphics style. I am so tired of them in
Fairlight demos. This is not a fault of
the demo. They are nice in isolation and
in the demo. But I am really bored of
seeing this style over and over again in
Fairlight demos. Let me put it this way:
if the graphics were anything but hires,
this demo could have been one of my all
time favourites. The storyboard is great
and the dialogues are effective. But
please please Hollowman, more colors...
Speaking of storyboard, there is one
part I did not find so subtle. That
is the spending distribution part. I
can not think of a more subtle way
of telling about neglecting friends
thing. But still it feels a bit
disconnected from the rest of the demo.
But all in all, I really liked this
one. I like it more than many people's
favorite Pretending to See the Light.
Kamikaze by Creators
[Puterman]
This is a demo that shows some
potential, but like many other Creators
demos something is missing. I'm not
sure if they're trying to say something,
or if the visuals are all there is
to it. In any case, making conceptual
demos isn't an excuse for the kind of
bugs that this one contains. Maybe they
didn't have time to finish it, but I
still think they should have polished
it a bit before release. It might be
a case of deadline coding, though.
[Nightlord]
I personally did not enjoy anything
in this piece except for the amazingly
ass kicking second tune. I can not find
anything else to write about this. Oh
and maybe I can say how bad I think the
zoom animations look.
Blueprint for Organic Toy by Panda
Design
[Puterman]
It's really nice to see that Radiantx
managed to put together something a
bit more serious. I kind of feel like
saying that he seems to be learning
fast, but in my experience reaching
about this level of coding skill is
pretty easy, and moving on from here is
the real test. But I'm sure he'll keep
working, so it'll be interesting to see
what will happen next.
All in all this demo is nothing special,
but it shows some potential, as well as
some pretty obvious Iopop influences in
the more designish parts. I kind of
like the twister and the last screen.
Unfortunately Radiantx suffers from a
serious lack of graphical support, which
means the end result looks pretty much
like something I might have released a
couple of years ago. Not that that's
negative in itself, but it's easier
to appreciate a demo with some cool
graphics in it, at least in a case like
this, when the effects aren't enough to
distract me.
[Nightlord]
Nice to see someone who has just started
writing c64 code this year releasing a
trackmo in July. The twister was the
highlight of the demo I think. And I
think the multiplexed circles would look
better if they weren't trapped in the
first 255 coordinates.
The music and the design are also
nice. I am looking forward to see what
Panda Designs will release at the next
Floppy party.
We/Banana by Fairlight
Ehehe... First I must say I believe one
should approach this one as a Puterman
scroll broadcast more than a demo. But
you need to be someone who has been
reading Puterman for sometime to fully
appreciate the text.
The plotter and the bobs are nice
parts. Nothing much to say about
them. The final blur code reminds me
of Ultragui.
The chord progression in the music is
not my cup of tea. But the lead sound
is very nice.
Not a very serious demo. Seems that the
Fairlighter duo couldn't get together
in time to build something bigger for
LCP. Let's wait for Floppy then.
Tropical Fever by Onslaught
[Puterman]
This one's a typical MacX demo: abstract
picture, ripped music and a scroller.
It's a bit more colourful than his
earlier productions, and the music by
Jonathan Dunn could also be described as
"colourful". When I'm in the right kind
of mood, I appreciate these productions
more than typical compo winner trackmos.
It's hard not to feel good when you're
bombed with so much positive emotions.
[Nightlord]
Nice little Macx thingie. I fear
sometimes people will think I am being
inconsistent with my reviews. But sorry
you guys are wrong. This little thing
is nice and the music kicks ass.
[Puterman]
I can understand if some people don't
like this kind of stuff at all, as
there's no code or anything. But well,
to some of us a positive vibe is enough.
The happy-happy data scrolltext
absolutely rules.
Asslicker by HCL
Once upon a time HCL wasn't a very good
coder. Kudos to Vodka for reminding us
by releasing this old piece of crap.
God Jul by Vital
Vital, famous from the early days
of Booze Design, coded this one.
"God Jul" means "Merry Christmas" in
Swedish, which means that Vodka showed
some really good timing by releasing it
at LCP.
Dataapan tar en fet
Not really worth a mention, but it gets
one anyway.
Svamps by Stop
Horrible.
Assembly Demos
Assembly Demos
Boogie Factor
[Nightlord]
As much as I don't like the 70's
here is one of the most original
and entertaining demos I have ever
watched. Before trying to analyze the
components it needs to be said that the
way demo is put together and works as
a whole makes it the best demo of this
year so far in my eyes.
First of all I found the soundtrack
amazing. I mean oh-my-god amazing. Reed
manages to create a disco soundtrack
that sounds better than real disco
music. The octave walks in the bassline
makes me shake my head to the music
everytime I hear it. My favorite is the
music that starts with the Fairlight
logo.
The graphics in this demo not only serve
their purpose by putting a smile on your
face with those afro hairdos, but are
also quite stunning at times. The nose
to chin female face beneath the stars
and the female torso shot with the white
dress made me go "wow".
Codewise there is a very well achieved
balance of originality and technicality
that can be very rarely achieved by
anyone. The rotating star, the disco
ball and the bobs look great. I do
not like the kaleidoscope effects
so much. But I think the crowning
achievement in coding is the flawless
and streamlined linking.
For two years in a row the Fairlight
Finland section has managed to hit us
with great stuff at a party where I
had no hope of seing c64 demos being
released. They are certainly a different
school of demo making than their Swedish
counterparts. Even at times I feel
like watching demos from two different
groups. But variety at this level of
quality can only be positive.
It would be really interesting to see
a demo co-developed by the Finnish and
Swedish Fairlighters.
Boom Boom by Aspekt
[Puterman]
A new demo by Aspekt is something
that'll make me pretty excited, as
they've actually managed to release some
demos that have a fresh feel to them.
The code hasn't been super-impressive
so far, but it's obvious that Ruuvari
is doing his best to improve his skills.
This time his efforts at producing more
impressive code has affected the overall
impression of the demo negatively.
Those 3d thingies might be a bit more
impressive than some stuff in the
previous demos, but they just don't
look very good. There have been ugly
elements in the previous demos too,
but it's definitely worse this time.
The whole theme of the demo leaves me
a bit cold. The vibe is definitely not
as deep this time.
Don't get me wrong, this might sound
a bit negative, but this demo is still
better than most of the stuff that gets
released these days. The flow is good,
and that's pretty important, and some
of the design elements, like the sprites
in the text screens, are really nice.
[Nightlord]
Ruuvari hits our screens with another
demo higher than a certain quality. I
agree with Puterman that the demo
leaves a worse overall impression than
the previous Aspekt demos. The whole
thing looks like a practice ground where
Ruuvari is getting ready for something
bigger. Or maybe that's just me in my
positive mood.
However, unlike Puterman, I did like
the 3D C= logo and the perspective
bobs. What I did not like was the
roto-zoomer with low framerate and
no vertical synchronisation (meaning
update bugs).
The graphics remind me of Industrial
Breakdown and I do not like this kind of
"trashy" graphics. Okay I understand
the point of making them trashy but I
do not like it.
The soundtrack on the other hand is
good and the loading screens are well
designed. But I am looking forward to
a different style in the next Aspekt
demo. Something different than 3-4
effects in memory and switch back and
forth between them in synch with a fast
tune. This style is good and reminds me
of Triad's flash and digi parts from
the mid nineties. But it limits the
quality of the design elements as well
as the effects.
Symphony Demos
Annihilation by Padua
[Puterman]
Paradoxus Padii? This is both very
typical and atypical for a Padua demo.
In a way, they're doing everything
right, but they still fail to make a
good demo, according to the standard
ruleset of the scene, or something.
The music is "good" (ie. it's very well
made, but fails to interest me), the
parts are carefully faded in and out
and there's quite a lot of graphics.
Unfortunately the effects are absolute
crap. And well, some of the graphics
are seriously ugly (while some pictures,
like the hires ship, are really nice).
I guess it's safe to say that Cactus
is a better mag editor than coder.
Still, this is the scene, we do what we
feel like doing, if Cactus feels like
making a demo, that's great, more people
should do that. The fact that it's an
ambitious attempt at making a kickass
demo is in a way more important than
the fact that it's a failure. It's all
about enthusiasm.
On a side note, I have a feeling
that some of the design elements are
influenced by Biba 2 by Arise. It's
nice to see that that demo has actually
had an influence on some people.
[Nightlord]
Nothing much to add to Puterman's
words. But I would like to encourage
Cactus to delve deeper into the
world of effects. If he has this much
patience in linking, he should have
enough patience to learn about higher
quality effects. Also Lord Hypnos can do
some nice stuff too. So more time and
dedication from this team can produce
higher quality demos.
You Can't Stop Us by Tropyx
[Puterman]
Tropyx celebrate their 10 year
anniversary with a production that
really looks like it was made in the
late 90s, was hidden in a time capsule
and has now been unearthed to haunt us
like a ghost from the past. I don't
know about the rest of you, but I have
a hard time remembering the names of
the groups that produced all those
8x8-infested trackmos with tacky C-64
techno that the scene was flooded with
in the late 90s. This one could have
been produced by any of those groups.
It has everything that defined that
style of demos: 8x8 parts, plotters,
black loading screens, hires animations
and a painfully long memberstatus part.
The quality of the code in this demo
is similar to that in the Padua demo.
It's all pretty slow and ugly, and the
animations don't look very nice either.
There's not much graphics, but what's
there isn't of very high quality.
I don't know if it's for nostalgic
reasons, but all this actually makes
me appreciate this production in
a funny way. If I'd have to pick a
favorite from Symphony, I actually think
I prefer this one over the Padua demo.
This one's more dirty, and that always
appeals to me. I just don't like nice
fades between the parts, I want it to
be more like this.
I should also point out that You Can't
Stop Us is a definite step forward from
Tropyx' last demo, Time for Torment.
And it might be because I'm tired,
but the "lodaing" joke actually worked
for me. Good stuff! An involuntary (I
think) joke that was also really funny
was the use of the word "snailswapper"
in the credits parts. I know that
there are many sceners who are more or
less weird, but swapping snails must
be one of the more odd hobbies I've
heard about. Okay, so I guess I am
really tired.
[Nightlord]
"No design is also the design"... Yeah
right. Or is it an excuse for being
lazy? I pretty much hated this demo
except for the music and seeing there
are considerable hours of work behind
this demo makes me more angry with the
motto above. The same team with the
exact same skill set, in the exact
amount of time could have created
a demo ten times better than this,
had they focused just a little bit on
the design. I mean who cares about
when a certain member entered the
group. Please...
Spring Loda Meeting by Tropyx and
Vulture Design
[Puterman]
This one has a little bit more to offer
than some meeting demos we've seen.
Not much more, though. But it has 5
scrollers instead of just one, and it
has some ugly pictures that are sloppily
linked together before the main (scroll)
part begins. Nothing to remember
though, unless you attended the event,
I guess.
Intro by Viper
You can't be more 1997 than this. 8x8
all the way. It's running more smoothly
than other productions with similar
effects, so I guess it's pretty well
coded. However, even if you make the
best 8x8 plasma in the world, there's
no way I'm going to be interested.
Ice Cream by Tropyx
4k demos (I refuse to call things that
don't introduce something else "intros")
are really all about impressing coders
with fresh effects. Well, that's what
it usually is anyway. This one won't
impress anyone, but it's still pretty
cosy, with the weird music and the
original logo stuff.
Colors4k by Clochard
Wouldn't it have been better to call
this one "Trashmo 4k"? It really looks
trashy, with weird design choices.
This just doesn't cut it.
Random Demos
Random Demos
Arvika 2005 by Panda Design
[Puterman]
So it seems Panda Design managed to
release their second demo. I was hoping
that their second release would be a bit
more ambitious, but Radiantx struck back
at LCP with something better. This one
was coded live at a rock festival,
which shows that mr. Radiantx possesses
a great data spirit. I also have to
compliment him for his frequent use of
the word "freshness" in the scroller.
Irrational by Chorus
Clarence seems to be back for real.
This time it's just a small collection
of random parts, but it's nice to see
that it was just ten months between the
demos this time, instead of 10 years.
[Nightlord]
Seeing the news of a Chorus demo release
instantly excited me and I downloaded
it at once. This one is not as big as
Demode, but still manages to impress
me with some subtle coderpron. Yes I
am talking about the ten letters in the
lower border. My deepest respect.
Other than that the first graphics
fade in and the raster bender are
also nice. We can't really talk about
linking here.
[Puterman]
This one might be a bit too traditional
for me. Just like I sometimes feel that
demos with no real code feel empty,
this one feels empty for the lack
of something that stands out. Sure,
everything is performed with a lot of
skill, but all in all it's too classical
to move me in any way. Of course, I'm a
sucker for stuff like AFLI plasmas, but
one part that looks nice isn't enough
to keep me interested when there's so
much ugliness surrounding it. I know
there are a lot of people who dig Leon's
graphics, but I find them appalling.
[Nightlord]
The graphics I think are a little weaker
than general Leon quality. The musics
are OK. Nothing too impressive.
Obviously a rather quick production. But
it does not matter as long as I can see
Clarence's work.
[Puterman]
The fact that this one refused to run
on a 1541-II didn't exactly make my
impression of it any more positive.
So while I appreciate the quality
and the fact that Chorus are actually
releasing stuff, I'm not inspired to
watch it again.
4Kaos by Wanderer
It's a bit hard to comment on this one,
as I don't have an NTSC C-64, but what
I can see sure doesn't look impressive.
Fast Blade by Willow
C-64 techno and ugly 8x8 stuff makes
me wonder what year it is. 1997?
That period is over, and someone needs
to let Willow know that it's time to
either learn to write some real code or
make conceptual grayscale demos.
[Nightlord]
I like the general techno music and
effects thing but not in 8x8. I am sure
it looked OK on the big screen but noone
will seriously consider demos like this
one important.
Primary Star 2005 Invite by Anubis
[Puterman]
I always think it's worth a few thumbs
up when someone actually bothers to
release a real invitation to a party.
It'd still have been nice with something
a little bit different. This one's
just a bit too boring and ugly to stick.
The picture in the text part is a nice
idea, so it's kind of sad that it's
so ugly. Well, at least it wasn't just
another logo.
Willowdemo by Oerg
[Nightlord]
A starwars scroller that looks OK.
[Puterman]
And it's made with 3d Message Maker by
Master's Design Group. Exciting stuff.
:)
German Font Review by The Dreams
Yes, we know that this font is hard
to read. I'll try spanking Twoflower
again.
Paradise Meetro by Paradise
Sometimes I wish I hadn't promised that
we'll review all the releases. It's not
like there's much point in writing
uninspired reviews about uninspired
demos that consist of a logo, a tune and
some text. But I'll try to imagine that
that's what I want to do with my life
and drop some random comments here.
The logos are pretty nice, while the
starfield has to be the worst one I've
ever seen on any platform. I'm not sure
if it's supposed to be a starfield, so
sorry if I misunderstood some really
interesting design concept. Oh, and
some people want more elephants in C-64
productions, so I'll try to make that
huge group of sceners happy by writing
the word "elephant" here: elephant.
Is everyone happy now, or will I have
to do it again in another review?
Probably.
Evil Face by Creators
Another one of those scroller+picture
demos, but this one doesn't feel
completely pointless. I don't know what
it is that I like about it, so I guess
I'll just turn mystic and proclaim that
it has a soul.
Forgotten Bytes by Science 451
Isn't it a great feeling to watch a new
demo that consists of rasters, rasters
and more rasters? And isn't it cool
that it's filled with oldstyle C-64
music and scrollers?
Or does it just feel stupid and boring?
Does it feel more like you could just
load one of the five million old raster
demos from 1988 instead?
I think I'll let you decide this time.
Kuno Nuko Demo IV by Kuno Nuko
When I was a kid (standard disclaimer:
I'm still a kid, blah-blah) my favorite
hockey team was AIK. I don't know why,
but I liked the name and their colours:
yellow and black. Maybe that's why
I actually like this, the 666th
scroller+picture demo reviewed
in this mag. It's mostly black and
yellow, although I'm really not sure
why space is yellow in the picture.
I thought it was mostly black out there,
but then again, most of my knowledge
on astronomics comes from watching
Star Trek. I guess Sledge might know
more about that kind of stuff than I do.
Or maybe it's about artistic freedom.
Thumbs up for the cosy tune too.
Stereoid by Civitas
I like notes. I almost always
read them, for some bizarre reason.
Maybe it's because text in general
is very important to me, or maybe
it's just generally interesting to
know what the creator of a production
has to say about it. In the case of
Stereoid by Civitas, the note is needed
to explain what's going on, because I
really had no idea. Unfortunately it
sort of ruined the impression for me.
When I first watched this thing, I had
no idea that you were supposed to wear
3d glasses. The converted pictures just
looked very odd to me, but some of them
actually looked odd in a positive way.
The strange colour clashes almost
compensated for the fact that the
world's slowest loader was being used.
Well, maybe it isn't the slowest one
out there, but it feels like it takes an
eternity to load every picture. Anyway,
I wouldn't normally waste this much text
on a collection of converted pictures,
but the idea was at least a bit
interesting. But not more than that.
Chesszoomer by Skate of Glance
I think the problem with productions
like this one is that there are very
few of them around, and you have to
try your hand at coding minimal stuff
like this yourself to appreciate it.
Of course the pouet crowd will go "Wow,
I never thought you could do that in
256 bytes!" just because they think
that's what you're supposed to say. Me,
I have no idea. This might be cool,
but I think in future issues we should
hire Ninja as 256 bytes reviewer.
(I don't want to, but some weird and
highly unethical force is making me
include a stupid standard joke here: Of
course he'll only get 256 chars for each
review. Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!)
Chesswaver by Skate of Glance
As the title suggests, this 4k demo
contains some sort of waving chessboard.
That's it. This isn't really enough to
make a cool 4k. If it wasn't for Krill,
this could have been considered a decent
4k, but we've come to expect more.
Much more. So better luck next time.
Living by Glance
After reading some comments on this
one on the net I had really high
expectations. Unfortunately this demo
isn't quite what it's blown up to be.
There really is no excuse for including
something as profoundly ugly as that
last picture with the frog and the city.
What is this, a flicker contest?
The design stuff doesn't really interest
me, but at least some of the parts
are really nice. The chess waver is
much nicer than the one in the 4k,
and the plotter is hardcore. Some of
the other effects are also really nice
and original, so this gets a thumb
up, although there's a lot I don't
like about this demo. The music for
instance, it's not exactly horrible, but
I just don't like it. The same goes for
the graphics, the logos are just boring,
and the above mentioned frog picture
could make anyone puke spontaneously.
Anyway, it's nice to see a seriously
meant demo from a new group. If these
guys keep working, I'm sure we'll see
some stunning releases from them soon.
Beertime IVA by Dekadence
Oh baby, this makes me feel so good...
Britelite, hit me one more time!
I know I'm constantly complaining about
the lack of originality in demos.
Sometimes I'm asking myself why I
bother checking out new demos at all,
when I know exactly what I'm going
to get. This one is one of those rare
releases that make me stay in the scene.
This is datasoul.
[Nightlord]
This was the best looking Dekadence
product I have seen. The music is
I think the strongest point of this
release, as well as the nice horizontal
twister. The overall linking and
the quality of the effects is quite
high. The tunnel probably is harder
than it looks being in the borders but
I feel the end result does not look so
good. Other than that I think all the
effects and their fades are very cleanly
implemented. Some pixel graphics would
have made this demo a lot more complete.
[Puterman]
I can see the need for graphics in some
demos, but this one feels complete to
me without the graphics.
Britelite has a long history of
recycling old parts and dropping the
same boring and ugly chunky crap time
after time, but this time it seems
he's tried to provide us with some real
quality. Several of the parts are so
fresh that I wish there was a way to
hold the parts. Shift/lock anyone?
Making nice parts doesn't have to be
about hardcore code, as some people seem
to think, it's about being clever.
[Nightlord]
One thing that is quite interesting
to me is that I notice there is a
solid Dekadence-clapper community out
there. No matter what Dekadence produces
some people automatically seem to start
cheering for it. I am not saying this
as an offence to Dekadence. I do not
think it is their fault. I just think
this is not healthy feed back to the
authors and might indirectly block their
improvement. I hope the Dekadence crew
recognizes this and keep giving ear to
more independant feedback channels.
[Puterman]
And I don't think you should take stuff
you read at pouet very seriously. :)
The mags
The mags
[Nightlord]
Oh yes, we had lots of demos released
lately. And according to a little
research I made in the CSDB recently,
the demo productivity in the scene is
somewhat stable in the last 10 years,
but these last months the amount of
higher quality releases was so positive
to me.
[Puterman]
The CSDb stats are notoriously
unreliable, as all new stuff tends to
get added, while older stuff doesn't
get added. I believe there were lots
of more releases in the late 90s than
today...
[Nightlord]
According to the same research
the number of diskmag releases were
dropping dramatically in the last 3-4
years. Had it not been for 21 issues of
Game Over(view) in the last two years
the total number of issues released in
the scene in the last years would make
you cry and want to kill yourself. So
seeing around 1500 diskmag releases in
a week was definitely a positive shock
to me this time.
Not only that but also the content
of those mags seem to glide into a
direction that makes me very happy. A
demoscene coverage that I believed to
be seriously flawed a few months ago is
now nearly saturated. And yes that is
a great thing if you have been craving
for quality content to read like me.
[Puterman]
At the same time, saying that it's a
mixed bag would be almost as gross an
understatement as saying that we're
happy to see that Attitude is finally
back.
Some mags seem to be put together in an
industrial fashion, with each new issue
just being a copy of the previous one.
This goes for Scene World, which keeps
it's odd focus on stuff that's not
really related to what most of us call
"the scene", and for Publication, which
I've thought of as "promising" for way
too long now. Both of these come with
an intro, which is nice, although the
actual intros are pretty uninteresting.
The one in Publication is basically
boring, while the one in Scene World is
seriously ugly.
Publication keeps it real with some
coding stuff from Nightlord, which
is cool, but the magsys still needs
some serious improvements. I wouldn't
complain about it if it was a regular
magsys, but this one has a tendency to
get in the way of your reading. The one
in Scene World isn't annoying, it does
its job, but I guess you should know
that by now. As always, Scene World is
jampacked with text, but most of the
articles are just fillers. The only
standout text is Murdock's party report
from Floppy, which I liked because it
was so personal. It's written very
much like your average party report,
with descriptions of the journey to the
party, but for some reason I actually
found his reflections on Swedish trains
and stuff like interesting.
I've wondered for some time why the
Scene World editors continue to fill
their mag with content that feels
completely empty, but you don't have
to get into any serious deconstruction
to realize what they're after when
you read their mag reviews. They seem
to think that what's important is the
number of blocks that a mag occupies on
the disk, which is why Game Over(view)
always gets much lower points than much
worse publications.
[Nightlord]
Scene World unfortunately remains
uninspiring in many respects. I think
they have solved all of their problems
with the outfit by now. But the quality
of the text needs to be improved. What I
said for the Dekadance-cheer club also
goes for the Scene World lovers. I am
OK with such a crowd as long as the
authors keep giving ear to reactions
from different fragments of the scene.
The most positive thing about Scene
World is that Merman is realising the
importance of having nice demo reviews
and focusing on them. The biggest
remaining obstacle for this mag is
finding writers that follow the scene
closely enough.
[Puterman]
The contents of Publication are more
minimalistic: there are no news, no
interviews and no reviews. I guess this
mag would need a more dedicated editor.
Zeitgeist just doesn't seem to have
enough time to put together the kickass
mag that Publication could be.
Another regularly released mag that
we've praised a lot in the past is
Game Over(view). I'd almost given
up on them ever improving their mag,
and the 20th issue was the same old
stuff again. However, issue 21 comes
with a new magsys and some other new
features, like the original (but almost
empty) release list and an interview.
This is a definite improvement, which
actually says a lot, because it's always
been a great mag, despite the quirky
magsys and the small amount of text.
The fact that they've managed to release
it montly for 21 issues now is really
impressive. We have a lot to learn from
this project.
[Nightlord]
Game Over(view) has officially kicked
every other mag's ass big time in
my eyes with the release of issue
#21. Very nice outfit and one of the
more exciting text performances this
time. As Puterman says, unbelievable
robustness to keep going monthly for
21 issues. And in C64 Game Scene in
2004-5... Game Over(view) is literally
rebuilding the Game scene. It remains
extremely inspiring and fun to read.
[Puterman]
Both Vandalism News and Attitude are
very conventional high-quality C-64
mags. They include all the standard
stuff that you expect in a diskmag,
and technically they're both very
impressive.
[Nightlord]
My biggest congratulations and thanks
this month should go to the Vandalism
News crew. After a worrying issue #44,
this is how a mag should give ear to
the reactions and regroup and strike
back. This is more important to me than
the analysis of individual articles. The
"management" and "resource allocation"
of the crew definitely deserves a thumb
up from me. Great shift of focus guys...
[Puterman]
I've felt for several years now that
the crew behind Vandalism News have a
tendency to drown you in too much text.
Some of it is really good, while some
of it is just too much. They got a lot
of well-deserved bashing for the demo
section in the last issue, and in issue
45 they instead flood their readers
with a huge amount of demo reviews.
It's nice that they have serious demo
reviews again, but while reading them,
I got bored pretty quickly and started
longing back to the days of Ed and Joe's
often annoying over-interpretations.
Come back, guys, this mag needs you!
Oh, and what's up with having yet
another Seal of Focalor review?
[Nightlord]
The much flooded demo review section
can get boring for readers at times
maybe but it also is a great source
of feedback to the authors of those
demos. The team of reviewers will need
to improve their knowledge a little bit
I think. Today's demos include a lot of
cross references in many layers and the
reviewers need to be on top of pretty
much everything being released in order
to catch those (see Puterman's review
of Sphaeristerium and the crucified
zombies).
[Puterman]
Well, yeah, I guess I have good reasons
to remember a demo called Wok Zombie.
Attitude only has one review, an old
one by Oswald, but sometimes less is
more, and while I'd sure want to hear
his opinions on some newer releases,
I found this one very interesting.
[Nightlord]
Yes, the review of YKTR by Oswald was
very detailed. As much as I do not agree
with some of his views on the demo,
the review is nevertheless a nice one.
[Puterman]
I know that lots of people claim not
to be interested in the charts, but I
always enjoy them, and both Attitude and
Vandalism News have managed to gather
an impressive amount of vote sheets.
It kind of makes you wonder what the
Scene World editors are complaining
about. Obviously, people aren't too
lazy to vote, you just need to get them
motivated enough to spend five minutes
filling in a vote sheet.
[Nightlord]
I know there is a general scene tending
to vote less. Nevertheless, I still
think some kind of a present (not "of
all times") platform for competition
and comparison should be there for
the benefit of the scene. The only
remaining charts are CSDB where you
are competing with the shadows of TTS,
Slammer and Quiss. The closest thing is
to go to a party and compete there. And
there are only two parties where there
is serious competion. I wonder how this
awards thing will work, although I feel
it won't be a substitue for the charts.
[Puterman]
The party reports are pretty good
in both Attitude and Vandalism News.
I liked Cactus' report from Symphony,
but it's still nowhere close to MacX'
wonderful report from LCP. I've said
it before and I'll say it again:
Vandalism News would be much better if
it contained more stuff written by him.
Oh, and an extra bonus is of course that
the enigmatic Jejk is mentioned again.
[Nightlord]
Yes, please more of those Macx
articles...
The Scene Podium chapter was kind of
interesting. I felt that although the
comments of both "tech guys" and the
"art guys" were quite in line. But the
presentation of those comments were kind
of making them more opposed. I think the
"art vs tech" discussion has evolved
beyond a point of fruitful dynamics and
entered into a repetitive era.
Attitude on the other hand after many
years has come back and I am thankful
to that. My biggest concern is though,
"should I trust the next issue to be
released sooner than a year". It is
impossible not to agree with RRR's
comments about the quality being more
important than frequent releases, but I
think anything longer than 4 months is
too long a delay for a diskmag.
This issue is filled with good
text. Like Vandalism News, Attitude
also has its share of "reader opinions"
type of chapters. I am unfortunately
beginning to feel kind of bored
with this type of text. At least the
discussed subjects should be very well
chosen. For a chapter like this to
be interesting the subject should be
something not so abstract as "can new
things be invented". Rather it should
be something either more contraversial
(such as the art vs tech thing in VN)
or something more down to earth like
"was Chorus or Focus the real winner of
X2004" :). The thing is it should be
a subject where I need to be interested
in hearing the comments of some random
stranger on.
[Puterman]
All in all, it's pretty obvious that
Attitude is the winner here. Maybe it's
just that I've been waiting for it for
so long, but the contents are really
well balanced, and almost everything
is interesting. This is data soul.
[Nightlord]
There were a few German Mags also
released lately, but I have nothing to
say about that other than to refer the
readers to previous Game Over(view)
Music Collections
Music Collections
SID Expander by the Ancients
[Puterman]
It's nice to see some serious music
collections being released, no less
than three of them at LCP! I think
this one is my favorite in the pile.
It's obvious that a lot of effort has
been spent on the tunes, and I really
appreciate the effort to make music
in different styles. The instruments
may sound a bit more like the standard
modern stuff than what you'd expect from
a serious old-timer like Rambones,
and I'm not quite sure if that's
positive or negative. It would have
bothered me more if the music style
had been the standard stuff as well,
but fortunately things are happening
that keep me interested.
The music is of course the most
important thing in a music collection,
but the interface deserves a mention
here, because of the simple but
nice-looking patterns in the background.
The fat sounds in the intro are also
nice, and add to the data-vibe of this
fine release.
Trapped in Circles by Creators
Another music collection by Creators in
their usual style. Unlike some other of
their weird-looking and weird-sounding
productions, this one manages to build
an atmosphere that feels genuine.
The intro is interesting in all its
simplicity, and the main part looks so
good that it makes me wonder what the
rest of the scene is up to. The music
isn't exactly my cup of tea, though,
it's a bit too unstructured and...
I can't think of the right word to use,
so I'll just make one up: gadotomtly.
Not sure if it makes sense, but TDS
sometimes manages to sound like Wacek
and Kjell at the same time, which
is pretty impressive, but it doesn't
exactly provide a positive listening
experience. Extra superduper thumbs up
for just including 5 tunes, of course,
that's about as much as I can take.
If TDS tried a bit harder to build solid
grooves instead of just being weird,
he could turn into one of my favorite
musicians.
Larger than Life by Blues Muz
Scene morbidity. Kjell strikes back
from the grave. As I might have
mentioned before I'm not one of his
biggest fans. Well, at least he made
an impression with the self-portrait in
the intro. Kjell fans will probably dig
this, and for the first time I think I'm
starting to get it too. After staring
at the hypnotic screen for a while
I started appreciating the music.
For some reason I can't really have it
running in the background, I have to
watch the screen and concentrate on the
music to like it. Maybe I just need to
get used to all the strangeness and the
wild mood swings (tm) in the music.
CTR Sonix 13 by Creators
I guess most of you, our dear readers,
know what it feels like to be totally
uninspired and bored. You desperately
want to do something, or rather, you
want to want to do something, but all
you can do is sit around and do nothing.
Or waste your time playing computer
games, watch TV or whatever. I wish I
could code a kickass demo part instead
of sitting here doing nothing. But I'm
just not in the mood for doing useful
stuff. For Mermaid it seems to be the
opposite. She wants to do useful stuff
instead of making C-64 productions,
but she ends up coding, pixelling and
making music, and sometimes she really
hits the spot. This music collection
smells of frustration and hopelessness,
so it works really well for me right
now. You get 8 tunes which all carry
the same feeling as the scroll text.
The girl in the picture looks like
she could feel in lots of different
ways, but in this context I choose to
believe that she really wants to be
somewhere else, doing something else.
The techning sprites are probably just
an annoyance to her, which is why she
closes her eyes and try to think of
something nice. Which of course fails.
I think I'll press the reset button now.
