Recollection 01 ch18 Survey
In each edition we will host a small survey, that will try capture some pivotal moments in the earlier days of the C64.
Looking back at the the demo-scene in the past, there were some magnificient productions. Some demos left a huge impact upon the scene, producing world first routines, new concepts and design. In a sense, some of these demos are largely responsible for the ones that have followed since.
A tough question was posed before some people, one that will take some balls to answer. Which demo(s) from the past (I mean eighties and nineties) rocked the C64 scene world and for what reasons? Of course there is no wrong answer as this is a subjective segment!
Twoflower:
"I don't think I can limit myself to one single demo here, since there are many factors which have changed the demoscene. The first multifile demo, the first trackmo without loaderparts which featured an IRQ-loader and the first truly conceptual demo have been equally important. But if I have to choose one demo which have influenced my personal views of demomaking ever since, it is no doubt Psykolog by HBH+MS of Panoramic Design. This demo emits a really uncomfortable vibe which I never felt neither before or after. Truly different, years ahead and utterly disturbed are some nice keywords."
King Fisher:
"I'd say Eldorado by Origo Dreamline (0.0). This demo rocked the entire Horizon Easter party and the C64 world so much in april 1990 that you can never tell of anything like it. It was the first with many many FLI pictures, a very special style, very special music etc. It was very, very C64 and can not be compared to any other demos on any other architectures."
Deff:
"All CYCLEBURNER demos he did for CONTEX!!!"
Graham:
"Partysqueezer/Rawhead (Okt.88) - because this demo introduced modern $D011 effects to the C64 world and is the root of all demo effects and gfx modes based on FLI. The $D011 routine in the endpart is even good by todays standards."
Bacchus:
"I have a hard time here; The Judges Think Twice I or Think Twice V, and also Dutch Breeze."
TCH:
"The first demo that really impressed me was: Irresistible (TRC) because of the picture in the borders and the great music. I was just getting into the scene at this time and had never seen something like that before."
Ed:
"Think Twice V, since it somehow adds up to everything else made possible through their (The Judges) series. Technically and artisticly this could be seen as one of the most important demos throughout the 1980's as it never falls into any rastersplit-, multiplex-category, neither into any other slide-category but combines both somehow. The graphics is not made especially by one individual, but rather several influences which also tells much of how the demo-scene looked in the 1980's before groups got more and more specialized in everything that once had been borrowed from games....
Although the idea that the 1980s could be represented by one demo is awkward in one sense, there really didn't excist many track-demos until the 1990's, which makes multi-filed demos harder to discuss and why a onefiler with several parts seems more suitable considering what happened in the 1990's."
Morpheus:
"So-Phisticated 3 and Dutch Breeze by Black Mail, Eldorado by Origo, the Think Twice demos from The Judges, all the border demos from 1001 Crew, Prometheus Unbound by my own group Flash Incorporated, anything Crossbow/Crest touched, Larch III by Bones, all Horizon demos were always top notch... I could go on forever. The reason why I like these demos is simply because they had innovating, hard-coded routines (I've always been a sucker for those) and of course, brilliant design."
Violator:
"A Load of Old Shit/Horizon mainly for the technical code and amazing routines. Rutig Banan/Fairlight for the nice overall design. Royal Arte 100%/Booze Design due to the best design I have seen in a c64 demo. Dutch Breeze/Blackmail for the amazing graphics."
HCL:
"Tales of Mystery / Spirit is probably my all time favourite, it's such a nice feeling in it and there's no rush for anything. A Load of Old Shit / Horizon, because there are so many cool effects in it, and it was released long before anyone else had a clue. Elysion / Origo also has to be mentioned here. Needs no comment."
Jeff Smart:
"Hmm... unfortunately I can't remember most of them... but what I remember is that I liked those the best that featured some certain story line. I remember one (of course I dont know the name...) with the background of mission impossible and some sprite jumping from one side to another and some funny things happening... but Jesus, like everything's gone..."
Leeway:
"From my perspective I found the Censor Wonderland series (especially 9 and 10) as well as all Offence productions the most stunning.
Yup/Offence for his great IRQ Timing (his method of timing the IRQ's is absolutely unique!).
Rap/Success is the most underrated Coders in the scene. He created a demo for Success that was never released. We had a look at it at a Hardcore meeting in Frankfurt and although the parts where 3 or four years old the effects where still actual and fresh. He is definately worth being mentioned somehow.
Same goes for Nik Stark (e.g. The game SilverPod was done by him. I think he was Pidgeon of X-Rated before, great coder and stunning graphics/style in all his productions. He had the biggest influence on me when it comes to coding!"
Arthur van Jole:
"What demo:
1001 crew with their first side-border-sprite demo if you hadn't been paying attention. Tony Crowther with his side-border-sprite demo if you had.
Why that demo:
Purely for technical trickery, Tony fooled the 6502 into thinking things the engineers hadn't thought about. If you'd been programming demo's and got your raster-routine going to create background-color-patches or 16 sprites simultaniously on screen this side-border-thing looked like wizardry.
Hope this is good enough for your poll. Need to get working. Good luck and hope to hear from you soon about the exit-polls.
Arthur (Ozy to friends, Idiot to others...) from Boys Without Brains (otherwise you'd think "Who the hell???")"
In the next edition we will hold a new survey, ideas are welcome, please check our official website and submit your suggestions.
