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Aminet 30 (1999)(Schatztruhe)[!][Apr 1999].iso
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WowWowPedal
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1999-02-02
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»CL7:»SML:--------------------------------------
»CL9: »BIG:More power, more boredom?
»CL7:»SML:--------------------------------------
»CL5: By Bucko/Depth
»CL2:Those of you who read last months
»CL3:Eurochart» will know that I like C64
demos.
The imagination and creativity in some
of my favourites is refreshing and it
is always nice to see a break from the
norm. Lately within Depth there has
been much talk of creating a PC demo,
personally I have seen very few PC
demos and most of my contacts seem to
be interested in the Amiga scene, the
question is why?
After some pondering I came up with
the theory that the »CL3:more powerful»
computers become, the »CL3:less impressed»
people are with effects, and the
»CL3:harder» it is to create anything
impressive anymore.
For example, a »CL3:C64 demo» featuring a
large »CL3:animated dragon» flying over a
»CL3:parallax landscape» is both technically
and visually impressive. Do the same
thing on the »CL3:PC» however and although
it still looks great it is hardly
pushing the machine in any way.
Part of the point of creating demos
(some may argue the whole point) is to
see what can be achieved within the
confines of the hardware. Those of you
who can may well think back to the »CL3:bob
wars», where each Amiga group strove to
get their »CL3:A500`s» to show half a dozen
more bobs than all the other groups.
Similar challenges were undertaken on
the »CL3:C64» to squeeze the most sprites
and colours onto the screen. After a
while this does become tedious, but is
does give the audience the `wow`
factor.
»PIC:Budgie3»
Demos that push back boundaries are
always exciting, the »CL3:`wow` factor» that
we all went through when we saw the
first doom engine in an Amiga demo is
a good example. Now that programmers
have such power at their fingertips,
and PC coding projects such as games,
where the cutting edge code is, are
undertaken by armies of coders rather
than a small team of enthusiasts, what
opportunities are there to give us the
»CL3:`wow` factor» of old? What chance do
coders have to create anything
original?
The situation is compounded by the
fact that »CL3:PC hardware» is different in
almost every machine. Where »CL3:Amiga»
coders could hit the machine at a
hardware level this is impractical on
the PC unless you don't mind that »CL3:90%»
of users probably will not have the
ability or patience to view your work.
However, in a blatant contradiction of
all I have just said, perhaps we have
reached the limits of what can be
achieved on both »CL3:Amiga» and »CL3:C64».
Perhaps there are no more »CL3:`wow`»
moments to be had without adding
expensive and under powered hardware
»PIC:Mattarazzo4»
to our Amiga, in that case we will
have no choice but to start designing
demos better, just like the C64
classics.
Personally I think we need a new
killer scene machine, so I'm keeping
my digits crossed in the general
direction of the »CL3:Gateway/Amiga» camp.