Amiga Plus 2004 #2

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»PIC:barclip2.ilbm» »CL9: The Demoscene - The Basics »PIC:barclip2.ilbm» »CL4: By Zerox/Gods »CL7:INTRODUCTION »CL1:In the past issue of the EuroChart, and the past issues of D.I.S.C, I've tried to have a guide to the Amiga in cyberspace, featuring the most important sites to gain information about the latest scene-news, productions, persons, parties and irc-channels. This time I return to the basics, so this is a guide to the scene for beginners. Hopefully there are still some of you out there. The information for this article was taken from everywhere. »CL7:THE SCENE - WHAT IS IT? »CL1:I guess some new sceners only have a vage idea about what the scene is. So it's definately time to write about the basics. »CL0:The Amiga scene consists of a bunch of people very fascinated by and devoted to the Amiga, and who also want to create certain productions. These people are often refered to as Amiga sceners, because they're a part of a quite small and perhaps unique underground community, who use their talents to be creative on this special computer. Before the Amiga scene was so big that it was impossible to have an oversight over who were sceners and not. Today it's easier to find out who belong to our scene and who don't; some are a lot more active being creative than others though. It's possible to be a part of the scene without making any productions at all, some only spread and watch the productions others make, they stay in touch with other sceners, hang out at the special Amiga IRC channels, visit different Amiga computer events and more. The various sceners play their own role in the scene though. The scene is not strictly organized nor does it have any special rules. »CL1:The various sceners have different parts to play in the scene, the most usual functions are; Coders, Graphicians, Musicians, Raytracers, Editors, Organizers, Traders (swappers), Sysops, Webmasters and ascii/ansi makers. I'll talk more about these functions later on. »CL7:WHAT IS BEING MADE? »CL1:Demos, in the wide meaning of the word, are created. Amiga demos or demonstrations, are executable programs created purely for the fun of it; to push the technical limits, to impress other sceners, to create art or actually just to be creative on the Amiga. The demos are featuring impressive or spectacular audiovisuals. Demos are not actually functional or interactive, in the main, they're just like other kinds of art. Demos can perhaps be compared to a music video on a computer, but with more or less equal emphasis on the visuals, the music, and the code. Demos can look very much like a dance-music-video shown on MTV for instance, very much like a collection of computerised effects sequenced together, or something which doesn't look like anything else. It's something to watch, enjoy, and admire the creativity of. »CL0:There are various demos/productions. The word "demo" is just the general term for a demonstration. »CL1:We have something which we simply call demos (like videoclips), which are bigger demonstrations. We have intros (short for introductions), which are smaller demos. We have dentros, which is something in between demos and intros. Earlier we also had trackmos (which are demos which don't use the Amiga-DOS to load), we had mintros and lots more. We still have musicdisks, which are selectable collections of tunes by musicians, we have slideshows, which are collections of pictures by graphics artists, diskmags, which are electronic magazines, and a special form of diskmags, charts, which are digital mags that mainly feature charts over the most popular productions and sceners. In addition to this, we have news-portals on the internet, which perhaps could be described as a demonstration as well? »CL7:WHO ARE MAKING THE PRODUCTIONS? »CL1:Productions are the result of the work of various sceners, who are usually organized into groups. These groups have names and comprise a number of members with various functions. The members in these groups have different handles, instead of using their real name. »CL0:In a group, each member has his own work to complete. »CL6:- Coder, he is the one who programs the different effects/parts of the demo and includes the graphics and music. - Graphician, he is usually the designer of the demo. He draws the pictures, logos, fonts, backgrounds, etc. - Musician, he is the one who makes the soundtrack for the demo. »CL1:The coder, graphician and musician are the most important members of a group. Without them, a group can't reach a good level and, of course, can't produce a single demo. Then, you can have some other members in a group. »CL6:- Raytracer, he is a kind of graphist but he is generally using rendering software instead. He is mainly used to create animations or to define 3d objects. - Swapper, a swapper was usually working by mail. His work was to be in touch with members from other groups in order to spread his groups productions and to get productions from other groups. These days there are only a handful of swappers left. - Trader, usually, a trader is someone who is swapping demos via bbs and now more and more via Internet too. Except from this difference, it is the same thing as a swapper. - Sysop, a sysop (SYStem OPerator) is somebody who is ruling a BBS (Bulletin Board System). On this BBS, we are able to get all the latest productions. The usual boards and sysops have more or less vanished. Now, we have webmasters, who are "sysops" on the internet, for news-portals for example. - Editor, he either writes articles in his own digital magazine, or writes for other magazines. Generally an editor is a scene journalist. - Organizer, earlier the organizer was the chief of his group. These days the organizer simply keeps the group together and communicates with all members. Then there are the partyorganizers, who organize various computer events. - Ascii/Ansi maker. They make ascii/ansi logos to include in collections or in various productions. »CL1:The sceners come from all around the globe, but the majority of Amiga sceners come from Europe. Scandinavia has been one of the biggest sources of demos, but Germany, France and Holland have produced a lot of demos too. For several years now eastern Europe, and espcially Poland, has been a major supplier of demos. Except this, countries such as Austria, Switzerland, England, Italy, Spain and Belgium have also been known to have a demoscene. In the past there were many sceners in countries such as Turkey and Austrailia too, and other countries as well. These days all the national scenes are small, or non-existant. »CL7:HOW DID THE SCENE BEGIN? »CL1:The computer scene started a long time ago, perhaps in the beginning of the eighties. On which computer it first started is a good question. Some people say the zx81; maybe, but it got its real development on the Commodore 64. Maybe you remember the C64 intros that crackers had inserted in the beginning, as loaders of the games to tell you who brought it to you (illegally cracked the game). This was the beginning of the demoscene, and intros/demos gradually expanded into being programmed just for fun, or as a way for the programmer to show. When the scene first started on Amiga, is also hard to say. But probably as soon as the first Amiga was launched. »CL0:The first amiga computer, the Amiga 1000, was released by Commodore In July 1985. It featured a multitasking, windowing operating system, using a Motorola 68000 CPU, with 256Kb RAM, and 880Kb 3.5 inch disk drive. It certainly wasn't a cheap computer, but at that time, it was years ahead of the competition. Featuring custom chipsets for graphics and sound and an incredible operating system, it was the best choice for anyone interested in sound, graphics, video, multimedia and games. In other words, this computer was perfect for making any kind of demonstration. Therefore the most special computer scene of them all, the Amiga scene, evolved. »CL1:The real breakthrough for Amiga was the release of the Amiga 500, in January 1987 at the Winter CES. It featured a 68000 processor, 512Kb RAM, floppy disk drive and custom chipsets for animation, video and audio. And above all, it was much cheaper than the Amiga 1000. It was a real success and tons of brilliant games were released for it. In fact, 2 years later, in January 1989, Commodore announced that 1 million Amiga computers had been sold. Not all of the Amiga users became Amiga sceners, but in the beginning of the 90s, the Amiga scene was rather big. Other computers arrived too, Amiga 2000, Amiga 1500, Amiga 3000, A600, A1200 and A4000, in addition to CDTV and CD32. »CL0:From around 1994/95 the scene has decreased for each year, but the demonstrations have become better and better. Perhaps because the sceners have grown older and more experienced? But certainly also because of add-on cards like PPC-turbo cards and other accelerators. With the AmigaOne and new OS4.0, we all hope that the scene will get a new boost. We hope not only that the productions will be better, but also that new people are being recruited to the scene. With the recent Thendic-Amiga litigation, it's hard to say what will happen. Anyway, the scene has managed without any new machine for the last 9 years, so we'll last some more. »CL7:HOW CAN I FIND INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCENE AND HOW CAN I JOIN THE SCENE? »CL1:This is quite easy these days. First of all, you can find essential information about the demoscene at www.scenia.net and www.diskmag.de. There you'll find links to ftp sites where you can download Amiga productions (such as aminet, scene.org, amigascne, pouet), links to groups and persons you can contact, and information about computer events you can visit to meet sceners. You can also post messages at news-forums, or perhaps you already know some sceners who can help you get started? »CL0:If you want to be creative and start making productions yourself, you can ask sceners for help. If you want to code, you need some kind of instructions (which are available at the ftp sites and you can read helpful articles in diskmags). And whatever you decide to do, you also need the basic software to be able to code, make graphics and music, or actually write. »CL7:WHICH GROUPS AND PERSONS ARE INVOLVED IN THE SCENE NOWADAYS? »CL1:It would be too much to mention all the sceners and groups. But some of the important Amiga groups the latest years are Ephidrena, IRIS, Loonies, Mad Wizards, Mankind, Potion, Scarab, Spaceballs, Contraz, Push Entertainment, The Black Lotus, Nature, Encore, Kangooroo and Creative Minds to mention some, in no special order. »CL7:THE PRODUCTIONS »CL1:From the beginning of the scene in the mid 80s until now, there have been released many thousand productions. Nobody in the world knows how many productions that have been released, infact most of them are now lost or hidden among departed sceners. »CL0:However, it's possible to mention some great productions that should not be forgotten, like the demos; Demon Demo by DOC, Filled Vectors by IT, MegaDemo by Red Sector Inc., Vectorballs demo by Thomas Landsburg, Mental Hangover demo by Scoopex, The Hunt for the 7th October by Cryptoburners, Trip to Mars by Tomsoft, MegaDemo II by Budbrain, Iraq-demo by Animators, Enigma by Phenomena, Virtual World by TomSoft, Odyssey by Alcatraz, Hardwired by Silents & Crionics, Yoyage by Razor 1911, Substance by Quartex, Global Trash by Silents, Elysium by Sanity, Alpha and Omega by PMC, State of the Art by Spaceballs, 3d Demo II by Anarchy, Wayfarer by Spaceballs, D.O.S. by Andromeda, Guardian Dragon II by Kefrens, In the Kitchen by Anarchy, WOC by Sanity, Extension by Pygmy Projects, Desert Dream by Kefrens, Origin by Complex, Full Moon by Virtual Dreams/Fairlight, Arte by Sanity, 9 Fingers by Spaceballs, Interference by Sanity, Nexus 7 by Andromeda, Sequential by Andromeda, Mindflow by Stellar, Breath Taker by Virtual Dreams, Real by Complex, Psychedelic by Virtual Dreams, Motion by Bomb, Switchback by Rebels, Greenday by Artwork, ZIF by Parallax, Logic by Pygmy Projects, Miracles by Stellar, Closer by CNCD, Deep by Parallax & CNCD, Visions by Oxygene, Tint by TBL, Sumea by Virtual Dreams, Dim by Mellow Chips, The Gate by Artwork, Glow by TBL, Muscles by Impulse, Shaft 7 by Bomb, Divine by Mellow Chips, Captured Dreams by TBL, Exit Planet Dust by Artwork, Deus Ex Machina by Limited Edition, Dose by MellowChips, Papadeo2 by Floppy, Y'on by Anadune & Floppy, My Kingdom by Haujobb & Scoopex Killer Automatique by CNCD, Relic by Nerve Axis, Rise by TRSI, Alien 2 by Scoopex, XIII by Oxyron, Aphrodisia by Haujobb, Rain by TBL, Mnemonics by Haujobb, Concrete by Ephidrena, When We Ride On Our Enemies by Skarla, SmokeBomb by Ozone, Klone by Dual Crew-Shining, Cybercinematastic by Loonies, I Want To Be Machine by Appendix, Megademo 2000 by Haujobb, J by Ephidrena, Back to the roots by Haujobb, Senseless by TBL, Lapsuus by MatureFurk, Perfect Circle by TBL, Hotstyle Takeover by Loonies, Adam Malysz vs. Wienerwurst by Ephidrena, Amsterdam Blessings by Mawi, Cruel Karma Forms by Mad Wizards, PowerGod by Spaceballs, Third Eye Conqueror by Mad Wizards, Heavy Traffic by Mad Wizards, Demoscope/Creative Minds, Kheshkhash by Encore & Scenic, Little Nell by TBL, Tribute by Scarab, MindMatterElectricity by Reason, Light II by IRIS, Fate Fits Karma by Mad Wizards, Magia by TBL, Till I Feel You by Mad Wizards, Lysbryter by Ephidrena, Fake Elektronik Lightshow by Ephidrena, We were dark helmets by Spaceballs, By Night by Encore, My Defination In Blue by Scarab and Mental by Push Entertainment. »CL1:If you've seen all of these productions or even just ten procent of them, you already know what the scene is all about; creativity, pushing limits, having fun while doing it, traveling and socializing. And then I guess you can have a break and don't watch productions the next years... :-) On the other hand, if you haven't seen many of these productions, it's time to take a dive into the fantastic world of the Amiga scene. Who knows? The next years it may be YOU who impress us all with your creativity and skills. If you're an old scener, feeling tired and demotivated, it could also be wise to rediscover what the scene is all about. Arrange a demo-evening and pick out some great demos to watch, visit a party or other sceners, hopefully you should by now have gotten new inspiration to continue being creative.