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/ Atari Mega Archive 1 / Atari Mega Archive - Volume 1.iso / demos / magie10a.msa / DATA_GOODDEMO.DOC / DATA_GOODDEMO.DOC
Text File  |  1992-07-23  |  10KB  |  161 lines
  1. 066010303050000132002006006010000
  2. 11
  3. 21
  4. F0110000001
  5. 9[....◆....◆....◆....◆....◆....◆....◆....◆....◆....◆....◆....◆....◆.]0110
  6. üëHowtodoaügëooddemo!
  7. Ç
  8. åä(anarticledonebySlime)å
  9. Ç
  10. Astheheadlineofthisarticleis'Howtodoagoodshag',oops!
  11. Sorry!;-)Imeant'demo',Itrytoexplainwhat'üIÇ'wanttoseein
  12. ademoandwhatnot.
  13. Firstofalltherearemanymaaaaanycrapdemosflyingaroundand
  14. onlysomeêrealÇbrilliantmasterpiecesofcode,graphicsandsound!
  15. Justtoshowyoualittlebitofmytaste,I'lltellyoumy
  16. favouritedemos.Theyare:
  17.  
  18. OhCrickey,wotascorcher!(TheLostBoys),Uniondemo,TheCuddly
  19. demos(TheCarebears)andsomemore...
  20. (Bytheway,youalwayshavetorememberthereleasedateofthe
  21. demostobeobjective!!)
  22. Ican'tgiveyouanynamesofshitedemosbecauseIdon'tusemy
  23. braincapacitytosavesuchunimportantdata(Wow!Whatanarrogant
  24. sentence!Harharhar!).
  25.  
  26. Themostimportantthingyouhavetorememberifyouwanttodoa
  27. demoisthatüoriginalityÇ,ügooddesignÇandünewtechnicsÇarethemost
  28. wantedstuffpeoplelike.Sodon'tborethemwitha-zillion-times-
  29. seenfullscreensorcrappycolourshocks!
  30. Ifyouhavetoshowthewholeworldwhatagoodcoderyouare-ok!
  31. Butdon'tdoitbyproducingoneaftertheotherfullscreen(andthe
  32. onlydifferencebetweenthemarethescrolltextsandtheneededCPU
  33. time!).Andtostayatscrolltexts;ascrollerhastolookgood,
  34. shouldbereadable(butdon'thavetobe!),ANDithastobe
  35. interesting!Don'twritegigabytesofcraplike:'Iate10kgof
  36. crispswhilecodingthisscreen',or'MydoghadthefluwhileI
  37. wasdoingthisscreen'.Bewareofsuchstuff!Iknowitis
  38. difficulttowriteagoodscroller(atleastifyou'rewritingthe
  39. scrolltextofthelastscreenofa'MegaDemo',butyouhaveto
  40. tryit!).Andbytheway,doyoureallythinkeveryscreenhasto
  41. haveascoller?Idon'tthinksoanymore!
  42. Anotherimportantrulefordoingan-atleast-nicedemoisthe
  43. precisionindoingthework.Neversay'Uhhtherastersare
  44. flickeringabit,butI'mtoolazytodoitbetter',orsomething
  45. likethat.Ifyoustartdoingthis,yourdemoisdoomedtobe
  46. justmediocre!BecauseotherpeoplewillthinkyouareNOTABLEto
  47. doitbetter!!!InsomedemosIsawthingslikewrongcuttedfonts
  48. orgraphicswithawrongpalette!Ifyoudosuchmistakes,too,a
  49. demoreviewerwillbashyourbrainoutofyourskull(atleastI
  50. willdoit!).Hmmm..Iknowthatitisn'tnicebutthelatestdemos
  51. Iremember(andthat'sacomplimentwhenIcanrememberademos
  52. name!)whichfailedinprecisionare:'Pandemonium'byäChaosÇand'My
  53. socksareweapons'dentrobyäLegacyÇ.TheLegacydentrowasgoodbut
  54. therewasonethinginitthatmakesmepuke(especiallymeasI'ma
  55. graficsman!).Thereweresomelettersinthescrollerwhichhave
  56. contacttoeachother(thatmeanssomelettersweretoowide!)and
  57. thatmakesthescrollerlooksshite(atleastforme!).
  58. Butthebestexampleforthefailureinprecisionisthelatest
  59. Chaosdemo.Ben,Ihopeyouwon'tmindatall,butifsomepeople
  60. Çcanlearnfromyourmistakesthenthiswouldbeabigsuccess!
  61. Well,whathashedone?Therewereflickeringrasters,ajerking
  62. screen,bugsinthecolourshockandcrappyanimation.(Youmight
  63. thinkthatthedemowascompletlycrapbutitwasn't!Itwasreally
  64. good(readüMAGGIEÇ9forareview)).Ifhehadavoidedatleasthalf
  65. oftheabovementionedmistakeshehadgotabetterratinginthe
  66. revieweasily.
  67. Stopcriticizingotherpeoplenow.Ihopetheydon'tkillme
  68. becauseIshowthemtheirmistakes(Ineverwouldbeangryif
  69. anotherpersonshowedmethingsIcandobetter,ifhedoesitin
  70. anobjectiveway!).
  71. BeforeIforgetit-thenextdemo,dentro,intro,etc.thatuses
  72. 70hzinthebeginningwillgetMINIMUMütwoÇpointslessinthe
  73. ratingasitwouldgetwithoutthe70hzrubbish!That'snothreat-
  74. that'saüLAWÇ!EvenasareallyunexperiencedguyincodingIknow
  75. thatmycolourmonitorrunsin50hzor60hzandit'snotharmless
  76. toswitchitto70hz!Sostopthatsillystuffdumbfuckers(that
  77. wasmeantasaninsultandIdon'tcareaboutanyreaction!)!
  78. Thenextruleis:DonotcopywholedemosfromtheAmigaorother
  79. computers.Thatsucks!Butifyoudoitanyway,thenyoushouldbe
  80. thatfairtogivethecreditstothegroupyoucopied(eventheyare
  81. bastards!).Idon'tmeanthatcopyingideasfromothergroupsand/
  82. orcomputersisbad(DeltaForcediditseveraltimes)butifyou
  83. copyit,thenithastocontainbettercodeandsomelittleNEW
  84. effects.And:IfyousawagoodscreenonAmigabutareunableto
  85. doagoodconversionthenbetterdon'tuseitinsteadofmakinga
  86. foolofyourself!!
  87. Totellyousomethingaboutgooddesign,herearesomebasicrules:
  88.  
  89. ü1.ÇYoushouldbepossibletoexitALLscreens,intros,etc.when
  90. everyouwant.(Somedemoshadcrapintrosyouhadtolooktillthe
  91. end!ThatwasextremlyboringandIhateitlikehell!!)
  92.  
  93. ü2.ÇIfyoudecidetodoademowhichrunslikeamovieitwouldbea
  94. niceideatoincludeanoptionalmenu(availablebypressinghelp)
  95. soifIwouldliketoseeasingleeffectIdon'thavetolookat
  96. allthestuffforhours.Butthat'sonlyanadvicefromme.......
  97.  
  98. ü3.ÇDon'tshowthesameeffectstoooften.E.g.don'tuseallyour
  99. three-dimensionalstuffatonce(showingtenandmoreofthemmakes
  100. mescreaming!).Splitit!
  101.  
  102. ü4.ÇIfyoudoaresetscreen,thenpleasethinkaboutMegaST's!They
  103. havetheresetbuttonatadifficultplacetoreach(youalways
  104. havetostandupfromyourchairtopressthisnipple(atleastNew
  105. Modehastodoit)).Makeitinawaythatitispossibletoleave
  106. thescreenbypressingspacebutdon'tforgettoexitthescreenby
  107. pressingresettwicetoo!AndperhapsincludetheControl-
  108. Alternate-Deletekeyboardreset!That'sthebestway.Andneverdo
  109. aresetpartyouonlycanexitifyouswitchoffyourcomputer!!
  110.  
  111. ü5.ÇHoldthemenu,loadingscreenandresetpartinmemory(onlyfor
  112. 1megandmore).Andifyouhaveascreenwhichistoobigtohold
  113. everythinginmemory,thenyouhavetodecidewhichpartyouskip.
  114. ÇPlease,trytousetheavailablememorycapacity-ona4meg
  115. computerIdon'twanttoseethesamedisadvantagesasonhalfmeg
  116. ones(reloadingmenu,etc.).DoaCLEVERconcept!(Iknowitis
  117. alwaysbadifyoupraisetheownstuff,but'PunishYourMachine'
  118. hadarealgoodconcept-notbrilliant,butgood!Therewasan
  119. optionalmenu;menu,resetandloadingpartwasheldinmemory(on
  120. 1megandmore!)andyoucouldexittheresetscreenbypressing
  121. 'Space'or'Reset'twice).
  122.  
  123. Ifyoudoahiddenscreen,thenyoushouldgivesomehintshowto
  124. reachitinthedemoor-andthat'snicetoo-telladisk
  125. magazine(likeüMAGGIEÇorST-NEWSofRichardKarsmakersandStefan
  126. Posthuma)thewayhowtogetthere.Bytheway,ifthekeytoreach
  127. thehiddenscreenisapasswordthenPLEASE,allyouFrenchies,
  128. thinkaboutyourstrangekeyboardthatdoesn'tfittotherestof
  129. theworld!IjustsayAZERTandQWERT!Doitinakindthatit
  130. possibletoenterthepasswordonallST'sinanormalway.
  131. Anotherimportanttopicisthestyleofthedemomenu.JesusH.
  132. FuckingChrist-that'sreallythemostimportantthing!Justletus
  133. thinkthatyou'vedoneademowithwellcode,nicegraficsand
  134. earblastingsound...AndNOWyouhavethisBIGideatodothemenu
  135. likeajump'n'rungame,'DungeonMaster'lookingor-muchworser-
  136. likeashoot'em'up(likeNTM-demobyZuul).Ohboy!