CiH of Maggie Disk Magazine recaps
the scene of 2000.
The first year of the new millennium
hasn't been quite the vintage golden year for groundbreaking
demo releases that 1999 was. There haven't been the
same heights reached, that we saw with such masterworks
as 'Do Things', by old stagers Cream, or the Error in
Line '99 winner, 'Suretrip', by Checkpoint.
However, this year has seen a respectable
level of activity, and some very worthwhile efforts
all around. The Atari scene has been blessed with an
usually large number of parties and events this year,
with more still to come. Whilst there hasn't been the
sheer output from any single party to the extent of
Error in Line 99, the various events this year have
managed to produce a constant stream of fair to good
releases. This is their story.
SV2000, Easter 2000...
We travelled all the way to
Poland for this one, to a venue on the outskirts of
Gdansk. The party went well generally, although there
were some problems with viewing the competition entries.
There was slightly less material shown than we initially
expected, but SV2000 managed to live up to the reputation
as the traditional 'big' Easter coding party.
'Upside Down' (Falcon 030)
The winning entry from the organisers,
Mystic Bytes. Probably the most technically interesting
release, with lots of complex environment textured 3-D
objects. This looks like the coder has been paying close
attention to the lessons and source code of sadly departed
master coder Tat. It is also slightly rough around the
edges, being a 'party release' version. Sadly, it doesn't
look like there is going to be a reworked follow-up,
due to a hard disk crash destroying the source code
concerned. People with fat memory 14MB Falcons will
need it all to run this demo.
'Swedish Hardcore' (Falcon 030)
This entry was by Mind Design - Touted
as the first in a new generation of demos pushing the
power of a fairly serious accelerator (Centurbo 2).
The reality was a very short and fairly rough party
preview version. Again it looks like no further work
is being done on this, which is sad. It does break new
ground in one area, as it features a great MP2 direct
from disk DSP played soundtrack. The Centurbo 2 is desirable,
but not essential, but this demo does need a lot of
memory.
'Tut' (ST/STE)
This entry from Wildfire, was a leftover
from the Error in Line party last year. It should have
been entered then, but was too incomplete at that stage.
What we get, a year later, is a neat and well put together
demo, if nothing earth-shattering in the technical innovation
department. It is Falcon compatible, which is a useful
plus point.
'Sacrifice' (Falcon 030)
A severely disappointing return for those
Polish proto-satanists Pandemonium. Another hastily
rushed production, and recycling effects that were past
their best, in 1997.
Tut Endscreen...
2 ALT, July 2000...
In terms of party entertainment, unforgettable
fun, all the way from Helsinki. For Atari releases,
a smaller impact, but quite a pleasant surprise from
what is a multi-format event, after all.
'Manchester Schwartzwurst' (Falcon
030)
A pert, handsome
and well-designed demo from Finnish newcomers Fit and
Friends. There is some use of advanced 3-D techniques
in there. The overall effect seems to reproduce a typical
Amiga demo from the mid-late 1990's. Which isn't a harsh
judgement, by any means!
'Mahabarata' (Falcon 030)
Not released at the ALT Party, in fact,
one of those rare demos released outside of a coding
party. The first effort of Fit and Friends, with a strong
and witty design subverting ethnic stereotypes, showing
a distinct flavour of the Indian subcontinent.
Manchester Schwartzwurst
Enviro-Textured Duck!
Unconventional, September 2000...
One of the parties I didn't
get to myself, but I gather a good time was had by all.
Who turned up. There were also a couple of releases
of note from this event too.
'Heresy' (Falcon 030)
A first outing into assembly language
by the Paranoid. A fair bit of zoom and rotate here,
not fantastic, but not bad for a first time effort.
(Waiting for) 'Apocalypse' (ST/STE)
A treat from French scene veterans LOuD.
A framework of solid GFA Basic coded effects, and stunning
or even shocking still images gel together in a production
reminiscent of the best of French Old school. Parts
are hard-coded to the ST and pretty damn tricky to run
on the Falcon.
Other parties...
There were some French parties in the summer.
All of these had demo competitions with Atari sections,
but so far, no news has been forthcoming. These sort
of events (RTS et al) usually have had some small releases
coming from them.
Still to come...
It is said that the demo scene is only as
good as its next blockbuster? Those people who prefer
not to dwell on past glories, may find the forthcoming
ST News International Coding Convention (STNICC) 10th
Anniversary party, in mid-December, of interest to them.
This is interesting from two angles.
Firstly, the anticipated attendance
is expected to be wider than normal, with a large number
of people from the 'old' Atari scene. Whether there
is going to be a large scale revival of such famous
past names as the CareBears, or The Lost Boys is entirely
debatable, but there is a general Atari demo competition
open to all comers!
Secondly, there seems to be a little
bit of unease from parts of the current scene, that
STNICC is just a gathering of burnt-out ex-demo scene
PC owners, merely happy to relive the past. How STNICC
turns out, remains to be seen, but surely, there will
be some things of interest coming from that event, at
the very least?
Next year, there will be a return
to Error in Line next Easter! I think this may well
inspire more of these shadowy 'work in progress' part-
completed demos that have been sitting around for some
months and even years, to finally come out of hiding.
It is hoped, that the huge success and good reputation
of the original EIL party, will prove to be just that
little bit more inspirational for this time around!
A useful place to go for downloads
of the demos described and all the latest news on the
Atari demo scene, are the Dead Hackers news pages
- www.dhs.nu
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