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I'd have to dig through my stash one of these days to take a looksee. I wasn't particularly into collecting demos - the only group I collected stuff from was Andromeda (if I remember the name alright). I might be surprised at what I have lingering about though :)Quote:
Originally Posted by P G
Completely off topic, but if you were interested in Andromeda back in the day then you might like to know they made a comeback this year, releasing a PC demo called Noumenon which came second at Breakpoint back during easter. That's their first production released ever since Nexus 7 in '94. And it's the original members that's behind it too, not just new guys borrowing an old name. Have a look, it's pretty good.
It's great news that Andromeda is back again. The breakpoint demo was very good and it seems like the audience thought the same, as it received a second place in the competition. A funny thing though; If one takes a look at the results from Breakpoint 2007 for example, you can quickly see many of the old Amiga groups participating (and dominating!) in the PC demo competition. Farbrausch, with old Amiga coder Chaos, won the compo. Second place went to Andromeda, one of the best Amiga groups of all time. You've also got Brainstorm on the 4th place, while Nuance on 7th, Loonies from Denmark on the 8th and Anadune from Poland on the 9th place. A bit Amiga domination in the compo for sure. :D
Anyway, wish Andromeda would release something for the Amiga in the style of Nexus 7.
I don't like PC demos very much, as nowadays everything is technically possible in demos, meaning it's just like painting a picture and the most beautiful one wins.
You are right about that. The PC's are so powerful these days, that it isn't really making the most out of the machine that counts or stretching it to its limits. You can clearly see that in the PC demos. Seems groups are focusing a whole lot more on design, but the effects remains pretty much the same as a few years ago. It is totally different on the C64. Barriers are broken even today!! I read some new on C64 demosite, and there was actually a sprite-barrier or something that had been broken this year. Truly amazing and an example of what democrews can be capable of. The ZX Spectrum scene is also incredly good - have seen a lot of prods through emulator, and its amazing what they can get out of the old machine.
Getting out the most of a 8 or 16 bit machine is the real challenge, and that is what I really enjoy and like to see. But some PC demos are nicely done, cannot moan about that. But I still prefer a 3 level scrolling over PC power graphics demos.
This is exactly why Noumenon is so good though. It is made in the style of the old days, showing of some neat coding tricks instead of focusing totally on design like modern PC demos. That screenshot on Pouet you see if you follow the earlier link for example is an infinite 3D zoomer. It keeps going and going forever into that object. Pretty impressive to look at, and there are several more effects in it that are pretty cool ideas as well.
You do need a pretty powerful PC for it run good though.
I really liked Noumenon and the infinite 3D fractal zoom was a fascinating section of the demo.
As for PC demos compared to the scene on older 8 and 16 bit systems. I am as much a fan of the PC demo scene as I am of the Amiga and other older systems.
While it is true that today's PCs are very powerful compared to older machines it does allow for something different. With older systems the amazement and fun comes from seeing some effects created by pushing the hardware beyond what was thought possible. The recent translation of am Amiga demo to the C64 is a good example of this and that really did blow me away by how much they managed to retain of the original Amiga version. In comparison PC productions can instead explore imagination and creativity and allows the groups to explore their thoughts and ideas fully without too many restrictions.
However I do still believe there is still a boundary with the PC as the hardware can be pushed to the limit if tried and some amazing particle and 3D effects can be created which look amazing.
The Demo Scene on any platform is for me true moving art, Much more so than games or any other visual and audio based form on a computer.
I own an A600 but the disk drive has let me down. I have previously owned an A500 and a CD32 but now im on the lookout for an A1200
I still have my Amiag 600 and all the games and bug controller.
And I have a PC and I have Monkey Island Bounter Pack for PC.
But I also play Monkey Island 2 on Amiga 600.