Your favourite demo you've done!
category: general [glöplog]
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What is your favourite demo you have worked on?
Virta
I think it's in a way the most personal and most succesful piece I've done. My then-relationship was disintegrating and a lot of that emotion went to it. Technically it's nothing special, which is often the case with my work, but it succeeds in carrying the kind of distant and bittersweet emotion. Gargaj's soundtrack does most of the hard work with that, but I think the flowing particle field, the falling particles and the ending spiraly thing are among the most beautiful things I've done.
I'll be break the rules and also mention two more. Fairytale is something I have really fond memories of, because that's the big blockbuster that was done as a big group effort and had a really great bunch of people and mood when working on it. I really miss that. And isolated, in sunlight was made really fast and is a very good representation of the state of my mind at the time, as well as a blueprint for things I'd really like to make if I still had the state of mind to make demos. I think it succeeds in pulling you into a world of its own.
I wish I had something more recent to choose here, but I'm old and lazy and complacent so it's still going to be Puroresu No Seishin.
Why do you think the demo succeeded?
I chose a theme that me and maybe five other people on the whole demoscene care about - Japanese pro wrestling - but I managed to communicate my love for the art of puroresu in a way that's entertaining to people who have no idea what Bullet Club is. I don't think you learn anything from it, just because you see a picture of Jushin Thunder Liger for 2 seconds doesn't mean you even remember what you saw a minute later, but I think it does convey the feeling I get from watching an exciting match. If you're the third party to a love letter, you don't need to have all the context to appreciate the vibe.
What could others learn from the demo?
Technically? Probably nothing. I do claim that when it came out in 2020, I was the PICO-8 top dog, but I don't make that claim anymore, not after 4 years of relative inactivity and with The Mind firmly establishing that Haujobb are now the top dogs. Even when it came out, my code was optimized for PICO-8's quirks to the point that a lot of it is borderline obfuscated even if you read the original non-minified source code, not to mention that it was optimized specifically for the latest PICO-8 version at that time. I don't think it will run well on most other versions of the fantasy console, older or newer.
Design-wise? I think I have a flair for sync and pacing, and I think Puroresu No Seishin is where that shines the strongest. Watch it, look at the transitions like you're listening to a jazz drum fill, and see what you can pick up.
What were your biggest hurdles?
I had two core goals - it has to run at 60 FPS with no obvious framerate drops (there are a few times where I use flashes to mask a couple of frames worth of precalc), and it has to be the absolute pinnacle of what I can fit on a single PICO-8 cart. What you see is the result of a lot of tweaking, and ultimately, compromises. It's never fun to concede that something you want to include is just not going to be feasible, but it's part of the deal when you're working on a limited platform.
Toolset, Engine, Style, Directing?
GIMP and Aseprite used for graphics. Picotool used for minifying the code. And of course, PICO-8. All other tools are self made, including a poorly documented asset packer that I'm fairly sure no one else than me has ever used for anything.
My direction style is basically that I start with a very rough idea of the flow of the demo, with a few key scenes in mind, and then I fill the blanks between those scenes based on a combination of vibes and whatever unused effect experiments I happen to have laying around.
The most positive comment you got?
The pair of these: "As a huge wrstling fan I marked out for this. Superb stuff!" and "I have no interest in the topic, but the design is great, and the final text motion blur effect is a wow." I'm glad the demo can be enjoyed both by smarks and people reading this who are now wondering what the hell "smark" means.
The money shot?
That's easy, the Mandelbrot twister. I don't usually do effects for the sake of wow, but when I do, I try to make it count.
Why do you think the demo succeeded?
I chose a theme that me and maybe five other people on the whole demoscene care about - Japanese pro wrestling - but I managed to communicate my love for the art of puroresu in a way that's entertaining to people who have no idea what Bullet Club is. I don't think you learn anything from it, just because you see a picture of Jushin Thunder Liger for 2 seconds doesn't mean you even remember what you saw a minute later, but I think it does convey the feeling I get from watching an exciting match. If you're the third party to a love letter, you don't need to have all the context to appreciate the vibe.
What could others learn from the demo?
Technically? Probably nothing. I do claim that when it came out in 2020, I was the PICO-8 top dog, but I don't make that claim anymore, not after 4 years of relative inactivity and with The Mind firmly establishing that Haujobb are now the top dogs. Even when it came out, my code was optimized for PICO-8's quirks to the point that a lot of it is borderline obfuscated even if you read the original non-minified source code, not to mention that it was optimized specifically for the latest PICO-8 version at that time. I don't think it will run well on most other versions of the fantasy console, older or newer.
Design-wise? I think I have a flair for sync and pacing, and I think Puroresu No Seishin is where that shines the strongest. Watch it, look at the transitions like you're listening to a jazz drum fill, and see what you can pick up.
What were your biggest hurdles?
I had two core goals - it has to run at 60 FPS with no obvious framerate drops (there are a few times where I use flashes to mask a couple of frames worth of precalc), and it has to be the absolute pinnacle of what I can fit on a single PICO-8 cart. What you see is the result of a lot of tweaking, and ultimately, compromises. It's never fun to concede that something you want to include is just not going to be feasible, but it's part of the deal when you're working on a limited platform.
Toolset, Engine, Style, Directing?
GIMP and Aseprite used for graphics. Picotool used for minifying the code. And of course, PICO-8. All other tools are self made, including a poorly documented asset packer that I'm fairly sure no one else than me has ever used for anything.
My direction style is basically that I start with a very rough idea of the flow of the demo, with a few key scenes in mind, and then I fill the blanks between those scenes based on a combination of vibes and whatever unused effect experiments I happen to have laying around.
The most positive comment you got?
The pair of these: "As a huge wrstling fan I marked out for this. Superb stuff!" and "I have no interest in the topic, but the design is great, and the final text motion blur effect is a wow." I'm glad the demo can be enjoyed both by smarks and people reading this who are now wondering what the hell "smark" means.
The money shot?
That's easy, the Mandelbrot twister. I don't usually do effects for the sake of wow, but when I do, I try to make it count.
My favourite demo from the ones I got involved with has to be Metamorphosis ( https://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=50127). It is the most complete and closest to what we could achieve as a team for a long time. It has a starting point, and ending and a short story. It still looks ok on big resolutions. Also killer soundtrack.
Both Sisyphus demos are also quite good. Easiest and best "value for time invested" has to be "Rupture". Last noise demos we did (Entropy and Epitaph) will grow on me. I watched them again after a year and thought "damn... that's some good noise there".
Lifeforce and other big Asm demos are ok, they were fun to make but broke me for a few months each time :-) . Something to do with coding all of it as a long spaggheti crapola.
Biggest hardle is ALWAYS the idea, never the implementation. And trying not to copy self and others too much.
Both Sisyphus demos are also quite good. Easiest and best "value for time invested" has to be "Rupture". Last noise demos we did (Entropy and Epitaph) will grow on me. I watched them again after a year and thought "damn... that's some good noise there".
Lifeforce and other big Asm demos are ok, they were fun to make but broke me for a few months each time :-) . Something to do with coding all of it as a long spaggheti crapola.
Biggest hardle is ALWAYS the idea, never the implementation. And trying not to copy self and others too much.
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What is your favourite demo you have worked on?
I mean really it's Eon but for the purpose of this let's take Way Too Rude as a case study.
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Why do you think the demo succeeded?
While the visuals are pretty basic, the whole thing lives and breathes to the soundtrack. It's like synaesthesia. Every last bit of sync is hand crafted.
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What could others learn from the demo?
Either put your musician in charge of sync or at least ask them for suggestions.
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What were your biggest hurdles?
Building an Amiga synth engine and the demo crashing 5 minutes before the deadline.
my favorite is let go, for the atari st. can't say it necessarily succeeded in any meaningful sense (4th place in the compo, britelite had a bad time coding it, and it didn't particularly set the world on fire afterwards either) but i'm still really proud of it. the graphics are wonky, but i still think the presentation is like, almost exactly what i was going for. more importantly for me, it was probably the first time where i tried to write an actual _song_ (with lyrics!) and pretty much succeeded!
like, i know i've worked on demos that have both fared and been better in practically every way, but "let go" holds a special place in my heart.
like, i know i've worked on demos that have both fared and been better in practically every way, but "let go" holds a special place in my heart.
It's Konsum.
For me, it's raw and honest, on a profound level.
I can only share what I learned from it, and what it reminds me about:
To have fun making shit with friends. To let things fall into place, without forcing them. To embrace every contribution without judgement. To say 'yes' instead of 'no'. To refine and iterate one step at a time. To be open-minded and open-ended. For the sake of it.
We were all equally responsible. And there was no fuzz about it.
To stop caring about arbitrary definitions of success or beauty.
For me, it stood the test of time. It's self-explanatory, done and perfect.
I never felt such a strong sense of something for a few lines of text.
Because it's not about me, but about us.
Quote:
Why do you think the demo succeeded?
For me, it's raw and honest, on a profound level.
Quote:
What could others learn from the demo?
I can only share what I learned from it, and what it reminds me about:
To have fun making shit with friends. To let things fall into place, without forcing them. To embrace every contribution without judgement. To say 'yes' instead of 'no'. To refine and iterate one step at a time. To be open-minded and open-ended. For the sake of it.
We were all equally responsible. And there was no fuzz about it.
Quote:
What were your biggest hurdles?
To stop caring about arbitrary definitions of success or beauty.
Quote:
Best thing about it?
For me, it stood the test of time. It's self-explanatory, done and perfect.
I never felt such a strong sense of something for a few lines of text.
Because it's not about me, but about us.
Seems as if this thread can still be saved so i do my share:
SaboTagE
It didn't. People complained about the video capture for covering too much of the intro but we did receive positive feedback as well.
It has a few effects where reducing a primarily complex effect into one specific use case an outdated 16-Bit computer can handle worked out well.
Revising the memory management over and over again to make it run on a 2MB machine from a DD floppy disk. Making it run on 1MB was out of reach though.
I used TurboAsm on the Falcon, mostly, with a set of hand-written tools to convert input data from Dan and Zweckform. The "demo engine" is based on Evil's pre-release version, by now heavily modified.
Directing was handled by Dan, writing dozends of Post-Its in different colours for each screen and effect and plastering his appartment's floor with these to get the screens into proper order to support the story. Then, 505, naturally, defined the exact timing.
The best comment i remember was Chuck of Dune asking me on STNICCC2015, "The z-buffer, it's a fake, right?" and when i answered "No, it's a true z-buffer", he shook his head and walked away - he apparently couldn't believe that this was possible.
Best thing about it was the collaboration which took us 5 years in total. I think 505 gave up a couple of times but Dan always returned to the project, so in the end, we, as a team, managed with everybody, including raZen and Zweckform, contributing.
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What is your favourite demo you have worked on?
SaboTagE
Quote:
Why do you think the demo succeeded?
It didn't. People complained about the video capture for covering too much of the intro but we did receive positive feedback as well.
Quote:
What could others learn from the demo?
It has a few effects where reducing a primarily complex effect into one specific use case an outdated 16-Bit computer can handle worked out well.
Quote:
What were your biggest hurdles?
Revising the memory management over and over again to make it run on a 2MB machine from a DD floppy disk. Making it run on 1MB was out of reach though.
Quote:
Toolset, Engine, Style, Directing? The most positive comment you got? Best thing about it? The money shot?
I used TurboAsm on the Falcon, mostly, with a set of hand-written tools to convert input data from Dan and Zweckform. The "demo engine" is based on Evil's pre-release version, by now heavily modified.
Directing was handled by Dan, writing dozends of Post-Its in different colours for each screen and effect and plastering his appartment's floor with these to get the screens into proper order to support the story. Then, 505, naturally, defined the exact timing.
The best comment i remember was Chuck of Dune asking me on STNICCC2015, "The z-buffer, it's a fake, right?" and when i answered "No, it's a true z-buffer", he shook his head and walked away - he apparently couldn't believe that this was possible.
Best thing about it was the collaboration which took us 5 years in total. I think 505 gave up a couple of times but Dan always returned to the project, so in the end, we, as a team, managed with everybody, including raZen and Zweckform, contributing.
I love this thread, keep 'em coming!
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What is your favourite demo you have worked on?
Undesigned: https://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=64506
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Why do you think the demo succeeded?
If I remember correctly, this is first demo, where I bringed a non-XE scener to XE production.
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What could others learn from the demo?
Do not hesitate to ask guys from other platforms to support your prods. Break your barriers.
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The most positive comment you got?
Seems, people like this kind of design :)
