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The demo scene. Almost unheard of for most. For me, the final catalyst that launched me into a career of video game programming. Twenty years ago, it opened my eyes to what could be done with these computing machines of ours. It wasn't about computing any more. It was about art. For a demo was just that, an artful demonstration of what your machine was capable of. Some more than others, granted, but I'd see nothing in a real-world gallery that would impress me more than a high-quality demo. Nothing.
Give me a Kewlers over a Klimt any time.
But more than art, demos were about skill, for getting those machines to produce these pieces at real-time frame rates was no mean feat. These demos were not videos, they were manifestations of live-running software. Software created, hand-written, especially for the purpose. Each one, unique. A demo was the output of what essentially boils down to a massive list of CPU instructions. And the real art, of producing the art, was to get that list of instructions down to as few as possible, to allow the CPU to execute them as quickly as possible. Ultimately, producing some of these graphical effects seemed like black magic, as no PC should have had the power to do so. The real skill, was in the code construction.
The demo coder then, was a rare breed. And I ached to be among them. But back then, I had a long way to go, it was another world.
Today, it's all about the shaders. Small programs that execute on your GPU which has some real muscle for this job. CPUs too have imperious power compared to twenty years ago. The emphasis has shifted. It's no longer about code optimisation, it's about mathemagical algorithms to render these hypnotic scenes. It really is, about letting your imagination spill onto the screen. We're pretty much at a point now, where if it can be envisioned in the mind, then it can be made real on the screen - if you have the math. The demo has come of age, just at a time when the scene itself appears to be beginning to die.
It's an underground movement, then, and now. Few have any idea it even exists, which is why I've brought together a small collection of videos here, to show what this world is all about. Though I must warn you that watching a demo as a recording is a second-class experience. A demo is born to be watched in real-time, full-screen with vivid colour, high resolution and a smooth frame rate, devoid of those nasty compression artefacts. Links are provided to download and view them as they were intended. No PC? Then video will just have to do.
f07 - The Function 2007 Invitation
To kick us off, just take a look at this. This isn't a demo, this is merely an invitation to a demo event, to draw people in and make it to the party. Demo parties are run several times a year in various locations around the world, though centred largely within Europe. When a production is nearing completion it's normally debuted at such a party. A large hall, filled with coders and artists, all vying to win that year's competition. Producing demos then, is about rivalry and pitting yourself against your peers, as much as it is about personal creativity.
And back to the invitation to this particular party, if in my life I'd seen nothing more of the demo scene than just this, I would still be drop-down impressed. The music to this piece resonates so much I'm actually appropriating it for my next indie game, with the owner's gracious permission of course. So kick back, drop on the headphones and take it in. Just play the video below or [download]
Aesterozoa
A lot of demos seem hell-bent on simply bedazzling the sh#t out of you, f07 being a prime example. It's a formula that works, but there is another way. Aesterozoa takes us down a different road, has a much more mellow vibe, and one that also works very, very well. Simple and understated, it nevertheless hits home with its dream-like atmospherics. It's a demo I could watch for well past the 4 minutes it was made for. The haunting sound of the metal percussion, as mysterious as the hang, transporting you far from home ...
Mesmerising and beautiful, a distant land for distant thoughts ...
[download]
Stargazer
With Stargazer we're now heading into what the archetypal demo is all about. Strong and detailed, with confounding coding technique, it begins to show just what a well-crafted demo is capable of. Most impressive are the fluid and fractal algos that it employs, especially at the frame rates it natively runs at.
On that note I should mention that it can be easy to be dismissive about works like this when the CG in today's films is as impressive as it is (and it is), but that would betray a little ignorance on the part of the viewer. That cinema CG has had decades to mature with hundreds of coders working on it, progressing and refining the state of the art while investing billions of dollars. And it shows. Contemporary film CG is just stunning.
Demos on the other hand, are created by a handful of people, from the ground up, in their spare time. And the difference, is real-time. That takes it to a completely different domain. Films like Harry Potter use super-computers or render farms that often take minutes to produce a single frame of animation. By contrast, demos render dozens of frames every second. And this is where the deal is struck - quality, vs. speed.
Stargazer, just about got it right. [download]
Lifeforce
This demo really should have been called tour de force, for that's simply what it is. Uncompromisingly artful, polished to f#ck, this production really is the very pinnacle of what a demo can be. While the art style, both in the visuals and the music, can be a little odd-ball on occasion, you can't fail to be impressed with the skill and imagination required to bring this production together. Coders especially, will have a deep understanding of the monumental effort it must have taken to raise this up on screen.
Showing a depth of expression and level of complexity that Stargazer only momentarily explores, it also stretches the unspoken notion of how long a demo should be. Long, but not too long. Seamless, and practically perfect, Lifeforce really is a masterpiece. Here's what the authors themselves had to say about it-
With Lifeforce we wanted to make a demo that has a progression and a cyclic narrative. It starts where Iconoclast, our Assembly 2005 demo, ended: we enter into the mind of the creator / avatar / muse (a small reference to Homer here) and descend into the beginning of the journey of life. The images of nature and the laughter of children are the starting point. Like some other parts in this demo the happy and playful mood is interrupted by sorrowful events (knife slicing the rainbow). The sequence that follows (tree submerged in liquid, bubbles floating towards the surface) is the progression to maturity and the passage of time. The character tries to climb the mountain in vain and extends his arm to reach for the beating heart - the symbol of youth. The images that follow (statue of men reading the scribes, bells ringing in the distance) are a reference to religion, seemingly the last resort of some men in the dusk of their lives. The second part of the demo begins in the bathroom sequence. The man has died but left a message: "ZEI", which means he/she/it is alive. A message of hope, maybe? The black strips and octopuses represent the fear of death and guilt.
The strips guide us through a series of surealistic images that overlap one another: images of living things that exist in the domain of the living (city, horse, elephant, clown). We wanted to create a feeling of anxiety before the revelation of the last scene in which we have drawn a full circle: The desert is revisited, only now, after innumerable years it is an ocean, deep and dark. The crescendo slowly builds to a nuclear blast that engulfs our world and memories. We too now sink down and contemplate our own mortal fate.
Enjoy. [download]
1995
An unapologetic love letter from the demo scene to itself. This production revels in what it was to be part of the demo scene during the late nineties and into the turn of the 21st century. The period had a particular theme, and particular Zeitgeist, and this demo captures that time perfectly. The music, chipped-up to recall the old, old times, yet still sonorous enough to please the modern ear. Full of nostalgia for halcyon days, a demo appreciated most by those who were part of that golden era.
Sadly, 1995 was the swansong for the group Kewlers. They will, no doubt, be missed.
[download]
Second Reality
A return to the source. A time where it all began, for me, at least. It wasn't the very dawn of the demo scene, but it was when things started to get impressive. Back in 1993, watching this heavyweight for the first time, my mind was well and truly blown. I thought I knew about coding, but this pushed the PC further than I'd ever seen it go before, way further. It was, massively inspirational. Remember that this was running on office PCs in the Windows 3 era - the hardware was ancient and what they were doing with it was almost witchcraft.
Watching it now though, well, it's dated and there is no denying that. Even so, even twenty years on, this demo still hold its secrets with a couple of features that remain unfathomed by my coder's mind. Perhaps I'm a bit slow. [download]
As a fitting end to this article, the authors recently decided to release the source [code] to this classic demo to mark its china anniversary. We've come full circle. And only now, can we fully [appreciate] the work that went into what was, back then, really something special.
If you'd like to explore the scene a little more, then check out www.demoscene.tv or head on over to www.pouet.net for a comprehensive archive.
[Posted 10/28/2013] |
