How digital tools develop, sustain and transform the demo scene
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Transcript of How digital tools develop, sustain and transform the demo scene
How digital tools develop, sustain and transform the demo scene
Nicolai Brodersen Hansen, Aarhus University^DUB^TRSAC [email protected]
Mogens Skjold Overbeck (LNS^DUB^FD^TRSAC) [email protected]
How digital tools develop, sustain and transform the demo scene
Nicolai Brodersen Hansen, Aarhus University^DUB^TRSAC [email protected]
Mogens Skjold Overbeck (LNS^DUB^FD^TRSAC) [email protected]
Impressing your peers - in a constrained design space
4 Kilobytes procedurally generated
64 kilobytes with very limited assets and the rest procedurally generated
Limited platforms like the venerable C64 (0.985 MHz, 64kb RAM) or the Amiga 1260 (50 MHz, 32 mb RAM)
64 Kilobytes: Offscreen Colonies by Conspiracy (03:59 minutes)
64 Kilobytes: Offscreen Colonies by Conspiracy (03:59 minutes)
1 Kilobyte: Untraceable by TBC (02:15)
1 Kilobyte: Untraceable by TBC (02:15)
Amstrad CPC: Batman Group: Batman Forever (11:53 minutes)
Amstrad CPC: Batman Group: Batman Forever (11:53 minutes)
PC Demo: Dio Espresso / Instant God // CNCD & Fairlight
PC Demo: Dio Espresso / Instant God // CNCD & Fairlight
The design space of a demo production
CultureTeam skillset
Technology
Creating a demo is a design process
Creating a demo is a design process
- The possibilities within a design space is explored throughout the development of the demo
Creating a demo is a design process
- The possibilities within a design space is explored throughout the development of the demo
- Done in groups with specific skillset: the coder, the graphician, the musician etc.
Creating a demo is a design process
- The possibilities within a design space is explored throughout the development of the demo
- Done in groups with specific skillset: the coder, the graphician, the musician etc.
- Collaboration is challenged by the very technical nature of demos: not everyone is a great programmer, musician or graphician.
Tools in a demo production
Tool
sCultureTeam skillset
Technology
Amiga 1260 (50 MHz, 32 mb RAM)
Amiga Demo, Focus Design: Teobstrrfarfeia
Amiga Demo, Focus Design: Teobstrrfarfeia
Reducing tech complexity
- Tools allow demosceners to focus on exploring the design space of a demo by reducing certain technically complex tasks when aiming for their chosen platform or constraint
Self-produced or appropriated tools
- Tools are often self-produced or heavily appropriated and modified - one person might create the tool to reduce technical complexity
Self-produced tools: Elysian Breakdown
Self-produced tools: Elysian Breakdown
Facilitating collaboration
- Tools facilitate fluent and direct collaboration - by letting ie. a graphician experiment with a coded routine without understanding the full scope of mathematics behind it
Free tools advancing the community
- Tools are now to a certain degree freely published and exchanged within the community
- Meaning that the demosceners advance their art-form together. This has been credited with an overall perception of a rise in quality, even though participant numbers are dropping.
Free tools: Crinkler
“Crinkler is an executable file compressor (or rather, a compressing linker) for Windows specifically targeted towards executables with a size of just a few kilobytes. As of 2015, it is the most widely used tool for compressing 4k intros.”
Free tools: GNU Rocket
In summary
In summaryThe demoscene is about creating impressive work within a design space bounded by technology, team skillsets and cultural references
In summaryThe demoscene is about creating impressive work within a design space bounded by technology, team skillsets and cultural references
Tools, self-developed or heavily appropriated, play a key role in opening up technologically complex design spaces for multidisciplinary experimentation
In summaryThe demoscene is about creating impressive work within a design space bounded by technology, team skillsets and cultural references
Tools, self-developed or heavily appropriated, play a key role in opening up technologically complex design spaces for multidisciplinary experimentation
Tools are increasingly distributed freely, meaning that the demoscene is advancing its own identity and technological capacity
Thanks!
Thanks!