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2015 - Demos in Brief
After the many triumphs and highlights of 2014, we were not sure how events in the year 2015 were going to be able to follow that. At the time of writing this first draught (September 2015), we now have a better idea, and the news has been pretty good, if not quite (yet) at the heights of what came before.
(Subject to final confirmation on final draft) One thing which was causing some uncertainty in the longer term, has now been resolved. There is to be a return of the Sillyventure Party, as a mid summer event in July 2016. This is great news that we are all delighted to hear.
Coming back on topic to 2015, there has been a steady flow of releases, mostly at different parties. Even one or two without any party attached. Checkpoint have been busy, with three proper releases, and the odd invite intro. The Sommarhack party was particularly fruitful, with a return to form of one of the big groups, The Dead Hackers Society, but with a slew of other good productions to go alongside that. Gratifyingly, 2015 has not been a desert for new releases, and has managed a more even spread of new productions, rather than saving up most of them for the year end, which is what happened last year. (Not that I'm complaining, mind!)
There is still the remaining four months of this year to contemplate, along with the STNICCC 25th anniversary party, which will surely attract some winning code and audio visual mayhem on various Atari machines? With STNICCC still to come, and maybe one or two more surprise releases before then, we should end 2015 with a lower but still satisfactory level of activity than last year.
(Trend activity to adjust at completion of article, so far, looks like the Atari STE is dominant for major releases. The Falcon, after last year's recovery, has dropped off again, but has compensating activity in game engine and game releases.)
Final Update from the point of view of 2016! - It appears that STNICCC went and broke its own records for predicted releases. We didn't just get more than the three or four expected demos, but over a dozen new demos.
Better still, a lot of these were from people who hadn't been around, such as Sync, Cream and a genre-defining STE demo from Oxygene. Not to mention that Doug Little under the Pixel Twins banner finally released something that melts a stock Falcon 030's innards.
Still, we will find a way of saying more about these in a future publication. But it is safe to say that 2015 was another GREAT year!
Checkpoint - ATM 10 Years - Atari STE - No party
It's Checkpoint again, they're doing something that is 'not released at a party'. They're also breaking new(ish) ground with an STE release only, or STE with Falcon compatibility. Defjam/lsl gets his coding skills on to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the ATM label in a dancy-dancy fashion.
There's something to do with data streaming, so an UltraSatan or other hard drive is compulsory. Otherwise it is a mixture of classic Nine Fingers/Techno Drugs/Lost Blubb type thrills and sensations, along with some of his trademark 3D vector line coolness and a morphing 3D Fuji logo at the end.
It was apparently written 'in a week', but I seem to remember a conversation with Defjam at Sillyventure 2014, where he discussed recording video footage of some dancers. Some of this may relate to an earlier/later release though.
Rating:- 75% - Another classic winner for 'rave style' demos.
Checkpoint - Sommarhack 2015 invite - Atari ST - Outline 2015
Outline 2015 had a fairly thin set of releases this time around. One of these came courtesy of the hyperactive group Checkpoint, and their *other* coding member, SPKR.
This one is more traditional and low key in approach. The style could be described as French inspired, with effects taking place in the background, nice subdued pastel colours, and a bright and cheerful chippy tune.
Sure, it's not going to redefine the Atari scene as we know it, but it does the job.
Rating:- 65% - Nothing special, but a nice presentation.
Reboot - Cloudy with a Chance of Metaballs - Jaguar - Outline 2015
Elsewhere, another release for Outline 2015 from a completely unexpected direction. There's a new development system in town for the Jaguar console. This is 'Raptor BASIC'. It is apparently "An incredible amount of fun to play around with in exactly the same way STOS never was, but how I always wished it was." The author of that quote, sh3, went on to make this demo, based on his early fiddling around with this new tool.
The end result? Not Ba-a-a-a-ad!
There's a mixture of styles and techniques for the different parts. This is a first time out, but is hinting that the Jag, via Raptor BASIC, is capable of some very deep and interesting stuff.
I hope there are more releases from sh3, and via the medium of Raptor BASIC in general.
Rating:- 75% - A motivational thumb, there's some reasonable stuff there.
NoExtra - Smoketown - Atari STE - VIP 2015
NoExtra are the sort of crew that seem to drop out of sight for ages, but then they're back with a new release as if they hadn't been away. These releases have a definite lineage, being old school inspired, with French design and presentation skills in abundance.
This year's VIP release is no exception, but there is evolution underway, with a hybrid STE YM/Digi channel tune and ever more polished effects. They don't seem to tax the hardware like some other crews prefer to do. In fact, they make it look easy (as a Sunday morning?)
The end result is pleasant to watch.
Rating:- 70% - A solid addition to a catalogue from a solid crew.
DHS - Sea of Colour - Atari STE - Sommarhack
Now what can I say about this?
The Dead Hackers Society are back in force, after a low key presence for the last few years. This is their best attempt yet at breaking the limits on an Atari STE. This one could be properly mistaken for a Falcon 030 demo, if the viewer wasn't told otherwise before.
Like the other bigger DHS demos, you will need a hard drive and a fully memory fattened STE. But this is well worth the admission price. Read more about this stunning release in our separate and more detailed review elsewhere in this issue.
Rating:- 96% - This one could be the demo of the year!
Pulse - Checkpoint - Atari STE - Sommarhack
This hyperactive crew are back, being the runaway favourite for the strongest demo group of 2015. Amazingly, the coding skills of Defjam/lsl are left untouched again, as SPKR is called to the front to give his best.
The fact that he succeeded is reflected in the fact that this was only just beaten into second place by the superlative 'Sea of Colours' (Above) at the Sommerhack 2015 party.
This demo confirms that SPKR as a coder cannot be considered 'second string' any more and mOdmate is there too. There is also a lot owed to the design skills of all involved. Getting Ukko and mOdmate on board for the graphics was a winning move, with 505 doing what comes naturally to him with the music. The style is bright. There are some proper stand-out technical achievements, such as the triple section tunnel swapping in and out of the screen. The pacing is smart and dynamic and doesn't hang about on one part overlong. Best of all, for many people, it runs on a standard STFM, albeit one needing 2 MB of memory.
Rating:- 90% - This would have made Sommerhack special, even without 'Sea of Colour' being there.
Rebirth - Cybernetics - Atari STE - Sommarhack
The Sommerhack awesomeness simply does not stop coming this year. Now we have a 'Rebirth', courtesy of a long absent crew Cybernetics.
This can be very loosely described as something you might do to make an Atari STE into a 'sound to light' machine. The demo features the track "Dualis" by Anthony Rother from the album Hacker. The visuals to complement this slow building Electro-funk tune are trippy and fast flowing. There is an interesting interlude in the middle, where a gallery of static pictures, using a variant of Anima's palette swopping technique for more colours onscreen are displayed.
It does need an STE, but the sound routine or sound capture seems to be a little bit noisy in the quieter parts? Still, you're along for the ride and don't notice this for long. The other idiosyncrasy, for the initial party release version, was its requirement for two floppy drives connected to one STE. Easy enough for emulators, not so much for most owners of real hardware?
Still, this was made useable on hard drives slightly later on, so not an issue in the end.
Rating:- 80% - Now it's been made accessible to hard disk owners by GGN, definitely recommended.
Noice - CheckerPlasma - Atari ST - Sommarhack
Noice are better known as purveyors of quality productions on various 8-Bit platforms. There's a fair bit of the elder Commodore there. The Atari VCS is a common host, I even remember they did something on a Sinclair ZX81!
Now they bring their brand of demo fun to the Atari ST in just 12 kilobytes with CheckerPlasma. This is variations on a single screen, with a checkerboard and various forms of plasma doing their thing over the top of this.
The design and presentation is a superior form of their 8-bit heritage. There isn't really too much else you need to say.
Rating:- 75% - Twelve kilobytes well spent! As someone once said.
Dekadence - Hammarsock - Atari ST - Sommarhack
But it's not just about the big productions here, as Britelite takes a break from coding the bejeezus out of various 68060 platforms, to come back to the roots, in a humble 4ktro on the humble Atari ST.
There are a couple of effects, tightly coded, with a nice scroll text. It's nothing really special, but it is pretty decent still.
Rating:- 70% - Not a limit smasher, but a little smasher!
Vulkteamet - Bacon - Atari ST - Sommarhack
Bringing up the rear is this little production. It' s a great way to use red and white plasma. The sentiment is pure poetry.
bacon you taste so good now you're bacon I love you baconNow beat that if you can, Poetry Corner!
Rating:- 60% - A minor but fun production.
Checkpoint - Thunderdome, Making of - Atari STE - Evoke
And there's still no stopping the man-machine that is the Checkpoint crew!
This one is a melange of cut scenes and coders notes and work in progress pictures, cut to a fast and insistent soundtrack. It was a pleasant surprise to see this on the video stream from the Evoke party, being totally unexpected. At the same time, some might say this is a very 'eco conscious' demo being very careful with its recycling!
We are really looking forward to the next steps from Defjam/lsl, perhaps the next Suretrip demo, perhaps something else entirely different?
Rating:- 80% - It's like a remix of Thunderdome with the ATM demo!
Lamers - Satan Stole my Atari - Atari STE - Riverwash Party
We are now hearing from a crew who helped to make Sillyventure special. Especially with the definitive 'Cyberpunk' demo for the Atari XL in 2014. We also remember their second place STE demo at the same party, 'Takeover'. With the lull in Sillyventure activity, we feared for their loss from the Atari ST scene.
However, with this demo at the Riverwash party, they are back and we are reassured they are not going away!
Lamers are very strong on their 'thematic elements'. Indeed it turns out that Satan did steal their Atari, but left behind some smoky and sulphurous demo code. There is a crazy texture tunnel and marching cubes in there. The only quibble I've got is the suddenly running out of things minute and three quarters run time. Another minute or so at the same quality and this would have been perfection.
Hopefully we will see more of these fine people in 2016?
Rating:- 85% - Over and done far too quickly!
Mr Styckx Hatari 1.9 intro - No Party - Atari STE
Something old (the code, the original version of the intro dates from 1991), something new (Hatari 1.9), something borrowed (Shadow of the Beast Graphics), something blue (Mad Max tune).
It's a little screen celebrating the release of the Hatari emulator. This is now in its 1.9 version, including a load of new features such as proper 68030 emulation, fastRAM and a prototype 68060 mode. Hatari 1.9 is getting a review elsewhere.
The intro stands on its own as a pleasant if non consequential diversion. Perhaps some original code and new graphics and music could have filled this space, but this will do to be going on with.
Rating:- 60% - It is something old at heart.
XIA and Acca - Temporary Insanity - Atari STE - GCCWDDII 2015
This totally unexpected thing emerged in early November, along with a number of other entries from the grandiosely titled 'Global Convention of Demo Developers International Inc.' There is no record of this party having a physical presence, indeed some say that it exists solely in the minds of a small select handful of people?
This first placed entry from Xia and Acca takes the brief of '1 bit graphics and music' fairly faithfully. A sneaky series of short educational films in 1 bit pixels are shown. These seem to be taken from very olden times, even from before the sign that said 'Hollywood' had been built. Add in a strong and confident soundtrack from Xia, and his unique take on the flow and direction of the demo and you have another winner.
This concludes quickly, in around 1 minute and 30 seconds. It gets the job done.
Rating:- 75% - For a short and not too serious production, rather well made.
Masters of Electric City - Uncomplicated - Atari ST - GCCWDDII 2015
The second placed entry features a welcome return from the Masters of Electric City. They have a reputation for coming up with challenging new screen modes and unforeseen ways of pixel displaying on a stock ST. This time is no different, as they ask you consider what would happen if they coded a demo for a green screen machine.
So we get a glimpse into a world where a MC68000 CPU has been shotgun wedded to an Amstrad CPC 464 with the green screen. It works. The effects are competent, the music is harsh, but that suits the mood. It comes in somewhere under two minutes and serves as a useful lifeline for Masters of Electric City to maintain their presence on the Atari ST.
Rating:- 65% - Effectively and most firmly sticks to the 1 bit brief.
KUA Software - Sweetness Follows - Atari ST - GCCWDDII 2015
This one gets as close to 'art' in its purest sense as a demo can get.
Understated 1-bitplane effects are accompanied by perfectly syncronised music from one of the best zik composers there ever was. Namely one Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky! It's top marks to GGN and the famous Russian for something completely unexpected.
Rating:- 80% - A demo for classical music fans!
Ghost/Phalanx - Fuck Cancer - Atari STE - GCCWDDII 2015
A blast of old school niceness from a group which last offered up code a quarter of a century ago! This one is a short but sweet single screener, apart from an end part. A huge scrolling and flipping text moves from side to side, whilst stylised skulls and other graphics interact semi-transparently.
This is a proper old school demo, but with full screen STE goodness and a high quality sampled soundtrack from Xia. Some considered on first glance, that this was an updated Java remake of an original screen. Which says all you need to know about the coders and the STE as a platform.
Rating:- 80% - An effortless update of classic effects.
Spice Boys - Remote Entry 2.23 - Atari ST - GCCWDDII 2015
And finally, an ominous "WE ARE BACK!" belches forth from the screen, as a reappearance of everyone's favourite fictional group is next.
They belie their fakeness with some screens that aren't too bad. A decent variety of effects are packed into the 1 minute 20 second run time, including a guest appearance from 'Old Blue Eyes' at the end. The 1 Bit rule is sort of respected, then discarded.
Rating:- 75% - These boys are on to something, but I'm not sure what?
CiH, For Maggie 25th Anniversary, various in 2015..