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'Tere Ra'i'
By Dune, Cerebral Vortex and Sector One
Just very very occasionally, there is a demo that reaffirms your faith in the whole artform. A production that is cherished for all time. A epic that resonates down the months and years afterwards. This is such a demo.
I had my first encounter with this demo at the Sillyventure 2014 party. It was a wild and exciting night. Many productions had already been shown, with many more still to come, but this one grabbed me and convinced me that it was the champion for that whole evening.
Tere Ra'i is about a journey, one of the most versatile narrative devices there is, and very suitable for this demo. We get to re-meet the little 'Native guy made out of Minecraft blocks' who featured in the Falcon 2014 party invite. He's the lucky traveller going on that journey.
Cut to a gorgeous still picture of hi-tech Easter Island figures, as the demo titles spark into life. Go deeper inside a vast hangar complex, where a spaceship awaits. This lifts off with a fully realised 3D air of "I could be in a game!" and flies away.
Flies out of the mouth of technological Easter Island statue, and across a beautifully realised voxel mountainscape that does not have a single out of place colour in it. This too is shouting "I could be in a game if you want!"
Gaining height, then a brooding galaxy confronts the spaceship, stars rush by, some of them crystalline and very large indeed, then suddenly we're in hyperspace. Various planetary objects bob in and out of an otherwise familiar looking tunnel, but you sense that the spaceship and its pilot are never really in danger. Emerging from the other end into an asteroid field! The boulders are detailed and scale up towards the viewer, "I really fancy letting rip with a laser!" yells the frustrated pilot. There is no laser, he has to sit and take it.
But a red planet swims into view, fills the horizon, and the little craft starts its descent. The music changes.
There is a little bit more voxel mountain to fly through. This one is red and desert like but still very tastefully done. Very soon, an Aztec style stepped pyramid flashes up. This appears to have been patiently waiting, as a massive beam of light bursts from the top, grabbing the little spaceship to bring inside.
A rickety rope bridge, in an ornate stone chamber, leads to an ornate passage. The little guy is shown again, walking in a 3-D-ish manner, along a corridor with a slight parallax floor. On the walls are the names and greetings of past Atarian fellow travellers. This is one of the best greets screens of any demo, perhaps only beaten by the never to be exceeded effort in 'EKO System'.
A final pair of doors open, and we're in the inner chamber, with golden robot buddha who has the secret of life in their bowl!
And that is a good point to end this journey.
So why is this demo such a hit? There is better code elsewhere, there are more appealing 3-D objects. The secret seems to be in the combination of all the elements, and overall presentation. Tere Ra'i is polished from start to finish. There aren't any awkward bits, screens or effects that were thrown in just because they were there or the makers felt morally obliged to. The still artwork is up with the very highest standards, the storyline is easy to follow and works. The effects are tastefully presented without a single lapse to coder colour blindness.
But there is something else still intangible that makes this demo extra- special.
This demo manages to somehow evoke a feeling for a time past. For when the Falcon was still young and had a lot to prove. This would have been a demo that we would have loved to see in 1994. Audiences back then would have been cheering from the rooftops.
Watching it for that first time at Sillyventure 2014 made me feel, just for a short while, as if the following twenty years had still yet to happen.
Which is quite an achievement for something that is done after five and a half minutes.
So Dune, Sector One, and Cerebral Vortex, we at Maggie salute you for making another all time classic!
Ratings..
Graphics:- 92% - I'm a sucker for raytracing and fantasy art executed by the French demoscene. Also some lovely sprite work and good colour choices with the effects.
Sound:- 86% - Two soundtracks, both of them evocative and well chosen.
Gee-Whiz:- 90% - Marked not so much for code, but the exquisite combination of this with the graphics and sound above.
Overall:- 95% - This is like a sublime dream, captured and given life in pixels and code.
CiH - For Maggie, June 2015.