|
Every few years, I go on a demoscene kick and watch a ton of them like the massive nerd I am. So why not watch some with me? Post your favorite awesome or hilariously bad demo, talk about how everyone has horrible taste in music, or just chill out to some trippy visuals (mind-altering drugs optional). FAQ: Post your favorite what now? Demos. Like game demos? No. These are non-interactive real-time CG short videos. You can think of them kind of like a screensaver that only lasts a few minutes. Why would anyone make that? Demos are what happens when a bunch of coders, artists and musicians get together and decide to have a pissing contest to see who can the most impressive real-time CG video. Some people just try to make something cool, and others put artificial limitations on themselves, such as making it fit into a small size (64k is common) or run on obsolete or limited hardware (You still have that Amega in your basement, right?). It's just as nerdy as it sounds. For some reason, I care about the history of why this is a thing. Good news! Wikipedia has you covered. Okay, people make these things. Why would I want to watch them? Are you one of those people that can stare at a screensaver or Winamp visualization for an hour? Do you feel most art isn't enough like a music video? Are you a hipster looking for something that never has been, and never will be cool so you can lord over all your friends and acquaintances about how obscure and ironic you are? Do you want an excuse to use your high end graphics card for something other than video games, but have no interest in farming Bitcoins or helping cure cancer? Demos might be for you! (You should probably help cure cancer, anyways.) I'm tentatively interested. How do I find some? Go to http://www.pouet.net/ and start looking around. You can sort by likes or popularity to check out the well known ones, or just start downloading things at random. Be sure to filter by platforms you can actually run on, unless you just want to watch the prerendered videos. This is cool, but I have a computer from 1995 and/or don't feel comfortable downloading and running some random program. Most demos have Youtube videos uploaded that you can watch instead. They're linked right below the download on Pouet. For some reason, I still prefer downloading and running them myself, though. Some examples to get us started: The Popular Demo - Aptly named, this is one of the most popular demos ever. A little dated by now, but still catchy as gently caress. Debris - The current most popular demo on Pouet, and made by the same group as The Popular Demo. It's good; watch it. The Timeless - Someone managed to fit this in 64kB. Think about that for a second. 5 Faces - Real-time raytracing. If you know what that is, I don't have to explain why it's impressive. If not, just take my word for it. Ziphead - There's nothing particularly impressive about this from a technical standpoint. I just really like it. There are literally tens of thousands of these things on Pouet, so those examples barely scratch the surface. You can lose hours just downloading and watching these, trust me.
|
#
?
Jul 4, 2015 02:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 01:41 |
|
|
https://youtu.be/89wq5EoXy-0 State of the Art (Amiga) - great music and DIY mocap. https://youtu.be/XezcZVu66QI Second Reality (PC) - still the mother of all PC demos.
|
|
#
?
Jul 4, 2015 06:54
|
|
|
Laserjet 4P posted:https://youtu.be/89wq5EoXy-0 Just to drive home the point on why this is impressive, it ran on the original Amiga graphics chip (OCS), which came out in 1985. If you're willing to go to the fully upgraded Amiga graphics chipset (AGA), you can do crazy poo poo like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDlWHqzSTg The AGA first appeared on the Amiga 4000, which came out in 1992. 
KillHour has a new favorite as of 04:03 on Jul 11, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2015 04:01
|
|
|
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxYKDHR0B6w I miss Blockparty Also, does Ultrascheisse count? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0VmjVwBh38
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2015 06:47
|
|
|
Mention needs to be made of .kkreiger. It's not a demo as such, but relies on a lot of the design philosophy that ultra-compact demos use - particularly with regards to ultra-optimised procedural generation. Download it, and run as admin in XP SP2 compatibility mode. A fully-playable FPS with multiple enemy types, multiple weapon types, a massive level, and frankly remarkable lighting and graphics for a 96kb package.
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2015 14:50
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 01:41 |
|
|
A few modern ones I like: Intrinsic Gravity on We Stand Divided Oniria
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2015 17:16
|
|