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 nbhansen@cavi.au.dk

Mogens Skjold Overbeck (LNS^DUB^FD^TRSAC) mogens.overbeck@gmail.com

How digital tools develop, sustain and transform the demo scene

Nicolai Brodersen Hansen, Aarhus University^DUB^TRSAC nbhansen@cavi.au.dk

Mogens Skjold Overbeck (LNS^DUB^FD^TRSAC) mogens.overbeck@gmail.com

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!