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ÄÄ´ This text comes from IMPHOBIA Issue XII - July 1996 ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
NAID 96 DEMO REVIEW
Allright, another edition of the North
American International Demoparty has
passed, and with it a new set of compo
entries. There were 17 demos entered
this year, plus one shown that was
entered too late. This fairly high
number wouldn't have been possible if
they didn't extend the demo entry
deadline from 6pm to midnight on
Saturday. While some of these took
months of effort, many others were
kludged in a few days.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ Name : Trans Cheddar Express³
: Group : Da Cheez Brigade :
³ Country : Canada ³
ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´
³ Snd Support : GUS and nosound ³
: Size (unzip): 3695Kb :
: Release Date: 06.09.96 :
³ Rank : First Place ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
DCB released a "preview" of their NAID
'96 demo, which threw everyone off
guard with its humorously poor
quality. Following their 2nd place
demo from last year (still unreleased)
these guys blew the crowd away with
this year's entry!
TCE starts out with someone moaning
"oohh, DCB!", then enters the first
scene, a 3D texture mapped space
colony reminiscent of the scenes from
the Saturne 96 demos "Contrast" and
"Bomb". The lighting changes when the
camera moves in and out of the sphere
surrounding the "city", very cool. The
next effect is 3D B-splines which form
twisted torus-like shapes in various
colors. The third effect got the NAID
crowd's attention. A 3D mech walks
around, causing each of its footsteps
to shake the ground to the beat of the
music. Following this is translucent
"ultratextures", a cube with holes of
light pouring through and circling
around, gas flow, and a dual-layered
spinning textured tunnel.
Pros: The effects, of course! But what
can you expect, Snibble/DCB is from
France :). Also, the music by Vip is
very good.
Cons: Not much in "graphics", and the
effects themselves last on the screen
for a long time with little transition
Overall: If you have ever doubted the
coding ability of North America, get
this demo and your mind will be
changed.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ Name : Infinity ³
: Group : Craw Productions :
³ Country : Canada ³
ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´
³ Snd Support : GUS, SB and no sound ³
: Size (unzip): 1606Kb :
: Release Date: 06.13.96 :
³ Rank : Second Place ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This was another group attemping to
follow up on their NAID demo from last
year. Craw Productions is still a two-
man group, LakEEE and PsychoMan. Infi-
nity is another thematic piece, with
each part based upon the concept of,
you got it, infinite things. Actually,
it's hard to say "part", because each
effect somehow transitions to the next
without break.
There are many effects, so I will just
try to list the highlights without re-
membering the order. The whole demo is
in black and white (like Eden by PM)
with some red accents in various
places. The first object of the demo
is a moebius strip. There is also an
hourglass and a vector "clock". One
cool object scene is a platform spin-
ning around, with an "infinite" number
of insects walking on the top surface
of it. There are other various throws
to the theme too, like looping code,
pi, and of course, tunnels. But,
except possibly the intro, each one
moves on to another before getting
boring. Infinity managed to accomplish
more, really, in 800k zipped than many
of the NAID96 demos did in twice that
size.
Pros: Excellent design and transitions
of course. Fairly smooth/efficient
coding.
Cons: Some people may be unimpressed
with the "effects" that are basically
just text. Also, while the music is
better than in Opticron, it loses its
impact toward the end of the demo.
Overall: A big improvement over the
"thematic" demo of NAID'95 which took
first place. Maybe not a shocker
effect-wise, still, but it will defi-
nitely keep you interested this time
around.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ Name : Explicit ³
: Group : Hornet/OTM :
³ Country : USA ³
ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´
³ Snd Support : GUS, SB, and PAS ³
: Size (unzip): 2972Kb :
: Release Date: (not yet released) :
³ Rank : Third place ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This demo is a joint effort between
Trixter & Stony/Hornet and Phred & Tek
/OTM, both American-based groups. It
starts out with some familiar 3D, like
a bouncing duck, transparent torii and
a school of large transparent "phish".
It also has a juliamorph refracted
through a 3D object. A cool "history"
chart scrolls by, with different kinds
of objects made over the years. This
is followed by "HTV", with video
sequences of people (from "The Grind")
dancing in beat to the music, also
with multiple video cubes moving
around and a large motion blurred
video cube following those. The compo
version ends here: hopefully the final
one will have more although the demo
is already compressed into almost 3MB.
Pros: Nice music by Tek, kind of demo-
funk-techno thats worked well in Euro-
pean demos. The video stuff by Trixter
is cool, hopefully we'll see more of
it in Grind Player v2.0? :) Nice tex-
tures, the backgrounds in the object
parts keep it interesting.
Cons: The end pic by Stony is screa-
ming to have greets or something
placed to the left of it. Also, ducks
and donuts are getting kinda old, guys
c'mon. :)
Overall: Very nice for a first demo by
the hardest working scene group out
there. And you thought they just made
a newsletter and sold CDs.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ Name : Arise ³
: Group : Beyond :
³ Country : USA ³
ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´
³ Snd Support : GUS, SB, PAS & no snd³
: Size (unzip): 2761Kb :
: Release Date: 06.05.96 :
³ Rank : Fourth place ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This five-man group from the Chicago
area was formed mostly from Pure Resi-
stance. Their debut demo at NAID is in
SVGA, VBE2.0 is recommended (UnivBE 5.
1 will do nicely). It features many 3D
objects like a weird, colorful lizard-
creature and a nice phong env-mapped
flying beast. There is also a textured
tunnel with a wavy object inside, and
rippled 2D.
Pros: Nice colors, good design, plus
good music by Freejack.
Cons: Not much variation in effects,
quite slow on a 486 (although with its
640x480 mode this is excusable).
Overall: This group has a LOT of
potential. It's great to see this kind
of skill coming from midwest American
college students.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ Name : Dream Cycle ³
: Group : Vertigo :
³ Country : Guatemala ³
ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´
³ Snd Support : GUS and ?? ³
: Size (unzip): 1336Kb :
: Release Date: 06.05.96 :
³ Rank : Sixth place ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
Yes, I couldn't believe it either when
I read the info file. If they still
live there, then this is the first
group from Central America to enter a
demo compo (with one Spanish member).
The demo features many non-vector ef-
fects, like text rippling in water,
landscapes, tunnels, and motion
blurring.
Pros: Original effects and managing to
make a 2D-only demo without spinning
plasma. :)
Cons: This demo is VERY slow on any-
thing less than a Pentium. The music
is rather awful as well.
Overall: Well, I wouldn't have ranked
this demo as high as 6th place myself,
but it's unique, and that was the
group's goal.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ Name : Emergency ³
: Group : The Surrounders :
³ Country : Canada ³
ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´
³ Snd Support : GUS and no sound ³
: Size (unzip): 2744Kb :
: Release Date: 06.10.96 :
³ Rank : Seventh place ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This Quebec group returns after their
somewhat unknown demo from NAID'95,
"Dark Purpose". A lot of time was
spent planning "Emergency" for this
year's compo, but did it pay off? The
demo starts off in a Warp/2nd Reality-
esque manner, with stars and ships
flying around planets. It then has
some effects such as warping, poly-
landscape, and curving texture tunnel.
The ending has a humorous twist
(spoiler, stop reading if you want to
be surprised! :) A fake Windows 95
session starts, showing a bomb count-
down. The "user" tries to deactivate
it with one of the programs, but a GPF
occurs, and the city is smothered in a
red blast. And that's the end of the
demo.
"Emergency" features Dolby surround
sound, but a 1024k GUS is required for
it. Actually, a 1024k GUS is required
for the demo to run anyway, I found
out. If you do not have one, you can
run "emerg nosound" and the demo will
run without music (a little less exci-
ting).
Pros: Good music, well orchestrated
and fits the demo. Good storyline.
Cons: The effects in the demo are
rather outdated.
Overall: This is a pretty good produc-
tion, although maybe not so much for
several months work. Check it out if
you have the time.
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ Name : The Lynch ³
: Group : Nuclear Meltdown :
³ Country : USA ³
ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´
³ Snd Support : GUS, SB and no sound ³
: Size (unzip): 950Kb :
: Release Date: 06.07.96 :
³ Rank : Eighth place ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
This demo was pratically complete
almost a year ago, but it still
brought a smile to the NAID'96 crowd's
faces. It's about an American "lamer"
who codes a QBasic scroller demo, and
uploads it to ftp.cdrom.com. An
"elite" Finnish scener gets the demo,
watches it, and reports it to the
"demo council", who declares its coder
"guilty" and goes on a "lynch bus
trip" to America to deliver the
punishment. The Lynch had Necros/FM,
one of the demo judges, cracking up,
so maybe it'll work on you too. :)
Pros: The funny storyline, and the
screens showed during it. But they
didn't get too goofy; the demo is put
together nicely.
Cons: Well, it's hard to find faults
with a non-serious demo. Better drawn
gfx, maybe? I can't say... Oh yeah,
the Finnish flag should be blue on
white, not vice versa. :)
Overall: Another successful demo-with-
a-theme, which shows you don't always
need amazing effects to please people.
- - - - - - - - - - -
There were a few good entries that
weren't even entered (because they
were too late or didn't work on the
compo machine), such as "Pill" by
Opiate, "Babylon" by Psychic Monks and
"Signal" by Satire/USED. Hopefully
these will all be released later.
That wraps up the reviews. You can
find these demos at ftp.cdrom.com, in
/pub/demos/alpha/1996/(first letter)/,
or /pub/demos/incoming/NAID96/demo or
ftp.arosnet.se/demo/demo/NAID96/demos,
if it's not too late.
- Phoenix[Hornet/Kosmic]
(phoenix@kosmic.org)