Demoscene

If you're interested in computer graphics ou may have come across this name in the past. This is a text for the ones who haven't heard it yet.

If you happen to be a gamer, the word "demo" is of course a demonstration of a game. Something that lets you try the gameplay for a while, an interactive limited experience. Well, this is not right. Demos can also be the showcase of a programmer's work or in this case, a technical showoff crafted out of time and love by their makers with the main purpose of making your jaw drop.

Demos started as signatures for cracked software and soon began to gather attention to themselves and now they are separate areas. Who make these things? They are called Demogroups and are composed of a short number of people who spend their free time learning and working together in order to build a piece of non-interactive software. They have several goals, like making the most realistic-looking real-time graphics, creating envolving atmospheres by using graphics and sound, letting their message come through or sometimes just making all of this using the smallest amount of space. This can go as low as 1kb.

There are demos for every platform I can remember. All the gaming consoles, PC, I have even seen 3D demos run on cell-phones!

A lot of people do this to win competitions but there are those who do it just for the fun. The best part of this is the non-commercial attitude. It's refreshing to see something so good be distributed freely online. That's why I can provide you with links so you actually get to see what I'm talking about!

These are some of my favorite demos. (Debris has some problems with AVG Free because of the compression algorytm, so please avoid it if you have it installed. If you have to do this it's too bad because it rocks.)

"1995" by Kewlers
fr-025:the.popular.demo
fr-041: debris
STS-02: Electric Kool-Aid
Gerbera by Moppi Productions
Lifeforce by ASD

Want more? Check Scene.org or Pouet.net.

If you didn't understand yet, this is a great way to learn computer graphics from either the art or the programming side. Most demosceners say they are anti-gamers but deep inside they love them.

And don't forget to come to Breeze Demoparty 2008!


I love Lifeforce.


P.S: Zeroshift, you can has demo: Metal Flirt by Napalm Core