»CL9:»SML:-------------------------------------- »CL8:»BIG:OLD SK00L - WHAT??? »CL9:»SML:-------------------------------------- »CL4: by Curt Cool »CL0:»CL1:Cruisin'». »CL1:THX Sound System». »CL1:Abyss». »CL1:The SymMekka Invitation». »CL1:Lego». »CL1:The German Scene». What is »CL1:Old Sk00l» actually? And what is the purpose of it? I am sure you would like to know, and if not, skip on to the next article. If we look at the »CL1:Abyss» productions we see a tendency to adore the »CL1:old style design» from the years 91-93, we see that »CL1:Pink & Dexter» really love the »CL1:c64,» making an almost perfect c64-like chipcomposing program on the »CL1:Amiga». We see them go back in time to find ideas - or do we, perhaps they are in fact bringing the glory days of 91-93 up to our scene time - because it does not seem as if the »CL1:Old Sk00»l productions are considered out of fashion or behind the trend - in fact the people seem to love them, considering the success of »CL1:Cruisin'» and »CL1:THX». It is not as if people love all productions which are »CL1:Old Sk00l» - some sort of quality in the code, graphics & music is still needed, but yet, the hunger for this kind of productions in favour of trendy photoshop-designed techno-jungle-cum productions makes it a bit easier on the coders. »CL0:We asked »CL1:Pink», »CL1:Dexter» & »CL1:Raw Style» about the story behind Old Sk00l, because we think that you would like to know the story - we sure would! »CL4:Raw Style's Words. »CL5:------------------------------------» As I received your mail, I had to laugh. I couldn't imagine that people are considering the Abyss guys and me as the ones responsible for starting a new trend. In fact, I'm not sure »CL5:if old school is a trend at all», as I don't know much releases from the time after TP7. The first thing I have to tell you is that »CL5:Abyss» and »CL5:Lego» have been developing their old school style on their own. Though we know each other, we usually don't exchange demo and style ideas. To be honest, I don't think that »CL5:Cruisin'» is particularly old-school, as long as you don't consider the end-scroller statements that »CL5:new-school sucks» and people ought to come to »CL5:MS98». I mean, this intro's got design »CL5:(i.e. a background color other than $000 [»CL8:Totally black -ed»])»CL4: and quite up-to-date code and graphics. That's not old school. Whereas when you have a look at the »CL5:MS98 invitation intro», it's IMHO like a hard hit into your face. What do I want to say? »CL5:Old school» is a matter of »CL5:definition». Today's releases will be considered old school in ten years. I define old school as »CL5:making you remember the »CL4:»CL5:days when you were deeply fascinated by the first crack intros you saw», or wondering how the heck this 24 faces glenz vector thing worked (note the avoidance of the term "good old days"). Now, looking back at the paragraph I wrote before, yes, I could call the »CL5:Abyss intro old-school», because it's got very beautiful »CL5:C64-like music.» Back to the »CL5:MS98 invitation» and your question about the story behind old school. This intro had been planned for three months; in that time I tried various old effects, and finally settled on the »CL5:Paranoimia idea». I chose to do an »CL5:old-school intro», because it would best describe the feelings me and other mates have towards »CL5:organizing MS98». Most of use are more grown-up now, and we all have nostalgic feelings when thinking back. I hoped to address people thinking in a similar manner, and get them to come to our party, instead of lamers who would be turned on by a, quoting your lead-in article, "trendy photoshop-designed techno-jungle-cum production". Now let's turn from that philosophical stuff over to the technical aspect. Whether coding gets easier is a matter of the degree to which you implement the old-school aspect in your production. The MS98 invitation is highly concentrated old-school stuff and »CL5:it was no big thing to code», whereas the Abyss »CL4:productions (including THX) certainly are technically more advanced. I think it's possible to maintain a high technical standard while still claiming your production to be old-school, for example by choosing more beautiful »CL5:early 90's demo music» in favour of a trendy »CL5:industrial track», or by choice of black background instead of pastel colours. And don't forget »CL5:long scrollers». I think I'll stop writing here. Thanks again to »CL5:Pink» for the music, and all similarly minded guys out there understanding the old school. »CL0:»CL1:Pink's Words ------------------------------------» We never had the idea to copy the style of demos from the old Amiga days. The fact is that we have used that style »CL1:since our first productions back in 1993». I think the main difference between the »CL1:'oldskool'» design from the early 90s and the recent design in demos is a »CL1:lack of quality». It's a lot easier to create nice looking backgrounds and compose pictures via Photoshop than drawing it by yourself. Composing a tune with harmony and melody is a lot harder than just doing an athmospheric breakbeat song. »CL0:If we use the word 'Old-Skool' in productions like »CL1:CRUISIN» we want to say that we don't want to follow the common trend of copying routines from the pc and showing the same effects again and again without invention. The early Amiga-scene did something wonderful that only happened once before. Like the c64 scene the Amiga scene »CL1:invented an own style». It was not comparable to something in the real world. If you look at recent pc&Amiga demos you have the feeling you are looking to »CL1:something common». Todays graphics in demos are oriented towards the so called techno culture. Also the music is mostly done by unexperienced kids who use a lot of big samples which only needs to be put together to sound like something real (»CL1:MUSIKMAKER» should be the new scene composing tool). Another aspect is the use of given hardware. The design in old Amiga demos were always influenced by the hardware. That added a special look to most productions. On pc (no question, that is the effect-source for most Amiga-demos today) you have a framebuffer and nothing else. Simple things like scrolling and multiple layers (like using sprites on Amiga) are only to achieve when using the CPU a lot. So no pc-coder wants to slow down his effects with such gimmicks and no pc coder can say for sure that his effects run in full framerate. Years back it was an unwritten law on Amiga that »CL1:every effect had to run in 50 frames/s »CL0:(broadcast quality =). All above is a very technical statement about newschool/oldschool. In reality its much more that counts. Years ago I was happy about every new demo from groups like »CL1:Andromeda», »CL1:Sanity», »CL1:Spaceballs», »CL1:Silents», »CL1:Phenomena»,»CL1: PMC» and many more. I was really excited before booting my a500. Today I'm pretty sure about the content of a demo before watching it for the first time... Years ago i tried to catch every single module from demos because they were really well composed. Today I »CL1:turn down the volume when listening to another Aphex Twin rip-off». Old demo graphics looked to me like a special kind of art, drawn pixel for pixel with only 16 or 32 colors. Today i have often a good laugh when i figure out »CL1:which motive was scanned for a fullsize picture» and what Photoshop effect was used to generate that (seen hundred times before) textures. And that Floyd-Steinberg rastered pictures also look very professional in todays Amiga demos.. NOT!... But time changes. Most of the important Amiga people have gone. So who cares?! Probably it´s time for the last of the oldschool-dudes to pass away... »CL5:Editor's words ------------------------------------- »CL4:Please don't pass away dudes - we need YOU to keep the feeling of the old times as close to the scene as possible, creating history once again!