<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ______________________________________________________________________________ ==========================INTRODUCTION TO THE DEMOSCENE======================= ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________ A part of the DemoScene Starter Kit by Zippy/unIon_____________ <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The demoscene started in the 80's when some hackers, and crackers started enjoying making cracktro's more than they did cracking programs. They started making them for fun, and after a while they had stopped cracking programs, and gone over to making cracktro's full-time. These soon turned into demos as they demonstrated the power of the computer, and programmer. Old crack-groups started turning into demo-groups, and thus, slowly the demo-scene emerged, as more and more hackers/crackers joined the fun. These are our underground roots, which is the reason that even today the demoscene is slightly underground, allthough perfectly legal. A lot of people are proud of the scene's background, and some are ashamed of it. I don't really mind either way, but I definetely think it should be remembered. The first demos were made for the AppleII, and the C64, then moving on to the Atari ST, and Amiga-machines. Now the IBM-compatible PC has become the largest demo-format (despite it's few registers compared to the Amiga), and there have even been a few demos for RISC-based computers. If you think 3D in demos is something new, you can also think again. The first heavy use of line-vectors was in 1990, and shaded polygons followed a year or two later. This is why a lot of people are tired of vectors in demos. The demoscene started out as an allmost entirely Finnish scene, then growing to become a Scandinavian scene. It later also included an American scene, but they were kind of seperated from the Scandinavians. Today with the Internet becoming so large the scene is world-wide, and is represented, as far as I know in all continents. It is still Europe, and North America that are the biggest parts of the scene. There are a few groups you should know about: Future Crew : These guys made some amazing demos, and really revolutionized the demo-scene, and did a lot to mold it into what it is today, but today they really are little more than just legends, as they haven't released any demo the last five years or so. Check out Unreal. A fantastic demo by FC. EMF: The Electromotive Force, to give them their full name is one of the best groups ever. They were in the same league as the Future Crew, and today they go beyond what I believe the Future Crew could today. They are still going strong, and have had a lot of success at demo-parties. You should get hold of Verses, Caero, and Porno. Three very good productions from EMF. (Caero was EMF/Plant.) A lot of the EMF-people are also members of Plant. Triton: They've also been around as long as the others, and they made the tracker that most demo-scene musicians use today. They released two good demos: Crystal Dreams, and Crystal Dreams II. Today they are involved in the gaming business, and have run into a little legal trouble with GT interactive, according to the rumours. Complex: They've been around for a while, and are among the best groups today. Dope is pretty impressive, but if you want the full experience you will need a GUS for sound. Valhalla: Great group with huge success. They go a long way back, and are still today among the best groups. As opposed to a lot of great groups they are not arrogant, and they don't mind speaking to newbies. Nice guys. :) Check out Visions Of Light, Solstice, and their OS/2 promo-demo. You'll be in for a treat. Hornet: Really good group. Not very many productions, but they are the foundation of the demoscene on the Internet. Without them I do not think the scene would be as international as it is today. Explicit is a cool demo. Psychic Link: Pretty new group, compared to the others I've mentioned here, but they look like they have a chance of being the next revolutionarys. Juice should be seen. C.O.M.A: A good and different demogroup. They've done some really impressive stuff, but to understand why I decided to put them here you have to see their intro Stikman. NOW! Realtech: I'm just really mentioning them becaus I believe they were the first group to use SVGA in a demo. DX project. unIon: The group I'm in! Watch out for us! :) I'm sure there are a few other groups who feel they should be included here, but this is really just meant to be a short introduction to the core and foundation of the scene and what formed it. Well, basically my favourite groups. Give me some good reasons for why someone else should be included, and maybe I'll include them in the next version. But I've probably included to many allready. [EOF]