Ghosts of Demos Past: The Archive

Chapter II

Archives and collections have been a part of demoscene culture from the very beginning. They were not curated or well-organized collections by any means, but rather loose assortments of demos hosted on BBSs, available for download by sceners. These collections were identity-forming for demo groups, as only a select audience had access to them.

Whispers of Lost Archives

In parallel to BBSs, demos in the 1980s became a mainstay of Public Domain (PD) libraries. These were collections of copyright-free software programmed by hobbyists, which could be copied by interested parties for a small fee. They were run by volunteers in computer clubs and independent computer stores. Interested users could visit these locations and bring blank disks to copy the software. Other shareware libraries were run for profit and would mail the disks for a slightly higher fee, though still far below the cost of commercial software.

Commodore introduced the Amiga 570 single-speed CD-ROM drive in 1990, as the CD-ROM began to gain traction as a medium for large volumes of data. PD and shareware libraries started to compile their collections on CD-ROMs and sell them. While the price was much higher, a CD-ROM could hold up to a thousand times more data than a floppy disk, though this capacity varied between computer systems.

In 1991, Commodore produced a CD-only version of the Amiga called the CDTV. It was an expensive and confusing product, designed to resemble a living room entertainment system more than a desktop computer, and ultimately became a commercial failure. However, during this period, Commodore fully supported the CD-ROM, which was the perfect medium for demo collections, and by then, there were enough demos to fill multiple CD-ROMs. In 1992, the Hornet archive was established at ftp.cdrom.com, becoming the first demo site to use the File Transfer Protocol (FTP). The archive still exists today as part of the Internet Archive.

When the World Wide Web became widely available to computer users, the Amiga Mosaic was one of the earliest ports of the original web browser. The demoscene quickly adopted the web as a means of presenting their collections early on.

demozoo.org (screenshot)

The Largest Archives of the Demoscene

The demoscene's "memory" is preserved by pouet.net and demozoo.org. Both platforms list and archive modern demos, as well as historic and "old-school" productions on legacy systems like the Commodore 64, the Commodore Amiga, and many others.

Pouet.net functions more as a social platform for sceners, but it also catalogs demos, providing creation dates and detailed information about the demos. demozoo.org, on the other hand, is a more modern and evolving archive. It is becoming the comprehensive database of demos and other productions created by sceners at demoparties, including graphics, music, and videos. Demozoo focuses on structured metadata and the preservation of the demos themselves. Both sites are essential to the demoscene and its history. Additionally, there is scene.org, which hosts demos and other files. It also provides a single-sign-on solution by offering users their SceneID across all affiliated sites.

While these large archives cover a variety of machines, there are also web archives dedicated to individual computer systems. For instance, sites like c64.ch and intros.c64.org focus specifically on the Commodore 64.

pouet.net (screenshot)

In the late 1990s, the Amiga Demoscene Archive (A.D.A.) was established at ada.untergrund.net as a demo archive dedicated to the iconic Commodore Amiga. A.D.A. is the focus of this essay's archive and collection analysis.

The seminar by Gasman and Menace about building Demozoo.org as the next-gen archive of the demoscene. Held at Revision 2013 in Saarbrücken, Germany.

Capture, Render, Dispatch: ada.untergrund.net

Despite their differences, demo archives share many common features. They typically have a web-based interface that lists demos by various categories and provides an on-site search function. Individual demo entries often include short text descriptions and screenshots of key sequences from the demo. Initially, demo archives provided executable files for download so users could run them on the original hardware. With the rise of video hosting platforms, particularly YouTube and Google Video (before it merged with YouTube), many archives now link to video captures of demos hosted on these services.

The Amiga Demoscene Archive shares many similarities with other demo archives, but it does not have full feature parity. In this section, we will analyze A.D.A., describe its components, and compare its features with those of other archives.

ADA is available at ada.untergrund.net. Its mission is the preservation and archiving of Amiga demos, as well as providing a forum for Amiga enthusiasts.

A.D.A. is dedicated to the scene around the Commodore Amiga (Source: Wikipedia)

The Technology of A.D.A.

A.D.A. appears to be a custom design. The tech stack is most likely Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP (LAMP), with a web frontend and a PHP backend pulling data from a MySQL database, and running an off-the-shelf forum system. It is hosted on untergrund.net, a donation-financed hosting service dedicated to the demoscene.

Other sites hosted on untergrund include the retro chip music site http://www.chiptune.com, the ZX Spectrum demo archive https://www.zxaaa.net, the archive of diskmags dedicated to the Commodore 64 at http://c64mags.untergrund.net, and, of course, A.D.A.

Structure

A.D.A. at http://ada.untergrund.net has a relatively flat and user-friendly structure. The frontpage links to the main sections:

• Demos: Links to the individual demo productions and their descriptions.
• Logos: Links to the logos of demo groups and sceners.
• Parties: Lists the demo parties and the years they were held.
• Sceners: Lists demo creators, coders, graphicians and musicians.
• Charts: The most popular demos with the most votes.
• Comments: The most recent user comments left for demo productions.
• Forum: The board for users to discuss any topic related to the Amiga and demos as well as unrelated topics.
• Infos: Information about the site and the main contacts.

The structure of the Amiga Demoscene Archive

A.D.A. is closely affiliated with the main demoscene website, scene.org, which serves as a focal point for the global demoscene. The user ID created for scene.org can be linked to the user account at A.D.A. Logged-in users can upvote and comment on demos, upload screenshots and descriptions, and join discussions in the forum (more about scene.org in chapter III).

At first glance, the design of A.D.A. appears somewhat dated, though not overly so. It has a fixed screen width and does not responsively adapt to the width of the viewport (window or screen). However, this can be an advantage when accessing the site on older hardware, such as classic Amigas.

Analysis of A.D.A.'s Sections

This part of the essay describes each section of the website from a functional perspective. We will navigate through the user interface, discussing its purpose, advantages, and shortcomings.

A.D.A. Frontpage

Home: https://ada.untergrund.net

The front page provides navigation to the main sections of A.D.A. Users can log in, register, or connect their A.D.A. ID with their ID on scene.org. The page includes an introductory text about the purpose of A.D.A. The sidebars feature a randomly selected recent entry and a list of the most recently featured demo productions. Links to demos display a thumbnail screenshot, list the name of the demo group, the title of the demo, and the year it was released. The main column of the front page shows recently posted comments on demo entries and the most recent topics in the user forum.

Demos Section and Detailed Demos Descriptions

Main demos page: https://ada.untergrund.net/?p=demos
Example of demo details: https://ada.untergrund.net/?p=demo&i=317

The Demos section features a list of demos in alphabetical order, sorted by the name of the demo production. Interestingly, there is no search function for the demos, nor is there a site-wide search available, which is the most striking difference between A.D.A. and other archives.

The only way to search the list of demos is by using the web browser's search function (CTRL + F). Fortunately, filters are provided above the list, allowing users to select the year of release, category, Amiga chipset used (OCS, ECS, or AGA), and filter by the minimum number of votes the demo has received. Above the list, users can click on letters from A to Z to jump to specific sections.

To be fair, combining filters with the browser's search function is actually quite an ingenious solution. It works well if the user knows how to use it. Of course, having an on-site search would be much better, but this solution works sufficiently.

Once a user has found the demo they are interested in, they can click on the name to view a detailed description. Alternatively, they can click on the name of the demo party next to the demo entry to view details about that demo party.

The demo details page provides a short description of the demo and lists its creators and other data, such as the date and the party at which it was created. The page features a gallery of selected screenshots, but these are smaller than the original size, and there is no zoom function. Users can compensate by zooming in on the browser viewport.

At the bottom of the demo details page, users can find a list of related demo productions and comments left by other users.

A download link is provided, though it does not specify the file type—presumably an Amiga disk image containing the executable demo files. Clicking the download link opens a download page for the demo on the scene.org website. However, some of the available download mirrors are deprecated and no longer work.

The lack of a site-wide search function reduces the archive's overall usefulness but can be worked around.

Logos Section and Logo Details Page

Main Logos Page: https://ada.untergrund.net/?p=logos
Example of Logo Details: https://ada.untergrund.net/?p=logo&i=77

The Logos section presents users with a gallery of logos created for demos and demo groups. Clicking on an image opens the logo details, which features a larger version of the logo and the name of its creator. Similar to the Demos section, the information provided is very sparse. There is no description or date of creation, just a list of other logos by the same creator.

Parties Section and Demo Party Details

Main Parties Page: https://ada.untergrund.net/?p=parties
Example of Party Details: https://ada.untergrund.net/?p=party&i=2

The Parties section is the simplest section so far. It features only a list of demo parties, with no search or filter function. Next to each party entry, the archived years in which the party was held are listed. Clicking on the party name opens the demo party details, displaying a list of demo productions created at that specific party.

Sceners Section and Scener Details Page

Main Sceners Page: https://ada.untergrund.net/?p=sceners
Example of Scener Details: https://ada.untergrund.net/?p=scener&i=243

The Sceners section provides details about the creators of the demos. It features a list of aliases/handles of demo coders, musicians, and graphicians, but without their group affiliations. There are no filter functions for category, nor is there a search field. Once again, users must rely on the browser's search function. Clicking on the name of a scener opens a page with details about them.

The scener details page should provide more information about the person, but it only lists the demo productions they contributed to and their role, without offering any further details about the scener themselves, their work methods, or the tools they use.

Discussion Forum and Discussion Threads

Main Forum Topics Overview: https://ada.untergrund.net/?p=board
Specific Topic: https://ada.untergrund.net/?p=boardforums&forum=4
Thread: https://ada.untergrund.net/?p=boardthread&id=1090&page=last

The Forum section features a discussion board where users can discuss topics related to demos and other subjects. The initial page presents the discussion categories. Clicking on a topic opens the discussion threads, with a reference to the most recent user post. Users can view the discussion threads in chronological order.

Clicking on a thread opens the full discussion and all associated posts. Users can ask for help or advice in the forum, and logged-in users can contribute to the discussion threads.

Comments Section and User Comments List

Main Comments Page: https://ada.untergrund.net/?p=comments
Comments on a Demo: https://ada.untergrund.net/?p=demo&i=940

The Comments section lists recent user comments and votes in chronological order.

Clicking on a user's name displays all recent comments left by that user.

Other Pages: Charts and Infos

Charts Page: https://ada.untergrund.net/?p=charts
Infos Page: https://ada.untergrund.net/?p=info

Finally, A.D.A. provides two additional pages. The Charts page lists the most popular demos based on the number of votes, with links to their respective detail pages. The Infos page provides credits for the A.D.A. admins and maintainers, along with information about the site, acknowledgments, and main contacts.

A Lonely Archive

A.D.A. is a comprehensive online repository dedicated to preserving and showcasing demos created for the Amiga computer platform. It offers a curated collection of high-quality Amiga demos, highlighting both classic and modern productions. The archive provides detailed information on each demo, including screenshots, credits, and download links, making it a valuable resource for enthusiasts and historians of the demoscene.

However, it has not been updated in a few years, and its design and tech stack are no longer state-of-the-art, requiring users to use workarounds. The site could benefit from some updates to enhance user experience and accessibility.