A Fistful of Demos: The Collection

Chapter III

In the previous chapters we have establisched that the Amiga Demoscene Archive (A.D.A.) is dedicated to preserving and showcasing artistic productions created for the Commodore Amiga. An archive is nothing without its collection, so let's take a closer look at the kind of demos you can find in A.D.A. The categories below are all in the "Demos" section of the archive.

Types of Demos in the A.D.A. Collection

Each an example of a demo, a cracktro and an intro from A.D.A.

Demos, Cracktros and Intros

This is the primary category, consisting of demos, cracktros, and intros, ranging in size from 1k, 4k, 16k, 40k, 64k, to 128k. These are executable programs that produce intricate, real-time visual effects synchronized to music on the Amiga. The collection comprehensively covers the first two decades of the Amiga demoscene, featuring iconic productions like State of the Art by Spaceballs, as well as works by the Black Lotus, the Batman Group, and many others. The demos in the collection include 3D animations, abstract patterns, and various graphical effects, often pushing the boundaries of the Amiga hardware. Cracktros are short animations or intros that were included with pirated software releases.

Slideshows

Slideshows are a separate category in the archive, consisting of still images and pixel art created by demoscene artists. These images showcase the artistic talent and creativity of the Amiga community, often featuring detailed illustrations, portraits, and abstract compositions. They are usually either applications that include all the images in one executable or a collection of images that can be viewed individually though a separate viewer.

Musicdisks

These are digital compilations of music tracks, sometimes accompanied by visual effects. They feature original compositions in tracker formats (such as MOD or XM) and may include a custom interface for selecting and playing the tracks. They are often a blend of chiptunes, electronic music, and other styles.

Diskmags

These disk magazines are digital publications distributed on floppy disks or other storage media. Not unlike print magazines they contain articles, reviews, interviews, and news about topics such as the demoscene, technology, gaming, and digital art. Diskmags often included multimedia elements like music, graphics, and animations, offering an interactive experience.

Comment Section on Each Page

The comment section in each entry is of great value. It allows users to share their memories, insights, and knowledge about the demo. This is a great way to crowdsource information about the individual pieces. The comments can be used to correct errors in the metadata, provide additional context, or share personal anecdotes about the work. This makes the comments section a valuable resource for researchers, historians, and enthusiasts who want to learn more about the demo and its creators.

Slowdown of Updates in the Collection

The Amiga Demoscene Archive (A.D.A.) lists 960 archived demos in September 2024. Despite there being multiple demoparties a year where new demos for the Amiga are released, only three new demos were added to the A.D.A. collection for the year 2022. No new demos were added for the years 2023 and 2024. This is a significant slowdown in the rate of updates to the collection.

The A.D.A. collection has 960 demos as of September 2024.

Users have posted messages in the forum asking if they can upload new demos to the archive or help in some way. Yet there has been no response from the maintainers of the archive. This has led to speculation about the future of the Amiga Demoscene Archive and whether it will continue to be updated.

The archive's primary maintainer, Z5, posted in 2020 about the lack of upates:

"Joking aside, it's clear that the site has been pretty much in limbo during the last couple of years and i don't see it changing in the future. There are various reasons for that.""

Something must have gone wrong. Maybe the maintainers had health issues or other personal problems. Maybe they lost interest in the project. Or they simply may have been too busy.

Three demos were added to the A.D.A. collection for 2022 and none for 2023 and 2024.

Other users have also expressed their concerns about the lack of updates to the archive but they do not express any discontent. They are grateful for the work that has been done so far and understand that maintaining an archive is a lot of work.

One example is a user who despite his username, Angry Retired Bastard, wrote a grateful message in the forum:

"I don't feel any entitlement for getting new demos added (and still visit regularly to check in on the forums regardless of that), but it's of course really nice when ever there's an update in the prods section as well. Spend whatever amount of effort on the site you feel OK with and know that a bunch of us are happy it exists. :)"

demozoo.org lists more than 42,000 demo productions for Amiga with the Original and Enhanced Chip Set (OCS/ECS) as well as another 5,300 demos for Amiga with the Advanced Graphics Architecture (AGA). At 960 archived demos, the Amiga Demoscene Archive covers around 20% of the totally archived Amiga demos in Demozoo. So there is a lot of room for improvement.

Let's take a look at an example from the A.D.A. collection. I've selected a great Amiga demos from the charts section of A.D.A.

For the analysis, I selected Hardwired by Crionics and The Silents from the A.D.A. charts.

Hardwired by Crionics and The Silents (1991)

Video Capture: youtu.be/3LuaF1MMZl4
Duration: 10 minutes 41 seconds
Code: Deftronics, Guzzler, Murphy, Saxs, The Spy
Graphics: Mikael Balle, Sionic, Zycho
Music: Jesper Kyd
Released at: The Party 1991 (2^nd place)
Reviewed and voted Best demo of 1991 in: R.A.W 2 Diskmag (February 1992)

Hardwired was a collaborative effort between the groups Crionics and The Silents, released in 1991. Crionics specialized in coding, while The Silents excelled in design and music. The result was a groundbreaking demo that came on two disks and was one of the most advanced productions of its time. It was a so-called "trackmo" demo, meaning it loaded one section of the demo from disk at a time, and then loaded the next section while the one in memory was playing, allowing for a seamless transition between parts.

The demo begins with digitized images in moody grayscale, accompanied by fantastic chip music. According to Demoscene - The Amiga Years: Volume 1 1984 -1993 by Éditions64K, one of the creators, Sionic, used a Quantel Paintbox to create the intro sequence. This was an advanced graphics system typically used in television production. Mikael Balle had access to this high-end equipment at the production company Nordisk Film. The book notes that the intro sequence was later polished on the Amiga using Deluxe Paint.

The Paintbox wasn't the only influence from professional-grade hardware. Here is a direct quote from the book by Éditions64K:

"The coders came up with the routines, some of them were inspired by the software of the Silicon Graphics Personal IRIS (computer). 'Hardwired' took about 2 months to create. In this period, we mainly lived at the Spy's place. We believe that one of the most important factors when making a good demo is that you have close contact to each other, and after the success with 'Hardwired', we decided to move together with the 3 main coders of the ex-Crionics."

IRIS was a series high-performance graphics computers by Silicon Graphics. The acronym stands for "Integrated Raster Imaging System." These machines were extremely expensive and were based on the Motorola 68000 family of microprocessors, just like the Commodore Amiga. Unfortunately, the book does not provide details about which routines were inspired by the IRIS software.

Overall, Hardwired is a must-watch demo for any Amiga enthusiast or demoscene historian. The demo is split into 16 parts, with each part designed or programmed by different members of the group. In the following description, the parts and their respective creators are listed, the effects are described, and—where possible—a link is provided to further information on the Democyclopedia, the encyclopedia of Atari ST demos^[4] (or Wikipedia).

Let's take a detailed look at Hardwired.

Part 1: Start Animation
Graphics and Idea: Sionic
Editing: Mikael Balle
Coding: The Spy

The grayscale sequence of images at the start of the demo forms a narrative. A satellite hovers close to a planet. Inside the satellite, a man sits, looking through an opening or a large window at the illuminated planet. Suddenly, he is attacked by an alien creature. Oh... and at the end of the intro a cockroach walks across the screen.

Part 2: Zoomscroll
Coding: The Spy
Graphics and Idea: Zycho

Then the title Hardwired and the credits are displayed as filled 3D vector graphics. The cool synth music kicks in. The logos of Crionics and The Silents spin and move like modern motion graphics created in After Effects. The demo then transitions from one effect shot to the next, showcasing both 2D and 3D effects, all in full color.

Part 3: Shadebobs
Coding: Deftronics and The Spy

Shadebobs are a type of 3D effect that combines a shading technique with a Bob effect. A Bob (blitter object) is a bitmap that can be moved around the screen using the Amiga's custom chips. The shading technique is used to give the Bob a 3D appearance by changing its color as it moves. This creates a trail of copies of the Bob, each with a different shade.
» Shadebob at the Democyclopedia.

Part 4: Box B-Spline
Coding: The Spy and Deftronics

A B-Spline is a type of curve defined by a set of control points. In this effect, The Spy and Deftronics generated a 3D wireframe cube with a twisting and shifting B-Spline curve inside it. The cube rotates smoothly around its own axis in real time.
» Spline at Wikipedia.

Part 5: 48 Faces Glenz
Coding: The Spy and Murphy

A Glenz is a type of 3D object made of triangular polygons, with alternating faces being white and filled with color. Both faces are transparent, so as the Glenz spins and moves, the viewer can see through the sides of the object facing them. This creates a cool effect, making the object appear as if it's made of glass. In this part of the demo, the Glenz transforms from a spherical form to a simple spaceship, then to a diamond, and finally into an angular egg shape.
» Spline at the Democyclopedia.

Part 6: Filled B-Spline
Coding: The Spy and Deftronics

This is a filled version of the B-Spline effect from Part 4. This time, the B-Spline curve forms a wobbly, egg-like shape that is filled with color. Triangles are drawn from edge to edge of the shape. The B-Spline egg wobbles, twists, and turns in real time.
» Spline at the Democyclopedia.

Numerous sprites in the shape of perl-like water droplets scale into the screen becoming smaller, the further away they go. Then a text appears. It declares "Now we have to s**t... raytraced of course".

Part 7: Raytraced Lokas
Tracing: Mikael Balle
Coding: The Spy

We see a ray-traced 3D object: a simplified toilet with toilet paper sitting on a checkered floor. The toilet rotates around its own axis, and there is even a mirror floating in the air that reflects the toilet. Ray tracing is a rendering technique that simulates how light interacts with objects in a scene. It is computationally expensive.
» Raytracing at Wikipedia.

Part 8: Twist-Scroller
Coding: Deftronics and The Spy
Original Image: Boris Vallejo
Chrome Robot, the cover painting of The Edge of Tomorrow by Isaac Asimov

The Twister Scroller is a text scroller that moves vertically while the letters twist and turn in 3D space. The text is displayed over a pixel art recreation of the cover painting of The Edge of Tomorrow by Isaac Asimov in the background. The text spells out the names of the demo groups: The Silents and Crionics.
» Twister at the Democyclopedia.

Part 9: 14400 4 Sin Dots
Coding: The Spy

This section features a fluidly animated cloud of white dots that forms multiple overlaid toruses. They wiggle and rotate in 3D space. The effect is called "4 Sin Dots" because the movement of the dots is controlled by the sine function.
» Dots at the Democyclopedia.

Part 10: Box To Logo
Coding: Saxs
Logo: Sionic

A filled 3D cube is spinning in space. One face of the cube is dispersing dots that are pulled to the top of the screen like metal shavings to a magnet. They slowly form the logo of "HARDWIRED". When the dots leave the face of the cube, they leave a porous hole in it and we can see the cube's inner structure.

Part 11: Pixeled Vector
Coding: Guzzler
Logo: Mikael Balle

Simple 3D wireframe shapes spin and dance across the screen. The animation begins with a cube, which morphs into a simple spaceship, then into a star shape, and continues transforming into various other 3D shapes. The same object is overlaid multiple times, each with a slightly different size and color, giving the impression of a 3D object with motion blur.
» Wireframe at the Democyclopedia.

This is followed by a star field animation where dots shoot across the screen from left to right at varying speeds. The lines along the top and bottom of the screen close in on the stars to reveal a 3D monolith... and, my God, it's full of stars!

Part 12: Jumping Balls
Coding: The Spy and Deftronic
Graphics: Mikael Balle, Zycho

A pixel graphic of two tilted checkered boards moves into view. Two dozen metallic balls fall in from the top and begin bouncing around on the boards. With each bounce, they slow down until they drain away like water. Then, a sphere composed of balls flies in from the top edge of the screen. The edge of each vertex of the sphere is a ball. These are called vector balls. The sphere spins and rotates in 3D space before falling onto the checkered board and bouncing around. With each collision, the side of the sphere that takes the hit deforms. The sphere then morphs into an abstract plane and disappears. Finally, a gloved hand on a long stick moves in, holding a sponge, and erases the whole screen to make room for the next effect, including the checkered boards.
» Vectorballs at the Democyclopedia.

Part 13: Ice Vector (Realtime-calculated 3D-Vector Ice)
Coding: The Spy

The stylized 3D letters "TSL" rotate in realtime as filled, transparent vector graphics. Their blue color and their transparent faces make them look like ice. The word is spinning and moving fluidly in 3D space.

Part 14: Gele-Vectors
Coding: The Spy

Similar to the previous effect, a 3D cube floats into view, filled with a transparent green color. The cube not only spins and moves in 3D space but also distorts and contorts its edges as if it were made of jelly. It wobbles and wiggles like a gelatinous cube from Dungeons & Dragons.

Part 15: Shadow-Vectors
Coding: Murphy and The Spy

This is an impressive simulation of a shadow. A light purple/blue cube sits in the center of the screen on a large gray-blue plane. A yellow dot, acting as a light source, moves across the screen, and as it does, the cube casts a shadow on the plane. The shadow, rendered as a filled 3D vector graphic, moves and distorts as the light source shifts position.

Part 16: Space Journey
Graphics: Mikael Balle
Coding: The Spy

The word "SPACE" appears on a black screen. We see a spaceship sitting in the dock of a space station, with a pilot figure in front, dwarfed by the sheer size of the ship. The small figure puts on a helmet and boards the spaceship. The ship spins around and slowly maneuvers out of the dock. It flies through space, with the space station visible behind it. The ship approaches a planet, and on the planet's surface, we see a strange citadel. The ship flies toward the citadel, where a circular mechanical portal made of metal opens, allowing the ship to fly inside. Metallic sliding doors open to reveal a white space, into which a cartoon emblem with two figures slides up. The spaceship comes into view, approaches the emblem, and disappears into it.

The credits screens then appear, each describing the effect and crediting the respective scener for programming it. The music fades out, and the demo ends.

Hardwired by Crionics and The Silents was a truly pioneering Amiga demo. It was widely recognized within the demoscene for its advanced technical features and amazing visuals.

This is what user z5 commented on the entry about Hardwired on July 7^th, 2002:

"If there is one demo that deserves to be called a 'classic', then this is the one. Probably the best demo ever released on Amiga. Everything about it is just amazing. It has an intro animation that still looks good more than 10 years after the demo was released. It has stunning music, cool graphics and amazing code and effects. I will never forget the first time i watched this demo. I was blown away. A true classic and a must see! Incredible."

One of the demo's creators, Sionic also commented on the Amiga Demoscene Archive on 26 June 2004:

"Thanks again! After Hardwired most of the people behind the demo went on to do games and still do. It was a natural transition from doing demos. Very challenging and still trying to push the machines to the limit in terms of sound, code and graphics. It's great fun and we pretty much continue in the 'demo sprit' to this day... I find the Amiga Demoscene Archive a great tribute to a 'past' subculture that paved the way for many future talents in the entertainment and computer industry today."

Jewels in the Collection

A.D.A. is a treasure trove of demos, capturing the creativity and technical ingenuity of sceners. These demos offer just a glimpse into a niche subculture. There are many outstanding demos on the Amiga, but Hardwired was created at the peak of Commodore's 16-bit platform. By this time, developers had begun to master the Amiga's custom chips and the software tools available to them.

Hardwired demonstrates its innovation through its use of 3D effects, morphing, and synchronization with music. It stands as a prime example of the creativity and technical skill that defined the Amiga demoscene in the early 1990s.

Notably Hardwired comes from the early days of the Amiga demoscene. While it is well documented and preserved in A.D.A., many recent productions are missing from the archive. The demoscene remains active today, with new demos being released for both old and new platforms. It is crucial to continue preserving these works so that future generations can appreciate and study them.

If we regard A.D.A. as an archive that started out phenomenally well, we can see that it has stagnated in recent years. In the following chapters, we will explore what makes a good archive and how A.D.A. can improve.

Another One of the Greats

This in-depth review of Hardwired above covers only a fraction of the demos in the A.D.A. collection. For a more detailed review of one of the other great demos, check out the article below. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the demo State of the Art by Spaceballs, a groundbreaking production for the Amiga.

Demo Beats and MTV Vibes

History and Analysis of State of the Art by Spaceballs