865 lines
41 KiB
Plaintext
865 lines
41 KiB
Plaintext
.Start.of.DemoNews.105..............................................Size:42,284
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______/\___________________________ __ ________________ ___ /\_______
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\____ \ ________ _ _ ______ \ / \| \ ________ | \/ ______/
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/ | \ _) \ \_/ \ | \ / \ \ _) \ | \______ \
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/ | \ \ | \ | \ / \ \ /~\ \ / \
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\_____ /_______/___| /________/ \____\_____/_______/_________/________/
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\_____/ |____/
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| Subscribers : 1621
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DemoNews Issue #105 - October 19, 1995 | Last Week : 1616
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------------- | Change : +5
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DemoNews is a newsletter for the demo scene. | Archive Size : 1231M
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It is produced by Hornet at the site ftp.cdrom.com. | Last Week : 1200M
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Our demo archive is located under /pub/demos. | Remaining : 235M
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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<CONTENTS>
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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Uploads
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Articles
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Introduction................................Snowman
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Scoring Points for Helping..................Snowman
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Putting a Bow on Your Demo Scene Gift.......Rimbo
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The 8086 Compo..............................Trixter
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The Freedom CD is Out!......................Dan Wright
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Subscribing
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Closing
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=-[Uploads]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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=----------------------------------------------------------[File Information]-=
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1. Uploads listed below are on ftp.cdrom.com or its mirrors.
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2. Ratings are subjective.
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3. ftp.cdrom.com too slow? Check out DN102 for info on ftpmail.
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=-------------------------------------------------------------[Demos:General]-=
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Location /demos/alpha Size Rated Description
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=-------------------------------- ---- ----- ---------------------------------=
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/1994/a/abcdefg.zip 6 **+ ASM94: Abcdefg by Anarchy
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/1994/a/addy_ii.txt 7 ***+ ASM94: Another Way Scroll by ???
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/1994/a/agn_kac!.zip 299 [n/a] ASM94: Kit & Cadooble by Agony
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/1994/a/akm-back.zip 1332 ** TP94: CPC is Back Demo-5 by Arkham
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/1994/a/amana1.zip 820 *** [1/2] TP94: Amanaman by Coma
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/1994/a/amana2.zip 839 *** [2/2] TP94: Amanaman by Coma
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/1994/a/anorexia.zip 52 *** TP94: Anorexia by Hazard
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/1994/a/atticfix.zip 399 *** The Attic (bf) by Digital House
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/1994/b/banaani.zip 4 * ASM94: Banaani by ???
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/1994/b/blow.zip 52 ** TP94: Blow by S!P
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/1994/c/chaos.zip 6 ***+ ASM94: Chaos by ???
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/1994/c/classika.zip 601 [rip] Classika by Renegade
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/1994/c/coma.zip 515 *** TP94: Comatose by Fear Factory
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/1994/c/compcode.zip 6 [n/a] ASM94: ??? by ???
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/1994/c/compovrs.zip 5 *** ASM94: Eikoneita by ???
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/1994/c/contagio.zip 1109 *** TP94: Contagion by The Coexistence
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/1994/c/crn_pcd.zip 64 ***+ ASM94: PolyC. Dreams by Creation
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/1994/c/cte-jk.zip 39 **+ Santa is my Favourite by Cute
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/1994/d/d.zip 5 **+ ASM94: ??? by ???
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/1994/d/defect!.zip 5 *** ASM94: Defect! by ???
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/1994/d/delay_pt.zip 5 **+ ASM94: Delay Points by Mythos
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/1994/d/dole.zip 194 *+ Dole by Planet Hardcore
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/1994/d/dragon.zip 64 ***+ TP94: Dragon by Core Image
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/1994/d/drain.zip 6 **** ASM94: Drain by ???
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/1994/d/dream.zip 5 *** ASM94: Liquid Dreams by ???
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/1994/f/fdreams.zip 7 ****+ ASM94: F. Dreams by Mental Design
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/1994/f/fg_beta.zip 319 **+ First Glimpse Beta by XTF
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/1994/f/fractals.zip 6 **** ASM94: Fractals by Schwartz
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/1994/f/fraczoom.zip 6 ** ASM94: Fractal Zoom by ???
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/1994/g/grey.zip 68 **** ASM94: Grey by Abaddon
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/1994/h/happijoy.zip 9 **** ASM94: Happ. Joy. by Darkzone
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/1994/h/hn-son.zip 80 * TP94: Song of a Gun by Hardnoise
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/1994/m/muq_soap.zip 64 *** TP94: Soap by Proxima
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/1994/p/perlz1.zip 793 **+ [1/2] TP94: Trippin' Megap. by WTB
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/1994/p/perlz2.zip 704 **+ [2/2] TP94: Trippin' Megap. by WTB
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/1994/s/soppa.zip 61 *** ASM94: Soppa by Future Crew
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/1994/s/spaced.zip 7 *** ASM94: Spaced by Force II
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/1994/s/stoerfal.zip 760 [n/a] TP94: Stoerfall by Strontium 90
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/1994/s/stronken.zip 764 *** ASM94: Stronken by Post Mortem
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/1994/t/trapped.zip 716 ** TP94: Trapped by GLP
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/1994/v/vs_vreal.zip 671 ** Virtually Reality by Vacant Space
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/1994/x/xmas_dem.zip 658 **+ Christmas Demo by Paralytic Minds
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/1994/y/y_eti.zip 470 ** TP94: Everybody by Symptom
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/1994/y/yakuza.zip 62 ** TP94: Back to the Past by Yakuza
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/1994/z/zero.zip 559 *** Zero Pulse by Nuclear Threat
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/1994/z/zetor.zip 45 + TP94: Zetor by Hirmu
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/1995/a/ascii95.zip 53 ***+ ASCII by Paranoids
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/1995/c/clx_xtal.zip 1444 **** Xtal by Complex
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/1995/c/cna-ply.zip 62 *** Polly by Candela
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/1995/d/ddgdonut.zip 648 *** Donitsi by Digitize Design Group
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/1995/e/eps_drea.arj 67 *** ASM95: Dream by Epsilon
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/1995/h/h-karma.zip 494 *** Karma by Halcyon
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/1995/k/klda_top.zip 165 **+ DaSisTop by Kloon
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/1995/l/livelove.zip 376 ***+ Love by Live
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/1995/m/mass-arf.zip 731 *** BIZ95: Arabicum (bf) by Massive
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/1995/p/perf-fin.zip 935 **** BIZ95: Performance (bf) by LogicD.
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=--------------------------------------------------------[Demos:Non-Reviewed]-=
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Location /demos/alpha Size Description
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=-------------------------------- ---- ---------------------------------------=
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/bbs/a/anarchy!.zip 153 Anarchy Online by Rex Deathstar
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/bbs/d/dfuse.zip 10 Digital Fuse by Uncle Bob
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/bbs/d/drinks.zip 13 $1 Drinks BBStro by Xtatic
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/bbs/f/forces2.zip 9 Digital Forces by Force II
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/bbs/s/southfix.zip 79 South of Heaven by Omicron
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/bbs/s/spoint.zip 15 Pointbreak by Surprise Productions
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=-------------------------------------------------------------[Music:General]-=
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Location /demos/music Size Rated Description
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=-------------------------------- ---- ----- ---------------------------------=
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/disks/1995/a/af_quest.zip 993 *+ Quest of Hope by Arura Flux
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/disks/1995/c/classic1.zip 504 **** Classic by ???
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/disks/1995/c/cosmic.zip 1063 **** Cosmic Eclipse by Cosmic
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/disks/1995/d/dl-ie_1.zip 1206 *** [1/2]Intro/extrospe. by Darkling
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/disks/1995/d/dl-ie_2.zip 1382 *** [2/2]Intro/Extrospe. by Darkling
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/disks/1995/d/dusken.zip 1456 ** Dusken by Raphael Blackwolf
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/disks/1995/k/killers.arj 1456 **** [1/2] Killer's Arrest by Logos/cbr
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/disks/1995/k/killers.a01 902 **** [2/2] Killer's Arrest by Logos/cbr
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/songs/1995/mod/b/blues.zip 131 + Rubber blues by Dustbin
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/songs/1995/mod/c/c64rules.zip 25 * C64 Rules by Dustbin
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/songs/1995/mod/e/endsleep.zip 6 *** Endless Sleep by Black Thunder
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/songs/1995/mod/p/pavs_hit.zip 105 *+ Pav's Hit by Pavlov
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/songs/1995/s3m/e/epi-drz.zip 273 * Drizel by Swill
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/songs/1995/s3m/f/fdn-val.zip 86 *** Valley of Shadows by Ender
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/songs/1995/s3m/f/fishup.zip 251 ***+ Fishpond Hup by Ruffkut
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/songs/1995/s3m/f/fred-fwl.zip 252 *** Farewell by Fred
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/songs/1995/s3m/l/lx-gndrs.zip 176 *** Genisis Drum Song 1 by TaMeRaX
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/songs/1995/s3m/l/lx-influ.zip 353 **+ Inflence of Narcotics by TaMeRaX
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/songs/1995/s3m/m/m-aqth.zip 79 ***+ Aquarius by Mystical
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/songs/1995/s3m/m/m-delus.zip 124 *** Delusive Dreams by Mystical
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/songs/1995/s3m/m/m-fate.zip 126 **+ It's my Fate by Mystical
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/songs/1995/s3m/m/m-finenc.zip 144 ***+ Final Encounter by Mystical
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/songs/1995/s3m/m/m-getit.zip 173 ***+ Gotta Get it Out by Mystical
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/songs/1995/s3m/m/m-never.zip 128 *** Never Mind by Mystical
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/songs/1995/s3m/m/m-slight.zip 182 ***+ Something..Silly by Mystical
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/songs/1995/s3m/m/mentrevb.zip 92 *+ Mental Reverb by Lightfoot
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/songs/1995/s3m/n/nex-chil.zip 261 ** Chillout Folk by Nexus
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/songs/1995/s3m/n/nex-tn.zip 133 *+ Trance Nation by Nexus
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/songs/1995/s3m/p/pf-world.zip 26 * World of Worlds by Pfister
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/songs/1995/s3m/p/pig.zip 44 ** Good Pig Boy! by Black Thunder
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/songs/1995/s3m/p/plldpmc3.zip 280 ***+ Pull of..Deep(mc3 ver) by Jester
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/songs/1995/s3m/p/pm-mapp.zip 223 * Malicious Apparitions by Pwrmouse
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/songs/1995/s3m/p/pr-frei.zip 315 *** Freiheit(freedom) by Freejack
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/songs/1995/s3m/p/pr-fresh.zip 256 ***+ Fresh Start by Freejack
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/songs/1995/s3m/p/pulldeep.zip 305 ***+ Pull of the Deep by Jester
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/songs/1995/s3m/r/rr-dream.zip 213 ** Dreams by The Fury
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/songs/1995/xm/a/alien.zip 182 ***+ Alien Encounter by Black Thunder
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/songs/1995/xm/a/ancturk.arj 410 *** Turkei Dreams by Anc
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/songs/1995/xm/b/beyondre.zip 97 **** Beyond Reality by Vogue
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/songs/1995/xm/b/brainpsy.zip 79 ** Brain Psychosis by Wild!Eye
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/songs/1995/xm/c/cyberia.zip 775 ** Cyberia 1 & 2 by Kraken
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/songs/1995/xm/h/horse.zip 220 ***+ Wild Horses by Tito
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/songs/1995/xm/j/jz-tpt.zip 352 **** The Persuasive Theme by Jazz+Chris
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/songs/1995/xm/l/lk-fors.zip 664 **** The Forsaken by LizardKing
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=----------------------------------------------------------------------[Code]-=
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Location /demos/code Size Rated Lang Description
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=-------------------------------- ---- ----- ---- ----------------------------=
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/demosrc/chiparus.zip 12 **+ A "Chiparus" BBS intro w/src
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/pmode/gema16.zip 118 ***** A 32-bit assembler for demos
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/text/kmagv1.zip 31 **+ A P Coding magazine from KING v.1
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=------------------------------------------------[Miscellaneous:Non-Reviewed]-=
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Location /demos Size Description
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=-------------------------------- ---- ---------------------------------------=
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/hornet/d..s/101-120/demonews.103 47 DemoNews 103
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/hornet/d..s/101-120/demonews.104 51 DemoNews 104
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/hornet/demonews/other/dnr130.zip 82 DemoNews Reader v1.30
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/info/traxw/traxweek.028 38 TraxWeekly 28
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/info/traxw/traxweek.029 53 TraxWeekly 29
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/info/traxw/traxweek.030 84 TraxWeekly 30
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=-[Articles]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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=---------------------------------------------------[Introduction]--[Snowman]-=
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_____Introduction
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Hello all, and welcome to DemoNews issue 105.
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This issue is very delayed for several important reasons, none of which I
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will tell you. :) I can only say that I hope things calm down soon or I'm
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gonna get an ulcer.
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I have been receiving much mail concerning mirroring, size of archive,
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groups directories, the ratings system, DemoNews, etc. Hopefully this
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introduction will answer a few of the questions. Just consider this the
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ftp.cdrom.com FAQ for the week of October 15.
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_____Out of Room
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In DemoNews.104, I listed the remaining size for our archive at about
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394 megs. Earlier this week, I checked again and it was down to less than
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200!
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The /pub/demos archive is located on one physical mount with 6 other
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archives. Of the 2.4 gigs on this mount, we eat up about 1.2, while the
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other 6 archives take about 700 megs combined.
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We are getting about 40 megs a week of new files in /incoming. Put this
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together with 394 megs free and you see we _would_ have had about 10 weeks
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before we ran out of room. Put this together with my discovery earlier
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this week (less than 200 megs left) and we have about a month left.
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For some time, Dan Wright has been trying to offer a 1 gig SCSI drive to
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ftp.cdrom.com as an expansion to our archive. They had not replied to
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numerous mails, so I finally wrote a very urgent mail saying "We will run
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out of room very soon. Can we please donate a 1 gig drive? Please respond
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quickly." And they did.
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They refused the drive. They said that 1 gig wasn't worth adding when they
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could just buy another 4.4 gig drive and move us to that. So Dan Wright
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gets to keep his hard drive and we get moved to a much bigger place. It
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might take a few weeks before our archive is moved. After it is though, we
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should have enough room for at least 1 year.
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A couple months ago, the idea was put forth that if we deleted songs rated
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under *** (and over a month old), we could significantly reduce our archive
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size. Many people were opposed to this idea.
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Because we now will have much more room, this deletion system will not have
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to be set up. Its a good thing we found out about the new 4.4 gig drive
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when we did. I had the pseudocode for this system ready and could have
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started implementing it as early as Friday of this week. Whew! :)
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Problem solved.
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_____The Connection Bottleneck
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Many people are having a lot of difficulty getting on to ftp.cdrom.com.
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This situation will not improve until the administration at Walnut Creek
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(who own the ftp.cdrom.com archive) decide to add on a few more processors
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or increase the bandwidth.
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The lag is so bad that I am having trouble even moving files and doing
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regular maintenance. The only advise I can give you all is to try to get
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on the site at 2:00-6:00 PST (12:00-4:00 GMT). I can't promise that this
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will be faster for you, but it does seem that access is much quicker during
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these hours.
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_____Where are the Mirrors?
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ftp.luth.se has stopped mirroring our archive. This is because they simply
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can not through to our archive to copy the new files. Trixter has written
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Walnut Creek. But again, they are slow to respond to mail.
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On the flip side, there are at least 3 European ftp sites which would like
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us to mirror their incoming directories. I am all in favor of this, but
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given our other problems, this is not high on the priority list right now.
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I would guess at least two weeks before we can actively start working with
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the maintainers about the mirroring.
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_____Too Many Uploads
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I mentioned earlier that we are getting about 40 megs per week of uploads.
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Over time, this number will _not_ be going down. Since we review all
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uploads, we are becoming very backlogged.
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Diablo is in charge of our music reviewers. In total, there are 6 people
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who are rating music and music-related files each week. This is still not
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enough and I am most emphatically urging Diablo to add on at least two more
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reviewers.
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Come to think of it, the only /incoming directories we are having problems
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with are /music and /graphics. The /code directory is taken care of by
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Trixter, and the /demos, /mags, and /news are taken care of by myself. It
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appears that GD might start maintaining the /incoming/graphics directory.
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Who knows.
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_____Special Directories
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Symbolic links to files are presenting a special problem. I have been
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trying to update all of the links to /party/1995. These aren't too bad
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except for the party music and party graphics.
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Many people have suggested that we keep /music/artists directories for
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songs produced by one person. The good news is that this is very possible
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and easy. All we need to do is grep the ALLFILES.TXT for a given author,
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and set up the links from that.
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However, that would imply that the ALLFILES.TXT has an accurate and
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up-to-date list of all songs that an author has done. Such is not the
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case. Many of the descriptions in 00index.txt files were taken from older
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versions of DemoNews that did not list songs in the "Song Name by Author"
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format.
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_____Conclusion
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Well folks, its going to be a rocky road ahead for a little while. We will
|
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be doing the best job we can, so just be patient and understanding.
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Now, I'll bet you're saying to yourself "I'd really like to help out
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ftp.cdrom.com in some way but I just don't know how." Well, you are in
|
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luck! You can help us out. Just read "Scoring Points for Helping" (the
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next article in this issue).
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Have fun and read on.
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Snowman / Hornet - r3cgm@ftp.cdrom.com
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=-------------------------------------[Scoring Points for Helping]--[Snowman]-=
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_____Introduction
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I'll bet you're wondering how you can help out with the archive. Here is
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an easy way to do so. Whenever you see a problem on our site, just mail
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us. In return, will will give you a "point."
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So what do you do with these points? I'm a flat broke college student so I
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can't run out and buy you anything. I _can_ however mention in DemoNews
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that person "X" has been doing a good job helping us.
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I know this whole system sounds kind of corny, but it should work, and it
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should help.
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_____Details
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Mail the problem to : r3cgm@ftp.cdrom.com
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Problems take the form of :
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1. An incorrectly cataloged file.
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You must provide the correct description to receive a point.
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Files not already cataloged do not count.
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Files containing "???" are prime targets.
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2. A poorly cataloged file.
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You must provide the better description to receive a point.
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3. An invalid link to a file.
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You must provide the correct link to receive a point.
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Files in /incoming do not count.
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_____Examples
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The file /music/songs/1995/xm/a/angothrp.zip
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has the description "Angropthorp by Bazzleman".
|
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The description should be "Angothorp by Bellman".
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The file /music/disks/1995/z/zeblack.zip
|
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has the poor description "Zeblack by K. Knight".
|
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The description should be "Zebra in Black by Korny Knight".
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The file in /groups/complex/clx-dope.zip is an invalid link.
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The correct link should be to /alpha/1995/c/clx_dope.
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_____Conclusion
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Next week, I'll post a list of all those who have helped out so far.
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Snowman / Hornet - r3cgm@ftp.cdrom.com
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=----------------------------[Putting a Bow on Your Demo Scene Gift]--[Rimbo]-=
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Okay, a while back, I was extraordinarily tired and foolishly posted a
|
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long, meandering, but surprisingly well-received tirade about design in
|
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demos. Sure, it made a good editorial, but I think I'd rather take this
|
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opportunity to point out some of the things that have made demos work in
|
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the past.
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You see, we in the demo scene are, in a rather odd way, off all on our own.
|
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There is a fringe element of people who are curious to see what we in the
|
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scene produce, but for the most part, should this scene die out altogether,
|
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nobody would miss it. The only reason I mention it is this: I think it's a
|
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shame. Here's why.
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Within the scene is what is quite possibly the largest pool of incredible
|
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coding talent in the world. And--perhaps I'm odd in this fashion--I think
|
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it's unreasonable for us not to get the credit due to us.
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But the world doesn't look at that; they look at packaging. And that's why
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I'm bringing this up. Because packaging, once you set your mind to it, is
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the easiest thing in the world to do. These examples are all part of a
|
|
whole attitude; you try to imitate the thought which produce these results,
|
|
and you gain the attitude.
|
|
|
|
Right now in the demoscene, people are putting out crappy demos, because
|
|
all the demos do is demonstrate the barest possibilities of
|
|
highly-optimized algorithms and set them to music of questionable quality.
|
|
|
|
And that, precisely, is where the problem begins: Music. Take Second
|
|
Reality for example.
|
|
|
|
A brief aside here. I'm going to bring up Second Reality because, despite
|
|
its age, people still seriously ask about it, talk about it, and it is
|
|
still the standard by which all others are judged. Considering its age,
|
|
this probably reflects poorly on the scene, but I've already editorialized
|
|
this enough.
|
|
|
|
The first thing to say about 2ndR's music is that it's just plain good. You
|
|
take every piece out of that demo and listen to it, and it sounds great,
|
|
without the effects. But there's much more to it than that. Not every
|
|
group can have the musical talent FC was blessed with, but every group can
|
|
use it as well. There are three things which musicians and coders should
|
|
be aware of when they begin merging code with music: Synchronization,
|
|
appropriateness, and the "hook."
|
|
|
|
Synchronization means making sure the music actually accompanies the demo,
|
|
not just plays in the background. When the music hits a certain stage, the
|
|
demo hits a certain stage. I've seen demos which merely looped the music
|
|
endlessly, and ended by just cutting off the music. Dope, in this respect,
|
|
is almost criminal. Notice that the pieces are relatively short in 2ndR,
|
|
and so effects don't have to stay on longer than they need to, as well.
|
|
But with each section, there is a corresponding part of the music.
|
|
|
|
Appropriateness means writing music that fits the mood of the rest of the
|
|
demo. In some cases, one piece fits the whole demo (e.g., Majic_12's
|
|
"Show"). In the case of 2ndR, however, each effect has fitting music. What
|
|
Purple Motion does for plasmas is wonderful...but what really makes your
|
|
heart pound are the grandiose orchestral pieces of Skaven at the beginning
|
|
and end of the demo.
|
|
|
|
The music says "you're about to see something incredible" and "you're
|
|
seeing the end of something spectacular." But if you close your eyes, you
|
|
can still see each effect; if you turn off the sound, you can still hear
|
|
the music--because the music is APPROPRIATE. You don't write a techno
|
|
piece to accompany a bird flying around a fountain; you don't write an
|
|
ambient ballad for a bunch of space fighters shooting each other up.
|
|
|
|
The last bit is the "hook." The hook is something many more demos need.
|
|
Basically, the music has to grab your attention. It could be something
|
|
which happens immediately (like in "Show"), but most often you are prepared
|
|
for it with slow music (or speech in the case of EMF's Verses..."Is
|
|
everybody in?"). The "hook" occurs in 2ndR right after the beginning
|
|
credits, when the title screen appears, and PM's piece begins. Notice,
|
|
also, that the title is preceded and succeeded by two of the (at the time)
|
|
most impressive effects in the demo--the Praxis explosion and the bouncing
|
|
glenzed objects.
|
|
|
|
A few non-music-related suggestions. I've already mentioned shortening the
|
|
length of effects, but it's worth mentioning again because it's so
|
|
important. Once you've shown something, move on. Don't give the audience
|
|
the opportunity to get bored. No one failing is more rampant AND damaging
|
|
to demos released at any one time than this.
|
|
|
|
Think about it. Imagine you are someone who knows nothing about the effort
|
|
required to make a fast Phong-shaded object, and just sees a torus rotating
|
|
on screen for 30 seconds. At first, you think, "Wow, that's cool!" But
|
|
the joy doesn't last. Dope, again, is one very good demo which would have
|
|
been a thousand times better had it not lingered on each effect for so
|
|
long. (I'm not meaning to rag on Dope so much; it really is one of my most
|
|
favorite demos, but with minor effort, it could have been even better.)
|
|
|
|
It doesn't matter what effect you're trying to do, don't leave it on screen
|
|
longer than you absolutely must. If you're trying to tell a story, don't
|
|
let it linger unless you need to for effect; but if you're merely showing
|
|
off code, DO NOT give the audience the opportunity to get bored. Make it
|
|
so that if they go into the next room, pour a drink of water, and return,
|
|
they miss something.
|
|
|
|
What about effect ordering? Here's a good general rule: Put your best
|
|
effect first, and your second-best effect last. Put your worst effects in
|
|
the middle. This is only if you don't have grander design ideas in mind.
|
|
|
|
Why? You put your best effect first as your "hook." When you start a demo
|
|
with something VERY impressive, you catch people's attention, and they want
|
|
to watch. Similarly, end with a good effect, so that people are left
|
|
thinking, "that was amazing!" If you begin with a bad effect, people will
|
|
prejudge you and say that your demo was lame; if you end with a weak
|
|
effect, it will leave a bad taste in the audience's mouth, and they will
|
|
feel let-down.
|
|
|
|
Finally. Don't merely demonstrate your coding. Sit around with your
|
|
friends and think of an interesting way to show it off. "Gee, Alan, I've
|
|
got this great phong env-mapping routine, but I'm not sure what to do with
|
|
it." "What's that?" "Well, here's what it looks like..." "Gee, you know,
|
|
that looks kind of like the way light bounces off of a coffee mug." "A
|
|
coffee mug! That's it!" "Yeah, it could be sitting on a table in a
|
|
diner..."
|
|
|
|
You get the idea? The phong-shaded torus is not merely uncreative; it
|
|
shows a lack of creativity that's astonishing. It's on the level of being
|
|
asked to draw a picture, and drawing a picture of a house. It means you
|
|
didn't actually think of a subject. Look at Tome of Opticron by Craw
|
|
Productions. The 3D engine they use has no shading whatsoever (not even
|
|
flat shading), yet it looks GREAT because they did something with it that
|
|
was creative.
|
|
|
|
The same thing goes towards transitions. There are so many approaches to
|
|
different transitions they're hard to count. You can do the "Show" method,
|
|
where one effect transforms itself into another...each succeeding effect at
|
|
one point is almost morphed into. Effect-morphing!
|
|
|
|
There is the GRiF method (a la Catchup!), where each effect is framed
|
|
neatly with creatively-done titles (the "Virtual Reality") and even effects
|
|
in themselves ("Zebra Vector coming up next," the feet appearing and
|
|
disappearing before the mirror).
|
|
|
|
You can do more smooth changeovers. You can do jerky changeovers which make
|
|
the beginning and end of each effect concrete. But whatever you do, don't
|
|
just clear the screen and do the next effect. The fadein/fadeout has also
|
|
been overused. It doesn't take a lot of thought, and it doesn't have to be
|
|
a great idea; it just has to be creative.
|
|
|
|
So there are some more concrete design suggestions. But let me add a
|
|
caveat: Good design is not a replacement for good code by any means. I'm
|
|
not saying that I'd rather see Catchup! than Stars. I'd rather see Verses,
|
|
or Second Reality, or Project Angel, than either Catchup! or Stars; all
|
|
three of these demos have great coding AND good packaging.
|
|
|
|
I'm not endorsing themes, either. Although they can improve the demo, they
|
|
can also limit it.
|
|
|
|
So go do it. Make your demo. And this time, think about what the audience
|
|
is going to see.
|
|
|
|
Rimbo - rimbo@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
|
|
|
|
|
|
==------------------------------------------------[The 8086 Compo]--[Trixter]-=
|
|
|
|
___________/\_ ______________ ______ _______ ______ /\______
|
|
\__ ___/ | \_ _____/ / __ \\ _ \ / __ \ / _____/
|
|
| | / ~ \ __)_ > </ /_\ \ > </ __ \
|
|
| | \ Y / \ / -- \ \_/ \/ -- \ |__\ \
|
|
|____| \___|___/_________/ \________/\_______/\________/\_______/
|
|
|
|
_______/\ ________ _____ __________/\______
|
|
\_ ___ \ \_____ \ / \\______ \_____ \
|
|
/ \ \/ / | \ / \ / \| ___// | \
|
|
\ \____/ | \/ Y \ | / | \
|
|
\________/\_________/\____|____/____| \_________/
|
|
|
|
-------------
|
|
|
|
_____Why an 8086 Compo?
|
|
|
|
Much like Snowman pioneered hosting Music Contest 2 and 3 over the internet,
|
|
Hornet is now hosting a demo compo over the internet--but this compo has a
|
|
very interesting limitation: All entries must run on an 8086. But why an
|
|
8086 compo?
|
|
|
|
Many demos and intros today are, sadly, either "object shows" or bundles of
|
|
poorly optimized routines. Many of the older coders in the scene long for
|
|
the days of hard, fast, to-the-metal coding, when your only demo machine
|
|
was an 8086 with CGA or EGA. You *had* to code well to create anything
|
|
decent; just look at some of the 3D games of that time, like Elite or
|
|
Flight Simulator 1.0. People don't write code like that anymore,
|
|
preferring instead to use the 80387 for floating-point, or off-screen
|
|
buffers for animating simple small objects. It's almost like a Pentium
|
|
isn't good enough anymore!
|
|
|
|
So, to separate the men from the boys, Hornet is hosting the first 8086
|
|
compo. Prizes aside, this is a *real* way to prove your raw programming
|
|
skill and impress everybody!
|
|
|
|
You can get the official information and rules from either the WWW URL
|
|
http://www.cdrom.com/pub/demos/hornet/8086 or the electronic infofile
|
|
ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/hornet/8086/8086_com.txt. Let's get back to
|
|
the real basics of clever programming! Here's a chance to show everyone
|
|
you're the best!
|
|
|
|
Trixter / Hornet - trixter@ftp.cdrom.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
=--------------------------------------[The Freedom CD is Out!]--[Dan Wright]-=
|
|
|
|
_____Order in the Court
|
|
|
|
The jury is back and the results are in; would everyone please rise. As of
|
|
today, Friday the 13th of October in the year nineteen hundred and
|
|
ninety-five the Freedom CD is to be RELEASED.
|
|
|
|
_____Interesting Concept
|
|
|
|
For those who do not know the FREEDOM CD is the sequel to ESCAPE which was
|
|
completed and release last November. The FREEDOM CD is actually a 2 CD
|
|
package consisting of an Audio and Data CD.
|
|
|
|
The data CD (ISO-9660) contains approximately 542 megs worth of music by
|
|
artists, music disks, Music Contest 1, 2, and 3 entries, trackers, music
|
|
players, all TraxWeekly, DemoNews, and Imphobia issues, demos, intros,
|
|
graphics from various compos/artists, a demobook, the full CODE directory
|
|
from ftp.cdrom.com, ansi packs, and a bit of other scene related stuff.
|
|
|
|
The data for this CD was gathered from: ftp.cdrom.com, ftp.mpoli.fi,
|
|
peace.wit.com, dragon.axs.net, Ryan Cramer's BBS, and a variety of
|
|
musicians archives. Check out ftp.cdrom.com /demos/hornet/freedom for a
|
|
complete directory listing. Also check out this directory for the FREEDOM
|
|
CD intro which is slated to be released on Friday the 13th. (The intro
|
|
will have a little more writing about the CD plus offer chances to win a
|
|
CD.)
|
|
|
|
The audio CD consists of the top 12 MC3 Veteran winners and top 3 MC3
|
|
Rookie winners as well as songs by The REW, Cybelius, Zodiak, Jason, and
|
|
Krystall. Here is exactly how things are arranged on the CD:
|
|
|
|
Track Song Name Author Time
|
|
|
|
1 Kingdom Skies Jase 4:45
|
|
2 The Crossing Necros 4:28
|
|
3 Drift Nemesis 4:54
|
|
4 Wanderlust Leviathan 3:13
|
|
5 Second Thoughts Big Jim 4:41
|
|
6 Sendoff Flight Markell P. Moss 3:48
|
|
7 Can't Fake Michelle Shikando 2:33
|
|
8 Babewatch Ryan Cramer 4:02
|
|
9 Fate Roberto Barabino 3:38
|
|
10 Forgotten Dreamtime FireLight 3:07
|
|
11 Phoebe Esper Division 4:31
|
|
12 Betrayal of Innocense Future Assassin 2:56
|
|
13 Bits & Bytes Mayhem 3:30
|
|
14 Upwardly Mobile Morph 2:29
|
|
15 Respire Spyder 2:56
|
|
16 Atlantic Shores The REW 2:41
|
|
17 The Rainy Road Cybelius 2:05
|
|
18 Respirator Zodiak 3:03
|
|
19 All I Feel Is Hate J. Brotherton & K. Brandeburg 3:28
|
|
20 Night of Dreams Krystall & Cynthia 4:51
|
|
|
|
Total: 71:51
|
|
|
|
The CDs come in a 2x CD jewel box (aka Brilliant-Box) with a full color (on
|
|
one side) 6 page insert. A sticker will also be included with every
|
|
CD--there are FOUR designs to choose from.
|
|
|
|
_____Limited Edition
|
|
|
|
Freedom will have a press run of 800. This is based on demand and what I
|
|
feel I can distribute with a reasonable amount of effort. I would press
|
|
1500 if I knew I could sell that many but then distribution would be a
|
|
nightmare. Your cost would be lower but the time to make up my cost would
|
|
be longer. Any more explaining would be a walk in the confusion domain.
|
|
|
|
_____Ordering Information
|
|
|
|
For ESCAPE we had a postage chart and a somewhat more complicated pricing
|
|
scheme. FREEDOM is different, easier--for everyone. Basically I just
|
|
rounded to the nearest dollar, made some assumptions and priced
|
|
accordingly.
|
|
|
|
The price is: $12 -- Normal Price.
|
|
$11 -- Discounted Price for those of you who have something
|
|
on either CD or helped in the creation of the CD/MC3.
|
|
|
|
This price includes 1st Class postage in the US and AIRMAIL postage to
|
|
countries outside the US. If you have something on either CD or helped
|
|
with the creation of the CDs then you are entitled to the $11 price for
|
|
each CD you order. Check the "dir-listing" in the intro or at
|
|
ftp.cdrom.com /demos/hornet/freedom if you are unsure.
|
|
|
|
If you would like more than 5 of these CDs or want to help with
|
|
distribution in your country then contact me before ordering. For Example,
|
|
in Australia foo@spc.efec.uq.oz.au may be a small distributor--contact him
|
|
if you live there.
|
|
|
|
_____Distributor Information
|
|
|
|
The Distributors for the Freedom CD--Webfoot Technologies and HyperWare--
|
|
specialize in CREDIT CARD orders but will also accept other forms of
|
|
payment (checks, money orders, and in HyperWare's case, wired transfers).
|
|
Contact the distributors for more information.
|
|
|
|
It is also important to note:
|
|
|
|
1. the distributors do not offer the $1 discount,
|
|
2. their prices will be higher (Approximately $15 for US
|
|
and $18 for Foreign)
|
|
3. your phone calls may not be returned
|
|
|
|
HyperWare
|
|
185 Berry Street
|
|
San Francisco, CA 94107
|
|
Voice: (415) 882-1740
|
|
Fax: (415) 882-1733
|
|
E-mail: orders@fht.com
|
|
http://www.fht.com/hyper.html
|
|
|
|
Webfoot Technologies
|
|
P.O. Box 15
|
|
Lemont, IL 60439
|
|
Voice: (708) 257-1224
|
|
Fax: (708) 257-0942
|
|
E-mail: webfoot@msn.com
|
|
|
|
_____Methods of Payment
|
|
|
|
Please keep track of your payment records, date of mailing, and etc. in
|
|
case your letter gets lost. I will do the same on my end as well.
|
|
|
|
Typical turn around time (between when I get your order and send it out)
|
|
will be a couple days unless I get a questionable check/bank check. Send
|
|
your ORDER--NO CREDIT CARD ORDERS--to the address below.
|
|
|
|
1. Credit Card
|
|
|
|
Credit card orders will be handled through our two distributors: HyperWare
|
|
(orders@fht.com) and Webfoot Technologies (webfoot@msn.com). Please contact
|
|
them for price information/ordering. They won't be able to ship until
|
|
October 13th (if then) so they may or may not accept orders before this
|
|
date.
|
|
|
|
2. Check / Bank Draft/ Money Order
|
|
|
|
PAYABLE ON A BANK in the U$A in US $. If you live in another country then
|
|
there are probably BANKS that will exchange your currency into US$ for a
|
|
small fee. For those in the US you can get a MONEY ORDER for 75 cents at
|
|
the POST OFFICE or a Cashiers Check at your bank if you do not have
|
|
personal checks. MAKE Checks/Money orders PAYABLE to DAN WRIGHT. NO
|
|
EUROCHECKS!
|
|
|
|
3. Wired Transfer
|
|
|
|
Definitely not my preferred method but acceptable as a last resort under
|
|
the following guidelines. NO $1 discount per CD and you must pay the $15
|
|
wired transfer fee imposed by my bank. HyperWare (one of the distributors
|
|
mentioned above) also accepts wired transfers but with no additional fee.
|
|
|
|
4. Cash
|
|
|
|
In US dollars (secure/hide well). Most overseas people used this method
|
|
when ordering ESCAPE but beware because it is a little risky.
|
|
|
|
5. Trade
|
|
|
|
Data or Music CD. I am VERY much open for TRADES with music/other scene
|
|
related CDs. Do contact me if you are interested in doing a trade. BTW,
|
|
I'm still looking for Black Jack bubble gum.
|
|
|
|
_____Order Form
|
|
|
|
This order form is only to be filled out if you decide to order though me.
|
|
The distributors mentioned above probably have their own order form.
|
|
|
|
Please be complete and neat when filling this form out. Also, please
|
|
answer the question below regarding the main reason why you are ordering
|
|
this CD.
|
|
|
|
[Cut Here]
|
|
|
|
Name ..........................................................
|
|
|
|
Handle/Group ..................................................
|
|
|
|
E-mail address ................................................
|
|
|
|
Address .......................................................
|
|
|
|
City, State, Zip ..............................................
|
|
|
|
Country .......................................................
|
|
|
|
Number of CD's ................................................
|
|
Cost of CD's ($) ..............................................
|
|
|
|
TOTAL COST ($) ................................................
|
|
|
|
QUESTION (check one):
|
|
|
|
The main reason I am purchasing the FREEDOM CD is because:
|
|
[ ] Data CD
|
|
[ ] MC3/Audio CD
|
|
|
|
* Sticker wanted (1 per CD):
|
|
|
|
[ ] Here...Catch! By Xten
|
|
[ ] Flag of Freedom By Dana Dominiak
|
|
[ ] Eruption By Grinner & The Crux
|
|
[ ] Intel Fake By Primal
|
|
|
|
* For People outside the US:
|
|
|
|
A few people got hit with a tax when they ordered the ESCAPE CD because I
|
|
did not mark "GIFT" on the CD package. Under normal conditions I will not
|
|
mark the GIFT box on the custom label. However, if you live in a strict
|
|
country and feel I should check this box then you need to mark the box
|
|
below.
|
|
|
|
[ ] Yes. I consider the Freedom CD a GIFT.
|
|
|
|
* Payment by:
|
|
|
|
[ ] Check/bank draft/money order
|
|
[ ] Wired transfer
|
|
[ ] Cash
|
|
[ ] Trade
|
|
|
|
[Cut Here]
|
|
|
|
_____Free Freedom
|
|
|
|
I did promise a few people out there a FREE CD. If you are one of the
|
|
people I said YES or MAYBE to then you need to send me a POSTCARD with your
|
|
name and address (so I can read it). That is all--simple. The only catch
|
|
is that there are a limited number of "FREE CDs" so send your POSTCARDS
|
|
before they all get distributed.
|
|
|
|
Those entitled to this FREE CD via postcard are as follows
|
|
(alphabetically): adept, bramage, cc catch, deathstr, epojar, flap,
|
|
galvados, jmagic, kevin (TE demo), pozgay, pszi(shock), rfreeman(ddd),
|
|
sdanes(iplay), sami.kapanen(Epical), sipiyou(xtcplay), tonic(symptom),
|
|
white noise, wizard(No Excuse), and zorlim.
|
|
|
|
If you are not on this list and I mentioned the possibility of a FREE CD to
|
|
you then contact me.
|
|
|
|
_____Addresses
|
|
|
|
There were a lot of helpers for this project and I need addresses for most
|
|
of you. I will send your CD/CDs out when they arrive if I have your
|
|
address by the release date.
|
|
|
|
Would the following people please E-mail me with their addresses (if they
|
|
have not done so already): PL, Darkness, Tonedef, Xten, Primal, Stony, The
|
|
Don, Steve Stiles, Pupphead, Ryan Cramer, Chris Grinner, Tumblin, George
|
|
Norwik, ALL MC3 winners, The REW, Cybelius, Zodiak, and Jonathan Vail.
|
|
|
|
_____That's All Folks
|
|
|
|
I'm expecting to mail this out to over 300 people thus I expect the mail
|
|
coming back to me to be quite high. I probably won't be able to answer
|
|
every question right away so be patient. No need to tell me you are
|
|
sending money just send away and if necessary put any extra instructions in
|
|
your letter. Thank you for your order/support and many many thanks go out
|
|
to all the people who helped make this CD possible.
|
|
|
|
I can be reached at (954)-370-1373 (Nights 8pm-11pm)
|
|
|
|
My address is :
|
|
|
|
Dan Wright
|
|
1320 N.W. 76th Avenue
|
|
Plantation, FL 33322-4740
|
|
USA
|
|
|
|
Dan Wright / Pallbearer - dmw@gate.net
|
|
|
|
|
|
=-[Subscribing]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
|
|
|
|
_____How to subscribe to DemoNews
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Start an e-mail to listserver@unseen.aztec.co.za (any subject line will do)
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In the mail, write: subscribe demuan-list FirstName LastName
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Examples: subscribe demuan-list Christopher Mann
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subscribe demuan-list Snowman
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subscribe demuan-list r3cgm@ftp.cdrom.com <-- WRONG!
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The listserver will start sending DemoNews to your e-mail's return address.
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_____Back Issues
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Older issues of DemoNews can be located under /demos/hornet/demonews
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Newly released issues of DemoNews are posted to /demos/incoming/news
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These directories are on our site (ftp.cdrom.com) or its mirrors.
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=-[Closing]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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For questions and comments, you can contact us at r3cgm@ftp.cdrom.com
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Your mail will be forwarded to the appropriate individual.
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...........................................................End.of.DemoNews.105.
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