The C64 Demoscene
by earlec
It’s 1985, and millions of Commodore 64 computers are connected to millions of television sets around the globe. The sole purpose of these 1-megahertz, 16-color marvels is simple. Games. No question about it – the C64 runs the coolest video games this side of the local arcade, but from the darkest corners of the home computing landscape oozes something new, something that few people will ever see. A curious and passionate computer subculture is forming that exists purely to push this humble machine to its very limits for the purposes of self-expression. 1985 sees the birth of the demoscene.
The demoscene (more commonly known as “the scene”) was made up of fiercely competitive groups of programmers, computer musicians, and computer graphics artist who collaborated to create real-time presentations called demos. A demo doesn’t do anything – it’s just a collection of visual effects set to music – kind of like a bad 80’s music video where all the effects are generated on-the-fly via some hardcore maths and bags of technical wizardry. A demo had to look awesome, it had to sound awesome, and most importantly of all – it had to be technically astonishing, bordering on improbable. The demo was about making the machine do things it was never meant to do.
The scene itself emerged from the dodgy world of the “crackers” – people who would take commercial video games, remove the copy-protection schemes from them and then illegally release the copyable games to the public. Cracking games required expert programming skills – and the crackers where not shy about vaunting their talents via small messages that displayed while the game loaded. Over time the introductions became more and more elaborate. The simple messages were replaced with flashy graphics, original 8-bit music scores, and impressive programming tricks – combined with scrolling text that praised the group’s allies and ridiculed their rivals: fuelling the competitive spirit and raising the bar for computer-based design, music and technical accomplishments.
Eventually the demos expanded from small game ‘intros’ into epic standalone productions of art direction and mathematical genius that consumed entire floppy disks! As the culture spread, the best demo groups attained celebrity status. Huge parties were held where thousands of pasty nerds would gather from all around the world (but mostly Europe) to create demos and see their heros.
If you care to revisit the old Commodore 64 demos you’ll find a treasure-trove of poor grammar, juvenile sci-fi drawings, and seizure-inducing special effects. But the awesomeness of the demoscene laid in the spirit of pushing the home computer beyond imposed limitations and not for money, just to see what might be possible, making it an endeavour into the realms of pure 80s art.
Now feast your eyes and ears on this!
80s versus now
Our friends Jo Chichester and Ali Benton over at the ABC got to chatting about 80s vernacular and icons. The rather inexhaustible list below is the result. It’s likely that this list could go on for a very long time but here’s what they have come up with so far. Now stop saying ‘awesome’ and rediscover ‘unreal’ and let us know what you think – agree or disagree?
About the authors…
Jo Chichester was a volunteer radio announcer at 4ZZZ in the 80s and went on to work at JJ (later Triple J) through the 90’s. She still rocks out to her X Ray Specs, Particles, and Sparklers 7” singles and considers Strange Tenants 12” EP her most valuable possession.
Ali Benton is a radio producer and can only do one side of a rubics cube.
28 – 3 January
The Kent Hotel on Beaumont St was badly damaged in the Newcastle Earthquake
2009 sees the 20th anniversary of one of the most devastating earthquakes to ever hit Australia. Whilst most Australians were enjoying holiday festivities, Newcastle felt the impact of an earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter Scale. The shock left 13 dead and 150 injured on the 28 December 1989, stretching emergency services beyond their capacity. Fortunately, there were lower numbers of pedestrians in the town centre on the day due to a bus union strike however many of the injured became trapped in layers of rubble when the Newcastle Workers’ Club collapsed. Over 50,000 buildings were damaged with repairs costing an estimated $4 billion. To learn more about this tragic event, head over to NBN website to view the original news coverage.
Also in this week in the 80s…
Newsweek declares 1984 the year of the yuppie, the ARPANET officially changes to using the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet on 1st Jan, 1983 and soul sister legend Aretha Franklin became the first woman inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 3 January, 1987.
The motorcycle and the mullet – Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ (1984)
Prince (and The Revolution) released his chart-topping album Purple Rain alongside a very poorly-rated (R-rated) movie of the same name back in 1984. Somewhat more than a populist stunt, this recording propelled him into the mainstream of popular culture, especially with the seminal track, ‘When Doves Cry’.
As tasteless as the movie may have been, the album is a masterpiece that wielded the 70s into the 80s with a solid fusion of new electronica and soft rock. Not only is it formatted in a manner that would allow you to simply put it on a turntable, let it run and have a party, but it contains quite a few surprises. The fast transition between tracks has always been a hallmark of the Purple One’s vinyl releases and encourages audience participation, yet it is a nightmare for DJs trying to drop the funky stylings of a track such as ‘Housequake’ (from Sign of the Times) into a quick mix.
My most memorable experience of Purple Rain was learning the difference between direct drive and belt-driven turntables. How? You could wind a belt-driven turntable backwards and listen to the controversial ending of ‘Darling Nikki’, that pronounces ‘that the Lord is coming soon’. Some claimed the lyrics unholy while others accepted them as innocent gospel. Either way, we know that ‘The Artist formerly known as Prince’ has always toyed with religion, its symbols and its idioms. To think that 5 years later I would be sitting in a general education class in a private school listening to an Anglican priest pontificating about the evils of backmasking, Judas Priest, Hotel California and NWA. Prince did all of that in style, and I would still proudly present this album to my neighbours’ ears. Or my kids, for that matter. It still has traction.
Check out Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ album on iTunes
Double Dragon (Technos/Taito, 1987)
by admin
“In the year 19XX, half of the world was ravaged by a nuclear war and violence ruled the streets in America…”
Marian is kidnapped by a violent street gang known as ‘The Black Warriors’. The brothers, Jimmy and Billy Lee AKA ‘Double Dragon’ must now fight their way through the gang and defeat ‘Big Boss Willy’ to save her.
What set this beat ‘em up game apart was that you could use your enemy’s weapons against them. Foes attacked with daggers, whips, baseball bats and dynamite, which they dropped when they were hit. I remember constant arguments about who got what weapon; the baseball bat being the most popular, while no one wanted the whip. Also new were combination attacks that allowed you to throw your enemies, knee in them in the head and even hold them down while your team mate taught them some manners. The foes included punks, dominatrixes with blonde afros, ‘Mr T’ clones (brown and green varieties) and a machine gun toting final boss.
The finale was one of the most exciting parts of the game. Once the foes were defeated the brothers had to fight each other for Marian, (despite the game’s back story that claimed she was Billy’s lover!). My theory is that the Street Fighter franchise expanded upon this aspect of the game, as it is much more difficult and exciting to challenge a fellow gamer.
The excellent theme song (thanks Yamaha), state of the art graphics and boyhood wish fulfillment elements all combined to make a unique and enjoyable gaming experience. It was so successful it spawned numerous sequels, comics, cartoons and a Hollywood film. Also check out the brilliant version of Double Dragon II (my favourite in the series) on the original Nintendo platform, which is far superior to the arcade sequel.
Peter Cox, curator
See more vox pops and visitor memories over in the exhibition’s YouTube channel!
Craig Schuftan guest curator on the neo-80s revival
See more vox pops and visitor memories over in the exhibition’s YouTube channel!
Track & Field (Konami, 1983) / Hyper Sports (Konami, 1984)
There is a largely unknown reason that velcro wallets were such a huge hit in the early 80s. And that reason is primarily that they had the perfect design for the button-mashing required for these two titles from Konami (and their clones). Eschewing joysticks altogether these two titles used three button combinations to move your player, thus requiring the kind of repetitive button pressing that would make an occupational therapist faint.
Released in the period leading up to the massively hyped Los Angeles Olympic Games of 1984 these two titles gave the least athletic of us a chance to make little pixelated figures run, jump and swim in ways we never could.
Track & Field opened with the 100m dash requiring rapid two button pressing to make your character’s legs run as fast as possible. The second stage, the long jump introduced the third button. Again, you would run as fast as you could, then hit the third button on the line and hold it until you got as close to 45 degrees as possible then released it – and off you would sail. Getting past the long jump took a good many plays. Javelin followed much in a similar vein, running then holding the third button on the line to release. I never got past the hurdles which requires you to run, then hit the third button to jump every few seconds.
Hyper Sports opened with swimming which required two buttons then a third to breathe every few seconds. This was not a friendly way to start a game – it was the equivalent of hurdles in Track & Field! Skeet shooting followed which made it all worth while and was, along with archery, the best two stages of all the games – running at a more relaxed pace.
These games would spawn many offspring on home computers. I remember destroying several joysticks playing Decathlon (Activsion, 1984) and Summer Games (Epyx, 1984) on the Commodore 64. Both of these titles replaced the button mashing (which would have destroyed the Commodore 64 itself) with joystick waggling. This managed to spread the effect of RSI from the hands to the upper arm.
Seb Chan
Nicole Ashe at the opening night party for ‘The 80s are back’ exhibition.
See more vox pops and visitor memories over in the exhibition’s YouTube channel!
Brian Canham, Pseudo Echo
See more vox pops and visitor memories over in the exhibition’s YouTube channel!