I have just finished my correction of the directory of the " actors "
of the small world of ST and I thought that one were really more than
one handle and yet... We must note that the scene ST is much more
long-lived among that of Falcon ! With you to judge some by the tests
which follow (to be compared with the tests Falcon 8-)
Small innovation, rather than expressed as a percentage to give a note
which leaves the beautiful share to the subjectivity and which is a
little too " surgical " with my taste, I decided to choose a scale
made up of stars and which must be interpreted in the following way :
* > Waah it is really a demonstration that ?????
** > Not terrible and really not unforgettable
*** > Sympathetic without being exceptional...
**** > That there you risk to often watch it !!!
***** > the TOS : a small essential jewel !!!!!
Last minute ! The event of this February 1999 it is the exit of the so
much awaited megademo : Nostalgic' O demo ! A " good old "
demonstration as in time ! I thus decided to devote an
article which you will find in the synopsis.
With the menu :
> Hunt4fuji/Checkpoint
> Staars/Checkpoint
> SLAPT/Checkpoint
> Art Tracks/Queen Meka
> Immortalize/Wildfire
> Xmass/Paranoia
> Do things/Cream
> Modulation 2/Checkpoint
> The Kineton/Typhoon
> Depression Mods 2/Depression
HUNT 4 FUJI by Checkpoint/all Atari (1 Mo ?) *****
Incredible but true, ST is entitled to him also to the mode of the
screens in 128 bytes ! Until now only Checkpoint dared to rub there
and... successfully !!
In the file hunt4fuji one finds a programme of 1,4 KB with an
explanatory English text. Good one clic on the prg, ah it seeks the
address report of the Atari logo (also called " Fuji ") then asks us
to choose our resolution : low, average or high (I did not test the
high resolution considering whom I use tele). From there a
miiiiinuscule prg of 160 bytes (for which it is necessary to withdraw
32 bytes for the header) east creates. Return to the gem, one clic on
this ptit thing and ohhhh a jouuli rotozoom with - for those which
followed - the Atari logo ! Ca moves well and in spite of a rather
small window (approximately 50 X 50) the whole is definitively
impressionant !! To see and re-examine without moderation the zamis !
It should be noted that the prg uses the colors of the gem then if -
as me - you use an accessory to modify the colors of them, you will be
able even you amuse to modify the pallet of the rotozoom !
Staaaars by Checkpoint/all Atari (1 Mo ?) ****
Wait do not leave !! Checkpoint still came out us one 128 bytes !!! As
previously, the program thus makes 160 bytes and a sympathetic nerve
starfield proposes to us. There are two prg which offers two to us
starfields (logical), the first of 256 stars and the second of 640.
The first turns into 1 VBL, which is not the case of the second, this
thus says this last fluid remainder once again a superb demonstration
of what Defjam manages to code in 128 bytes !!
SLAPT by Checkpoint/all Atari (1 Mo ?) ***
Behind this name rather strange, it is necessary to read " Something
Like A Plasma Tunnel ", in other words this effect resembles more or
less a tunnel in plasma. Good, this precision being ridge, one can
add that it is * still * about a screen 128 bytes due to Defjam. This
time the effect is successful a little less than the others initially
because Defjam used the resolution of C64 (sisi) and then the colors
are really too " flashy ". Then ok it is a tunnel and it is of the
128 bytes but good between us I would really prefer to see a true
tunnel coded by Defjam, but which knows that can arrive more quickly
than it is thought...
Art Tracks by Queen Meka/Ste and Falcon **
Here the first compilation of soundtracks which Queen Meka brings us,
Atariste association responsible for mag HTML Stimulus. The intro is
very stripped since it is composed of a mauve line posted in top of
the screen and on which a scroll is held of right-hand side on the
left. It should be noted that the cast iron is copied of an
unspecified text processing (it as in the intro the last toXic is the
same one). Only originality : the letters are coloured in green or
yellow, waouh ! Fortunately for us the soundtrack which accompanies
this thin intro is rather pleasant.
And hop, bars space and lives the GEM ! There I have a doubt : I see a
prg named ' player' but when I launch it, I find myself with the
excellent OSZI Player of tSCc... However I sought well and I did not
find any file indicating an unspecified reference to tSCc... Hum hum
not very to fair play that !!!
Another weak point : the compil' contains * only * 5 pieces combining
banal techno - heard thousand times - with mielleuses melodies with 10
balls. One finds there also a chiptrack, a ptite curiosity for
Stistes but good here what... I acknowledge to have installed this
compilation on my hard disk which it often does not see daylight... in
short for the collectors of soundtracks, the others can forget this
1st volume.
Immortalize by Wildfire/Ste 1 Mo **
Waited for some time already, this Swedish demonstration came out
just after the last toXic ! Not very recent thus, but good as it was
not tested until there we will do it. First surprised : this
demonstration is really small, very small since it makes only 130 KB !
Other surprised, no boot right a collection of prg (of which one
which is called DHS ! ?). Fortunately that there is of them one which
is called ' start' if not our great adventure is stopped there !
Even the textual file is with illegible half !!! Go one goes there :
ah the gfx of the intro are sympas with a Wildfire logo in raytracing
and a superb logo IMMORTALIZE drawn by At -. the image solidifies then
on this last logo and... We wait... ah finally a scroll with the Wars Star or precisely
with " MAGIQUE " i.e. the last production of the group ! They even took
again same the zik, pfouuu. The scroll stops, still a bad transition
on a rotozoom not unpleasant but not contradicts either. The
following effect is a figure in traditional telegraphic 3D, one would
say that it is on average resolution but I am not sure. Last effect
(Ben VI already) and can be the best : a big plasma very coloured and
full screen. No the greetings, of scrolls or even of unspecified
appropriations, the demonstration finishes like it started : without
the least effort, obviously Wildfire bad realized its prod to get rid
some...
Xmass by Paranoia/ST and Falcon **
Here a small sympathetic demonstration without claim coded by the
friend Paranoid and left at the time of Christmas. The first part is
rather funny. It starts with us to show milk a brick with a time
limitation date, some share after Christmas. A quill of Coke with
another date follows then... one PC with for time limitation
date... on January 1 of the year 2000 8-)
The second part is rather banal : one finds to it from now on
traditional logo * PARANOIA * with the razor blade (surrounded by a
ribbon for the occasion). While snow falls on the screen (without
accumulating on the logo unfortunately !), a list of groups ravels as
a greetings. And it is all. To see for the first part at least...
Doing Things by Cream/all Atari 1 Mo *****
Here a demonstration that any Atarist worthy of this name MUST have
in its possession !!! I acknowledge that since I had taken the
practice of trainer on the site of * CREAM * and reading their
newspaper, I had nothing any more but one idea at the head : to see
this demonstration !!! Eh well, it should be believed that I had
chance since the demonstration came out at the end of January !!
Upon the departure I knew that it would be about a demonstration close
in the concept of new STGMM2 excellent a compil to ziks of TAO
accompanied by gfx new them also of Agent - T the resemblance is found
above all in the intro : after a suuuperbe image of loader, the "
first intro " begins, us inevitably pointing out STGMM2 since it is
about same the zik remixed by TAO, a sheer delight ! After a short
text, a presentation of the members of Cream and a cool logo of At -,
the second intro is launched...
Hop a new paragraph 8-) a white text is posted and says to us that
while some take pleasure in nostalgia and that others passed on the
obscure side (PC quoa !!) it still remains of the guy which is
moved and... make thing (" C things "). And there it is the shock :
Candyman offers a superb tunnel in plasma to us (include/understand a
tunnel with wholesale texture) sublime !! The resolution used is
certainly 160x100 and the fenčtre must make in the 320x100 but the
result is exceptional and between us I was unaware of completely
that Candyman was also gifted !! On the whole you will regale
yourselves with good ten - at least ! - different tunnels, distortions
of textures... in short a delight !!! Moreover the zik of TAO is it
also superb with effects ever heard in a front chip !!!
Sometimes text for the greetings comes to be superimposed on the
tunnels and it is very well done also. Finally when you are sour to
have seen all the tunnels you finally decide to press on the bar of
space to pass to the principal dish, but before that one second image
makes you have patience. Here still At delivers a very beautiful
drawing to us which will not be able to leave you cold !
Finally the " mainpart " : ok, the screen is design, limps it of left
contains the titles of the 12 soundchips dispo, below a equalizer is
and on the right a second limps poster of the text but something
bell... But well on ! TAO surprises us by offering soundchips not to
us but SIDVOICES, include/understand ziks using the extraordinary
sound capacities of C64. After having coded PlaySid, TAO decided to
launch out and the result is on the level of the remainder of the
demonstration : shining !! The chips (excuse term of beginner) are as
varied as surprising by their sonorities : plays on stereophony,
effects of echoes and sounds odd are as many ingredients which
constitute the richness inestimable these musics. And when you
manage to take again your breath you have curiosity to press " Space "
to benefit from a sympathetic nerve history drawn by At -. But there,
still a surprise : no traditional drawings but of the scans of At
paintings ! The quality of the scans is perfect, in particular by what
they use the STe pallet and the strange and magic history is very well
made. Of what to nourish you eyes and ears during hours !!!!
And it is not finished, for as in the STGMM2, "... Do Things " offers
a " reset-screen " ! Then hop reset, a zik envoutante made move
our tympanums and oooooohh still of the tunnels !! Obviously they are
still different from those of the intro and Candyman is allowed same
to add drawings intended to it to give the function of each member,
then they are their pseudos which is posted, intersected by other
drawings (a teddy bear, eyes, a statuette, the sign ' coils and
peace'...). Useless of repeat that all that is superb, the zik is
very entrainante and you are likely to have the retinas stuck above
during an end of time !!
Go, one finishes some with these last words : SUBLIMATE, PERFECT
DESIGN, CODE WHICH KILLS, ESSENTIAL and HIGHLY THE NEXT 8-)
Modulation 2 by Checkpoint/all Atari 1mo *****
And it is still a Checkpoint production which arrives to us at this
beginning of year ! Until there us other humble STistes had been able
to admire the " soundchipesques " compositions of 505 without same
knowledge that the guy also prevailed in the field of the soundtracks.
For Modulation 1 and 3 (do not seek) turn only on Falcon...
Fortunately Defjam and 505 present Modulation 2 to us which, it, turns
on ST and Falcon for our greater joy !
All starts with a " typical " intro with Checkpoint 8-) a letter ' Me
zoome of the bottom of the screen and starts to turn on it even while
being covered with a texture which must be gouraud. The window is not
very large and the colors chosen a little strange since they go from
blue to the pink, but good... Then two vertical bars come to be
placed on the right and on the left of the screen > deZign in the
house 8-) With the fact, since this small beginning, pleasant and a
very rythmy soundchip accompanies this setting in mouth. Coming
melt with the M is come one II red and to texture as vomitory as
his/her buddy. It is then a " Modulation 2 " which comes to be plated
with the bottom of the screen while zoomant and while being stretched.
It disappears then it is with the turn from our buddies M and II to
darken to disappear quietly. The screen is put at flasher while the
two bars are unobtrusive block per block in rate/rhythm with the zik
and... one reaches the second part of the intro !
At the beginning there is nothing if it is not a change of melody.
Then species of cells (or amoebas if you prefer) come to dandle
themselves on the screen before lighting and " to take " fire !! They
mix, increasingly many and form ignited figures. Then it is a
Checkpoint logo which, bottom of the screen joined the troop for y
meler, before leaving in a movement rotozoom !! End of the
end, the small cells on fire deform the logo in the illuminant on
their passage. Gradually this ignited ballet slows down then
disparait leaving the place to simple " a please wait ". A intro
worthy of the genius of Defjam, particularly as regards the second
part which is undoubtedly most beautiful (and rapid !) effect of fire
ever seen on ST !
The screen is put at flasher and a sympathetic nerve logo CHECKPOINT
drawn by Moondog/pOd posts in an original way. In bottom of the
screen one finds, on the left, one limps of dialogue as well as icones
(tracks, options...) on the right an animation representing the lettes
MII of the intro which turn unceasingly on they-even and finally all
in bottom a scrolltext. This compilation of ziks would not be
complete without " spectrum lines " evolving/moving according to the
music.
The music, let us speak (finally 8-) : not less * TWELVE * yes you
read 12, soundtracks well are available, that is to say twice the
number of ziks proposed by Art Tracks for example. First (and only 8
-) regret however : there is certainly a player STf and a player
Falcon alas the owners of STe will have to be satisfied with the
player STf to 14 Khz, damage...
It is " fortunately " well the only reproach which one can make in
Checkpoint bus for the remainder it is good whole. With the program
of the titles like : Blockade, Frozen Dreams, Jassi, We Are Here...
finally good that is not used for nothing to give you the list. Just
know that except for one or two titles used in the UCM all the
remainder is new. The style goes from the soft melody until good the
tekno which moves (without being too wild nevertheless !!) and after a
good moment of listening you will be obliged to admit the immense
talent of 505 ! For even in the pieces more or less tekno it avoids
the monotonous passages learnedly, on the contrary you will be
astonished by fredonner some of these pieces !!
Morality, this compil is excellent !! From the high technical level of
the intro, its pleasant general design and the impressionant number of
the pieces without forgetting an exceptional quality Checkpoint can
make us forget the only small defect of the compil : the absence of a
player specific to STe. Besides that, the amateurs of ziks owes ruer
on Modulation 2 !!
The Kineton by Typhoon/all Atari 1 Mo 1 Mo ***
Only demonstration ST, finally Atari even !!, come out with the
lamentable CP, Volcanic 5, this small quite sympathetic production is
the work of Ptif which had offered Mart'O demonstration to us the
last year.
The first impression being the best demonstration starts with a homage
to Mindbomb demo of * TLB * in the person of Bill Gates disguised in
bisounours. At the end of a few seconds a rather consequent glove of
bowe comes to be embedded in the head of this " poor " little guy 8-)
After a ripped screen of Win98 an animation in dowries tries to post a
" PC is shit ". Alas, the number of dowries too very few does not
manage to make readable the message... A music soundchip due to Iso
de Sentry is made hear then a pretty Typhoon logo appears, followed by
a " presents " which does not cease moving as in Flip' O demo and of a
logo " The Kineton " rather beautiful (although calculated on peusseu
8-). I like the following effect, it is about a Atari logo in which
we can see " psyche circles mix ".
On the other hand sticker " A " in 1 color (you know for the young
fellows who have the licence since less than 2 years 8-) which
distorte a line on two is not convainquant whole... pass... A sea
agitated by a sine wave fills up the screen and a duck with the
resolutely trisomic air comes to float quietly until it runs up
against the left edge of the screen and which its head... is detached
to run with peak while some bubbles rise... Be delirious and
straightforwardly twisting !! What remains ? One limps with meuh, you
know these small boxes who return themselves and who make Meuuuh Ben
you included/understood the principle. Last passage : the credit.
They are composed of drawings representing of the persos of South Park
accompanied by texts. You will be able finally to press " space " and
to see a teddy bear wishing you good night or still waiting a few
seconds to re-examine the box with meuh...
In short a sympathetic demonstration even if it does not have anything
in particular. The effects all are known and realized more or less
well (I think of the dowries and with " A " which distorte) but in the
unit the design is pleasant, then get this demonstration to see it at
least once.
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