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Why did I "thumb down" 1995? August 11th 2006, trace


For the ones that doesn't know, I'm talking about 1995 by Kewlers & MFX. If you go to the profile in pouet, you'll find that 154 users liked this production and even 5 of them think is one of the best prods ever.

Ok, first of all, I think there is a lot of hype here, A LOT! But that's not what made me to thumb down the prod. Kewlers is one ot the demoscene groups that has been innovating in style in almost every prod they were trying. MFX also tried to innovate, and after his awesome last prod Deitie the last thing you will expect is having abstract objects rotating while moving in a tunel or something. Homage to the oldschool art?! Well, the style of the website doesn't remind me at all the oldschool style, really. Also, apart from the kind of raytraced balls that are done by particles and then explode, there is nothing else new in the demo.

Anyway, if the demoscene needs something now is start moving to new visual styles. Right now, if you see a new demo, you may feel a deja vu. They design demos to look like other demos, and that's something that doesn't work anymore (atleast for me). There are always exceptions (like Aesterozoa) which is still one abstract object on the middle of the screen, but everything creates such a great experience, mood, that in a way the the concept makes sense.

Luckilly the guys at Fairlight now this, and they always try to do demos that doesn't look like demos everytime (getting some inspiration from xplsv.tv if needed ;D) Do you want an example? Check out Track One by Fairlight!

10 comments written so far...

you make some good points, but i respectfully disagree with your thumbs down. i think 1995 is an excellent production.
sure not all demos should be so inbred, but having some and especially some of this quality helps reinforce shared memories and values of the demo scene.
yeah there's too many that do this and there's plenty of others that deserve that thumbs down, but not this one in my opinion. :)
August 11th 2006, blackpawn
You didn't actually thumb it down: http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/3921/scje7.jpg

I haven't seen the demo, since my DSL connection is pretty much down and I'm using a 33.6 while they fix it... so I can't really comment on it.
August 11th 2006, Jcl
Following your critria, everyone should definitely thumb down the tokyo demo since there is nothing new inside, even the refraction shader.
August 11th 2006, merlucin
Yep, they should thumb down Tokyo. But only if I had the career that Kewlers and MFX has.
August 11th 2006, trace
Oh, I also forgot to say, that I know what Zomb is able to do. I don't think too many people knows what's able to do, and probably that explains everything a bit more.

We want a Zomb(tm) demo \o/
August 11th 2006, trace
I can only say one thing, taking into account all and each of your very valuable and respectable opinions.

bananas.
:)
August 13th 2006, Zomb
100% agreed with your comments, trace.. although personally i thumbed up that demo cos it was entertaining and funny.

what saddens me about the scene is that it's become so inbred. maybe it always was this way and i didnt notice, i dunno, but it sure seems like it now.
we laughed a lot about the comments on our assembly productions, but with a touch of sadness too. people said our demo looked like moppi - i can only think that's because they've never seen anything outside of the scene, so they just go for the closest scene reference (both group's works have a basis in motiongraphics etc.). thats just sad.
then there was someone saying our 64k's music sounded like fr025 (wtf?). does that mean the only tune that guy has ever heard in that genre is from fr025? :)
guys - there's a whole world out there. go and watch and listen. if you are watching demos for inspiration to make demos, you are making a fundamental mistake imho. how can you do something new like that?

the problem is partly one of the creators, and partly one of the audience. the scene as an audience expects some things from a demo, and that is what they want to see. some things are an instant hit - e.g. a space theme, particles, glow.
perhaps a lot of people have come into the scene as observers only in recent years, thanks in part to pouet's success - and they are there to see more of the "demostyle" things that brought them in in the first place.

i just have to mention, our asm 64k and our demo have both been a bit contraversial on pouet ("cns should have won"/"kewlers should have beaten you", "i hate your style" etc).
i guess it's true to say that fairlight productions are "meant" to be a "cult" thing that some people love and most people either don't like or don't get. we didnt go for the win in any of the compos at assembly - there are a lot easier ways of achieving that than the route we took, believe me. we went out to make what we wanted to make, and that's what we did. :)
August 14th 2006, smash
You completely miss the point of the demo. Which is IMHO to bring some nostalgia in a way of presenting oldschool effects in a new way. So there's no need to whine about no new/fresh visual stuff.
August 15th 2006, Oswald
Oh.. trust me mate, I understood perfectly the point of it. And no, it's not new either.
August 15th 2006, trace
I 101% agree with smash comments.. :o)

I've really enjoyed both 1995 and Track One. It's true that 1995 is using a visual language that only makes sense for sceners, but who cares? If I have to show a demo to a non-scener, I'll also choose Track One in the first place, but if I want to show a good demo to a non-active scener, he will probably enjoy 1995 to the max.

Anyway, given that each year there are less productions in every party, I find very interesting to promote the demoscene even if the message can only be understood by other sceners, as it still can get to inactive people like me.

Bring back the old demo art! Or just... Bring! ;P
August 22nd 2006, drkami

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