History of Amstrad CPC Demomaking

[Hicks]

Shame would be especially to only have one point of view on history. That's why there is all these interviews, and we see that some guys in the past have cheated history in their advantage, because they could express themselves a lot...

About chronology. What is important is release date, I think that everybody will agree with that. Intermediate version dates are unverifiable... Maybe NWC make a first version of Final Creation in the end of 1987, who knows?

In short, it quite amusing to see someone, 25 years later, trying to prove against all evidence that he is the first to do that or that... But don't worry Longshot, you are still the recordman of the most arrogant scrolltext in demos 

[Longshot]

In short, it quite amusing to see someone, 25 years later, trying to prove against all evidence that he is the first to do that or that...

No need to go back 25 years (30, actually) to find people screeching to get recognized as being the first to do this or that—see for example http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=61177 

In the era of Internet (and post-truth), it would really be a pity if some guys were to cheat history to their advantage because they express themselves a lot.


Just because I don’t have the earliest versions of The Demo anymore doesn’t mean that they weren’t released.


I rest my case.
 

[Duke]

Eitherway, NWC and Longshot are both the legends of early CPC demo making
- I think both developed their hardscrolling, splitrasters and split techniques etc. independly at about the same time. In the early days there weren't many foreign demos going around here (in Denmark) and the Danish demos probably didn't spread  abroad as well.
For historical purposes I would say the release date written in the demos, should count to be fair. Probably nobody cares, but back then it was so cool

@Hicks, thanks for doing the interviews, it's a pleasure to read.

[toms]

No need to go back 25 years (30, actually) to find people screeching to get recognized as being the first to do this or that—see for example http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=61177 

Actually Still Rising was finished in 1987 but before releasing it, Hicks asked me to translate the scroll text to english. Because of my lazyness, it was finally officially released in 2013...

[Hicks]

@Duke: Thanks for your feedback  I'm sorry for french only interview but we are still searching for a translator...

It's usefull to make serious history about CPC demoscene because fake informations are frequents. For example, Longshot claim himself on Demozoo that Amazing Demo has been released in September 1989 instead of the real date, December 1989 or January 1990. See for example:
- the first screen of this page: http://cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=7668 (developped from October to December 1989)
- this interview: https://cpcrulez.fr/demosceneIN_logon_system.htm (Amazing wasn't finished in December 1989)
- this page: http://cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&onglet=dumps&num=7668 (Longshot himself wrote a message on the Amazing disk, dated from the 10.01.1990).

The same fake dates on Logon Demo 1 and 2: it's not march 1988 but december 1988 (https://demozoo.org/groups/46351)
The most comical thing is that Longshot was the one who accuse NWC to cheat his release dates 

[BSC]

I do not know "blink soft demo 3" ; I'll watch this week end too
it seems to be available there http://cpcrulez.fr/demostestDO_blinksoft-demo_3.htm

BSC could be able to find the date

Blinksoft-Demo 3 was released in 1983, I guess. Just a bit after Blinksoft-Demo 1 and 2, which were from 81 and 82, respectively.

Joking aside, I guess it is a relatively young demo, at least from 1990 I suppose. I didn't know Mickey much earlier than that.
I am pretty sure that NWCs demos were among the earliest showing raster bars.
Has this project died btw? That would actually be really sad...

[Hicks]

Has this project died btw? That would actually be really sad...

This project is still on the road, but I need time to finish the first volume (text is 90% completed)!

For everyone: we are talking about a 2 volumes book related to the history of the Amstrad demoscene:
- Volume 1: 1984-1997 period,
- Volume 2: 1998-today period.
If someone is interested here, you can write me a mail at hicks.vanity (at) gmail.com or leave a message on this thread. It could be a kind of "precommand", even if I will probably launch a kickstarter about this soon. I'm planning to publish a french & english version (specify which one interests you).

[TMR]

For everyone: we are talking about a 2 volumes book related to the history of the Amstrad demoscene:
- Volume 1: 1984-1997 period,
- Volume 2: 1998-today period.

Just randomly wandering in and being nosey, but... I was just wondering if the split at 1997/1998 is arbitrary because it needed to happen somewhere or if something specific happened to the scene on the Amstrad at that point?

[robcfg]

I think it’s really a nice project so I’m in for the english version of it.0

[Duke]

Yes, please english version 

[villain]

Je prends la version anglaise. Merci!

[SRS]

How about a german version ? most native speakers in the EU and english will vanish from the world on oktober 31th 2019 

[TotO]

How about a german version ? most native speakers in the EU and english will vanish from the world on oktober 31th 2019 

You will have to learn french next.

[SRS]

You will have to learn french next.

I did long ago  ... or do you mean the language ?

I prefer the ....

Spoiler: ShowHide

cuisine :p

[Hicks]

Thanks for your answers! Then I add robcfg, Duke & villain for the english version. Somebody else?

Just randomly wandering in and being nosey, but... I was just wondering if the split at 1997/1998 is arbitrary because it needed to happen somewhere or if something specific happened to the scene on the Amstrad at that point?

I couldn't do a single volume because it would have been too big. So I decided to but in 1997/1998 for some reasons:

• allow to give 2 volumes with about the same number of pages,
• around this period, a real renewal of the sceners has occurred (Overlanders, Arkos, DBT & cie become more and more important... and the German demoscene started to disappear after Wizzcat, Exodus, Symbiosis & HJT!)... ok Symbiosis is still alive (Hi Prodatron), but not the demo section!
• I discovered and been involved in the scene around this period, then I will be helped by my direct experience for the second volume.

How about a german version ? most native speakers in the EU and english will vanish from the world on oktober 31th 2019 

Hehe, the German scene deserve it... Aber willst du das wirklich mit meinem deutschniveau lesen??

[villain]

Hehe, the German scene deserve it... Aber willst du das wirklich mit meinem deutschniveau lesen??

If you are prepared to provide the original text one could look if a translation is doable. Of course so far I have no idea how much work it will be. Probably some Gerrmans would need to collaborate to do this job. But I would not expect a really high demand for the german version. Except some guys from the good old days wake up...

[BSC]

This project is still on the road, but I need time to finish the first volume (text is 90% completed)!

For everyone: we are talking about a 2 volumes book related to the history of the Amstrad demoscene:
- Volume 1: 1984-1997 period,
- Volume 2: 1998-today period.
If someone is interested here, you can write me a mail at hicks.vanity (at) gmail.com or leave a message on this thread. It could be a kind of "precommand", even if I will probably launch a kickstarter about this soon. I'm planning to publish a french & english version (specify which one interests you).

Good to hear! And - I think I have to point this rather explicitly - PLEASE (PLEASE!) start with an english version. Your english is good enough (most of us are not native speakers anyway) and if you need polishing, I am pretty sure you would find someone proficient to help you with that. PLEASE (PLEASE!) do NOT start with a french version. I don't mean to
say that this could not be a translation option, but english is the lingua franca ( ) of the internet. Nothing else.

[BSC]

Actually Still Rising was finished in 1987 but before releasing it, Hicks asked me to translate the scroll text to english. Because of my lazyness, it was finally officially released in 2013...

Yeah, and I was always mad at how audaciously you stole most of the effects of BSC Demo 0, which was released in the 60s. Shame on you!

[TMR]

Thanks for your answers! Then I add robcfg, Duke & villain for the english version. Somebody else?
I couldn't do a single volume because it would have been too big. So I decided to but in 1997/1998 for some reasons:

• allow to give 2 volumes with about the same number of pages,
• around this period, a real renewal of the sceners has occurred (Overlanders, Arkos, DBT & cie become more and more important... and the German demoscene started to disappear after Wizzcat, Exodus, Symbiosis & HJT!)... ok Symbiosis is still alive (Hi Prodatron), but not the demo section!
• I discovered and been involved in the scene around this period, then I will be helped by my direct experience for the second volume.

Cool, thanks for answering.

[Gryzor]

Just sent an email for an English set.*

Looking forward to this. Just please, please consider avoidint the pitfalls of way too many money-grabbing retro-related projects: cheap production (paper, binding...) and lack of editing! Not that I have reasons to believe you wouldn't, it's just that we don't see too many CPC-related books, it'd be a shame not to have something nice, even if it costs more!


*interestingly, pasting "hicks.vanity (at) gmail.com" into the To: field in Gmail turns it into a normal email address!