xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx||%xxxy]+|~~~~~-"-----^""~9"||yy||x>xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx llllllllllllll3ll3m]-~~ ~~~~pQi*3>llllllllllllllll >lllllllO3m~- ,pNNNNNNNNNNNNNNM..:9MMM7 ..;sxv;|xil333llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll xJ -? ]0QNNNM~]Lil3li33illlllllllll3>lnn*3mll*>dll4lll3ll3llllllllll>llll |G `" r'N99,;x3illl3>3llllllllllll3z|~~ "~~@NQpQ*>l33ll3llll3lllllll3lll 3>__ ]j>3llllllllll3llll3l3llxm~~ ~pNNN04>ll3]~~~~~~~~~7O3lnrn |l3G- `/ _yy3xllllllllllll>l>n|~?3Qpppp_ ,p&NNNJ\9NNNqnlk| 'J3 33|Ox t\4|n3llllllllllll3lxl/ / ,NNNM~~~N -fNp-?2A. ,:y;] |3ZN t< lllx|Od `V\*yll>llllllllllllG &N~/ -9MNpq: ' ;?] Z&~,[l lllll3x]. `9p\wy3lllllllllll3J ,pp&Nj ,N/ ._ !NNp -'rj p# }[l llllll3sx_ ^@\?|lllllllllllli]vy_ _LNNNNN] &] ,NNp_ ~ NNN [y -g ~y }[% lllll3lsnlllllll3lllXy'~~~~~~MNJNN/ pNNNNM/ .!0x t4~/pp "W ,I< lllllllll3lllJ !j/|lzllllllllllZ `PNNpppgpNM~/ '}Nx ~ _q~p N_ `1l llllllllll33>lv f]*nsllllllll>|] ~NNNNNNNM9_ 0N `-,NN Ipq `[l llllllllllll>lnJ PQ|dllll3l33o~ .NNNMJ~JJp | '~9NN !N0Q Ii lllllllllllllllxV_ ~J}ll>llnio/ LM~/~ ppM/ "~~~ '~~~I\3 lllllllllllllli%35_ !]s*33ldl] ,_ _pL~~/ x , _ fj '.d llllllllllllllll3sx JIdzllx32 -^ ,O_I/-r], ! /p_{; llllllllllllll3l3l3s ' @p~z**] Demo Competition ' ~ /&,~/_OO;GQ llllllllllllll3l3*j'^ / d>>#_ VII _ '/ ,py7|3d0NN l33l3lll33lllll33xl] ~~~~~'_ ~A ^"-/ ' MQqQ0NNN lllxyyyyymmllllll>2]~ ~~~~ "Demo or Die" -fNNNNNN l3|||l3G#QW>>ll3lnt 2004 NN0NNN llxGQQQ#0dq3*2yqllk ]@NNNN =---=--=-==-===-=================================-===-==-=--=---= ]INNNN Results processed by Silly Little Votesystem 3.10 by Sol/Trauma &NNNN =---=--=-==-===-=================================-===-==-=--=---= [..vote distribution..] 1. Rivulet by Trailer Park Demo 13.576329026341821% [ .oOOoOo.. ] 2. Dead Blue People by Traction 13.220241298333749% [ .ooOoo. .ooo ] 3. Outsync by Crimson Shine 12.035000188857516% [ ...ooooOo. ] - - - -- --- --------------------------------- --- -- - - - 4. Carbonara by Alpha Design 10.904468503114687% [ .. .. .oOOoo .. ] 5. zero2nine (0x4ba06A) by Four Byte Aliens 10.096461234418566% [ .. oooOOooo... ] 6. Fixedsys by Kaleido 10.036785575579966% [ .o.oOo... ] 7. juPop by Morbid Cru 9.022718311373986% [ ..ooOOoooo. .. ] 8. Textosteron by Creative Mind 7.660577335602772% [.... .ooOooo. ] 9. Häpeän vuosikymmen by DHFC 6.286724342844455% [ oooooOOooOo ] 10. Vespertine by Reaper_Unreal 5.845088926318462% [.o.oooOoooo ] 11. Bars by Quantum Sufficient 2.662760473537835% [oOo..oo.. ] =---=--=-==-===-=================================-===-==-=--=---= The quality of the textmode demos in the competition were, on average, better than in the earlier competitions. One really positive move is the reduced use of my textfx library; many of the entries either use a different library, or have made something new. No single demo was a really clear winner, though, so I recommend that everyone checks out (at least) the top-6. The contestants have also made more effort to find colors (and color combinations) that actually work in text mode. The most controversial demo in the competition was 'textosteron', as it appears to have some copyright issues. Since this wasn't a clear case, the jury voted on its disqualification, and it was decided that the demo should not be disqualified. I hope you enjoy these demos as much as I did, and consider entering a demo to TMDC8 - textmode forever! -- Sol, TMDC organizer, tAAt ry Selected comments from the jury: Comments about the competition in general: - Good stuff overall. - Nice to see that colorspace was taken into consideration finally, as well as how different colors work together, creating nice outlines and such, without simply relying on rgb2ascii routines. - Nice that you guys are still keeping up this unique form of art :) - Yay! Textfx is dead, long live textfx! - Overall it was great to see that the standard has gone up a big step. It would be nice to get more innovative ideas in the compo, instead of traditional conversion library stuff. - Nice bunch of entries with most of them being fit for text mode as well. It was generally quite hard to compare these against each other and try to decide which is better. - Could everyone use ogg/mp3/similar soundtrack next year, please? - Few nice entries but nothing too special. On 'Bars by Quantum Sufficient': - Ugly but extra points for the size. - A 4k textmode demo, original. Didn't work in this compo. - Yup! We've got bars! Worked under W2K, but did not get video in XP. - Some jurors could not get the visuals to work, which is pretty amazing for a textmode application. A bit more testing next time? On 'Vespertine by Reaper_Unreal': - Bad artistic direction, nice tech - A bit raw soundtrack, dontcha think. - Pretty horrible music but the colorful background effect was nice. On 'Häpeän vuosikymmen by DHFC': - Nice style choice - Nice style and hand drawn graphics but too little effects. - Ok music - Points for hand drawn graphics. - Poor choice of colors. The overall concept though was very unique. - Hävetkää. On 'Textosteron by Creative Mind': - Nice - Very clear at the beginning. - Good use of text mode. Shame of using copyright protected material. Considering the law, it's allowed to use copyrighted material to some extent if it's a part of a new piece of art. However, as the rules of the competition clearly prohibit this, the demo should be disqualified. - Basically, disqualifing would encourage people to leave everything "near copyright infringement" stuff out of demos. The finnish copyright law protects the implementation, no idea nor design. The question is now, is this a derivative work of the original, or drawn from scratch? Was this piece of art somehow modified, converted or otherwise translated from the original or does it only utilize the original idea of the comic book artist. The daffy duck's face is relatively easy to draw. It is very difficult to say is this a derivative works or not. I this can't be proven otherwise, it is innocent until proven guilty. - Disagreed with the palette selections. Felt "flat". - Some nice effects but otherwise quite indifferent. - Pretty nice, nothing super special though... (jury voted NOT to disqualify the entry) On 'juPop by Morbid Cru': - Wow. - Pretty nice. - Nice demo, but the RGB conversion was not really good. Not really text mode design. - Outstanding epic-like soundtrack. Certain objects/textures were too complex making them difficult to see. - Rather low contrast, choise of colors could be better. - How not to do 3D in text mode On 'Fixedsys by Kaleido': - Very nice! - Good 3D style - Wow. Color faking, in text mode?! One question though: Does this demo ever end? It hit a point and then perpetually looped on my machine. - Scenes and effects worked well in RGB conversion text mode. Best looking entry of "RGB conversion" demos. - Nice color shades, but the outcome is too noisy. - Low, low audio volume. On 'zero2nine (0x4ba06A) by Four Byte Aliens': - Excellent use of medium - Canvas movement works good with the music. - Numeric ascii was a good idea. Not much else. - Real smooth animation with so-so visuals. Great music. - Nice colors - Nice. - Number renderer was a bit strange. Fits ok for text mode. Music worked pretty well. - Nothing impressive. RGB conversion seems buggy (colours are banded). - Pretty boring. Couldn't find very much innovation from it On 'Carbonara by Alpha Design': - Nice retro presentation, excellent use of medium - Nice retro "Amiga" look. - Oldskool effects were nice. Altogether very balanced demo. - Nice oldschool demo vibe, as if you were watching an old demo hand made by an actual ANSI animator rather than something computer generated by AA-lib. Nice chipmusic as well. The ending was somewhat abrupt. - It's the c64 feelin'.. - Steady quality. - Clean use of basic colors, effects worked well together. - Ugly colors, nothing special... On 'Outsync by Crimson Shine': - Very nice! - Looked good. - Nice scroller font - Another nice rendering system. - Impressive use of colors (coder-wise) and good intermix of block and text rendering. - B/W startup screen was nice, also some RGB coversion screens. Minus points for terrible slowdowns on some effects! - Great start, and then.. what happened? Some bits have an 'unreal' feel to them.. - Superb palette choices and really smooth animations. Would've been nice if the music was sync'd to the animation. - Possible copyright issue with the very recognizeable font. - Run-of-the-mill demo On 'Dead Blue People by Traction': - Unfuckingbelievable! Beautiful, original, unique, well designed. Definitely in the podium! - A nice dark, ambient textdemo. Everything ties in together perfectly and the soundtrack is great. - Brilliant style and theme - Also Kraftwerk owns :) - Music was ok, and renderer used chars pretty nicely. Too pale. - Nice but a bit bland. - Nice demo, but doesn't work well as a text mode demo. - Boring. Points for the blue theme. On 'Rivulet by Trailer Park Demo': - Wow. - Excellent style, great presentation! - Best use of text mode. Fresh design! - Excellent ideas. Peaceful gfx. Great music! - The winking Mozart ANSI by Unseen was a nice touch. Unique sequences are in this demo; I especially enjoyed the zig-zagging scene. Although the animation was smooth, the side scrolling/panning was somewhat distractingly choppy. - Nice idea. Different. - Good and consistent design effort en bloc. - Most integral. - Okay, what have you taken and is it legal Finland? Can I have some too? :) - Nice start, but lacks a bit of everything else. That's it. Until next year... =---=--=-==-===-=================================-===-==-=--=---= 'NNNNNNNNNN NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNJ ~Nppp_ , !J - ~9MNNM-RJN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~" 'PMM~_ `NQ '9xxNP ~~~/ NN vppp& ~/ ,ppp&NNNNNNNN ,pLNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN ,pNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN ,ppp&NNNNNNNNNNQppNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN ,pppppppp,,,ypppp&NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN NNNNNN0ppQQQQNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN