Hi folks, I am starting a small new series here — a demo corner where demos will be introduced that non-Pentagon owners would probably never get to see, unless someone teaches me how to convert protected BETA DISK demos to +D. So far, I have only succeeded with EXCESS DEMO because it simply wasn't protected.
I also converted the POWER UP demo, but on an original Speccy it gets stuck in an infinite loop, and on top of that, an animation is loaded directly from disk. However, once the Beta Disk emulator for the MB02 is finished, I will test which demos run with it, and then you will be able to request them from me.
Let us begin with a demo called:
TRASHE
The screen goes dark and a single point appears, turning into a vector hand rendered via vector graphics. Then it begins to smoothly extend its fingers: first one, then two, then three, then four, then five (this could go on forever!), and finally just the middle finger in that well-known gesture which probably symbolizes: Beat that if you can!
Next comes a wavy font effect, which I will call "Multiwave" here. These are logos displayed through overlapping waves. Following that is a plasma sound analyzer where the plasma looks like a star, expanding in all directions according to the music tones. Really cool and, above all, very fast!
Two checkerboard planes start scrolling next to each other, left or right and then back again, with masked text appearing on top of one of the fields as a bonus.
A morphing vector font now announces the next part, and is used for subsequent parts as well.
"3D 400 Pixel Realtime Morphing" is the next part. Anyone expecting rotation or elaborate dance moves from these 3D functions might be slightly disappointed, though: all pixels shift strictly vertically. That is probably the only reason this part is so blazing fast — downright unbelievable!
Then come 12 simultaneous animations with text displayed over them; it all looks outstanding. It is a grid that continuously expands in the middle and contracts again, and all of this is rendered 12 times on screen.
A few pearls of wisdom are shared — a Bible-style text with Spectrum references. All presented in proper demo fashion, of course, with scrolling and similar flair. Unfortunately it is a bit too fast, so you can only read the entire text on a second run.
Next are the greetz — greetings, in plain English. A parallax starfield appears and scrolls, while the names of the greeted people and groups are listed in the lower part of the screen. This text is further spiced up with a line effect meant to simulate high speed (flying greetz?), known as "motion blur". There are about 800 stars moving fluidly.
The vector hand we saw earlier reappears and begins to morph into several well-known figures or faces — who they are is secondary, the main thing is that it looks superb.
An animation with text that grows brighter and darker without changing attribute colors follows, utilizing the same routines as the 12-way animation.
Epilogue: The pages morph into one another — an interestingly crafted effect that I don't fully understand how it was constructed, otherwise quite indescribable.
THE END.
Now that I am slowly beginning to grasp machine code, I understand why so many coders prefer writing demos over games — it is simply easier. Still, I couldn't code a demo of this caliber yet. When I program games, I usually do it in BASIC and then compile them with HiSoft Basic or USCHI. I only implement the simplest, yet time-critical routines in assembly language.
Back to TRASHE: It is entirely possible that this demo will run on a standard Speccy 128; I cannot guarantee it, however. Someone just needs to step forward and convert it. As soon as the Beta Disk emulator for MB02 is available to me, I will be able to provide more details about compatibility, and then I will also be in a position to send these demos out.
— Tiger's Claw
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