Somewhere last October over 200 members of the Commodore 64 demoscene community visited the X2008, an event in The Netherlands. It was a gathering of generations of demosceners, growing in number with each party edition.
These type of parties date back as far as the early 80ties. Traditionally such an event has competitions in disciplines like graphics, music and demos. And on this occasion, there was an exceptional number of (quality) productions being published.
I took the freedom of selecting both three demo and graphic entries.
My Beauty by Fairlight
The Swedish avant-gardes unite again. The unique narrative style of Hollowman along with a distinctive Goto80 soundtrack is a special match. This was the only demo that didn’t feel like a summary of ‘hardcore coded’ effects but instead held on to a bigger idea.
Amplifire by Horizon & Instinct
Strong visual action-packed demo, with a lot of new ideas and beautiful graphics by Archmage. A bit short compared to the others in this league, but visually most outstanding. Although the demo as a whole lacks a tail, it’s completely appealing to me.
Edge of Disgrace by Booze Designs
The most celebrated demo of this competition, features a 15 minutes long effect show with creative transitions throughout. Well polished. By a majority of the demosceners, this is considered a milestone.
Concubism by Archmage
A very well crafted picture. Archmage just (relatively) recently started pixeling on the Commodore 64, but his experience from the Commodore Amiga (16bit computer) showed off already with his first work on the c64. He manages to astonish always with a fresh set of colors and a crisp pixel style. Not too shy to experiment in techniques.
Blown a Wish by Deev
Deev’s work of the latest years, doesn’t always show it’s a c64 picture. Perhaps inspired by contemporary design trends, he often impresses his colleagues by an unusual approach. In combination to the other two, it shows a bit of the range of styles.
What’s Up, Doc? by Duce
This picture shows Duce ‘s background in comics, yet compared to earlier pixel-work it looks like he’s made a huge step in finding a good pixel-style adaption to it. Revealing his background, but taking it places.
You can see all productions from this event here. To view these media, download a Commodore 64 emulator for PC, or for MAC.
very nice selection of graphics here. if talk about demos, only fairlight work is good for me. i barely remember if i watched “edge of disgrace” till the end. anyway i have to agree – this is a milestone of its kind.
Yes, there were very nice releases from X this time.
It really shows that C64 (and other vintage computers too) are far away from being dead today.
btw. very nice website. i esp. dig the logo and design. Kudos.
Hey, nice site! I can only agree with the selections here. ;) A good thing that the Fairlight demo is mentioned. Hollowman is an unsung hero of the c64 demoscene, and his stuff deserves a lot more attention.
Hey Sander, nice blog man!
Looking forward to how it flows.
Nice, one! You should make those graphics click-onable so they open a bigger version.
Keep up the good work, dude!
nice website!