jms@antares.UUCP (joe smith) (10/22/88)
Yes, Amigans, there is a new batch of Killer Demos coming your way. This is not an official list, just my opinions on what I enjoyed at the BADGE (Bay Area Developer's GroupE) Killer Demo Contest #1. (The categories are my own. Descriptions as I remember them; please excuse any mistakes.) Most Eye Catching: Tychoid. A 3D view of several colored glass spheres bouncing on a 5 by 5 checker board. The point of view rotates around the assemblage as 4 marbles jump up and down at the corners. In the middle, 2 marbles take turns crossing the center of the board as a third jumps over them. This demo includes sychronized sound, and is suitable for displays that catch the eye of passers by. Most Humorous for Amiga Owners: NotBoingAgain. A Sculpt-3D view of a guy sitting in front of an Amiga 2000. He puts a disk in DF0:, and the disk drive makes whirring sounds as the LED flashes. He types 2 commands at the CLI (a DIR and a SHOWANIM), and a Boing ball appears, bouncing across the screen with appropriate Boing sounds. Then the disk drive slot opens up like a mouth, an the narrator.device says "Not Boing Again!" The power LED flashes, leading to a big red GURU on the little Amiga's screen, then the disk drive spits out the floppy, again with suitable sound effects. This one got a long ovation. (Potential Amiga buyers won't fully appreciate this wonderful demo.) Most Beautiful: Charon. This one comes with a full musical score, and is done by Bradley W Schenck, who did the harpist that was on the cover of June 1988 Amiga World. With an enchanting series of fades, dissolves, and wipes, he uses pictures and words tell the story of Charon, the deity of the lower world who ferried the souls of the dead across the river Styx to Hades. Great Graphics: CUCUG and Bowl. Both have ray traced images rotating around a center point. One has 3 copies of the Champaign-Urbana Commodore Users Group logo circling a large reflective sphere, the other has a set of 3 balls (red, blue, green) circling the rim of a concave reflective bowl. Both use HAM mode in such a way that it looks like the Amiga has more than 4096 displayable colors. Video Wallpaper: Tank. An overscan picture of a fish tank, complete with the sound of the air pump and bubbling. Several goldfish float by, in front of and behind each other and the plants. Two brightly colored members of the competition wander by and are dealt with. There are many other good demos; these are my personal favorites. Watch for announcements when they show up on Fish Disks and dealer's Demo Disks. -- +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | TYMNET:JMS@F29 CA:"POPJ P," UUCP:{ames|pyramid}oliveb!tymix!antares!jms | | INTERNET: (Office-1.ARPA is no more) PHONE:Joe Smith @ (408)922-6220 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+