Smash Designs

Smash Designs (SDS, http://www.smash-designs.de)
GER> AEG (André Burger, code gfx, 12/92-12/03), Chaotic (12/97-04/98), Dasheele (Sascha Waechterowitz, code, 12/92-01/93), Fantastic Zool (music, also in TUM^Willow, 04/98-04/02), Idefix (Alexander Gress,    music, 12/96), Ivan (Irfan Celik, gfx, 12/92-12/93), KB (music, also in     Farbrausch [pc], 07/98), Soney (Kai Schröder, music, 12/96-09/98), Sonic (Tufan Uysal, music, 12/96-12/03). SWE> Mitch & Dane (music, 07/98). ???> Calamity (gfx, 12/96-04/97), Rorschach (music, 04/97), Shabba (Jens    Gonska, 12/92), Tardox (code, 01/93).

Smash Designs is a German demo group that started life as a game developers rather than demosceners. They were formed in 1992 (presumably) by AEG and Dasheele. Their first game, "Time Out", was released by ROM Software in 1992. The groups first demo (as far as we've been able to discover) was "Street of Illusion" [12/92], released for the competition at The Party in december 1992. 1993 - At the Radwar Rainbow Party VII in january, the group relelased the three-diskside demo "West-Light" [01/93]. They also released the demo "Amgine" [93] sometime this year, outside of any party. "Amgine" was, quality-wise, a real breakthrough for the group, and achived a nice atmosphere of professionality that their previous outing had lacked. Inside the demo, Dasheele mentions his and Bad's upcoming game project "Red Alert", which we have yet to confirm actually exists. Ivan comes split 7th (with a picture already used in "West-Light") and AEG comes in at a split 27th (!) in The Party 93 graphics competition. 1994 - The group coarranged The Easter Party in march. Their demo "Fight Against Racism" was unplaced at The Party in december. 1995 - They went to The Party again in december, and this time their demo "Flatline" was 3rd, behind two other German groups, Reflex and Oxyron. 1996 - "Electric" came 2nd at the Symposium 96 in april, again after Reflex. Their 4k intro also came 2nd at the same party. December came with the party and "Triage" came in 2nd - yet again after Reflex. Sonic was 9th, Soney was 12th and Idefix was 15th in the music competition, while Calamity came 7th and AEG 9th in the graphics competition. 1997 - Finally the group's struggles were paid back, and they took both 1st ("Project Pitchfork") and 2nd ("No") place in the Mekka Symposium demo competition in april! Calamity was 6th in the graphics competition, Sonic was 4th, Rorschach was 7th, H-Bloxx was 8th and AEG and Soney (in cooperation) were 10th in music! Naturally their 4k intro also won that competition. It was not long until july and the Wired party either, and yet again the group won the demo competition with "Triage 2"! AEG also won BOTH the graphics and music competitions, with Soney coming in 3rd in music. And then december, and Smash would round off a truly amazing year with the ultimate trophy of all: The winner demo at The Party! "Second Reality" was the wonder's name, and it was a c64 rendition of perhaps the most famous pc demo of all... "Desert Dots 2" came in at a split 9th position, while Sonic only managed a weak split 11th in the music compo. 1998 - After their definitive breakthrough last year, everyone was anxious to see what Smash could do at MS in april. There were no disappointments, as "Our Darkness" [04/98] won the demo competition, "Payday" [04/98] was fifth in the same, and their 4k intro also came in a winner! July came, and the group travelled to Wired 98 in Belgium with another demo up their sleeves. "Outbreak" [07/98] won the demo competition, and AEG finished 4th in the graphics and 10th in the music competitions. 2001 - April came with Mekka Symposium, and time for another installment in the Triage series. "Triage V" [04/01] was done entirely by AEG and Sonic, but finished in a disappointing third position. 2003 - The demo "Fallout" [12/03] won the demo competition at The Ultimate Meeting at the end of december.

Street of Illusion (1992, 28.12, Multiload Demo). code: AEG, Dasheele, gfx: Ivan, AEG, Shabba (design), music: Lords Of Sonics, others. Released for The Party 1992 demo competition. review: Well, first of all: I'm not sure I've seen all of this demo. After only two parts, I am unable to progress to the last one. It says press space, but pressing space (or indeed any other key) has no effect. If anyone can help with this issue, then we'd really appreciate it. Well, on with the review then. The demo opens with a part that in large portions seems inspired by Phenomena's groundbreaking amiga demo "Enigma" [03/91] - right down to the color and font choices for the credits, the vector objects and the concluding 'vector road' effect. This part also ends rather abruptly, seemingly in the middle of a textplotter sentence, and accepts no user interaction - it just advances to the next part when it's done. Technically, this is not superb in any way, with small filled vector objects, an obviously faked rubber cageball effect (see Scoopex' "Cageball" [04/93] intro on the amiga for comparison) and amateurish graphics. The music by Lords of Sonics (credited only with their short- form-name, L.O.S.) is okay. Code by Aeg, graphics by Irfan Celik and Aeg. The second part is a LITTLE better, with at least a competent effect. We are first introduced to a pretty bad Smash logo, then what appears to be a  lunar landscape with a single dycp scroller overlaid. After a small while a small block of 'fli rastersplits' appear and begins moving, splitting and tech-teching before finally becoming what the scrollwriter describes as 'fli plasma'. Innovative, perhaps, but not really pretty. Code by Dasheele, graphics by Aeg (logo) and ex-scener Tankard (landscape). The music, whose author remains uncredited, is a cover version of A-Ha's 80's hit single "Take On Me", and quite nicely executed. I have not yet found a way to progress from this part. The demo is 10 files, totalling 331 blocks. [glenn]

West-Light (1993, .01, Demo). code: Aeg, Dasheele, Tardox, gfx: Aeg, Ivan, Dasheele, music: Recoil (main), Emax/Trsi, Drax/Vibrants, GM (uncredited). Released at the Radwar Rainbow Party VII. review: This demo occupies no less than three disksides, though judging from the amount of data present on the final of the three, they should perhaps have taken the time to kick out a couple of the lesser part and squeezed it onto two sides. Oh well =) The demo is irq-loaded, so the same piece of music continues over both of the first disksides, though with a  loader part inbetween each demopart. It's much the same system employed by  many of the earlier amiga megademos in the late 80's.    The first diskside opens with a few things that I'd seen before; it  recycles (or so I thought, until I discovered that this demo was likely released BEFORE) an excellent plasma effect by Dasheele from their demo "Amgine" [93] - you can see the review of that for a closer description.  It also recycles a fullscreen picture by AEG which was also in that other  demo. The demo trudges on, part for part, without any real highlights.  Perhaps the most interesting effect on this side is the realtime  lightsourced and zoomed bobsphere by Aeg.    Side two's highlights are perhaps Aeg's vectors (though they look bugged) and Tardox' shadebob part. It also features another fullscreen picture by Aeg and a great fullscreen by Ivan - easily the best graphic in  the entire demo. The picture is identical to his effort for The Party 93  competition, which finished in split 7th position. A special mention must  also go to Aeg for his 'cover version' of J.O.E's famous melting TRSI logo  at the conclusion of the side.    The final diskside of the demo seems the most rushed of them all, but  also features some of the demo's finest moments. The linking seems clumsy,  often interrupting the flow for a static decrunch screen - totally unlike  the seamless (well, insofar that loader parts are seamless at all...)  nature of the two first disksides. It opens on a high note, with Aeg's 1-  axis spinning vector cubes with a pulsing animation mapped to them. This  might just be an animation, but if it's not, then it's pretty damned cool ;) Then follows a small loaderpart (ok logo), before an 'endpart' which is just two landscape pictures parallax-scrolling with a text plotter over  the top. Then the last part; an upscroller over multiple rasterlines, with  a few splits thrown in for good measure. The upscroller waves from side to  side, moves in the border, is horizontally expanded etc., but the effect  just lacks any sense of design or thought, and therefore comes across as  unexciting, no matter how technically advanced it might be. The text 'BAD  WAS KICKED' also appears within here, with no further explanation, but we  can only guess it means the dismissal of their former musician BAD. This  seems especially strange in light of his appearance in the "Amgine" [93]  demo this year... [glenn]

Amgine (1993, Demo). code: Dasheele, Tardox, Aeg, gfx: Alc O'Hole, Tardox, Emax, Aeg, music: Bad (intro), Reyn Ouwehand/independent (main). review: Another demo where I simply don't have the full picture =( There is, apparently, a side two to this demo, and I haven't seen it. Anyway, I  will review what I've seen.    The demo opens with a basic text plotter part, with code and font by  Aeg, music by Bad, and based on an idea from Alc o'Hole. The music is  pretty good.    Then the demo starts proper, and on a high note! The opening part  continues Dasheele's fascination and imitation of Phenomena's amiga demo  "Enigma", as first made evident in their previous demo "Street of  Illusion" [12/92]. In both design and feel, this looks a lot like that  classic demo. This demo is also irq-loaded, meaning the same piece of  music runs throughout the main portion of the demo, even as individual  parts are loaded off the disk. The music is again very good. It is likely  a ripped piece, there is no indication that acclaimed game composer Ouwehand gave them an exclusive piece for this demo. The demo moves on from this further introduction of the participants to its hands-down strongest part; Dasheele's plasma part. This appears to be a continuation of his rather lackluster routine first seen in "Street of Illusion", but with extreme improvements. It is so much improved in fact, that it is now the strongest routine in the entire demo, and a real showstopper. Technically, it is described as a '92-rasterline-hires-fli-tech-tech', which then is further embellished with some other tricks, like 'double- color' (blending two fields, it appears). Either way, the effect is quite smashing (as befits a group of this name =P). The demo never quite picks up the same amount of coolness, unfortunately, though a few other parts are passable they don't quite compare to this one. The demo continues to a pixel-plasma part, over to some dxcp (not interesting, should've been dropped), then onto a fullscreen fli pic by  Aeg, showing a knight mounting a slain dragon. It's not exactly a masterpiece, and he would create much better things in the years to come. Next is a line-vector cube with three colored, filled planes inside, all with individual priorities. This is a mildly interesting part, though not quite as cool as the smooth (1frame, 3-axis) hiddenline vector object that follows it. Smooth as silk. Next is an upscroller with large letters, scaled smaller as they approach the top/distance of the screen. Again it seems most appropriate to mention an amiga demo in reference; more precisely the opening part of Dexion's classic "Megademo" [02/89]. The final part we get to see before the demo starts asking for 'side two' (that I don't have) is a fractal generator. It renders in the resolution 160x200, and is reportedly the fastest of its kind on the c64. It also claims to fetch random coordinates, making it different each time you watch the demo, but the one I got was a perfect picture of the full mandelbrot set, just like we've seen it a million times before. And that, as they say, is all I get to see of the demo. This demo was not released at a party; in fact it is identified on Fantastic Zool's homepage (www.fzool.org) as a 'snail-mail release'. Just a note on compatibility; I ran this demo with emulators, and using CCS64 there was garbled graphics about halfway through. This problem did NOT appear when using Vice. Please take this into consideration when watching the demo under emulation circumstances. The best way is ofcourse always with a real c64. [glenn]

Fight Against Racism (1994, 28.12, Demo). Released for The Party 94 demo competition, unplaced.

Desert Dots (1995, 03.07, Demo). code: AEG, Dasheele, Tardox, gfx: Mua, AEG, music: Emax.

Flatline (1995, 28.12, Demo). 3rd in The Party 95 demo competition.

Electric (1996, 07.04, Demo). 2nd in the Symposium 96 demo competition.

4k Intro (1996, 07.04, 4k Intro). 2nd in the Symposium 96 4k intro competition.

Triage (1996, 28.12, Demo). 2nd in The Party 6 demo competition.

Project Pitchfork (1997, 30.03, Demo). Winner of the Mekka Symposium 97 demo competition!

No (1997, 30.03, Demo). 2nd in the Mekka Symposium 97 demo competition!

4k (1997, 30.03, 4k Intro). Winner of the Mekka Symposium 97 4k intro competition!

Triage 2 (1997, 19.07, Demo). Winner of the Wired 97 demo competition!

Second Reality (1997, 28.12, Demo). Winner of The Party 97 demo competition!

Desert Dots 2 (1997, 28.12, Demo). Split 9th in The Party 97 demo competition.

Mekka Symposium 98 Invitation Intro (1997, 28.12, File). code/gfx: n/a, music: A-Man/Arcade. review: Well, I guess this is one way to do it: Basic, but functional =] The first thing this invtro does is throw up the wellknown MS logo, flashed in then flashed out. Then we get a screen that looks remarkably like what you get when you type 'edit' or 'more' in dosmode on any pc. It's a text-shower, plain and simple, with slider bars on the right hand (funtionable) and bottom (dead). There are also 'menu options' saying File, Options and Help, but if these have a function above the purely cosmetic, then I failed to grasp it... Well, it does the job it's supposed to, although less than impressively. No credits appear in this intro, the music credit I found by hacking through the memory banks. [glenn]

Our Darkness (1998, 12.04, Demo). code/gfx: AEG, music: Orcan/React, Wacek/Arise, Sonic, AMJ/independent. Winner of the Mekka Symposium 1998 demo competition! review: This is just one great demo, where side 1 is a lot better than side 2. As AEG mentions himself, the demo presents a mixture of nice 'oldskool' design combined with some of the much-criticized 'pc' design. The thing about AEG's demos, and his use of pc-style visuals (3d etc), is that his pixel-shading routine makes 4x4 look GOOD, unlike a lot of other demos do! Well, onto the actual demo-review, then. This demo is pretty long, so I won't describe every single effect, just walk you through the highlights. The first 'wow' factor for me came after the mandatory Smash spikeball logo, with the moving skies over the mountains. Let me just repeat that for you: 'WOW'. An amazing, innovative effect. And once the demo gets going, it just doesn't let up. There are a few effects here I'm not sure how to describe, but which look great =] You don't really need more than that do you? Hehhe... Well, there's some reliefbumpmapping at least, with a real nice graphics wraparound. After we turn the disk, the demo does lose some of its pace, but there are several excellent parts still. It opens with some more pixelsmoothed 4x4 effects, before another real showstopper: Again in pixelsmoothed 4x4, we are shown a quite amazing version of the good old duck.3ds (should be wellknown to oldskool pc sceners =) - complete with a moving lightsource, revealing the true 3d nature of the presentation! A 'wormhole' effect is also impressive, with pixels spewing out of the center, as well as a  plasma effect with what seems like an IMPOSSIBLE amount of colors! =] Also a light-strobe effect, like the one in Andromeda's amiga demo "Nexus  7" [12/94], is done - a nice homage to one of the most polished amiga demos (and our amiga Demo of the Year for 1994). AEG mentions in the accompanying note that this will probably be his last demo. Good for us he couldn't stay away! =) He also came 7th in the graphics competition with his picture "Tyrany", which is also present in  this demo (it's that very red fullscreen pic). The second diskside also  contains the group's 4k intro from the same party. [glenn]

Payday (1998, 12.04, Demo). 5th in the Mekka Symposium 98 demo competition.

Smash (1998, 12.04, 4k Intro). Winner of the Mekka Symposium 98 4k intro competition!

Outbreak (1998, 18.07, Demo). code/gfx: AEG, music: "Neurotica" by Mitch & Dane, KB. Winner of the Wired 98 demo competition! review: Another nice demo from workaholic coder AEG, this time actually in a single file for once! :) It opens with some atmospherical text about pc demos vs the c64 - very nice - then launces into a pretty good Smash  Designs logo with a spikeball, a blue 4x4 plasma effect, and then an  OUTBREAK logo. Next is a socalled "suspect" effect, albeit in a very small  window. Next up is a green/white 2x2 morphing glenzvector, then a nearly  fullscreen colorful 4x4 tunnel. Then we're shown AEG's mediocre 'naked  girl' picture from the graphics competition at the same party, then a  filled vector routine (strangely omitted in the note), and then a 2x2 y-  rotating texturemapped vectoreffect - rather like a doom effect spinning  around the y-axis but a little way away from the viewer. On we go, and to  a 2x2 rotzoomer effect (the fastest ever, they claim) with a Smash logo at  the bottom, which stay there for something AEG calls a Colorful Radial  Update (have absolutely no idea what that means =) and a 4x4 texturemapped vector routine (which they again claim is the fastest ever). Next (getting tired of my 'next' and 'then's yet? :), is a 4x4 rotzoomer (which - oh yes  - is apparently the fastest EVER), and to the coolest effect here IMHO - a  real 2x2 bumpmap routine! This one is a beauty, although perhaps a little small...did I mention it is the fastest ever? The second-to-last effect is a bumpmap tunnel, pretty cool, before the whole thing ends with an "END" logo with flames inside. Quite a lot of demo for your 195 blocks of diskspace, and a worthy winner. A notefile is attached, written using Facenoter. [glenn]

Scream (1998, 19.09, Demo). 2nd in the X98 demo competition.

Triage III (1998, 28.12, Demo). Winner of The Party 98 demo competition!

4k Power (1999, 04.04, 4k Intro). code: Aeg, gfx/music: n/a. Winner of the Mekka Symposium 2k-1 4k intro competition!

Triage 4 (2000, 23.04, Demo). 3rd in the Mekka Symposium 2000 demo competition.

Triage V (2001, 15.04, Multiload Demo). code/gfx: Aeg, music: "Starsign" (part 1) and "Vibralux" (part 2) by Sonic. 3rd in the Mekka Symposium 2001 demo competition. review: This was the first demo is saw from the MS01 competition, and I was actually quite amazed - and intrigued - that this only finished 3rd. It means I'm really looking forward to the top two =] Anyway, this was also the first demo I review (on any platform) in 2001. Now just take me by the hand, and I'll walk you through this little demo. It opens on a stylish note, with a laser beam cutting a star-shape hole in the blue c64 screen (reminds me of the effect from the original Turrican game where a laser beam cut out a portion of the screen to reveal a Rainbow Arts logo). This then gets overlaid with a Smash Designs logo, revealing the star- shape to actually be a spikeball. Oh well. A tunnel/caleidoscope effects follows, before the next highlight: Those ever popular Doom routines. This is far from the worst example done on the 64. Next is a Smash logo that sort-of twists right and left. Hard to explain, nice to look at =] Then some bumpmapping follows, before...get this...metaballs. Now there's a little something I never thought I'd see on a 64! =P Unfortunately it's too slow and ugly (I'm not the world's biggest 4x4 mode fan) to be  considered really definitive. A graphicsstretcher concludes this side of the disk, and we flip over. The second diskside (which can also be started separately) starts on a good note: Blue strobes of light appear on a black background in time with the music, and the overall effect is strikingly effective. The second effect is a sort of...twister? Well, it's actually a tube of sorts that is twisted and squeezed. A zoomrotator is next, before a typically good fullscreen picture by AEG (probably also his entry for the graphics competition, but this has yet to be confirmed). Gouraud shading vector objects follows, before a plasma variation. Then some perspective-scaled spheres-on-an-invisible cube (and I dare anyone to defy my power to describe demo effects! ;D) comes on, not easy to do. Then my notes say 'greets' and nothing more. I can't for the life of me remember the greets part, so... let's just assume it was a thing of niceness =)   When reading this review, take note that I have (probably) omitted  several parts. I was working from notes made yesterday, so what I write is  just highlights. There may be other parts inbetween which I have neglected  to describe. Remarkably, there is no accompanying note! Overall, this is a  good release, engaging and impressive in parts. [glenn]

Raytracer (2001, 15.04, 4k Intro). 4th in the Mekka Symposium 2001 4k intro competition.

Decade 50% (2001, 28.12, Demo). Winner of The Party 2001 demo competition!

Fallout (2003, 28.12, Demo). code: AEG, gfx: AEG, music: Sonic. Winner of The Ultimate Meeting 2003 demo competition! review: Fallout *IS*, as they say themselves, "only a small release", but the technical ingenuity of AEG does shine through - as usual. The demo does not have a lot of design, it's basically just one part after the other on a black background, but the quality of the effects combined with the truly great fullscreen pictures makes this a significant production. If this had been slightly longer, had a better soundtrack, and possibly had a little more time spent on its design, it could easily have been a competitior for demo of the year 2003. Quality. [glenn]