FairLight
From ExoticA
FairLight (FLT, 1987-)
SWE> Bacchus (Pontus Berg, code crack, 03/89-12/97), Gum (ex Alter, new 11-
12/97), Harlekin (code crack gfx, new 09/90-12/97), Hollowman (Johan
Bengtson, code gfx, ex Alter, new 11/97-12/03), Logger (ex Alter, new
11-12/97), Red Devil (Emil Helldin, music, 05/93-12/97), Puterman
(Linus Akerlund, code music, ex Civitas, 03/03-01/04), Rooster (ex
Alter, new 11-12/97), Rowdy (Anders "Ubbe" Larsson, code crack, ex
Altobrows, aka Duncan & Turner, 01/90-12/97), Spirou (Joel Brynielsson,
crack, ex Antic, new 92-12/97), Tabasco (Marcus Carlsson, swap, 01/95-
12/97), Vodka (Edvin Zetterberg, mainorg gfx, also in Onslaught, aka
VDK, 12/97-12/03), Watchman (Joachim Strömbergsson, aka WTM, crack, ex
Triad, new 11/90-12/97), Wiggen (ex Alter, new 11-12/97).
DEN> Crossfire (Kim, code crack, ex Motiv8, new 12/97-03/98).
GER> L.A. Style (ex Motiv8, new 12/97), Lightside (Torsten Hinrichs, 12/97),
Mendrake (ex Motiv8, new 12/97), Thunderblade (Malte Mundt).
AUS> Highlander (Paul Gardner-Stephen, 12/97).
???> Dwangi (code, 12/03), Goat (den? ex Motiv8, also in Laxity, new 12/97-
01/98), Maktone (music, 12/03).
Boards; DRAGON TOWER (ger), THE HIDDEN (ger).
PREVIOUS MEMBERS -
SWE> Aaron (Silvio Krvaric, mainorg swap trade supply, 01/90-09/93), Dino
(David Thurén, code, ex Altobrows, 01/90-09/93), Enduro (Martin
Cedergren, write swap, ex Intruders, 04-09/93), Flood (Johan Billing,
sysop 'WONDERLAND', 03-04/91), Gerwin (Per Ekelund, crack swap, old
handle RT, 05/89-09/93), Gollum (Fredrik Kahl, code crack, 07/87-91),
Grayhawk (Andreas "Adde" Svensson, swap, 06/89-09/93), Greco (01/90),
Ogami (Kalle Shaw, gfx, 08/91-03/94), Oxidy (code gfx, later Wrath
Designs, 12/93-03/94), Phred (Fredrik Ademar, gfx, 08/89-01/90),
Richard (Richard Krvaric, swap, 01-12/90), Seagull (Rickard Björklund,
code crack sysop, new 05/89-06/91), Sledge (Thomas Karlsen, sysop
'WAREZ AQUARIUM', 03/91-03/98), Sodapop (Fredrik Löf, sysop 'PARADIZE',
ex Flash Inc, new 02-06/92), Terrax (Urban, code swap, 12/90-04/91),
The Alchemist (Adrian Talbot, code crack, ex Heptagon, 12/89-09/93),
The Sarge (Joachim Ljunggren, gfx, ex Triad, 06/89-12/90), Tron (Mikael
Olsson, code, 12/90-09/93), Wedge (Anders Janson, hardware code music,
06/89-01/90).
DEN> Conix (code crack gfx, ex Nato, new 01/90), Maduplec (Martin Arentoft,
code, 01/90), Tiger (code crack swap, 01/90).
ENG> Suckpipe (supply, 03/91).
AUT> Black Priest (Gerald Weissensteiner, editor, early-09/93).
???> Dishy (supply swap, ex Dominators, new 08/93), Tronic (new 02/92),
Vectrocon (code, 11/96).
Members below this line are no longer members either, the line drawn at a
memberlist from 01/90.
SWE> Audrey (gfx, ex Front, new 07/88), Black Shadow (Christian Lindeberg,
founder code, ex Galahad/WCC, 04/87-12/87), Getafix (ex Front, new
07/88), King Arthur (founder, 04/87), Night Hawk (04/87), Olo (code
crack, ex Front, new 07-08/88), Saruman (code crack, ex Front, new
07-08/88), Strider (Tony Krvaric, founder mainorg code crack, ex
No.1/WCC, 04/87-02/88).
Boards; SHADOWLAND (hol, late91), THE VIKINGS CITADEL (usa, 03/91).
Subgroup; Brain Using Demo Section (BUDS, ex Nato, new 01/90).
Great thanks to Bacchus, Rowdy and Watchman for help, and absolutely no
thanks to myself for taking so long to correct my own mistakes :\
FairLight are a legendary Swedish demo and cracking group, born in april
1987 by two members of the West Coast Crackers (WCC), No.1 and Galahad.
They decided they wanted new names, and thus became known as Strider and
Black Shadow, respectively. They almost immediately recruited another
Swedish cracker, Gollum. The next two members recruited were coder and
cracker Woodo (ex Razor Express) from Denmark and Belgian graphician The
Hobbit. The first months of FLT were spent cracking LOTS of games. Towards
the third quarter of 87, they opened their first BBS, 'THE PLEASURE DOME'
in Sweden. Black Shadow got more and more active on the amiga, but still
found time for a few cracks on the c64 now and then - but his last known
work on the c64 was in december of this year. On the 18th to the 21st of
december they coarranged a copyparty with Triad in Stockholm, Sweden.
Belgian coder Gandalf, who was last heard from in december of this year,
later became Dr.Blitter on the amiga.
1988 begun with the departure of Woodo in january or february, who left
the scene to work on games. He released a small note (written using his own
tool Woowriter) with the dramatic name "Woodo is dead!!!" to announce it.
His place was temporarily filled by subgroup The Platoon (TPL, consisting of
HAM, Brain and Orco) and their cracker HAM, who joined in february, but left
pretty quickly. Dragonlance (11/87-) also ceased to be a member sometime
around january or february of 1988. This meant that, in the beginning of
march, only Gollum and Strider were left as active C64 members! Then, on the
14th of March founder Strider released his final C64 crack, and left to work
exclusively on the Amiga. He returned for a couple of cracks in april and
may, but was eventually gone for good. Gollum was now the sole active C64
member! Happily he managed to recruit the Swedish members of Front in july,
gaining two new crackers in Sauroman and Olo.
1989 looked a lot better. In march they had FOUR crackers; The Alchemist,
Bacchus, Gollum and Viper! May saw the group travelling to the Horizon and
Equinox party in Eskilstuna, where they recruited Seagull and Smirnoff from
AVT, and came 3rd in the demo competition with Pernod and Judge's "Algot's
Revenge" [05/89]. They were also at the Defiers Party in may, where they
came 2nd with Pernod and Judge's "Megabmxninja" [05/93]. Probably late may
Viper was visited by the police, who confiscated some addresses and stuff,
but he didn't leave the scene. The news was publicly announced in a note
spread with some cracks done around the 1st of june. Originals were a
problem during this time too (early summer), and all their cracks were
spread with notes requesting new suppliers. Following Karl XII/GB's
appearance on swedish national tv in late may, selling out the entire
carding and phreaking scene, important members The Alchemist (crack, 01/89-)
and Zaphod (Tony) sadly decided to leave the scene around june or july. This
was followed by more bad news when longtime belgian member Hobbit (Alain,
gfx, ex Anubis/Commando Frontier, 11/87-) also left the scene soon after.
December brought even more bad news, as swedish musician Danko (Thomas
Danko, 08/89) decided to leave the group, and swedes Pernod (code gfx,
05/89) and Judge (code, 05/89) left for Horizon. This left Fairlight without
much of its former demopower, and the search began for replacements. The
Alchemist had been back for some time, though under an 'anonymous' handle,
but began signing his own cracks again in december. Gollum and The Sarge
were busy making the game "No Mercy" in 1989, under the label Twisted Minds,
which got released probably around early 1990 through Double Density and
Digital Marketing.
1990 - January began with more problems, as Bacchus left his job in a
computer shop (from which he had been taking home originals to crack) to go
back to the university. The already desperate original shortage just got
worse. The search for new demomaking members eventually turned them to the
danish demo subgroup Brain Using Demo Section (BUDS) from Nato, who first
collaborated with FLT before becoming full members soon after. The Nato
connection continued further, when Fairlight and Nato went into a very
shortlived cracking cooperation around march. Swedish coders Dino and Rowdy
joined from Altobrows in january, and the fact was announced in Rowdy's
"Official Version" [03/90] demo released in march. It was also around this
time we first saw ads for a Fairlight board, 'THE BOARDGASM'. Swedish
cracker Viper (03/89-) was kicked from the group in march or april, due to
extensive lying. Aaron (Strider's little brother) became a troublesome
member, letting his big mouth get him into all sorts of trouble with other
groups, and getting himself generally unpopular throughout the scene. Finns
Servant (supply) and Rockstar (crack) joined from Contex at the Swedish
Elite Easter Conference in april, hopefully stopping the desperate search
for originals. Unfortunately their member-ship was shortlived, and late may
the two departed for Extasy. May or june saw swedish graphician Visual
leaving the group for Dynamix. RT changed his handle to Gerwin late may.
Then in early june, something dramatic happened: Bacchus claimed he was
going to quit. He'd found the girl of his dreams, and was leaving the scene.
BUT not until the girl returned from interrail that summer, on the 10th of
july - so for one full month Bacchus would devote his entire life to
cracking new games, and then leave. The news of Bacchus' leaving meant two
other members also found no more reason to continue as part of the scene,
and so Rowdy and The Alchemist also left. Dino and Seagull remained as
crackers, and still with no regular supplier. Around july Ghost (crack)
joined from Ruthless, but his stay was short and he became groupless.
Another cracker showed up, signing his cracks with 'Wild 1'. This was an
alternative handle used by one of the other members, LIKELY Watchman. Their
longtime war with fellow swedes Censor finally ended in october, after
conference calls and negotiations the two groups decided to collaborate on a
small peace demo called "Eye Damage" [09/90], made by Censor members. Also
in october, new swedish coder Harlekin joined from a small, unknown local
group. Most of the group visited Censor's party in Gothenburg in november,
and Harlekin and the others planned a small demo release, but nothing came
of it. The demo, "Algot", was released independently in the early days of
december, and was the group's first demo since Rowdy's "Official Version" in
march. Another Swedish cracker, Watchman, joined from Triad around november.
Bacchus still couldn't keep his hands off cracking, despite having
officially left the scene, and several cracks from his hand appeared in
october, november and december. At the conclusion of the year, nearly the
entire group travelled to Odense to attend Dexion's X-Mas Conference party,
and the group released their best demo this year, "Vir Optimus" [12/90], for
the competition there - which was unfortunately unplaced.
1991 - Bacchus decided to face the fact that he couldn't stay away, and
became relatively active again from january. "I'm not 100% back, but I'm not
100% gone either" he wrote in a scroller - as if he ever was =] Triad's
"Gamer's Guide" (who had released its first issue late last year) quickly
became an important part of the cracking scene, and this was probably the
reason for him abandoning the new intro he'd been using in the last months
of 1990 for his old, shorter one... The slideshow "The Sargeshow" was
released in the first months, and its scrollers also told about Gollum and
The Sarge's new game, "Rubicon" (released through english software house
Hewson). The 'cracker team' Duncan & Turner started releasing games,
probably around february or march - but this was in fact just Rowdy under a
different handle :). A new supplier, Englishman Suckpipe, also helped the
situation, by bringing in a lot of new originals. Their board 'WONDERLAND'
was advertised in their intros, starting around march. A private meeting was
held at easter time, at the end of march at Bacchus' place in Lund, where
Gollum's return to cracking was announced. He would only work on big
projects, but anyway... The group visited the big swedish easter party held
by Horizon, but no releases were made there. Cracks continued to appear in
june, now with Harlekin doing a few too. On the 16th of July, Aaron's
packages at the post office did not get sent on, but was confiscated due to
faked stamps. He was called to the police for questioning on the 20th, but
probably won't face any charges. Ogami released some pictures in july, and
released the "Stan Kajman Pictureshow" in july or august. All were coded by
Harlekin. A demo called "Legoland" was released sometime late this year, at
an internal meeting at Harlekin's place. A few cracks were released late
this year, at least in october, in cooperation with Triad - and originals
were apparently plentiful, judging from comments made by Aaron in the
documentation for their joint release of "Turbo Charge" on the 14th of
october. Swedish swapper Enduro joined from Intruders in december.
1992 - Swedish sysop Sodapop (PARADIZE) was recruited from Flash Inc
around february. Tronic (previously in Genesis Project) also joined, though
he is currently living in japan. The intro nicknamed "WAQ BBS" (promoting
WARES AQUARIUM) was released for The Party 92 in december.
1993 - Musician Avalon (swe?) was kicked due to lazyness early 93, it was
reported, but he did contribute to the "Skaaneland" [03/94] demo... Sysop
and cracker Lexi joined Legend, but would return... German Mendrake joined
in may because of the promise of some first releases, but was immediately
kicked the same month, after he joined a second group. He will therefore
stay in Bodycount only. He later rejoined again in 1997. "Reformation #3"
was released early june; coeditor Enduro then went to the army on june 14th,
meaning he would have to cut back on his swapping duties. Bacchus moved to
Stockholm this month. September 1st saw the release of "Reformation
#4", which announced the controversy concerning austrian writer Ayatollah
(Roland Fauster) and his subsequent leaving the c64 scene for the snes.
It also announced swedish graphician Ranger (ex Noice, new 12/92)'s leaving
the c64 scene (footnote: There is a chance he returned to active duty later,
as part of Noice again), as well as Lexi's return to the group and
Alchemist's return to the scene. Dishy joined from Dominators in august as a
swapper and supplier. "Reformation #5" was released at the end of october,
and announced their old dutch sysop Duvel was let go, after no contact for a
very long time. It also announced HCL and VDK (Vodka)/Booze Design and
Bappalander/Light had joined on a trial basis.
1994 - Swedish cracker and sysop Lexi ('CYBERDOME', rejoined from Legend,
06/93-) released the "The SidPlay Collection" in august, as his farewell to
the c64 scene, which he was leaving for the SNES scene.
1996 - November saw the release of UltraFlash Noter V2.0 by Vectrocon.
1997 - Towards the end of the year, Bacchus took a big step towards a real
comeback for Fairlight. Seeing no real future in a cracking section, he
focused instead on forming a powerful demoscene group, and recruited several
members towards this end. Around november swedes Gum, Logger, Wiggen,
Hollowman and Rooster from Alter were allowed in on trial, provided they
deliver a demo for The Party 97 to prove themselves worthy of membership.
Then two weeks before The Party established editors Duke and Sun Dancer
joined, bringing with them a new diskmag project, "Scene+". Bacchus made
Duke the new main organizer of the c64 section, and he quickly recruited
Crossfire, Goat, Mendrake and L.A. Style from Motiv8. The entire diskmag
(using existing code, mind you) was then put together in just 10 days, and
"Scene+ #1" was released at The Party, rounding off what was perhaps the
most important month in Fairlight history for quite some time.
2003 - Swedish coder and musician Puterman joined from Civitas in the
first months of the new year. The group won the 4k competition at TUM in
december with "Blueberry" [12/03].
City Lady (1987, .09, File).
code: Strider, gfx: Def Al/???, music: n/a.
review: Included here only as what is possibly the first ever FLT 'demo',
this 35 block thing is a slightly animated picture of a smoking woman and
a scrolltext. The animation is the smoke trailing of her cigarette - a
whopping 2 frames worth! :) Anyway. [glenn]
Cat'ch It (1987, 22.11, File).
code: Woodo, gfx: Woodo, ripped, music: ripped.
review: Typical of its time, with graphics and music ripped from games,
this is still far from the worst example of its kind. Somehow Woodo
manages to use the graphics and music to good effect, giving this some
genuine entertainment value. There's no fancy programming tricks here,
just the ordinary moving rasterbars and scrollers. Nice design. [glenn]
Ripped Dream (1988, 25.07, Demo).
code: Saruman, Olo, gfx: ripped, music: ripped.
review: Normally I would not include a simple music and graphics rip here,
but this one bears some significance since it announces the joining of
former FRONT members Saurman, Olo, Audrey and Getafix. Having said that,
the design is butt ugly and the music (from the game Dream Warrior) sucks.
The demo is a single file, containing just one part. [glenn]
Snapshot a la Rabbit (1988, .07, Demo).
code: Saruman, Olo, gfx: Audrey, music: ripped.
review: Made just to show off a B&W picture by Audrey, this is anything
but a show off affair. There's a logo at the top, and it waves a little,
the pic's in the middle, and there's a very ordinary scroller at the
bottom. Lifeless is a word I'd use to describe this. The music is from the
game "Stuntbike". The demo is a single file, containing just one part.
[glenn]
Eddie! (1988 late or 1989 early, picture).
code: n/a, gfx: The Sarge, music: "Typhoon" by Johnathan Dunn.
review: A simple affair really, just the standard FLT intro and a very
good picture by The Sarge, portraying the Iron Maiden maxi single cover
for "Aces High". This was not mentioned in the intro, but your editor
being an old heavy metal fan, it was easy. The creator of the music from
the game Typhoon was not credited in the intro either. [glenn]
Mindblast - The Movie (1989, File demo).
production: Phred, Nemo/independent.
review: Probably more a joke than a demo, this is actually two intro
screens and an animation. Nothing groundbreaking, but the anim is fun
provided you sit a little away from the screen.
According to knowledgable people, the movie contains a ESCOS type of
full screen which not everybody could do at the time and that was combined
with a $d017 stretcher. [glenn]
Digesta (1989, 25.03, Demo).
Released for the Ikari/Zargon Party demo competition.
Algot's Revenge (1989, 14.05, Multifile Demo).
code: Pernod, Judge, gfx: Pernod, Judge, Hobbit (logo), music: L.O.S.
(part1), Maniacs of Noise (part2), FAME (part3) and Laxity/Starion
(part4). 3rd in the Equinox and Horizon Party demo competition.
review: A pretty nice little 4-part demo, with above all some pretty good
design on the parts. No really outstanding routines or graphics or
anything, just a nice little demo, and a good example of oldskool demo
design. The music is all from external sources, probably ripped, but each
tune does suit the individual parts pretty good. I like this =)
The demo announces Smirnoff and Seagull joining from AVT. [glenn]
Megabmxninja (1989, 27.05, File Demo).
code: Pernod, Judge, gfx: Seagull, Pernod, music: Yankee/???.
2nd in the Defiers Party demo competition.
review: Surely made as a joke, this 'demo' features just two 'birds' (we
suppose) flopping around and a bouncing scroller and that's it =) Quite
charming. [glenn]
Manchild V1.0 (1989, 10.06, Picture).
& Manchild V1.1 (1989, 10.06, Picture).
code: n/a, gfx: The Sarge, music: n/a.
review: These are two versions of the same B&W picture of a girl, in
version 1.0 clothed and in 1.1...not. The clothed one is best from an
artistic point of view, IMHO. [glenn]
Rutig Banan (1989, 26.08, Multifile Demo).
code: Judge, Wedge, Pernod, gfx: Pernod, The Sarge (picture), music:
Link/Cheyens, Wedge, Falco Paul/20cc (uncredited), ??/20cc, Danko,
"Phalanx" by 20cc, ??/20cc. Released at the Pepsi Hacker Conference.
review: Certainly one of the better demos of 1989, this multi-load, multi-
part affair has a certain atmosphere that is hard to ignore. Nothing is
truly outstanding, but most of the parts have at least some nice
qualities. Pernod does almost all the graphics here (save for a few ripped
fonts and a picture by The Sarge), and we deem his work to be of average
quality. Not bad, not great. Music is not bad either, with (we suspect) a
mixture of exclusive and ripped material. There is some OK code, I liked
the stretcher, but nothing of outstanding, 'WOW', caliber. Overall this is
a nice demo, though perhaps not one for the history books. [glenn]
Broken Ideals (1989, late, File Demo).
code/gfx: Rowdy, music: n/a.
review: This is essentially a two-part demo, which Rowdy says is 'probably
the last thing he'll ever release on this machine'. Anyhow, the first
screen has a grey tech-tech Fairlight logo at the top, and a similarly
styled scroller at the bottom, which changes color shading all the time.
Not very inspiring, but it works =) The next screen has two animated
rastersplits over which is a giant horizontal scroller with some clipart
added on for good measure. The text is a fictional interview with Rowdy.
Not a groundbreaking demo then, but I like it anyhow, it's got a nice
little sense of style to it somehow... It's almost 'Andromeda-clean' -
Amiga sceners will understand ;) [glenn]
Official Version (1990, .03, File Slideshow).
code: Rowdy, gfx: Rowdy (intro), Visual, music: n/a.
review: This is not a demo, and more than a pictureshow, as they say. It's
a showcase for the graphical talents of Visual, more than anything. It
feature several of his fullscreen pictures, as well as a very cool
animated eye, all helped by the keen design and idea talent of Rowdy.
Especially the way the color tinting of the eye is shown before it moves
and is animated, was great. Rowdy is quickly becoming a favourite of mine
among coders, because of his always seeming eye for nicely designed parts
that feel 'right'. Oh, and the flashing of the first real part was also
cool... =)
This intro also announces Dino and Rowdy joining the group from
Altobrows. [glenn]
Algot (1990, 06.12, File Demo).
code: Harlekin, gfx: Harlekin, CLF/??? (font part 3), music: various.
review: "Algot" is a small, 3-part demo, coded entirely by Harlekin. It
was originally to have been released at Censor's party about one month
earlier, but wasn't, and was made available in the early days of december
outside of any party. The show opens with a real simple part, with a
nicely drawn b&w picture of a kid on the back of a dragon, and the text
'The Delight of Eternal Might' overlaid. Below this is a sinescroller in
plain white on black. The music is a remix of the "Druid II" theme, which
you have ofcourse heard on the classic Fairlight intros. Hardly an
impressive opening, but the pic is cute =) For the record, that dragon is
the Fairlight mascot, "Algot" - hence the name...so we press space.
(part2) The next part has a badly drawn 'FAIRLIGHT rules' logo at the
bottom of the screen, with the rest occupied by a 'starwars upscroller',
but with just one letter at a time. The routine can twist and shake those
letters, but it's ultimately quite urewarding. (part3) They have saved the
best for last, and the third and final part offers a much cooler effect, a
large tech-tech scroller! Over this there is a logo saying 'FAIRLIGHT IN
'90' which bounces up and down, and the entire thing is done in shades of
blue. A small plus for the very cool scrollfont, which they've
unfortunately not done themselves. This part also has the best music of
all, done by previous Fairlight member Danko. [glenn]
Vir Optimus (1990, 28.12, File Demo).
code: Bacchus, Rowdy, Terrax, Tron, gfx: n/a, music: n/a.
Released for the Dexion X-Mas Conference 90 demo competition.
review: FLT's third and final demo of the year would be the best of the
lot. It opened in style with the new Fairlight crackintro that Bacchus had
started using, coded by himself in cooperation with Rowdy. Space...
(part2) And then comes something pretty cool, three scrollers scrolling
seemingly like they were inside a tube, if you understand... A
'tubescroller' if you will =] The part is coded by Terrax and Tron, and is
flanked by a cool logo by Fox/Dominators, and an utterly lame tune... And
Strider writes a few bytes for old times sake too! (part3) The next part
is even cooler, with a 64 sprite multiplexer by Tron! The background
graphics is also cool, signed by Phred and Tron, but with an utter lack of
crediting in the text itself. This part has the best music, by Drax/
Vibrants, which is also not credited. But enough of that, and on to the
fourth and final part. (part4) This part features three HUGE tubescrollers
(remember?), though these do not 'sinescroll', so the effect is somewhat
less impressive because of this... A nice clean logo sits at the bottom,
and has various animated sprites walk over it (scissors, a walking dick...
=]). No credits is given for anything in this part, but the logo bears the
single letter H....perhaps for Harlekin? Overall this is a cool little
demo with one or two worthwile parts. Not bad at all! [glenn]
The Sargeshow (1991, early, File Slideshow).
code: Harlekin, gfx: The Sarge, music: n/a.
review: This is a small slideshow of four pictures by The Sarge,
apparently the first in a series. There is not really much to say about
it, it opens with the standard Fairlight intro, then just a small
graphical introscreen and after that the four pictures loop endlessly.
Three of the motives I do recognize; one is a rendition of the cover for
the Iron Maiden single "Aces High", another is a fantasy pic I saw as the
box art for one of the AD&D games, and finally there is a rendition for
the box art for the classic shoot 'em up Nemesis. The final picture (and
the weakest in the collection) I have no idea where came from. The
introscroller asks people to go out and buy Gollum and The Sarge's game
"Rubicon". [glenn]
Stan Kajman Pictureshow (1991, ca .07 or .08, Fileslideshow).
code: Harlekin, gfx: Ogami, music: Kristian Rostoen/Shape (uncredited).
review: The intro for this brief 'slideshow' claims Ogami is one of the
most talented artists around on the c64, but this 'pictureshow' does
little to support that claim. These are far from masterpieces. The only
redeeming quality of this production, as I see it, is Kristian Rostoen's
great music. He is not credited for the tune, even though his authorship
is quite clear if you look in the memory. At first I thought this meant it
was ripped, but I've been assured by people 'in the know' that it was only
an oversight. The music is unfortunately the only redeeming quality in
this production... [glenn]
Legoland (1991, late, Demo).
code: Rowdy, Tron, Harlekin, gfx: Rowdy, Tron, Creeper/Flash Inc., Ogami,
music: Kristian Rostoen/Shape, IQ64 + Predator, Markus Siebold/
independent.
review: This was Fairlight's first demo in seven months, according to text
in the demo. It opens with the "another one bites the dust" intro that at
least Bacchus used on several cracks in the past, and is followed by
several interesting parts by most of the group's active demo coders at
this time. I am not 100% sure who coded the (crack-)intro, but it MIGHT
have been Bacchus, in which case he will have to be added to the credits.
There doesn't appear to be any outstandingly great technical parts here,
but several are well above average, and deserve praise for trying to be
original here and there. The 'realtime raytracing' is but one example.
Also, Creeper's logo deserves a mention in our opinion. Overall, I'd say
this is an interesting if not exceptional demo. The final part of the demo
features some fullscreen pictures by Ogami that halfway reestablished my
faith in his talent after the slightly disastrous "Stan Kajman
Pictureshow" :)
The releasedate is little more than a guess; the demo was released at an
internal meeting at Harlekin's place. [glenn]
Legoland 2 (1992, 19.04, Demo).
5th in the Easter Conference 92 demo competition.
WAQ BBS (1992, 28.12, Intro).
Released for The Party 92 demo competition.
review: A small (28 blocks) intro for the Warez Aquarium BBS that competed
in a demo competition, this is obviously a little limited. No credits, and
indeed not a single note of sound appears during the intro. It's in
completely b&w, but is a nice little piece of design nevertheless. [glenn]
The Reformation #1 (1993, 06.04, Multiload Diskmag).
code: Tron, gfx: Creeper/Flash Inc. (logo), music: Red Devil, editor:
Black Priest (main), Enduro, Ayatollah, TG-Acme/Epic.
review: "Reformation" was an unusual mag in most respects. It was born as
a merger of the two Austrian mags "World News" (editor Black Priest) and
"Emanuelle" (editor Ayatollah). The new mag additionally had code,
graphics, music and even a few co-editors from the Swedish section of FLT,
making it an international mag. It focused equally one the cracking and
demo scene, which was normal for most mags in those days, but had a design
that was quite unusual for a c64 mag.
Once you are past the setup screen, that allows you to choose different
speed loaders for different drives, or the standard kernel one, you get to
the mag itself. The design of the mag can best be described as a primitive
web page; that's what it most resembles. There are different size fonts,
and apparently several options for formatting the text. The approach
actually works very well, lending the mag an unusual look and feel that
appeals. Everything is done on the same screen; both article selection and
reading. The screen features a not-too-great Reformation logo at the top,
with the entire rest of the screen allowed for use by the text.
But what matters in any mag, of course, no matter how audio-visually
pleasing it may be, is the quality of the text itself. I am pleased to
report that this mag also shines in this respect =) The headlines for this
issue includes an interview with the controversial Adolf/Censor, all the
facts about the Nightshade vs Pacific conflict, The true story about Fresh
Prince, the usual news, charts, board and address lists, and finally quite
a few demo reviews. As you've probably understood by now, I quite like
Reformation. I think you should download and read it too :)
The release date is based on the date published in the file 'LAST MINUTE
NEWS', included on the disk, and written in STUBBY-NOTER by Matt/'Tera.
[glenn]
The Reformation #2 (1993, .05, Multifile Diskmag).
code: Tron, gfx: Creeper/Flash Inc. (logo), music: Red Devil, editor:
Black Priest.
review: Well, nothing changed from the first issue - even the music is the
same! There seems like there is a little less to read in this issue, which
they even admit in one of the texts. The only innovation is the
introduction of a new section of the mag: Scene Records. Other than that,
see what I said about the first issue :-)
The releasedate is a guess. News that Benno/Trance left for Excess, and
that Trance itself were dead, were incorrect. [glenn]
Visual Orgasm (1993, .05, Slideshow)
code: Harlekin, Rowdy (irq-iffl routine), gfx: Ogami, music: Red Devil.
review: This slideshow of Ogami's unreleased graphics from 1989 until now
is a nice production, though nothing extravagant. The code is just there
to perform its function and little else, and the music is just functional.
Nice graphics, average prod. Likely NOT released at a party. The release
date is an approximation. [glenn]
Runemania (1993, 30.05, Demo).
code: Bacchus, gfx: Ogami, music: Red Devil.
8th in The Computer Crossroads 93 demo competition.
review: This is a joke-demo, just one screen with a jokingly drawn picture
and an FLT demo. The files that litter the directory are dummy files, just
try loading and running one... Red Devil was not credited for music
anywhere. [glenn]
The Reformation #3 (1993, .06, Multifile Diskmag).
code: Tron, gfx: Creeper/Flash Inc. (logo), music: Red Devil, editors:
Black Priest, Enduro, Ayatollah, TG-Acme/Epic.
review: Again, nothing has changed audiovisually. The main focus this time
is material from the TCC93 event in sweden, plus interviews with Airwolf/
Success and Crossfire/Epic. The contact corner went out the window this
time, and got replaced with the game corner instead.
This mag announced the leaving of Ranger for Noice amiga and Mendrake's
short visit in the group. The release date is little more than a guess,
but since it carries party report and information from the recent TCC93
event, held at the very end of may this year, we estimate a mid june
release date. News that Mason left the scene were incorrect. [glenn]
Emanuelle #13 (1993, Diskmag).
info: Read the review of "Reformation #4" [09/93] for more information.
The Reformation #4 (1993, 01.09, Multifile Diskmag).
code: Tron, gfx: Creeper/Flash Inc. (logo), music: Red Devil, editors:
Black Priest, Enduro, TG-Acme/Epic.
review: Another issue with the exact same graphics and music, and some
movement in the editorial team. Since the last issue, Ayatollah released
"Emanuelle #13" without the knowledge of the rest of the team. The editors
contacted Ayatollah about this move, but he replied that it didn't matter
anymore, as he had left the c64 scene for the snes. So Ayatollah is no
longer a member of the team. Editorially, this is not the most exciting
issue, so to speak. There are a couple of demo reviews (Lethargy's
"Cosine" and Equinoxe's "Fuel"), an article about Wolf/F4CG's bust, the
story behind Remix/Clique leaving the scene and ending his diskmag
"Script", invitation to the Saturne Party in France and the truth about
the 'Paramount party'. [glenn]
The Reformation #5 (1993, 29.10, Multifile Diskmag).
code: Tron, gfx: Creeper/Flash Inc (logo), music: Red Devil, editor: Black
Prist (main), Enduro, TG-Acme.
review: The promised new graphics and music from the last issue have
mysteriously NOT materialized for this issue either, so for the fifth time
in a row we are given a mag with the exact same look :) Oh well, over to
the contents then. There is an interview with Tricket/Visual Reality
(sysop of DOMINIC), reviews of a couple of demos (House Design "Blaze of
Glory" and Elysium "Obornik") and a few other controversy stories of
varying interest. [glenn]
Legoland III (1993, 28.12, Demo).
code: Tron, gfx: n/a, music: n/a.
4th in The Party 1993 demo competition.
Reformation #6 (1993, 28.12, Multifile Diskmag).
code: Tron, gfx: Creeper/Flash Inc (logo), music: Red Devil, editor: Black
Prist (main), Enduro, TG-Acme/Epic, Count Zero/Red Sector Inc.
Released at The Party 1993.
review: Well, one would think a rather good group like Fairlight would
have the resources to find a new tune and/or a new logo, but no :) For the
sixth consequtive time, this mag looks and sounds EXACTLY the same as it
always did ;) You're probably getting slightly sick of me pointing this
out every single time, but seriously... at least a new tune for each issue
can't possibly be asking that much? Anyway, in this 'party edition'
(released at The Party 1993) you can read
[glenn]
Skaaneland (1994, .03, Demo).
code: Oxidy, gfx: Oxidy, Ogami, music: Avalon, Red Devil.
review: Skaaneland is a very nice demo, highlighted by lots of excellent
graphics from Oxidy and Ogami. The first diskside contains mostly normal
demo parts, though welldesigned and attractive, and all continuing on
their own. This is no scroller-demo, it's more like an 'almost-trackmo',
with parts that look more like sections of a trackmo than demoparts. When
you finally flip the disk, the rest of the demo is a slideshow along with
a scroller. Very nicely done, and with lots of attractive graphics.
No exact release date is given (it was released in "week #11"), and no
indication if it was a party release or not. They do mention someone they
hope to see at the "Triad Paddy", but I found no record of such a party in
my files... [glenn]
Scene+ #1 (1997, 28.12, Multiload Diskmag, 610 blocks).
code: Syndrom/TIA and Crest, gfx:
Released at The Party 97.
review: This is the kind of thing that gives me new faith in the c64
scene. This is, without a doubt, one of the best c64 mags I've read in
recent times. c64 mags tend (at least they used to in the past) to be too
much news and charts, and too little articles. Too little about the people
behind, too much statistics and brief news. Interesting only to the people
who were in those charts themselves, or who those news were about. For
those of us who wanted to learn more...not. Amazingly, this first edition
of Scene+ was put together in just 10 days. It's well-written, by
established players in the magscene (the editors having been involved with
both The Pulse and Propaganda earlier), and has a real air of
professionality over it. From the first time I saw the logo and the text,
I *KNEW* this would be an entertaining read. This deserves to top the
charts.
The code is very good, among the best magroutines I've seen on the 64.
It's the same code that was used for the last issues of The Pulse, but
they promise a brand new outfit for the next issue. This issue features
background interviews with CBA/SCS+TRC, Bacchus/Fairlight, Danko/Censor
Design, Dodger from The Crest magazine nad Nastiness Inc (NTI) from The
Tribune magazine, as well as thoughtful observations about and around the
scene. As a matter of curiosity, here is the results of their 1997 Golden
Scener Award, originally to have been presented in Propaganda:
- programmer.............Crossbow/Crest
- graphician...............Deekay/Crest
- musician.........Mitch and Dane/Crest
- cracker...............Burglar/SCS+TRC
- ntsc fixer.............Jolz/Onslaught
- fixing group........Alpha Flight 1970
- magazine...............Relax Magazine
- magazine editor....RRR/Relax Magazine
- internet site.....The Digital Dungeon
- bulletin board............The Dungeon
- cracking group................SCS+TRC
- demo group......................Crest
[glenn]
Loaded (2003, 22.02, Demo).
code: Hollowman, gfx: Tempest, Hollowman, music: Goto80.
2nd in the Floppy 2003 demo competition.
Blueberry (2003, 28.12, 4k Intro).
code: Dwangi, gfx: Vodka, music: Maktone.
Winner of the The Ultimate Meeting 2003 4k intro competition!
