Black Lotus, The

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Black Lotus, The (TBL, 1989-)

Current Members

SWE
  • Azazel (Magnus Alakangas, music, ex DCS, new late95-03/97)
  • Dig-It (Patrque Haggblad, code, 08/96-12/99)
  • Exon (code, 08/94)
  • Gizmo (code, 04/96)
  • Im-Pose (gfx)
  • Kalms (Mikael Kalms, code, ex Artwork, old handle Scout, 98-04/01)
  • Ken (code)
  • Louie (Kenny Magnusson, gfx, ex Insane, doublememb CNCD, 04/96-04/01)
  • Rodney (gfx, ex Lego, new late95, 12/95-03/97)
  • Rubberduck (Johan Dohl, founder code, 89-04/01)
  • TBM (code)
  • Tudor (Henrik Andersson, gfx raytrace modeller, old handle Snorpax Tudor, 08/94-04/01)
HOL
NOR
  • Magnar (Magnar Harestad, music sysop 'NOISELESS', ex Spaceballs, old handle Lizard, 06/96)

Previous Members

SWE
  • Cypher (gfx, 02/96)
  • Dickhead (founder code)
  • Fishbone (gfx)
  • Hitman (sysop 'BLACKBOARD', 08/94)
  • Hokke (code, 94)
  • Igloo (gfx, 02/96)
NOR
  • eek Elemental (code)
???
  • Axm (gfx, 95)
  • Eddieboy (music, 94)
  • Hook (code)
  • Kajiu (music)
  • Overload (ascii trade sysop, 04-06/96)
  • Sag (code music)
  • Shark (sysop)
  • Skyhigh (code)
  • Vfcon
  • Wolf (music, 08/94)

Group History

The Black Lotus was formed in sweden in 1989, when Atari coder Dickhead and his companion Rubberduck decided to build their own group on the Amiga. Who could have known, back then, that TBL would once rule the Amiga demo scene? From their very humble beginnings they've managed to build a group of truly epic proportions. After their breakthrough production "Tint" [04/96] at The Gathering 96, they went on to rule the amiga demo scene for a number of years - and even still come back to release the odd production today. They were the first group to win at The Gathering two years in a row; Spaceballs have since taken over their record. Find video versions of their recent demos at: ftp://mirror.support.nl/pub/tbl/download/movies/
Most members of TBL are today employed in the games industry. Dutch members Danny, Tim and Lowlife work at Eidos Interactive (http://www.eidos.co.uk), in the UK; Kalms, Offa, Eq, Rubberduck och Louie all work at Digital Illusions Computer Entertainment (http://www.dice.se) in Sweden. Rodney also works/worked on games.
Thanks to Kalms for some information and corrections.

1995
The demo "Cybernetic" [04/95] reached the 3rd position in The Gathering demo competition, and was probably the group's biggest success thus far. The intro "Mind The Carrot" [06/95] was the group's sole release at Icing this year, reaching a disapointing 9th position in the competition. At Assembly in august came the release of the demo "Misery" [08/95] - finishing 12th in the competition. The steady flow of releases would continue out the year, with the demos "Que?" [10/95] - 2nd at Remedy - and "Mindprobe" [12/95] - 15th at The Party.
1996
This was the year of TBL's big breakthrough. The year started gently with the release of the demo "Spectral" [02/96] at the small swedish party Creutz in february. It was at The Gathering in april their name would be known, though. Through the release of the two 4k intros "Gizmo" [04/96] and "EQ-4k" [04/96] - 1st and 2nd in the competition - and the landmark demo "Tint" [04/96] they made sure they would be a name to remember. Needless to say, "Tint" was the clear winner of the demo competition. They did not rest however, and already the next month they released the intro "Mind The Carrot 2" [05/96] (1st) and the demo "Glow" [05/96] (2nd) at the Icing party in sweden. As if this was not enough, june brought the Remedy party to sweden, and once again TBL were triumphant in both intro and demo categories, with "Tractorbeam" [06/96] and "Darkside" [06/96] respectively. Their final release of the year was the demo "Goa" [08/96] at Assembly, which finished 3rd in the competition. Apart from the jokey "The Money Tribe" [09/96], it would be until late march next year that they released anything.
1997
"Captured Dreams" [03/97] is the name of one of the best amiga demos ever released, and a true landmark in the amiga demo scene. With it, TBL became the first ever group to win twice at The Gathering. Sadly, the truly great demo would be their only release on the amiga this year.
Swedish coder Noy (02/96-) left this year to help form the new group Dole. Swedish coders Offa (Mattias Gruvman, 08/94-03/97) and Equalizer (Daniel Hansen, 08/94-03/97) both left the Amiga scene for professional game programming careers. For the sake of order, they have been removed from the member roster.
1998
The Gathering, an event where they had been successful in the past, became the venue of their 'comeback' of sorts, with the winning intro "Imitation None" [04/98]. This would become another year with only a single amiga release from the group.
1999
Nothing was heard until december, and The Party. There, TBL shocked the scene with the release of their new demo "Rain" [12/99], a full two and a half years after their last full demo. The demo finished only third in the competition, but was a sign that TBL was still a force to reckoned with. It was certainly one of the year's top demos.
2000
In march, at the TRSAC party in denmark, TBL released another demo. "Senseless" [03/00] won the demo competition!
2001
Another year, another demo - "Perfect Circle" [04/01] won the demo competition at the prestigious Mekka Symposium party!

Releases

See Black Lotus, The/Reviews for personal reviews for these releases.

Purgatory (Disk)

Total Brain Collapse - TBC (ECS File)

Credits
  • code: Hook, RBD, Offa
  • gfx: Monza
  • music: "Shadow" by Wolf

Nugget (1993, 03.03, ECS Disk)

Credits
  • code: Hokke, Ken, Hook, Dickhead, Rubberduck, Offa
  • gfx: Extreme, Watchman, Tango
  • music: Wolf

Twisted Minds (1994, AGA File)

Credits
  • code: Rubberduck, Hokke, Offa
  • gfx: Snorpax Tudor
  • music: Eddieboy
Info
Released at Dreamhack 94.
GLE tested A1200/020-14/2mb chip/3.0.

Phucker (1994, .08, ECS File)

Credits
  • code: Offa, Exon, Equalizer
  • gfx: Snorpax Tudor, Equalizer
  • music: Wolf
Info
Winner of 'the Borlänge party'.

Cybernetic (1995, 14.04, Demo)

Info
3rd in The Gathering 95 demo competition.

Mind the Carrot (1995, 17.06, AGA 64k Intro)

Credits
  • code: Offa, Equalizer, Rubberduck
  • gfx: Axm, Snorpax Tudor
  • music: Rubberduck
Info
9th in the Icing 95 64k intro competition.
GLE tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0.

Misery (1995, 12.08, Demo)

Info
12th in the Assembly 95 demo competition.

Que? (1995, 08.10, AGA HD Multifile Demo)

Credits
  • code: Equalizer, Offa
  • gfx: Snorpax Tudor, Axm
  • music: Lizardking/Razor 1911 & Mantronix/Phenomena
Info
2nd in the Remedy 95 demo competition.

Mindprobe fixed (1995, 27.12, AGA ?MB HD Multifile, 3 disks)

Credits
  • code: Offa, Equalizer, Rubberduck
  • gfx: Rodney, Tudor
  • music: Azazel (main), Hollywood/Axis (The Player 6.1A format)
Info
15th in The Party 5 demo competition.

Spectral (1996, .02, AGA HD Multifile, 2 disks)

Credits
  • code: Offa, Equalizer, Noy, Rubberduck
  • gfx: Cypher, Igloo, Tudor
  • music: Azazel
Info
Released at Creutz #1 96.

Gizmo (1996, 05.04, 4k Intro)

Credits
  • code: Gizmo
Info
Winner of The Gathering 96 4k intro competition!

EQ-4k (1996, 05.04, 4k Intro)

Credits
  • code: Equalizer
Info
2nd in The Gathering 96 4k intro competition.

Tint (1996, 05.04, AGA 4MB HD Multifile)

Credits
  • code: Equalizer, Offa
  • gfx: Danny, Facet, Louie, Rodney, Tudor (objects)
  • music: "Khan-Be-Phonk", "Definitive Era" and "Fractured" by Azazel
Info
Winner of The Gathering 96 demo competition!

Mind The Carrot 2 (1996, 26.05, 64k Intro)

Credits
  • code: Offa
  • gfx: Louie, SuperNao (hand object)
  • music: SuperNao
Info
Winner of the Icing 96 64k intro competition!

Glow (1996, 26.05, AGA 4MB HD Multifile, 3 disks)

Credits
  • code: Equalizer, Offa
  • gfx: Rodney, Louie, Facet, Tudor
  • music: SuperNao, Azazel
Info
2nd in the Icing 96 demo competition.

Darkside (1996, 16.06, AGA ?MB File)

Credits
  • code: Rubberduck, Noy, Offa
  • gfx: Facet, Danny, Tudor
  • music: Lizard
Info
Winner of the Remedy 96 demo competition!

Tractorbeam (1996, 16.06, AGA 40k Intro)

Credits
  • code: Offa
  • gfx: Facet, SuperNao, Tudor (objects)
  • music: SuperNao
Info
Winner of the Remedy 96 40k intro competition!

Goa (1996, 18.08, AGA ?MB HD Multifile)

Credits
  • code: Offa, Dig-It, Equalizer
  • gfx: Rodney, Louie, Tudor (objects
  • music: Azazel
Info
3rd in The Assembly 96 demo competition.
Azazel's music from the demo also competed in the music competition, and came 3rd. The timing was made on a 030-28. [glenn]
GLE tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0 -- Note: See review.
Note: Not enough memory to run!

The Monkey Tribe (1996, .09, File)

Info
2nd in the Creutz #2 96 demo competition.
Review
Intended as a parody on 3LE demos.

Captured Dreams (1997, 29.03, AGA HD Multifile)

Credits
  • code: Dig-It, Equalizer, Offa
  • gfx: Danny, Louie, Rodney, Tudor
  • music: Fndr/? (intro), Radix (main)
Info
Winner of The Gathering 97 demo competition!

Imitation None (1998, 11.04, AGA 40k Intro)

Credits
  • code: Rubberduck, Spite/?, Digit, Scout
  • gfx: Louie
  • music: Fndr/?
Info
Winner of Gathering 98 64k intro competition!

Rain (1999, 28.12, AGA File)

Credits
  • code: Rubberduck, Dig-It, Kalms (additional), Spite (additional)
  • gfx: Louie, Tudor (additional), FTHR (additional), FNDR (additional)
  • music: Carebear
Info
3rd in The Party 99 demo competition.

Senseless (2000, 18.03, AGA 060 Demo)

Credits
  • code: Rubberduck, Kalms (additional)
  • gfx: n/a
  • music: n/a
Info
Winner of the TRSAC 2000 demo competition!
Apparently requires an 060 processor in order to run fast enough.
Received a favourable review in Nah-Kolor's "Devotion #1" [00].

Perfect Circle (2001, 15.04, Demo)

Credits
  • code: Kalms, Rubberduck
  • gfx: Louie, Tudor
  • music: TraumaChildGenesis (FastTracker II XM format)
Info
Winner of the Mekka Symposium 2001 demo competition!
Requires an 060 processor and about 20 megs of fastram. Can anyone review this for me? Pleeeeeease? 'TraumaChildGenesis' are the two finnish musicians !Cube/Armada and Teque/Aggression. Developed with TBL's new demosystem, NewAge.

Little Nell (2002, 30.93, Demo)

Credits
  • production: Kalms, Rubber, Louie, TCG, Emoon, Tudor


External Links

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