For me the golden era of personal computers. Amiga demos filled me with unbridled joy that I wish I could convey to
my children but alas this is probably impossible and a fate experienced by everyone who gets older and has kids :)
Waiting for the post delivery, hoping that day was the day the next package arrived. Clicking the 3.5” disk in and feeling my pulse quicken.
Then the day I got hold of the RSI Demo Maker I knew I wanted to be a programmer when I grew up.
(47 years old now, a programmer but still haven’t grown up)
Thank you for sharing your memories! That's a cool demo with a great soundtrack.
And I couldn't agree more - that era was such a carefree and imaginative period for many of us, filled with endless possibilities. As I approach 55 this year, I fondly look back on my programming journey that began in the early 80s. And like you, I too have never really grown up – always eager to explore, learn new things, and continue dreaming.
I believe maintaining this youthful mindset and spirit is essential for staying vibrant and engaged in life. Cheers to never growing up!
> Waiting for the post delivery, hoping that day was the day the next package arrived.
And ads in physical newspapers to exchange demos and games! I've got amazing memories of the C64 era and then the switch to the Atari ST / Amiga one.
With my best friend we'd hop on our BMX 2000 bicycles and drive all across town (and sometimes even for two hours outside town) to go meet our "contacts" and spent countless time copying disks. And then we'd cycle all the way back and be amazed at the new intros (they weren't called "cracktro" yet IIRC) and demos we had fetched.
And, just like you, I had to know how to code the same. So it was on to assembly to manipulate the blitter and the copper: those "copper bars" were just way too cool!
P.S: I cannot thank enough my mom who, like many parents, somehow understood that it was the future and bought us those expensive toys (it was sizeable expenses for her).
Man, the demoscene. Truly the gift that keeps on giving and maybe of the last places where the true hacker spirit still thrives.
Nostalgia is a powerful drug and I’m loathe to say anything is the best because it’s all so subjective, but for me personally those years in the mid-90s where computing was just a big open greenfield for new ideas was amazing.
I was 16, modding Renegade and drawing ANSI for my BBS and toodling around in ImpulseTracker trying to be Purple Motion and learning HTML for this new thing called the web and it was all just perfect.
A "demo creator" strikes me as a bit of an oxymoron, demos are usually all about demonstrating knowledge and programming acumen of the target machine, using a generator to do all the work of making a scrolling message on a static background seems a bit like trying to open an art gallery selling clipart.
A debate that's been running ever since it became possible to reuse code from others (the current iteration seems to be "is using game engines in demos ok or not?!", whereas using libraries for specific tasks is widely accepted by now).
The "would be used by quite a few groups to kick-start their Amiga demo-game, including the legendary Fairlight." part is IMHO telling: such a generator is not enough to produce truly outstanding work, but it is an on-ramp into the scene. Demos are usually made great by code and art.
Still to the day the computers I remember most fondly are all Commodore machines, starting from the C-64 onward. All my Commodore machines served me solidly for many years each. Commodore Amiga with Lightwave 3D and Video Toaster provided endless fun.
Waiting for the post delivery, hoping that day was the day the next package arrived. Clicking the 3.5” disk in and feeling my pulse quicken.
Then the day I got hold of the RSI Demo Maker I knew I wanted to be a programmer when I grew up.
(47 years old now, a programmer but still haven’t grown up)
And example of a demo made in it: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0SI41uFqJpQ