:::::::::::::::::::::
::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::
______ ______ ::___ .___.:: ______::___ ___ ___::_______
\ \ \_____\::\ \ ___ | |:: \_____\:\ \ / / / /:/______/
.__\ )._______ ::.\ \. / /.__| |::_______:: \ \/ / / /:____.
| \___/ | \____\::| \__\/ / | |___|:| \____\: \__\ / / / | __|
| __|_ ::| |:::::| / /::| ._|_.:| |::::::|/__/|/ /::| \__\::::
|__\ \ |____|___ |___/ / ::|__| | |____|___ |____/ / |____| ::
\ \ \_____\ /__/ :: | | \_____\ / / _______ ::
\___\ ::::::::::::::::: |___| ::::::::::/__/:::/______/:::::
::: :::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: pA!
Hardcore by Mind Design [Falcon] - an SillyVenture 2000 release
note of STS: the two snaps you can find in this article were kindly provided by
Deez/Mind Design. Please keep in mind that they are converted from TC to ST low
resolution. At least they can offer you a "slight" idea of what the demo is
about :)
Sometimes they come back.
Sometimes they really come back and stay for a while.
Sometimes they even release demos at certain events such as
Error in Line'99 or SillyVenture 2000 and sometimes even in
between.
Sometimes, they are called Mind Design, a group only consisting of
Deez, the main coder and The Viking, the musician and additional
coder. And sometimes, their demos are called Hardcore.
Hardcore is not really down to the bone when it comes to the system
it requires to run on. It needs an Atari Falcon with something over
10 MB like for example 14 MB ST-RAM, but a combination like 4 MB
ST-RAM plus some FastRAM is allowed, too, it also requires an
FPU and to be honest, it prefers an accelerated Falcon, such as
for example the CenTurbo 2.
Right after starting Hardcore, it depacks, loads the mp2-file
contained in the package and does a few things.
A lot of things.
But for the viewer, it looks like nothing.
The viewer is proven wrong when the face of a girl appears in B/W
with slight flicker and speckle-effects like the girl's face was
really a projection by a really very old film-projector.
In slide the words "Devotion" and "Addiction", not really sharp,
interacting with the background and then fades out while at the
same an astonishing soundtrack starts.
The screen flashes and there it is, a rather Lowres Mind Design-
logo in rather simple letters over a roughly drawn brain while a
dark and gloomy voice says Mind Design.
A colourful torso of a (dressed) girl appears - i assume it is
Liloo of the movie Fifth element with a colourful textured
3D object zooming in and out and moving around rather rapidly.
After a while, the object stays in front and changes its shape
while also the texture changes its colour - in fact, it looks
like 2 textures being moved in opposite directions over each
other on the faces of the 3D object.
With another flash, the object is gone, Liloo starts distorting
and slowly fading into black while a white slogan, "Done in
realtime on SV2K" hovers over her torso, illuminating the picture
under the letters and preventing them from fading as quickly as
the rest of her fades while the whole screen distorts and moves
downwards slowly.
Then quite a few things happen at once.
A comic (rather Manga)-like face - well maybe only just a pair
of eyes, appears from a bit below the screen but it only fills
the middle of the screen while colourful pieces of graphics
rotate around the face, nicely fading into the now static
face so you have no rough edges.
Then, right over the face and its surroundings, the greetings
appear, again in simple letters that just seem like glowing
but transparent words, that illuminate the background.
Too bad it's only the greetings of the people that Mind Design
met on the SV2000, it lacks a few names.
There's nothing like swedish meatballs.
I personally don't think so, but obviously Mind Design did,
because the next screen says exactly that, in black letters
in small white boxes on a blue background that jumps rapidly
from left to right and back again, creating the impression
that the screen was really shaking itself with tremendous
intensity (i guess i'd shake myself about swedish meatballs
just the same ;-).
From blue to grey, from meatballs to metaballs.
Well, maybe not really metaballs but i just liked the
allegory. What you see next is a grey background that seems
a bit like waste-metal and it has the words "Hardcore by
Mind Design" engraved in it while a few dots that form a
ball move over this screen - But again, it's those
transparent illuminating glowing kind of dots that move
all over the screen.
And then the demo ends.
All of a sudden.
Well, i really don't dare to take every aspect of this demo
and comment everything - it's obviously a compo-production
that lacks both design and maybe a good bugfixing, because
the fact that it runs on a Centurbo 2 doesn't really mean
that it runs on every standard Falcon, because unfortunately,
it doesn't. If you have a Nemesis, you won't get to see it
either unless your Nemesis is switched off.
But on the other hand, the music is just plain excellent and
the graphics and textures are - as usually - very nice, too,
the basis for a well-designed demo is there for sure.
The only reall effect featured in this demo is without a
doubt the multi-texture-overlay-morphing-3D-object that
looks quite stunning, even if the framerate on a standard
Falcon is a bit low.
All other "screens" mainly consist of this "glow"-effect
that -if i'm not mistaken- is more or less courtesy of
Evil of DHS. Not bad, Mind Design has used it
well, i like especially the greetings screen, but like
i said, it's not all new.
It's too bad that a full version of Hardcore is
almost as impropable as a full version of Upside Down.
Mind Design is currently having personall problems
because Deez moved to the UK and has annouced to put
his Falcon to a rest for a while and The Viking
seems to be interested in music rather than in coding
the Falcon currently so i doubt we're going to see a
fully revamped and bugfixed version of Hardcore.
Which is a pity, from what i've seen, i think it
would have been a killer.
The Paranoid Paranoia Think you can handle it ?!
The Lunatic Asylum
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