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::::::::::::::[ Dead Hackers Society ]::::::::::::::::
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: :
: Error In Line III invite :
' '
I normally start to get interested in the annual Easter great Atari get-
together in the period just after Xmas. The three months from the start of
the new year seem to drag to eternity as the excitement levels slowly build
up. With the early release of this invitetro of unparalleled high quality
(well maybe apart from the Aggressive party 2 invitetro), the keen
anticipation, and the very long wait for the main event, starts right here!
We have that wonderful group of Swedes and others, gathered under the Dead
Hackers label for this intro. The readme file promises quite a lot, code by
Evil and Gizmo, graphics by Smirk and EdO, and two chippy tunes from 505 and
AiO, with help from No of Escape and mOdmate. This is like the Error in Line
in minature, a gathering of diverse Atarians in unlikely postures, to make
new and wonderful things.
You get a suspicion of something sneakily satirical, when the opening part
of the intro kicks in, a blackness, punctuated by keyclicks, and the
onscreen tapping out of the letters "Baaah!". The lurking feeling of
familiarity bursts into full recognition, when the mainpart of 505's YM-
adapted 'Hmmm' demo soundtrack kicks in, and the little square on the right
of the screen turns into a fully blown texture-mapped cube. The same slick
and miraculous transformation from an innocent cube, into a militant spiny
sea-urchin takes place, as in the illustrious Falcon demo which won many
friends at the second Eil Party.
This goes on for a while, but Evil hasn't finished just yet, as the next
wave appears, the Ikea-special minimalist cube, or thick vector job. The
'Hmmm' original version gave us a number of viewpoints, at a distance, and
right inside the thing, and so it proves to be the same experience here too.
Swedish furniture giant in assemble yourself demo effects outrage!
Cut to the final major effect taken from the master of demos, as we see the
Error in Line logo, made three-dee, and textured, and spun around on its
axis. Did anyone say Maggie 26 intro? Bad boy!
Lines slide off the screen, and a French styled painting, sort of
surrealistic EKO style for the ST, by the previously unknown Smirk, blurs on
in a shower of green pixels. The main part of the intro is over, time for
the final part.
This consists of a blissfully blue high quality static tunnel study by EdO,
with a genteel vertical scrolltext advertising all the good things to come
in Dresden next Easter. A handy change of tune is provided by AiO. The whole
effect is a calming contrast to the manic action of what came before. You
could watch the text forever, or hit the spacebar, and decide to leave when
the text wraps for the first or second time.
Sometimes, tunnel vision can be a good thing!
Other good things about this demo, are that is comes with DHS coding
expertise with no extra charge. It pretty much does all combinations of
Fuji-based hardware, ST, TT, and Falcon alike, and even claims to be multi-
tasking friendly, which is not bad going. Of course, the experience may feel
different according to what you use as base hardware. The 50 mhz CT2
offering a much smoother ride, than say an 8 mhz ST, but that does not
detract from the overall quality, whatever platform it runs on.
I loved the brief take-off of the Falcon-tastic 'Hmm demo', as it would have
been done on an ST. I wonder if a certain 'Evil' person somewhere hasn't got
more routines in that particular vein!? I wonder how he would pull off the
transparent snake sequence though!
This incredibly high-quality tidbit reminds me both of the demo famine of
the past months, and the tasty treats to come next Easter. I've got a
horrible feeling that this smart invitetro is all we are getting until then.
Does anyone fancy bashing out a "Remindtro" around the end of the year, as
six months is a long long time to wait (grin!).
CiH, for Alive! Mag,Nov '02.
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