After a quick configuration window (to set screen resolution & c) the demo opens with a voice, “What is a Demo….? … This is.”

The techno music kicks in as the group name and title of the demo appear. Pulsing with the base the title has a radial blur effect. In the background is a subtle and changing moiré pattern.

“This is Code”, the narrator announces. A procedural 3D surface with concentric wire frame surface pulse and move about to the music. In the background a ripple pattern is created using environment mapping, and also is synchronized with the beat, combined with full screen flashes.

“This is Graphics.” Throughout the entire demo 2D art can be found, here a full screen image is displayed. Many demos display full screen 2D art at times. Often these are used as a chance to pre-compute for a following scene.

“This is Design.” Early demos were often simply a sequence of graphical effects. Many current demos are the same, in essence. However, great design of a demo provides consistency and flow. The design is what structures the complete work of art, and when done well demos have the power to strongly move you emotionally.

This is continues to list aspects of demos. This particular scene shows an excellent combination of flowing particle effects, (lines, splats, rings) and scrolling 2D art. We all love particle effects, and demos often make creative use of complex particle effects.

Also popular in demos is iso-surface rendering (known also as metaballs or blobbies). Here shown in wire frame, many variations can be found in demos. One of my favorite variations being kkowballs, named from the demo kkowboy, which render the iso-surface by lines equivalent to the the surface intersected with static axis aligned planes.

“This is Old School.” At this point the music shifts to a chip tune style, the composition of multiple channels of sine, triangle, and square waves only. (This sounds very much like old hardware music synthesizers in game consoles such as the NES, Atari, et cetera.) This is also an example of a full 3D scene in this demo. The man seems to be restrained and rapidly flying down a hallway? Perhaps he’s crazy.

We are presented with a brief display of spherical harmonics, which is another widely used effect in demos. A sphere mesh is distorted by varying the radius of points. Such a simple concept goes a long way in the demo scene, as people continually find new and interesting ways to display and use it.

“This is Soundtrack” In the background you can see code. This is tracked music, which is the primary music format in the scene. Individual instrument samples are included in the file, and the pitch shifts and musical effects (volume slide, panning, vibrato, reverb, port to note, tremor) are all computed in during demo playback. This is critical for intros (see below), which are demos limited to very small file sizes.

“This is Scene” This is a 3D flyby, of a tubby little man in the spot light. Many demos contain 3D scene fly-throughs; some demos are made entirely of them. This fly-through method requires only animating the camera, and is understandably popular. A few demos contain character animation, such as the demo Toys by the group gods.

“This is Greets” Peppered throughout demos you will find the names (nick names) of the authors. Also essential is a list of greetings to other groups and scene members. Some demos also contain invitational text to parties, or welcome text to a party.