Great Amiga Demos!

Just in case you didn't notice: There's a growing number of Amiga demo videos on the YouTube channel.

Amiga demos are just fun to watch, and oftentimes feature some fantastic music. 

This is a collection of classic Amiga "multimedia", featuring demos by Ephidrena, Capsule, The Black Lotus, Spaceballs, Digital, Parallax, etc., captured from real hardware. Part of the mission is to preserve and expose the Amiga's somehow unique video capabilities, with lots of different screen resolutions, different bitmap color modes, interlaced and non-interlaced screens, changes in screen size (aka overscan), and programming of the Copper video co-processor, which results in some effects that are normally hidden beyond borders of the screen. (See for example the pink spinning shape in Digital's "Lethal Exit", that expands for a couple of seconds - nifty.)

To get you started, here's Spaceballs' "State of the Art" from 1992:

Spaceballs - State of the Art (1992) demo

Maybe you wanna subscribe to the channel to get notified of new uploads?

"Great Amiga Demos" YouTube playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFqkmsX-uEeK9ij8dvSnpTiY24ZZ7LbhS

 

"It’s a reckoning": Worms 30th anniversary

In 2025, Cult game "Worms" by Team17 will have its 30th birthday. To celebrate the occasion, a new, free release of the game is planned - with levels created by the Amiga demo scene!

"Worms - The Directors Cut" (1997) cover artwork

According to sources (see end of article) "Worms" developer Andy Davidson has announced a reimagining of "Worms DC" ("Director's Cut") 1.5, that is set for release in January 2025, and for free. That's a very nice gift to the Amiga scene. 

Actually, he doesn't refer to the occasion a celebration, but a reckoning - which is quite fitting for the game.

To make the new release really special, Amiga demo groups are encouraged to submit their level designs, via a forum thread at amigans.net - which is a nice, and interesting idea. Graphics artists that are active in the demo scene have created some of the most stunning visuals ever seen on Amiga screens, so some eye candy can certainly be expected. "Worms" isn't a very complex game, but maybe, given the deep understanding of maths, bits, and bytes, in these circles, even some unusual, challenging designs might show up, that give the gameplay an unexpected twist.

"Worms - The Director's Cut" (1997) in-game screen

Basically, "Worms" levels are just bitmap images, so all that's required to create one is a paint program such as Deluxe Paint or Personal Paint. A couple of details regarding color palette and depth have to be respected, obviously. 

More details, and your place to submit your application (well, there's no specific process - just leave a note) can be found at this URL:

https://www.amigans.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3282

Additional sources:
http://amiga-news.de/de/news/AN-2024-10-00078-DE.html

Room with a view

Screenshot of 1995 first-person-shooter game "Breathless" by Fields of Vision.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breathless_(video_game) (info)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txp9BrBn38k (gameplay video)