Just happened to stumble across a couple of players within the Norwegian demoscene who told me that there are actually active demo development and serious competition entries for fantasy consoles like the TIC-80, Pico-8 etc.(See e.g. Demozoo among many other demo archives)
Having seen what the limited MakeCode Arcade is capable of when pushing the limits, like e.g. @kwx et. al. has done with 3D-graphics and sound, I thought this was a fun coincidence and I have started to wonder if there could be some potential also for MakeCode Arcade for making enjoyable audiovisual demo productions?
…and maybe some fun demo parties hosted by Microsoft’s @makecode team?
Anyone here who has a view on the subject, or who maybe already have made some demos in MakeCode Arcade that they want to show off here?
Now also continuous development of advanced screen effects, which surely would contribute to some cool MakeCode Arcade computer demos in the (near?) future!:
64kB is a cool category…:
…though something like this would probably be a more realistic result in the MakeCode Arcade simulator:
The makeshift example would be easily possible in hardware form. Although the framerate can be pretty low, like 5 fps, effects like that are already available in my screen-fx extension. If you have the correct sprite/image makeshift uses and do some horizontal and vertical scrolling and screen-squishing + some zooming in and out (didn’t bother to add those in) you can achieve this.
With the updated built-in 3D engine/rendering capabilities(courtesy of @AqeeAqee, @richard and @jwunderl et.al.), MakeCode Arcade should soon be ready to participate and bring home fame and glory from the demoscene!
@Kiwiphoenix364 is already well into the making of a cool demo with his renderer-prototype here!:
I like making fonts! If needed, I can always contribute in some way.
I made a full ascii table 5x5 font for personal use, but I never released it because I didn’t really need to
He was very positive towards demos on fantasy consoles like MakeCode, claimed that most demoparties now accept such entries and really encouraged anyone interested to enter with a first ever contribution for MakeCode.
(He naturally had a predilection and hopes for a Norwegian demo party being the first, like Black Valley or The Gathering, claiming that it would get lost in the crowd at the bigger venues, but this is up to the makers and I have also seen some entries at several competitions.)
Anyways, would anyone here be up for the challange and such a collaboration?
You are certainly not far away from being able to put together a great audiovisual compilation with all the advances in graphics and music etc. done in MakeCode Arcade on this forum lately.
Some general rules that he mentioned for demoparty entries:
Even though the demo could be showcased directly from a weblink, the demo entry must provide source and/or byte code/executable for everyone to go through and learn from
When assets, code snippets, tecnology/tricks are borrowed from somewhere, this must be clearly documented to not be disqualified
Although there generally is room for some friendly roasting/competition between groups and a relatively high ceiling for artistic liberty, one is generally encouraged to keep the content safe for work, a bit like the forum rules here, and focus mainly on the mix of arts with technology without other agendas, messages or means.
An example of such an entry, but not for fantasy consoles:
How would one/we go about organizing such a collaboration?
(I am afraid I have little to contribute to in the coding, graphics and music department compared to you guys, as I was tucked away coding the high score list during our game project at the uni… Maybe as intermediary/facilitator?)
True to tradition, a demo group would need a name.
I talked to the demo guy again and he could confirm that most demo parties now accept remote entries, where one does not have to attend the parties(fun enough to attend, but most parties are still in Europe, and I am guessing most of you guys are not, and such a trip might be a little over the top?).
Which demo party would you like to attend/compete in(Revision is the largest)?
(Small correction from earlier: An demo can only enter 1 competition at 1 party, but can be showcased outside compos on several)
There is some activity in the States, but not as much, not sure about the rest of the world.
Else, one could do remote participation and watch your entry by streaming.
I don’t know these events well, so choose which one could totally depends on you and @Sarge , @Brohann .
Actually, my interest is on the demo self, the challenge to make the coolest demo on Arcade. Or several demos correspond diferrent HW, RPi, Meowbit, and the Sim. Show out every bit capability of each HW, as much as I (we) can. That’s good enough for me.
Agree! Main focus, unless someone has any strong wishes, should be to make something really cool that looks nice and maybe pushes the boundaries for what MakeCode Arcade is capable of, both on different HW and in the Sim.
Then, when it amounts to something people are happy with, and everybody agrees, maybe it could be a possible later icing on the cake to enter into a suitable demo compo that would accept such an entry, just for the fun of it and to introduce MakeCode Arcade to the “scene” and maybe attract some new MCA enthusiasts?
Nice, and should definitely be part of the final collab demo product, especially if we agree on entering a compo together in, for instance, Europe! -Just to show the old world that the new world is back on and taking over the scene!!!
