Revision 2016 PC 64k Intro Competition

Demoscene64k, Intro, Party, Review26 August 2016

Over the years, the 4k intros territory has been explored quite well. We have seen many groundbreaking productions, but today most of them use similar rendering techniques. To make things a bit more interesting, Revision organisers introduced a new 8k intro category. In the meantime, the 64k is doing well, and we got some high-quality productions this year.

#1 – Fermi Paradox by Mercury

This year’s number one picks up where the last year winner (Offscreen Colonies by Conspiracy) left off. We go for a ride somewhere near Saturn. The trip includes, among the others, a visit to its moons (Titan and Rhea, I guess), watching an eclipse of the Sun and a mysterious beam of light. You might also discover liquid water on the surface. Are some intelligent forms of life hiding there? Who knows. And when you decide that you want to return home, take a look at the sky. You may notice a pale blue dot there.

Overall, this is very polished intro from the top shelf of 64k productions. The pace is slow, just like sequences from 2001: A Space Odyssey. All the cinematic pictures are accompanied by atmospheric ambient music in a Klaus Schulze-style.

By the way: did you notice this fat man in the bowler hat at the beginning? No? That’s good, because I did, and what have been seen, cannot be unseen :)

Credits:
abductee – code, graphics
cupe – code, graphics
las – code, graphics
urs – code, graphics
red – synth, music
psykon – art, direction
mouldyCat – art, direction
Fermi Paradox by Mercury on Pouet

#2 – Darkness Lay Your Eyes Upon Me by Conspiracy

Numbers are cruel and by the difference of just 2 points Conspiracy had to take 2^nd place this year. If you consider the scale of votes (1890 vs 1888) this 0.1% is negligibly small. The audience couldn’t really decide which intro is better.

While both intros feature advanced code, graphics and music, this one creates more emotions. There is a certain feeling of anxiety in these scenes. Cinematic composition and colour grading place you inside a film. There is no obvious screenplay of it, so you have to connect these scenes with your own imagination. What does it mean? Are we all doomed? Authors were inspired by Werner Herzog’s quote: “Civilization is like a thin layer of ice upon a deep ocean of chaos and darkness”.

If you want to take a peek behind the scenes, you can learn more about this intro from this interesting interview with Gargaj. Screenshots from Conspiracy’s tool used to make this production are also included. Check it out.

Credits:
BoyC – code, additional modelling
Gargaj – audio
Zoom – visuals, design
Darkness Lay Your Eyes Upon Me by Conspiracy on Pouet

#3 – Total Control by Unknown

An interesting intro with many references to George Orwell’s book “1984”. We are in a city, where no one can hide. Everything is monitored by CCTV cameras and drones. Is it possible to escape from this regime?

There are no credits in this intro, nor readme.txt file. Authors prefer to stay anonymous. Maybe they’re a part of some secret resistance movement. Let’s respect that :).

Total control by Unknown on Pouet

#4 – f8:5 by Rtificial

A new production from the Rtificial group. This is very clean and aesthetically pleasing intro. Some scenes utilise symmetry, some are based on a feedback loop. Neon-like colours also look interesting, and the music doesn’t disappoint. It’s a really solid invitation for Function 2016 party, held on September 9-11 in Budapest.

Again, there was just 5 votes difference (1254 vs 1249) from the third place.

Credits:
ro0mquy – code, editing, visuals
Ps0ke – code, editing, visuals
Dr. B – music, code
f8:5 by Rtificial on Pouet

#5 – fr-083: What is Time by Farbrausch

A new release from the Farbrausch group, or, to be more precise, under the name of Farbrausch, as this is just one man production. All the coding, including generating graphics and music, was done by BeRo.

This intro includes many effects (the clouds look really good), but they are not connected in any way. I was unable to find the answer to the title question in this production too. It might be hidden somewhere between a spiral galaxy and ancient columns, though. Anyway, fans of hard trance music and fast-moving camera should be satisfied.

I’m pretty sure BeRo could create something to compete with higher ranked productions. With a support of group’s artists who could replace coder-content and put some art direction there, another memorable Farbraush intro could have been created.

BTW: you may be interested in BeRo and urs’ seminar The design of the KRAFT 3D rigid body physics engine on the third day of Revision 2016.

Credits:
BeRo – code, graphics, music
fr-083: What is time by Farbrausch on Pouet

#6 – Mond by TeVe

A short intro with the Moon theme that features interesting cell rendering technique. The visuals are synced to the music. Once again, the mysterious author (or authors) left no information about credits. There is a short text in Hungarian inside the archive, though: “Villog, homalyos, rangat es szaggat!”. Well, that explains everything, I guess :)

Even if this came as the last one, it is pretty decent and worth watching.

Mond by TeVe on Pouet

Summary

The bar has been raised once again. The quality of the releases was so high, that people couldn’t really decide which was better.

There is a tendency to use cinematic framing, widescreen aspect ratios and colour grading. All of this leads to greater photorealism of the visuals. Even if they’re mostly static now, this will slowly change. At the same time, there is no reason to worry that all the abstract, non-realistic effects will just vanish.

Guys from the planet Mercury will probably want to keep their 1^st place in the next year’s competition, so we can expect another high-quality release from them. Will they continue their space exploration or land somewhere on Earth? We will see. On the other hand, Conspiracy team will want to prove that this year’s 2^nd place was just an accident.

The next 64k intro competition at Revision 2017 is really worth waiting for and should bring another top-notch releases.

Official PC 64k intro compo results