Back in the day, I was very interested in game development and had many game ideas kicking around in my head, but I was never a very good or dedicated gamer myself. I tried console gaming for years, but found I am much happier just launching a game on my iPad after a long day when I want to relax. As a kid, it just required too much of an investment in a console, games, and time spent in front of the TV, but all of that has changed with Apple’s excellent game hardware in so many hands (I look forward to how the new Apple TV continues this). It’s just so easy for me to be the casual gamer I’ve been all along. My current favorites include Alto’s Adventure (a gorgeous endless snowboarding game) and Sky Force 2014 (a detailed top-scrolling shooter).
I’ve also always loved racing games and recently stumbled across Neon Drive in the App Store. It’s not a traditional racing game, but, to quote the web site, it’s a “slick retro-futuristic obstacle-dodging game”. The graphics have a neon retro-futuristic theme (think the Tron movies) with some fun visual effects and the music has an 80’s techno/tracker feel to it. One of the best parts of the game to me is the fact that the game is timed to the music, or the music to the game, and so it becomes very immersive if you put on headphones and get into the flow. You can really build your muscle & auditory memory to get through it. That’s not to say it’s too easy as it switches up the gameplay styles for an effective challenge.
The combination of the visual effects and music style hearkens back to the demoscene, for me anyway. The demoscene grew out of the underground software piracy scene (I do not condone software piracy, of course) during the early days of the personal computer back in the ’70s and ’80s as crackers (those who “cracked” copy protection on game disks) would make custom intros that played before the games as a signature (and to show off, of course). Not only did it take skill to break the copy protection, but there was so little space on floppy disks (even the game developers of the time crammed as much as they could onto them) that it took an extra level of skill to fit in a picture, funny animation, and sound into the minuscule remaining space. Naturally, this became a competition of bravado between individuals and groups of crackers, eventually expanding out into standalone demos with complex visual effects and music where they could really explore and hone their programming skills (esp. in the areas of compression—to fit more into less space—and procedural generation—to produce complex art and animations using mathematical equations to also do more with less).
At the same time, Amiga users were using software called trackers to produce advanced musical arrangements using small sets of sounds recordings and various acoustic effects. Not only was this impressive for the simple computers of the time (I’m prepared to be flamed by Amiga users, they’re as obsessed as us Newton users)—like the programmers—they were also finding & inventing tricks to push the tracker software further than intended and expanding the art form. This music was used in games and demos, traded, and spread along with the demoscene.
As the demoscene grew, individuals and groups got together for parties and competitions to show off their skills, art, and music in person. Competitions usually have different categories to which you can submit a demo or song to, many of which are still size limited as a greater challenge and sticking with tradition. There are now decades of demos and songs archived for posterity showing an incredible amount of programming prowess and artistic creativity. I still listen to a lot of the tracker/chiptune music, esp. while programming or writing, by streaming it from Nectarine Demoscene Radio. Lots of demos can be found preserved on pouet.net and files.scene.org, as well as YouTube. For a modern example (circa 2009), see the Rupture by ASD demo video.
As someone interested in programming and game development, but not much of a gamer, I was thoroughly interested in the demo as an art form. I only dabbled in demos, but have followed the demos and music on and off over the years. Since the iPhone’s release, I’ve seen a general resurgence of retro games with 8-bit, pixel graphics and chiptune music, just like the early consoles from the ’80s (it was a good fit for the slower processors, smaller storage capacities, and power usage considerations of the early iPhones when compared with desktop computers). Now that Apple’s devices have become so powerful, retro games are expanding out—much like the demoscene—into further visual effects and music.
Thanks to Neon Drive for the entertainment and the trip down demoscene memory lane! Give it a try, if you haven’t already.