  ______/\__________________________       __  ________________ ___  /\_______
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  /   |    \  _)   \   \_/   \   |   \   /    \   \  _)   \    |    \______  \
 /    |     \       \   |     \  |    \ /          \       \  / \    \    /   \
 \_____     /_______/___|     /_______/ \____\_____/_______/_________/________/
     \_____/            |____/
                                                           Subscribers  : 2601
 DemoNews 136 - 08 December 1996                           Archive Size : 3614M

>------------------------------------------------------------------ Contents --

             Introduction
             Calendar
             Top Downloads
             New Uploads
             Articles
               Safety for Women at Demoparties ............. Anonymous
               A Graphician's Tip Book - Part 8 ............ Shaithis
               Interview: Jeffrey Lim (Pulse) .............. GD
               How The Hornet Archive Works (part 2) ....... Snowman
               The Future of Demos ......................... 3NO
               TRI Game Developer Needed ................... Paul Nettle
             General Information

>-------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction --

 Hello all, and welcome to DemoNews.136.

 _____Introduction

 Right now it is excessively late and I must go to sleep shortly.  I will keep
 this introduction brief.

 _____Offline CD #1

 On 06 December 1996, I moved 640 megs of files off the Hornet Archive.  All
 /music songs and disks rated ** and under, cataloged before 19 November 1996
 were pulled.  The lack-of-space issue has been resolved for several months.
 Greetings and thank-you's go out to the _dozens_ of people who wrote me about
 this.

 _____hornet.org Replaces cdrom.com

 Please note that I have registered and put into effect the domain hornet.org.
 We are now officially located at:

   http://www.hornet.org
   ftp://ftp.hornet.org/pub/demos

 Each Hornet member also has an X@hornet.org email address.  We now also have
 a group contact address (questions@hornet.org).  We haven't moved away from
 cdrom.com or anything, just slapped on a nifty new nickname.

 _____Warez

 Hey cutie-pie.  Please stop trying to upload Photoshop 4.0 to /incoming, ok?

 _____Ping-Pong is Not New

 What's with people thinking that ping-pong looping in trackers is a new
 concept?  I remember my registered version of Ultra Tracker having it back in
 late 1993.  It was called "bidi" looping (bi-directional).  I guess I like
 the sound of "ping pong" more though.  I've seen a lot of discussion recently
 about Impulse Tracker inheriting Fast Tracker 2.0's ping-pong looping
 capability and wanted to remind you where perhaps FT2 took it from.

 _____Junk Mail Extravaganza

 Is it just me or has everyone else been getting 3x the normal amount of
 junk mail the past 2 weeks or so?

 If you receive unsolicited commercial email, consider it an excellent
 opportunity to let the world know about the demo scene and our archive!
 Download several very large .zip files (think of it as making your own little
 Hornet Archive "sampler"), and uuencode it to the original sender.  Ask them
 "Have you ever wanted to have your music and demos reviewed and stored on a
 well-organized archive... ABSOLUTELY FREE!?  Here's your introduction to the
 Hornet Archive..."

 Here's another approach I've been taking.  This one probably isn't nearly so
 effective but it makes me feel better.  I critique their mail, looking for
 misspelled words, improper formatting, grammar mistakes, etc. and ask them
 "How can you expect me to take you seriously when your company doesn't even
 know how to send email correctly?"

 I've also heard rumors of there being security holes in: Perl 5.000,
 sendmail, cgi in webservers older than 1 year, "death ping" for Unix
 operating systems except FreeBSD and SunOS, etc.  Now, I don't really think
 any of that is true, and I certainly wouldn't recommend you research any of
 the it in the hopes of using it against your spamming assailants.

 _____Conclusion

 Good night, pleasant dreams... zzz...

 Snowman / Hornet - r3cgm@hornet.org

>------------------------------------------------------------------ Calendar --

 Date         Event             Location  Contact Points
 ------------ ----------------- --------- ------------------------------------
 09 Nov 1996  Gravity           Poland    losiu@p26.f8.n484.z2.fidonet.org
 22 Nov 1996  Demolition2       Finland   mpiirone@lut.fi
                                          www.hut.fi/~jhheinon/demolition.html
 CANCELED!    Demobit           Slovakia  demobit@elf.stuba.sk
                                          internet.sk/demobit/english.htm
 CANCELED!    Tesko             UK        party@tesko.demon.co.uk

                                     * <-- YOU ARE HERE

 09 Dec 1996  Movement          Israel    civax@kinneret.com
 27 Dec 1996  The Party 6       Denmark   theparty@vip.cybercity.dk
                                          www.theparty.dk
 28 Mar 1997  Mekka & Symposium Germany   amable@aol.com
 04 Apr 1997  X Takeover        Holland   x97take@freemail.nl
 22 Aug 1997  AntIQ             Hungary   aboy@ttk.jpte.hu
                                          www.jpte.hu/~aboy

>------------------------------------------------------------- Top Downloads --

 This represents combined ftp/http transfers for the last 7 days.

 Sorry, my "get description" subroutine broke and I didn't have time to fix it
 before these statistics were generated.

 Please note that something else is wrong.  On the global transfer log for
 wcarchive, I'm showing an average of 280,000 downloads and 38 gigs
 transferred this week in the /demos archive.  What accounts for this
 discrepancy?  Hopefully I'll find out soon.

 Total files downloaded   :     167,059
 Size of files downloaded :  28,070,635k

 Times File                             Description
 ----- -------------------------------- --------------------------------------

 -- /demos ------------------------------------------------------------------>

  162  /1995/n/nooon_st.zip
  153  /1995/a/animate.zip
  146  /1993/0-9/2ndreal1.lzh
  133  /1993/0-9/2ndreal2.lzh
  125  /1993/u/unreal11.zip
  118  /1996/a/ai_strok.zip
  112  /1993/s/symbolog.zip
  110  /1996/a/atw_prot.zip
  101  /1996/m/machines.arj
   97  /1996/m/machines.a01

 -- /music ------------------------------------------------------------------>

   66  /songs/1996/xm/r/raf-bost.zip
   66  /songs/1995/s3m/a/aryx.zip
   63  /songs/1996/s3m/a/athought.zip
   52  /songs/1994/s3m/chariot.zip
   50  /songs/1996/s3m/f/fa-bung.zip
   49  /songs/1995/s3m/c/ctgoblin.zip
   48  /songs/1992/mod/space.zip
   48  /songs/1992/mod/beyond.zip
   48  /disks/1996/f/fc-trib1.zip
   47  /songs/1996/s3m/i/im_empir.zip

 -- /graphics --------------------------------------------------------------->

   19  /images/1994/i/incest5.zip
   13  /programs/vector/veced300.zip
   13  /images/1996/a/abc_pien.zip
   13  /images/1996/a/abc_land.zip
   12  /programs/vector/akm-mm10.zip
   12  /images/1996/a/airwar.zip
   11  /programs/players/cybrshow.zip
   10  /programs/editors/fedit11.zip
   10  /programs/editors/akm-md36.zip
   10  /images/1996/c/chantal.zip

 -- /code ------------------------------------------------------------------->

   86  /effects/3d/3dtext.arj
   78  /effects/fire/flame184.zip
   75  /effects/tunnel/araidsrc.zip
   73  /effects/rotozoom/pasroto.zip
   72  /tutor/tut21.zip
   71  /effects/plasma/plaswarp.zip
   66  /effects/blobs/blobs.zip
   65  /effects/feedback/dunesrc.zip
   62  /3ds/3dsrdr12.zip
   61  /effects/fire/firetiny.zip

 -- /incoming --------------------------------------------------------------->

  154  /code/p3dve.arj
   77  /demos/wired.a01
   76  /TMDC/tremor2.zip
   75  /demos/wired.arj
   71  /code/pmw132.zip
   63  /demos/ktv_1296.zip
   60  /mags/cheese9.zip
   59  /TMDC/rcn-orzo.zip
   56  /code/azr_bump.zip
   55  /code/Tgarx2b1.zip


 -- /incoming --------------------------------------------------------------->

  142  /code/azr_bump.zip
  102  /WIR96/in64/paper.zip
   81  /WIR96/demo/rox_rf.zip
   77  /CAC96B/demo/ai_mutha.zip
   72  /code/pmw131.zip
   71  /music/songs/xm/1forever.zip
   71  /demos/faith.zip
   65  /demos/elf-drmf.zip
   64  /demos/o_solex.zip
   64  /SAT96B/in64/cob.zip

>--------------------------------------------------------------- New Uploads --

 All ratings are subjective.

 Filename                        Size Rated Description
 ------------------------------- ---- ----- ----------------------------------

 -- /demos ------------------------------------------------------------------>

 /1996/0-9/14ndreal.zip          1455 [n/a] ABD96:demo:15: Sqrt(2) Reality by
                                            | Future Screw
 /1996/a/afterdt1.zip            1341 ***   [1/2] WIR96:demo:04: After Death
                                            | by Real-Time
 /1996/a/afterdt2.zip            1327 ***   [2/2] WIR96:demo:04: After Death
                                            | by Real-Time
 /1996/a/allinb.zip               919 *+    WIR96:demo:12: All In the Name of
                                            | Bump by Mr. Bios
 /1996/a/amb_sell.zip              58 ***   WIR96:in64:05: Sell Out by Amable
 /1996/c/caffeine.zip              55 **    WIR96:in64:06: Caffeine by Warm
                                            | Inside
 /1996/c/creation.zip             589 **    Creation by ZOB
 /1996/c/cyber.zip                 64 ***+  WIR96:in64:02: Famous Cyber People
                                            | by Pulse
 /1996/d/dop.zip                   19 +     WIR96:in64:13: Dirty Old People by
                                            | Fuel
 /1996/e/e.zip                   1276 ****  WIR96:demo:05: (E) by Zden, Moshe
 /1996/e/e9-frame.zip              67 ***   WIR96:in64:07: Frame by Ethos 9
 /1996/i/itsari.zip               434 **    WIR96:demo:10: Itsari by Itsari
 /1996/k/k_orb_f.zip               61 ***+  WIR96:in64:07: Orbital by Kloon
 /1996/k/karanga.zip             1103 ***+  WIR96:demo:08: Karanga by Color
 /1996/k/knowthng.zip              38 ***   WIR96:in64:15: Known Thing by
                                            | Maroon
 /1996/m/maximum.zip               19 ***   WIR96:in4k:04: Maximum by Bear
 /1996/m/molejo.zip                54 ***+  WIR96:in64:03: Molejo by Valhalla
 /1996/p/paper.zip                 62 ****+ WIR96:in64:01: Paper by Psychic
                                            | Link
 /1996/p/patchwrk.zip            1241 *+    NAID96:demo:??: Patchwork by Intra
 /1996/p/phatkryt.zip              46 *+    WIR96:in64:11: Phat Krijt by
                                            | Trepaan
 /1996/p/prg-ich.zip             2172 ****  WIR96:demo:02: Ich Kann Euch Sehen
                                            | by Purge
 /1996/r/r_urya_f.zip              50 [n/a] WIR96:in64:04: Urya by Ribbon
 /1996/r/reverse.zip               59 **+   WIR96:in64:09: Reverse by Ketchup
                                            | Killers
 /1996/r/rox_rf.zip              1195 ***+  WIR96:demo:01: Hard Rox by Skal
 /1996/s/samsalp.zip              452 **+   Samsalp by Intra
 /1996/s/snc_lbd2.arj               9 ****  WIR96:in4k:01: Little Big Demo 2
                                            | by Sanction
 /1996/s/stc-ext.zip              794 ***   Extasy by Substance
 /1996/u/useit.zip               1419 ***   WIR96:demo:07: Use It As An
                                            | Illusion by Useless
 /1996/v/vacdemo.zip               49 [n/a] WIR96:in64:12: Back to the Roots
                                            | by Vacuum
 /1996/v/velvet2.zip               63 ****  WIR96:in64:10: Velvet 2 by N-
                                            | Factor
 /1996/x/xaos_f.zip               737 ***+  WIR96:demo:06: Xaos by Mist
 /1996/y/yoda.zip                  63 **+   WIR96:in64:13: Yoda Lives by Blup

 -- /music ------------------------------------------------------------------>

 /programs/trackers/it209.zip     271       Impulse Tracker v2.09 by Pulse
 /programs/unusual/itinfo.zip      23       ITInfo v0.1  : ITInfo gives
                                            | information of IT Modules and IT
                                            | Samples

 -- /graphics --------------------------------------------------------------->

 /disks/1996/pls_wild.zip        2055 ****+ Wild by Pulse
 /images/1996/b/blm-absn.zip       87 *+    Abstruction by GreenPix7
 /images/1996/c/crs-l2mb.zip       92 ***   Love to my Baby by Java
 /images/1996/d/de-anima.zip       31 **+   SAT96B:grfx:11: De-Anima by Made
 /images/1996/d/dl_fture.zip      180 ***   Future by REM
 /images/1996/i/imphound.zip       39 ****  SAT96B:grfx:XX: Hound Attack by
                                            | BenJ
 /images/1996/i/impsnake.zip       25 ****  Snakewoman by BenJ
 /images/1996/i/impspecs.zip       43 ****  WIR96:grfx:02: Species by BenJ
 /images/1996/p/pls_smok.zip      610 ****  GRV96:grfx:01: Smok by Lazur
 /images/1996/t/temple.zip         83 **+   Temple by Horn
 /images/1996/t/twilight.zip       54 **+   Twilight by Horn
 /images/1996/u/univers2.zip      117 **    Universe 2 by Horn
 /images/1996/u/universe.zip       66 **    Universe by Horn
 /programs/editors/char_122.zip    95       Char Editor 1.22 by Escape
 /programs/editors/gfx2b090.zip   325       Grafx v2.00 by Sunset Design :
                                            | Multi-resolution Dos paint
                                            | program

 -- /info ------------------------------------------------------------------->

 /contact/group414.zip             28       Zyklop Group Acronyms List v4.14
                                            | by Yogi : more than 400 groups
                                            | listed including infos about the
                                            | crew! Also included are group
                                            | and party acronyms lists
 /demonews/demonews.134            86       DemoNews 134 - 24 Nov 1996 by
                                            | Hornet
 /demonews/demonews.135            28       DemoNews 134 - 01 Dec 1996 by
                                            | Hornet
 /dn_other/dn114_3d.zip            14       Introduction to 3D Programming -
                                            | Article #1 by Kiwidog of Hornet,
                                            | Terraformer : from DemoNews.114
 /dn_other/dn116_3d.zip            18       Introduction to 3D Programming -
                                            | Article #2 by Kiwidog of Hornet,
                                            | Terraformer : from DemoNews.116
 /dn_other/dnr143.zip              81       DemoNews Reader v1.43 by Phoenix
                                            | of Hornet
 /traxw/traxweek.079               31       TraxWeekly 079 - 06 Dec 1996

 -- /mags ------------------------------------------------------------------->

 /1996/bsr-0007.zip                10 **    Belgian Scene Report Issue 7 by
                                            | Baxter : Text Magazine
 /1996/cheese9.zip                245       Cheese Issue 9 by Cheese Team :
                                            | **+

 -- /party ------------------------------------------------------------------>

 /misc/w96_ansi.zip               213       WIR96::: Wired '96 Ansi Compo
                                            | Entries
 /results/1996/da15res.zip          1       Digital Art 1.5 Results

>------------------------------------------------------------------ Articles --

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------->

 :: "Safety for Women at Demoparties"
 :: Anonymous - responses may be directed through questions@hornet.org

 Until recently, I thought there was little difference between being a male at
 a demoparty and being a female.  Then something happened to make me question
 that view: I was sexually assaulted.  No one expects it to happen to them,
 and a demoparty was the last place I thought it could happen. I really
 started wondering just how safe I am or will be when I attend parties. I
 wondered how it could have happened, and what could have been done to prevent
 it.  That is the issue I want to address: how to make demoparties safer for
 women.

 Demoparty security is all well and good when it comes to preventing or
 dealing with things like fights and thefts, but not much thought has been
 given the safety of women at the parties.  I think this is largely due to the
 fact that organizers have traditionally not had to worry about it and have
 not thought about dealing with it.

 I personally never worried about it much either.  I always felt perfectly
 safe at demoparties. I suppose this was rather naive of me, and in the
 future, I will certainly look out for myself more carefully.  Clearly this is
 part of the solution: for women to be on their guard when they can.  However,
 there are times when we can't. (Everybody has to sleep sometime)  At those
 times, we need someone else looking out for us, too.  This is the other part
 of the solution, but I'm not so sure what should be done or how to do it.

 One obvious answer is to have a separate sleeping area for women. This would
 work, but I don't know how willing people would be to do it. It would
 guarantee the safety of the women at the party, but it also takes away from
 the party atmosphere.  Everybody SHOULD be able to trust everybody else and
 just have a good time, but sadly that isn't possible.

 Another element of the solution is to have a way for people to get in touch
 with organizers or security people immediately if there is a problem.  If
 anybody had seen what was happening and reported it to someone, maybe
 something could have been done about it then and there.  Occasional security
 checks of the sleeping areas and other isolated places would also be a good
 idea, on the chance that somebody walking by might notice something wrong.

 Aside from these few suggestions, I really don't know what can be done to
 increase safety for women at demoparties.  What it really comes down to is
 everyone looking out for herself, and friends looking out for each other.  I
 welcome any additional suggestions any of you may have.  Please send them to
 the address listed above.

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------->

 :: "A Graphician's Tip Book - Part 8"
 :: Shaithis / Immortal Coil - shaithis@buffnet.net

 [note: "Part 7" of this series is labeled "A Work of Art (Start to Finish)"
 and is in DemoNews.133]

 Hello all,

 Hope everyone had a cool thanksgiving break (and for those of you non-US
 readers a uhm...good weekend. :)  I went home, and lo and behold when I
 returned there was a shiny copy of DemoNews sitting in my mailbox.  Sadly,
 this shiny copy of DemoNews didn't contain an article from me.  This is
 because I was away.  Oh well.  I'm back now so let's get on with it.

 You're probably expecting me to talk about Photoshop right?  You're probably
 expecting me to go right into technical detail on what it does and how to use
 it, right?  I mean...that's what I've been saying I was going to do, right?

 Well...uh...the problem with that is that there's a new version of Photoshop
 out in the stores.  Being a poor college student, I simply don't have enough
 money to afford it (donations are accepted however. :)  At any rate, I'll be
 able to check out Photoshop 4.0 when I get home in a few weeks, and can use
 the one that my cousin has already purchased.  (It must be nice to have
 money. :)  So until that time I think I'll write about something else
 entirely.

 What I want to write about today actually hearkens back to a few articles ago
 when I was talking about dpaint.  The past few weeks of my life have given me
 the opportunity to work with that program more than I have in the rest of my
 life combined.  I'll not go into great detail, lest I be accused of
 mercilessly plugging my group, but let me say that Immortal Coil is in the
 process of creating an RPG.  This RPG will run in 320x240x256, which is a
 more or less standard vesa mode.  Since it is not a 3D game, however, it must
 be hand drawn.  Every...single...pixel.

 Working with 256 colors is a difficult thing, as I have found much to my
 dismay, especially when palette limitations are imposed that make it
 generally a bad idea to use more than sixteen or so colors for an object. My
 respect goes out to those of you who do 256 color pixel work on a daily
 basis.  It's not always a lot of fun, but I must say it's damn rewarding to
 sit back and look at a piece that you _know_ looks good despite the
 limitations imposed upon you.

 So that's more or less what the rest of this article is about.  I'm going to
 speak (or write I suppose I should say) a bit on the subject of generating
 recognizable pictures under heavy restrictions such as the ones the I must
 impose on myself in order to make graphics that our coders can actually use.
 Just a few tips that I've come up with that I thought might interest you.

 *Don't outline your sprites in black*  For those of you who don't know the
 term "sprites", I'm simply using it to denote a character, a rock, or
 whatever other graphic it may be that you'll be animating (ah animating...
 I'll probably talk about that next week. :)  At any rate, this is a big
 no-no.  Sure, it looks great on a white background.  Nice and crisp.  Now put
 it against a grass tile (tiles are similar to sprites but are perfectly
 square).  Doesn't look at all natural, does it?  This is easily solved. Shade
 your characters so that the colors _imply_ the outline.

 One way to do this, and a way I definitely advocate, is to take a good amount
 of time setting up your palette before doing any actual work. My group spent
 a week and a half just passing around a palette between us, giving it little
 tweaks until we had the exact colors we wanted.  Now that we have these
 colors, it is much easier to see how best to shade a character.  All of our
 colors are in straight lines, running from near-black to near-white, with the
 truest form of the color in the center of the gradient.

 We have sixteen colors in sixteen shades, giving us a total of (you guessed
 it), 256 colors.  With the method of laying out the colors explained above,
 it is relatively easy to find the colors you want in order to shade your
 character correctly.  This leads us into the next tip:

 *Solid lines of color usually don't work*  This is a basic truth.  Your eyes
 betray you on this one though.  We interpret much of what we see as solid
 lines of color, despite the fact that upon closer inspection what we are
 actually seeing is hundreds, possibly thousands of colors interacting with
 each other.  Shadowing, printing, monitor displays, whatever it is you're
 looking at, I can assure you you're probably not seeing a solid line of
 color.

 "So okay...I'm not seeing a solid line of color...your point is?"  Wait. I'm
 getting to that.  Let's assume you're drawing something relatively
 simplistic.  A 16x16 tile for example, trying to imply grass.  The first
 thing you try really doesn't look much like grass does it?  It's quite likely
 that instead it looks very stiff, like a bunch of light green lines running
 on a darker green background.  This was what my first attempt looked like
 anyway.  Some of you more experienced pixel-ers may giggle at that, but keep
 in mind that I haven't done any serious 256 color work in about a year.

 Whoah...this article's getting long.  In my next installment, I'll give
 finish up explaining how to get a better grass-tile (which will in turn
 explain how to shade better, in general).  After that, I'll give a few more
 tips, and move on to some basics on animation.

 256 color work can often seem like a chore, but the real key is not to think
 of it that way.  Instead, think of it as a challenge...a test.  You have put
 yourself up against some pretty severe limitations.  Now it's time for you to
 create what you want to create _anyway_.  You can do it.  I have faith.  Go
 experiment!  Here's a hint.  The spraypaint can with a little tweaking can do
 wonders for a grass tile.  More next time!

 Until Then

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------->

 :: "Interview: Jeffrey Lim (Pulse)"
 :: GD / Hornet - gd@hornet.org

 _____Introduction

 About a year ago, Impulse Tracker v1.00 was released.  Users immediately
 noticed the similarities between IT and Scream Tracker 3.  With time, Impulse
 Tracker has been improved with non-ST3 features familiar to users of Fast
 Tracker 2, such as 16-bit samples, ping pong sample looping, and volume and
 panning envelopes.

 Impulse Tracker also has introduced innovations such as virtual note
 controls, and native support for a large number of soundcards, including the
 Soundblaster Awe32 and Interwave-based soundcards.

 Enter Pulse, the man behind Impulse Tracker.

 _____Questions and Answers

 Q: State your name and occupation.
 A: My name is Jeffrey Lim.  At the moment, I'm studying Computer Systems
    Engineering at the University of Adelaide, South Australia.

 Q: Where do you currently live, and with whom?
 A: I currently live at my family's home in Adelaide, South Australia.  I have
    two sisters (and two parents!) who live here with me.  My university
    education doesn't require me to stay/board anywhere - I just catch a bus
    down and back each day.

 Q: Are you employed?
 A: I have a holiday job lined up that should produce the most AWESOME 3D game
    known to man.  :)

 Q: What will your role be in this project?
 A: My role will be first to design and implement the audio system, after
    which I will do miscellaneous coding.  I'm working in a team of four
    programmers, an artist and musician.  We hope to make something really
    quite spectacular.

 Q: Will some variation of the .it module format will be used for this?
 A: Actually, I suspect that the .it module format won't come into the idea
    at all.  :)  The game is designed to go into the arcades, more than for
    home usage.  The .it format isn't particularly suited for games with the
    virtual note mechanism which can get absolutely out of control.  (wave to
    Ozone!)  :)

 Q: What was your earliest involvement with music?
 A: My earliest involvement with music would be my violin lessons which I have
    undertaken since the age of about 5!  Soon after, I also started learning
    piano.

 Q: What instruments do you own?
 A: I own several violins (I still have the smaller sized violins somewhere),
    an upright piano, a Roland E-70 synth and recorder from primary school.

 Q: What was your first computer system?
 A: My first computer system was an Apple IIE.  Awesome machine with a whole
    64kb of memory I think!

 Q: When did you start programming?
 A: I started programming in BASIC on an Apple IIE when I was about 8 or 9.
    At the time, I never took it really seriously, just a little thrill to get
    some machine to do my bidding.  :)  I was more interested in playing
    Ultima IV generally.

 Q: When did you move to the PC platform?
 A: I got my first IBM (20mhz 8086, fully equipped with EGA and a 20MB HDD,
    whee!!) about 1986.  My mother bought a few programming books on an
    overseas visit around 1990 (as I asked her to) and I taught myself basic C
    programming.  I never really produced anything truly useful in those
    times, just little editors and utilities (which I still use today).

    About 3 years ago, I finally read the last chapters of one of the C books
    which dealt with assembler in debug.  That was my first introduction to
    Intel 80x86 assembler.  After that, I've become very familiar with the
    language; it's almost second nature!

    In the last few years, I have been through many computers: a 386, 486DX100
    and now a Cyrix 120, which I do all my work/internet/composing with.

 Q: How did you first become aware of the demo "scene"?
 A: My first encounter with the demoscene was when my cousin played "Unreal"
    to me on his 486.  I was amazed at the graphics and sound.  After that, I
    spent a lot of time downloading many demos on my blazingly fast 2400
    modem.

    In the last couple of years, my interest in the demo-demo scene has
    diminished.  I have focused much more on the music side.  I suppose that
    I couldn't get enough of the demos I wanted to see, and in the end, just
    gave up looking for them.  :)

 Q: What demo parties have you attended?
 A: I have only been to Coven in South Australia which was more of a games
    fest than anything else.  Still, there were a few people there that
    actually knew what demos were and a few musicians around.

    I hope to go to a more 'demoy'-demo party sometime.  Get me a plane ticket
    and I'll see you at Eclipse 97.  :)

 Q: What were you thinking the very first time you used Scream Tracker?
 A: The first time I used Scream Tracker was about a week after it was
    released.  At the time, I had no idea what I was downloading.  I saw the
    name "Future Crew" and thought, "hey cool..."  I'd seen Unreal and Second
    Reality before that, and they interested me.

    But when I first RAN Scream Tracker, I was impressed.  Most of the
    computer music that I'd heard before had been FM synthesis stuff; not so
    realistic at all.

    After getting ST3, I started composing in a big hurry.  I produced about
    10 modules (all crap and worse, but luckily I didn't release them due to
    lack of internet access/restricted BBS rules).  For a long time, ST3
    became a huge distraction to my studies/general life.  :)

 Q: When did you start working on Impulse Tracker?
 A: My first milestone for Impulse Tracker was when I wrote an S3M player
    called "Impulse Player" at the end of 1994.  It only supported SB, but it
    was an experiment to see if I could do anything with the assembler I had
    learned.

    After that, I intended to start a full ST3-like tracker immediately.  But
    I never started it until the last week of my holidays, in which I coded
    all the basic routines.

    Through the course of 1995, I think I stopped work entirely on the tracker
    for about 6 months.  Then one of my friends (Red Haze) started bugging me
    to put consistent effort in.  :)  (You can also thank him for a whole lot
    of other little features and ping pong loops, etc.)

    I think I tried to spend a couple hours a day after that, right up until
    a couple weeks before exams.  At that time, I *REALLY* started spending
    time on the tracker.  :)  (I always tend to code much more fervently
    around exam time!)

    And by the time the exams were over, the tracker had a player and almost
    everything complete.  I gave a few copies to some friends to beta-test and
    towards the end of December 1995, IT1.00 was released (only a few days
    before Velvet Studio and Digitracker 3).

 Q: Have you used any substances to keep you awake during coding sessions?
 A: I've never taken caffeine pills, but I've drunk lots and lots of coffee.
    :)  My favourite, though, is the bottle of Creme de Cacao which I have
    within an arms reach from the computer.  It doesn't keep me awake, but I
    like it all the same.

    I haven't gone overboard programming recently.  At most, I've done 12-15
    hour stretches.  I have done over 40 hours straight before.

 Q: What was the first improvement over ST3 that you considered for your
    tracker?
 A: The very first necessary improvement that I considered was panning.  Not
    just pure left/pure right.  I know that ST3.2 had panning for GUS cards,
    but at the time, I only had an SBPro.

    After that, there were many basic ideas taken from FT2.  Instruments,
    envelopes, ping pong loops, etc.  And on top of that all, I've added my
    own ideas such as Virtual Note Controls with NNAs/DCTs.

 Q: What has been the most difficult part of developing Impulse Tracker?
 A: The most difficult part of producing Impulse tracker was to find the time
    to spend on the code.  I had very poor documentation on SB cards at the
    time and the code looks like a total mess.

    The other major problem was that I didn't have Turbo Debugger.  Yes,
    versions of Impulse Tracker up to 1.03 were written ENTIRELY without a
    debugger.  I have bought my own TASM, just that I couldn't get TD working
    properly until recently.  :)

    Windows 95 has to be undoubtedly the biggest headache of all though!  :)
    Soundcard routines had to be completely rewritten for stability within
    Windows 95.  And there are still some restrictions that I haven't worked
    around under that environment.

 Q: What has been the most outrageous suggestion someone has made to you about
    a feature for IT?
 A: Generally, I don't like to mention possible features in IT, because I have
    found that as soon as I mention it, people realize what they're missing
    out on!  There are many suggestions that may be considered outrageous, but
    the most amusing part is most of them probably have been considered
    already.  :)

 Q: Have you created any "tools" to aid in the development of IT?
 A: I have written some really small tools to generate tables... apart from
    that, there was nothing that was specifically written for IT.  I often use
    a sector editor that I wrote many years ago for pulling apart files (eg.
    .XMs).  The font editor for IT was written by Zastar (which I'm very
    grateful for).

 Q: Are there any interesting undocumented features in IT?
 A: There are a few undocumented features in IT.  Most of them are almost
    totally useless but provide "interesting" information.  The earlier 2.xx
    versions of IT had the diskwriter as an undocumented feature.  The pattern
    editor has an undocumented feature which can tell you the exact size of a
    pattern.

    There's a 3-key combo to access the debug screen.  And there's a 5-key
    "ultra-sekrit" key combination in IT which no one will ever find.  :)

 Q: So, why did you write Impulse Tracker?
 A: That's a very difficult question that has no single particular answer.
    I suppose I was in love with the ST3 interface, but I really wanted some
    of the features in FT2 made available to me.  Also, I had an idea that the
    virtual controls could be something to produce extremely high quality
    music, and I didn't think that anyone else was about to code a tracker
    with these.

    I wrote IT because *I* track, not because someone I know or someone in my
    group tracks.  I'm not that kind.  :)  I don't intend to give up tracking
    if I can help it.

 Q: Is there anything in FT2 that you particularly dislike?
 A: My greatest dislikes of FT2 include:
      1) I don't know any of the keys, and I'm too stupid to learn them :)
      2) I can't preview samples
      3) I can't edit a pattern properly while it's playing!
      4) I can't load .IT files :)

    In writing IT, I wanted to let the user take samples from almost any
    source.  Previewing samples is very important IMHO.

 Q: In developing the soundcard drivers for IT, have you found any aspect of
    any of that hardware to be absurd?
 A: Oh yes.  The GUS MIDI input is totally absurd.  (I'm just saying that
    because I can't get it to work simultaneously with digital out).  :)  The
    GUS memory restrictions are less than ideal also (16-bit samples can't
    exceed 256 kb).  The AWE*30*'s pitch limitations are a little silly too,
    imho.  :)

 Q: How do you respond to people who say "Pulse is stupid for using 100%
    assembler to write IT" ?
 A: They're right!  :)  Ahahahaha... I love assembler.  I'm very quick at it
    and very comfortable with it.  My record coding has been about 1000 lines
    of code in an hour.  The XM loader in IT208 took about 3 hours.

 Q: Do you have any immediate plans for IT2?
 A: I have so many ideas for IT that I'd like to try, but I haven't had the
    resources/time to do so.  :)  The biggest idea that I'm seriously
    considering is network tracking.  So that you can come online (TCP/IP,
    IPX) and connect into a song group, and all work on a single module
    together.  (I want to see how fast Necros REALLY tracks!)

    There are some incredibly difficult technical aspects to sort out for
    this, so don't expect it anytime soon.  :)

 Q: Have any Future Crew members ever talked to you about IT?
 A: So far, I have only had feedback from Skaven, who was extremely positive
    about it.  I haven't had any feedback from Psi (Sami Tammilehto) or Purple
    Motion.

    There have been a few people interested to know where I got the source
    code for ST3 from - well, the answer is that I DON'T HAVE IT!  :)

 Q: Have you ever loaded ST3 into a debugger or 'sourcer' type utility?
 A: Yes.  I tried; ST3's compression scheme is pretty nifty, and I'm too
    impatient to work through it.  :)  I thought I'd get more value out of
    debugging Music Disk Player (that came with the Journey 1, 2, and Skaven's
    disk).  I took the original hardware DMA autodetection ideas from there
    which have since been changed... :)

 Q: What tracker music have you been listening to recently?
 A: Lately, I have really enjoyed Falcon's Wir96 entry (cosmic2.xm).  I also
    enjoy listening to MickRip's music immensely.

    Make sure you check out Ozone's CD when (if) it ever gets released.  He
    has written some of the most amazing material, although you probably
    wouldn't want to ever have to download the files!  :)

 Q: What types of non-tracker music do you enjoy?
 A: I listen to almost any music other than hardcore techno and country.
    Whatever's on the radio.  (I'm too cheap to buy many CDs.)  :)  I also
    listen to a lot of violin/piano music, as I play and teach the violin.

 Q: Where can people send their donations to encourage further IT development,
    or to sponsor your Eclipse'97 trip?  :D
 A: I don't know about the Eclipse'97 trip, but my home address is in IT.DOC.
    If you do wish to send a donation, please send cash or cheque - postal
    orders have incredible overheads.  :(

 Q: Ok, I'm going to throw a curve... when was the last time you cut yourself
    shaving?
 A: Man, I'm gonna get emails about this one!  I still don't shave.  :)  (I'm
    19).

 Q: When is your birthday?
 A: My birthday is in the "middle-middle" of winter (southern hemisphere).
    If you wanna send me presents, my birthday is on the 15th of July.  :)

 Q: Do you have any demoscene predictions for 1997?
 A: I would very much like to say that I see it booming with new ideas, but I
    believe the reality is that we'll see more of the same.  I think the music
    component of the demoscene will grow, but the "demo" component will
    diminish slightly.

    The "demo" part of the scene is increasingly hard to make an impression
    on; you have to do so much more for people to take notice than you used
    to.  Music is much easier.  You choose your favourite tracker program and
    upload all the junk you create.  :)

    [Editor's note: we do not recommend this.]

 Q: Would you like to send greetings out to anyone?
 A: Oh.. there are heaps of greetings, I just hope that I don't miss anyone:
    All you guys on #trax: mickrip, ozone, hunz, firelight, yannis, chuckb,
    jase, astrid, clef, stote, turrican (the ozzie gang), and all you freaks
    that live elsewhere in the world.  :)  (I *know* I'm going to miss someone
    if I try, so I'll just say hi to WAVE :) )

 Q: At what email address can someone contact you?
 A: You can contact me at pulse@student.adelaide.edu.au .  The old address
    (pulse@smug.student.adelaide.edu.au) may bounce, so don't send mail there.

 Q: That just about wraps it up... thanks for doing the interview!
 A: Ok... thanks for your time too.  Everyone pay a visit to
    http://www.citenet.net/noise/it and download IT209 from there (or
    ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music/programs/it209.zip if that's not
    ready).

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------->

 :: "How The Hornet Archive Works (part 2)"
 :: Snowman / Hornet - r3cgm@hornet.org

 _____Introduction

 Ever wonder what happens to your upload once you stick it in /incoming?

 The answer may be more complicated than you expect...

 _____File Uploaded

 Believe it or not, this is where a lot of new uploads meet their death.
 This is usually for one of the following reasons:

 Corrupted - The most common error.  Something got screwed up during the
 upload and the file is bad.  History dictates that the user try to reupload
 the file with a ".good" extension tacked on the end of the filename.  About
 50% of people actually do this.  Assuming the .good file is actually good,
 the old file is removed and the .good one renamed to the original intended
 filename.  Currently, there is no way to send notification to the uploader
 if their file was corrupt.  This will be added in the future.

 UPPER CASE FILE - This is a moderately lame error on the user's end.
 Usually they are using some crappy ftp program or forgot to convert to
 lower-case before uploading.  If I were the only archive maintainer, all
 these files would be deleted on the spot.  However, since we have a few
 other maintainers who are more forgiving than I many of these files are
 politely fixed and continue on through the system.

 Not Including .txt - All uploads are required to have a .txt description
 accompanying them.  This .txt file is not to exceed 500 bytes.  People have
 been pretty good about doing this over the past few years.  It is standard
 practice to delete files without descriptions.  Two possible future
 enhancements : auto-extraction of the .txt from the .zip file and web-based
 describing of new uploads.

 Wrong Compression Format - If you read the .message file in /incoming,
 you'll see the first rule of uploading is "file must be .zip format,
 multi-file uploads may use .arj, .a01, etc."  There has been some talk of
 using .rar as a replacement to .zip.  However, since no Unix port of RAR
 (to my knowledge) supports all of the options users have become accustomed
 to, we don't support it either.

 Incorrect Directory - Occasionally someone uploads a song to
 /incoming/demos or a diskmag to /incoming/info.  Standard policy is to
 delete these.  More often than not they are politely moved to the correct
 directory.

 Warez - These are removed as soon as discovered.  I am working with Murray
 (Perl coder for /pub/artpacks) on a script that will auto-detect most files
 fitting this description.

 The Exceptions - We have actually removed new uploads that didn't exhibit any
 of the problems listed above.  I can recall a couple demos and intros that
 featured nothing but animal deification and butt fucking.  Now, I'm all for
 creative expression and freedom of speech, but I have yet to see an anal
 intercourse demo that had some redeeming artistic value.  Do note that
 nudity, vulgarity, and racial / ethnical / sexual / political attacks are
 _not_ usually grounds for a file's removal.  Personal attacks and blatant
 defamation of character usually _are_ grounds for a file's removal.
 Fortunately we don't have to deal with this too often.

 _____File Reviewed

 Assuming a file gets through all the possible pitfalls listed above, it is
 reviewed.  Who it is reviewed by depends on which /incoming subdirectory it
 was uploaded to.  See part 1 of this series for a list of who does what.

 So what does it mean to "review a file"?

 First, a file is downloaded by a reviewer.

 Second, the reviewer gathers the following information: destination
 directory, title, author, group, party of origin, party competition (intro,
 graphics, etc.), party rank (1st place, etc.), language it was coded in (if
 /code), and part of part (for multi-part uploads).

 Third, the file is then watched, listened to, read, or otherwise processed.

 Forth, the file is assigned a rating of + to *****, [n/a], or [rip].  [n/a]
 usually implies a demo that wouldn't run correctly.  [rip] means a file that
 was stolen from someone else.  Not all files are given a rating.  In
 particular, stuff in the /info tree and a few other directories like
 /music/programs and /party/results are not rated.  This is because it either
 doesn't make sense or we are too lazy.  :)

 Historical Note (optional reading):

 The use of '*' to represent a star and '+' to represent a half-star was
 introduced to the Hornet Archive by Phoenix in a diskmag review article on 15
 February 1995 (DemoNews.084).  They were first used in the /music subarchive
 on 26 February 1995 (DemoNews.085), the /alpha (demos) subarchive on 26 March
 1995 (DemoNews.087), the /code subarchive on 07 May 1995 (DemoNews.089), and
 the /graphics subarchive on 04 November 1995 (DemoNews.107).

 The [n/a] and [rip] conventions were introduced by myself on 26 March 1995
 and 11 June 1995 (DemoNews 87 and 94) respectively.

 By way of comparison, the first issue of TraxWeekly started on 17 March 1995.
 I find it ironic that TraxWeekly, a newsletter whose readers have often
 condemned our rating system, featured ratings of its own in the very first
 issue (using an ugly 1-100 number system).  But I digress...  :)

 _____File Moved and Added to Database

 Files are then moved (manually for the most part) from /incoming to their
 final resting place out in the main archive.  The information collected by
 the reviewer is run through a script called "ha4_add".

 ha4_add checks:

   - to make sure that the file being cataloged actually exists
   - that not too much data was given
   - that not enough data was given
   - that the file does not already exist in the database

 If a file passes these tests, ha4_add figures out the current date and the
 file's size.  Repeat, the _current_ date and file's size.  NOT the file's
 date.

 Diablo and I went back and forth on this one for a long time.  In our
 database, should the file's "time" field refer to the actual file date or the
 time it was cataloged?  Because of problems faced in trying to correctly date
 files and because I needed a way find all files that had been cataloged X
 days ago (for things like DemoNews), we opted for catalog date.

 Here's a little exercise you kids can try at home.  Think of several reasons
 why accurately determining the file date (for all types of files... demos,
 music, graphics, etc) is extremely difficult.  No need to mail me your
 answers.  I already know them.  :)

 _____File Indexed

 So now the information for the file is in the database.  Big deal.  That data
 is useless unless the normal archive user can access it.  "ha4_list" is the
 script responsible for taking the database and forming all sorts of output
 with it.  You'd be amazed at just how many ways that information is used:

                                                                   Function on
 Index Type     Format  Location           Generated     Aimed At  Mirrors?
 -------------- ------- ------------------ ------------- --------- ------------
 00_index.txt   00      current directory  04:00 daily   ftp       yes
 index.cgml     cgml    current directory  04:00 daily   http      no
 index.html     html    current directory  04:00 daily   http      yes
 all?????.zip   DN2     /pub/demos/?????   04:00 daily   ftp       yes
 ALLFILES.ZIP   DN2     /pub/demos         04:00 daily   ftp       yes
 DemoNews       DN2     DemoNews           each issue    ftp/http  yes
 Search Engine  cgml*   /cgi-bin           upon request  http      no

 * = default format, can be changed

 Each index type serves a different purpose.  Until late 1995, we were only
 able to generate DemoNews, 00_index.txt, and ALLFILES.ZIP indicies.  Recent
 progress in this area has been substantial.

 Historical Note:

 The "DN2" format (new DemoNews style) was introduced last weekend, _after_ I
 had written this article.  The previous format was just "DN".  Needless to
 say, I have now gone back and updated the text above.  :)

 _____Conclusion

 Are you starting to get a feel for how complex this archive really is?
 Believe me, we've only scratched the surface.

 Next issue I'll talk about SDDs and how our database is structured.

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------->

 :: "The Future of Demos"
 :: 3NO (formerly Vector) / Vinlandia, Tpolm Kanada - jnoel@public.nfld.com

 One of the original purposes of writing demos -- other than to have fun --
 was to push the hardware to the limit, to find out what the programmer and
 the machine were capable of.  This has been done on many platforms, such as
 C64, Amiga, and PC, yet I think we are reaching a stagnation point.  Some
 claim it will never happen.  Others say it already has, arguing that demos
 nowadays all look the same except for a few design-oriented productions.

 Now I am not here to debate whether or not the scene is/has/will become
 stagnant, but to talk about a new virtually-unexplored area which I believe
 we could use to enhance the scene.  This is, of course, Java.

 "Java?", you say, "but... why???". Well, let me first explain my view on the
 future of computing.  Thus far, the personal computer industry has been
 dominated by proprietary platforms.  The same CPUs, the same operating
 systems, often stifling better technology.  Java was designed to eliminate
 this, by providing a standard for all computers to run programs without the
 need to provide source code.

 Basically, a Java application compiled to the "Bytecode", which is simply the
 machine code for a Virtual Machine, can be interpreted by any computer
 designed to emulate it's execution.  This can be very slow, but better
 compiler technology is emerging which allows you to convert this bytecode to
 the native machine code of the platform you are using.

 What does this mean?  It means simply that programs compiled to this Bytecode
 / Virtual Machine specification will be able to run on any platform which
 offers Java support.  And, with these bytecode -> native code compilers,
 performance need not suffer.

 Java also refers to a high-level language, much like C++, which is used as
 source code to be compiled to the bytecode.  I must emphasize, however, that
 it is _not_ necessary to write bytecode applications in the Java language.
 There is apparently a Java bytecode assembler, and there is no reason why
 other languages could be compiled to the bytecode (though there are some
 restrictions).

 There has been a little bit of discussion on comp.sys.ibm.pc.demos about
 making Java demos, and I truly believe this is a worthwhile new area for us
 to explore.  The demoscene has been responsible for some amazing advances in
 realtime graphics and music, so I think we should start trying to push this
 "platform of platforms" to it's limit and continue.  It's only a matter of
 time before Java takes over computing, allowing people to use whatever
 computer / operating system suits them.

 With this in mind, I would like to start a little newsletter about demos and
 Java.  This way, we can explore the possibilities together, set up a place
 for exchanging ideas and experiences, and hopefully make the demoscene more
 interesting.  Anyone interested in contributing to the newsletter or helping
 me set it up, or if you have any ideas at all please email me.

 Imagine a demo that will run on anything?  It's just a matter of time.

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------->

 :: "TRI Game Developer Needed"
 :: Paul Nettle / TRI - pauln@terminalreality.com

 TRI is looking for a software developer who holds a passion for doing what
 they do best.

 So far, TRI has developed four popular titles: Terminal Velocity, Microsoft
 Fury3, Microsoft HellBender and Microsoft Monster Truck Madness.

 It's no secret that game projects can be some of the most challenging. We're
 looking for the individual not simply willing to tackle a project of such
 magnitude, but eager to.  Past game development experience is not a
 requirement.  What's most important to us is the desire, the passion and the
 know-how.

 We are currently staffed with creative individuals with a strong desire to
 produce fun and interesting games.  This makes for a tightly woven team of
 individuals that are willing to do just about anything to get the job done.
 The occasional team member might work until dawn to finish that last model or
 polish off that last 3D effect, although this is never required.  What is
 required, however, is that kind of dedication.

 Of course, this dedication does have its rewards.  Aside from the
 gratification of a successful title, TRI also offers an aggressive bonus
 system.

 We're currently ramping up for a flagship title and we're one developer short
 of three.  So, if you have the passion, and a desire to create a fun game
 along with the drive to see the project through to the end, then we would
 like to talk to you.

 Technical requirements:

   Thorough working knowledge of C++ and object design
   The ability to work well under pressure
   Thorough working knowledge of the PC
   Familiarity with Windows '95 and the MFC is a plus
   A good understanding of 3D is a plus
   A good understanding of any other game-related topic is a plus
   A good sense of humor

 Interested individuals should contact pauln@terminalreality.com with a
 resume.  Be prepared to offer source code samples, a running demo of your
 best work (not necessarily a game-related demo) and don't forget the grueling
 technical interview. :)

>------------------------------------------------------- General Information --

 _____The Hornet Archive

 Master Site : USA (California)   - (ftp|www).hornet.org/pub/demos
 Mirrors     : Portugal           - ftp.telepac.pt/pub/demos
               Sweden             - ftp.luth.se/pub/msdos/demos
               South Africa       - ftp.sun.ac.za/pub/msdos/demos
               USA (Wisconsin)    - ftp.uwp.edu/pub/demos
               USA (Pennsylvania) - ftp.co.iup.edu/code (from /demos/code)

 _____DemoNews

 New issues are posted to /incoming/info.
 Old issues are in /info/demonews.
 Supplemental files are in /info/dn_other.

 How to subscribe:

 Mail - listserver@unseen.aztec.co.za
 Body - subscribe demuan-list FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME    _or_
 Body - subscribe demuan-list HANDLE

 DemoNews is sent to your e-mail's "Reply-To" field.

 _____Contact Address

 questions@hornet.org

>------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EODN

