The Awards - Vandalism News issue 49
Hosted by Jonatan Forsberg "Macx" and David Simmons "Jazzcat"
Guest host Tobias Svensson "Zzap69"

After the demise of "the Charts" there was going to always be something missing in this magazine. Can there be another system that can capture who is doing what and how good it is? To be fair, the traditional charts system were a good and memorable routine for most magazines, but became redundant due to lack of user participation. THE AWARDS will take the stakes higher, by providing the thoughts of those participating and debating which single person, group, production etc. should receive the token award on behalf of this magazine.

Some may argue that the releases commented on are arbitrary chosen and that it is not up to us to decide what should be awarded. That pinpoints just what separates it from the charts; it is the minds of the hosts that give the awards. Hopefully it can be better in being more up to date than the charts were, meaning that some non-releasing person or group stays in top forever and ever. But at the same time be less democratic and if you prefer, arbitrary. We are not insensitive to criticism though, that is however not the same thing as saying that your opinion is better.

We start out with a discussion where we present the opted releases since last issue. This is followed by the conclusion, in which we argue to and fro for whom or what to be awarded. After some sort of consensus or majority decision the award is handed out at the end of the chapter.

DISCUSSION

(Macx)
Although last issue was somewhat of a X2006 hangover release with the World of Demos chapters covering the releases from this fab Dutch event, the Awards in issue 48 was more concentrating on the releases coming out up to the party with much focus on the graphics. This means we take off from a neat position in the Awards for issue 49. The X party showed many skilled artists' efforts and I start the chapter by looking at the top three.

The winner from the mid-October event was the cooperation between Pernod, JackAsser, Linus, Mirage, Sander and Twoflower forming The Wild Bunch, which also is the title of the demo. It does not refer to Sam Peckinpah's filmatisation; neither does it to the Doolin-Dalton Gang, nor Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (although I would have loved to see homage to the last minutes of their life on this platform). Instead this bunch is a well directed and up styled group of figures from somewhere in/different parts of the 20th century. It is very sharp and the pace is marvellous for the stage. We follow the last century gangsters through a world of spinning colours. In the end scene we watch something that could be an old Bentley escaping from the early dawn on a straight road in a forestry landscape. As often we keep our fingers crossed.

Der Guemmel is a demo by Duce, Tape, Muhmi, Barfly and Barracuda of Extend that came second at X. The concept this time is catholic bondage and it is being built up by evening grasshoppers accompanied by a sound saying hello to Zardax's tune in Extremes. Amongst the rubber and black leather, stars and pillars are stretched and bent. Much like the sexuality of the common scener. It flirts with the pervs, and the Finnish lads know how to walk the talk the naughty way. Nice.

When I made it back into the scene I released a small demo named c64 love. The first sentence of my single-pager reads "scrolling texts, sids and bulletin boards. don't you ever give the game away". At that time I also started to argue the case of scroll texts' vital role for the c64 scene. Much, if not all, of my pre-scene notion of the scene is buried in my interpretations of the text within such (as a ten, eleven, twelve, year old). It is where people since early scene dawn looked for their name in the greeting lists, poetry has been presented (ESI to mention one), battles has been fought and cryptic internal messages swapped. Writing is for all literate people a subtle way to communicate, in many ways much more interesting for the imagining mind than instant chatting or talking. Like a book, a scroll text is there for a long time. Although digital it is more persistent in contrast to the volatile rest. The scrolling text is THE way to present text on this machine (and I do understand the irony of writing this in a disk magazine). The demo that came third at X is named Let's Scroll It! and is a Morpheus designed declaration of love to this phenomenon. It is a presentation which HCL has coded, and in which some ancient legends make a creative comeback: The Sarge, The Hobbit and Jeroen Tel. Drax, Chapelier and Hein also did some wonderful audio scores and also Viny, Redstar and Morpheus did some additional brilliantly achieved pixelling. The big thing though, as if what just mentioned should not be enough, is the collection of scroll texts written by people from the past (although, quite a few still around). Morpheus has stood for quite an impressive execution of an idea in making this piece of history come together. After X it has been the most praised demo if one is to count the voting’s at CSDb as some sort of guideline. When I write this it is amongst the top ten, though I know it was ranked even higher some time ago. In any way, to get something out of this demo I guess one really has to know the context, and also like this subtle sub-artform of the already niched c64 demoscene. Somewhere on the internet I write that "scroll texts run from right to left, they don't come with newlines", everyone reading this knows what I mean. I guess quite a few is at least half as excited as me and Morpheus.

(Jazzcat)
"Let's Scroll It" by C64.com (lead by Morpheus/Flash Inc) is indeed a unique demo that captures scene spirit in a most incredible way. The biggest task in this demo that I can see is the organising behind it all. From experience I know how difficult it is to get a bunch of guys together and to see the project through to the end. Morpheus pulls off the somewhat impossible, his call to the legends of the past is answered and this production becomes a success.

This demonstration ventures outside the norm and is more a collection with large introduction sequence than a traditional demo (trackmo or press space f.e.). As with Macx, I'm also impressed by the focus on "scroll". I mean, when we go back to our roots, the days of CompuNet and so forth, it really was a different time, when words were used to entertain. The C64 scene has imitated other scenes and our demos have shown that. All effects and hardly any text. "Let's Scroll It" takes us back before these times but also offers some fantastic music and graphics. The result is a lovely balance of old and new. Well done!

X2006 produced many positive things for our scene, one of these was the amount of releases from the competitions. The single release voted number one was "The Wild Bunch". This cooperation demo is an adventure that spells one word for me: DESIGN. Very polished approach in all areas. The introduction and the end sequence seem to be the most memorable for me. The end part is crying for more and feels a little 'unfinished', maybe a different approach? Also the greetings part, maybe that should have been put somewhere else? It seemed to be rather long and interrupted the flow. I really did enjoy this demonstration but I was left hanging on waiting for more. Maybe a director's cut to satisfy my insatiable needs (come on Sander, I know you want to).

The northern kung fu experience in Extend are back once again, this time with "Der Guemmel", which is a nice little adventure into the perverse. I did enjoy the graphics by Duce are ranging from nice to very nice (less flicker on the real machine), the music fits extremely well (bizarre sound that fits a kinky-atmosphere by Barracuda) and some of the effects were fantastic (the twisting bars rocked!). The demo lacks men. Maybe some men in PVC getting whipped or dominated would have balanced this out a bit, as it did seem like tit-overdose (which isn't a real complaint after all). Some more polishing would have made the PVC shinier. Shiny PVC is good. I do like shiny PVC.

With the top three demos at X2006 in mind, I would think "The Wild Bunch" deserved its number one position (just) followed very closely by "Let's Scroll It" which should have been ranked higher than number 3. "Der Guemmel" maybe should have been a bit lower, but I can understand the decision of lots of horny data-boys and big tits & lips.

(ZZAP69)
To summarize what my colleagues here just said about ”Let's scroll it”, I think they are totally on the right track by saying that writing scroll text is a (forgotten?) art form within the world of demos. A good scroll can save a pretty mediocre demo and make it unforgettable. On the other hand a really bad scroller can make a rather good demo quite poor. The real ”scroll-part” of this demo features interviews of several scene-legends. I had already read most of these interviews on C64.com, but still it appeals to me that Morpheus has managed to reflect the material known from his site to a demo. As Jazzcat mentioned, it takes a whole lot of effort just to finalize such a project these days. The demo has a real nice nostalgic vibe and contains as well nice graphics as lovely music. I don’t see this demo as an attempt to break any records or drop our jaws, but rather to make us feel good. And that is a very good reason for making a demo, whether this is the intention or not.

Der Guemmel, is in many ways an interesting demo. I’m not sure I understand what Macx means by saying that the common sceners sexuality is stretched and bent, but perhaps he still has a point when it comes to some of us. At least yours truly has always had a thing for goth- and black rock chicks. Whips and leather isn’t my cup of tea though. The whole demo is based on twister routines. Some of them are even more wicked than the minds of rubber girls. I especially liked the multi colour-twister thing. Some of the graphics looks a little simple and handmade. As someone else stated, a little more details in the graphics would rather do good than harm. Or maybe that was me? The design is very consequent, and the colours of red and black reflects the dark subconscious of man and the blood boiling in her veins, the drives we are aware of and those we are unaware of. The demos name could just as well have been “Let’s twist it” or perhaps “Let’s twist again”, with a SID cover of the tune with the same name. Maybe with some B/W pictures of rock legends of the 50's? But the bizarre jungle/break beat (or whatever) – tune isn’t bad but bizarre and fits well with the rubber design. Perhaps the sexuality of the common scener is stretched and bent after all. And sex sells!

Once again the Larsson brothers from Horby, Sweden team up with some of the best to make a nice demo. In “The wild bunch” design seems to play a central part. Amongst other effects, it features a very nice twister, displayed in the SIDE BORDER. Linus has made a real good work with the music. I prefer the second tune, it has such a nice and deep bass. The graphics are very nice, and I can’t help thinking that the painting man in the plasma-tunnel really looks like Twoflower. Is it a self portrait perhaps? Watching this demo, I was totally stunned (not stoned, as some people were at X I assume). The end part looks exactly like an even cooler intro of “The last traktor 3” could have looked like. You said it yourselves; as hard as diamonds, as sophisticated as champagne and as cool as a pistol barrel.

(Macx)
Next in line are two releases by the ever so active pride of Sweden, Hollowman. This guy has accomplished for the c64 scene what Granddaddy has done with lo-fi music: spreading the word of robotic emotions. The most recent in line is Romeo from the rural Dutch event. If it presents a mirror of the fables and scenes of human minds or if it is something to be appearing any day in history with the improvement of artificial intelligence is quite uninteresting in perspective. Poetry is a way to express emotions intangible with the mundane language of every day, be it at work or at #c-64. Fab sid score by Randall and additional work by the fellow fairlighters Oxidy and Puterman.

The other release by Hollowman is a white single-pager done together with Zabutom named K-bit 2006. Nothing in comparison to his release at X, and neither was the intention of this executable file either. This is an invitro starring a six cornered star (as seen in Radio Napalm perhaps?) spinning in three dimensions. With a bit more relaxed music and perhaps the star spinning with the rhythm of the sounds it might had been something to be used in Jonatan's lounge.

Renovation from Triad is a continuation of the path of Iopop, although this time walked by Tao. I do not get anything understandable out of wiggling the joystick in the direction pointed, nor is the message of X O SCS+TRC (or is it left?) any clear to me. It is however such subtle attempts to bewilder me that make this demo somewhat interesting. It follows a strategy, but makes small sidetracks, giving some kind of mental journey available. And thanks to the musician Ne7 it is all enjoyable. The very organic eye blink by Poison is by itself flattering. It is flirting with you.

Autoinjector by Panda Design is RadiantX' winning single-pager from Kbit. It is fully party-coded and contains bouncing grey and white dots, a party scroller and a small logo. RadiantX also did the music for the NOFX release at the same get-together. It is entitled Eorgy and is another breath taken by the re-awakening Lund based crew. I request more scrollers to immediately start up with the meticulously described drinking stories of the c64 happenings. This could incorporate the presentation of the making of the demo and in that way also the credits. But hey, that may just be me.

(Jazzcat)
Romeo is an interesting demo from the mind of Hollowman who seems to have a signature-style when it comes to emotion charged C64 demos. I enjoyed this demo, however I do have some critics as well. The multi-colour picture at the start of the demo feels out of place compared to the black and white design of the production, maybe this was intentional and the picture has some meaning? The music fits well and the 3D parts really grow on me when I watch the demo a second and a third time (less still-pictures and more animation please!). Simple ideas that are well executed. It seems Oxidy fits in well with the guys in Fairlight.

Another Swedish contribution to the X party was Renovation by Triad. It felt like a trip into the past with familiar iconic attributes of previous Triad demos. I agree with Macx that the demo is interesting and the music was quite decent however I was left waiting for more (and yes, Poison did make a nice eye animation! blink).

Macx has touched on some of the releases from the K-bit, the small Swedish meeting with the winning C64 demonstration called Auto-Injector by Panda Design (RadiantX). This little production was put together in just a few hours and captures the party vibe. Making data, releasing stuff and becoming "involved". The main highlight of the demo is the scroller. Everything seems to center around it (the background creates a hypnotizing effect), I wanted more from the scroller, maybe it should have been a bit longer. The music was nice and overall I think this production was a nice real-time achievement.

(ZZAP69)
I agree on what’s been said about Hollowman having an own style. In Romeo, the concept is for sure consequent with the robot faces, the black and white and the somewhat tragic concept. The first picture of the demo, showing a sparkling landscape in green and blue stands in quite a large contrast to the rest. Just like Jazzcat, I don’t immediately see the point of this. Perhaps it’s meant to make us compare our impressions and make us feel even more depraved while watching the rest. There are two effects, which are kind of mind-blowing to me: the 3D-cubes falling together and the dancing man (?) in the end sequence. I hope the photo is not of poor old Wiggen again. :)

Sweden’s number one provokers, and perhaps also number one artists, Wrath Designs has been seen in different threads on the CSDB the recent months. Reactions of all from disgrace to admiration have emerged while they have struggled for their right to be different. Except from changing handles to their proper names, they recently surprised us with a collection of one-filed graphics. The graphics are the probably the best attempt of modern art I have seen since "Collector" from Floppy 2004 (also by Joe -> James). I especially like Isle 0 and Cut 1. The brothers have also released some older
demo previews that for sure make more faces happy than they would have done by collecting dust in the brother’s disk boxes. The best one, in my opinion, is "L'encyclopedie Geometrique – Last Dance". This little black/white beauty features an animation of a rotating woman in front of rotating texture cycles of two kinds. The soundtrack is probably one of Ed's best and the rest must be seen to be understood. Another preview is “Hypnotize”. This small presentation features only one screen, also in BW, and no music. The only, but nice, effect is colour cycles moving in both X and Y radius, forming an eye in the middle of the screen which makes it slightly
hypnotizing. Hence the name.

(Macx)
On January 1st Cosine released Paradigm which is a transparent scroll text on top of plasma. Above it stretches an artefact into oblivion and some Copyright-Cosine sprites bounce around the screen. We have seen this type before, but it is still nice if done with spirit. What we get here, which we do not get very often this side of the first decade, is a decent scroll text (most nowadays should be boycotted!). That makes two this time.

Also in January CRD of Samar said hello to the scene with a small production named Ambient Chips. Some text and a really mellow and moody tune that I fancy a lot. Just before that release this young lad had released Seeing is Believing. It is fantastic to see new talents emerge on the surface. c64 is alive!

L'Encyclopedie Geometrique - Last Dance and Hypnotize are two productions from the Svard brothers. They are, or at least were, both to be part of the Big release, but instead recently ended up at CSDb together with some stunning graphics from James. I would have loved to see the transition between these two parts. However, due to lack of motivation and due to lack of possibilities to steal time from elsewhere, in combination, perhaps, with lack of appraisal from an un-contemplating scene, I may not. I know there is much more creative depth to be found within Wrath Designs, and I regret the situation as it is now. My hope lies that the crew can up bring some of their vast force from their visit in the underground in order to achieve the execution of the one theory in modern spirit, before they get too busy with their postmodern agenda. It is a transient sculptured, romantic, beautiful female body that we walk around. The background, that becomes the main attraction as the lady vanishes, is a pillar within a round space. The interior could, with an almost perverse comparison, be described as one inside a doughnut. In L'Encyclopedie Geometrique it is the light that scrutinise every corner, whereas in Hypnotize we see the explosion of the same room. Discovered by the retina. Resemblance. Contact. Impossible to hide from.

(Jazzcat)
Like Macx and Zzap69, I was also mesmerized by the Last Dance and Hypnotize. These productions capture the feeling of recent discussions on CSDb, at least the result of them - the scene will now be left with unfinished productions, a feeling of emptiness, of loose ends. Despite these productions being in preview form they are certainly not wasted, it exposes the thoughts behind them and what could have been. Quoting Eddie: "This was never supposed to be released like this...". When watching these productions I get other feelings too, something that Macx noted, creative depth laying below the surface, just waiting for the opportunity to come out. Here we get a preview of this and a hint of what was, what is and what could be. I would go into CSDB debacle further but I fear it is slightly off topic, despite it being somewhat relevant to the unfinished release of Last Dance.

Cosine released a tidy little demo called Paradigm. This demo is what I expected from Cosine, oldschool and tight! TMR did a wonderful job (all in a day's work and organised on IRC!) and it gives me really good data-vibes from the early nineties, when demo making was more "C64'ish" and not so art-ified or PC-like (although everything is an imitation or inspiration from something before, it does make me feel good to watch some oldschool from time to time - to see where we have come from). The music by Odie gets me bouncing, thanks!

Another cool beat was discovered in Ambient Chips from CRD. He is a new scener in terms of productivity and as Macx stated, he says hello with this production. Like the Cosine demo, it also gives me the impression of oldstyle - hooray for new talent in our scene!

(ZZAP69)
Macx stressed that we also should discuss some of the recent games. I must admit I'm not much of a gamer, but after testing "Battle Throne" by Cache 64 on my PC, I quickly transferred it to my C64. Seductively easy in the beginning, but more and more difficult from one level to the next. I had to plan how to engage in battle from one opponent to another. This game really reminds of good old Barbarian, but here you have the ability to choose and improve your character, pretty much like in a role play game. The graphics are pretty poor though. The one player character seems to have a 1980's mullet-hair cut and reminds me more of Beavis, of Beavis and Butthead, than a medieval warrior. On the other hand - game play, music and not the least the effort to make a multi loading game as late as in 2007, is high above average.

Another surprise, like a bolt from the blue, is the "Oxyron 15 years party - invitation demo". This is the first pure Oxyron release I have seen in ages, if you don't count the unforgettable coop demos with Crest. And it is also a comeback demo from Axis of Oxyron. The intro is the feature effect I guess. We see vectors of the letters forming Oxyron filling in to a logo by Yazoo. After loading the second and last part we meet an info screen accompanied by a star scroll in the border. Nice, but not as nice as in "Unicorn" by Chorus. I hope this is just the beginning of Axis comeback.

(Macx)
Thanks to ALiH at the Game Over(view) disk magazine that arranged the Freestyle Jam, we have seen quite a few really good games recently. Somehow, due to the competition alone or due to the prize money to be won, the commodore people of the world started to become interested in programming games again. Making reality of that game idea they had pondered on for a while or finally deciding to dig that old bunch of coding out of the drawer and finish it off. Good for them, good for us and good for me. In a way a decent game lasts much longer than a great demo, at least in hours spent. A really nice demo can be viewed over and over, there are certain aspects one adores. Though, one does not spend hours on top of one another on the same demo at the same time, which is the case when caught up in game play. The past year I have only given New Confusions and Zoo Mania a real chance when it has come to c64 gaming, though the past weeks there has all of a sudden been a surge of brilliant games. If I have somehow been warped into spring 1991, please let me stay for a while!

Beam by Skate and Hydrogen is a game that forces you to do what in Swedish is called "keeping the tongue right in your mouth", meaning staying focused and keeping yourself from biting your tongue. The concept is easy, you keep a small green ball in the air through bouncing it on top of a thing similar to the one in Arkanoid. Whilst controlling that thing with your joystick/mouse you also control the angle of a platform on which a red ball rolls. The green ball must not be lost, though you can afford to loose three red ones. Despite its similarities with Arkanoid by the first looks of it, it is a game that is quite the opposite when it comes to the actual play. Beam is a really easy concept, though very playable and friggin' hard. At first it is almost impossible, but after a while you get slowly get the hang of it. It is about not making any rapid movements, but rather keeping things in balance, centered. Aiming towards Zen.

Greenrunner by Aleksi Eeben, with some additional graphics by Twoflower is also a game emanating from the Game Over(view) Freestyle Jam, in fact it is the winner of the compo. Just as Beam it is a one file .prg, making life a whole lot easier for us dorks with MMC64. Greenrunner is an oldskool arcade-type of game, and then I do not talk about Out Run or Street Fighter, I mean more something like Pac Man-oldskool, if you get the vibe. It has a really fitting audio score with some brilliant ladies voice saying "green runner" every now and then. One has to steer a round thingy through levels with clever names shooting off enemies in four directions, trying to escape falling blocks, distinguishing them from items you actually want. This is done in darkness, but more often lit up, through forests and labyrinths. Amazingly addictive at a high level, and at a speed that makes you have to change batteries in the pacemaker of yours.

Another game from the Freestyle Jam (thank God for giveth us ALiH!) is Battle Throne from the Swedish game developing group Cache64. They had a release last year named The Castle Of Madness, which I will have to check out before it gets comments from me. As Zzap69 writes, Battle Throne is a fighting game with similarities to Barbarian. You fight with slashing and striking different kinds of weapon against one another, and you do this to up-beat music to keep the fighting spirit going. Perhaps the graphics could be improved a bit, but I don't find it that disturbing. And in contrast to Zzap69 I believe mullet haircuts were quite popular in the dark ages. Battle Throne loads from disk and has an old-fashioned feeling, but at the same time makes it feel fresh. One drawback, apart from that there is an absence of a loading screen, is the fact that it does not autorun from LOAD"*",8,1 (how are all c64 gaming kiddies going to manage this?). Despite those small flaws, that without would have made this a full price title worth 40 Euros/30 quid, this is a game that rocks. I hope to battle you for the throne at the next meeting. I will be using something else than my Wico Command Control then though, as it is a bit hard to differentiate between the different moves using it (and where the f**k is my Tac-2?).

(Jazzcat)
I'm happy that ALiH gave us the Game Over(view) Freestyle Jam. I'm hoping this will become an annual event as it breathes new life into the gaming scene on C64, something that is desperately needed. As Macx rightly points out, a game can give you more pleasure than a demo, or at least equal entertainment and can be even more difficult to put together than a magazine, demo or anything else. This competition hit the right spot and had some good results. There were 6 entries, let's look at them all.

Entering into JAM-mode, with Tac-2 (metal shaft) in hand (well, actually Commodore Joystick) and I load up the winner of the compo, "Greenrunner" by AleksiE and Twoflower. The first thing that strikes me with this game is the sound and effects, the main track has an oldschool feel to it and the sound effects are really crisp and are amongst the best I've heard on the C64 in quite a while. The game reminded me of something from Jeff Minter, having an oldstyle-feel even in 2007 (time machine back into the past is possible!). The presentation achieves this old feeling yet I find the font a bit cluttered and confusing, the rest is quite fine. Playability is great, the
game moves fast and is rather addictive. Out of all the games entered into JAM I found this and Bomberman C64 to have the best playability, which is what really counts. In saying that this is worthy of winning the competition, I just hope it doesn't destroy too many pacemakers or gives Macx a fit. :)

Next up is "Bomberman C64" by Samar Productions. I loaded this one anxiously as I'm a Dynablaster/Bomberman fan from way back. The conversion is one of the best I've seen on C64 but lacks something that should have been easy to include, a 2-player option. The multiplayer option is one of the most important aspects of the game and makes the game even more fun together with some friends. Adding this and maybe a title picture would have improved the game greatly and I would suspect that this title would have won JAM. This aside, the graphics, playability and sound effects are all top notch and I really enjoyed this release. Thumbs up to the guys in Samar and thanks for bringing this to C64! (V2 with more levels, title-pic and multi-player mode, PLEASE!)

"Battle Throne" by Cache64 comes in at place number three. I'm loading this game and am immediately reminded of Blood'n'Guts or Barbarian. Unfortunately the game doesn't live up to the quality of those but still is quite nice, obviously much effort was put into it and I would've liked to see this concept expanded (graphics improved and more gore - decapitations and limb removal, disembowelment etc. Sound and FX option, FX could be some digitized grisly sounds of battle, existing music is quite fitting for this style of game!). A nice effort and cool to see this style of game again (also cool auto-save function)!

Sharing equal third place at the compo was "Beam" from the Turkish guys Skate and Hydrogen. This game was designed to play with the 1351 mouse but you can also play it with joystick. Damn, I wish I still had mine, but I gave it away to Insane/Onslaught so he could paint graphics (I think using Amica paint or something that supports it). Firstly, the game play is quite special, it reminds me of a balancing act, having to do several things at once whilst balancing something. Initially I found it difficult to get used to, so I loaded it into Vice and hit Alt+Q (mouse emulation) and found it
much easier. The game play is quite good but is also limited. The soundtrack is great and fits the interaction very well. 41 blocks in size and worth every bit, next time include hi-score saver please! (Zen indeed)

Fellow Aussie ChristopherJam brings us a game preview of his shoot'em up called "Teradyne Warrior". Being just a demo version I won't be too harsh and instead look at what it could become instead. I had fun with this one and found many positive things in this small preview. Firstly the background effect was nice and had room for expansion as the game moved on (different levels, different background) and secondly; enemy movement is awesome and difficulty level increases at a realistic level (achieve this is the most important thing for a shooter and you've done it!).

Expanding this game is quite simple and I think ChrisJam won't have problems with this. My only advice is to polish it, keep the existing positives (mentioned above) and try make some interesting guardians that have different strategies than the norm (firepower isn't everything but it sure feels good). Nice entry and please finish!

The last entry for JAM was "Deep Sea Salvage 2" done by Richard Bayliss (code, graphic and music). I was reminded by Frogger but was unimpressed as the game play as it became too linear. I wanted more random movements rather than preset sprites that are just sped up each level. Not much else to add here. I was hoping for much more but was disappointed, perhaps Richard will take these points into account if he does another sequel?

To summarise on the Freestyle Jam, there is much to learn from it, for example, can similar competitions be arranged for demos as well? (we already see music competitions quite frequently, but what about graphic? This event was an important part of recent happenings and has influenced this chapter (together with X'2006) greatly.

(ZZAP69)
As I was mentioning earlier, I'm actually not much of a gamer and haven't been so since the production of decent full-priced titles decreased in the early 90's. I do however find most of the games in ALiH's Freestyle compo quite amusing. An exception of my lacking game interest in the 90's was the game "Detonators" from 1993. Bomberman64 definitely reminds much of this game, and there is a little touch of Boulderdash as well. Bomberman64 does however look much nicer than Detonators, better graphics, better music, single-filed and can thus be, just as Macx stated, used by us dorks with MMC. I must admit that I haven't fully got the grip of Bomberman64 yet, but
I will definitely spend more time with it.

The winner of the compo - Green Runner seems to me like a Freeware game - de luxe. The SID-geek I am, I was pretty late with pressing the fire button and was listening to the nice, vibrating tune by Aleksi Eeben instead. The game play is however fantastic, and somehow I think this could have been something like a large game hit if it was released some 25-30 years ago, along with Pac Man, Space Invaders, Missile Command and Frogger. The music, the samples and the starting screen reminds me that I'm playing the game on a Commodore 64 and not on an arcade machine from 1980. Something I dislike with this game is that the screens changes too fast when I reach another level. When I played it, I often asked myself "Oh, how did I reach the next level?".

When I played Teradyne Warrior by Christopher Jam for the first time, I thought that I had played this game a hundred times. Actually, these kind of Space-shoot'em up are really common. I remember how much time I was spending on IO and Uridium2 when I was a kid. I actually spent more than half an hour on this game, then my left thumb started to hurt. The background effect, is just as Jazzcat stated, really nice. It gives the vibe of being in a shrunken space ship inside a large living organism, with cells splitting and bacteria invading. Just like the science fiction movie "Innerspace" from
1987. But I also think some more "intelligent" enemies would make the game cooler with making it slowly and increasingly more difficult.

When it comes to "Deep Sea Salvage II" I pretty much agree with Jazzcat. I even gave this game a second chance by transferring it to floppy-format and playing it until I ran out of lives. It is too easy and too linear. The movements of the fishes change a bit from level to level, but the change is not big and it doesn't get much harder. It just continues to get boring. Although I don't usually even give simple games a first chance; I've seen nicer titles of Richard than this one.

Beam was another cool game from the Freestyle JAM competition. I really liked the idea of making a simple and, at least in the beginning, freakin' hard game. But to me it feels like this game could have been so much more. Some more and nicer graphics would have helped a lot, and also some extra features with "bonus balls" or high score-saver for instance. The game is for sure really demanding when it comes to nerves. Perhaps Zen is the way to go. Scout wrote a comment on the CSDB that was something like - "I fucking hate this game - and "the problem is me".

Staying focused on Scout, but Moving away from the Freestyle JAM competition; Scout made the intro for the Nostalgia crack "Hollywood poker PRO". The Ignorance has polished this old game really well by making it room on one disk side and adding a lot of trainers, debugging and compatibility features that weren't there in 1989. Somehow I actually missed this game when it was released the first time. Or perhaps my mother just didn't let me buy it, I cant quite remember. ;) Anyway, it's a great game, and the graphics looks really nice for being from 1989. Poker is poker, there is not much more to say about the game play. But there seems to be some kind of AI implemented, since the girls quicker or slower learns your gambling/bluffing style depending on what opponent you meet.

(Macx)
St.Lars meeting III in Lund, Sweden, made the transition from March to April this year a very smooth affair. The (Stupid) Polka Demo is a celebration of the festivities presented through the toil of Panda Design. It did not have the affect on the partygoers as one would expect from the sid incorporated: quick steps of three and a hop. Perhaps more of the Bohemian sceners need to enlighten our spirits and show up on the Scanian parties, teaching us the drill. Polka comes from the Czech word pulka meaning half. Pulka in Swedish means sledge, whom is a member of Fairlight living in Stockholm. Perhaps it all became too confusing and bewildering for the drugged attendees of St.Lars, but it sure was worth a shot Radiantx!

For us epicures Memoires from Triad is an uncommon dish. It has something as rare as a scroll text by Jerry and then another one by Decompracid. They have one individual part each, and they bear no resemblance with one another. The scroll texts are not too long, and fit well with their page. c64 poetry I like. However, perhaps they could have been better off as two even smaller demos, in order to make it possible to appreciate their very different and original bouquets one at a time. But that could just be me, often picking the single malts in front of the blended choices available. What's more, pressing space is always an option one can ignore.

Also by Triad, also at St.Lars, Too Little Too Late, code by Killsquad which was dusted off by iopop. Music by Orcan and additional help from JFK. As many of you know, I am a fan of some of the ways that Orcan use the sid, and just as some of the best fast trackmos ever are using the contrast to slower, almost mellow music, this refinement is achieved in the latter part of this demo. At least for a while, and then again showing up together with the neatly glowing face above the Triad triangle just before the end. In those pauses I really like the demo, just as I tend to adore things Belle and Sebastian calls interminable three chord break elsewhere.

The best demo from St.Lars is something as odd as a demo inspired by a recent disappearance. Partly due to that and partly due to some really fab executed ideas by MagerValp this demo is breaking new boundaries. We are hit by information in a pace making most of it unfathomable. With strain few words here and there are identified, on the cost of moving focus away from the human behind. Where are you? Perfect length, especially as the Boards of Canada cover by Zabutom continues forever and ever. Disappear made me pause, collect thoughts and continue. This demo is a hit in my book.

(Jazzcat)
Before I touch on the Sankt Lars III meeting I would like to mention a bit about the Nostalgia cracks released this year. This work by the best oldie group in the business is very hard to go unnoticed, even if your not a fan of cracking groups or even games in general. I would especially like to mention Nostalgia because they are the only guys doing the really hardcore cracking these days. The Ignorance made his return to cracking on C64 (after a break of 9 years) with "Hollywood Poker Pro" (three trainers, bug-fixed, docs and optimized). After warming up he really turned up the action with his release of "Sword and the Rose". This game was released on tape as "Prince Clumsy" and on disk as "Sword and the Rose", this quality crack provides both rolled into one (allowing you to select either from within the one game AND one-filed!) along with 9 trainers and hi-score. I just look at stuff like this and wonder how fake groups like Crypt (introlinking freeze crackers) can even try to operate on the same stage (most people don't seem to realise this and continue to let them get away with it, a handful of us aren't asleep however). Anyway, Nostalgia's goodness didn't stop there - arriving shortly after was "Flash Gordon", repaired, 8 trainers added, "Captain ZZAP" mode included (yep, just like Sword and the Rose!!! this game had two versions, AGAIN Nostalgia do it!). The Ignorance wasn't the only one ruling, S!R and 6R6 got involved also with their versions of "Biggles" (9 trainers) and "Aigina's Prophecy" (5 trainers). A stirling effort that I really needed to mention as sometimes we get lost watching all these demos and forget how hard these 'oldie-crackers' really work. Hats off to you gentlemen!

Moving back into party-mode, I look around and see some events, being stranded on an island I can only see the after-effect - the releases. Not many leave a real impression upon me. We have DCMP's picture from the Oxyron 15 Year Party called "Skyclad" which sets the background for some peaceful evening, undisturbed natural forces at work. Then we have the more recent St.Lars III meeting in Lund, Sweden; already discussed by Macx (and participated by too, lucky bugger!).

Memoirs by Triad was nice, really enjoyed reading the scroll and listening to the boppy music. The other part featuring the picture by DCMP also gave me some cool vibes. Somehow I enjoyed this product more so than most of the others at St.Lars. Maybe it was the scroll text that won me over? Even more so I enjoyed Disappear by Magervalp. As Macx stated, it was the best demo released at the meeting and contained creepy ideas that were well executed, pushing the boundaries of thought and underpinning the fabric of design on C64. The music by Zabutom fits perfectly. Very well executed production. Imagine this idea being extended to a full disk side?

Swedish giants Triad impressed me a second time at the same event with a small piece of code that was created in 1995 but only unearthed in 2007 (original code by Killsquad and released publically by Iopop). This small demo packs a lot of cool effects backed up by a nice soundtrack. "Too Little Too Late" is another example of something small becoming something big. Nothing "fantastic" but certainly a tidy package which kept me watching until the end.

(ZZAP69)
Just like Macx I was one of the attendants at the S:T Lars party in Lund, Sweden. A really nice party and a slightly bohemian party-feeling, being not too well and not to poorly organized, but somewhere in the golden middle, lagom as we say here. My favourite contribution from the compo was also Disappear by Magervalp and Zabutom. The tune fits really good to the demo and as far as I know, it wasn´t even intended to be in the demo until the same night it was released. Magervalp was looking for a fitting tune and this one was put together with the rest some hours before the compo. Magervalp uses the old (and boring?) effect of many scrollers on the screen in a new and exciting way by changing the screen colour and forming the scrollers to the face of a missing person. I heard he was inspired by the vignette of the TV-show "musikbyraan". By relating this design to a recent disappearance of one of his friends gives the demo a very personal and emotional depth and makes me think of the Soul Asylum hit from 1993, runaway train (or was it from 1992?). Sadly I just got the information that Martin Rydstrom was found dead Friday the 13th of April in the cold water outside Klippan, Gothenburg. May your soul rest in peace!

Another release from S:T Lars was the demo S:T Lars from Puterman and Cadaver. S:T Lars is a rather silly little demo, but fun in many ways. The graphics, or "graphics" as Puterman wants to call it, is painted in a naive, minimalistic way with a black background accompanied by one of the best SID-metal tunes I have ever heard. There is a storyline Puterman confessed that he ripped from a 10 year old Hungarian demo. Unfortunately I haven´t found this demo on CSDB yet. However, we hope that Puterman soon will tell us the full story of his experiences from this party.

Memoirs by Triad is a rather typical Triad-release, with poetry in a scroller. It´s always interesting to read some of Jerry’s memoirs, and unlike Macx I would say that a scroller by Jerry IS pretty common after all. At least if you see it in relation to his latest activities on this machine. To bring a little criticism I feel obliged to say that I don’t like either the logo or the tune in the first part. A long scroll text needs some more suggestive and mellow tune. This one simply makes me want to press space, in spite of the memoirs by scene grandpa Jerry. The sounds of part 2 are much more interesting, and fits very well in to the design. The picture looks exactly like the backside of the cathedral of Lund. Or is it inspired from somewhere else?

Moving away from the S:T Lars meeting and soon reaching the conclusion part of this chapter, I want to give some attention to a very small but nice little demo called "Type Mismatch" by Ate Bit. Nice sound (samples?) and visuals by 4-mat, cool design with a proper dATA-vibe and all put together in just ONE KILOBYTE. Type Mismatch won the C64 1kb competition at Forever 8 in march.

CONCLUSION

(Macx)
Despite how much I really enjoyed a few of the releases from the X event, the two things that I spontaneously come to think of to be receiving the Awards in Vandalism News issue 49 are either ALiH for giving us Freestyle Jam or the Svard brothers for their previews of L'Encyclopedie Geometrique. The reason is that I see both that online event and Last Dance, Hypnotize and Pattern Clone as matters that took the c64 scene for a walk and made some major evolutionary leaps.

If I begin with the three L'Encyclopedie Geometrique files mentioned I cannot underline how terrible it feels the circumstances they were released under. This has lead to neglect and lack of attention towards the releases, making the audience unaware of the explosive stuff in it. A big reason for this, of course, is that they are unfinished and not linked together. Another reason is that it was released together with a whole lot of other things in a gesture of good bye from James, perhaps making it difficult for the unacquainted to sort out the major pieces of gold. A shame. This said, the files making L'Encyclopedie Geometrique could be receiving the award, if however more had been put into finishing it first. I say this because I know we have argued against handing awards out to previews before, and I assume this would be following the same path. But maybe this is not to be seen as a preview, as it may never see daylight as a full production? In such a situation, it would have been the Svard brothers that was to be given the credit. If, on the other hand, these files and all the other graphical scores was a good bye from James, perhaps the legacy from him should be regarded as something worthy the awards and thus handed out to James Svard?

The online standalone compo of Game Over(view) Freestyle Jam that took place late 2006 and January this year has made us see the produce of quite a few fantastic game titles. In Burglar's words: "quite a lot of these games are worthy of a prize", and I would have to fill in that myself would actually have paid to get them. The idea and execution of the jam by ALiH and The Dark Prince (?) is worth an award in itself, but it would of course not had been done without the producers of the titles: Aleksi Eeben, Twoflower, Skull, CRD, Sidder, Bitmaster, Bytermaster, Hydrogen, Skate, ChristopherJam and Richard. However, as the event in itself has rendered possible a real life time machine to 1992, c64 gamewise, it is the one that should get the award. As I have said before, the sum of the individual pieces can sometimes become more when put together. Perhaps with this background we should opt for The Freestyle Jam to be receiving the award?

(ZZAP69)
I think Macx points out two important threads of this discussion here. Wrath Designs "unfinished" little releases are like small and tasty cookies to me. They recently released some new one filers on April the 7th, perhaps as a second goodbye, but we will leave these productions out of the discussion of this issue of Vandalism. Now it´s time for some semantics! Who can define wether a production is "finished" or "unfinished"? Perhaps this is another attempt from Wrath to provoke and question the norms of the demoscene. A full length demo with all these parts would probably have been nice. But still, a looping demo(part) with no end or "space-skip-feature" has a larger impact on the viewer than if the same part would have been baked in a demo with ten other similar parts. It might even have been boring. The music by ED in L'Encyclopedie Geometrique is in my opinion, as I said before, one of his best ever. Perhaps I wouldn´t have listened to it if I had the opportunity to escape by pressing space. As I see it, the parts are brute, unpolished but still finished no less. Perhaps if we give Wrath (Or James) the award, more attention will be pointed to the releases?

The Game scene - what would we have been without it? I think we tend to forget that the demo scene is more or less based on the Game scene, not just via the cracking scene. If there weren´t a commercial interest with the C64 from the beginning, I don´t think many would have learned to code, make graphics or music. Remember that in many demos from before 1988, screens and tunes of games were used to enrich the code. Now, when the commercial part of the game scene is dead, people just don´t make an effort to execute a good game idea. This is really sad, for I think that making a game can be very educating when it comes to design and technical features of this machine. Thus, I think that The Game Over(view) Freestyle Jam, for sure was a fantastic initiative by ALiH. We don´t know if these nice game titles would have seen the daylight without him and I totally respect him for donating his own money to the prize sum. Still, it´s not ALiH who made the games, but those who participated in his competition. We could of course give the award to ALiH AND those who participated, but on the other hand, I don´t think ALL of the games deserves a reward in form an award.

To mention another candidate, I would like to thank the makers of "The Wild Bunch" for a really nice demo a day I first thought that the scene was on its way down forever. But do we think that "super groups" are worthy an award? Isn´t the point with supergroups to be a safe card and not to fail?

(Jazzcat)
I agree with ZZAP69 with regard to his notion on the Game Over(view) Freestyle Jam. A really good idea, one that had been needed for a long time and one that was executed in the best way possible. I would like to see similar events for other aspects of the scene also, obviously games and cracking come first (as they are more neglected these days) and then of course a demo competition would rock (cash is a nice incentive, amongst others). I think the idea alone isn't enough to receive the award (although because the result is then it is certainly a worthy candidate!). ALiH certainly showed his devotion here (respect). I mean, how many people would donate $1000 to a C64 demo competition? or even better: to anything?

"The Wild Bunch" is indeed a great show. The cream from one of the best parties to ever occur on C64! Interestingly, so many people are involved in one project (which from my experience can cause problems) and it still flows along nicely, no clashes; a common goal achieved! Should this receive the award and why should it sit on the throne compared to other candidates? "Let's Scroll It" comes to mind as another candidate. Idea and execution were superb and just like the Wrath Designs' parts released in April it is a reminder that you can break away from the norm and still stir a good reaction. Should this win?

L'Encyclopedie Geometrique from Wrath Designs' was great but it felt unfinished and I think it was released to make another point to the scene, or to send a message. Maybe the unfinished business in it will someday be picked up again by Eddie and James, at that point, if continued in the same vein, would be a serious contender for this award. As it stands now I think it is a preview only and I can't award any preview (Angel on right shoulder: don't be so damn harsh David! Demon on left shoulder: you sugar tongue wiggler! Say it how it is!).

(Macx)
It seems like if we have to be honest to ourselves and the way we have earlier argued, the award cannot be handed out to either the Wrath posse or James. If the releases were put together, the situation would perhaps have been different, though on the cost of losing other qualities, as Zzap69 legibly points out.

Other releases has been suggested to get the Award in Vandalism News issue 49, several good demos. The Wild Bunch which is an execution I totally dig (and it still makes me keep my fingers crossed), and needless to repeat: Let's Scroll It! Though, Disappear had a big impact on me, demowise, and in contrast to Jazzcat I believe its length was perfect. It also showed some clever new ways of exploring democode as far as my humble knowledge goes, and would in my book be in the same upper category for receiving an award as the other ones mentioned.

Everything taken into consideration I have to stick to my other candidate, namely the Freestyle Jam. I don't think Zzap69 presents a strong case against it either, as I am not arguing that ALiH or the attendees were to be given the award, but rather the Freestyle Jam in itself. I believe it is an important feature for an award being handed out amongst a creative c64 scene not to include persons only as possible receivers. In fact, quite a few things are made reality through efforts that can be hard to deduce from one single person. A really good event, also if taking place in cyberspace, can in my opinion be the boost that should get credited. By this I do not mean that the individual efforts are to be neglected, quite the contrary, but that it can be hard to say whom exactly should be getting the full credit. In this case a few are quite obvious, but we will have a number of people on a too vague border, making the business of excluding and including too arbitrary also for a crew that freely can argue. At least as far as I can see and feel now. It could however be that me arguing this way is a way I am trying to escape a true decision-making. If that is the case however, that is what you have to argue my fellow hosts! My vote for the Award in this issue lies on Freestyle Jam.

(ZZAP69)
I stick to what I said before, the Wrath releases are not "unfinished". And frankly I don't believe that Eddie and James will improve them, but rather quit the scene or start with some new projects, perhaps inspired/improved from those releases we've seen during the winter. I think we should give the award to Wrath Designs for their interesting and ordinary little treats.

My second choice is Macx first choice. I really like the execution of the Freestyle Jam compo, and the contributions for it made me, just like Macx said, warp back to a time when games were entertaining and for sale. It makes me feel nostalgic in a very comfortable way! The only game I'm not found of is the "Deep sea salvage 2" by Richard. I don't want to give this game an indirect award by giving the whole Freestyle Jam an award. On the other hand, how often do you really think a demo, or a game for that matter, is totally stainless? Why should an event? If this event is just the beginning of a new game era, I would be proud to give it an award.

My third choice is The wild bunch by Supergroup (Instinct, Horizon, Triad and Focus). It's really a nice demo, but more effects would have been nicer. And it doesn't live up to the same nostalgia factor as The Freestyle Jam does. Nostalgia is not necessary, but valuable to me.

Let's see what Jazzcat says, it seems like he decides who will get the award. So what do you think Dave, should we give the awards to Wrath for their small releases during the winter or to The Freestyle Jam compo?

(Jazzcat)
The whole point of the Award is exactly this kind of debate; to express our views and formulate a result. The decision is almost there, things have been narrowed down - what impressed us most?

Choosing between L'Encyclopedie Geometrique, The Wild Bunch and Freestyle Jam is a tough one indeed, especially because each entrant has it's own unique qualities. I congratulate both the guys in Wrath Designs, Instinct, Horizon, Triad and Focus and ALiH for their efforts - you guys have made the biggest impression on us! :)

Getting down to business - out of these three I vote FREESTYLE JAM from ALiH and TDP! A competition with prize money outside of the usual "party" format is something that is quite rare these days, it takes courage to launch (in particular using games as the theme as most people are into demos, sid or graphics). The result of the Freestyle Jam was fantastic and I'm happy that Vandalism News #49 gives it's honourable Award to:

Game Over(view) Freestyle Jam
organised by ALiH and The Dark Prince

This is where we conclude the third C64 scene Award, published to date in this magazine. The next issue will take off from the releases from Breakpoint 2007.

Should someone different get the award? Are we interpreting things wrongly? We expect criticism and hope it will be submitted!