                         Sillyventure 2013 - reviews round-up

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     \ \\    \\                  ATARI 2600 DEMO COMPO                 \\    \\ \
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Ataventure - DMA Someone said this is 'back to the roots of the roots' and they could be right. The one luxury allowed to make this demo possible was a cavernous 32 kilobytes of ROM. Apart from that, nothing else apart from original Atari VCS hardware. The result is the best part of five minutes of non-stop action. The style has a nice oldschool feel (the reflective water logo at the top of the screen) with several of the effects looking comfortably off in a later generation of hardware. Of course there is plenty of low-res fun as well, and the familiar harsh VCS soundchip pushed hard. A deserved winner of this compo then. Rating:- 82% - 32K on a VCS means you can run and run! Nothing - JAC! With this 4k intro, JAC! has taken a pre-emptive policy of self-derogatory downplaying. Described as a mere compo-filler by the author, nevertheless, we have an entry worthy of further consideration. This one relies on some good old Atari VCS standbys, namely the decent sized colour palette, and the ability to put lots of raster bars onscreen. JAC! shows some cunning control of his colours as he selectively turns parts of his screen greyscale and full colour in stages. The intro culminates with everthing onscreen every colour of the rainbow. Rating:- 72% - For a compo filler, a respectable effort. RasterSplits - Coine Described as a first production, video footage of this one is hard to come by. It has been described as having similarities to the previous JAC! production, but with more soothing colours. The single screen grab shows this admirably, so I'd say a worthy entry. Rating:- 70% - Squeaks in just behind JAC!
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     \ \\    \\              ATARI XL/XE 16KB INTRO COMPO              \\    \\ \
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WAR - Agenda I'm not sure whether 16KB on an Atari XL is a generous amount of space for a 4Ktro, or a very tough limit for a 64Kbyte prod? It seems that Agenda are making the best of both worlds with this handy intro. A sparse but stylish theme is your reward, with hi-resolution effects at the start and some neat vectors to finish. Effects and transformations are up to French ST demo standard and this was a deserved winner of its category. Rating:- 77% - Nothing really new but very competently put together. MetaBalls (1kb) .......... SSG Where did this get to? Apart from the results textfile, there is no other mention of this production anywhere else? Does it exist?
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     \ \\    \\                 ATARI XL/XE DEMO COMPO                 \\    \\ \
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Gene - Lamers We don't get many medically themed demos on the Atari, and as far as I'm aware, this is the first on the XL. What we have got is an instant classic, with the dreaded critics cliche 'strong thematic elements' sneaking into a sentence. There are some nice and unusual variations on common effects and a strong and healthy input from the graphician. The tune also gives the POKEY a face lift, or possibly a skin graft too, with a tune that you want to wrap up and take home. Then there's also the fact that it is original and fresh content too. Rating:- 88% - Did not flatline at all! Triple Threat - Noice^Agenda^MSB This demo could have been a strong contender for first place, but ran out of demo as it was just really getting going. With the 'triple threat' from the group names above, you would expect something special. And in this case, you got it! The overall feel is that of a good ST demo, with the effects proving to be above and beyond what you would normally see. The tune is not really POKEY at all, but is much more like something that Scavenger or Jess would have composed for the ST in the mid nineties, 'ST-SID' sound and all. The only time you are rooted back to the Atari 8-bit is with some of the still graphics. But these fit in nicely with the rest of the demo. Another minute or so of comparable quality could have seen this to a first place. Rating:- 87% - Pretty much indistinguishable from a good Atari ST production. Fresh Meat - Agenda Here we have the Atari XL answer to 'MonogAtari' with a series of smart screens in hi-res (mostly) black and white. Like its ST brother, there is a refreshing crispness and clarity to the effects here. It also picks up bonus points for not needing anything more than a standard 64KB Atari XL to run, so no special RAM extensions needed. The graphics and music are to a high standard again. Rating:- 80% - Using a rarely used screen mode on Atari XL. So Serious Demo - AL^Suspend There are a lot of effects in this one, good solid procedural things, with tunnels and bump-mapping. It loses out in the design stakes, featuring almost none, and little in the way of fancy graphics either. The music is another POKEY-defying sublime ear-massage though. Rating:- 73% - Two of three parts spot on, other part missing somewhat. Beep'em All IV - XXL This is a music demo, but being perverse and different to use the GTIA graphics chip and avoid POKEY. There is the best part of 50 minutes of various tunes, a menu selection screen, and that's it. The music is 1-bit replay, soundchip, but does offer some different noises from the POKEY. Rating:- Not really applicable as so outside of scope compared with the other entries. Addicted - Desire This entry suffered from not working very well at the party, and from not going into the 16KB competition, which the post party optimised version could have done. There isn't too much, but what there is can be considered as fantastic, with some lovely blurry distorting coloured raster bars, in a full screen, and variations on this theme. There is a great tune too. I hope this quality makes it into a full sized production. Rating:- 80% - Short, but a lot of potential. CiH - 2014 Back to the Index.