Faces ----- HUN> Cop (Akos Varga, swap, 09/93), Greg (swap, 12/91). ???> Cellux (Ruzsa Balazs, code), Clairvoyant (swap, early 93), Dr.Hector (swap, early 93), Henry (swap, early 93), Jamie (swap, early 93), Syllinor (code swap, early 93). Syllinor is the only active coder left (early 93). He coded a.o. the tools "Facepainter V1.0" and "Faces NoteMaker V2.0". Another active coder in the tools department was Cellux, responsible for a.o. "X-FLI Converter", "Logoconverter", "Font Editor V1.2" and "Dir-Editor". FairLight (FLT, 1987-) ---------------------- SWE> Bacchus (Pontus Berg, code crack, 03/89-12/97), Harlekin (code crack gfx, new 09/90-12/97), Red Devil (Emil Helldin, music, 05/93-12/97), Rowdy (Ubbe Larsson, code crack, ex Altobrows, 01/90-12/97), Vodka (gfx, also in Onslaught, aka VDK, 12/97-07/00), Watchman (Joachim Strömbergsson, aka WTM, crack, ex Triad, new 11/90-12/97). DEN> Crossfire (code crack, ex Motiv8, new 12/97-03/98). AUS> Highlander (Paul Gardner-Stephen, 12/97). ???> Goat (ex Motiv8, new 12/97), Gum (ex Alter, new 11-12/97), Hollowman (ex Alter, new 11-12/97), L.A. Style (ex Motiv8, new 12/97), Lightside (12/97), Logger (ex Alter, new 11-12/97), Mendrake (ex Motiv8, new 12/97), Rooster (ex Alter, new 11-12/97), Spinou (12/97), Tabasco (12/97), Wiggen (ex Alter, new 11-12/97). Boards; DRAGON TOWER (ger), THE HIDDEN (ger). PREVIOUS MEMBERS - SWE> Aaron (Silvio Krvaric, mainorg swap trade, 01/90-09/93), Dino (David, code, ex Altobrows, 01/90-09/93), Enduro (Martin Cedergren, write swap, 04-09/93), Flood (sysop 'WONDERLAND', 03/91), Gerwin (Per Ekelund, crack swap, old handle RT, 05/89-09/93), Gollum (Fredrik Kahl, code crack, 07/87-07/90), Grayhawk (Adde, swap, 06/89-09/93), Greco (?, 01/90), Ogami (gfx, 08/91-03/94), Oxidy (code gfx, later Wrath Designs, early93-03/94), Seagull (code crack sysop, new 05/89-06/91), Sledge (Thomas Karlsen, sysop 'WAREZ AQUARIUM', 03/91-03/98), Sodapop (sysop 'PARADIZE', 06/92), Spirou (Joel Brynielsson, crack, ex Antic, new 92), Terrax (Urban, code swap, 12/90-03/91), The Alchemist (Adrian, crack, 12/89-01/90), The Sarge (Joachim Ljunggren, gfx, ex Triad, 06/89- 07/90), Tron (Mikael Olsson, code, 12/90-09/93), Wedge (hardware code music, 06/89-01/90), Wild 1 (crack, 09/90). ENG> Suckpipe (supply, 03/91). AUT> Ayatollah (Roland Fauster, writer, early-09/93), Black Priest (Gerald Weissensteiner, editor, early-09/93). ???> Conix (gfx crack, 01/90), Dishy (supply swap, ex Dominators, new 08/93), Duncan & Turner (crack, early91), Ghost (crack, ex Ruthless, new ca 07/90), Incubus (swap, early93), Maduplec (code, 01/90), Phred (swe? gfx, 08/89-01/90), Ranger (early 93), Richard (swe? swap, 01-12/90), Tiger (swap, 01/90), Vectrocon (code, 11/96). Members below this line are no longer members either, the line drawn at a memberlist from 01/90. SWE> Audrey (gfx, ex Front, new 07/88), Black Shadow (founder code, ex Galahad/WCC, 04/87-12/87), Getafix (ex Front, new 07/88), King Arthur (founder, 04/87), Night Hawk (04/87), Olo (code crack, ex Front, new 07-08/88), Saruman (code crack, ex Front, new 07-08/88), Strider (Tony Krvaric, founder mainorg code crack, ex No.1/WCC, 04/87-02/88). BEL> Gandalf (code, 11-12/87). ???> Nemo (89). Subgroup; Brain Using Demo Section (BUDS, ex Nato, new 01/90). FairLight are a legendary Swedish demo and cracking group, born in april 1987 by two members of the West Coast Crackers (WCC), No.1 and Galahad. They decided they wanted new names, and thus became known as Strider and Black Shadow, respectively. They almost immediately recruited another Swedish cracker, Gollum. The next two members recruited were coder and cracker Woodo (ex Razor Express) from Denmark and Belgian graphician The Hobbit. The first months of FLT were spent cracking LOTS of games. Towards the third quarter of 87, they opened their first BBS, 'THE PLEASURE DOME' in Sweden. Black Shadow got more and more active on the amiga, but still found time for a few cracks on the c64 now and then - but his last known work on the c64 was in december of this year. On the 18th to the 21st of december they coarranged a copyparty with Triad in Stockholm, Sweden. 1988 begun with the departure of Woodo in january or february, who left the scene to work on games. He released a small note (written using his own tool Woowriter) with the dramatic name "Woodo is dead!!!" to announce it. His place was temporarily filled by subgroup The Platoon (TPL, consisting of HAM, Brain and Orco) and their cracker HAM, who joined in february, but left pretty quickly. Dragonlance (11/87-) also ceased to be a member sometime around january or february of 1988. This meant that, in the beginning of march, only Gollum and Strider were left as active C64 members! Then, on the 14th of March founder Strider released his final C64 crack, and left to work exclusively on the Amiga. He returned for a couple of cracks in april and may, but was eventually gone for good. Gollum was now the sole active C64 member! Happily he managed to recruit the Swedish members of Front in july, gaining two new crackers in Sauroman and Olo. 1989 looked a lot better. In march they had FOUR crackers, The Alchemist, Bacchus, Gollum and Viper! May saw the group travelling to the Horizon and Equinox party in Eskilstuna, where they recruited Seagull and Smirnoff from AVT, and came 3rd in the demo competition with Pernod and Judge's "Algot's Revenge" [05/89]. They were also at the Defiers Party in may, where they came 2nd with Pernod and Judge's "Megabmxninja" [05/93]. Probably late may Viper was visited by the police, who confiscated some addresses and stuff, but he didn't leave the scene. The news was publicly announced in a note spread with some cracks done around the 1st of june. Originals were a problem during this time too (early summer), and all their cracks were spread with notes requesting new suppliers. Following Karl XII/GB's appearance on swedish national tv in late may, selling out the entire phreaking scene, important members The Alchemist (crack, 01/89-) and Zaphod (Tony) decided to leave the scene around june or july. This was followed by more bad news when longtime belgian member Hobbit (Alain, gfx, ex Anubis/Commando Frontier, 11/87-) also left the scene soon after. December came with more bad news, as their swedish musician Danko (Thomas Danko Jr., 08/89) decided to leave the group, and at the same time swedes Pernod (code gfx, 05/89) and Judge (code, 05/89) left for Horizon. This left Fairlight without much of its former demopower, and the search began for replacements. The Alchemist had been back for some time, though under an 'anonymous' handle, but began signing his own cracks again in december. Gollum and The Sarge were busy making the game "No Mercy" in 1989, under the label Twisted Minds, which got released probably around early 1990 through Double Density and Digital Marketing. 1990 - January began with more problems, as Bacchus was fired from his job in a computer shop when the managers found out he was taking home originals to crack for Fairlight. The already desperate original shortage just got worse. The search for new demomaking members eventually turned them to the danish demo subgroup Brain Using Demo Section (BUDS) from Nato, who first collaborated with FLT before becoming full members soon after. The Nato connection continued further, when Fairlight and Nato went into a very shortlived cracking cooperation around march. Swedish coders Dino and Rowdy joined from Altobrows in january, and the fact was announced in Rowdy's "Official Version" [03/90] demo released in march. It was also around this time we first saw ads for a Fairlight board, 'THE BOARDGASM'. Swedish cracker Viper (03/89-) was kicked from the group in march or apil, due to extensive lying. Aaron (Strider's little brother) became a troublesome member, letting his big mouth get him into all sorts of trouble with other groups, and getting himself generally unpopular throughout the scene. Finns Servant (supply) and Rockstar (crack) joined from Contex at the Swedish Elite Easter Conference in april, hopefully stopping the desperate search for originals. Unfortunately their member-ship was shortlived, and late may the two departed for Extasy. May or june saw swedish graphician Visual leaving the group for Dynamix. RT changed his handle to Gerwin late may. Then in early june, something dramatic happened: Bacchus claimed he was going to quit. He'd found the girl of his dreams, and was leaving the scene. BUT not until the girl returned from interrail that summer, on the 10th of july - so for one full month Bacchus would devote his entire life to cracking new games, and then leave. The news of Bacchus' leaving meant two other members also found no more reason to continue as part of the scene, and so Rowdy and The Alchemist also left. Dino and Seagull remained as crackers, and still with no regular supplier. Around july Ghost (crack) joined from Ruthless, and another cracker showed up, signing his cracks with 'Wild One'. Their longtime war with fellow swedes Censor finally ended in october, after conference calls and negotiations the two groups decided to collaborate on a small peace demo called "Eye Damage", made by Censor members. Also in october, new swedish coder Harlekin joined from a small, unknown local group. Most of the group visited Censor's party in Gothenburg in november, and Harlekin and the others planned a small demo release, but nothing came of it. The demo, "Algot", was released independently in the early days of december, and was the group's first demo since Rowdy's "Official Version" in march. Another Swedish cracker, Watchman, joined from Triad around november. Bacchus still couldn't keep his hands off cracking, despite having officially left the scene, and several cracks from his hand appeared in october, november and december. At the conclusion of the year, nearly the entire group travelled to Odense to attend Dexion's X-Mas Conference party, and the group released their best demo this year, "Vir Optimus", for the competition there - which was unfortunately unplaced. 1991 - Bacchus decided to face the fact that he couldn't stay away, and became relatively active again from january. "I'm not 100% back, but I'm not 100% gone either" he wrote in a scroller - as if he ever was =] Triad's "Gamer's Guide" (who had released its first issue late last year) quickly became an important thing, and this was probably the reason for him abandoning the new intro he'd been using in the last months of 1990 for his old, shorter one... The slideshow "The Sargeshow" was released in the first months, and its scrollers also told about Gollum and The Sarge's new game, "Rubicon" (released through english software house Hewson). The cracker team Duncan & Turner started releasing for Fairlight, probably around february or march. A new supplier, Englishman Suckpipe, also helped the situation, by bringing in a lot of new originals. Their board 'WONDERLAND' was advertised in their intros, starting around march. A private meeting was held at easter time, at the end of march, at Bacchus' place in Lund, where Gollum's return to cracking was announced. He would only work on big projects, but anyway... The group visited the big swedish easter party held by Horizon, but no releases were made there. Cracks continued to appear in june, now with Harlekin doing a few too. On the 16th of July, Aaron's packages at the post office did not get sent on, but were confiscated due to faked stamps. He was called to the police for questioning on the 20th of july, but probably won't face any charges. Ogami released some pictures in july, and released the "Stan Kajman Pictureshow" in july or august. All were coded by Harlekin. 1993 - Musician Avalon (swe?) was kicked due to lazyness early 93, it was reported, but he did contribute to the "Skaaneland" [03/94] demo... Mendrake joined in may because of the promise of some first releases, but was immediately kicked the same month, after he joined a second group. He will therefore stay in Bodycount only. He later rejoined again in 1997. The third issue of Reformation was released early june. Enduro then went to the army on june 14th, meaning he would have to cut back on his swapping duties. Bacchus moved to Stockholm this month. Dishy joined from Dominators in august as a swapper and supplier. 1996 - November saw the release of UltraFlash Noter V2.0 by Vectrocon. 1997 - Towards the end of the year, Bacchus took a big step towards a real comeback for Fairlight. Seeing no real future in a cracking section, he focused instead on forming a powerful demoscene group, and recruited several members towards this end. Around november Gum, Logger, Wiggen, Hollowman and Rooster from Alter were allowed in on trial, provided they deliver a demo for The Party 97 to prove themselves worthy of membership. Then two weeks before The Party established editors Duke and Sun Dancer joined, bringing with them a new diskmag project, "Scene+". Bacchus made Duke the new main organizer of the c64 section, and he quickly recruited Crossfire, Goat, Mendrake and L.A. Style from Motiv8. The entire diskmag (using existing code, mind you) was then put together in just 10 days, and "Scene+ #1" was released at The Party, rounding off what was perhaps the most important month in Fairlight history for quite some time. Graphician The Sarge got his 486 SX PC (early 93). Does this mean he left for the PC scene? City Lady (1987, .09, File). code: Gollum, gfx: Def Al/???, music: n/a. review: Included here only as what is possibly the first ever FLT 'demo', this 35 block thing is a slightly animated picture of a smoking woman and a scrolltext. The animation is the smoke trailing of her cigarette - a whopping 2 frames worth! Anyway. [glenn] Cat'ch It (1987, 22.11, File). code: Woodo, gfx: Woodo, ripped, music: ripped. review: Typical of its time, with graphics and music ripped from games, this is still far from the worst example of its kind. Somehow Woodo manages to use the graphics and music to good effect, giving this some genuine entertainment value. There's no fancy programming tricks here, just the ordinary moving rasterbars and scrollers. Nice design. [glenn] Ripped Dream (1988, 25.07, File, 1 part). code: Saruman, Olo, gfx: ripped, music: ripped. review: Normally I would not include a simple music and graphics rip here, but this one bears some significance since it announces the joining of former FRONT members Saurman, Olo, Audrey and Getafix. Having said that, the design is butt ugly and the music (from the game Dream Warrior) sucks. [glenn] Snapshot a la Rabbit (1988, .07, File, 1 part). code: Saruman, Olo, gfx: Audrey, music: ripped. review: Made just to show off a B&W picture by Audrey, this is anything but a show off affair. There's a logo at the top, and it waves a little, the pic's in the middle, and there's a very ordinary scroller at the bottom. Lifeless is a word I'd use to describe this. The music is from the game "Stuntbike". [glenn] Eddie! (1988 late or 1989 early, picture). code: n/a, gfx: The Sarge, music: "Typhoon" by Johnathan Dunn. review: A simple affair really, just the standard FLT intro and a very good picture by The Sarge, portraying the Iron Maiden maxi single cover for "Aces High". This was not mentioned in the intro, but your editor being an old heavy metal fan, it was easy. The creator of the music from the game Typhoon was not credited in the intro either. [glenn] Mindblast - The Movie (1989, File demo). production: Phred, Nemo. review: Probably more a joke than a demo, this is actually two intro screens and an animation. Nothing groundbreaking, but the anim is fun provided you sit a little away from the screen. [glenn] Algot's Revenge (1989, 14.05, Multifile Demo). code: Pernod, Judge, gfx: Pernod, Judge, Hobbit (logo), music: L.O.S. (part1), Maniacs of Noise (part2), FAME (part3) and Laxity/Starion (part4). 3rd in the Equinox and Horizon Party demo competition. review: A pretty nice little 4-part demo, with above all some pretty good design on the parts. No really outstanding routines or graphics or anything, just a nice little demo, and a good example of oldskool demo design. The music is all from external sources, probably ripped, but each tune does suit the individual parts pretty good. I like this =) The demo announces Smirnoff and Seagull joining from AVT. [glenn] Megabmxninja (1989, 27.05, File Demo). code: Pernod, Judge, gfx: Seagull, Pernod, music: Yankee/???. 2nd in the Defiers Party demo competition. review: Surely made as a joke, this 'demo' features just two 'birds' (we suppose) flopping around and a bouncing scroller and that's it =) Quite charming. [glenn] Manchild V1.0 (1989, 10.06, Picture). & Manchild V1.1 (1989, 10.06, Picture). code: n/a, gfx: The Sarge, music: n/a. review: These are two versions of the same B&W picture of a girl, in version 1.0 clothed and in 1.1...not. The clothed one is best from an artistic point of view, IMHO. [glenn] Rutig Banan (1989, 26.08, Multifile Demo). code: Judge, Wedge, Pernod, gfx: Pernod, The Sarge (picture), music: Link/Cheyens, Wedge, Falco Paul/20cc (uncredited), ??/20cc, Danko, "Phalanx" by 20cc, ??/20cc. Released at the Pepsi Hacker Conference. review: Certainly one of the better demos of 1989, this multi-load, multi- part affair has a certain atmosphere that is hard to ignore. Nothing is truly outstanding, but most of the parts have at least some nice qualities. Pernod does almost all the graphics here (save for a few ripped fonts and a picture by The Sarge), and we deem his work to be of average quality. Not bad, not great. Music is not bad either, with (we suspect) a mixture of exclusive and ripped material. There is some OK code, I liked the stretcher, but nothing of outstanding, 'WOW', caliber. Overall this is a nice demo, though perhaps not one for the history books. [glenn] Broken Ideals (1989, late, File Demo). code/gfx: Rowdy, music: n/a. review: This is essentially a two-part demo, which Rowdy says is 'probably the last thing he'll ever release on this machine'. Anyhow, the first screen has a grey tech-tech Fairlight logo at the top, and a similarly styled scroller at the bottom, which changes color shading all the time. Not very inspiring, but it works =) The next screen has two animated rastersplits over which is a giant horizontal scroller with some clipart added on for good measure. The text is a fictional interview with Rowdy. Not a groundbreaking demo then, but I like it anyhow, it's got a nice little sense of style to it somehow... It's almost 'Andromeda-clean' - Amiga sceners will understand ;) [glenn] Official Version (1990, .03, File Slideshow). code: Rowdy, gfx: Rowdy (intro), Visual, music: n/a. review: This is not a demo, and more than a pictureshow, as they say. It's a showcase for the graphical talents of Visual, more than anything. It feature several of his fullscreen pictures, as well as a very cool animated eye, all helped by the keen design and idea talent of Rowdy. Especially the way the color tinting of the eye is shown before it moves and is animated, was great. Rowdy is quickly becoming a favourite of mine among coders, because of his always seeming eye for nicely designed parts that feel 'right'. Oh, and the flashing of the first real part was also cool... =) This intro also announces Dino and Rowdy joining the group from Altobrows. [glenn] Algot (1990, 06.12, File Demo). code: Harlekin, gfx: Harlekin, CLF/??? (font part 3), music: various. review: "Algot" is a small, 3-part demo, coded entirely by Harlekin. It was originally to have been released at Censor's party about one month earlier, but wasn't, and was made available in the early days of december outside of any party. The show opens with a real simple part, with a nicely drawn b&w picture of a kid on the back of a dragon, and the text 'The Delight of Eternal Might' overlaid. Below this is a sinescroller in plain white on black. The music is a remix of the "Druid II" theme, which you have ofcourse heard on the classic Fairlight intros. Hardly an impressive opening, but the pic is cute =) For the record, that dragon is the Fairlight mascot, "Algot" - hence the name...so we press space. (part2) The next part has a badly drawn 'FAIRLIGHT rules' logo at the bottom of the screen, with the rest occupied by a 'starwars upscroller', but with just one letter at a time. The routine can twist and shake those letters, but it's ultimately quite urewarding. (part3) They have saved the best for last, and the third and final part offers a much cooler effect, a large tech-tech scroller! Over this there is a logo saying 'FAIRLIGHT IN '90' which bounces up and down, and the entire thing is done in shades of blue. A small plus for the very cool scrollfont, which they've unfortunately not done themselves. This part also has the best music of all, done by previous Fairlight member Danko. [glenn] Vir Optimus (1990, 28.12, File Demo). code: Bacchus, Rowdy, Terrax, Tron, gfx: n/a, music: n/a. Released for the Dexion X-Mas Conference 90 demo competition. review: FLT's third and final demo of the year would be the best of the lot. It opened in style with the new Fairlight crackintro that Bacchus had started using, coded by himself in cooperation with Rowdy. Space... (part2) And then comes something pretty cool, three scrollers scrolling seemingly like they were inside a tube, if you understand... A 'tubescroller' if you will =] The part is coded by Terrax and Tron, and is flanked by a cool logo by Fox/Dominators, and an utterly lame tune... And Strider writes a few bytes for old times sake too! (part3) The next part is even cooler, with a 64 sprite multiplexer by Tron! The background graphics is also cool, signed by Phred and Tron, but with an utter lack of crediting in the text itself. This part has the best music, by Drax/ Vibrants, which is also not credited. But enough of that, and on to the fourth and final part. (part4) This part features three HUGE tubescrollers (remember?), though these do not 'sinescroll', so the effect is somewhat less impressive because of this... A nice clean logo sits at the bottom, and has various animated sprites walk over it (scissors, a walking dick... =]). No credits is given for anything in this part, but the logo bears the single letter H....perhaps for Harlekin? Overall this is a cool little demo with one or two worthwile parts. Not bad at all! [glenn] The Sargeshow (1991, early, File Slideshow). code: Harlekin, gfx: The Sarge, music: n/a. review: This is a small slideshow of four pictures by The Sarge, apparently the first in a series. There is not really much to say about it, it opens with the standard Fairlight intro, then just a small graphical introscreen and after that the four pictures loop endlessly. Three of the motives I do recognize; one is a rendition of the cover for the Iron Maiden single "Aces High", another is a fantasy pic I saw as the box art for one of the AD&D games, and finally there is a rendition for the box art for the classic shoot 'em up Nemesis. The final picture (and the weakest in the collection) I have no idea where came from. The introscroller asks people to go out and buy Gollum and The Sarge's game "Rubicon". [glenn] Stan Kajman Pictureshow (1991, ca .07 or .08, Fileslideshow). code: Harlekin, gfx: Ogami, music: Kristian Rostoen/Shape (uncredited). review: The intro for this brief 'slideshow' claims Ogami is one of the most talented artists around on the c64, but this 'pictureshow' does little to support that claim. These are far from masterpieces. The only redeeming quality of this production, as I see it, is the great music by Kristian Rostoen from Shape. But seeing as they did not credit him (even though his authorship is quite clear if you look in the memory of his tune), I can only assume it was ripped. This is a truly sad and unnecessary production. [glenn] Legoland 2 (1992, 19.04, Demo). 5th in the Easter Conference 92 demo competition. The Reformation #1 (1993, 06.04, Multiload Diskmag). code: Tron, gfx: Creeper/Flash Inc. (logo), music: Red Devil, editor: Black Priest (main), Enduro, Ayatollah, TG-Acme/Epic. review: "Reformation" was an unusual mag in most respects. It was born as a merger of the two Austrian mags "World News" (editor Black Priest) and "Emanuelle" (editor Ayatollah). The new mag additionally had code, graphics, music and even a few co-editors from the Swedish section of FLT, making it an international mag. It focused equally one the cracking and demo scene, which was normal for most mags in those days, but had a design that was quite unusual for a c64 mag. Once you are past the setup screen, that allows you to choose different speed loaders for different drives, or the standard kernel one, you get to the mag itself. The design of the mag can best be described as a primitive web page; that's what it most resembles. There are different size fonts, and apparently several options for formatting the text. The approach actually works very well, lending the mag an unusual look and feel that appeals. Everything is done on the same screen; both article selection and reading. The screen features a not-too-great Reformation logo at the top, with the entire rest of the screen allowed for use by the text. But what matters in any mag, of course, no matter how audio-visually pleasing it may be, is the quality of the text itself. I am pleased to report that this mag also shines in this respect =) The headlines for this issue includes an interview with the controversial Adolf/Censor, all the facts about the Nightshade vs Pacific conflict, The true story about Fresh Prince, the usual news, charts, board and address lists, and finally quite a few demo reviews. As you've probably understood by now, I quite like Reformation. I think you should download and read it too :) The release date is based on the date published in the file 'LAST MINUTE NEWS', included on the disk, and written in STUBBY-NOTER by Matt/'Tera. [glenn] The Reformation #2 (1993, .05, Multifile Diskmag). code: Tron, gfx: Creeper/Flash Inc. (logo), music: Red Devil, editor: Black Priest. review: Well, nothing changed from the first issue - even the music is the same! There seems like there is a little less to read in this issue, which they even admit in one of the texts. The only innovation is the introduction of a new section of the mag: Scene Records. Other than that, see what I said about the first issue :-) The releasedate is a guess. [glenn] Visual Orgasm (1993, .05, slideshow) code: Harlekin, Rowdy (irq-iffl routine), gfx: Ogami, music: Red Devil. review: This slideshow of Ogami's unreleased graphics from 1989 until now is a nice production, though nothing extravagant. The code is just there to perform its function and little else, and the music is just functional. Nice graphics, average prod. Likely NOT released at a party. The release date is an approximation. Runemania (1993, 30.05, Demo). code: Bacchus, gfx: Ogami, music: Red Devil. 8th in The Computer Crossroads 93 demo competition. review: This is a joke-demo, just one screen with a jokingly drawn picture and an FLT demo. The files that litter the directory are dummy files, just try loading and running one... Red Devil was not credited for music anywhere. The Reformation #3 (1993, .06, Multifile Diskmag). code: Tron, gfx: Creeper/Flash Inc. (logo), music: Red Devil, editors: Black Priest, Enduro, Ayatollah, TG-Acme/Epic. review: Again, nothing has changed audiovisually. The main focus this time is material from the TCC93 event in sweden, plus interviews with Airwolf/ Success and Crossfire/Epic. This mag announced the leaving of Ranger for Noice amiga and Mendrake's short visit in the group. The release date is little more than a guess, but since it carries party report and information from the recent TCC93 event, held at the very end of may this year, we estimate a mid june release date. The Reformation #4 (1993, Multifile Diskmag). The Reformation #5 (1993, 29.10, Multifile Diskmag). code: Tron, gfx: Creeper/Flash Inc (logo), music: Red Devil, editor: Black Prist (main), Enduro, TG-Acme. Skaaneland (1994, .03, Multifile demo, 2 disksides). code: Oxidy, gfx: Oxidy, Ogami, music: Avalon, Red Devil. review: Skaaneland is a very nice demo, highlighted by lots of excellent graphics from Oxidy and Ogami. The first diskside contains mostly normal demo parts, though welldesigned and attractive, and all continuing on their own. This is no scroller-demo, it's more like an 'almost-trackmo', with parts that look more like sections of a trackmo than demoparts. When you finally flip the disk, the rest of the demo is a slideshow along with a scroller. Very nicely done, and with lots of attractive graphics. No exact release date is given (it was released in "week #11"), and no indication if it was a party release or not. They do mention someone they hope to see at the "Triad Paddy", but I found no record of such a party in my files... [glenn] Scene+ #1 (1997, 28.12, Multiload Diskmag, 610 blocks). code: Syndrom/TIA and Crest, gfx: Released at The Party 97. review: This is the kind of thing that gives me new faith in the c64 scene. This is, without a doubt, one of the best c64 mags I've read in recent times. c64 mags tend (at least they used to in the past) to be too much news and charts, and too little articles. Too little about the people behind, too much statistics and brief news. Interesting only to the people who were in those charts themselves, or who those news were about. For those of us who wanted to learn more...not. Amazingly, this first edition of Scene+ was put together in just 10 days. It's well-written, by established players in the magscene (the editors having been involved with both The Pulse and Propaganda earlier), and has a real air of professionality over it. From the first time I saw the logo and the text, I *KNEW* this would be an entertaining read. This deserves to top the charts. The code is very good, among the best magroutines I've seen on the 64. It's the same code that was used for the last issues of The Pulse, but they promise a brand new outfit for the next issue. This issue features background interviews with CBA/SCS+TRC, Bacchus/Fairlight, Danko/Censor Design, Dodger from The Crest magazine nad Nastiness Inc (NTI) from The Tribune magazine, as well as thoughtful observations about and around the scene. As a matter of curiosity, here is the results of their 1997 Golden Scener Award, originally to have been presented in Propaganda: - programmer.............Crossbow/Crest - graphician...............Deekay/Crest - musician.........Mitch and Dane/Crest - cracker...............Burglar/SCS+TRC - ntsc fixer.............Jolz/Onslaught - fixing group........Alpha Flight 1970 - magazine...............Relax Magazine - magazine editor....RRR/Relax Magazine - internet site.....The Digital Dungeon - bulletin board............The Dungeon - cracking group................SCS+TRC - demo group......................Crest [glenn] Falcon ------ 1989 - Met joined Orion in december. F.A.M.E. -------- ???> Adam Bulka (music), Holger Knipping (music), MIKE (music). Fallacious Anthropoid Music Entertainment (F.A.M.E.) were a German (I believe) music group, who made music for a lot of demos as well as games. Fanatic Duo, The (TFD) ---------------------- Probably a two-person cracking group, active around 1987. Fantastic 4 Cracking Group (F4CG) --------------------------------- GER> Neotec (12/97). SWE> Despair (fixer, 12/97), Newscopy (12/97), Zyron (music, also in Oxsid Planetary, 12/97-07/00). ???> Bitman (12/97), Chaos (12/97), Devil (code, 08/85-12/97), Fungus (12/97), Goz (12/97), Intruder (12/97), Motley (12/97), Mr.Alpha (09/94-12/97), Playboy (ex Clique, early93-12/97), Sixx (12/97), Sliver (gfx, 12/97), Smasher (supply, ex Crazy, new 01/91-12/97), Sneaper (12/97), Solar (sysop 'THE LOST PARADISE' 93, early93-12/97), Stasi (12/97), Total (12/97), Walker (12/97). Boards; INTERPARK FTP (ita, 12/97), FABULOUS DISASTER (usa, ex Triad, new 05/91). PREVIOUS MEMBERS - BEL> Cyborg (Peter Nijs, swap, early91), Dash (swap, early91), Manx (swap, 01/91), Ninja (ex Manowar, new early90), Tornado (swap, ex WOW, new early91). HOL> Calypso (doublememb Amnesia early93, nolongermemb mid94), Nit 1 (early93). ITA> Fen1 (Enzo Cafaro, swap, early91). DEN> Wolf (05/93). ???> Carcass (new 09/94), Decoder (music, 08/95), Draz (swe? fx, 08/95), Jumpie (01/91), Kid (ex Transcom, new early91), Moloch (code, also in RPG, 09/94), Morris (code, new 09/94), Scorpie (gfx, ex WOW), Scorpio (ex Transcom, new early91), Zirc0 (music, also in RPG, 09/94). F4CG is a demo and cracking group, based in Italy and Belgium. They claim to be active since 1983, but the validity of this claim is doubtful... Among the earliest members were Mao and ADF (both code crack). Rumours say that ADF left the scene after Mao was killed in a car accident. 1990 - Dash, Douglas and Sid were kicked in december...which is strange, since WOW's "Internal #4" [02/91] claims Douglas left the scene in january of next year for his army duty...? The game "Puffys Saga" was released through UbiSoft around september, coded by The Wim/F4CG =) 1991 - Smasher joined when Crazy died, and Jumpie stopped swapping in january. Early in the year, sometime between february and april, two ex- Transcom members, Kid and Scorpio, were recruited. About this time they also recruited Belgian Tornado/WOW. 1993 - Lexi joined Legend early93. On the 7th of may, danish member Wolf was busted for phreaking. He has decided to stay in the scene anyway, but stop his phreaking. You can read about the bust in his own words in Fairlight's "Reformation #4" diskmag. Mutant-X returned to the scene in august, calling out and hoping to reopen his board 'CHAOTIC ILLUSIONS'. 1994 - September was an eventful month; Moloch (code supply) joined from Armageddon, and then he and Zirc0 (music) both joined RPG as their 2nd groups; previous member Mutant-X (previously trader and sysop of 'CHAOTIC ILLUSIONS', 08/93) returned to the scene and joined as a hacker, only to leave again after disagreements with Moloch and the polish members; previous member Carcass rejoined the group; Morris (code) joined; Mr.Alpha left Rebels to be in F4CG only; Chiefy/Padua joined and finally rumours claimed that original member Mao had been killed in a tragic car accident... 1995 - Devil released the graphics editor "Drazpaint V2.0" [08/95]. 1997 - Derbyshire Ram (also in Remembers) left the group around november- december, and joined Alpha Flight 1970. Skinhead and Skidrow left the group and Maja (crack) left the scene, due to internal disagreements. Fantasy ------- 1989 - Asterix and Mantronix was caught by the police in december. Fantasy Cracking Service (FCS) ------------------------------ ???> CPS (09/87), J-Up (09/87), Level 99 (09/87), Lukullus (09/87), MCS (09/87), Mr.Cyborg (09/87), TK (09/87), TSM (09/87). FCS was a German based cracking group. Fantasy (Daniel) left the scene in december 1987 in favour of his reallife girlfriend Gabi. Though they share their shortname with Finland Cracking Service, the two groups are not the same. 1987 - Cracker Lukullus left for The Wanderer Group 12/87. Fashion ------- ???> FMD (music). Fatum ----- GER> The Magic Garfield (Alex, aka TMG, gfx music, 09/95). POL> Nephelim (Blazej Strazak, swap, also in Entropy, 09/94). ???> Grabba (code, 01/95). Boards; INVALID ENVIRONMENT (fin, 09/94). 1995 - Grabba released the painting utility "MCI Editor 1.0" in january. FBI Crew (FBI, -1990) --------------------- FBI Crew were Hungary's #1 group at one time. They were heavily involved in the release of the utility "FLI Designer" by fellow Hungarian CPU, a friend of them. Mr.Wax wrote the note, SKC made the gfx, and Griff did the music. All of those were later in Chromance. 1990 - In july, a decision was made to kick all the lame members of the group and create a totally new one from the ashes. FBI Crew ceased to exist, and Chromance was born. FCG --- The Casual One joined Fusion 01/88. Fear ---- GER> Zounds (swap, 12/90). 1990 - In december german coder SES left for Genesis Project, while Freezer and TDO left for the amiga scene. Federation Against Copyright (FAC) ---------------------------------- FAC were the very first Dutch pirate group. Feniks ------ ???> Cooper (music, 94), Lyon (ex Airwolfteam, new late94). 1994 - German cracker Darklord left for Atlantis, while Joker left the scene and Jesper Kyd left fot Nipson - all late this year. Musician MHD (who joined with Lyon from Airwolfteam late94) is no longer a member. Finland Cracking Service (FCS) ------------------------------ This is the group that released the first version of the now legendary music utility Future Composer 13.06-88. Though they share their shortname with Fantasy Cracking Service, the two groups are not the same. Finnish Gold (FIG) ------------------ FIN> FCS (music, 08/98), Gallstone (08/88), MIY (08/88), Spemu (08/88). Finnish Gold was a finnish (duh! =]) demo group, founded by Gallstone and Rock. The group is perhaps most notable for being authors of the very first, original Future Composer - or to be more exact, the first version was released on the 13th of june 1988 by later FIG member FCS (Finland Cracking Service) - but later versions were released under the FIG label. This legendary music composition program was very important to the evolution of the c64 music scene, and many famous composers started their work using this editor. It was later developed further by other people and groups. 1988 - The first member to join the group was FCS (code), then Spemu, MIY and SCS joined. SCS was found to be inadequate and dismissed. The group released two demos at the Byterapers Grendelparty in august, "Contest Demo" [08/88] won the competition, while "FIG Again" only managed 6th. 1990 - Finnish musician Rock (08/88-) left for Origo around june. Contest Demo (1988, 11.08, File Demo). code: FCS, gfx: n/a, music: Rock, FCS. Winner of the Byterapers Grendelparty demo competition! review: This four-part demo is above all very well designed for its time, showing a demomaking maturity beyond the amateurish. Though there is no graphician working on this demo at all, the coder manages to create stylish parts with good fonts and use of raster effects to colorise logos, scrollers and other things. We will walk you through the parts; all code in the demo was done by FCS. part 1 - The first part does not have much have any real effects at all, it is just a nicely designed scroller and plotter part, working as an introduction to the rest of the demo. Music by Rock. part 2 - This one has a dycp-plotter as its main point of interest, where letters fall from the top of the screen onto a line, forming lines of text. It's a little cooler than it sounds =) Other than that, this features FIG sprites and a scroller. Music by Rock. part 3 - This marks the first (at least to my knowledge) sinescroller on the c64, and what's more it's of the 'tube' variety, where the text seemingly scrolls 'wrapped' around a tube. The effect is stunning for a c64 demo from the middle of 1988! Besides this, it features a basic logo with animated raster colorization and a textplotter. Music by Rock and FCS. part 4 - The final part features rasterbars, mainly =) Nothing spectacular about this one, with some sprites and some text flying around. Noone is credited for the music in this part, but it sounds familiar enough for me to suspect it's a ripped piece. What took this demo all the way to the top in the competition, I would guess, is simply the fact that it was much better designed than the other competitors, and it also has the strength of some good music work from Rock. This is recommended viewing for your oldskool fix =] [glenn] FIG Again (1988, 11.08, Demo). 6th in the Byterapers Grendelparty demo competition. Flash Inc (FHI, 1989-) ---------------------- SWE> Jordan (sysop 'SUBWAY', doublememb Antic, early 93), Macho (new 04/91), Moon (Anders Elmen, code music swap, 08/90-09/91), Morpheus (Andreas Wallström, gfx swap editor, 08-11/90), Nova (Björn Olsson, code, ex Science 451, new 07-11/90), Sodapop (sysop 'PARADIZE', later Fairlight, new 04/91), Zodiac (Fredrik Karlsson, code swap, 08/90-93). NOR> Dexion (Truls Norrman, gfx editor swap, 08-11/90). GER> Public Enemy (gfx swap, ex Accu/Action, new 07-11/90). ???> Aslive (swe? swap, early93), Blaster (code, 11/90), Crept (gfx swap, ex Network, new 07/90-93), Epsilon (code, 11/90), Metal (swe? early93), Orb (ex TGD/Royalty, new 07/90), Sharp (gfx, 08-11/90), Wisch (code, 11/90), Zoris (swe? early93). Flash Inc. is a demo group based in Sweden, and formed in 1989. The group released several issues of the diskmag "Hotshot" with Dexion and Morpheus as editors. Fairlight's "Reformation #2" told us that rumours about Creeper, Moon and Zodiac joining Antic were false, and spread by members of Gothic Design (for some reason). 1990 - TGD joined from Royalty around july, and changed his handle to Orb. "Hotshot #3" [08/90] was released in early august, and announced the joining of Public Enemy (ex Accu/Action), Crept/Network and Nova/Science 451. Danish graphician Kwon joined Bonzai in september. In the first weekend of november, the Censor Party was held in Gothenburg, Sweden. Chorus, Epsilon, Morpheus, Nova, Wisch and Zodiac attended the event, and released the demo "Channel 64" [11/90] which came up trumps and won the demo competition! 1991 - Early in the year, Flash was reinforced with the entire group Level 11! Swedish graphician Chorus (11/90) left for Triad, also in the first few months. Swedes Macho and Sodapop (sysop 'PARADIZE') joined in april. 1993 - The early part of the year saw another sad event; Zodiac will only code games from now on. Swedish coder Unifier (new 09/90-) joined Spirit early 93. He released two versions of his "Unipacker" while in Flash Inc. Swedish musician and graphician Shade (Kenneth Jonsson) left for the amiga scene early. Swedish top graphician Creeper left for Antic in may. Hotshot #3 (1990, early.08, filemag). int - code: Zodiac, gfx: Morpheus (logo, fonts), Zodiac (stars), music: Moon. mag - code: Zodiac, gfx: Sharp, music: Metal/Bonzai, editors: Dexion, Morpheus. review: When reading through old diskmags from start to finish, as I often do, you sometimes just give up on the least interesting ones. With something like Sex'n'Crime, which is just bare-bones news, and lots of it, the process of reading, taking notes and then feeding it all into scenery is a tedious one, and something like that often takes the fun out of the creative process with scenery. It's at times like those, that a mag like Hotshot comes along, and makes it all just worth it for a little while longer =] Hotshot is wellwritten, wellresearched and written in plain correct english. The editors manage to make their words interesting to read, and they even have taken the time to include the results of the demo competitions at the parties they have reports from (not necessarily included in these older mags, you see...)! Hotshot was a wholly interesting and involving read, and for that I thank you Dexion and Morpheus! This issues features, apart from the essential news and charts, an interview with Jesper Olsen/ex Amok, reports from the Bergen (extensive) and Daniax (brief) parties and reviews of the games "Vendetta", "F16 Combat Pilot", "Turricane" (?), "Ski or Die" and "Topcross". The supposed demo reviews are just % ratings, and no descriptive text unfortunately =[ The article selection method is straightforward but effective, as is the reading method. The whole 'text moving' thing, though, quickly induces motion sickness... =] You see, while you read the entire article moves from left to right to left to right... Something like this would make me immediately butcher any other mag, just let that be said ;) Hotshot is several notches above most other mags of the period, and I can't wait to read the rest of the issues! Recommended! This issue announces the joining of Public Enemy (ex Accu/Action), Crept/Network and Nova/Science 451. [glenn] Channel 64 (1990, 05.11, multifile demo) code: Zodiac, Nova, Unifier, gfx: various, music: Moon, Henning Rokling/Panoramic Design. Winner of the Censor Party demo competition! review: This demo opens with an intropart, which is really nothing special. code by Zodiac, gfx by Morpheus (logo+font) and Dexion (pic), with music by Moon. We press space and are shown a part with a nicely drawn tv in the middle of the screen. The screen of the tv shows only static, but with a joystick in port 2 you can choose the channels... There are 6 different channels, each representing a part of the demo. You choose your part and then press space to load it, and after each part you return to this selector part. part 1 is dubbed the "rotating filled vector-logo", which is a pretty good description of it. A single-plane (flat) FLASH logo is rotated, and that's about it. code Zodiac, gfx Sharp, music Moon. part 2 is the "smooth all-border plots" part, which is essentially just a border-plotter. A FLASH dot-logo is rotated around the screen, and in all borders. code/gfx Zodiac, music Moon. part 3 contains a "4-color shadow-plotter", which means a sine-plotter with 'afterburned' dots. We've seen lots of these on the amiga. code Zodiac, gfx Sharp (font), Trax/TRC (logo), music Moon. part 4 is a little impressive for its time; an 11 char high FLI scroller. As they mention themselves in the scroller, the font could have been better, but let's not complain =] code Zodiac, gfx Morpheus, Sharp (logo), music Moon. part 5 is dubbed the "ordinary part" =] It's not really bad, though, nicely designed. Dots'n'sprites. code Nova, gfx Zodiac (chars sprites), Morpheus (logo), music Moon. part 6 is the last part, and the only one without music by Moon. It's actually also the most impressive to me, on a technical front. It's a very smooth realtime textzoomer...did I mention it's very smooth? =D Nice logo too. code by Unifier, gfx Crept (logo), music by Henning Rokling/Panoramic Design. The demo's directory structure means the size of the demo is not possible to discover =[ It comes with a note-file with greetings, addresses and so on. The noter (probably selfcoded) is simplisticly nice, no frills but does a good job. Overall a demo that leaves a nicely professional impression. News that Dogfriend/Dominators had left the c64 scene must have been a mistake... at least he didn't =) [glenn] Shade Music Collection 2 (1992, .08, Musicfile). code: Unifier, Zodiac (music routine), gfx/music: Shade. review: A very simply coded, but nicely done music collection, gathering 8 of Shade's latest tunes. These are both single and doublespeed tunes, all made in version 4.0 and 4.1 of Zodiac's "Flash-Composer". The main screen has a cd-like control deck at the top of the screen, a text plotter with information on the current tune in the middle, and a musical keyboard-like graphic at the bottom. No actual release date appears inside, but I base the above on the mentioning of tune here that was entered in the music competition at the Brutal Party [06/92] and some talk about an august release... So august is the most probable release date. It mentions that it will be released together with Moon's Collection and their new demo, so reviews of these productions will perhaps give more answers. The eight tunes featured here are Turbulent, Deadline, Independent Tune, Miserable, The Chaser, The Techno (from Brutal Party music competition), The Last Sob and Radiodunk. A real nice function is the 'S' icon, with which you can save the current piece of music to disk. [glenn] Fluid ----- NOR> Ibanez (early 93). Focus ----- HOL> TDJ (Marco Frankel, code swap, early 93). ???> Compyx (code, early 93), Geir Tjelta (new early 93), Jayce (code, early 93), Mirage (ex Legend, new early 93), PDB (gfx, early 93), X-Byte (code, early 93). 1991 - Early in the year, swapper Compus left for Censor. Morris and Digiblaster (ex Jinx) started Focus on the Amiga, and are working on a demo (early 93). Beyond Reality (1993, early, demo). code: X-Byte, TDJ, Compyx, Jayce, gfx: PDB, music: JVD, MSK, GM, ALD; HP. information: 5 parts, 80% in Reformation #2. Force, The (-1993) ------------------ ITA> Exat (ex Motion, new 07/90), Gabriel (ex Gax 777, new 07/90), Unicorn (ex Motion, new 07/90), Ximox (ex Gax 777, new 07/90), Zagor (swap, 07/90). 1990 - Italians Gabriel and Ximox joined from Gax 777 in july, as did Exat and Unicorn from Motion, after that group died. 1993 - As famous musician Guy Shavitt left for the pc scene in august, the group died. Foxbat ------ 1991 - Buzzer joined from Collision in january. Fraction (FTN) -------------- POL> Alpha (Czarek Hodujko, code, 04/98). ???> Cobra (swap, 04/98), Cucumbeer (gfx, 04/98), Djinn (music, 04/98), Dux (code, 04/98), Jurgen (code, 04/98), Pasthur (editor swap, 04/98), Quasar (gfx, 04/98), Randy (music, 04/98), Sage (music, 04/98), Sapper (editor, 04/98), Sensei (code, 04/98), Szikers (?, 04/98), Vampire (swap, 04/98), Vigo (code, 04/98). Fraction is a Polish demo group, all the people where I do not have a confirmed country are most likely Polish too. Polish member Chash (music) left and reformed Caution, and took with him Shell (code) and Signor (music). Logic Control (1997, Demo). Pathology (1998, 26.04, Demo, 1 diskside). code: Alpha, Dux, Jurgen, Shell/Caution, Sensei, Vigo, gfx: Alg/Alpha Flight 1970, Colitt/De Koder, Cucumbeer, Quasar, Talbot/Faith, music: Kourdiakis/Samar. Winner of the Rush Hours 98 demo competition! review: A lot of coders worked on this excellent production, and it shows! No less than 12 people in all were involved in the production, but somehow it still manages to come across as a focused effort. The first thing that strikes you about this demo is the very nice design. It's not extravagant, just nicely 'there' in every screen, and coupled with some impressive code it makes this a standout production. Just some of the impressive routines are an impressive, large vector routine that can do morphing, spacecuts and even rubber! There's a texturemapped ball, a gouraud shaded vector routine and a dotscroll (remember seeing a fair few of these on the amiga in early days, but never on the 64!). Kourdiakis music is not bad, the third song being the best by far in my book. The entire demo is presented 'trackmo-style', using and IRQ loader. This is a recommended download. The disk also includes a nicely done note, coded by Dux. Shell's code was used in the demo even despite he had moved on to reform Caution. This demo (well, the note actually) announced the Shell, Chash and Signor had left for Caution. [glenn] Frantic (-1989) --------------- Frantic died early 1989 when the entire group joined Sphinx. Freaks, The ----------- ???> Maniac (crack). Dane Duke left for Ikari+Talent early 91, but quickly moved on to join Dominators instead. Fresh (-1990) ------------- 1990 - Awesome joined the Crazy+Lotus cooperation in july. Fresh died once again in december... Smasher joined Crazy, Freestyle and Dave joined Ikari and Talent. Belgian graphician Vincent joined WOW, after one of his logos had already been used in a previous issue of their diskmag "Internal". Front (-1988) ------------- Front died in july of 1988, and Saruman (code), Olo (code), Audrey (gfx) and Getafix joined FairLight. Turbo-Cracker decided NOT to join. Full Force (FF) --------------- NOR> IC Jones (swap, 07/90). 1990 - Chique left for Mute 101 around may. Fury [new] (1993-) ------------------ Microman restarted Fury in may, then changed his handle to Steigar. Fusion [1] (FS) --------------- ???> The Casual One (ex FCG, new 01/88). Fusion [2] (FS, 1990-) ---------------------- Fusion reappeared around march of 1990 after two years, with two familiar faces and some new ones (quote from a crackintro). After the group split up, Magic and Rooze (both ex DCS) formed Class, while most English members joined Dominators. Fusion [3] (1994-1994) ---------------------- Fusion was formed by TUC/Rebels around july or august of 1994, without him being aware of the previous group with the same name. Once he had been made aware of the fact, and been repeatedly slagged in the diskmags for attempting to 'steal' a legendary name, he naturally closed the group and returned to Rebels. Future ------ 1989 - Norwegian cracker Sauron left to form Illusion in june. Future Technologies ------------------- 1990 - German coder Typhoon left for Genesis Project in december.