I saw a short Japanese reportage about AI called AlphaGo (Google DeepMind) the other day: How it works, difference from the previous AI model, and how the games with a human top player went. It was impressive, but it scares me, as it should.
TDF marked its 6th time! and this year it was held at
the new place called “3331 Arts Chiyoda” close to Akihabara. The building used
to be an junior high school, and it has nice café and stores on the first
floor, and the second floor was art gallery. (Each classroom was turned into a
space for one artists… what a smart way to use classrooms!) Many events were
going on at the same time as TDF, so there were a lot of people!
Tokyo Demo Fest（TDF）は、今年で6回目の開催！今年は前回までと異なり、秋葉原近くの「3331 Arts Chiyoda」という会場で行われました。この会場、もとは区立の中学校だったそうで、1階には素敵なお店やカフェスペースがあり、2階はアートギャラリーになっていました。（アーティストごとに1つの教室を使って展示をやっているのが、とてもスマートだなぁ！と思いました。ちょっと文化祭チックでもあるし！） この週末はTDF以外にもいろんなイベントが行われていたので、会場はたくさんの人であふれていました。
(Left) On its second floor. Now you get the sense
that it used to be a school. Nostalgia… TDF info desk is at the far end of this
hallway.
(Right) Tokyo Demo Fest was held in its Sports hall. (It
was quite funny to see the people giving seminars under the basketball goal hoop… :)
Comparing with the venue of previous years (café), it’s really getting closer
to the look of European demoparties… isn’t it?
(Left) Zavie from Ctrl-Alt-Test, one of the
organizers and also a chef here. He made a pile of crepes (literally) and
served us by adding some fillings… It was tasty stuff and I was camping in
front of it. :D Thanks, Zavie-san!
(Right) The new venue allowed guests to bring in food
and drinks. And there was a table for freebies: someone (hole-san?) started
beers and other people joined in, I heard. Snacks, pizza, drinks, sushi… it’s
such a great and fun idea! Will this table become a tradition of Japanese
demoparty?
It was obvious that the number of guests are growing
(does this mean Japanese demoscene is growing too?) and there were quite a lot
of demosceners coming outside of Japan. On the left, it’s Velo and Cryptic from
Approximate. About 10 people were coming from Sweden, and there’s this Swedish
table at TDF venue :) Velo said he’ll write a party report, so we’ll look
forward to it!
On the right, it’s Navis from ASD! He gave a seminar
about his new demo released at this party. He was visiting Tokyo with his
family, and it was really nice to see them all at the party place! Yokoso
Japan!
Really cool works were released at this party, and
you should check with your eyes! You can check all the releases and give
comments to creators at Pouet. And for seminars, I heard that recorded video
will be published later, so be sure to check TDF website or Twitter for the
updates. (You can also follow the excitement of this party by checking the hashtag #TokyoDemoFest
on Twitter :)
For everyone I met at the party, it was all nice seeing you! And organizers who made this happen, thank you so much for the
great time!
→ For demoscene related posts including past TDF
reports and interviews are here.
This time, we welcome Cryptic, a coder of Swedish demogroup Approximate!
In this interview, Cryptic reveals how their latest work was born, why he
likes to make 64k demo and how to tackle the stress before deadline… and so
much more!
First of all, could you please
introduce yourself briefly?
Photo by Cryptic
My name is Jonas Fredriksson, known as Cryptic in the demoscene. I'm a
member of Approximate,
a small demogroup currently consisting of me and our musician Velo. My main
responsibilities are code, graphics and design.
I watched your latest release
“Small matters of the heart” on Revision streaming last year (video is here). That was really
beautiful! When did you start working on that demo? And how did it happen?
I’d worked on the technology on and off in my spare time without any clear
direction since we finished “Gaia Machina” final version in the beginning of
2014. The actual start of this intro was probably after I talked to BoyC of
Conspiracy about having a real 64k showdown at Revision. Basically it was to
increase interest in PC 64k scene which had kind of lagged behind PC demo and
PC 4k categories in recent years (with a few wonderful exceptions by demogroups
such as Mercury, Brain Control to mention a few). So we decided to have
something ready for Revision 2015.
And how did it go? Everything
went smoothly?
In the end it turned out to be both good and bad thing. For the good
parts, it gave us the deadline we needed to get something completed, and it was
wonderful to see such a good 64k compo at Revision. But we would probably have
needed another 1 month or so (with work, real life etc. getting in the way) to
fix some technical issues and getting the design to the level that we were
comfortable with.
So you had
some different plan?
I had an idea of making something more plot-driven since I was hoping the
graphics would match up. But in the end, we had to put together all the
animations, stories etc. in a too short time span and had several bugs (mostly
caused by me not being able to push all the shaders we wanted into 64k,
combined with the graphics we wanted). This had a severe impact on the graphics
quality as well as the time we needed for the story refinement.
So on the one hand I am glad that we released and that it was such a great
compo, but on the other hand I felt that Gaia Machina was much more stable in
terms of tech, story and design (even in its party version).
Oh really?
Well, speaking of “Gaia Machina”, I’ve read that you started to work on that in
2009 and released in 2012. And its final version was released in 2014. It’s
almost 5 years! And you didn’t release any other demos during this period… you
never felt like “oh, I want to make something else!”? How could you keep your
motivation for so long?
Mainly because it’s such an interesting hobby :) But as it is a hobby
other things tends to get in the way, which means that I do not have as much
time as I would like to spend on demo coding. And yeah, I do get that feeling
to do other things as well, when it happens I go and do those and come back to
demo coding a while later.
So it’s not that I have spent my whole time between 2009 and 2012 on demo
coding, but it’s rather an on and off thing. One of the main reasons for the
delay happening between Gaia Machina (party version) release in 2012 and its
final version release in 2014 was because of the very sad passing away of our
group member Meaty in 2012.
I’m sorry to hear that, yes I saw his
name was credited at the beginning of the final version…
I felt that a story plays the key role
in your demo, but you have whole story ready before you start coding? Do you
keep your ideas in a notebook or something?
The development process has mainly been technology driven and the story
has come along as I start creating graphics, and then we get fleshed out a bit
more from that. I do write down/draw some of the stuff I come up with but not
as much as I should. Instead I play around with my 64k tool. :-)
For Gaia Machina, the main story arc was really simple and clean so I
could build the effects and mood out of that. In the case of Small matters of
the heart, I was still not done with refining the story when we had to release,
which to me is quite annoying since it turned into such a story driven intro.
Then what is Approximate’s general demomaking process? Music first? Title
first? Could you explain to us a bit more?
In the past we started with the technology. I worked on 64k code and
graphics and Meaty worked on the synth code. We have always tried but never
succeeded in having an iterative process between music and graphics, even
though we have planned to do that for quite some time. In the case of Gaia Machina, the music was completed at the party. So I
spent a lot of time before the deadline to adapt the graphics to the music.
For Small matters of the heart, we had a bit more time before the party
since Velo had a test version some weeks before the release. Although that time
I was a bit caught up in trying to finish the code and story in time to
actually sync the music properly. When it comes to the title, it has historically been decided a couple of
hours before the deadline.
And where do you get the inspiration for the demos?
Most of ideas come when I’m biking, walking in nature or travelling to
somewhere. The times when I get new impressions are when I am not actually
using my computer but just let the mind wander.
Do you do
anything particular while working on the demo? Listening music, drinking beers…
When it comes to actual coding and design process, I always listen to
music while I’m working. I kind of need it. I feel I do the best coding late at
night when you are all alone with some really good music and can just be
completely “in the zone” without any risk of interruption. Beer is mostly used
when we do brainstorming about new ideas or are stressed before demoparty
deadlines :-)
Haha, so you
start the party a bit earlier than everyone else :) What program do you use to
make demo? Do you use your own tool?
For 64k development we are using a tool I have developed from the ground
up based on C++ and OpenGL, that allows easy editing of contents such as
textures, meshes, scenes, lighting, shaders etc. as well as optimising the data
to please the packer. For music we have been using Meaty’s Mapprox synth that
have a VST interface, which we usually use in combination with Renoise.
You’ve been
releasing quite a many 64K demos. Why? What’s the appeal in 64k?
I love making 64k since they for me have the perfect tradeoff between size
limits and design freedom. I can sit and do design quite freely in a tool and
it’s easier to avoid that sterile math feeling that is so easy to get in with
4k. I also enjoy making the tools themselves, and 64k tools are pretty fun to
make.
So you like 64k from making its tool…
wow :) By the way, how do you get into the programming field?
I have always been interested in graphics and design. I found out quite
early that it was more fun to create my own games than to play what others have
made. And then I found out that the most fun part of the game programming was
graphics programming and I have been stuck with it since then.
And when and
how did you discover demoscene?
I was introduced to the demoscene in mid-90s. My first contact with the
scene was through various cracktrosthat I watched, then being introduced to modules and Fast Tracker 2 and
programming tutorials by sceners. I also read about the demoscene and demoparties
in various computer magazines, especially the computer magazine “Tekno”. The
first party I attended was Compusphere 1997 held in my hometown.
Ok, then shall we go on to this classic
question? Your favorite demo, memorable demo, demo that changed your life…
anything. Tell us a demo which is special to you.
The demo production that has affected me the most is probably “fr-08: .the .product” [video] by Farbrausch since that was what triggered my interest in 64k scene.
I thought it was amazing when I first saw it and I got so inspired by reading
the “making of” that I could not stop thinking about creating my own 64k. Other
64k that have also inspired me are “Project Genesis”[video] by Conspiracy, “Paradise”[video] by Rgba, “Zoom 3” [video] by AND, “Panic Room”[video] by Fairlight and many others.
When it comes to demos, I love the flow in Andromeda Software
Development’s demos where effects just blend together without any cuts, for
example like in “Lifeforce”[video]. Another demo that gave a great inspiration when
creating Gaia Machina was “Sunflower”[video] by Pulse. I really loved the atmosphere
in that demo when it came out.
You know the
scene back fromcracktros, and I believe that’s
quite a long time. Why do you like this culture? What is demo and demoscene to
you?
For me it’s the combination of technology and art that fits me perfectly.
I have always been interested in both so it’s the perfect subculture for me.
You also get to hang out with a lot of really talented people and you feel like
you are constantly pushing yourself forward and evolving.
What type of
demo do you want to make in the future? Is there any dream or goal you want to
achieve in the scene?
I would love to do something more abstract with great audio sync. I loved
the demo “Artifacts” [video] by illogictree and I would love to do something like that.
Other than that I guess I’ll just see when I get inspired by.
Currently I’m trying to teach myself sound and music programming since I
would love to get a better understanding of that part of the scene. I will
probably only understand the math part of it but it’s fun to explore and Velo
can have a go at whatever comes out of that process in forms of synthesizers,
audio experiments etc. and maybe have something ready when we visit Tokyo Demo Fest 2016. I
have never been to Japan so I’m really looking forward to it.
I’m glad to
know that you’ll be coming to Japan :) And, finally your message for
demosceners and demo fans out there please.
Just keep making the stuff you love doing and socialize with other
sceners. The demoscene is such a great place for musicians, graphic artists and
coders to exchange ideas and understand each other's perspectives and work
processes. I also hope to see a lot of you at Tokyo Demo Fest or Revision.
And finally I also have to mention to be on the lookout for updates on the
demoparty Edison which Velo and friends organize, usually sometime in July. A
relatively small but really nice demoparty in Stockholm, Sweden.
Thank you for answering the questions while you’re super
busy, Cryptic!
If you want to see Approximate’s work, check out their
website and Pouet page. And if you are on Facebook, you may want to like their
FB page to receive updates :)
And, Cryptic and Velo have shared their Making-of “GaiaMachina” on Hugi (diskmag – demoscene magazine). In this article, they explain
more insight around the demo in chronological order. Better check this if you
love this demo :)
Thank you very much for reading this till the end! :)
- In case you’re wondering what “demo” or “demoscene” is, better check outthe well-made documentary called Moleman2.(and the director, M. Szilárd Matusik's interview can be read in here.)
#1: Interview with Demoscener: q from nonoil/gorakubu ishere.
#2: Interview with Demoscener: Gargaj from Conspiracy, Ümlaüt Design ishere.
#3: Interview with Demoscener: Preacher from Brainstorm, Traction is here.
#4: Interview with Demoscener: Zavie from Ctrl-Alt-Test is here.
#5: Interview with Demoscener: Smash from Fairlight is here.
#6: Interview with Demoscener: Gloom from Excess, Dead Roman is here.
#7: Interview with Demoscener: kioku from System K is here.
#8: Interview with Demoscener: kb from Farbrausch is here.
#9: Interview with Demoscener: iq from RGBA is here.
#10: Interview with Demoscener: Navis from Andromeda Software Development is here.
#11: Interview with Demoscener: Pixtur from Still, LKCC is here.
- For some of my posts related to “demo and “demoscene” culture ishere.
Jonas Fredriksson（ヨナス・フレデリクソン）といいます。デモシーンではCrypticという名前で、Approximateというデモグループで活動しています。Approximateは、今は僕とミュージシャンのVeloの2人のグループで、僕はコード、グラフィックス、デザインを主に担当しています。
昨年の春にRevisionでリリースされていた『Small matters of the heart』をストリーミングで見ていたのですが、美しい作品でしたね！（現在もビデオで視聴可能） あの作品はどのようにして生まれたのでしょうか？
Gaia Machinaの場合、ストーリーの流れはとてもシンプルですっきりとしたものだったので、そこからエフェクトや雰囲気を作り出しました。Small
matters of the heartの場合は、まだストーリーがよく練られていない段階でリリースしなければならなかったので、ストーリーばかりが目立った作品になってしまったのが、かなり腹立たしいですね。
Small matters of the heartの時は、Veloがパーティーの数週間前に音楽のテストバージョンを送ってくれたので少し時間はあったのですが、音楽と合わせる前に、僕のほうがコードとストーリーを仕上げるのに苦労していまして、、。それと、タイトルはもうずっと、締め切りの2、3時間前に決まるパターンですね。
