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*                                                                             *
*   Demo:   Megademo Intro     Type:    Amstrad CPC Emulator DSK File         *
*   Author: Odiesoft           Webpage: http://www.odiesoft.de                *
*   Size:   1 * 194816 Bytes   Date:    17. February 2003                     *
*   File:   Odiesoft Demos - Megademo Intro (1991).dsk                        *
*                                                                             *
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Title: Megademo Intro
Year:  1991


This was intended to become the first part of my upcoming Megademo. The basic
idea was that this part introduces the users to the whole thing and be used as
an appetizer for the stuff to come.

It was one of my first fullscreen demos and I tried to use this extended screen
space to display an overlarge font. So I used the idea of a ball drawing some
text on the screen like I have seen many times before in other demos.

Since I wanted to use screen mode 1 so that the ball wouldn't look so bulky I
had just 4 colours available. Also in mode 1 there are for pixels in each byte
and since the ball was only able to move byte by byte this meant that with every
horizontal movement it would advance four pixels.
 
So in the end the overlarge text looked bulky, not because the ball wasn't
detailed enough, but because it was only able to move in a very big grid.

I've created an overscreen editor with which I was able to draw the text. So I
didn't use an iteration routine to collect two different points on the screen
with the balls. Instead I painted every single ball using the cursor keys and
space.

Unfortunately by using this method to store the individual points of the
oversize font the available memory ran out very soon. So there was just enoug
memory left for a few text-screens. Nothing more than a "This is Odiesoft
presenting in 1991 Megademo" and a some greetings to the few people I had
contact with in 1991.

The scrolling text on the bottom part of the screen was also a premiere for me.
For the first time I was really using color bars to extend the limited color
palette of the CPC in Mode 1. In the scrolltext two slightly shifted sets of
color bars define the color within the characters and on the small border around
the characters. Thus the characters look more interesting then just plain
characters with color bars.

Since I wanted to do some more than just display an oversize text and a
scrolltext I had the idea to add a pipe and a ditch to the screen and have the
scrolltext come out of the pipe and later fall into the ditch.

I've invested some time to have the characters come out of the pipe and grow in
size while they are exiting from the pipe. Later, when they fall in the ditch,
parts of the characters brake off and fall into the ditch individually.

Unfortunately you don't really see all that in the demo since the scrolltext
moves so fast, that you don't really have time to pay attention to the other
effects in this demo. The pipe itself is also enhanced with additional colors to
make it look more realistic and threedimensional.

For the music I ripped the sound out of the Amstrad CPC version of Tetris and
inserted it into the demo. With the keys from 1 to 3 you can change the sound
being played.

As with the other parts for this Megademo this introduction also didn't make it
into an official Odiesoft publication. I didn't get to write any additional
parts besides the first three and when I wanted to release a Megademo some years
later I thought that the first three parts weren't this good anymore.

But then I've included it as yet another cheat part in the Divine Megademo by
the Garbage Performers. This specific demo was hidden in the enhanced Texture
Mapping demo. During the demo you have to press the keys "M", "I", "L", "K" and
"O" at the same time to activate this demo. Strangely though I wasn't able to
activate this cheat part on any CPC Emulator. So you'd better try it on the
original CPC...


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*                                                                             *
* This program can be distributed freely and without the need of a written    *
* of a written permission by Odiesoft, as long as it is distributed free of   *
* charge!                                                                     *
*                                                                             *
* If you had to pay for this, you've been ripped off!                         *
*                                                                             *
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