64k intros from Assembly 2006 (By Adok/Hugi)
Assembly 2006 has brought us seven 64k intros for PC - two for Linux and five for Windows. The compo has been especially interesting because four major demogroups participated: Conspiracy, Fairlight, Farbrausch and Kewlers. (All of them made Windows-based intros.) In a namevoting contest with average teams, each of these groups alone could have easily won. The fifth group that made a Windows-based intro was Aspekt, a Finnish group; it placed 6th right after one of the Linux intros, "Emo Defect" by Fiture Crew. The other group that submitted a Linux intro is Immersion; it was called "Naked blonde chicks" and it came last. Let's look at the Windows intros.
"Asterozoa" by Kewlers
Duration: 04:27
Technically fine, this intro has quite an impressive beginning with the Kewlers logo fading in a special manner. However, all in all I'm sorry to say this intro has been pretty boring. It shows some primitive organisms and a lot of blue-shades; the music isn't exciting, either. A piggy face, speaking in pouet terms.
"Chaos Theory" by Conspiracy
Duration: 04:28
Interestingly, this intro has almost the same length as the Kewlers one. Yet its contents are quite different. Technical excellence and creativity already show in the loading sequence when we get to see three circles instead of the usual loading bar. The intro has a pretty characteristic atmosphere: it's dreamy and technical at the same time. The font fits perfectly.
All in all, it's quite well done and bears enough variation to watch it several times without getting bored. Still, its atmosphere is too dark to be really enjoyed, IMHO.
"Dead Ringer" by Fairlight
Duration: 06:39
My first impression can be retold with one word: inconsistent! The intro starts with rather realistic, cold 3D animations, and then, after some time, a cartoon-styled gangsta appears. This simply doesn't fit together! It looks as if two completely different themes had been thrown together into one production. But maybe that was intentional.
Technically, it's excellent. There are two versions for 640x480 (with or without anti-aliasing, respectively) and one for 800x600. On my P4, the last version also runs at perfect speed. We also get to see some effects which seem to have been recycled from previous Fairlight productions, but that doesn't matter - as long as they suit the animation, that's okay.
"FR-048: Precision" by Farbrausch
Duration: 03:50
The first two minutes of this intro left me totally unimpressed. I almost didn't notice that an intro was running on my screen... I mean, it features good 3D graphics, but there's nothing special to the intro; it conveys no message. The same goes for the music: It's OK, but boring. In short, FR-048 is an intro which you watch and forget.
"Rather mediocre laser trip" by Aspekt
Duration: 02:33
The shortest intro in the compo, which is also from the least known group, is not bad at all; nice colours, nice effects. That's it! There's no message.
Conclusion
In my opinion, from among the intros I've watched, Conspiracy's is the one that should have won the compo as it is the one with the highest product of originality multiplied by coherence production. Fairlight would have deserved second, Kewlers third, Farbrausch fourth and Aspekt fifth place. Except "Chaos Theory" by Conspiracy, none of these intros deserves being called a classic, IMHO.