The Last Words of Hugi #35

Written by Magic of Nah-Kolor

There are no facts, only interpretations
- Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words. - Mark Twain, author

Prologue

Making a magazine for the demoscene like Hugi is, although it takes precious time, a nice hobby for me. But then again, in general, a life without hobbies could be utterly boring. You again have reached the last words article of a new Hugi issue. Originally articles of this kind are written to close down a magazine. It's a tradition from times long gone. This time I decided not to put in thank yous or greetings. They have been sent to the sceners who deserve it in e-mails already anyway. Check out the credits section for more information on who did what.

This time around..

This time I just want to air my thoughts on certain demoscene related topics I inhaled from time to time and/or just look back already a bit on 2008 although we still need to experience the end stages of 2008. Looking back from a scene perspective on 2008 there were no demos with the impact as Debris or LifeForce had the year before. Although not yet anyway. Panic Room by Fairlight and Stargazer by Andromeda & Orb no doubt were amazing releases but they just didn't have the same impact on our scene and/or got the same attention as Debris and LifeForce. Perhaps the Commodore 64 scene got their 'Debris and LifeForce' moment with 'Edge of Disgrace' but this could also be the result of releasing this demo two days after the X party so it was hyped in between. There was no Fairlight demo by Smash at NVscene or released at all till now. Smash became a father of twins not so long ago. Congratulations by the way! Perhaps this demo will be more worked on and fine-tuned and will be saved for Breakpoint 2009 and blow us all away once and for all.

The same goes for Farbrausch I think and hope. Talking about Breakpoint 2009 I hope it will be held and if it's held then at the same location as in the last years. Talking about Breakpoint, my thoughts are linking to my visit to Breakpoint 2006. I never could have imagined how the paths of two old sceners crossed at this party and in the years after did their best to shape the scene with Hugi and Zine! I am talking about myself and Axel of Brainstorm.

Breakpoint 2006, clockwise:

Oxbox (with his eyes closed), Magic (with the green bp06 bracelet), Arios (with his head almost on the table), Axel (with his hand in the air), Prm (giving you the finger :)), Mezcal (the dude with the red t-shirt and looking straight into the camera with his eyes) and Doh (enjoying a cigar)

Some weeks before Breakpoint 2006 I posted some messages at the Brainstorm website about Patsy (a female Brainstorm member courtesy of a good imagination). And then Axel and I met at Breakpoint, had some nice chats, not knowing I would join up with Hugi shortly after Breakpoint 2006 and he would bring back Zine in 2007. Another nice anecdote could be that our Hugi #35 headlines demo brought back the motivation for Axel to work on Zine #14. After seeing this demo he got motivated again and the next day he was thinking of Zine stuff again he told me on IRC. This makes me think of what Navis wrote in his interview in Hugi #34. After he had seen Debris he really wanted to work hard and was really motivated to work on his next demo which in the end was released under the name LifeForce. :) Good releases inspire and motivate others, that's for sure. Another nice aspect of the demoscene!

NVscene

The scenish year of 2008 was also shaped by NVscene. What does and did NVscene mean for the demoscene? We have a big report about NVscene inside this issue of Hugi (which you most probably have already read). However, this event, organized by NVidia, hollowed the competitors field at some other parties this summer. Even resulting in 'Rob is Jarig' to win at Evoke 2008. I also think that because NVscene was a new party and sceners didn't have much knowledge about how it all 'worked and went down' this resulted in getting many 4k intros and demos to compete in the NVscene competitions. Ofcourse there was this incentive to get sceners to deliver their productions as remote entries to NVscene but I think if there ever will be another NVscene party, people will know by now that they are not obliged to deliver. This could mean a run on the free demoboxes. I don't see many of the European sceners who were at NVscene 2008 repeating the same trip every year as well. The distance and time and for some the money are just too much. One of the organizers, Gloom, has become a father, which has given him obligations at home.

But from whatever angle we may look at the NVscene event one thing is for sure: It has definitely had its impact on this year's demoscene. In a way, for me as an outsider, it felt like they were pioneers doing such an event on American soil. I sent Temis of Nvidia an e-mail for a look back and forward at NVscene but unfortunately - no reply.

2009 is around the corner..

Another new party on the block, next to NVscene, was Realtime Generation. This year it seems a fashion to have an exhibition of old(er) computers at parties. After Realtime Generation also Main in France and The Alternative Party in Finland had this feature. Come to think of it, I was living in times when most of those computers were new. :) (Am I so young or are those computers so old? :)) See our reports section for the photos.

I hope you enjoyed this issue of Hugi as much as we did making it. You never know what the future brings for the demoscene in 2009. Be positive and participate! What comes around goes around!

Yours Sincerely,

Magic of Nah-Kolor
magic_nah@hotmail.com