Contrast

Contrast was a diskmag by the Danish group Purple from 1994/1995. All three issues are available at scene.org and work under DOSBox. They were downloaded about 400 - 600 times.

Contrast #1

Contrast #1, from December 1994, was a diskmag with a strongly nested menu, a small font and a rather low contrast (what an irony!) between the text and the background pic. Coded by Log Head, Last Nerve and Viper, it had graphics by Splatt and music by Mystical. It was controlled by the keyboard. The controls inside the article were not very comfortable: Instead of flipping pages just by pressing right or left, you had to select "Next" or "Previous" from a controls menu and then press Enter. After the title picture, you came to the main menu, where you could choose between Info, Mag, Gallery, Music (music selection), Greets, Credits and Exit. The gallery featured a couple of pictures by Splatt which were created using 3D Studio; loading was quite slow.

Inside the actual mag part, there were the following sections: advertisements, articles, charts, general info (how to write an article), interviews, news, programming, reviews and "wanted" (adverts). The articles were again divided into computer related and miscellaneous ones. The former sub-section contained a Flemish scene report and several general-computer-related (not scene-related) articles on Internet games, why Windows 1995 was the right choice (an ironical humour article) and several quotes about computers by more or less famous persons. The latter sub-section was a bit longer. It featured an article on fractals and an IQ test, as well as some poems, stories and weird stuff. The charts were about demos, games, intros and utilities. There was just one interview, with Zaph. The programming corner dealt with GIF and LZW, GUS and Super VGA, and there was also the first part of a Turbo Pascal tutorial for people really new to programming. The reviews were about demos, parties, hardware and various things such as music.

All in all Contrast #1 was fairly good for a first issue, although it had its weaknesses (as already told).

Contrast #2

Contrast #2 was released in June 1995. In the file_id.diz it is announced that everything that was bad in Contrast #1 had got rid of. Indeed some things have improved, the menu isn't as nested any more, and there's a two-column layout, which makes reading a bit easier with this small font, but the contrast between the text and the background is still rather low. But a good thing was that mouse was now supported.

The articles included an Italian demoscene report and a Juhla 1995 party report. There were interviews with Guri Vomoui of Purple, Mental Floss and Mystical of Purple. In the programming section the Turbo Pascal tutorial was continued and there was an introduction to Extended Backus-Naur Form (EBNF). Moreover, there were another article on fractals, the charts and various other texts which didn't really interest me.

Contrast #3

The final issue of Contrast is from December 1995. With a new engine, a simplified main menu and a higher contrast between text and background, it made a positive impression. The charts had three new categories, coders, graphicians, and musicians. There were a fiction corner and several interviews (Cosmic of Radical Rhythms, Dj moses, Draygen of Pure Resistance, Oliver Lieb, Necros of Five Musicians, and Stripe). A whole section was devoted to upcoming The Party 1995, with competition info, addresses, behaviour guidelines, etc. The articles dealt with tracking, MIDI, why the Scandinavians and the Finnish were dominating the scene and moomins. The engine also supported inline images inside the articles. All in all Contrast #3 didn't impress me much in spite of the technical improvements because the contents were not too interesting.

Adok/Hugi