Demoscene the Amiga renaissance
Volume 3 1997-2023

The story so far...

The Amiga demoscene had been going from strength to strength from almost before it was launched. Through the decade covered in the first 2 books we've witnessed a huge explosion on creativity - both artistically and technically - through thousands of releases.  Would this continue? What was next for the Amiga demoscene?

Demoscene The Amiga renaissance

Commodore filed for bankruptcy in 1994. One year later ESCOM, a PC manufacturer and chain of computer stores, bought what was left of the company¹. The elegance and efficiency of the Amiga architecture had finally been beaten by Moore’s law, and the PC: x86 processors, with supporting graphics and sound cards, were able to do way more than even the most powerful Amiga simply by having more transistors in their components, higher clock speeds, cheaper storage and better communication options. Sceners, gamers, and the public in general, were migrating to PCs.

In the demoscene, Amiga 4 channel modules gave way to full scores composed and mixed on PC, taking way more space than the Amiga floppy could provide. Hand drawn low resolution graphics with indexed colour were stomped by 24 bit artwork created with Photoshop, or full 3D worlds with texture mapping, coupled with effects made possible by raw power that the Amiga simply could not conceive.

Those who remained faithful to the Amiga often tried to create similar 3D graphical spectaculars, requiring more and more hardware until the most powerful (and expensive) processor in Motorola’s 68k family was a requirement, along with lots of disk space to play back the fully sampled soundtrack…  Were these Amiga demos?

In 1991, 2266 Amiga demos were released² making up nearly 50% of all releases. By 2001, that figure was 170 – just under 10% of releases that year. Naturally demographics had a strong influence too, as the once-young sceners had to prioritise jobs, family and other commitments instead of slaving away to create their unique blend of art and science.

For a decade, the Amiga – and indeed the overall demoscene – was moribund. The 53 Amiga releases in 2010 made up less than 5% of the total demoscene output.  Computers had become just a business tool, and creating demos earned you nothing other than recognition from a subculture,

It seems all of Gaul the scene is entirely occupied by Romans PCs. Well, not entirely… One small village community of indomitable Gauls Amigans still holds out against the invaders

Something wonderful has happened. Your Amiga is alive!

2011, for the first time in a decade, the number of Amiga productions increased, despite the overall number of releases decreasing. And this trend continued, with over 100 demos released every year from 2014 onward. (As an aside, the C64 has followed a similar trend, with its leanest year in 2009 but growth since. PC productions have however been on a downward trend since then.)

Demos were back. The demoscene is back. In 1995, AGA overtook OCS demos in terms of the number of releases annually… until 2011, when OCS took over, and hasn’t dropped back since. In 2021, just 10% of Amiga demos were AGA, with the rest being OCS.

Many sceners have come out of retirement, tempted by the chance to relive their youths, or through having more time to reconnect with their passion. The challenge of once more creating the impossible on what is now seen as limited hardware, with limited resources, is appealing, with the majority choosing the more limited OCS as their canvas. And the quality of productions is incredible, with many running on a single floppy disk, and compatible with the venerable Amiga 1000, designed nearly 40 years ago!

The Amiga scene – and the wider demoscene targeting 8 and 16 bit platforms – is enjoying a renaissance. In this book "Demoscene the Amiga renaissance", we explore the downs, and then ups, of the Amiga demoscene from  1997 to the present day.

¹ For more information, see Commodore: The final years, by Brian Bagnall, or Wikipedia, or any number of online histories. They all make for depressing reading for Amiga fans.
² Source: Pouet.net, data downloaded on october 5th 2022

Demoscene the Amiga years story

Volume 1 / 1984 - 1993 - Demoscene the Amiga years (on sale editions64k.fr)
Volume 2 / 1994 - 1996 - Demoscene the AGA years (on sale editions64k.fr)
Volume 3 / 1997 - 2023 - Demoscene the Amiga renaissance (this campaign)

The project

Demoscene the Amiga renaissance is the third and last volume of our series dedicated to the Amiga demoscene. There's nearly 40 years of the Amiga demoscene now available to those feeling nostalgic,  Over 1,000 pages, and no less than 4.5kg, are contained in these 3 volumes, everything that made, and makes, the history and story of this subculture that is the demoscene.

Details about the book

• Same format as volume 1 & volume 2
• High quality book printing
• Book title in front and back printed in silver finish
• English Edition
• Hardcover edition, offset printing, sewn binding
• High quality pictures 300DPI
• Finished format 165 × 230 mm
• ~450 colour pages
• 135 gr glossy coated paper
• More than 90 demos presented
• Soft touch front + UV coating
• 2mm cardboard cover

A lot of legendary groups

Abyss / Anadune / Arsenic / Artwork / Bomb / Brainstorm / Capsule / C-lous / CNCD / Cocoon / Darkage / Dekadence / Deph / Desire / Dual Crew Shining / Elude / Embassy / Encore / Ephidrena / Essence / Extend / Flex / Floppy / Focus Design / Ghostown / Gods /  Haujobb / Insane / Lemon. / Limited edition / Loonies / Loveboat / Madwizards / Mankind / Maturefurk / Mellow Chips / Melon dezign / Mystic / Nah Kolor / Nerve Axis / Network / Offence / Ozone / Potion / Ramses / Rebels / Resistance / RNO / Sanity / Scarab / Scenic / Scoopex / Silicon / Skarla / Smoke / Spaceballs / Subspace / Supergroup / Suspend / The Black Lotus / The Deadliners / TRSI / Unique / Wanted team / Zenon
and more...

If you are a scener of this time (1997-2023) and you want to participate in this new book through your testimonial contact us by email at contact@editions64k.fr

The goodies

Bookmark & Postcard

A new pack of 15 bookmarks and 15 postcards with full colour printing front and back, matte laminate 250g coated semi-matte.

Extend goodies pack by reaching two more goals!

+2K we add two metallic paper postcard. Full colour printing double sided matte laminate 250g coated semi-matte.

+2K we add three more metallic paper postcard. Full colour double sided printing matte laminate  250g coated semi-matte. Making a total of 5 exclusive postcard.

Book set

Get 2 or 3 volumes at same time. An opportunity to get with a reduced price.

Shipping

Deliveries available in Europe, and a lot of other countries such as the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and Canada. If your country is not available contact us.

About us

Editions64k is an independent book publisher create on 2018 based in Biarritz France.

"Demoscene The Amiga Years" book series was created as a celebration of and tribute to the demoscene, demogroups and demo artists. Our ambition is to publish books about computer culture from the 80s and 90s. We are a small team and long time Amiga fans.

Boucourt Christophe - Logone / Extasy ^ Artcore dezign ^ X-Dream ^ Move (PC)
https://demozoo.org/sceners/26619
Publisher / Editor / Author

I was born in 1973 and remember my first computer from when I was 11, which was an Amstrad CPC 6128. Very quickly I was drawn to the demoscene, and started creating with my keyboard on OCP Art Studio. The first demos I saw were on a Commodore 64, and quickly I had the chance to own an Amiga 500 and discover Deluxe Paint IV, Protracker and the Amiga demoscene. With some friends we tried to make demos. I remember: Eight, Sunrise, Tex, Insomniak. I always liked watching demos and almost all of my floppy disks were demos. I decided to choose as a nickname "Logone", inspired by a group that I liked on Amstrad called "Logon System". The demoscene and the Amiga plays an important role in my personal and professional life, and I wanted through this book to give back what she brought me.

Nick Lines - Grebo / TFC, Psychadelia (sic), occasional asm coder
Translator / Proofreader

My love of demos started with the Amiga, first from PD companies such as 17 bit, then through swapping locally and further afield. Following Jolyon Ralph's "learn to code" in Amiga Computing I created a few intros, pack disk loaders etc: all simple, but fun stuff.  There's 13 working Amigas in my home office, from the 1000 to 4000 and all points in between. Former freelancer for Amiga Computing, CU Amiga, and editor of other Amiga books.

Richard Karsmakers - Cronos / Amazing Cracking Conspiracy ^ Quartermass Xperiment ^ Flash Cracking Group ^Thalion
https://demozoo.org/sceners/2540
Proofreader

I started on Commodore 64 in 1986, switched to the Atari ST in 1988, later to the Falcon. At various times been member of Flash Cracking Group, Desaster Area, the Amazing Cracking Conspiracy, Dutch Muggers Association and Quartermass Xperiment. Exclusively non-scener PC user since the end of 1996.

Stretch goal

21 000€ - 1st Goal reached!
The book is funded

22 000€ - 2nd Goal reached!
+ 2 exclusive metallic paper postcard. Full color double sided printing matte laminate 250g coated semi-matte.

24 000€ - 3rd Goal reached!
+ 5 exclusive metallic paper postcard. Full color printing double sided matte laminate 250g coated semi-matte.

26 000€ - 4th Goal reached!
+16 pages added to the book

Books reviews in video

Unboxing and reviewing Demoscene - The Amiga Years, Volume 1

Unboxing and reviewing Demoscene - The AGA Years, Volume 2 1994-1996.

Thanks to Andrew Fisher from Merman TV for videos and reviewing
https://www.youtube.com/c/merman1974

Thanks to Bacchus from Fairlight for the review of demoscene the AGA years book on YouTube channel Fairlight TV.
https://www.youtube.com/c/FairLightHomeoftheRea...

Thanks to AmigaBill/TheGuruMeditation for the presentation of my last book demoscene the AGA years.
http://www.thegurumeditation.org
https://www.youtube.com/amigabill
https://www.twitch.tv/amigabill

Books reviews in Amiga press magazines

Amiga addict issue 14
https://www.amiga-addict.com/
https://www.amiga-addict.com/issue-14-on-the-sh...

ZZAP! Amiga issue 6
https://fusionretrobooks.com/collections/zzap-amiga

Amiga addict issue 11
https://www.amiga-addict.com/

Back to volume 1 and volume 2

"I (and a team!) translated and proof read this: it's an awesome history of the Amiga demoscene from the AGA years onwards. Huge congrats on this, it's a great book. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed working on it!"

"Arrived today from editions64K! Beautiful book, and I'm proud to have played a part in it with translation and editing. Any errors, blame me 😉 . Sneak peek below:"
- Nick Lines

"My received my Demoscene AGA years book. It looks great, beautifully made. I really like the stories behind some of the productions! Nice work"
- TheAmigaShow

"Demoscene – The Amiga Years is a book that tackles an interesting part of the retro computing history, the demoscene, specifically the one related to the Commodore Amiga and will cover the making of the best demos as well as the history of the most emblematic and best-known groups of the demoscene."
www.vintageisthenewold.com

"Demoscene the Amiga years volume 1 by editions64k.fr is an enormous 450-page book that showcases the spectacular audio-visual demos that established Commodore's Amiga as the world's most psychedelic computer."
www.boingboing.net

"Christophe Boucourt of Editions 64K recently dropped this beautiful work of art and significant historical document. The quality of the print, paper and assembly is fantastic. The combination of the tactile feedback from the book’s texture, the intense smell of a freshly cut and glued hard copy book and considering the gorgeous pictures and legendary content from all those Amiga demos I grew up with and loved made my heart race.

So much more than merely a book, it’s an experience of nostalgia and pride.
A historical document of the Pioneers of Multimedia."
- Danko / Fairlight
www.danko.se

"This is by far the best retro book i have and am loving the stories that go with the demos. What came out of the demo scene was truly art—wow 30 years ago. and I can remember waiting downloading and uncompromising these files to watch the magic. what these groups accomplished was amazing with the primitive tools and low level coding."
- Mick

"Although I was an Atari ST owner back then, I caught wind of this campaign and saw in it the perfect way to discover what "the other side" was doing. Respect to those amazing crews and respect to Editions 64K. The book looks and even feels impressive. Liked the bonus stuff too, and ultra professional shipment. Do keep me informed as to when Volume 2 appears on Indiegogo!"
- Richard Karsmakers

"Great work! Already looking forward to volume 2 ;)"
- Johan Roirand

"What a wonderful piece of art. So far I have only skimmed it but I know from what I have read so far this has been very well executed. Thank you so much for such a professional result."
- Michael Parker

"I love the book - thank you so much. It brings back some really nice memories of my early teen years in the early 90s. I love the interviews too."
- Simon Mullis

"Working my way through the excellent book 'Demoscene the Amiga Years Volume 1 by Editions 64K. Highly recommended.
Bringing back lots of great memories from the Amiga days, you can never have too much Anarchy in your life ;-)"
- Lee Thacker

"おフランスから荷物が届いたザンス。 #DEMOSCENE THE AMIGA YEARS VOL.1 1984-1993 全頁カラーのズッシリ本だったザンス。"
あらⓅ★

"Thanks for the delivery... awesome book... lots of memories!"
- Fader Factory

"Love that new book smell! Brilliant release by Editions 64K. I wasn't exactly part of this generation but was heavily influenced by it."
- Diogo Teixeira

"What a beautiful book! Thanks, Editions 64K! Need to watch some Amiga demos tonight."
- Oliver Hermanni

Damn it’s gonna be hard to go back to work now!"
- Luca

"Non potete immaginare l’incredibile emozione di ricevere questo meraviglioso tomo di 450 pagine, totalmente dedicato alla scena demo Amiga. Sono stato letteralmente travolto da un mare di ricordi… maledetta nostalgia canaglia! Thank you so much Editions 64K. Amiga rulez forever!"
- TMB

"Ohhhhhhhh, just arrived on the other side of the Atlantic. Beautiful book.... RedSectorInc forever!"
- Shazz

"Thank Editions 64K for the wonderful Book about The Amiga Demoscene, excellent quality and a great fun to read/watch/remember!"
- Random

"Today is a good day. Thank you Editions 64K for this gem of a timecapsule!"
- Suspiria72

"Thank you Editions 64K for sending me back 30 years ago! Coding on Amiga was so great, and it was a real pleasure to work in the DRD Team with talented people like Moby, Zebig, Antony, and many others!"
- Redlight / Dreamdealers

"Newest release by Editions 64K is looking gorgeous in my bookshelf."
- Microzeit Publishing

"Hop i well got the fantastic book i go to read! thanx a lot for paquet build, fantastic book and the time i will spend to read it! <3"
- Steff Para

"I just got - 'DEMOSCENE: The AMIGA Years' book from Editions 64K and it's so good. I enjoyed helping with the book with some historical info & photos. Seeing a dozen of our productions throughout and the words of other Anarchy guys such as KREATOR and KREST is such a buzz. KREATOR talks about joining the AMIGA scene from the '64 and his first demo, the groundbreaking 'Phantasmagoria' he made with legendary musician 4Mat. It's not a book about 'us' though, it's about the whole Amiga demoscene and chronicles the best works from ALL the groups. The book is packed, high quality, brilliantly photographed and smells like a new book should. "
- Judge Drokk / Anarchy

"Eine Gruppe von französischen Demoscene-Fans hat 2020 ein faszinierendes Crowdfunding-Project auf die Beine gestellt: Ein Buch über die AMIGA-Demoscene, das die Jahre 1984-93 abdeckt. Da ich mit dem AMIGA Ende der 1980er Jahre aufgewachsen bin, habe ich die Demos geliebt, die die Fähigkeiten des Computers präsentiert hatten. Die Megademos von Budbrain, TRSI, Fairlight, Scoopex, Kefrens, Spaceballs‘ 9 Fingers u.a. gehörten damals wie heute zu meinen Favoriten.

Vor wenigen Tagen ist mein Exemplar angekommen. Das Buch mit seinem edlen Hardcover-Einband mit silberner Prägung zeigt auf über 450 (!) Seiten die besten Szenen von über 90 der bekanntesten AMIGA-Demos. Zu den Demos sowie den Machern gibt es jeweils umfangreiche Hintergrundinfos (in englischer Sprache)."
www.datistics.de