pouët.net

machines of madness by Dubius
[nfo]
screenshot
platform :
type :
release date : august 1996
release party : Assembly 1996
compo : pc demo
ranked : 1st
related :
  • 92
  • 20
  • 5
popularity : 70%
 70%
  • 0.74
  • 4
alltime top: #722
added on the 2000-09-05 11:11:52 by mrdoob mrdoob

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Big 3d scene, mirrors, realtime shadows, great industrial tracks, that demo simple rules !
added on the 2000-09-10 01:44:00 by rez rez
the first newer pc demo i've seen, so i love it a lot :) cool music and 3d.
added on the 2000-11-23 18:47:00 by robotriot robotriot
of its time, quite revolutional stuff that I was pop-eyed as well from this demo (and specially music).<br>
Dubius: Machines of Madness got to the <a href="http://www.message.sk/demos/archive.gold/">archive gold</a>, you have to be pleased, haven't you? :)
added on the 2001-03-01 09:35:58 by crs crs
Great 3d algos for it's epoch and very very smooth. Atmospheric music. I like the bumpmapping 3d effect very much!
added on the 2001-03-08 12:05:32 by Optimus Optimus
This prod Rulez. Fantastic soundtrack - fantastic big 3D scenes with full motion. Hmmm I love it too much..
rulez added on the 2001-06-24 16:49:47 by Trauma Zero Trauma Zero
vote. it even runs on my modern pc today without a problem :)
rulez added on the 2001-08-20 13:12:26 by robotriot robotriot
As Canonball said: "This prod Rulez". Simple as that. Great 3D, great music.
rulez added on the 2001-08-24 16:22:00 by fractalgp fractalgp
btw; placed 1st in the Assembly if my memory serves me right...
added on the 2001-09-06 21:51:51 by fractalgp fractalgp
One of the best prods ever made in a PC
rulez added on the 2001-09-06 21:56:25 by mac mac
a revolutionary one
rulezcdc added on the 2001-10-14 02:51:52 by PigPen PigPen
Cool 3d code back then...
rulez added on the 2001-10-24 14:03:35 by Optimus Optimus
Yup, a pretty nice demo, especially considering it's age. My favourite is the shiny bump-mapped bowl...
rulez added on the 2001-11-04 09:31:35 by sea_monkey sea_monkey
pf, rules, nice nice
rulez added on the 2001-11-19 04:02:19 by tolemaC tolemaC
Very very very good code, especially, the bumped bowl, or the reflection.
What I miss is the lack of design, or the meaning of the title, after all, only the last scene (the one with the guy, that gets his head split in half) fits it...
rulez added on the 2001-11-19 09:17:04 by Gargaj Gargaj
What gave me the shakes back then was the mirrors and the mech! And the gears! Anyway, a great demo of its time, among the best of the pc scene.
rulez added on the 2001-12-01 03:41:10 by moT moT
My main recollection of this demo is the motion blur!

It had nice code too, though.
added on the 2001-12-01 11:30:39 by sagacity sagacity
Technical excellence on the 3D engine. Slightly boring though, but only a little bit.. Still a must see.
rulez added on the 2002-01-02 06:27:43 by drstranger drstranger
great ambient, great music, great style, credits are ugly, great demo! :)
rulez added on the 2002-01-11 13:56:47 by mrdoob mrdoob
Excellent demo that deserved the 1st place at asm. Nice effects, 'dramatic' soundtrack. I like especially the mirror effect.
added on the 2002-01-29 04:41:26 by Crest Crest
3d scene / black screen / 3d scene / black screen ......
typical 96 pc demo, no design, no transitions, mediocre music
lots of animated 3d scenes without interest, and no link from one scene to another
i like the bump object, thats all
yeah and boring perspective correction, lame mirrors, shadows and look at the incredible slowness too. however, i could almost thumb it up for excellent graphical design beyond comparision (except maybe rotaliator and robotnik though) - like the kakkavanablur, scenes that end right in front of your nose and the overall play of colour and light.
added on the 2002-02-21 23:08:56 by 216 216
rox :)
rulez added on the 2002-04-23 12:27:31 by teel teel
!
rulez added on the 2002-04-23 14:52:16 by rp rp
awesome
rulez added on the 2002-04-23 15:11:46 by ileaardbei ileaardbei
it had an even weirder motion blur then caero though
added on the 2002-05-08 06:39:07 by psenough psenough
Bwoah. this gets the 'ugliest partywinner of 1996' and the no-dezign foundations 'achiever of the year' awards for sure (216: kakkavanablur hyvinkin:D). but it has all those other merits that make it a pig (i always liked the horsebowl and the shadows).
added on the 2002-05-08 09:35:57 by uncle-x uncle-x
disgusting
sucks added on the 2002-05-08 12:16:28 by _-_-__ _-_-__
vote
rulez added on the 2002-05-22 12:52:32 by JDruid JDruid
the asm'96 top three pc demos were all pretty terrible...
sucks added on the 2002-05-22 13:29:05 by saffron saffron
Ah, well. Those mirrors impressed me quite much back in the days. And the walking robot (mech?) at the end was a cool thing to look at too.
rulez added on the 2002-05-22 15:16:21 by tomaes tomaes
kick ass. _the_ demo on pc in 96.
rulez added on the 2002-07-15 18:09:49 by emoon emoon
Very good 3d demo, i especially like the mirrors that reflect the 3d environment.
rulez added on the 2002-07-15 18:13:41 by Wain Wain
wow...
rulez added on the 2002-07-29 20:18:36 by starbuck starbuck
i think it's cool and i like the music
rulez added on the 2002-09-20 13:28:17 by Dalton Dalton
"One of the best prods ever made in a PC"

so you'll need a case as large as a 4x4x2 to fit a few people inside, besides the hardware.
added on the 2002-09-20 14:13:33 by superplek superplek
mom is cool
rulez added on the 2002-09-20 14:18:01 by bizken bizken
I don't know why I haven't commented this yet, because this prod ROCKS!

Absolute code-porno!
rulez added on the 2002-10-22 10:36:25 by Scali Scali
faaast dos-3d. kickass industrial track'n'feel. the dubius-crew always felt a bit hostile though. :)
rulez added on the 2002-10-23 13:17:54 by gloom gloom
This totally blew me away! Especially the track and the mirror scene. I gotta see it again soon, it's been years.
rulez added on the 2002-11-05 21:02:28 by sprocket sprocket
technically the most advanced demo ever done.
rulez added on the 2003-07-19 22:54:51 by hfr hfr
this demo is dope

I mean, it isn't "Dope", but it's dope
rulez added on the 2003-12-23 01:16:30 by Hunsvotti Hunsvotti
THE DEMO !
rulezcdc added on the 2004-09-07 16:27:47 by AbcuG! AbcuG!
THE THING!
rulez added on the 2004-09-09 18:36:53 by Stelthzje Stelthzje





rulez added on the 2004-09-23 21:36:41 by dipswitch dipswitch
This was one of my favorite demos of all time.. some extremely advanced (For the time) 3d, although a few parts especially towards the end are cringeworthy. The music owns. The horse bowl is damn impressive even now. Worth watching! Just remember that this was during the height of the '3d über alles' period
rulez added on the 2004-11-05 21:31:05 by witeshade witeshade
rulez added on the 2004-11-05 21:39:22 by p01 p01
rulz
rulez added on the 2004-11-06 16:02:01 by blala blala
Boring. And I was so disappointed at Asm when this won instead of Toasted..
added on the 2004-11-06 16:24:31 by Preacher Preacher
An absolute monster. I love it. I love it so much!
rulez added on the 2004-11-18 23:19:42 by orb orb
yeeees
rulez added on the 2004-11-18 23:58:00 by maali maali
yipppi ye
rulez added on the 2004-12-29 01:06:09 by leaderc leaderc
My favourite PC demo!!!
BTW, I remember at The Part 1996 I was standing together with some guys from Depth and they were talking negative about PC demos and PC's.
Then at the neighbour-table, someone showed THIS demo. I was chocked!! And the funny thing was that the Depth guys were moaning and silent and not saying anything more about PC's.. hehe :))

The shadows and mirrors are still hard to beat!!
rulez added on the 2005-01-14 12:43:55 by gfbtm gfbtm
The music for this demo is what makes it really great, but also some of the effects are really cool. A great engine from Dubius!
rulez added on the 2005-07-16 15:56:23 by d3pth d3pth
One of the first pc demo I saw on my 486. That was really amazing!
rulez added on the 2005-07-16 16:15:49 by Buckethead Buckethead
rulez added on the 2005-08-01 21:56:30 by las las
One of the first prods on PC that I've seen
rulez added on the 2005-09-11 12:53:19 by bonzaj bonzaj
Has an ominous quality to it like all Dubius demos. Whether this has genuine or just accidental design is debatable but I love the idea: endless flow of strange objects with no apparent useful purpose in a dark universe. That is to say that they are Machines of madness.

Even with some less-than-great aspects the experience for me has always been pretty compelling. One of the few flybys I really enjoy.
rulez added on the 2005-10-04 22:21:15 by slux slux
rulez added on the 2005-10-12 16:27:42 by Skate Skate
Coder P0rn! One of the technically most advanced demos at its time!
rulez added on the 2005-10-12 16:53:31 by toxie toxie
It's pretty ugly, but still it has something special.
rulez added on the 2005-10-12 17:13:25 by [self-ban] [self-ban]
one of my favorites.
rulez added on the 2005-10-12 18:34:24 by 301 301
yeah
rulez added on the 2005-10-12 22:39:17 by zeebr zeebr
Too much 3D engine, bad textures, a little boring...was my first impresion on 1996 and in my recent revision...I prefer supertelevision from Orange in the same party...for sure
added on the 2005-12-07 14:57:26 by JaK JaK
awesome soundtrack and atmosphere, great effects. this pretty much defined the word "demo" for me for several years.
rulez added on the 2006-02-04 17:51:54 by Ger Ger
great demo in 1996.
awesome music!
and nice some 3dscene.
rulez added on the 2006-08-05 01:11:32 by got got
one of the bests!
rulez added on the 2006-08-05 01:16:50 by NuKem NuKem
wow nice one =)
music is realy addictive =)
rulezcdc added on the 2006-08-05 03:54:30 by [ProToS] [ProToS]
Great one!
rulez added on the 2006-09-10 18:54:42 by raer raer
old love
rulez added on the 2007-04-16 01:59:47 by whizzter whizzter
One of the great demo’s one should remember. I love it :)
rulez added on the 2007-04-26 16:06:39 by Admiral^Elyssis Admiral^Elyssis
love it
rulez added on the 2007-05-14 20:00:15 by dila dila
I actually gave up in 96 after seeing this one. I still get shivers down the spine from the environmental mapping scene and the amazing music.
rulez added on the 2007-07-02 08:17:32 by Navis Navis
yepyep. one of the bestest.
rulez added on the 2007-07-02 08:28:07 by TrX TrX
This demo is amazing ! Many actual demo are technically less advanced than this one.



rulez added on the 2007-09-06 23:03:07 by guille^cocoon guille^cocoon
1990s...music is ok
added on the 2007-09-06 23:18:39 by marlowe marlowe
i had mixed feelings about this one for a long time, but i guess it deserves it's thumb.
rulez added on the 2007-09-07 00:16:10 by psenough psenough
The mirrors and the picture distortion are great. The rest isn't bad, but the graininess and artefacts left onscreen detract greatly from its appeal.
Yeah it's a bit slow, but there is motion blur, dynamic lights, projected shadows, and mirrors everywhere. The only thing I don't like in this demo, is the dithered palette. Maybe in hicolor it would be even slower, but I really like to see that way.
rulez added on the 2007-10-21 22:58:53 by Alain Alain
I completely forgot about this demo. Amazing how technically advanced this actually is.
rulez added on the 2007-11-29 00:34:09 by datsua datsua
true classic.
rulez added on the 2007-11-29 01:09:22 by Murphy Murphy
i guess it must have been impresive back then. today only music does move me.
added on the 2008-01-31 00:06:42 by comankh comankh
really impressive for 96
added on the 2008-02-14 23:02:44 by zefyros zefyros
The code might be good but I agree with Preacher, this demo is simply boring. It's also way too long.
added on the 2008-02-15 09:53:38 by StingRay StingRay
wow.
rulez added on the 2008-04-30 12:59:24 by orange orange
hmmmm
added on the 2008-05-14 21:42:27 by gentleman gentleman
I think you should remember - this is from a time where EVERYone created an engine to showoff, and it aint harsware accelerated. Sure colors arent perfect, but the code is still above what many can do today.. not impressive today ? thats just not justified. And the swirl effect.. i remember it all to well.. unrivaled in speed in its one-frame performance on slow pentiums.. not many could optimize like that.
Just look what programmer can do today without ther direct x.
ofc.. thats just my oppinion:) but alpha blending planes and fully renderes 3d scenes are even more boring today sadly.
added on the 2008-10-15 19:12:30 by Dal Dal
Ooh classic! Like the music, gears and walker thingy. My old cyrix 233 had to run this many times..
rulez added on the 2008-10-15 20:55:24 by Emod Emod
I remember the very nice mirror effect...
rulez added on the 2009-02-02 15:13:18 by baah baah
Fluid 2D/3D anmimation and a marvellous soundtrack - still kicks 13 years later!
rulez added on the 2009-03-07 16:33:56 by T$ T$
Totally overrated.
sucks added on the 2009-03-12 01:50:10 by viznut/pwp viznut/pwp
that's right
rulez added on the 2009-05-16 19:49:34 by PENETRATOR PENETRATOR
:)
rulez added on the 2009-05-16 20:26:49 by texel texel
probably much harder to appreciate if you didn't see it when it came out. full 3d scenes were still very new in mid-1996, so pumping out one after another after another was still impressive. the very fast 3d bumpmap and polar picture distortions made for good interludes. it was still only 256 colors so blur artifacts were very visible, but they made good use of the palette overall. the music was full-power and made to astonish when several things were going on at once. dcb and a tg96 demo beat them to walking robots, though. :) the end scene looks a bit stale. overall, a great early 3d engine showoff and something a group can only get away with once or twice.
rulez added on the 2009-05-16 20:46:28 by phoenix phoenix
Absolutely amazing coderporn with great music.
rulez added on the 2009-05-16 23:05:24 by Calexico Calexico
Classic!
rulez added on the 2009-05-17 00:37:25 by Stebo Stebo
great memories, and a great milestone back then.
rulez added on the 2009-05-17 00:56:16 by dalezy dalezy
Every day, I open my PC and there is that article in my desktop.

BB Image

Then, at the night, I watch this great demo in my 486 box with the lights closed, to be taken away by it's scary atmosphere and kick ass 3d engine.

And then, I scream. AMIGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAa
added on the 2009-05-17 17:55:00 by Optimus Optimus
Something went wrong..

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added on the 2009-05-17 17:56:01 by Optimus Optimus
Pretty nice for -96, but it just feels there's something missing, it's too long imo to be just 3D as it becomes boring really fast. Didn't care for the music much either.
added on the 2009-08-23 22:01:24 by noby noby
good
rulez added on the 2009-12-31 03:30:58 by seppjo seppjo
MY THUMB!
rulez added on the 2010-08-17 09:58:20 by rez rez
Incredible.
The bump-mapped sphere rocked my socks off.
rulezcdc added on the 2010-12-27 05:25:04 by Negostrike Negostrike
Music is still pumping after those 15 years.
rulez added on the 2011-03-05 01:20:54 by wrthlss wrthlss
Fuck I love the music...
i want a 2011 remix of this tune
sucks except the shadow part. I do prefer caero.
sucks added on the 2011-07-28 08:40:20 by Bartoshe Bartoshe
Massive win in 1996! Great 3D, soundtrack, and nice syncro, esp. with the Lazur pic in various effects. We actually sat next to a few guys playing this in an endless loop at TP96 while we were doing our first Amiga intro. It took courage to not stop working immediately. ;)
rulez added on the 2011-07-28 08:58:33 by noname noname
All people who thumbed down this demo show their total lack of demoscene knowledge.

Ok this demo is a bit ugly but it was such a technical blast, and that's the real meaning of the demoscene, not all the artsy-fartsy wanabee demoscene poetry...
added on the 2011-07-28 10:33:54 by rez rez
Some artifacts, but nice
rulez added on the 2011-11-14 11:44:48 by Frequent Frequent
One of my all-time favorites. Technological feats, great design & music, the "virtual reality" vibe, it's all here.
rulez added on the 2012-08-08 21:50:53 by Jiggawatt Jiggawatt
While I do understand that it's from 1996, and remember it looking interesting back in the day, I still can't bring myself to thumb it up because some of the parts just make your eyes bleed. Ugly plasma textures motion blurred in 8-bit "RGB" :/ *shivers*
added on the 2014-01-03 21:39:44 by Marq Marq
I agree with gordon: a few rendering errors, grainy textures and kind of boring. I see others here enjoyed the soundtrack, but it didn't keep me wanting more. Sorry. :(
sucks added on the 2014-07-20 05:46:09 by Maraakate Maraakate
One of the best horse bowls I have seen so far.
rulez added on the 2015-04-23 14:15:56 by chock chock
Yeah, a really good horse bowl.
added on the 2015-04-23 14:37:11 by Preacher Preacher
Great demo
rulez added on the 2015-04-28 12:24:41 by bitl bitl
yep
rulez added on the 2015-04-28 15:01:23 by g0blinish g0blinish
.
rulez added on the 2015-10-26 00:00:10 by Fell Fell
whee, a motion blur that leaves a lot of color garbage on screen :)
nice music also, thought it was fucked up by crappy SB replayer
rulez added on the 2016-01-19 14:17:26 by wbcbz7 wbcbz7
never seen this before. very dark. not a feel good demo.
rulez added on the 2016-01-19 16:37:45 by 1in10 1in10
classic
rulez added on the 2017-01-31 13:28:50 by nagz nagz
Wow the music is very impressive!
rulez added on the 2017-05-10 14:07:12 by neoman neoman
This one raised the bar for direction of continuous 3D action back in the day. Still loving it - one of my alltime faves.
added on the 2017-05-10 14:44:22 by rp rp
classic demo for me. music is amazing and code is very good. obviously some textures and palettes could be better but I don't think it's such a big deal.
rulez added on the 2017-05-10 15:01:57 by dodke dodke
I remember seeing it on my 486 and thinking - how the hell is it possible in realtime??? Also, this demo convinced me that I needed a Pentium :P
rulez added on the 2017-08-14 22:39:40 by venex venex
still impresses when I consider HW reality back then. Huge inspiration to learn coding back in the 90ties.
rulez added on the 2019-02-18 07:14:23 by hollowone hollowone
fantastic stuff!
rulez added on the 2019-11-16 03:03:54 by rock rock
Saw this live at the Assembly '96, and after all these years, it still rules, especially the music!
rulez added on the 2022-10-11 20:04:55 by mayday mayday

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