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Should I fix the Oric Giga Demo?

category: general [glöplog]
 
In 2001, we released this demo https://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=3102 at the VIP Party.

The demo was supposed to have a music (the music was made) but at the time we did not have a good loader and just before the deadline we had to drop our loader and use the Oric DOS to load the demo, which in practice means that the demo loads very slowly, and it does not have any music (the music was supposed to be in the memory that the DOS is using).

Now that I released a decent loader system (the one used for Pushing The Envelope), I could theoretically make a new version of this demo, with a music.

Now the problem is that the original music is gone (it was made by Twilighte, who passed away last year, and we don't have any backup of it), and the source code of the entire demo is not complete (which means I would have to locate 'binary blobs' on the original floppy and load them with the new loader - hoping the would work as is.

So basically the question that comes (assuming I can do it) are:
- Is it worth doing it at all?
- If I can do it, should I keep the demo as is, or remix it?
- Would anyone be willing to compose an original soundtrack for it?

Thanks for any feedback on that :)
added on the 2014-03-29 21:24:08 by Dbug Dbug
I propose you make a demo about it.
added on the 2014-03-29 21:41:36 by numtek numtek
Personally, I'd spend the effort on making something new, even if the original is in a dire need of a soundtrack. The very least, a remix would be nice.
added on the 2014-03-29 21:44:23 by Preacher Preacher
Quote:
by Preacher:
Personally, I'd spend the effort on making something new, even if the original is in a dire need of a soundtrack. The very least, a remix would be nice.

Well you could pull a Lemon. and redo the old one with recodes and completely new effects then blow everyone away at a major demoparty. :D
did you promise a final? if not. dont bother. :)
added on the 2014-03-29 23:24:14 by maali maali
I vote for anything that results in new oric releases (within reason)
added on the 2014-03-30 00:00:39 by xeron xeron
My word: do sth new.
Unless the fixes are one or two evening job. No more.
Or if one day you have strongly promised yourself to do a final.
Whatever you hear/read - do what you FEEL!
added on the 2014-03-30 01:42:57 by sim sim
I never promised a final, but this demo had some very nice looking visuals in some of the parts, and it always felt annoying to show it to people in parties - having to excuse for the lack of sound.

Yesterday I fixed Born In 1983 which had a loader bug resulting in random crashes during the loading and it not working on the new Cumulus devices. Took about three hours to convert from the old to the new loader, so that was not particularly painful.

I don't expect fixing this demo to use the new loader and music player taking more than a week-end, the big question is mostly the music.

I could go the easy way and use any Atari ST/Spectrum/MSX music and be done with it, or I guess I could try to contact YM/AY musicians and ask them for an original tune to fit the actual demo content.
added on the 2014-03-30 11:07:30 by Dbug Dbug
do it :) With or without new music, although preferably new if you can get a tune.
added on the 2014-03-30 11:54:04 by xeron xeron
+1
I would say: DO IT.
added on the 2014-03-30 17:52:01 by ltk_tscc ltk_tscc
@dbug,
which AY tracker is usable (read: replay routine exists in some form) on Oric? Vortex, Arkos or something completely different?
added on the 2014-03-30 18:34:16 by bonefish bonefish
@bonefish: Basically the only players we had were for Twilighte's music editor, which only him was ever able to use.

All my recent demos are using pure AY register dumps stored in MYM format, it's not super efficient, but on the other hand I can replay most Atari or Amstrad musics as-is (as long as it does not use timers it generally sounds ok).

My latest demo is using many known Atari musics converted that way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IOhvOnHsVY
added on the 2014-03-30 19:18:37 by Dbug Dbug
thanks for the info. i was just wondering if any of those tracker can be replayed directly, so you can more easily find the musician.
added on the 2014-03-30 22:52:02 by bonefish bonefish
If it is derranging/annoying you that the demo has some minor/major lacks, you know already the answer. =)
added on the 2014-03-31 15:26:22 by sim sim
sim: What annoys me is that the demo lacks music. I don't have a particular opinion on what kind of music it should have:
- If reusing some old Atari ST music is fine with everybody, then I would just stop there.
- If it feels horrible to people, then instead I would go the next mile and try to get an original music.

I guess what I can do is a two step approach:
- I fix the demo with the new loader, and use some placeholder music which I think would work with the demo.
- I then contact some musicians and if they are interested they can easily check the demo knowing how it looks, they rythm, etc... knowing that the music player actually works.

Sounds like a plan?
added on the 2014-03-31 18:41:27 by Dbug Dbug
Sounds like a plan. Now do it :D
added on the 2014-03-31 19:16:37 by xeron xeron
Dbug:
Personally, new music would be "ossom". Try to contact some AY musicians. No preference, but i.e. Yerzmyey/Hooy Program, among others (he is helpful and knows ZX and ST machines well).

Good plan, you have. Good luck. =)
added on the 2014-04-01 11:00:44 by sim sim
The restorationist in me would fix it, but that's probably just me.
added on the 2014-04-01 13:46:20 by Gargaj Gargaj
Dbug you know I love Oric demos, so keep'em coming :)
added on the 2014-04-01 14:06:50 by skurk skurk
I started and decided to document the process, who knows, that may interest people.
http://forum.defence-force.org/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=1074

I'm not sure yet of where it's going, but hopefully it's going somewhere!
added on the 2014-04-06 12:31:04 by Dbug Dbug
Cool. I like good dev blog.
added on the 2014-04-06 12:41:43 by xeron xeron

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