The legacy of Nextempire
category: general [glöplog]
I came to the conclusion that a surprising number of people aren't familiar with the Nextempire saga, so here's a brief history of the phenomenon for the uninitiated. Needless to say, I love the drama aspect of it all :)
Kozmik, now known as Baudsurfer, founded a demogroup called Nextempire (the name being an anagram of "experiment") in early 1999.
In the news section of Hugi #15 in May 1999, Nextempire was looking for members and claimed that they "will pay all travel costs to demoparties for their members". In Hugi #18, December 1999, they announced their new website.
In November 1999 they released Wonder Woman. According to the group's PR person Kemiks, in response to criticism about the intro's design, "design is something people say when they do not want to let it be seen that they don't know what they are talking about. Design - and liking it - is purely subjective. Skill however is a fact. And skill of NE can be seen in NE's source codes."
Then in December 1999, they released their most notable production of the year, The Horror, which is hilarious. Highly recommended. According to Kozmik, "This demo rules. Period. there are already over 300 pics on one single disk technically, and the subject is obviously beyond the intellectual scope of such as Jibe and Tomaes, who just write ascii mags and whine about makers clueless. Take a look at it, and see who is really a lamer. You just might be surprised..."
In Hugi #19, April 2000, an interview with 28-year-old Kozmik and his new group was published. In the interview he states the goal of the group to be "doing non-serious things seriously". As an example of this, they have registered Nextempire as a company and as a trademark in order to "lock the demogroup's destiny". He also mentions the group's strict nickname policy (6 letters, all caps, must start with a K) - the main reason for which was "intrinsic and tacite cohesion", because "too much open-mindness is somewhat sometimes a brake to time-contrainted progress".
In the same issue of Hugi there was also a bizarre article titled "The first cult of the demoscene?", written by someone called "Harry Sonford" (yes, a pun on Harrison Ford) or "Dr. Ken Lanceback". The article includes, among other things, this quote (which IIRC is from Nextempire's website at the time): "NEXTEMPIRE is considered by peers of the demoscene as one of the top 10 demogroups ever and its members usually obtain VIP tickets at demoparties". Another quote from Nextempire states that they have "over 13 members each knowing at least one programming language".
In the next issue, Hugi #20 in August 2000, there's an almost equally bizarre reply titled "Nextempire is not the first cult!" by someone called "Afghanbashi / El Afghano".
Also in August 2000, Nextempire released Pacman4k, the nfo of which states that "the source code (1 file) will be made available on NEXTEMPIRE day (14/10) of this year at nextempire.com".
Then, in September 2000, another comedy masterpiece, got2, was released at the Canadian demoparty Coma. According to Kozmik, it was their "first attempt in accelerated world before acclaimed hits such as 'Radiance'". At the same party the group also released AddPixel which I believe was made in DarkBasic. The "acclaimed hit" Radiance was released in December 2000, and apparently "most people seem to like this one (except Zone), it appeals to all who believe in the magic of the creator and ACTG". All three productions are well worth watching for a few giggles.
In February 2001 they released (the surprisingly adequate) Shaven Raven, a few months before its young Finnish coder left the group. According to him, Kozmik "released the sources of this intro without the permission of the coders, who left NE for the lameness of it". Of course the situation developed into a a brilliant flamewar between the head honchos of Nextempire and the new groupmates of the coder in question. In the comments of Timeloss, his previous production released in December 2000, Kozmik first calls him "a talented 16 year old coder", and after his departure, "it was very hard to do gfx and music with such weak code".
In the news corner of Hugi #22 in April 2001, a certain Swedish graphics artist announced that he's leaving Nextempire "due to some conflicts concerning why I (we) do demos and such". Naturally another flamewar ensued between Kozmik and the new group.
Then, in December 2001, the ground trembled and stars fell off the sky as Nextempire released their most legendary production - Rush Hour. Everything about it is just perfect. It can be considered a cult classic, and even got a fantastic sequel in the form of Rush Hour 2 released by the aptly named group Next Empire during the Next Empire Celebration Week 2006.
Unfortunately Rush Hour was to be Nextempire's swan song. In Hugi #24 in January 2002, Nextempire's PR person Kemiks announced that they're "awake from [their] dormant phase and back to demomaking" and "looking for pixeller(s)". Alas, to the best of my knowledge, they never released another production.
Finally, in the news corner of Hugi #28 in September 2003 Kozmik announced that he has "officially quit the demoscene and the scene altogether".
Thus ended the epic saga of Nextempire... but the legacy has lived on throughout the years and shall not be forgotten!
(Bonus links: Next Empire Tribute Weeks 2005 & 2006, 2007 and 2009!)
Epilogue: Some time in early 2003 (that is, before his official departure from the scene) Kozmik went door to door trying to find a suitable group to release his upcoming demo under. After asking at least Fairlight, Haujobb and Scoopex, he settled in with TRSI and released Mikado in March 2003. The demo is, of course, comedy gold. As for why he decided not to release the demo under the legendary Nextempire label, we will never know.
Afterwards he was kicked out of TRSI in either 2002, 2003 or 2005, but continued to appear on Pouet as kozmik_TRSi until 2008, while he hilariously contemplated on taking over the group and kicking Warhead out.
He seems to have changed his opinion about the roots of TRSI from "Irata put me there and only him can put me out : withtout Irata, there would not be any RSi in TRSi" (2008) to "Steve put me in this group, only Steve can take me out" (2008) to "You [Warhead] and Irata have nothing to do with rsi." (2014).
He's also changed his recollection of his own roots from "I was cosysop of this in 88/89 :+1-5152553212 Down of Immortality (ex Pirate's Ship TRSi/WHQ)" (2008), to "in the summer of 1985 The Skeleton and Baudsurfer were asked to set up RSI's WHQ Pirate's Ship BBS" (2014), to "Red Sector Inc. (RSI) was founded by Baudsurfer, Bill Best, Greg, Kangol Kid and The Skeleton in 1985" (2014).
But I digress :)
Kozmik, now known as Baudsurfer, founded a demogroup called Nextempire (the name being an anagram of "experiment") in early 1999.
In the news section of Hugi #15 in May 1999, Nextempire was looking for members and claimed that they "will pay all travel costs to demoparties for their members". In Hugi #18, December 1999, they announced their new website.
In November 1999 they released Wonder Woman. According to the group's PR person Kemiks, in response to criticism about the intro's design, "design is something people say when they do not want to let it be seen that they don't know what they are talking about. Design - and liking it - is purely subjective. Skill however is a fact. And skill of NE can be seen in NE's source codes."
Then in December 1999, they released their most notable production of the year, The Horror, which is hilarious. Highly recommended. According to Kozmik, "This demo rules. Period. there are already over 300 pics on one single disk technically, and the subject is obviously beyond the intellectual scope of such as Jibe and Tomaes, who just write ascii mags and whine about makers clueless. Take a look at it, and see who is really a lamer. You just might be surprised..."
In Hugi #19, April 2000, an interview with 28-year-old Kozmik and his new group was published. In the interview he states the goal of the group to be "doing non-serious things seriously". As an example of this, they have registered Nextempire as a company and as a trademark in order to "lock the demogroup's destiny". He also mentions the group's strict nickname policy (6 letters, all caps, must start with a K) - the main reason for which was "intrinsic and tacite cohesion", because "too much open-mindness is somewhat sometimes a brake to time-contrainted progress".
In the same issue of Hugi there was also a bizarre article titled "The first cult of the demoscene?", written by someone called "Harry Sonford" (yes, a pun on Harrison Ford) or "Dr. Ken Lanceback". The article includes, among other things, this quote (which IIRC is from Nextempire's website at the time): "NEXTEMPIRE is considered by peers of the demoscene as one of the top 10 demogroups ever and its members usually obtain VIP tickets at demoparties". Another quote from Nextempire states that they have "over 13 members each knowing at least one programming language".
In the next issue, Hugi #20 in August 2000, there's an almost equally bizarre reply titled "Nextempire is not the first cult!" by someone called "Afghanbashi / El Afghano".
Also in August 2000, Nextempire released Pacman4k, the nfo of which states that "the source code (1 file) will be made available on NEXTEMPIRE day (14/10) of this year at nextempire.com".
Then, in September 2000, another comedy masterpiece, got2, was released at the Canadian demoparty Coma. According to Kozmik, it was their "first attempt in accelerated world before acclaimed hits such as 'Radiance'". At the same party the group also released AddPixel which I believe was made in DarkBasic. The "acclaimed hit" Radiance was released in December 2000, and apparently "most people seem to like this one (except Zone), it appeals to all who believe in the magic of the creator and ACTG". All three productions are well worth watching for a few giggles.
In February 2001 they released (the surprisingly adequate) Shaven Raven, a few months before its young Finnish coder left the group. According to him, Kozmik "released the sources of this intro without the permission of the coders, who left NE for the lameness of it". Of course the situation developed into a a brilliant flamewar between the head honchos of Nextempire and the new groupmates of the coder in question. In the comments of Timeloss, his previous production released in December 2000, Kozmik first calls him "a talented 16 year old coder", and after his departure, "it was very hard to do gfx and music with such weak code".
In the news corner of Hugi #22 in April 2001, a certain Swedish graphics artist announced that he's leaving Nextempire "due to some conflicts concerning why I (we) do demos and such". Naturally another flamewar ensued between Kozmik and the new group.
Then, in December 2001, the ground trembled and stars fell off the sky as Nextempire released their most legendary production - Rush Hour. Everything about it is just perfect. It can be considered a cult classic, and even got a fantastic sequel in the form of Rush Hour 2 released by the aptly named group Next Empire during the Next Empire Celebration Week 2006.
Unfortunately Rush Hour was to be Nextempire's swan song. In Hugi #24 in January 2002, Nextempire's PR person Kemiks announced that they're "awake from [their] dormant phase and back to demomaking" and "looking for pixeller(s)". Alas, to the best of my knowledge, they never released another production.
Finally, in the news corner of Hugi #28 in September 2003 Kozmik announced that he has "officially quit the demoscene and the scene altogether".
Thus ended the epic saga of Nextempire... but the legacy has lived on throughout the years and shall not be forgotten!
(Bonus links: Next Empire Tribute Weeks 2005 & 2006, 2007 and 2009!)
Epilogue: Some time in early 2003 (that is, before his official departure from the scene) Kozmik went door to door trying to find a suitable group to release his upcoming demo under. After asking at least Fairlight, Haujobb and Scoopex, he settled in with TRSI and released Mikado in March 2003. The demo is, of course, comedy gold. As for why he decided not to release the demo under the legendary Nextempire label, we will never know.
Afterwards he was kicked out of TRSI in either 2002, 2003 or 2005, but continued to appear on Pouet as kozmik_TRSi until 2008, while he hilariously contemplated on taking over the group and kicking Warhead out.
He seems to have changed his opinion about the roots of TRSI from "Irata put me there and only him can put me out : withtout Irata, there would not be any RSi in TRSi" (2008) to "Steve put me in this group, only Steve can take me out" (2008) to "You [Warhead] and Irata have nothing to do with rsi." (2014).
He's also changed his recollection of his own roots from "I was cosysop of this in 88/89 :+1-5152553212 Down of Immortality (ex Pirate's Ship TRSi/WHQ)" (2008), to "in the summer of 1985 The Skeleton and Baudsurfer were asked to set up RSI's WHQ Pirate's Ship BBS" (2014), to "Red Sector Inc. (RSI) was founded by Baudsurfer, Bill Best, Greg, Kangol Kid and The Skeleton in 1985" (2014).
But I digress :)
haha, brilliant! thanks for reminding everyone! :)
lol well that was a good read, I didn't know the flamboyant history of NE :)
PANTS OFF!
lol
Well, that was a good 30 minutes wasted on watching the old Nextempire DOS demos.
Well, that was a good 30 minutes wasted on watching the old Nextempire DOS demos.
lol
wtf, baudsurfer is kozmik! i never knew. thanks, reed! great summary.
Now I know, respect.
Thanks for this :)
so... Rush hour 3 at NE tribute week 2015? :)
awesome :) (Maali!!!)
KIITOS REED 1999-2014. What an excellent summary of historical crap.
KKEVIN!
I wonder if he still owns demoscene.com/net/org
too bad pouet doesnt let one thumb up threads :(
Kinda wish it was opensource, huh?
i'll submit a patch asap!
Quote:
I came to the conclusion that a surprising number of people aren't familiar with the Nextempire saga
You being the first one not to know very much about it in the first place :)
Your account is also very much biased and your use of irony to mock or convey contempt can only call for pity.
Kotzmik
You see.. diskmags are important to preserve demoscene history ;)
Baudsurfer: would be cool to hear your account on these as well :) Also, someone should make youtube captures of NE demos...
Reed, you Hugi fanboy!
by coincidence I was thinking of them last night (of kosmik and his comments on their great demos to be precise. wonder what happened to him).
Navis: kosmik = baudsurfer
and i dont say "great" ironically. Hell, they were entairtaining and memorable and now I feel nostalgic about them. Also, trivial, a founding member of ASD (and still with us after 22 years) has been moonlighting in NE for over a year!