pouët.net

What is your approach to start/think of/brainstorm a demo?

category: general [glöplog]
Preacher: I noticded how you always support the upcomers on pouet. For that I must say that you have the good attitude.

I've never released anything yet but when I see guys like you I say to myself that it's worth giving a shot...

[/admiration]

My original post was just a joke but this one is serious, really serious.
added on the 2013-03-06 15:17:38 by LovCAPONE LovCAPONE
You really shouldn't consider Debris as a starting point; FR also reached it after gathering 20 years of demo experience.

There are plenty of cool demos that are cool, but also achievable with basic coding knowledge.
added on the 2013-03-06 15:25:23 by Gargaj Gargaj
Gargaj: yup true. I don't think a size-limited prod for a firsties wouldn't be a good idea...

I think just a raw demo to start somewhere. Post it and gather the creative comments :-)
added on the 2013-03-06 15:28:11 by LovCAPONE LovCAPONE
would*
added on the 2013-03-06 15:29:31 by LovCAPONE LovCAPONE
I always show http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=4380 as an example - this is pretty much all you need to make something fun.
added on the 2013-03-06 15:35:48 by Gargaj Gargaj
Gargaj: Well for me democoding is like 75% creativity. You just need to be clever and often humour can really save a prod...

Sceners want to mostly have fun. I'm not a scener yet but when I see a fun clever prod, I don't analyze all the techniques used, how what who did the soft synth, etc... I just want to be entertained...

Now I should probably go make a demo about it...
added on the 2013-03-06 15:42:19 by LovCAPONE LovCAPONE
Quote:
I've never released anything yet but when I see guys like you I say to myself that it's worth giving a shot...


It's always worth giving a shot. If you need any help with it, just shoot me an e-mail :)
added on the 2013-03-06 15:59:02 by Preacher Preacher
I've written about my process a bit, but basically I like to work with existing music.

Other times, I just work on techy bits without music, and later on use those to "paint" the timeline.

In a project with larger team (like the 11 folk in 'gateways'), we started from a script of ideas with rough time estimates and the composers and coders worked separately on their bits until it was time to sync stuff (to rough versions of music) etc. It was a rather different beast than most of the demostuff I've done.

I understand some folk make whole demos first and then it's the composer's problem to fit in music - I've never done that, and I can only think that would work with really abstract stuff..
added on the 2013-03-06 16:27:25 by sol_hsa sol_hsa
Quote:
It's always worth giving a shot. If you need any help with it, just shoot me an e-mail :)


Hahahahaha getting help from Preacher. Ok I think I didn't sleep enough...

Thanks alot Preacher. I have ideas for 1-2 effects wich would fit in an intro... But if I find time to finally implement them I'll hit you up for advices/tips/etc...

Thanks again. Really appriciate it
added on the 2013-03-06 17:13:29 by LovCAPONE LovCAPONE
BB Image
added on the 2013-03-06 17:20:22 by Optimus Optimus
rainstorm
BB Image
added on the 2013-03-06 17:23:41 by panic panic
Well, first I would stop tumbling, and then I would kind of panic and think FTW!!! ...and then I would get calm and return to tumbling.
added on the 2013-03-06 17:45:16 by maytz maytz
i have a bunch of ideas that i want to try over and over until i finally get them right. also lots of notebooks filled with sketches i tend to forget about until after demo is done then oh yeah i shoulda done that then forget again XD

i'm starting again by doing some effects then building one out until its close to final quality and letting that set the bar for the demo then will repeat for a few more then find music and stomp on things until demo ready or deadline arrives.
added on the 2013-03-06 18:25:21 by blackpawn blackpawn
Quote:
and its the kinda thing best left up to a tracker than a coder


@h0ffman: This may come as a surprise but I'm a tracker, too. I just migrated to code department because I wanted us ON THE DAMN BIGSCREEN :D ... and some dude had to take the fall.
Novel recently wrote in an email that he already learnt a lot from you about sample packing 'n stuff.
I'd love to do a soundtrack again ( last one was for "Key To Success" in 2005 using Digibooster or Octamed Soundstudio).
added on the 2013-03-06 20:30:10 by d0DgE d0DgE
I enjoy saying things I trust in and I do want to express my feelings through art. And I really would like to do demos that express my ideas even though some of them might be wrong, and I hope people would then correct me if I'm wrong, but for now I haven't been able to do such demos because I haven't really come up with ways to express them in such a way it would be pleasing to watch. So for now I've been doing ambiance demos and stuff that relaxes my mind and hopefully other peoples minds. And thanks to Noby(or is it Nobies) musical talent I've been able to do atleast that. But for now those productions that I've made have been to be honest not that good overall. So my way of doing things has been a terrible way of doing demos and I do have to look in to that. I just make some effect or effects that I've been having in my head or something like that and then try to direct that into a mood, a feeling that the demo tries to push to the viewer. And that's not a good way to make good demos.
added on the 2013-03-06 20:40:47 by MuffinHop MuffinHop
What Kusma said.

Also: looking at demos created by FR or Fairlight or Still and thinking "ARGH! I CAN NEVER MAKE THAT!" is idiotic. It would be like watching "Lord of The Rings" and thinking the same thing -- or seeing "Angry Birds" selling more copies than anything else in existence and thinking that it happened over night.

It didn't. Success is accumulated failure. It took people years and even decades to come to that level of quality / success. The people who made LOTR made 10s of movies before it, starting with low-budget crap-fests, and the people who made "Angry Birds" made 10s of games, none of which became a success.

Ignoring the path to success and just caring about the observable past is dangerous and flawed.

There, pep-talk done :)
added on the 2013-03-06 20:48:20 by gloom gloom
gloom, you are right.
Someone might have these really cool ideas in his/hers head but they simply don't have the skill do do it yet and so they have to do some simpler productions first. But they just don't have the feel... the purpose mode for such smaller demos because they want to do the big demo right now!!! It took me way too long to surpass that kind of thinking but I think I've somewhat surpassed it now.
We just have to face reality that you cannot make your superduperdemo with your first, second and probably third demo unless you are some kind of wizard what most of us are not.

So people please keep making demos even if you think they are shit. And even if someone says they are shit. And ask what's wrong; ask what to do about it. Keep learning from your mistakes!
added on the 2013-03-06 21:28:38 by MuffinHop MuffinHop
*gets his robe and wizard hat*
added on the 2013-03-06 21:39:01 by maali maali
Quote:
Success is accumulated failure.


True! Failure is experience and experience leads to mastery and, eventually, success.
added on the 2013-03-06 23:28:47 by ham ham
Love where this thread is going, also nice to see people actually do have different starting points like daydreams - which blew my mind a little, as I feel like having lost that ability when growing older - yeah, yeah emo emo :P

Quote:
The tricky part is getting started; once the ball starts rolling, it cannot be stopped
--kusma
This is true, so finding an easy entry point is sometimes all it needs. Saw Pixtur doing sketches for demos, and think it's also a neat idea to start something. As it sets the tone, mood and also some boundaries so it won't totally stray away from the core idea (which isn't a bad thing per se - but a finished demo is a good demo).


I'd love to hear from the 1k/4k/64k people how they approach this, also how do you start without music at all?
added on the 2013-03-07 02:10:42 by mog mog

login