C64 Demo: Next Level by Performers ! 3 June 2023! #1 at X23!

[@ludeksmetana8696]

Sometimes I thought the demoscene had progressed so far that it couldn't be pushed any further. And then the Performers come along and wipe my eyes clean. This is a total blast, gentlemen...

[@LoneyD]

yep. it’s simply incredible. watched it full in awe.

[@BillAnt]

Yeah well, at 12:15 In GEOS there's a "Porn" folder... cracked me up. lol

[@CrassSpektakel]

I loved the cameo of the C= demo balloon most. I guess only real C64-Dudes know where it came from. Ok, watched the whole demo. And I did some back myself in the days. For most demos I instinctively know how they were made. But in this demo I saw several effects which I considered impossible on a 64k/1Mhz system. I bow my head in amazement.

[@wizdude]

The C64 balloon brought back good memories for me as well 😊

[@csgowoes6319]

Yeah, I don't have the remotest idea how some of this is done, and the makers of the C64 certainly never imagined anything like this could be done. It's funny how the demo is technologically miles ahead of most of the games depicted, even though it's the same machine.

[@HansSiemons]

#TeamBalloon right here. I was at a C64 event earlier this year and I had so much nostalgia browsing through the book and seeing that balloon sourcecode again.

[@pragmax]

This is some proper VICII disrespect. I love it. 4:00 - whoa 5:00 - how? 8:00 - HOW?! 12:00 - disk drive suffers a heart attack from loading that nostalgia sequence non-stop 15:00 - yes I do, thanks for asking. 17:00 - looks simple, but is kind of novel for a lavalamp/plasma effect 17:40 - VICII: "I'm tired now." Performers: "Too bad. Render this 3D scene with lighting, rotation, translation, materials, and make it snappy." There's bending the rules and exploiting the occasional silicon bug, but these guys just combined every last trick into one demo. "Next Level" indeed.

[@AddyBook]

Wow! So far nothing better seen, you rock times really the C64 off! Let's keep the C64 alive all as we are there.

[@ProBloggerWorld]

Stunning. Hypnotizing intro was pure magic. Mahoney’s style reminds me of Cycleburner.

[@christophstrokosch1992]

Wow what wahat what was this??? Wow , no words for this incredible masterpiece!

[@mattpierce5009]

My favorite demo of the past decade. Top-notch effects, Linus killing the soundtrack as always, and a positive, upbeat theme. 64 out of 10

[@dieterkalt4281]

I am absolutely blown away by this experience! It feels like a wonderful trip down memory lane. all the memories flood back as I explore and reminisce. It's amazing how time can seem to stand still in certain moments, while at the same time speeding by in others. This has truly been an incredible journey that I will always cherish! i am speechless ty, ty, ty, i have to watch this again ! next level is on point

[@CBM64]

The 100 games section must've taken a tremendous amount of work. ❤ Mahoney

[@birchna]

Just.... how!?

[@tw1l1ght75]

lol, just wrote a similar comment on FB, was wondering how many months/years finishing that part alone took. 🔥🔥🔥

[@CBM64]

@@birchna i guess he would have to recreate every scene by hand

[@guidogouweloos]

This part blew my mind. Love it! I was wondering if they made some smart kind of screen/audio capture algorithm. For SID audio it would be pretty easy to dump all $d400-$d418 values per frame to a table. And putting the back to $d400-$d418 in the correct order. I am not aware of a normal SID player that could handle this much 'instruments' and soundseffect and still sound good. Although this would mean a lot data since it is 25 bytes per frame, they would need some smart compression there.

[@goldblatalex7516]

@@guidogouweloos moreover : Mahoney had to re-written some of WinVice engine , to save the snapshot , of the game , then to make it to some of custom data for compress and also wrote tables to capture the on-going music sid filters + notes + waveforms data , thermendous work i believe took him more than a year to do it !

[@C64sidVSsid]

The best demo ever on C64 ! The first place is correct ! They made a hard work and very fabulous demo... transitions, graphics and musics are perfect ! Whaouuu

[@marcteufel8348]

I love the credits scroller in the beginning and of course the 100 moments oh no i like simply everything in this great demo !!!!!

[@rfxtuber]

The 100 games segment could not of been done better with video editing for peeks sake? WTH!!!! How!!! Legendary! Blown away!!!!! C64 is the true 8bit KING there is just no argument anymore... Amazing

[@axelheld6655]

Total spritzig, das Gemüt erwärmend, tolle Klänge und optische Eindrücke. Wow!

[@NotMarkKnopfler]

Holy moly! It looks more like an Amiga demo than a Commdore 64. Absolutely un-freaking-believable!

[@marhete5]

Simply insane!!! ❤

[@FPAMulleDE]

I was wondering this runs really on the breadbox? Incredible! I am speechless!

[@plume...]

It's going to be a decade until someone beats this. Actually, I think this is it.

[@mjy]

Simply amazing.

Great work guys! Thanks for the show!

[@w.o.t.w.-8bit-demoscene738]

Next Level definetely ....:) congrats!!

[@siddcandy]

Jesus Jiggin’ Christ… I was part of the scene in my teens in the early nineties. This is really some next level sh@t… is it running on a standard C64??? Unbelievably cool!! Scotex/Trias

[@KOHLERChristophe]

Nice, so much work there. Congrats

[@radioparalax]

This will be part of our next livestream on this Saturday (10.6.23) which you can watch from our website or Twitch channel at 19:00 CEST. 🙂

[@jasperd.5734]

Very very cool. (That’s an understatement)

[@glennchallen8081]

Had to run this on genuine hardware to make sure this wasn't fake. Mind blowing. I'm in awe at their coding abilities. Incredible!

[@TL....]

imagine time traveling to the 80s and showing this demo to the commodore people

[@ktnlepside1665]

Amazing !!! ❤❤❤

[@sharg0]

Astonishing!!

[@seteney72]

Hammer!!!

[@spindizzyremake]

This is the first C64 demo I've seen on KZbin that's made me question if it was faked... So far beyond anything else! Incredible stuff!

[@lavinagotu5934]

Well deserved winner! Thumbs up.

[@stefanflachenecker]

I am glad to have been on the X! Amazing!

[@makipri]

Likewise! It was worth visiting for the first time. Also as a performer couldn’t have hoped for a better audience.

[@frankmeyer9984]

I wasn't able to be there... 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 not enough money...

[@NotMarkKnopfler]

Have to post another comment! The graphics at 15:00 - If that was on an Amiga it would be impressive - but on a Commodore 64 it's just NUTS! HOW!!!????

It is just standard hires bitmap mode, people tend to not use it in favour of having more colours to choose from, but loose resolution. This mode only allows for 2 colors per 8x8 pixel block, but 320x200px on screen. The gfx is extended to the upper open border with some sprites.

[@MarvelousLXVII]

The most amazing thing I’ve seen today! Wow!!!

[@summerWTFE]

Outstanding!

[@alpharisc]

This is insane

[@PSL1969]

Pretty crazy demo!

[@jpalmz1978]

Devilock never ceases to amaze 😊👍🏻

[@itpros-z]

respect for c64 coders! it was great !

[@HiskoArt]

I'm speechless.

[@marzlberger]

Incredible!

[@chrishelfrich6017]

Incredible ❤

[@D_VAULTZ]

amazing work, the software engineeringis out of this world, i wonder what could be achieved by these great minds on modern OSes like Windows with GDI Plus.

[@rjs1138]

Incredible 😮

[@MadJedfox]

4:35 how?? How they did make it? It's almost impossible. This demo is brilliant 👏

[@umberto21]

lots happening at the same time. .that's for sure . quite amazing!

[@kangarht]

the "next level" thing is animation in characters, repeated by chars, the scroller is normal color ram, and the torus is sprite animation

[@pragmax]

I'm not sure either. I'm pretty sure they're using everything the VICII can do at once, and that "gutter" between the left and right halves is used to swizzle VIC registers around. But this is just an unreal amount of wizardry on display.

[@johnmindful3493]

Fantastic! ❤

[@JrundPedersen]

Absolute insane amount of work. The 100-games part, as said, is completely wild. The sound samples, and music, as well. This deserves all the praise. All of it. So happy this exists. And honestly, the use of samples here are fucking amazing kzbin.info/www/bejne/eanOhaqApKateKc

[@jammerc64]

Insomnia plays first as tiny loader SID tune which is below 512b, then it switches to 15,6khz digis :)

[@werre2]

the opening effect was the best I've seen

[@NickemGames-od8xs]

Complete with what seems to be a C64 version of the THX intro

[@DarrenAudioguy]

Wow, that was pure gold

[@UserX860]

Best demo I´ve seen till today! The game part is insane af !!! 😮

[@OLIV3R_YT]

That games part is insane ❤

[@phrasheekwerk354]

blown away at the 100 game section, how how how is all i thought

[@goldblatalex7516]

and all is one single side!! its totally insane...though its not the whole game but its simply insane!!

[@pjcnet]

The best demo I've ever seen, incredible they managed to show 100 game clips with 64K, somehow they had to have been streaming data from disk.

[@mariuszszarek1992]

What a party!!!

[@YQN2149]

THE C64 SCENE IS SO AMAZING

[@MrMarianoamigo]

amazing!

[@frankmeyer9984]

Profis Machen Das So... Mein Herz ist bei Euch ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@axelheld6655]

Mein Herz auch. Was für ne tolle Show! ❤❤❤

[@0kti]

Awesome

[@punpcklbw]

So, that's a great example of thinking outside the box to create a truly outstanding demo. The old Mac GUI part looks very plausible. The dithered transparency effect is cool and looks really fast, I wonder what hacks they've used to make it work on that hardware. The random pattern resembles Floyd-Steinberg diffusion and seems to be algorithhmically generated.

It is GEOS, not an old Mac GUI 🙂

[@Crushbomber]

A technical perfect demo and very well overall design, but the most astonishing is the game part - the most craziest thing I have ever seen. How did they compress this all - and how was it coded? This would take years for a horde of game rippers and coders ... with gfx, animation, sound and music? Did they create a realtime automatic ripping machine with compression? This is really the next level! Top!!!

[@pragmax]

"Did they create a realtime automatic ripping machine with compression?" I think it's that exactly. Consider the "real-time" video concept demos kicking around out there. In this case, you just stream SID code and screen update packets until you're done. All while running the 1541 flat-out. There's ample room for compression, but it would have to be lightweight for speed - probably resembles char data more than raw pixels. The SID data/stream might have been puzzled together manually unless there's an straightforward way to tease that out of an emulator in real time.

[@datashat]

Absolutely INSANE O_O

[@HansSiemons]

For me, these are modern day puzzles, thinking about possible solutions on how you would be able to create all these effects. So far i've solved about 10% of that puzzle, guess I have to rewatch this a lot more! So great!

[@NickemGames-od8xs]

I think during the intro at 0:04 to 0:27, I think that might be the C64 cover of the famous THX intro!

[@xcoder1122]

Okay... nice effects and everything but the most impressive part for me as a developer: How did they fit all those game graphics one just one disk? These may not look as impressive as the effects before and after it, but to me that's the most impressive part of the entire demo. Even though it's just one screen of every game with a bit of movement, there must be a hell of compression going on behind the scenes to make this possible.

[@rfxtuber]

Indeed! They could not of done better with video editing that lot together...

[@deadpoolredsuit4892]

Excellent!!! ^_^

[@cy-kl5hg]

Gnarp! kzbin.info/www/bejne/eanOhaqApKateKc. Amazing demo, I've been long waiting for it. Seeing that little cameo from a demo I liked in my childhood, 30 years ago, is also amazing. Mahoney still knows his stuff.

[@rfxtuber]

Mahoney? What from Mahoney & Kacktus fame? That Mahoney? If so... the noisetracker intro from protracker on amiga still echoes in my brain all these years later...Amazing work...

[@aname-w2x]

Yet another person (ZX Speccy nerd) asking how you packed all these game clips into 64K. Did you talk to ChatGPT and say "how can we make it smaller than Farbrausch?" -- anyway -- very cool

[@magicmulder]

170K - they’re using the full disk.

[@andyknowles666]

4:02 That music track is bad ass.

[@yogers1]

how can I download the SID starting at 15:50? It is AMAZING

[@mgrinz.ireneuszukaszdzitko1348]

Classic and real scroll elegance in this demo setting logical form's for deep multimedia view.🎞⌨😗😐🙂

[@luxdico]

@10:53 she didn't even like men ... won't get fooled again

[@BixenteFabregas]

Which is the game featured at 1:29 and following? and on which platform? (Neo-Geo?) Fantastic Demo, really...

[@henningharperath9260]

That's not a real existing game - just made for this demo.

[@crunch42]

Virginity has its benefits!

[@sensemusicofficial]

bubble bobble !

[@mirkostrau9439]

wow! was this run on a "standard" c64 or is some kind of memory or cpu extension part of the compo rules? couldn't find any information on the party website

[@Psyagnostic]

What the actual quack... how?!?🤯

[@hannuback]

Ok, I think there's reasons this one won! 😂🎉

[@brorianszk]

I hope they have a life. Had an awsome time watching this. Thank you guys!

Haha, yes, we have a life, with families, children, outdoor activities, sports, normal social skills and so on 😀

[@brorianszk]

Damn! I almost have one of the things you mentioned!

[@DJSpaceRetrotunes]

👏👏👏👏👏

[@DanyWildTV]

dope

[@brianstuntman4368]

Mind mind = blown😮

[@MAE-lc9ee]

😲🤯

[@adymode]

Supernatural

[@SchardtCinematic]

Would this run on native hardware or are memory expansion needed to run these. Because I'd love to run this on an actual C=64 on a CRT monitor

[@NahMagic]

Just standard C64

[@Otternase2011]

Hammer ab Minute 13

[@feacrew]

How is this possible?! Black magic?

[@kimmoveijalainen2055]

I'm confused should I vote this on csdb as worst ever or best ever?

[@jakubkrcma]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@brutusmuerto]

HOW??

[@0xGEEK]

UN-BE-LIEV-A-BALE.

[@tehlaser]

Egad

[@wheezingjuice]

I highly doubt this could be done on the original machine. There are all sorts of modernized hw and sw mods like machines with two sids and this is cool, but the original 80s setup has limits which had been reached decades ago.

[@vetodrom]

The demo actually works on an unexpanded C64 with 1541 disk drive. Seen it multiple times and also on my own C64.

[@wheezingjuice]

​@@vetodromstill highly doubt. maybe on an emulator with modernized gizmos. no way on an original 80s machine. too much going on too fast, too many layers, too much code, not doable on retro disks. sorry sir, but no way 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@vetodrom]

@@wheezingjuice I am part of the development team. Believe me. It works on a vanilla C64 with a stock 1541 drive.

[@wheezingjuice]

@@vetodrom well I guess I have to take your word for it then. Don't get me wrong I'm astonished by the demo, but the only way I'd be really convinced was I'd run this thing myself on my old stock machine + 1541 I own since the 80s. There's no other way I'd believe you without a doubt left (and don't forget we're all strangers and don't know each other, so things here are always easily said, much harder done, just saying).

Grab the .d64 files, write out the two disks and have a try on vanilla hardware and you will notice that in deed it doesn't need more than the original machine. C64 demos have aimed for compatibility a lot, in case of this demo we even forgo on techniques that might crash on some newer c64 models (VSP), just to stay on the safe side. Also no 40 track disks are used, to keep live easy. Loading is improved a lot by uploading loader code to the 1541 to make it load way faster, accompanied by state of the art packing schemes (zx0). It is not only about coding skills, it is also about choosing the right approach and illusion to make things work, undocumented opcodes help a lot too. This is a comment of one of the coders being involved in this demo.

[@xlar54]

da fuq did i just watch? holy crap

[@erikpost1381]

😦😧😲🥺😭

[@AmstradExin]

I would have fallen asleep at the party. Good I didn't go for that insane entrance fee.

[@jasperd.5734]

Show us what you can do

[@AmstradExin]

@@jasperd.5734 You? I think you're very capable on finding out what nonsnse I did. (:

[@AmstradExin]

@@jasperd.5734 Also I think the problem for me was I pay 200€ for the same stinking location as years before....but how would they fit 600 people in there? I didn't sign up. Also Top dogs like Arise, Samar, Resource, etc. Don't wanna go there....why? I dunno, ask them? Without these, these compos look kinda bleak because quality over quantity. Innovation over Oldskool. And also exciting music over whatever was in this Demo....

[@brorianszk]

There is always this one troll. What a way to think you exist!

[@BixenteFabregas]

Last (?) Update. Here is the list of the 100 games Thanks to UnknownUserUU for the entries 16, 28, 52, 61, 62 and 94 Thanks to CBM64 for the entries 01, 24, 44 and 82 Thanks to TynkaTopi for the final entry missing 90. Thanks to pextufvesson for signaling bugs, especially 20 (NOT Suicide Express), and 75 release year (NOT 1954, obviously) Also clones : 34 (Bac Pac, not Jet Pac) 49 (Petch, not Pengo) Here is the list formatted number; name; year; developer (or if not available, first publisher) 01. Comic Bakery; 1986; Konami Industry Co. Ltd. 02. Gauntlet; 1986; Atari Games Corporation 03. Skramble; 1983; Anirog Software Ltd. 04. International Soccer; 1983; Commodore Business Machines, Inc 05. Frak!; 1985; Aardvark Software 06. Skate or Die; 1987; Electronic Arts, Inc. 07. Bruce Lee; 1984; Datasoft, Inc. 08. Henry's House; 1984; The English Software Company 09. Impossible Mission; 1984; Epyx, Inc. 10. Oils Well; 1983; Sierra On-Line, Inc. 11. Raid over Moscow; 1984; Access Software, Inc. 12. Temple of Apshai; 1983; Automated Simulations, Inc. 13. Krakout; 1987; Gremlin Graphics Software Limited 14. Roland's Rat Race; 1985; Denton Designs 15. Uridium; 1986; Graftgold Ltd. 16. Paperboy; 1986; Atari, Inc. 17. Maniac Mansion; 1987; Lucasfilm Games LLC 18. Cavelon; 1984; Jetsoft 19. Aztec Challenge; 1983; Cosmi Corporation 20. Loco; 1984; Alligata Software Ltd. 21. Cauldron; 1985; Palace Software, Ltd. 22. Robocop; 1988; Ocean Software Ltd. 23. Master of the Lamps; 1985; Activision, Inc. 24. Toy Bizarre; 1984; Activision, Inc. 25. Montezuma's Revenge; 1984; Parker Brothers 26. Tapper; 1984; Bally Midway Mfg Co. 27. Lazarian; 1983; Midway Mfg. Co. 28. Hero of the Golden Talisman; 1985; Mr Chip Software 29. Pitfall II; 1984; Activision, Inc. 30. Space Taxi; 1984; Muse Software 31. Ghostbusters; 1984; Activision, Inc. 32. Druid; 1986; Firebird Software 33. Mountain King; 1983; E.F. Dreyer, Inc. 34. Bac Pac; 198x; I.M. Scull 35. Killerwatt; 1983; Alligata Software Ltd. 36. Arkanoid; 1987; Taito Corporation 37. Fort Apocalypse; 1982; Synapse Software Corporation 38. Blagger 64; 1983; Alligata Software Ltd. 39. Marble Madness; 1986; Atari, Inc. 40. Zenji; 1984; Activision, Inc. 41. Cauldron II; 1986; Palace Software, Ltd. 42. B.C. II - Grog's Revenge; 1984; Sydney Development Corp. 43. Commando; 1985; Capcom Co., Ltd. 44. Flight Path 737; 1984; Advantage Computer Accessories, Inc. 45. Defender of the Crown; 1987; Master Designer Software, Inc. 46. Sid Meier's Pirates; 1987; MicroProse Software, Inc. 47. World Cup; 1985; Artic Computing Ltd 48. Caverns of Khafka; 1984; Cosmi Corporation 49. Petch; 1985; Colosoftware 50. Gilligan's Gold; 1984; Ocean Software Ltd. 51. High Noon; 1984; Ocean Software Ltd. 52. Shamus: Case II; 1984; Synapse Software Corporation 53. Lazy Jones; 1984; Terminal Software 54. Thing on a Spring; 1985; Micro Projects Limited 55. Panic 64; 1983; Interceptor Software 56. 1942; 1986; Elite Systems Ltd. 57. Airwolf; 1985; Elite Systems Ltd. 58. Rastan; 1988; Imagine Software Ltd. 59. The Human Race; 1985; Mastertronic Ltd. 60. Pac-Man; 1983; Namco Limited 61. Caverns Of Khafka; 1984; Cosmi Corporation 62. Ghettoblaster; 1985; Virgin Games, Ltd. 63. Buga Boo; 1983; Quicksilva inc. 64. Werner Flaschbier; 1985; Wernersoft 65. Crossfire; 1983; Sierra On-Line, Inc. 66. Bomb Jack; 1986; Tehkan Ltd. 67. Hungry Horace; 1983; Psion Software Ltd. 68. Hunchback; 1984; Century Electronics 69. Drelbs; 1984; Synapse Software Corporation 70. Hollywood Poker; 1987; Golden Games 71. Biggles; 1986; Dalali Software Ltd. 72. Cauldron; 1985; Palace Software, Ltd. 73. Bubble Bobble; 1987; Taito Corporation 74. Rick Dangerous; 1989; Core Design Ltd. 75. Burgertime; 1984; Data East Corporation 76. Paradroid; 1985; Graftgold Ltd. 77. Falcon Patrol; 1984; Quicksilva inc. 78. Ghost's n Goblins; 1986; Capcom Co., Ltd 79. Gianna Sisters; 1987; Time Warp Productions 80. Hover Bovver; 1983; Llamasoft Ltd. 81. Snokie; 1983; Funsoft, Inc. 82. Nebulus; 1987; Hewson Consultants Ltd. 83. Wizard of Wor; 1982; Dave Nutting Associates, Inc. 84. Neverending Story; 1985; Ocean Software Ltd. 85. Gorf; 1983; Dave Nutting Associates, Inc. 86. Blue Thunder; 1984; Richard Wilcox Software 87. Spy Hunter; 1984; Bally Midway Mfg Co. 88. Monty on the Run; 1985; Gremlin Graphics Software Limited 89. Attack of the Mutant Camels; 1983; Llamasoft Ltd. 90. Task III; 1988; Databyte 91. Super Pipeline; 1984; Taskset Ltd. 92. Kettle; 1986; Alligata Software Ltd. 93. Boulder Dash; 1984; First Star Software, Inc. 94. Shamus; 1983; Synapse Software Corporation 95. Uridium; 1986; Graftgold Ltd. 96. Daredevil Dennis; 1984; Visions (Software Factory) Ltd. 97. Forbidden Forest; 1983; Cosmi Corporation 98. Yie are Kung Fu; 1986; Konami Industry Co. Ltd. 99. Revenge of the Mutant Camels; 1984; Llamasoft Ltd. 100. Archon; 1984; Free Fall Associates If you can correct or complete, I'll update the list and add you as contributors in the beginning of this post. Many thanks, and more importantly... HAPPY NEW YEAR 2024! Bix

[@UnknownUserUU]

16. Paperboy. 28. Hero of the Golden Talisman. 61. Caverns Of Khafka (again ?). 62. Ghettoblaster. 94. Shamus. 52 is Shamus II.

[@BixenteFabregas]

@@UnknownUserUU Thanks a lot! Games and credit added!

[@CBM64]

001 is comic bakery

[@CBM64]

024 is Toy Bizarre

[@CBM64]

044 is Flight Path 737

[@xxxhjb]

You had me at Party x Leben

[@transilvanischervampir666]

Neue Effekte 🤪

[@gateroozeink5061]

Incredible!