This page uses DEMO ST Quizz Last update:07/03/04
If you think this is all, boy, you're so wrong... The UNION rules.... Do you recognize me ? I am the very famous logo of also very famous demo-makers crews !

This Quizz is completly dedicated to St Demos (history and technic). You think you know everything about TCB ? You rule Fullscreen ? SoundChip music too ? You rule every single bit of code used by demo-makers ? Try anyway...
1. History of demos
1.1 About making demos on a ST, we can say this is:
Very easy, because ST has some very special hardware components designed to do special effects (such as scrollings, music, sprites, rasters...)
Easy, because even if the ST has less hard components than the AMIGA, it has some facilities
Very difficult, because almost everything must be done by the 68000
 
1.2 What is the name of the most famous demo crew on ST ?
The Carebears
The Union
Level 16
 
1.3 What is the name of the ST-Demo which featured the most impressive effect on a ST ?
The Cuddly Demos with their "Sync Scroll"
TCB3 in The Union Demo for their "Starray" like scrolling
The BIG Demo with its SoundTrack musics
 
1.4 Which Demo-crew made the very first FullScreen on a ST ?
Level 16 in "The Union Demo"
The Overlanders in "The European Demos"
Oxygene in "The Calimer-O-Demo"
 
1.5 Which persons realized the great 3D Demo in "The European Demos" ?
Nick & Tanis
Ziggy Stardust & M-Coder
Charlie & Larry
 
1.6 Who is the most famous ST SoundChip composer on ST ?
Big Alec
An Cool
Mad Max
 
1.7 What was Thalion Software ?
The demo-crew which made "The Cuddly Demos"
A video game editor composed of demo-makers and (ahem) ex-crakers
Thez demo-maker crew who realized a very famous compilation of demos
 
1.8 What features the BMT screen in the "Punish your machine" demo called "COAST - CRAY II Emulator on a ST"
A very fast computation of Mandelbrot and Julia sets
A real time zoom on the Mandelbrot set
A starfield animation with more than 6000 pixels plotted in one VBL
 
1.9 Which reset démo starts with "Fuck you ! Never try to reboot me again ..." ?
"Punish your machine" reset demo
"The dark side of the spoon" reset demo
"Cuddly Demos" reset demo
 
1.10 What is the name of the biggest reset demo made on a ST ?
The one from "Electra Demo"
The one from "Sowatt Demos"
The one from "The Syntax Terror Demo"
 
1.11 In which demo, can you find "The Lamer Test" ?
"The Genius Demo" by Oxygene
"The Decade Demos" by Inner Circle
"The Syntax Terror Demo" by Delta Force
 
1.12 The music you are listening is taken from ...
The 3D-Demo in "The European Demos"
Cooper-Kaaa-Baahh in "Punish Your Machine"
The BIG Demo
Don't know, as I heard nothing !
 
1.13 Which English demo-maker crew had a fax-war with TCB in summer 1990 ?
The Lost Boys
The Black Cats
Inner Circle
 
1.14 After the sentence "If you think this is all boy, you're so wrong...", we have:
Just wait and see ...
The UNION rules ...
TCB rule !
 
1.15 After the sentence "Go ahead,...", we have:
Try to beat dis !
And don't think you're dreamin' !
Make our day !
 
1.16 The first "Border Scroll" appears in ...
The BIG Demo
LCD Demo
New Year Swedish Demo
 
1.17 What is the particularity of the game "Enchanted Lands" ?
It's the first game with a smooth scrolling done by Steve Bak
It's the first game to use the "Sync-Scroll" technic
This game has been done by the demo-maker crew "Overlanders"
 
1.18 This snapshot is taken from ...
The Sowatt Demos
The Swedish New Year Demo
The Union demo
 
1.19 This snapshot is the "Main-Menu" of ...
Oh Crikey, wot a scorcher !
The MindBomb Demo
State of the Art
 
1.20 This snapshot is the reset-demo of ...
Punish your machine
Genius demo
Calimer-o-demo
 
1.21This snapshot is taken from the mythic demo "The Cuddly Demos", and this is the screen...
The DNA demo
The Spreadpoint demo
The FullScreen Demo
 
1.22 This snapshot is a (very little) piece of the main menu of ...
The Dark Side of The Spoon
The Phaleon Demo
My socks are weapons
 
1.23 In the ST Demos terminology, a "Lamer" is ...
A good coder
A bad coder
A coder on the wrong machine (PC)
 
1.24 For a demo-maker, the most important thing is ...
That his screen may be used in the future
That he earns a lot of money because his screen is good
That every new image will be displayed at the next VBL
 
1.25 The "Flexi-Scroller" appears for the first time in ...
The Cuddly Demos
The Dark Side of The Spoon
The Decade Demos
2. Technics used in ST Demos
2.1 What is a VBL ?
It's the time needed by the Shifter to display an image on the screen
It's the interrupt synchro generated on every scan line
It's the time needed to switch from 4 bitplanes resolution mode to monochrome mode
 
2.2 What is the principle of the "Border Scroll" ?
Switch to monochrome mode just before the VBL
Switch to 60 Hz just before the VBL
Change refresh rate at the end of every scan-line
 
2.3 What the switch ST Low resolution mode --> ST High mode is supposed to do on a TV ?
Crash the ST
Damage the TV
Nothing special
 
2.4 What the Overscan on a ST is based on ?
A change of the refresh rate on every scan-line
A change of the screen resolution (--> ST High ) on every scan-line
A change of the screen resolution AND the refresh rate on every scan-line
 
2.5 How do you relalize a"Sync-Scroll" on a ST ?
By a combinaison of n Overscan lines
By writing to some non-documented Hardware registers
Well, just pray !!!
 
2.6 Why is it so difficult to realize an Overscan on a ST ?
Because it takes so much CPU time that you can't do a lot of things after
Because this implies a perfect synchronisation with the electron beam
Because the instruction "MOVE.L" can't be used then
 
2.7 Why making a 3D Filled Overscan demo has been judged impossible ?
Because it was very had to think that we could get rid off some 68000 instructions and some routines that don't take a constant number of cycles
Because we can' use "MULS" and "SUBA" instructions
Because there is no CPU left left in order to clear screen !
 
2.8 It's more easy to do ...
Vertical rasters
Horizontal rasters
None, it's the same level
 
2.9 The self-modifying code on a ST...
It doesn't work !
It slows down the 68000 because the cache is permanently updated
It allows very powerful optimizations compared to the classic loop
 
2.10 What is the fastest way to multiply D0.W by 2 ?
ADD.W D0,D0
MULU #2,D0
LSL.W #1,D0
Many thanks to Léonard (Arnaud CARRE) for his help on the technic quizz ...
Many thanks to Fakher Lahmar to help this quizz work on Netscape/Mozilla
(The results will be generated after some JavaScript cogitations...)