The demoscene is a computer art subculture that specializes in producing audiovisual demonstrations, or *demos*, designed to showcase programming, artistic, and musical skill. These real-time programs generate graphics and sound to push hardware to its limits, often with impressive technical tricks and visual effects.
YOUTUBE iw17c70uJes Future Crew - Second Reality (1993)
The origins of the demoscene trace back to the early 1980s, when software crackers added animated signatures, or *cracktros*, to pirated games on home computers like the Commodore 64 and Amiga. Over time, these intros evolved into standalone works of digital art, separate from piracy, and the demoscene emerged as a community in its own right - wikipedia 
# Characteristics - Demos run in real time, generating graphics and audio as the program executes - Emphasis on technical ingenuity within strict limitations, such as file size or hardware constraints - Competitions, known as *demoparties*, where groups present their work and compete in categories like 64k intros, 4k intros, or full demos - A blend of programming, graphic design, and music composition
# Historical Milestones - **1980s** — Cracking groups add intros to games on the Commodore 64 and Amiga - **Late 1980s – 1990s** — Standalone demos gain prominence; early landmark productions appear - **1990s** — PC demoscene grows rapidly, exploiting VGA graphics and sound cards - **2000s onward** — The scene continues through annual demoparties such as Assembly (Finland) and Revision (Germany)
# Notable Demos and Groups - Future Crew — creators of *Second Reality* (1993), one of the most celebrated PC demos - **The Black Lotus (TBL)** — known for technically groundbreaking Amiga productions - **Farbrausch** — famous for *fr-08: .the .product* (2000), a 64k intro that stunned audiences with its audiovisual complexity - **Assembly & Revision Winners** — many influential groups have debuted landmark works at these annual parties
# Recognition The demoscene is recognized both as a technical craft and as a digital art movement. In 2020, Finland added the demoscene to its national UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage, acknowledging its cultural significance.
# Related Tools
- Demoscenevids on youtube
- cables.gl
- Demoscene on wikipedia
- demozoo.org
- pouet.net