[demo] Don't mess with Texas by Desire

The Texas Instruments TI-99/4A ought to be one of the most underrated and underused demo platforms out there. Until now, there were hardly any prods for it, aside from a little intro by frog of realm of illusion, which ran at last year's Revision, and some small thingies like Asmusr's 2k15 new year greetings.

Well, the wait is over - Synchrony 2017 saw the release of a massive TI99/4A mega-demo. Props to Asmusr, jmph, orby, and Ramon B5 for an excellent show on this badly documented, ancient 16-bitter, and congratulations on 1st place in the demo compo.

download/discuss (be sure to read the extended notes)

[album] VA - Soundshock 3: FM Funk Nirvana

Boy oh boy, the good chiptune releases are just piling up this month. Guess I'll go into a little posting frenzy today (at the risk of having nothing to post for the rest of the week), because otherwise I'll lose track myself.

Anyway, after nearly a year of silence, Ubiktune is back with a new FM funk collection, as usual featuring a high-profile rooster of artists such as zabutom, linde, Shnabubula, cTrix, Keishi Yonao, and more. Soundshock 3 marks the end of the series. Now that's what I call ending it on a high note.

[demo] Abeyance by Satori

Zden's latest audiovisual glitch assault in 256 bytes. Appearantly it ran at Compusphere, but wasn't ranked due to lack of competitors.

download/discuss

[demo] kaliskop by Kuemmel

Neat 256 byte MS-DOS demo by Kuemmel, based on an algorithm proposed by fractal researcher Kali. Gotta love that crazy music, too! The prod scored 4th place in the combined demo compo at Demosplash.

download/discuss

[demo] broken sun by Desire

It's autumn and the leaves pixels are turning yellow, orange, and red... Props to HellMood for bringing us these lovely seasonal greetings in 64 bytes.

download/discuss

[demo] Darkweb, speaCore, and FireWave 16b by Desire

Ok, time for an attempt to start digging through the massive backlog of great demoscene productions that have stacked up over the course of the recent months so far.

I'll make a start by looking at HellMood's latest MS-DOS size-coding works. HellMood seems to have taken a liking to the humble PC Speaker lately, which of course yields some massive bonus points from me.


First up, we have "speaCore", a digital XTC trip in 128 bytes. Now here's your summer hit!


download/discuss


Happyness overload anyone? Well, then have a look at "Darkweb" instead. This 32-byter certainly lives up to it's sinister name.


download/discuss


32 bytes? Man, screw this bloatware... 16 bytes should be enough for anyone. Exhibit 3: FireWave 16b.


download/discuss

[demo/album] The Chiperia Project Issue #5

Yeah I know, I'm massively behind on all the great demoscene releases of the past month. This is partly due to me having been on vacation, but also due to lack of motivation in recent times. But fear not, I have no plans on giving up Ancient Wonderworld for now.

Anyway, time to start clearing the backlog. Mid June saw the release of another installment in the Chiperia musicdisk series for the classic Amiga computer. And once again, it is an absolutely top-notch collection of original Amiga chiptunes (in the original sense of the word), made by some of the best musicians in the scene. I'm simply amazed how these folks can keep up such a consistently high quality.

download/discuss

[demo] Liquid Sky II by Desire

Not sure what to make of Outline's 128 byte compo this year. There were a lot of technically impressive prods again, but somehow a number of them didn't really do the trick for me for various reasons (code recycling and lack of polish, to name a few).

So of all the prods in the compo, I'll give this one by HellMood of Desire a shout out. Not exactly a new effect either, but it's so nicely soothing with the music. Enjoy.

download/discuss

[demo] Topomorph 16b by Desire

16(!) bytes of MS-DOS crazyness by HellMood of Desire.

download/discuss

[demo] nautilus dreaming by sensenstahl

Some stunning new 256 byte #sensenstahlism. Since there was no sizecoding compo at Revision, this little prod ran in Wild, where it took 5th place.

download/discuss

[demo] SaboTagE by Paradox

Almost 10 years in the making, here's a new Atari STE demo by Paradox. SaboTagE tells a story set in a not-too-distant post-apocalyptic future, where global communication is controlled by a few mega-corporations (huh? I thought that was already the case...). The story itself could have been more developed in my opinion (especially the ending falls somewhat flat compared to the grand opening), but top-notch music, quality graphics, and never-before seen effects make for an overall very solid release.

download/discuss

[album] aTTraction by Yerzmyey

Two great new releases in one day - we're getting spoiled! First up, we've got some new Atari music from Yerzmyey. It's mostly digital stuff made on Falcon and TT, but there's a couple of 16-bit tracks and an XL bonus in there as well. Classic 90s cheese, with a few more unusual pieces thrown in.

download

[album] Biteration I: Genesis of Consequence by Inverse Phase

Some new Sega FM radness by Inverse Phase. Biteration I isn't so much about recreating "dat classic Sega feel", as it is about moving forward in terms of style. Also, disclaimer: Since some of the tracks were originally made for a poop-themed game, the album contains a lot of lovely fart noises.

There are plans to release this album on an actual cartridge, so head over to the bandcamp page and pre-order one if you'd like to support that project.

Kittenrock Chipmusic.org Favorites

Jellica from Kittenrock has put together an awesome mix with his favourite tracks from chipmusic.org. Nearly 1½ hours of the quirkiest beats, space-iest pads, and lofi-est noises!

Kittenrock chipmusicdotorg favorites by Jellica on Mixcloud

download + full tracklist

Malware Museum Opens on Archive.org

Don't you miss the glorious past when computer viruses were mostly just annoying, yet harmless mischief? Well, now you can relive the good old days of 80s and 90s malware at the new, virtual Malware Museum, courtesy of Archive.org. Check out all those strange, sometimes even funny or stylish remnants from the dark side, safely contained in an online DOSBox emulation.

[demo] Ocean by DESiRE

Are you getting sick of those dark winter days? I'm sure this brand-new 64 byte MS-DOS prod from HellMood will brighten your mood!

There's a 32 byte version (without sound) as well.
download/discuss

[demo] Futura by RSI

Hello everybody, welcome back to Ancient Wonderworld and a belated Happy 2016!

We start off the year with some new 3D madness in 256 bytes, from the mighty Baudsurfer. 1st place in the Combined 256b compo at SynchroNY.

Btw starting now I'll use the group name RSI for Baudsurfer's prods. So far I have not done so considering the controversy regarding said name. My apologies to everybody who might be offended, but I simply don't care enough.

download/discuss

[demo] We Were @ by Oxygene

Fantastic new Atari STe demo, came in first in the wild compo at STNICCC.

download/discuss

[album] VA - Best of Kittenrock Selection

 

One of the finest chiplabels is looking back on 10+ years of it's history in releasing the works some of the most legendary figures in the scene. Including tracks by Bitshifter, Secret Lab, Divag, Tom Woxom, Joss Manley, Steve, Linde, μB, and many more. Wow, there's even a track by me ;)

download

[album] kolędy by foots

Beautiful and soothing OPL-2 FM ambient/chill out, perfect for a cold winter day that you spend comfortably at home.



With this, I'm off to my traditional end-of-the-year trash punk album recording session with my friends in the middle of nowhere. Which most likely means a temporary hiatus for Ancient Wonderworld till beginning of January. So, thanks for reading, and see y'all back in 2016!