107K views · Apr 11, 2020 · 2:01 · 4 HN recommenders · 6 mentions · discussed 2020–2022
Memories is a 256-byte MS-DOS demo that packs eight effects and MIDI soundscapes into a tiny program. It won first place at Revision 2020.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN people share it as a mind-blowing example of demoscene craft and the reigning champion of 256-byte demos.
“producing stuff that is just as mindblowing as it was when it all began.”HN comment, 2022
“producing stuff that is just as mindblowing as it was when it all began.”
Mindblowing 256 byte demo showing demoscene craft
Check out the demo scene, they are still going strong after 4 decades and producing stuff that is just as mindblowing as it was when it all began. this video That's 256 bytes .
“The 256 byte category of demos is inspirational.”
256 byte demo producing minutes of video and sound
The 256 byte category of demos is inspirational. The idea that a relative handful of symbols that you could write on a sheet of notebook paper and view in its entirety could produce minutes of video and sound is hard to wrap my mind around. To save anyone else the clicking here’s the video this video
Revision competition 256 byte demo
I suggest you check out the demoscene if you haven’t. This is “Memories” from the Revision competition: this video 256 bytes
“this is probably the reigning champion of the 256 byte demo”
Reigning champion of 256 byte demos
this video I don't think it uses any fancy modern CPU features but this is probably the reigning champion of the 256 byte demo, and its write up[0] [0] link
“The entire video is here [2], if you just want to watch the final product.”
Final product of the 256 byte demo
The source code really looks like black magic. It's incredible they were able to cram the tunnel effect into 64 bytes [1]. The entire video is here [2], if you just want to watch the final product. EDIT: link fixed. [1] link [2] this video
“I am always very impressed when I see these demos and how much can be done with so little.”
Demo in action; commenter prefers running the source themselves
I am always very impressed when I see these demos and how much can be done with so little. If you are like me you just jumped to Youtube[1] to see it in action. When trying to make my significant other to understand what was happening I wanted to run it myself. I was amazed how simple that was! - Install the assembler[2] - Install dosbox[3] - Get the source[4] and put it into c:\temp\demo\memories.asm - Start nasm and enter: cd c:\temp\demo nasm.exe memories.asm -fbin -o memories.com - Start dosbox and enter: mount d c:\temp\demo d: dir memories - Press [ALT][ENTER] for fullscreen The dosbox config is not optimized but it runs with sound with the default settings! For me this is somehow much more impressive than simply watching the video. [1] this video [2] link [3] link [4] link
