Origins of prod names & things
category: general [glöplog]
Demos have strange names and texts in them that often don't really explain their contents at all. This thread is for explaining the origins of those things. And in general, why is a certain thing in a demo?
Let's start with some basics: Why is "hund" the FB meme? Who came up with it and why?
For my part:
Visual Novel is named that because the main inspiration for it is Japanese visual novel games.
bravo india tango sierra charlie lima uniform bravo spells out BITSCLUB in Nato alphabet, because I wanted to freak BITS out
The "Mind Control Trilogy":
Counter Intelligence Program
MKULTRA
majestic twelve
are all named after questionable US intelligence programs / ops
Let's start with some basics: Why is "hund" the FB meme? Who came up with it and why?
For my part:
Visual Novel is named that because the main inspiration for it is Japanese visual novel games.
bravo india tango sierra charlie lima uniform bravo spells out BITSCLUB in Nato alphabet, because I wanted to freak BITS out
The "Mind Control Trilogy":
Counter Intelligence Program
MKULTRA
majestic twelve
are all named after questionable US intelligence programs / ops
For weeks and months before Revision 2015, gargaj kept bugging us about the 64k compo... "Is it on?" he was asking, almost weekly.
Yes it was!
Yes it was!
Unlimited Drunk Carpet - according to the author (if my memory serves me well):
- Unlimited: because it's better when there are no limits, also the intro doesn't finish on its own.
- Drunk: Drinking (regardless of the negative connotations) is somehow tied to the demoscene, also there is this stereotype of "drunk" being associated with "cool".
- Carpet: Because the object in the intro happened to be one.
- Unlimited: because it's better when there are no limits, also the intro doesn't finish on its own.
- Drunk: Drinking (regardless of the negative connotations) is somehow tied to the demoscene, also there is this stereotype of "drunk" being associated with "cool".
- Carpet: Because the object in the intro happened to be one.
coming up with names is kinda hard for many people...especially if you only start thinking about it in the very last minute...
...this most often yields names of famous people (bette davis, gary glitter) that somehow have the same attitude as the prod
...or names of american states (oklahoma)
...often i let others decide so i can concentrate on coding instead (gangnam, anonymous)
...the name i like the most i came up with is large hedron collider, which fits because it´s full of kaleidoscopic IFS, so colliding polyHedrons. :)
...while i also like q(n)=2k15 because of this description:
...this most often yields names of famous people (bette davis, gary glitter) that somehow have the same attitude as the prod
...or names of american states (oklahoma)
...often i let others decide so i can concentrate on coding instead (gangnam, anonymous)
...the name i like the most i came up with is large hedron collider, which fits because it´s full of kaleidoscopic IFS, so colliding polyHedrons. :)
...while i also like q(n)=2k15 because of this description:
Quote:
The sum of digits (checksum, or as formula q(n) ) of 2015 is 8.
q(2k15) = 2+k+1+5 = 2+1+5+k = 8k
why oh why keep people saying FB for FR? Its even taken by Facebook these days! :P
Epoch demos start all with the letter 'E', . However this was not the intention originally. It just happened that we decided to name the first one "self-titled" and the second one "Entropy", so we kinda noticed the pattern and the convention stuck.
Most of the names are pretty self explanatory. Entropy is named after the concept, i.e. time progressing from the beginning of the universe to the end, and beyond.
Exoidits, God Shift is named as such because [REDACTED] was typing away into IRC drunk as fuck in a taxi [1].
Endo, to quote Wikipedia, "...a prefix from Greek ἔνδον endon meaning "within, inner, absorbing, or containing"". The demo is about stillbirth, so...
Emus In The Zone quotes the ending of the film Sans Soleil, which talks about artistic expression. I couldn't stop thinking about this passage during the couple days I was making the demo so I incorporated it there directly.
017571421 is the Fax number to the venue the party was held in (Hotelli Joronjälki).
Most Prismbeings intros include a "humorous" credit that changes for every production (except Whitespace, for which I couldn't come up with a good enough pun for Alvar Aalto). Hydrokinetics has "Lord of Atlantis", which is self-explanatory... just something slightly Drexciyan. Eraserhead has Alan Smithee, as the intro is of course inspired by this passage in the film by the same name.
Absolute Territory, well... just wikipedia it... :). It was a thing I had heard recently before making the intro and thought it was such a stupid term but out of context sounds pretty cool so I made it kind of an inside joke for myself. Was surprised not even ferris recognized it!
Most of the names are pretty self explanatory. Entropy is named after the concept, i.e. time progressing from the beginning of the universe to the end, and beyond.
Exoidits, God Shift is named as such because [REDACTED] was typing away into IRC drunk as fuck in a taxi [1].
Endo, to quote Wikipedia, "...a prefix from Greek ἔνδον endon meaning "within, inner, absorbing, or containing"". The demo is about stillbirth, so...
Emus In The Zone quotes the ending of the film Sans Soleil, which talks about artistic expression. I couldn't stop thinking about this passage during the couple days I was making the demo so I incorporated it there directly.
017571421 is the Fax number to the venue the party was held in (Hotelli Joronjälki).
Most Prismbeings intros include a "humorous" credit that changes for every production (except Whitespace, for which I couldn't come up with a good enough pun for Alvar Aalto). Hydrokinetics has "Lord of Atlantis", which is self-explanatory... just something slightly Drexciyan. Eraserhead has Alan Smithee, as the intro is of course inspired by this passage in the film by the same name.
Absolute Territory, well... just wikipedia it... :). It was a thing I had heard recently before making the intro and thought it was such a stupid term but out of context sounds pretty cool so I made it kind of an inside joke for myself. Was surprised not even ferris recognized it!
Actually one more..
Takoyaki Ni Naru was chose by ferris based in his interpretation on the contents. It roughly means "to become takoyaki. It's a sad tale!
Takoyaki Ni Naru was chose by ferris based in his interpretation on the contents. It roughly means "to become takoyaki. It's a sad tale!
Primitive names all productions starting with "I want".
It started as unintentional. We named our first demo I Want To Believe, shamelessly taken from X-Files. The two shared nothing in common.
After the 10+ year hiatus, our then-new coder Segrel suggested we name our next prod along the same lines, and thus iWTF (I Want To Fap) was born. After that is just became our naming scheme in an effort to stand out.
The notable differences are the before mentioned iWTF and Ich Will Farben (I Want Colors)
It started as unintentional. We named our first demo I Want To Believe, shamelessly taken from X-Files. The two shared nothing in common.
After the 10+ year hiatus, our then-new coder Segrel suggested we name our next prod along the same lines, and thus iWTF (I Want To Fap) was born. After that is just became our naming scheme in an effort to stand out.
The notable differences are the before mentioned iWTF and Ich Will Farben (I Want Colors)
Some more:
Trilobit is named that because we had three founders (three -> tri), and were making low-fi productions on limited platforms (three low bits), and also a Trilobite is an interesting extinct creature (old reference) that had one of the first functioning eyes (perfect for a visual group!)
Bilotrip is Trilobit "flipped", and makes trippy productions.
Quadtrip is bi -> 2 -> 2x2 = 4. And a quad is required to render fullscreen shaders.
Young Person's Guide To The Vimana is a combination of The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra and a vimana, a mythical Sanskrit flying machine
Trilobit is named that because we had three founders (three -> tri), and were making low-fi productions on limited platforms (three low bits), and also a Trilobite is an interesting extinct creature (old reference) that had one of the first functioning eyes (perfect for a visual group!)
Bilotrip is Trilobit "flipped", and makes trippy productions.
Quadtrip is bi -> 2 -> 2x2 = 4. And a quad is required to render fullscreen shaders.
Young Person's Guide To The Vimana is a combination of The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra and a vimana, a mythical Sanskrit flying machine
Quote:
Was surprised not even ferris recognized it!
easily my biggest regret to this day
...I mean memetech's biggest regret to this day.. probably.. would have to ask hir
Aaaand I've got more...
Prismbeings was not something I came up with, but I shameless took it from Huxley Idiot! It was a fake group name in the greetings made up by Bohr. The demo came out around the time I was really starting to work in my first 4k intro and decided to shamelessly steal it for my own purposes! It's just a cool name.
Epoch was something I suggested. sm originally wanted to name it "Dynasty" in late 2013, but there was already a C64 group with that name, but instead we came up with something else that was related to "a new beginning", "a start of an era", or something. I don't remember what others we considered, if any.
Macau Exports was a long process. I think cce wanted something that sounded like "cheap asian goods". My original suggestion was "Taiwanese Exports" I think, but $MACE was the one we ended up landing on. Now Macau isn't exactly a cheap place though... :). I don't exactly remember where Gubarniya came from, but I think it was a term in some books cce had been reading. It means "administrative zone" or something in Bulgarian iirc.
Prismbeings was not something I came up with, but I shameless took it from Huxley Idiot! It was a fake group name in the greetings made up by Bohr. The demo came out around the time I was really starting to work in my first 4k intro and decided to shamelessly steal it for my own purposes! It's just a cool name.
Epoch was something I suggested. sm originally wanted to name it "Dynasty" in late 2013, but there was already a C64 group with that name, but instead we came up with something else that was related to "a new beginning", "a start of an era", or something. I don't remember what others we considered, if any.
Macau Exports was a long process. I think cce wanted something that sounded like "cheap asian goods". My original suggestion was "Taiwanese Exports" I think, but $MACE was the one we ended up landing on. Now Macau isn't exactly a cheap place though... :). I don't exactly remember where Gubarniya came from, but I think it was a term in some books cce had been reading. It means "administrative zone" or something in Bulgarian iirc.
Saksalainen Laatu got its name from a package label on a new fridge that was delivered to Skeneklubi, just as I was starting to learn finnish.
It means "German quality".
It means "German quality".
Cube-O-Bootic: Homage to the first non-trivial cube demo on Amiga, namely Cube-O-Matic by Buddha.
Quote:
coming up with names is kinda hard for many people...especially if you only start thinking about it in the very last minute...
And that reminds me of how this prod came to its name, hehe ;).....
the prods i named were just having a name which are either 1., random work-in-progress names or 2., stuff echoed in my head aimlessly for some reason. not always in connection with the song / prod i entered.
Gateways and Mindtrap demo names were inspired by the wheel of time books.
Stuff I whacked together when I was bored is pretty self-descriptive. I wonder if that demo had gotten done if I had had internet connection at home at that time..
Turing Machines Didn't Care, my entry to TMDC after I stopped organizing TMDC.. well, look at the initials.
Litterae Finis was named thus because it was "just one more textmode demo" from me.
The line age is a demo with just line primitives. And a pun, I guess.
Stuff I whacked together when I was bored is pretty self-descriptive. I wonder if that demo had gotten done if I had had internet connection at home at that time..
Turing Machines Didn't Care, my entry to TMDC after I stopped organizing TMDC.. well, look at the initials.
Litterae Finis was named thus because it was "just one more textmode demo" from me.
The line age is a demo with just line primitives. And a pun, I guess.
A great thread!
Traction demos:
2^5 - it was the 32nd Traction production
A study in lines and textures - a poor attempt to give crappy pseudomathematical effects some context
Amethyst - it's got shiny crystal things in it
Another Soul Lost - it's about a person who doesn't get into the demoscene after all. Jesus how childish I was back then :)
Ante Dominum - Latin for In Front Of The God. More mathematics and Platonism.
B-Sides and Rarities - Random stuff that didn't get released before then.
Butterfly Thoughts - Related to schizophrenia
Cernunnos - The Celtic Horned God. The demo contains a lot of neopagan things in it if you know where to look.
Challenger Deep - The deepest known place in the oceans
Dead Blue People - Exactly what it says on the tin. Comes from the graphics
Digital Jugendstil - Topologie Der Stille - Intentionally designed to be as pretentious as possible (just like the rest of the demo)
Eight Scenes of Human Life - Watch the visuals
Explosive! - Buenzli org wanted it like this :)
Fairytale - I don't remember where this came from but it describes the demo quite well I think. It was supposed to be something more metaphysical but the demo didn't turn out that way
Fascination and Fascination 2 - Don't remember this either. Probably just sounded cool.
Fiat Homo - Let There Be Man. The first of the three books in Walter Miller's Canticle for Leibowitz (a must read for everyone)
Fields of Glass - The original title of the song. It refers to sand fused to glass after a nuclear explosion.
Fire/Ice - From a Magic: The Gathering card...
Forsaken - Invented by Vulture. Fun fact: The group was originally meant to be called Forsaken but the artist swapped the names :D
I Am - It's what Yahweh translates to, although the content is far from Jewish/Christian. Purposefully left ambiguous.
I Killed The Scene - A certain crazyperson declared that black backgrounds kill the scene. So...
Iconolatry - Invitation for Icons, so obviously the invitation has to have something to do with icon worship.
Insert Coins - kind of obvious :)
Interface - I dunno.
It's Full of Stars - Dave Bowman's last words in 2001
Katharsis - Well the demo is kind of catharctic...
Muoto - Muoto in Finnish means form or shape, which I think it's kind of fitting considering the demo's style.
No Way Back - There's no way in hell I'll go back to watching this POS.
Onwards - Kind of sequel to Insert Coins, so probably refers to that. Don't remember.
Panopticon - The all-seeing and knowing eye.
Pimp - no comment :P
Rowan Berries - The poem in the demo explains it all.
September and Snowfall - This came from the mood in the tune.
Spring Brought Us Dry Withered Flowers - One of my better poems.
SSRI - A class of anti-depressant drugs that the intro is about.
Sunrise - Because it looks like one if you squint really hard
The Promised Land - A sarcastic comment about the state of Israel/Palestine conflict a decade ago :P
The Sky Is The Limit - Yet another Buenzli-supplied topic :)
Traction - The scenes are named after all the words in English language that end with -traction.
Virta - Finnish for "flow". Everything flows including the life and relationship of the author while making the demo...
Visual Quine - Exactly what it says on the tin. It draws its own code.
Vox Dei - The Voice of God. Randomness.
And Brainstorm ones:
2019 - The demo looked a bit like Blade Runner to me so...
I Was Once Here - The original title for the poem was Distance, but I changed it to this for the demo.
Lucifer - I wanted it to be something ominous. Came from the eclipse effect in the demo.
Old's Cool - A horrible pun that came from Axel. I didn't even get it until long after the demo was released.
Roadside Picnic - A science fiction novel by Arkadi & Boris Strugatski.
The Tabernacle - Yet another biblical reference. It's where the Ark of the Covenant was housed. Dunno why the demo is called that :D
Väre - Finnish for ripple. Kind of describes the demo pretty well.
Traction demos:
2^5 - it was the 32nd Traction production
A study in lines and textures - a poor attempt to give crappy pseudomathematical effects some context
Amethyst - it's got shiny crystal things in it
Another Soul Lost - it's about a person who doesn't get into the demoscene after all. Jesus how childish I was back then :)
Ante Dominum - Latin for In Front Of The God. More mathematics and Platonism.
B-Sides and Rarities - Random stuff that didn't get released before then.
Butterfly Thoughts - Related to schizophrenia
Cernunnos - The Celtic Horned God. The demo contains a lot of neopagan things in it if you know where to look.
Challenger Deep - The deepest known place in the oceans
Dead Blue People - Exactly what it says on the tin. Comes from the graphics
Digital Jugendstil - Topologie Der Stille - Intentionally designed to be as pretentious as possible (just like the rest of the demo)
Eight Scenes of Human Life - Watch the visuals
Explosive! - Buenzli org wanted it like this :)
Fairytale - I don't remember where this came from but it describes the demo quite well I think. It was supposed to be something more metaphysical but the demo didn't turn out that way
Fascination and Fascination 2 - Don't remember this either. Probably just sounded cool.
Fiat Homo - Let There Be Man. The first of the three books in Walter Miller's Canticle for Leibowitz (a must read for everyone)
Fields of Glass - The original title of the song. It refers to sand fused to glass after a nuclear explosion.
Fire/Ice - From a Magic: The Gathering card...
Forsaken - Invented by Vulture. Fun fact: The group was originally meant to be called Forsaken but the artist swapped the names :D
I Am - It's what Yahweh translates to, although the content is far from Jewish/Christian. Purposefully left ambiguous.
I Killed The Scene - A certain crazyperson declared that black backgrounds kill the scene. So...
Iconolatry - Invitation for Icons, so obviously the invitation has to have something to do with icon worship.
Insert Coins - kind of obvious :)
Interface - I dunno.
It's Full of Stars - Dave Bowman's last words in 2001
Katharsis - Well the demo is kind of catharctic...
Muoto - Muoto in Finnish means form or shape, which I think it's kind of fitting considering the demo's style.
No Way Back - There's no way in hell I'll go back to watching this POS.
Onwards - Kind of sequel to Insert Coins, so probably refers to that. Don't remember.
Panopticon - The all-seeing and knowing eye.
Pimp - no comment :P
Rowan Berries - The poem in the demo explains it all.
September and Snowfall - This came from the mood in the tune.
Spring Brought Us Dry Withered Flowers - One of my better poems.
SSRI - A class of anti-depressant drugs that the intro is about.
Sunrise - Because it looks like one if you squint really hard
The Promised Land - A sarcastic comment about the state of Israel/Palestine conflict a decade ago :P
The Sky Is The Limit - Yet another Buenzli-supplied topic :)
Traction - The scenes are named after all the words in English language that end with -traction.
Virta - Finnish for "flow". Everything flows including the life and relationship of the author while making the demo...
Visual Quine - Exactly what it says on the tin. It draws its own code.
Vox Dei - The Voice of God. Randomness.
And Brainstorm ones:
2019 - The demo looked a bit like Blade Runner to me so...
I Was Once Here - The original title for the poem was Distance, but I changed it to this for the demo.
Lucifer - I wanted it to be something ominous. Came from the eclipse effect in the demo.
Old's Cool - A horrible pun that came from Axel. I didn't even get it until long after the demo was released.
Roadside Picnic - A science fiction novel by Arkadi & Boris Strugatski.
The Tabernacle - Yet another biblical reference. It's where the Ark of the Covenant was housed. Dunno why the demo is called that :D
Väre - Finnish for ripple. Kind of describes the demo pretty well.
Our first prod was called "Megademo 1". Over the last 25 years, many people misunderstood this title and/or asked us why we chose it. Now I will let you in on this closely guarded Dutch scene omerta: We chose this name because this demo was the first bigger one we made.
I will refuse to disclose the reasoning behind the naming of our second and third Megademos, unless someone offers me money you will have to live the rest of your life wondering why we decided to go with II and III instead of 2 and 3.
I will refuse to disclose the reasoning behind the naming of our second and third Megademos, unless someone offers me money you will have to live the rest of your life wondering why we decided to go with II and III instead of 2 and 3.
Desire - Raspberry Psy - I came up with the idea to name this demo after a fruit as fruits are healthy. Banana and strawberry did not have a exciting ring to it, so I ended up with Raspberry. Psy is an anagram for SYP, which is short for Syrian Pound. As Syria was a lot in the news in those days but not always in a good way, I decided to use an anagram for it and thus 'Psy'.
oh and this was just named after Antonio Banderas.
oh and this was just named after Antonio Banderas.
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For weeks and months before Revision 2015, gargaj kept bugging us about the 64k compo... "Is it on?" he was asking, almost weekly.
Yes it was!
FAKE NEWS - it was Abductee who kept bugging _us_.
Low is named "Low" because it's low quality and low effort.
Median is because I thought the demo was average at best.
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Median is because I thought the demo was average at best.
In that case please continue to stick with productions that you think are average at best. :D
gargaj's next production will be called "Piggy"