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Hey folks, trying to gauge interest in a party idea. Would you be interested in a party without executable compos (only art, music, etc.)? If you have an opinion, please contribute to the poll

What do you mean? Pixel art? Music modules? Don't those already exist as categories in demoparties?

Yes, I mean a party that specifically focuses on these things.

I'm not against it, but I think a clear and focused theme, such as boozedrome's amiga gabber music, would help a lot. Otherwise musicians and graphicians may as well wait until a demo party to submit.

This is very interesting. I wasn't aware of that compo. Thanks for pointing it out!

The idea sounds worthwhile experimenting. Having a well scoped theme probably helps a lot as mantatronic pointed out.

Is there some background on this idea? Is there a particular reason why, for example, executable graphics or music should be excluded from party's scope? Or did you mainly mean excluding demos/intros?

Wouldn't it stop being a demoparty at that point?

me personally: No. I'm mostly doing executable compos :)

I generally consider those art and music competitions as filler compos (unfortunately in the last decade or so also quality-wise if you compare it with what gets released outside the demoscene bubble) for demoparties, so no.

The general motivation for the idea is that I was thinking about hosting a party and I was trying to think of niches that haven't been filled by other parties. Lovebyte is a great example of a party that came along and filled a very specific niche and has been quite successful as a result. I was wondering how big the contingent of artists and musicians who are interested in non-executable compos was. I am primarily a sizecoder and don't really have my finger on the pulse of that corner of the scene. I thought there could be a niche there that needed to be filled.



Yes, I think it probably would not be a demoparty. I was also talking to havok about that. Maybe "artparty" would be a more appropriate term.

I have had several people point me toward smaller compo events (like one compo rather than an entire party) devoted to art / music. Logiker's atascii and amscii compos are interesting examples too.

I don't want to give the impression that I'm actually planning on doing this. Maybe some time in the future. Or maybe a totally different party idea. I was just wondering if anybody would be interested.



Sadly I agree. But I think given the proper context and opportunity, that could change.

How about an pARTy with only fast-compos at the partyplace. Paintover, pixel, music, etc. You can call it fastpartyand ot would be quite different because all entries have to be made on the first day and compos are on the second day.

Edit: … fastparty and it would be quite different…

I wonder: which purpose are you trying to serve with this?

ronny, there's a few recent examples of parties with a more-focused-than-usual-in-the-demoscene approach. these have been (in my eyes) quite successfull at providing platforms and exposure to categories that get less attention at mainstream parties. the number of entries/level of participation at such parties seem to support that notion. check out for example "lovebyte" (sizecoding) and "vccc" (textmode gfx). orby can only confirm his intentions himself but it seems logical to me that he's trying to figure out if a similar concept could work for other graphics and music categories :)

One niche that I've seen frustration with over the years is musicdisks, which get put in wild compos and often get ignored or undervalued by voters at parties. How about an online party focused on musicdisks/slideshows/artpacks?

Yes, this is exactly what I was thinking.



I love this! I was surprised when I checked the pouet db. There were 50 musicdisks released in 2023, but only 16 of them at parties (in wild/demo compos). Similar story with slideshows over the last few years. This is exactly the niche I was looking for :)

I wonder how a music disk competition would look like though 🤔

and how long it will take to run :)

1-month-party incoming.

a musicdisk compo would be a great idea imho, but if you want to do the format justice it would have to be an online-compo with enough running-time for everyone to check them out. presenting mds in a live-compo is always a compromise since you cant hold peoples interest for hours.

as for digital graphics: i think this is such a wide field and the demoscene is nowhere at its top it would be quite hard to sell. some techy limitations would work (like only a single oldschool platform or even gfx mode on it) but that would in turn reduce the audience greatly.
theres some cool examples for very limited (online) compos on csdb tho, the c64 community is very active in this regard.

pouet.net logo competition!

what wysiwtf said.

for music disks give everyone a chance to go through the entries properly, stream one a night, or something like that, for entries on old or obscure hardware. for the graphics, maybe reach out to the ascii/ansi scene on 16colors to see what they think of an artpack competition or ask the groups who have been entering slideshows into wild compos what would inspire them to enter a dedicated compo.

I find the "talent is really elsewhere" angle a little weird. But it's tricky to say why I don't think it should matter.

After photographic fidelity became possible, competing in graphics did became potentially problematic. You could have your work compared to every illustrator and artist ever. Copying Vallejo on Amiga isn't enough, is your fantasy art better than Arthur Rackham's? The fact that it's on a computer screen makes no longer any difference, no?

The situation is not unique to demoscene. The "online 2D digital artist" is really just an artificial cultural boundary, ignoring the fact there are "better works" throughout the history of illustration and art. But choosing to do "2D pixel art" already sets the tone of what you intend to do, and you probably won't be compared to Picasso.

There's still something you'd call a "demoscene cultural context". If a musician submitted a piano piece to a music compo, it might get applauded, even if it wouldn't compare well to a Debussy, Chopin or a random Youtuber. But it might also fail the compo if it's not something the audience supports at that time.

There still remains the idea that there's "better demoscene art" outside demoscene, but I'm unsure if even that really matters.

What kind of gesture your work is in the context of a demoparty, is something not nullified by the fact there is "better talent" somewhere else. The work is shown in the unique bubble of one demoparty and its audience. The gfx compo becomes a slideshow of unexpected combinations, some building upon the audience expectations, some ignoring it. At best, it becomes a collective presentation, encouraging responses and feelings from the audience.

What I find myself carefully saying is that maybe some kind of GFX/Musics event would be interesting as an experiment.

As an aside to all this, oldschool platform graphics can still be meaningful to do on their own merits. For example, isolated gfx and music compos have been held online many times in the Commodore Scene Database, so if we're talking about online compos the concept isn't that novel really.

Friends- thank you for the very constructive feedback. I like the idea of holding a musicdisk compo over the course of a week and streaming around an hour worth of musicdisks a day. I've never organized a party before, so this seems like a lot to bite off by itself, let alone including art competitions. So I'm inclined just to do a multiplatform musicdisk compo. Is there any good reason not to do this June 22nd - June 28th? Thanks so much for batting this idea around with me :)