The demoscene was a computer art subculture that emerged in the 1980s and flourished through the 1990s, primarily in Europe. It was a digital art movement where programmers, artists, and musicians created intricate, technically impressive audiovisual presentations called “demos” - real-time computer graphics animations that pushed hardware limitations to their absolute limits. There are strong ties between making demos and Cracking games.
Demos
In the context of the demoscene, a demo is a real-time computer program that produces a highly sophisticated audiovisual presentation, designed to showcase technical skill, artistic creativity, and extreme programming optimization. These were added to cracked games, or shared on the proto-internet, on disks, or shown at demoparties. They were meant to be watched. In the Case Study Arc Angels we encountered demos that had walkable menus, and leaning towards video games in their aesthetics.