Revision Demoparty 2026: Razor1911 [video]

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overall reaction to the Razor1911 demo

  • Widely praised as “beautiful”, “emotional”, and a “perfect closer” for the compo.
  • Many highlight the mix of BBS, warez, and 80s–00s demoscene aesthetics as a powerful 40‑year retrospective.
  • The live capture with crowd audio is preferred by several people over a clean capture because it amplifies the emotional impact.
  • The tribute section to deceased members is called out as unusually meaningful and moving for a demo’s credits.

Nostalgia for warez and BBS eras

  • Strong sentiment from former kids/teens who used Razor1911 cracks as their only access to games; some liken them to “high‑tech Robin Hoods.”
  • Detailed reminiscences about BBSes, e‑zines, cracktros, FILE_ID.DIZ/NFO art, floppy swapping, PKZIP/ARJ spanning, and early Windows cracking rituals.
  • Some recount demoparty trips in the early 90s, writing BBS intros for leech ratios, and early game projects in 16‑bit x86 assembly.

Technical aspects and file size

  • Clarification that this was in the unrestricted “demo” compo, not a size‑limited “intro.”
  • The binary is ~30–31 MB, considered small by modern demo standards; asset breakdown shows most space taken by PNGs, MP3 audio, shaders, and runtime data (including a large block of zeros).
  • Notes that this is a non‑optimized party version and that many modern demos don’t heavily optimize filesize unless in size‑compos.
  • Some users struggle to run it under Wine/Proton; it targets Windows, 1080p, and certain GPUs only.

Music, keygen aesthetics, and audio formats

  • Soundtrack is heavily praised; links provided to the track and related discography.
  • Keygen / “chiptune” nostalgia surfaces, with links to scene radio streams.
  • Long sub‑thread clarifies confusion between MIDI, tracker modules (XM, S3M, MOD, etc.), and chiptunes, including differing definitions of “chiptune.”
  • Vocals in demos are discussed: most full‑size demos now just stream compressed audio; in size‑limited intros there are examples of speech synthesis and tightly packed vocal samples.

Scene tools, ASCII/ANSI art, and learning resources

  • Several people reminisce about ANSI/ASCII drawing tools (e.g., TheDraw) and modern editors; a curated list of text‑art tools is shared.
  • Multiple links are posted to demoscene learning resources and “teach yourself demoscene” style guides, emphasizing that the scene is generally open, not secretive.

Other notable Revision 2026 releases

  • Multiple commenters mention other standout productions:
    • A microcontroller demo “Sum Ergo Demonstro.”
    • An OCS Amiga demo “Second Nature” on a stock A500 (+512K), praised as technically astonishing and uplifting.
    • An Atari 2600 demo “Triplet,” with both emulator and hardware captures linked.
  • References to older classic demos and groups (Future Crew, ASD, The Black Lotus, Fairlight, Kewlers, CNCD, Orange, Triton, etc.) situate Razor1911 in broader demoscene history.

AI, engines, and “purity” debates

  • Question about AI use in this demo is met with multiple assertions that none was used; some frame AI use as contrary to the spirit of the scene.
  • Others note that Revision has explicit AI rules, AI is sometimes used for tooling, and historically the scene has pushed back against many “new shortcuts” (high‑level languages, GPUs, MP3s, Photoshop, commercial game engines, etc.) before gradually accepting them when used creatively.
  • There is also concern about demos built with general‑purpose engines (Unreal/Unity/Godot), though some entries openly state such usage.

Meta and experimental aspects

  • People praise parts that interact with the desktop (window juggling, Notepad‑style rendering) as clever boundary‑pushing on what constitutes a “demo.”
  • Some discuss extracting the MP3 and high‑res PNGs from the packed executable.
  • Lighthearted comments suggest running it in a pirated Windows VM as thematically fitting.