Interview with Japanese Demoscener 0b5vr

▲ Interview with Japanese Demoscener 0b5vr(6octaves.com)

239 points by nokonoko 4 days ago | 22 comments

▲ ChrisArchitect 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

Warms my heart when they mention his 'discography' and it's a link to pouet.net, one of the various scene.org sites been around forever and still going. Having any kind of documentation/archives of a subculture's history, especially from around that time when digital things just disappear, is great to see.

▲ herodoturtle 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This article was such a cool trip down memory lane, and as an old-timer that hasn’t looked at this stuff since the early 90s (mode13h anyone?) I am so happy to see how strong the scene is today.

▲ ErneX 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

His live set demo is pretty neat

https://youtu.be/3lOptjAeA2w

Repo: https://github.com/0b5vr/0mix

▲ skrebbel 4 days ago | parent [-]

Just to clarify for readers who didn't read the interview, not a live set, it’s a 64kb demo that looks and feels like a recording of a livecoding competition. So “live set demo” is technically correct because it’s a “live set” themed demo. But it’s not actually a live set :-)

▲ genezeta 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

I don't know why the sibling comment is dead (edit: was). I mean, it is a valid concern, if one doesn't know.

So, for slickytail and anyone who has the same question:

The code is actually compressed into a binary blob. You can see it if you just look at the source of https://0b5vr.com/0mix/0mix.html

A small script loads the blob and uncompresses it before running it through eval:

  fetch("#").then(t=>t.blob()).then(t=>new Response(t.slice(156).stream().pipeThrough(new DecompressionStream("deflate"))).text()).then(eval)

This is a common approach in browser demos and what is counted as "less than 64Kb" is that final html. A similar technique compresses it into a PNG.

▲ slickytail 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

In what sense is this 64KB? Clearly there's more than 64KB of code in the repo. And since it's typescript it's not like there's a binary that could be 64KB.

	▲	skrebbel 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		The html file with all assets and js bundled in is under 64kb.

▲ carra 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Mode 13H was pretty nice. But mode 13X, hacked to have square pixels, was the coolest!

	▲	thibaut_barrere 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		Mode X allowed pretty cool stuff, like fake true color with interlaced lines (R,G,B), double buffering etc! Fond memories. Here is a YouTube rendition of a demo I implemented in 96, showing those techniques https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t8o-uuq73UU&pp=ygUQTmlra2kgaml...

▲ Prime_Axiom 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I really enjoyed the interview, and I definitely resonate with the art being free from so called “value” as an asset, truly a pure from of artistic creation and expression. I am curious to know more about the scene and it sounds like they would be welcoming to n00bs, you guys recommend any upcoming live events to keep track of?

	▲	GuB-42 4 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		https://www.demoparty.net/ The biggest pure demoscene event is Revision in Saarbrücken, Germany. The 2026 edition has yet to be announced, but it is always during the Easter week-end. They have a dedicated newbie corner if you are interested https://2025.revision-party.net/about/newcomers/
	▲	namibj 4 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		If Easter doesn't work for you, you can come to Evoke instead, that's (late?) summer in Cologne and not quite as big. Definitely welcoming though.

▲ velo_aprx 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Nice to see Setsukos blog here on hackernews! She has done a lot of great interviews with sceners over the years you should check out.

I met her once at Tokyo Demofest, and I still feel bad about making her try the Swedish licorice I had brought... :)

▲ fnord77 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I always found Demoscene to be a curious phenomena. A combination of fascination and not understanding the point.

Seems to be mostly a European thing, too.

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badpun 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

They're talented hobbyists who are not interested in monetizing their passion. Such people exist in US too, although perhaps are more rare.

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ptek 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

There were a lot of global crews during c64 days and a few crews on the Amiga. In New Zealand on the Amiga a lot of the warez and compilations had importros on them. So was a small coding scene here but not as big as Europe or during C64 days.

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squigz 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I think the point is to create fracking cool art - and show off your skills

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userbinator 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

From what I've seen, mostly East-European and former USSR.

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anyfoo 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

Assembly, arguably the most known demo party, was famously Finnish. Future Crew (who made Second Reality) were (are?) Finnish as well. Lots of demo scene in Germany, also.

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skrebbel 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

About evenly spread both sides of the Iron curtain, I’d say. Lots of demoscene in eg Germany, Scandinavia too. Netherlands, UK and France also have sizeable (though smaller) scenes.

	▲	pjmlp 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		And to lesser extent Iberian Penisula, where sceners like shader toy creators come from.

▲ 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

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