

  Cubes,
  Ribbons and
  3D Flybys
  
  
  by Paradox
  
  
  Extensive Credits:
  Graphics: Dan
  Music:    505
  Code:     Paranoid
  
  Graphics support: Zweckform, Paranoid
  Music replay:     gwEm
  Add.Optimisation: Ra
  
  
  Preface:
  Once again, Paradox does not take over any responsibility over anything
  that happens before, while or after watching this little demo. Copying
  this demo is free of charge as long as it stays unmodified, no files are
  being added or excluded.
  
  Compatibility:
  The demo has been designed and is intended to be run on a standard 1040
  STE. It requires 1MB of RAM, some sort of a diskdrive and colour monitor
  or TV set. It does run on the MegaSTE at both 8MHz and 16MHz, Cache on or
  off, and it also does run on the Falcon030, but not very well on VGA
  monitors, where it does flicker a lot in the final screen.
  The demo has been tested on
  - Atari MegaSTE, 4MB RAM, TOS 2.06 from disk
  - Atari Falcon030, 14MB RAM, FPU, Nemesis speeder, TOS 4.04, VGA and RGB
  - Atari 1040STE, 1MB RAM, TOS 1.62 from disk
  The demo will not run on an ordinary ST such as STF, STFM or ST+. It will
  also not run on an Atari TT simply because these machines lack the most
  relevant custom chip for this demo: The BLiTTER.
  
  About the Atari STE:
  This little demo is meant to celebrate the 20th birthday of our most
  beloved machine, the Atari STE. We at Paradox always considered this
  machine the most underestimated 16-Bit computer of that era and dedicated
  our demo-development to showing what potential the little machine still
  has. Naturally, celebrating its 20th birthday required some special
  treatment so here it is: Cubes, Ribbons and 3D Flybys.
  Looking back at its history, the Atari STE never really had a chance. It 
  was intended to react to Commodore's domination in the fairly young multi- 
  media business and to make up for the hardware-restrictions the Atari ST 
  family had to bear from its extremely short development time. So the Atari 
  STE was given what multi-media and game programmers desired: Hardware- 
  scrolling, screen-splitting, a graphics coprocessor - the BLiTTER - 
  more colours and DMA-based PCM stereo-sound.
  While that was sufficient to catch up with the Commodore Amiga with regard 
  to advertisement, Atari failed to see that the STE had not overtaken the 
  Amiga and that the Amiga itself was also starting to show its age.
  Also, Atari did not dare to stop marketing the classical ST immediatelly 
  at the appearance of the STE and kept selling both with the STE being 
  slightly more expensive than the ST. Software manufacturers followed that 
  example by ignoring the STE features widely - In the best case, games 
  started to use some of the STE capabilities while also running on the 
  standard ST, in the worst case, software did not run at all on the STE due 
  to minor incompatibilities.
  The STE never really recovered from that start. Even as Atari presented 
  the professionalized version in form of the MegaSTE in 1991 and finally 
  abandonded the classic ST family, there was no more market left to push 
  the STE into as the market had started to shift to IBM compatibles.
  And so we gathered to celebrate the STE for what it was, what it is and 
  what it will always be: A nice little piece of hardware that still has a
  lot of unused potential.
  
  
  Some more bla bla about this demo:
  Actually, we started to work on this quite early but i, Paranoid, overdid
  it and ended up investing a lot of time into effects that weren't running
  as intended and failed to look like i wanted them to look. Wasting so much
  time and having to revise major parts in the end lead to having to do a
  lot of stuff on short notice in the end which was covered up awesomely
  well by 505, who had to compose and fine-tune the soundtrack bearing a lot
  of restrictions in just a weekend and, of course, by our newest member, Dan,
  who spent a lot of evenings in front of various graphics programs.
  As a matter of fact, it all worked out in the end, even though the result is
  way more rushed than we initially intended - I guess most effects do have a
  lot of unused potential that we just had no more time to exploit.
  Sorry about that, but we think the result is quite okay.
  
  

  Paradox < Dan - 505 - RA - Zweckform - The Paranoid > 2009-12-13
  
  