Demo Review: Escape 4k intro by Kulture                               2000/05/23
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                                  mrh/icb

Today we take a look at the Escape 4k intro which is Kulture's entry to the
Codecraft 4k coding competition held in June 1999.

Escape was actually written for the RiscPC but there also exists an Archimedes
version. The difference betweens the two versions is that the Archimedes version
has no extro-part and uses 16 instead of 256 colours. Also the screen resolution
is lower - the effects run with 4x4 pixel blocks. But as all colours in Escape
are only tones of blue the Archimedes version does not look too bad.

It's rather blue.

Having launched Escape a blue loader screen first shows the demo's title and
the music starts. Yes you read right. Music. Or to be more exact - it's a drum
pattern which changes in every part of the demo. It is the first 4k intro with
music for the acorn - let's hope Kulture set a new standard with this! Somehow
it is a bit boring wo watch silent 4k intros.

You have to wait some seconds while some calculations are done in the
background and the loader screen turns off. In the first demopart we slowly fly
through a blue rotating tunnel which is even changing between different shapes.
(flower, triangle shape) - A similar thing was also shown in REISCNAC/Icebird.
Unfortunately the low resolution makes the thing look a bit strange, especially
in the flower-shape.

Next is an effect showing a pair of rotating blue planes. Every time you start
Escape one of two different textures is randomly choosen for the tunnel and the
plane. In my opinion that texture with that circle (see the screenshot #2) looks
rather cool in the planes-part. The bumpmapping makes it really plastic.

In the following part a blue rotating cube is shown from its inside. Actually
it is made from 6 planes forming a cube. It's nice to watch but somehow the
light-sourcing seems not to be calculated correctly. (I like the drum pattern
in this part. :)

Finally we reached the extro part of Escape. It's a blurring screen showing a
blue Mandelbrot fractal and a blue Kulture-logo.

Escape features some nice 3D effects in 4k and even some sound-output. (But as
it is just a rythm pattern we do not rate it as music.) A little drawback is
the simplicity of the effects and the constant blue-tones. Somehow it makes all
the 3D stuff look the same. Maybe text-overlays or something would have made it
look a bit more interesting. I am sure this would not have exceeded 4k.
Nevertheless Escape is a 4k intro in the upperclass and worth watching! (And I
intentionally did not say 'worth its download time'.)

   .
   | -^deMo RaTing^-       . -^facts^-                 -^credits^-
 __!_______________________!_________________________.________________ __ _
   |                       |                         |
   | CoDing  - ooooooo...  | name     : Escape       | code: tom/Kulture
   | gRaphIx - ..........  | group    : Kulture      |
   | mUSix   - ..........  | category : 4k intro     |
   | deZiGn  - ooooo.....  | discspace: 4k
   | oVeRaLL - ooooooo...  | system   : ARM2/2MB/RO2
   |


Download:  ESCAPE.ZIP (33k)