64K intro

A 64K intro is a demo where the size of the executable file is limited to 64 kibibytes, or 65,536 bytes. At demo parties there is a category for this kind of demo, where the one that gives the best impression wins.

Demoscene
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Alternative demo platforms
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  • Tracker musicians
  • Demosceners

64K intros generally apply many techniques to be able to fit in the given size, usually including procedural generation, sound synthesis and executable compression.[1]

The size of 64 kibibytes is a traditional limit which was inherited from the maximum size of a COM file.

History

Demos traditionally were limited by the system memory size, or later on the storage that was available (although demos on multiple discs weren't unheard of). By the early 1990s, especially after machines started to get large hard discs and internet connections, demo sizes grew, and as a reaction limited size categories that forced devs to not simply stream data from storage started to become common at demo parties.[2] As the scene evolved, the size of limited PC demos settled down to 64k.[3]

fr-08,[4] a 64k PC demo by Farbrausch released at The Party 2000 in Aars has since been claimed [5] to mark a watershed moment in the popularity of the category.

Notable 64K intros for PC
  • Chaos Theory, Conspiracy, 2006
  • Gaia Machina, Approximate, 2012[6]
  • F — Felix's Workshop, Ctrl-Alt-Test, 2012[7]
  • Fermi paradox, Mercury, 2016[8][9]
  • Darkness Lay Your Eyes Upon Me, Conspiracy, 2016[9]

References
  1. Campbell-Dollaghan, Kelsey. "This Incredible Animation Was Made By Code That Could Fit on a Floppy". Gizmodo. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
  5. BitJam Episode #39 interview with Boyc that sums up how 64k's changed around 2000, because of fr-08. Features music from 64k intros.
  6. "Gaia Machina by Approximate". 2012-04-08. Retrieved 2018-07-28.
  7. "Daytime Selects - Demoscene | SIGGRAPH 2013". 2017-03-27. Archived from the original on 2017-03-27. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  8. https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/5/11/11656690/fermi-paradox-demoscene-explore-space-64k
  9. http://s2016.siggraph.org/sites/default/files/S16_AP_070616.pdf
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