Dual Crew Shining (new)/Reviews
Kala (1997, 05.10, 64k Intro)
Review by Glenn Lunder
DCS goes for an unusual design with this intro, and certainly manages a unique production too. Truly weird, it manages to present common effects in a way that make them seem slightly special all the same. They don't succeed perfectly with this intro, but they are certainly on their way to creating something a little special here. Definite Plus points for trying to do something original. And for coining the term 'postcalculating' =P
tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.1.
Blues (1997, 28.12, AGA 40k Intro)
Review by Glenn Lunder
A pleasant surprise; not only is DCS back but they've delivered a very good intro too! "Blues" leave you with a good, solid impression - much thanks to the music, which has a massive, catchy theme. It's an impressive tune for this size, and it works well in the context. The intro has a 'particle' routine, where 2x2 dots form the words 'DCS!' and 'The End' to open and end it, and inbetween there's fast but blocky texturemapped objects and scenes. A very good intro that doesn't need to be advanced to be fun.
tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.0.
Nebula (1998, 13.04, AGA HD 4MB Demo)
Review by Glenn Lunder
"Nebula" opens amusingly in the style of an old sci-fi series, complete with period music. Then the first real effect, a fast but barren 3d scene with palm trees on tiny spots of earth. From the first bars of the music it is evident that this is a typical Muffler-tune. Then one of the spots appears to have a flower on it, out of which tiny specs of light appear. Then quickly onto a very nicely done bump-tunnel, with intense light at the end, before also a trail of small light-spots appears to come spinning out from the intense light at each end. And then something appears to go wrong, for a long time I only get a totally white screen while the music continues to play!
After looking at the screen and hoping something new would appear for a long time, I eventually rebooted and tried running the demo from harddisk (my previous attempt was from RAM). The results were even LESS great; it now defaulted to just a black screen immediately after the intro sequence! Not one to give up, I rebooted again (it doesn't appear to respond to the left mouse button), decrunched the main file and tried the demo one last time. And now, amazingly, it worked! We get a swirly thing behind the face of a man with sunglasses (you'd have to see it :) before another 3d scene with light-spots and a spike object. Next something I don't really know how to describe, but which is utterly beautiful, over which credits are overlayed.
Next we revisited a bump-tunnel, only this time we travel through it, while it twists this way and that. Soon it also contains a spike-object. Then we're onto a 3d scene with another spike-object suspended in the air over water with lilys in it - and the object is sometimes reflected in the water. And that's it!
An upscrolling end message with credits and the like appears (pausable with the right mb). Overall this demo gives a very professional impression, with smooth, fast routines that were not just thrown together. The only real graphics here are Adam's "Nebula" logo.
The demo works with just 4MB fast if you unpack the main executable first, otherwise requires a little more. Developed on and for 030-50, but should work on lesser configurations.
tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.1.
A Little Intro At Assembly 1998 (1998, 08.08, AGA 64k Intro)
Review by Glenn Lunder
Hmmm! =) This one brough a smile to my face. If you're into fluffy, cute little intros, then look no further. The intro opens with a zoom down into a nice, semi-graffiti-style DCS logo, before a main screen appears where a scroller resides at the top of the screen. The rest is occupied by a weird character in the bottom right corner, and a textplotter occupying the remainder of the screen. Just two short screenfuls of text are given, before the intro ends with a reverse of the first zoom, this time with the graphic being a cute little dog... =)
Smile...
The demo should work on any AGA amiga, including unexpanded machines. Though entered in the 64k intro competition, it's way smaller, about 35k. It was coded in two days before the party =)
tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 16mb fast/3.1.
