Classic PC demoscene productions running natively in the browser

> The demo is run on an x86 emulator that records every block of code the CPU actually executes, over the whole demo.

> That recording is translated into C - the original instructions, one for one, with the exact cycle timing of the emulated machine.

What's the advantage of this approach vs cycle-accurate emulation? (I'd guess it can go faster, due to compiler optimization?)

> The result is checked against the emulator event for event: every interrupt, port access and frame at the same moment of emulated time.

It's funny how LLMs leak their test procedure docs into user-facing output.

The days I gave up with demoscene. When PC killed Atari ST and Amiga scene (sorry to put you after amiguys, but life was always easier for you ;) ), all the magic of fixed hardware without tons of Mhz and RAM, when we were running after that cathode ray which wouldn't wait, exploiting hardware bugs to break those damn borders above, below and sideways, spending hours turning my head upside-down to read unreadable scrolltexts, looking at psychedelic plasma effects with bazillions colors...

Then I betrayed you all: I bought my first ugly machine because of Doom. I was so ashamed...

Now, only 4KB demos can at least impress me a bit.

Feeling old.

a couple of days ago I posted this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49982323

State of the Art was ported to the browser as well.

If there’s no human effort behind this, what’s the point? You could just as well watch any of the zillions of video recordings of these demos. There’s no inherent value in "running natively in the browser". Never mind the vast irony in demoscene specifically being a celebration of human skill and creativity.

So much fun. I recently ported some old strategy games. Claude does it almost on its own http://replicated.live/blog/games

This kind of made me sad.

The demoscene was all about human ingenuity getting the most out of the machine. It was about showing off how good your crew was at making things from nothing but their minds.

Now, it too, has been swallowed by the AI that is destroying this entire mode of being, the joy and creativity of writing code, of solving seemingly-impossible puzzles with ones mind.

My favorite creative and intellectual outlet is dying off and its killer is wearing its corpse as a costume.

It's quiet amazing how much people did with 4kb, 64kb demos.

bufff.... the music from second reality still gives me goosebumps.

How to skin a cat...

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I'm all for this future. Let's remove the tooling and let true creativity and diligence be what we appreciate and marvel at. If we can instruct AI well enough, it can eliminate the plumbing layer entirely, allowing us to focus on what truly matters.

Those demos from the '90s remind me of the incredible creativity and ingenuity of the human mind. Thanks for bringing them back to life and making them so effortlessly accessible.