Game Music IV on the Commodore 64 by Charles Deenen (also known as "The Mercenary Cracker" (TMC) was perhaps one of the very first demos ever produced. Though TMC dated all his productions to 1991, this demo is known to have been produced in 1985.

The Commodore 64 demos for the Commodore 64 (C64) were, as far as is known, the first real demos produced on any home computer. Image File history File links Game_Music_4. ... Image File history File links Game_Music_4. ... For the hip hop group, see Commodore 64 (band). ... This article is about the year. ... For the hip hop group, see Commodore 64 (band). ... The demoscene is a computer subculture that came to prominence during the rise of the 16/32-bit micros (the Atari ST and the Amiga), but demos first appeared during the 8-bit era on computers such as the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. ... TRS-80 Color Computer II The home computer is a consumer-friendly word for the second generation of microcomputers (the technical term that was previously used), entering the market in 1977 and becoming common during the 1980s. ...

Simple demo-like music collections were put together on the C64 in 1985 by Charles Deenen, inspired by crack intros, using music taken from games and adding some homemade color graphics. In the following year the movement we now know as the demoscene was born. The Dutch groups 1001 Crew and The Judges, both Commodore 64-based, are often mentioned as the earliest demo groups, both producing pure demos with original graphics and music involving more than just casual work and extensive hardware trickery whilst competing with each other in 1986. At the same time demos from different individuals such as Antony Crowther (Ratt) had started circulating on Compunet in the United Kingdom. This article is about the year. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Screenshot of Compunet shortly after the user has logged in. ...

The first demos on the C64 were not called demos but rather letter, message, supermessage, et cetera. They were initially produced by the same people who cracked software protection, e.g. The 1001 Crew. The label "demo" appeared later.

Among the earliest demos are:

• Game Music 1-9 by The Mercenary Cracker (Charles Deenen, 1985)
• Borderletter from The 1001 Crew (1986)
• Think Twice I-V by The Judges
• Rock This by C64CG (1987)

These demos would later evolve into a subculture of their own, resulting in massive parties where demo coders would compete. For the C64, the peak point in time for this culture was the year 1989 in northern Europe. Here, hundreds of Dutch, French, Belgian, German, Danish, Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian groups would meet, for example at Venlo in The Netherlands. This article is about the year. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... As understood in sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a set of people with a distinct set of behavior and beliefs that differentiate them from a larger culture of which they are a part. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... World map showing Europe Europe is conventionally considered one of the seven continents which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiogeographic one. ... Venlo is a municipality and a city in the southeastern Netherlands. ... The Netherlands (Dutch: Nederland) is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Dutch: Koninkrijk der Nederlanden). ...

Perhaps the best way of defining what a C64 demo is, would be to say that it exploited a talent. Demos sought to show off the talents of their authors. These talents may have been audio, visual or through programming. It was not unusual to find demos that displayed a single picture, only music tracks or a programming skill.

As the demo scene evolved, programmers would seek to push the limit of the C64. Groups were formed that consisting of members who were skilled in composing music, drawing graphics and programming. Together these members would produce demos that pushed the limits.

Effects thought impossible were achieved. Sprite scrollers were placed in the side-border. Sprites were multiplexed (over 8 sprites, sometimes up to 128 sprites). Routines such as FLD (flexible line distance) and FLI (flexible line interpretation) further expanded what the C64 was capable of doing. DYCP (different Y Character position) allowed scrolls to take on a different Y position, making them scroll along in a sine wave). The number of colours displayed was increased through use of FLI.

Followers of the C64 would see the growth of the demo scene. Gone were the single file demos with one scrolling text and no music. Full disk demos were produced, some of which would play music as the next file loaded, without any delay in the sound.

Hidden parts were included as was the occasional game implemented into a demo.

When the Commodore Amiga appeared, many former C64 demo programmers switched platforms and continued to make demos, but for the Amiga (see Amiga demos). The Atari demos were also heavily influenced by C64 demos. In Britain, the main alternative demo scene was the one of ZX Spectrum demos. The original Amiga (1985) The Amiga is a family of home/personal computers originally developed by Amiga Corporation as an advanced game console. ... Amiga demos are demos created for the Commodore Amiga home computer. ... The Atari Demo Scene can probably be traced back to a group called The Exceptions (TEX for short) who created a series of music demos (enhanced with a bit of scrolling text and some nice rasters) in 1987. ... The demo scene on the ZX Spectrum can probably be traced back to Castor Cracking Group and a few other groups back in 1986. ...

The C64 was in a time when local BBS's were popular and used to communicate with other people. Software trading via mail was also common. Some C64 enthusiasts lament the loss of the social interaction that locally centered computer activities provided. A bulletin board system or BBS is a computer system running software that allows users to dial into the system over a phone line and, using a terminal program, perform functions such as downloading software and data, uploading data, playing games, reading news, and exchanging messages with other users. ... Postbox redirects here. ...

External links

• C64.CH - The C64 Demo Portal, A very good site for C64 demos with screenshots
• The Digital Dungeon (TDD), FTP site for C64 demos
• - Commodore Scene Database, A huge scene database where you can get in touch with the sceners themselves or get info about one scener or release or event. Very well structured, including information (hidden parts), downloads, screenshots, forum.
• C64 Portal C64 demo scene related news, about new releases, parties and other scene related news
• Driven Online Driven Online - Covering the North American demo scene
• An Introduction to Programming C-64 Demos A tutorial about demo programming on the C64