CODEF is a set of javascript libraries that make it easy to create Amiga-style cracktros—minimalist graphical and audio vids traditionally stuffed onto whatever space remained on a game disk after the copy protection was cracked. You can even.use .mod music files rather than mp3s! Enjoy the examples. [via Waxy]

  • http://www.creaturesoflight.com dagfooyo

    Huh.  This is a piece of 80′s (A0′s?) ephemera I totally missed, even though we had an Amiga.  I guess ’cause my Dad was strictly anti-piracy and so all our games were paid for.  I’d love to see some originals from the era.

    • http://www.creaturesoflight.com dagfooyo

      As usual, Youtube comes through:  http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cracktros&page=&utm_source=opensearch  Very cool stuff!

    • phuzz

      May I recommend ’9 Fingers’ by Spaceballs:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nln80hiP5AY

      It was the first time I saw actual video being output by a home computer.  And bear in mind all this fitted on a single 880k floppy disk
      (although this was a standalone demo, not one designed purely to go at the start of a cracked game).
      Just google Amiga demos for more information.

  • benher

    Ah! Thanks Rob! Helps numb last week’s “Psygnosis” news ;)

  • Daneel

    Ah yes, I remember many of these from my…ahem.. my friend’s, games.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/TGZ75URQ6DKTCNXV3RV36ZKALQ Matthew

    I miss the days of the demos.  They were really awesome, because you could just sit back and marvel at what kinds of cool stuff your computer was capable of.  Also, you didn’t have to get illegal software to get the demos.  You could download them from bbs or ftp if you had internet at college.

  • spacedoggy

    There’s 1 thing I especially like about the HTML 5 interface, the realtime overlay of the output of the code. I like this innovation seen recently in Khan Academy’s nes Computer Science course, but having it as a transparent overlay to the code screen lets you see the effect of your code, while also utilising the full space for code editing.

    excellent work.

  • http://twitter.com/Sn1ds STV MRCR

    Wow. The very first one, randomly chosen I remember note for note! I feel like someone has pulled a dream from the back of my skull and held it in front of my eyes.