What better name for a website that recreates the 90s VGA demoscene in javascript than 90s VGA Demoscene? Created by and precisely aging Justin Greisiger Frost, the tribute implements 10 classic demoscene effects that were the opposite of vibecoding: painstaking work with ancient computer hardware which called for intimate technical knowledge of the machine. [via Hacker News]
It's all vanilla JavaScript writing to a <canvas> element, with no external libraries. It was a fun challenge to implement things like:
* The color palette cycling and smooth fading in the Plasma demo. * The buffer-averaging algorithm for the Fire effect to make the flames feel more natural. * The distance-based texture crossfading in the Tunnel to create the illusion of flying through different sections. * A 2D scalar field for the Metaballs to calculate the surface normals for that classic blended, metallic look (I did the best I could with the given constraints).
VGA refers to the DOS/PC hardware of the era, and there were complexities. I had a Commodore Amiga, similarly blessed with a similar resolution and even more colors for those who ate complexity for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Not me. I tried and died. So I became a writer instead.
Previously:
• Early demoscene appropriations of fantasy art
• Picotron, a fantasy pixel-art gamedev demoscene workstation
• Beautiful book showcases the early Amiga demoscene