Variform
 |
The title screen of Variform |
Variform is a
demo by the demogroup
Kewlers. It was released in
2002 at the
Assembly demo party, and even though it only placed 3rd in the competition, it became one of the most widely acclaimed demos ever, winning three
Scene.org Awards the following year.
*
Size: 8.5 megabytes
*
Running time: 6:17
*
Platform: Win32, later ported to
Mac OS X and
Linux*
Minimum requirements: Pentium II class CPU,
TNT2 class video card
VARIFORM is a spectacular trip into a futuristic world of abstract glowing objects in electric colors. The demo features a consistent and very dynamic flow which helps in delivering the viewer through all the effects, accompanied by a
Kraftwerk-esque
electro soundtrack. Reviewers hailed Variform as the perfect fusion of oldskool and newskool demostyles.
Variform was a trend-setter in many aspects: The robot-like voice-synthesis in the music (though it wasn't the first demo to apply it), and image postprocessing techniques (glow, or "square-filter") were later used in many other productions, and the opening phrase "WE ARE BACK!", became one of the most repeated phrases among demosceners.
* The music bears obvious resemblances to Finnish electro-formation
Imatran Voima's single
In/Out. The similarities were later confirmed by
Little Bitchard.
* The figure visible in the first half of the demo with the text
"KAPTEENI AEAENI" written on it is a reference to Ääni (meaning "voice" in Finnish, given to him after his deep, sonorous voice), the
security chief of Assembly. There is also a Finnish Reggae-collective called
Kapteeni Ääni.
* The whispered greetings are a reference to the
Aphex Twin song
"Respect List". The sentence
"Mad bloke and his dogs next door", is a direct quote from the AFX single.
* The panting in the first part of the soundtrack is a reference to the classic
Kraftwerk song
"Tour de France".
* On
November 25 2005, Kewlers released a
musicdisk called
Variform Remixed, a compilation of 13 remixes of the Variform soundtrack and two bonus tracks (an instrumental and a beta version of the original). The compilation is available in a
classic (executable) format and also in
.NRG CD-image format (with CD-cover included).
* Programming by
Curly Brace* Graphics by
Actor Dolban* Music by
Little Bitchard and
Mel Funktion* 3rd place at the Assembly 2002 demo competition
* Award for
Best demo at Scene.org Awards 2002
* Award for
Best effects at Scene.org Awards 2002
* Award for
Best soundtrack at Scene.org Awards 2002
* Nomination for
Best direction at Scene.org Awards 2002
*
Variform on
Scene.org*
Variform on
Pouet
