This monograph was written from the perspective of the demoscene,

i.e. users and creators whose interests are focused on the capabilities
of the British 8-bit computer ZX Spectrum. The book does not include
the official history of the computer, but the local narrative. The authors
examine the processes of “taking over” the western platform, e.g. mass
cloning of the hardware. They investigate creative artifacts specific to
the ZX Spectrum scene and discuss the computer’s capabilities for cre-
ating graphics, music, demos and games, applying the ethnographic
method as well as platform studies and media archeology.

Marecki / Yerzmyey / Straka | ZX SPECTRUM DEMOSCENE

The ZX Spectrum Demoscene is an initiative of fundamental importance
for the study of the history of digital culture in Central Europe. The au-
thors offer insight into the environment, aesthetics and histories of the
platform’s assimilation in varying social and historical conditions.
Dr hab. Anna Nacher, professor of the Jagiellonian University

Piotr Marecki, writer, publisher, translator, digital culture scholar. Asso-

ciate professor in the Institute of Culture at the Jagiellonian University
in Krakow, also the head of a creative computing lab. In 2013–14 he did
a postdoc at Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the Trope Tank lab.
Yerzmyey, lo-fi artist: demoscener, musician, graphic artist, photog-
rapher, writer, creator of the Hooy-Program. Author and co-author
of numerous demos, intros, graphics, chiptune songs, interactive fic-
tion, games, collection of photos. He works mostly with ZX Spectrum,
but also with Atari and Amiga computers, Commodore 264 series, the
Raspberry Pi and many others. Co-author of a creative computing lab
at the Jagiellonian University.
Robert “Hellboy” Straka, z80 & x86 programmer, mathematician, AGH
UST lecturer. Author and coauthor of several demos, intros and games
on the ZX Spectrum. His academic career is linked to advanced numeri-
cal methods in science and engineering with emphasis on GPU compu-
tations and Lattice Boltzmann Method.
Translated by Justyna Jochym
REVIEWER
dr hab. Anna Nacher, prof. UJ

COVER DESIGN
Jakub Woynarowski

Publication financed by the program of the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education “National
Programme for the Development of Humanities” for the years 2016–19, 0020/NPRH4/H2B/83/2016

Orginally published under the title Demoscena ZX Spectrum.

© Copyright by Piotr Marecki, Yerzmyey, Robert Straka & Jagiellonian University Press
First edition, Kraków 2020
All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any eletronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.

Authors special thanks go to Alone Coder, Adam Ladziński, Anastazja Naumenko,

Martyna Chmielińska, Renata Sikorska and Zofia Sajdek.

ISBN 978-83-233-4862-7
ISBN 978-83-233-7125-0 (e-book)

Jagiellonian University Press

Editorial Offices: Michałowskiego 9/2, 31-126 Kraków
Phone: +48 12 663 23 80, Fax: +48 12 663 23 83
Distribution: Phone: +48 12 631 01 97, Fax: +48 12 631 01 98
Cell Phone: + 48 506 006 674, e-mail: sprzedaz@wuj.pl
Bank: PEKAO SA, IBAN PL 80 1240 4722 1111 0000 4856 3325
TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Demoscene and ZX Spectrum: A Guide for Outsiders 7

Why the Demoscene? 10
Why the ZX Spectrum? 11
Sound 13
Graphics 14
Why Locality? 15
I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene 19
Structure of the Demoscene 19
Nicknames and Friendship 23
Platform Wars 29
Teamwork 35
Contests and Voting 41
The East-West Divide or Decentering Digital Media 49
Clones 57
Creative Programming 64
The Archive 72
II. Digital genres of ZX Spectrum Demoscene 79
Texts on the Scene 79
Demos 79
Magazines 89
Electronic Books 91
Real-time Text 91
Text Games 92
1-bit Sound 93
The Return of 1-bit Aesthetics: MISTER BEEP 98
Development of the Scene 102
6 Table of contents

Homebrew Games on the ZX Spectrum 105

Homebrew Games—the Modern Period 107
III. The Platform 113
ZX Spectrum—Official Models 113
Soviet and Post-Soviet ZX Spectrum Computer Clones 120
ZX Spectrum Programming Languages 129
BASIC 130
Assembler 132
Other Languages 134
Conclusions 137
Bibliography 143
Index 147
THE DEMOSCENE
AND ZX SPECTRUM:
A GUIDE FOR OUTSIDERS

This book describes three phenomena in digital media. Firstly, it concerns

the 8-bit personal computer ZX Spectrum produced by the British compa-
ny Sinclair Research since 1982. As a publication about a specific platform, it
falls into the mainstream category of platform studies, and it pays special at-
tention to how the computer was used for creative purposes. Secondly, the
story about the platform will also be presented from the perspective of
the community that flocked around it. Therefore, it is mainly a book about
people who identify with the ZX Spectrum. We do not describe all the us-
ers of the platform here (players, people using apps), rather we adopt the
demoscene criterion (which we explain below). And the last and third phe-
nomenon discussed in our book deals with the decentering of digital media
or discovering digital phenomena from beyond the hegemonic center.
Therefore, even though the ZX Spectrum was created in Great Britain, the
use of the computer in the country of its birth will not interest us. Thanks to
its creator, Sir Clive Sinclair, the ZX Spectrum was designed as a computer
primarily for educational purposes. As it often happens, the work detached
itself from its creator and took on a life of its own. In our narrative, we will
focus on the acquisition (cloning) and creative use of the computer in East-
ern and Central Europe.
In March 2016, in the small town of Horná Súča near Trenčín, Slovakia,
the 17th edition of the world’s largest 8-bit demoparty, called Forever, took
place. Dozens of people, mainly from Europe spent 3 days with their 8-bit
machines: both the popular ones, such as the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64,
8 The Demoscene and ZX Spectrum: A Guide for Outsiders

Atari, and Amstrad CPC, as well as the more exotic ones, including Thomson,
SAM Coupé, PMD 85, but also any other computer with 8-bit architecture. The
majority brought their own machines and often newly designed devices like,
for example, the peripheral devices that strengthen the computer’s capabil-
ities or emulators of old disk drives. Participants of the Forever demoparty
also brought new creative pieces, like demos, intros, chiptunes, and graph-
ics prepared on the abovementioned platforms. The people in question did
not meet only to play games on old computers or to reminisce about the
1980s (when they usually became the owners of these platforms), but to show
their new achievements, meet friends that share their passions, listen to lec-
tures, take part in quizzes that tested their knowledge about the platforms,
but above all, to take part in a contest for the best digital works presented
for the first time at this event. During the demoparty in Horná Súča, many
of those involved continued to finish their works or programmed the next
ones. On the last day, the winners received prizes awarded through a vot-
ing process. Only participants of the event who paid their entry fee and re-
ceived a special voting ticket could vote. Nobody sponsored them; no one
provided them with funds for transportation or accommodation in Horná
Súča. They came here because of their interest in computers and with the
intent to showcase their programming skills. The Forever demoparty was
one of the hundreds of similar initiatives taking place in Europe, the Unit-
ed States, Canada, South America, and Australia. We call these demoparties,
and the people who participate in them are called demosceners, while the
whole phenomenon is described as the demoscene.
When someone first encounters the demoscene, they typically ask ques-
tions about what it actually is and why crowds of people sit in front of comput-
ers creating things that have no practical use, only aesthetic value. Additional-
ly, the creators do not receive any remuneration for their work, and they often
give the resulting products away for free. The demoscene is both its creators
and their work. It is a subculture and its products. It is about computer users,
who use it creatively (as opposed to game players or office workers), as well
as demos (as opposed to video games or programs made for practical use).1

1 
Previous research about the demoscene has focused on the use of many tools and perspec-
tives. The demoscene was treated as a subculture, a manifestation of youth culture. The phenom-
enon of hacking was studied, but also the taming of technologies, the retro platform, and the net-
work culture. See Markku Reunanen (2017) Timer of Change in the Demoscene. A Creative Community
and Its Relationship with Technology, https://www.utupub.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/130915/An-
 The Demoscene and ZX Spectrum: A Guide for Outsiders 9

Ill. 1. Forever Party 2016, Horná Súča. Photo by Piotr Marecki

It is a type of informal association of creators and those who enjoy com-

puter arts. It involves the creation of demos and other related products, such
as intros, dentros, diskmags, music collections, slideshows, etc. Of course,
demosceners can and do create computer games and application software as
well (the latter is usually used to prepare other demoscene products, though
not only).
Originally, demos (short for “demonstration”) were programs that show-
cased the capabilities of a given platform. Demos, however, also provide an
opportunity for their author to demonstrate his/her own skills, which he/she
acquired over the years while working with a given platform. These can be
programming or coding skills, as well as music, graphic art, and sometimes
literary skills.
The skills of each member of a given group, like the coder, graphic art-
ist, musician, and others, are very important here. Some functions remain
unchanged; others change in accordance with technological development.
What is crucial, these works are computer programs that are calculated
and generated in real time, at the very moment of viewing or experiencing

nalesB428Reunanen.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y (accessed on 5 December 2018). Research on

the demoscene is available at: http://www.kameli.net/demoresearch2/ (accessed on 5 December
2018).
10 The Demoscene and ZX Spectrum: A Guide for Outsiders

the work, and not a set of ready sounds or images. The code (demo, dentro,
intro, etc.) is characterized by the fact that it is not pre-prepared computer
animation (which might well be detached from a given platform and treated
in terms of film or television), and it is closer for this reason to video games.
The beginnings of the demoscene date back to the early 1980s (ZX Spec-
trum, Commodore 64, Atari XL/XE), and the productions themselves came
out of the hacking and cracking scene, i.e. from a group of people that broke
through the security systems of programs. The first demosceners using the
ZX Spectrum called themselves hackers. Interestingly, they did it regardless
of whether they were mainly involved in coding, music, or graphics.
At first, the demos were products created entirely by one person—every-
one had to be able to program or at least hack the code from a game and
use it in their own program. Although the hacker, if he did not have music
and graphic art skills, could simply use music and fragments of graphics from
games. Still, to this day there are many products containing a code, graphics
and music created by the same person from beginning to end.

Why the Demoscene?

Why study platform hardware by analyzing the demoscene? Undoubted-

ly, this is one of two of the most interesting perspectives, alongside game
developing. Only demos and games really show the capabilities of a given
platform. The fact is, however, that the latter are mainly commercial prod-
ucts made for financial gain and entertainment, while the demos are non-
commercial works, the main purpose of which is to evoke aesthetic and in-
tellectual experiences.
Perhaps this raises another question: why does the demoscene perspec-
tive suit the study of this platform? It is possible to analyze any platform on
which the demoscene was created. If there are enough demos created over
the years, the demoscene becomes one of the main factors that character-
ize a given platform.
Undoubtedly a commercial approach is more significant for most peo-
ple. They recognize that when talking about the platform only games and
practical use count, and a reliable indicator of the quality of products is the
 The Demoscene and ZX Spectrum: A Guide for Outsiders 11

profit they make. In this sense, the platform is all the better if more original
computers were sold officially, i.e. the more commercial success it has.
Although this approach is strongly connected with reality, we consider
it to be one-sided and mercantile. In this context, it is also interesting to note
that there have been a number of platforms that were commercially success-
ful, but with a demoscene that was limited. There is a series of computers con-
sidered a commercial failure that, despite this, great demos are written on
to this very day (for example, the Commodore 264 series, computers: C= 116,
C= 16 and C= Plus/4).
It seems that even if we decided to research the platform in terms
of the games being created on it, at some point we would have to go back
to the demoscene and deal with it. Sceners, in twenty, thirty, and even more
years after the halt of production of a given computer or just after the col-
lapse of a particular company, still use their equipment, creating software on it,
and developing it technically. Finally, the time is coming that only demoscen-
ers are creating games on increasingly older platforms; moreover, they do so
usually on a non-profit basis. It should be mentioned that they are equally
good productions and often much better than the older commercial games.
The demoscene perspective can be useful and productive precisely be-
cause it is not only historical. It also has a modern dimension, even though
it may refer to classic computers from the 1980s and 1990s. Although some
of the demosceners personally started the digital art trend, they have not
had the last word yet. They are still active and often work on the platforms
they started with thirty years ago.
The demoscene is therefore a group of active creators that stay with the
platform after its commercial death. This definition applies well to both the ZX
Spectrum and other platforms.

Why the ZX Spectrum?

How does the ZX Spectrum demoscene differ from the others? At first glance,
it seems that these differences are small. Demos, intros, music, graphics, disk
magazines, and parties are a part of every scene. But as always, the differences
lie in the details. In the case of the demoscene these result from the technical
12 The Demoscene and ZX Spectrum: A Guide for Outsiders

specifications of a given computer, the level of affluence of the community

members, the geographical region in which the given platform has become
the most popular, etc.
Unlike outsiders to the demoscene, sceners from various platforms are
well aware of how the ZX Spectrum is technically limited. This is connected
with an interesting phenomenon; the ZX scene is often omitted in various
types of comparisons and reports, including annual ones.2 Even when it is
appreciated in the literature, the ZX Spectrum is usually admired for the fact
that a given effect was achieved on this platform, which was considered to
be very limited.
Perhaps such a reaction, which is, on the one hand, an expression of ad-
miration for the demoscener’s abilities, and on the other, doubt about the
capabilities of the equipment, summarizes the characteristics of this scene
and its development. Especially at the turn of the 20th and 21st century, that
is during the most prosperous times of the newschool ZX scene, the demos
that were created were made to look like demos of much more advanced
computers, such as the Amiga or PC. That is why they were such impressive
coding achievements, especially if compared to modern products of other
platforms, whose users repeatedly rested on their laurels living in the belief
that whatever will be done on the C64 or Atari XL/XE platforms will undoubt-
edly be good and well-received, and this is due to the more advanced techni-
cal solutions used in these devices. Meanwhile, one must remember that the
demoscene is based on competition not only between the platforms them-
selves. It is based on the conviction that the human mind can overcome all
obstacles placed before it.
What are the most important technical differences between the ZX Spec-
trum and its competitors? Well, American competitors, creators of such plat-
forms as the Commodore 64 and Atari 800XL/65XE, made computers that
were far more technically sophisticated. They were built with many dedicat-
ed circuits and had hardware sprites (a set of two-dimensional raster images),
hardware-based screen scrolling and more. None of these things are found in
the ZX Spectrum, and all procedures, such as the mentioned sprites, had to
be written by the programmers themselves from scratch mostly in Assembler
(language). Spectrum 48K did not even have a sound chip; the programmer,

2 
For example: http://awards.scene.org/ (accessed on 5 December 2018).
 The Demoscene and ZX Spectrum: A Guide for Outsiders 13

Ill. 2. Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K. Probably the most well-known computer of the series, presented
by Sinclair in 1982. 48KB of RAM, 1-bit sound, 15 colours, resolution: 256 × 192 pixels, rubber key-
board. UBU lab, Jagiellonian University. Photo by Iwona Grabska-Gradzińska

and sometimes even the musician himself, had no choice but to program
multichannel procedures for synthesizing and playing sound.
Here are the best examples of the differences between selected plat-
forms that we can give to those not specialized in the subject:

Sound

Commodore 64 was equipped with a technologically advanced, for those

times, analog sound synthesizer SID 6581 or 8580 (Sound Interface Device).
The chip was monophonic and had three sound channels connected to one fil-
ter. It allowed for a choice from four waveforms—triangular, sawtooth, square
wave with a variable filling and noise generator.
Atari possessed the POKEY chip (POtentiometers and KEYboard)
equipped with four 8-bit synthesis channels, generating a square wave in
14 The Demoscene and ZX Spectrum: A Guide for Outsiders

theory, in fact a wave with a rather complicated waveform. Each channel has
an independent volume register, a three-band random interference genera-
tor (noise). It was also possible to choose one of three base frequencies for all
generators, like the 15 kHz, 64 kHz and 1.77 MHz. Moreover, pairs of generators
(1 + 2 and 3 + 4) could be independently combined into one 16-bit generator.
On the hardware side, the ZX Spectrum 48K had a 1-bit and 1-channel
beeper, a simple subroutine in ROM (memory) was able to generate only
a square wave in 10 octaves (no envelopes, no volume control). In the later
model, 128K, a simple digital 3-channel 7-octave synthesizer AY-3-8910 or
8912 (General Instrument company) was added.

Graphics

Atari XL/XE had nominally 256 colors generated by C/GTIA (Color/Graphic

Television Interface Adapter) and ANTIC (Alpha-Numeric Television Interface
Controller). It actually created 240 colors on the screen. The model offered
6 text modes, 8 graphics modes, 8 hardware sprites, a display list allowing to
set the mode for each scanline, smooth screen scrolling, display list interrupt
which could raise interrupt for each scanline, and the ability to set the frame-
buffer anywhere in RAM (memory). The maximum resolution is 320 × 192 pix-
els (and by programming the extension of the screen at the expense of the
border, you could get a resolution of 320 × 240 pixels).
Commodore 64 had a built-in VIC-II (Video Interface Chip II), addition-
al 16KB memory for the screen, sprites, and its own font. It offered 3 text
modes, 2 graphic modes, 16 colors although with restrictions, raster in-
terrupt, which was very useful for bypassing limitations, smooth screen
scrolling, 8 hardware sprites for a scanline. In theory 256 sprites could be
used on the whole screen. Maximum resolution is 320 × 200 pixels. (As can
be seen from the above comparison, both computers had programmable
graphic chips and supporting chips with many possibilities to circumvent
their own limitations).
Meanwhile, on the ZX Spectrum (in both models, both 48K and 128K),
the display of 16 colors was nominally used with only 15 colors realistically
obtained on the screen with the use of the Ferranti ULA (Uncommitted Log-
ic Array) in versions: 5C/6C/7K010E. This chip simply gets the same data and
always from the same place in RAM (with the exception of the 128K version,
 The Demoscene and ZX Spectrum: A Guide for Outsiders 15

which has a second screen, shadow VRAM in one of the additional memory
banks), and finally, it always generates the image in the same way without
the possibility of additional interference. As if that was not enough, the ULA
chip slows down the CPU of the computer during the execution of program
and reading/writing data in the first 16KB of RAM (I/O operations at certain
ports were slowed down by the ULA as well). There are no hardware sprites
here, no hardware-based screen scrolling—nothing really for the program-
mer at all. Maximum resolution—256 × 192 pixels.3
To summarize, as compared to American home computers that were
popular on the European market, Sinclair only really developed and sold the
motherboard with the processor and RAM, and until 1985–1986, it was only
16KB and 48KB.

Why Locality?

As a result of the various complications in the construction of the devices de-

scribed above, they differed in price. There were only a few users of the C64,
because it was the most expensive computer from the above-mentioned,
while a much larger number of people could afford to buy a ZX Spectrum
computer; the low price was due to its uncomplicated construction.
As a consequence, there was a geographic divide. Users in the West
bought the C64 and Atari XL/XE more often, while the poorer center of Eu-
rope (including Poland and Czechoslovakia) favored the ZX Spectrum 48K
series and its official licenses, mainly the Timex Computer 2048. The East,
even poorer, was forced to simply copy the technology that was the cheap-
est and easiest to clone, so, in this case, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. This was
the reason for the huge popularity of this platform in the Soviet Union, and
later in Russia and post-Soviet countries. In those days (due to the use of the
technology of the time), Russians were never able to clone machines such

3 
More information about computer graphics in 8-bit computers is provided in the article: Ste-
ven Collins (1998) Computer Graphics during the 8-bit Computer Game Era, ACM SIGGRAPH Comput­
er Graphics, Volume 32, Issue 2, pp. 47–51.
16 The Demoscene and ZX Spectrum: A Guide for Outsiders

as the Commodore 64 or Atari XL/XE. Were it not for the Spectrum, the Rus-
sians might never have created such a broad movement in digital creativity.
Since the second half of the 1990s, Spectrum users and demosceners later
added to the PC scene and the gaming industry. So, no one is able to say what
would be, if not for the specific IT boom caused by cloning the ZX Spectrum
in the first half of the 1990s.
The simplicity of the ZX Spectrum construction remains the reason
why cloning this computer is still popular, this time among the retro com-
munity. Previously used chips have already been worn out, new ones are
no longer produced so old ones cannot be replaced. Therefore, cloning
uses implementation technologies of old chips into new ones but this was
intended only for the “mimicry” of other chips. We’re talking about FPGA
technology, VHDL implementation, ARM microcontrollers, ALTERA digital
circuits, CYCLONE circuits, and others.
An analogous phenomenon is still prevalent: the simpler the original
computer, the simpler it is to copy it using the above-mentioned technolo-
gies, and the implementation itself is very successful (often indistinguisha-
ble from the original).
This does not mean that only the ZX Spectrum is cloned. Although im-
perfect, clones of other computers (MiniMig, the Amiga 500 clone, or MIST,
originally the Atari ST clone) show how much effort is required to clone com-
plicated circuits from 16-bit computers, and how often this process does not
end successfully. It should be remembered that at the turn of the 1980s and
1990s no one tried to clone computers such as the C64 or Atari XL/XE in the
East, because it was impossible due to their complexity.
In various places around the world, similar initiatives were started spo-
radically, but they were usually based on the original technology provided
by the original manufacturer (Atari: Hades, C-LAB Falcon MK; the Japanese
clone of the Commodore 64—the Commodore MAX Machine, seriously trun­
cated, inserted into another case, etc.). Often these were just the same moth-
erboards that were purchased from the original manufacturer, placed in other
casings, possibly expanded or truncated.
Wide-scale cloning only began with the PC series machines when IBM
released the technology. However, this was mass-scale, factory-based and
professional cloning, which makes it much easier to carry out, not like the
practices found in Central and Eastern Europe that are referred to in our
book. In this region, private individuals were, in fact, able to make ZX Spec-
trum clones at home.
 The Demoscene and ZX Spectrum: A Guide for Outsiders 17

For Westerners, whose geographic knowledge about Eastern Europe

ends on Berlin and Prague, it may seem that in countries to the east of Ger-
many it was impossible to propose anything original in the field of technol-
ogy. Our book opposes this belief by discussing local phenomena that are
insufficiently understood by the West. We start by recognizing that the value
of ZX Spectrum comes from the fact that it was the easiest, most primitive,
limited and cheapest computer, claimed by some to even be “unworthy” of
comparison with other platforms.
While the rich and developed West had access to more advanced plat-
forms covered by copyright and featured in promotional offers in stores, the
East focused on DIY practices, using the simple and cheap construction and
creatively taking it over for its own purposes. Needless to say, if it was only
a matter of acquisition for mercantile purposes, our research would not make
much sense. But, the acquisition of the ZX platform has gone in a very crea-
tive direction. In our opinion, it was one of the most interesting phenomena
in the history of digital media on a scale and of scope incomparable to any
other phenomena in this area.
Knowledge about digital media has been developing very rapidly for
several decades. Most often, it is also constructed from the position of the
hegemonic center. Even if other movements are noticed, they are treated
colonially, as dominated ones carried out from the margins, and therefore
not worthy of attention. Our narrative is local; the authors of the book are
convinced that they are talking about a unique phenomenon that was pos-
sible because there was no influence from the center. The activities and cre-
ative uses of the platform discussed in this book are authentic and original.
Our argument is supported by ethnographic research, which investi­
gated the uniqueness and specificity of the ZX Spectrum demoscene in Cen-
tral and Eastern Europe. The fascination and creative use of the platform are
primarily visible in Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia; this publi-
cation is therefore focused on these countries. Our knowledge is based on 20
in-depth interviews with demosceners, analysis of digital works, and personal
as well as active participation in the ZX Spectrum scene for nearly thirty years.
I. ZX SPECTRUM DEMOSCENE

Structure of the Demoscene

The demoscene is a  phenomenon in terms of management, and this cer-

tainly requires more research. It is characterized by no official structures and
a  weak hierarchy. Cultural production in the field of digital media has ex-
isted for several decades despite the lack of any registration in the courts
and the possibility of generating revenue or obtaining grants. According
to traditional economic approaches, the demoscene as a  field of cultural
production has no right to exist, because, as its participant rdx stipulates,
“there is no central management (hierarchy), no hired experts, and no mon-
ey involved (except for the ongoing delivery part).4
The demoscene can be perceived as well-organized anarchy character-
ized by the fact that it produces a lot of valuable symbolic and social capital,
in the form of new works and friendship networks respectively. Many sceners
perceive friendship or a friendly attitude as the basis for its existence. Alone
Coder claims that the scene ends where anarchy begins. The strategy of the
existence of the demoscene is based on the rules of the “economics of free.”
The term used by Chris Anderson in the book Free: The Future of a Radical
Price (2009) lent itself to describing the great phenomena of modern digital
life such as Wikipedia, which is based on the gift economy and community

4 
Unless otherwise stated, all quotes come from interviews conducted for the purposes of the
research project “Creative programming. Laboratory” [“Twórcze programowanie. Laboratorium”].
20 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

participation. And while Anderson’s term could be used to understand the

phenomenon of the demoscene, it should be remembered that it was used
to describe later phenomena. Therefore, it can be said that the dictionary
has not kept up with the reality which it is meant to describe. The words of
the elite quoted in the previous chapter find further confirmation: “If people
feel like they do things for a purpose, things happen and sometimes better
than in centrally managed organizations” (rdx).
Russian scener Alone Coder does not exaggerate when he describes the
phenomenon of the demoscene:

That was an active community, maybe the largest intellectual and creative commu-
nity of the time (it could be compared to the “Silver Age of Russian Poetry”). There
was always something to do and to show others. A kind of science. And a kind of
communism because people shared software and hardware.

Alone Coder’s claim should be emphasized because never before had

such a  great phenomenon that intersected technology, visual arts, music,
literature, and programming flourished as a  form of expression that was
non-commercial in nature.
Is the demoscene really based on anarchy? Is it an underground world,
a fight club? Is the world of the demoscene really governed by separate rules,
unknown in social life? What drives this mechanism? What are the hierarchies
in the scene; what are the places to be occupied in this area; and does the
demoscene have a structure?
Asked about the rules of the scene, the members themselves describe it
in the following words: “creation of products that are of value for free, knowl-
edge-sharing, bottom-up organization, egalitarian society, and access to
goods” (rdx). The creation of such a world required observance of certain rules,
mainly based on the division of roles and occupying a specific place in the
structure. There is no demoscene without the coder, musician, graphic artist,
party organizer or swapper. There are sceners who sometimes perform all of
these functions. A great example of such a jack-of-all trades is Alone Coder,
who is the engine behind the Russian ZX scene. The same goes for DC PAK:

Above all, I’ve programmed and designed demos. I wrote texts for each one. I did
draw sometimes, and less often, luckily, I created music. While cheering on my col-
leagues to increase their efforts when working on demos, I also hurried them along.
In corresponding with Polish and foreign sceners, I was also a swapper.
 Structure of the Demoscene 21

There were roles that were significant on the scene but that have virtually
disappeared. In the era before the Internet, the key figure was the swapper,
or the person responsible for the distribution of programs. Sceners used tra-
ditional mail to share their products (demos, intros, magazines). However,
to maximize productivity one specific person was responsible for this, and
you could send him five unsaved floppy disks and an envelope with a stamp,
in order to get back five floppy disks with recorded programs. Due to the
fact that the shipping costs were often a  challenge for the sceners, they
also learned how to use stamps several times, i.e. they were peeled off over
a steaming kettle and were specially lubricated before sending so that the
stamp could be washed off and re-used. Another function that has disap-
peared was the trader, or someone who provided equipment and programs
and had connections to the market (a function formerly very important in
the Soviet Union and Russia, but also in other Communist Bloc countries).
Both roles were significant for the integration of the scene. They were, in
a sense, threads connecting the community. Alone Coder also points to the
emergence of new roles that were important in the age of the network and
in the contemporary development of demoscene. These include archivists,
who care both for the history of the demoscene and sharing new produc-
tions presented at contemporary parties.
Sceners asked to indicate the hierarchy among these roles point to the lack
of social stratification, which is characteristic of such communities as the army
or university. On the other hand, in every social structure, especially those ex-
isting for several decades, there is a hierarchy. Ralf says that “greater respect is
enjoyed by people who are capable of doing something and who create. The
veterans—people who have been associated with the scene for many years—
enjoy greater respect. The organizers of the parties receive much more respect.”
Almost all the sceners agree on the uniqueness of the organizer’s po-
sition. For SS, the position of the coder, graphic artist and musician is equal,
but “on top should be an organizer or someone with vision.” DC PAK has
similar reflections:

Technically, one person—a designer—is necessary to make a demo. Someone who

has an idea for what to create. A graphic artist, of course—thanks to the help of
a talented graphic artist, a demo will probably be better. But graphics can also be
scrawled on or stolen. The same applies to music and sound. Even programming,
everyone is able to learn how to program, just as everyone is able to learn how to
sing. In the worst-case scenario, it will be bad.
22 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

Ill. 3. DiHalt 2016—a party dedicated mainly to ZX Spectrum computer. Photo by Piotr Marecki

These conclusions are confirmed by Alone Coder: “In a group, the hierarchy
is organizer vs. others. The organizer can have any specialty (coder, musi-
cian, cracker-fixer, hardware guy, etc.) or none. He could just be an organ-
izer.” Rdx, in turn, claims that especially with the ZX Spectrum, hierarchy is
unnecessary:

There were roles that required more technical skill (i.e. coder > graphic artist) and
roles that required an artistic touch (i.e. graphic artist > coder), although this may
also be fluid. Especially on ZX Spectrum, some graphic effects required extensive
coding to be possible and sometimes code was used to generate graphic patterns
or pictures in an aesthetically pleasing manner.

Sceners also point out that nowadays specializations have appeared in the
field of programming, and so the sceners are mentioned in the products.
 Nicknames and Friendship 23

No one is described as just a coder anymore and frequent phrases include

“coder responsible for 3D engine,” “coder responsible for particle effects,” etc.
A separate role on the scene is that of a demo party participant without
input into the organization of the event or the production of content. Cru-
cial to the demoscene parties are also the times when the public can partic-
ipate, too. Such sceners are placed lowest in the hierarchy: “those who can’t
do anything and only come to drink vodka. If they get crazy after the vodka,
this is an additional minus” (Ralf). It is also worth adding that a separate way
of hierarchizing is according to nationality, e.g. Russian, Polish, Czech.

Nicknames and Friendship

To enter the scene, one should start using a pseudonym (nickname, nick)
and decide what platform to represent. Sceners do not use real names and
surnames when dealing with other users or when they sign their creations.
Most often they do not recognize each other in any other way than by nick-
name. Members of the demoscene use the nickname only as part of this
activity, which means that it is difficult to verify the real data of the person
using it.
The genesis of using nicks on the scene has at least two sources. Firstly,
the demoscene originated from the cracker scene, which traded software
covered by copyright restrictions.5 Distributors of such software could not
use real names. Those selling on the black market wanted to make customers
come back to them and buy games from a specific distributor, so they had
to use signs that indicated the source. In this sense, the cracker’s pseudonym
was a kind of logo. Most of the programs on the 8-bit computers took a very
long time to upload. Those that were overriding these security protocols
would use this time to display their nicknames on the screen. With time, the
crackers began to compete with each other and their nicknames began to

5 
For more on the cracker scene, see: Markku Reunanen, Patryk Wasiak, Daniel Botz (2015) Crack
Intros: Piracy, Creativity and Communication, International Journal of Communication, Volume  9,
pp. 798–817.
24 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

turn into short animations, even commercials that still had one goal, which is
to attract the client to illegal goods. It is worth remembering, however, that
the contemporary demoscene has nothing to do with this practice and the
adjective “illegal” should no longer be associated with this phenomenon (al-
though it is often perceived in such categories).
Secondly, the use of nicks could be attributed to the early age of those
who entered the scene. Among primary and secondary school students, the
use of nicknames or pseudonyms is a common phenomenon. This points to
a very important feature of the scene, that is, its lightness, playfulness, and
carnivalesque energy.6 In this sense, life in the demoscene is a carnival life in
an inverted world in which laws are somewhat different than those of the nor-
mal world. Using a nickname confirms belonging to this different social order.
DC PAK points to “coolness” as a factor contributing to the decision to
use a nickname. “It’s great to be Superman, not boring Clark Kent,” he adds.
American pop culture inspired the rise of goblinish’s nickname: “I liked Grem-
lin Graphics, so I changed the word Gremlin to Goblin.” In a very similar, friv-
olous manner Gasman got his nickname: “It started out from a joke at school.
It was just a game between friends, you had to try to make the other person
laugh by saying stupid things. For some reason one of the things that end-
ed up as a recurring joke was ‘Hi, I’m the Gasman,’ and it means nothing. But
it worked as a nickname.”
Besides, in English, nicknames work in a variety of logos. This is impor-
tant because, in the demoscene of 8-bit computers, nicknames are often the
basis for creating effects. For example, that’s the source of Busysoft’s nick:

In the past (about 1980), it was trendy to make up a nickname by joining some word
with the word SOFT. So, when I was deciding what nickname I will use, I got out the
Slovak-to-English dictionary and found a few words that looked good with the word
SOFT. The meaning was irrelevant, only the look was important. Then I selected two
words: SIDE and BUSY. I planned to use SIDE for “serious” applications and BUSY for
more “crazy” programs like demos. But later I stopped using SIDE, and I used BUSY
for all programs. I selected this word not for its real meaning in English. It does not
refer to the regular English word “busy” (meaning occupied, engaged, industrious,

6 
Michaił Bachtin (1975) Twórczość Franciszka Rabelais’go a  kultura ludowa średniowiecza i re­
nesansu [Rabelais and His World], translated by Anna and Andrzej Goreń, Wydawnictwo Literackie,
Kraków.
 Nicknames and Friendship 25

hard-working…) and then its pronunciation is not “b, i, z, i” as usual, but it is the reg-
ular (not the spelling!) sound of these letters: “b, u, s, i.” Many people don’t know this
fact, and they (especially those who speak English) say my nick wrong.

Alone Coder became Alone Coder after his father left him (they previously
coded together). This fact made the scener decide to change his nickname
from Bystrov & Bystrov to Alone Coder. Factor6 was created by replacing
5 with 6 in the name of the game producer (Factor 5). In the era of Michael
Jordan’s popularity, an exceptionally tall Polish scener got his nickname af-
ter the basketball player, but he decided to add something extra and he
became Jordan of Exodus. In turn, the nickname Trix comes from the pro-
nunciation of the phrase 3X. Sceners with nicknames often turned into the
above-mentioned supermen. Radosław added the adjective “excellent” to
the nickname Radxcell (abbreviated as RDX). Ralf is different from Rafał.
DC PAK took on an original nickname that referred to superhuman pow-
ers, which he explains:

The genesis of it is probably quite funny, because such a nick comes from the top
score in arcade games. It starts with the first letter of the first name, ends with the
first letter of the last name, and in the middle, as it was impossible to choose a hy-
phen, “A.” And so it stayed like that for some time. In subsequent products, the nick
was enriched with the DC prefix, i.e. I signed them DC PAK…
As young people we were convinced that being on scene is about friendship
and wars. Friends were there, enemies needed to be found. It fell, quite accidental-
ly, on Muad’dib, and later also on Drozol. At the beginning, if I remember correctly,
he lost a few points because of some clumsy crack. And so from scroll to scroll, we
made something of a megademo. They kept coming back at us, focusing mainly on
me, and they’d say things like “if this PAK thinks that he is such a divine coder then…”
We just watched this demo, the three of us with Jordan and Agent-X, and the lat-
ter said it sounds great and that I should add “Divine Coder” before the nickname.
And so from then on, with DC perfectly matching, I’ve never parted from the nick.

There are also nicknames whose origin is not typical, like the name of Alex
Ryder, the protagonist of the novel The Dark Wheel translated back from
Russian to English (in an unsuccessful way). Or those pseudonyms referenc-
ing the world of Speccy. That’s how Scalesmann came about: “Everything
started with SCL, because this is the abbreviation of Sinclair. :) Later I added
vowels (because without vowels it sucks). It became Scale, and when in cor-
26 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

respondence with C-Jeff he called me ‘skala’ and so, Scalesmann was born
with German flair.”
If DC PAK did not want to sign his demos as DC PAK, then he used the
nickname Mr. Incognito. It was, however, a secret to the public. Sceners
have changed their nicknames for a variety of reasons, like artistic develop-
ment, change of platform or group, but also for more prosaic reasons. A Slo-
vak scener explains the change of the pseudonym:

My surname is Seliga. Seliga Software didn’t sound good to me so I shortened it to

SS. I could also draw a logo for it. Later many newcomers on #z80 started to accuse
me of being a Nazi. I never was and never will be, and honestly I never even thought
that someone may come up with that idea. I certainly didn’t. Anyway, later I got tired
of it and tried to change the nickname to Anubis; I was fascinated with ancient Egypt
at the time. It was a very stupid move, because to everyone I knew I was still SS. It
only caused chaos.

The multiplication of nicks has become a visible phenomenon especially in

later years. As Alone Coder claims, it was related to the shrinking ZX scene,
especially at the beginning of the 21st century. “Some people created virtual
characters to simulate scene activity. For example, Lamer1&Lamer2, MISTER
BEEP, Expirt, ZXDN, and SMAN are virtuals”.
When asked to indicate the percentage of people who could be recog-
nized by name and surname, the sceners gave different numbers, from 0%
(Busysoft, goblinish) and 5–10% (rdx) to 20% (Factor6, Alex Ryder) and 50%
(Ralf and Gasman). Most of them say that they do not care about real names.
This is interesting because most of the sceners deny that friendship in the dem-
oscene is transferred in any way to professional life. Sceners therefore usually
meet at a party, work on their productions together, but only for the purpose
of showing the work at a party. They do not set up companies with each other
or work in the same places. It should also be emphasized that sceners do not
necessarily work in the IT industry. Most of them have non-IT professions. They
work in offices, or as technical support, car mechanics or university lecturers.
Using nicks is also associated with the creation of a persona, someone
different from the person in private or professional life. In this sense, the
scene is a carnival, and the nickname is a mask that is assumed for a limit-
ed time. Sceners explain it differently. Rdx gives only the sentence of Oscar
Wilde: “Man is the least himself when speaking in his own name. Give him
a mask, and he’ll tell you the truth,” which he did not want to comment on
 Nicknames and Friendship 27

further. SS says that under the nickname the person is “different, more inter-
esting, stripped from all boring real-life stuff.” Using a nick also gives him the
option “to write or do things I would not dare to under my own name.” In
a similar vein, Gasman comments on his dual personality:

I guess [I use it], perhaps, especially when I’m doing live music performances. People
would be quite surprised that in my real life. I’m quite shy, and I’m playing keyboard
and singing at my music performances… People are sometimes quite shocked by
the different personality there.

And although sceners rarely perceive their products in terms of art, in the use
of nicks one should look for strategies to convey authentic content that is
important in artistic expression. The scene appears then as a separate world,
and the use of a pseudonym is not just a game, but a very authentic and nat-
ural activity. “The computer world was so different from the real world that it
felt natural to use a nickname. It was a different life led by a different person”
(rdx). SS also points to the issue of authenticity:

Yes, in real life one has to be diplomatic and think about consequences. In the virtu-
al world, I can be honest and more open, because I don’t have to worry that some-
one from real life, who doesn’t know my “second identity,” would use it against me.
Especially when I know that a person I’m talking to is so different from me that with
the exception of the demoscene we have nothing in common.

It seems that the use of nicks and honest expression is associated with the
demoscene or friendship. Nicks allow you to express both negative and pos-
itive emotions in relation to other sceners. Ralf points to a special type of
demo, which the members call a “fucktro,” “where, in general, insults are writ-
ten and directed at another scener. It’s a bit like rap / hip hop, where songs
like that are made. However, we wouldn’t spew such things at a colleague
from work.” On the other hand, most sceners greet each other in demos.
An interesting phenomenon on the demoscene that strengthens ties
between users is the creation of special works en masse on the occasion
of cyclical or momentous events in life (birthdays, deaths, weddings, holi-
days, etc.). One of the most popular varieties is the giftro, i.e. a demo that
is offered or sent as a gift to someone celebrating a birthday. The demo is
intentionally sent not only to the correct recipient but also to all members
of the scene.
28 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

Most often, such products contain traditional elements such as code,

graphics, and music, also birthday wishes (in the form of a scroll) from the au-
thor, a group of authors or more people from the demoscene and related to it.
In giftros, the sceners are not likely to express anything specific. It is only about
having fun. For example, this is exactly the tone of the Happy birthday guyz
demo made on the ZX Spectrum 128 in 2015, where all the elements of the
demo are set in motion.7 It’s an 8-bit dance party, mixed with birthday wishes.
There are also other types of occasions that these demos are made for.
On the occasion of a wedding (weddingtro), we can see, for example, a bride
being told all the reasons why she shouldn’t marry the scener. Obituaries are
also popular as well as requiems on the occasion of the death of a platform
user, and less often, there are giftros on the occasion of the birth of a child or
joining/leaving the military. They all express honest friendship between the
various sceners and groups of the platform. They cement scene friendships,
which fuel the work of the community around the platform. Giftros are also
the best proof that the scene is first and foremost a social construct.
Sceners also remember about each other during Christmas and New
Year’s. A Christmas giftro classic is the old school production of Kolędy [Christ­
mas Carols] by Haker Kicia from 1989 made on Spectrum 48K with AY inter-
face (code, graphics, and music were created on December 15, 1989 in four
hours). 8 One could say that this demo is an old school icon. Deprived of ef-
fects, it only has a scroll, image, and melodies. It contains six Christmas carols
covered on Spectrum by Haker Kicia on The Music Box 128 editor. Charac-
teristic of the old school is also mixing English with Polish (introduction and
instruction manuals are in English, but greetings in Polish). The author also
decided on the Polish title of the giftro, and it is also worth noting that the
nickname of the scener himself is Polish, which is very rare on the scene. In-
terestingly, best wishes and greetz (greetings) are shared in the demo with all
(including owners of almost all platforms available at the time in Poland), but
Atari users, which is an obvious fact for ZX sceners. Haker Kicia also excludes
from his greetings a certain individual, referred to as the “jerk from Lublin”
(“Christmas fucks” are directed both at him and Atari users). This giftro has
gained international recognition and is considered a classic for the ZX scene
(it appeared in the magazine “Sinclair User” in 1990).

7 
https://demozoo.org/productions/182578/ (accessed on 5 December 2018).
8 
http://zxspectrum48.i-demo.pl/classic_demos.html (accessed on 5 December 2018).
 Platform Wars 29

Platform Wars

One of the phenomena connected to affiliation with a particular platform on

the scene was its active defense against others. Sceners describe this phe-
nomenon either as platform wars or flame wars, sometimes format wars. LCD
puts it plainly, “if someone owned a computer other than the Spectrum, he
was treated with contempt.”
“It was a quarrel about whose computer is the best. Maybe not even
a quarrel, but discussions without clear arguments. Few people took it se-
riously, though those who did were also around,” says LCD. When asked
about the platform wars, DC PAK talks about the phenomenon, but simulta-
neously strikes out at a computer he doesn’t like: “From my perspective and
my own experience, I would rather talk about all the shams. Of course other
platforms were dissed and there was excitement about the fact that ours is
the best. It was known that Atari wasn’t good at all ;-)”—rdx explains this by
commenting on ambition, especially that of people for whom the computer
was their entire life.
Some sceners associated with a particular type of equipment changed it
along with the development of technology once higher platforms appeared.
Sometimes the term “switched” is used, referring to automotive terminology,
when a weaker vehicle model is changed for a better one. For many peo-
ple such a phenomenon was treated as a betrayal, and Alone Coder cites
a FidoNet term for those Russian sceners who switched from the Spectrum
clones to the PC and are advertizing PC, “засланцы Билла Гейтса” (envoys
of Bill Gates). In terms of the use and changes of scenario platforms can be
divided into two categories: “There are sceners who release for many plat-
forms to be famous. There are other sceners that code just for one platform
to make the platform famous” (Alone Coder).
Because of the hardware constraints that made it difficult for the ZX Spec-
trum to compete with other 8-bit computers like the Commodore or Atari,
other platform users often did not perceive it as worthy of battle and exclud-
ed it from the race. Nonetheless, the Spectrumists are known for antagoniz-
ing. Among the famous slogans used ZX Spectrum sceners was, “Atarowca
wal z gumowca” (“Beat an Atarist with your galoshes”). There are two slang
words in this statement. The first refers to the Atari computer user, and al-
though such a word does not exist in the dictionary, it is used colloquially
in the forums where computer users were grouped by the platform names:
30 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

Spectrum—spectrumists, Atari—atarists or atarians, Commodore—commo-

dorists, and Amiga—amigists.
Slang terms also were attached to the respective computers: Spectrum
was called “Gumiak” The Rubber (which commonly also refers to galoshes)
or sometimes a “spectrumna” (the word trumna means “coffin” in Polish)
with reference to the ZX Spectrum’s shape and color. The Commodore was
called “a soap dish” (due to its shape), but also “crapmodore” (złomodorek in
Polish) or “komoda” a chest of drawers (old furniture). The unkindest names,
however, were reserved for the Atari, which was especially popular in Poland.
“Everyone knows that TOS stands for Trash Operating System for Atari ST (Su-
per Trash)” (rdx). In this respect, it was only matched by the PC, which in Po-
land was called “a scrap of tin” (“blaszak”) and “mushroom” (“pieczarka” used
maliciously to expand the abbreviation for PC). The Czechs, in turn, used the
name “pec,” which means “stove.” Similarly in Russia, as stated by Alone Cod-
er, “we hated IBM PC compatibles. This was useful for keeping our platform,
because PCs became widespread. We called PC ‘пц’ or ‘писю́к’ (sounds like
‘wiener’ in Russian) because ‘PC’ is too generic.” Especially during the height
of PC’s popularity, the Russian sceners also used many slogans that appeared
in demos, like “PC sux,” “Windows must die,” “Bill Gates is a lamer,” and oth-
er blue screen jokes in demos, etc. Russians also created their own names
for clones, for example the ATM2, or the ZX Evolution (baseconf ATM3), was
called an ATM of (TSConf) “дендиконфа” (dendikonfa), which has a negative
meaning (Moroz).
LCD claims that when Spectrumists wanted to write Atari into the dem-
os, from time to time they simply used the word “shit.” “Sometimes we also
hung the logo of the company from the gallows. We wanted to show that
Spectrum is better.” And indeed, the ZX demoscene is swarming with dem-
os like the 1990 Pyldro by Paweł Pylak and Daniel Drobik (on the ZX Spec-
trum 128K), which depicts the Laboratory for the Destruction of Useless
Equipment.9 As can be easily guessed, this useless hardware is Atari. The
destroyer machine pushes the huge Atari logo from the right of the screen
to the center, and this is followed by a monstrous fist that comes from the
top and destroys the pride of the users of the enemy platform. The machine
disposes of the destroyed remains, pushing them into a hole marked with
the word “sewage.” The authors of the demo will treat the Atari like this for

9 
http://zxdemo.org/productions/13602/ (accessed on 5 December 2018).
 Platform Wars 31

Ill. 4. Atari Future 2, 1989, The Heep Soft, UBU lab, Jagiellonian University. Photo by Piotr Marecki

a few minutes. On the other hand, in the Ghostbusters Demo10 (1990) made
on the ZX Spectrum 48 K + AY, Mark I Faon starts by shooting at the Atari
logo and when the bullet hits it, the word “shit” appears and the logo disap-
pears from the screen as the ghosts push the words “Timex the best” onto
the screen. Atari was humiliated even more in the 1989 demo Atari XL/XE/
ST Symulator made by Axelsoft on the ZX Spectrum 48, which not only fea-
tured the name of the American company in Cyrillic but in the demo itself,
the computer is featured primarily as an ashtray.
The Spectrumists bickered so much with the Atarists that entire demo
cycles against the platform were born. The most famous, from 1989, is called
Atari Shit.11 The author of the first, Tomcio Paluch International introduces him-
self as an electrician from Białystok, a city located in eastern Poland, close

10 
http://www.speccy.pl/archive/prod.php?id=64 (accessed on 5 December 2018).
11 
http://zxspectrum48.i-demo.pl/classic_demos.html (accessed on 5 December 2018).
32 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

to the border with Belarus. Right in the first sentence, he warns that he re-
pairs all equipment, but not Atari. Then he makes a statement to all Atarists,
namely that they should smarten up and throw out their equipment while
there is still time. On the screen, a large Atari logo with “2 + 2 = good” is dis-
played at all times. In the Atari Shit 2 demo we see the gallows from which
the popular-in-Poland Atari 65 XE is hanging, with an ax lodged into it. 12 The
inscription below states “The Future of Atari.” The heads of the “Atari Users”
decorate the stakes. Above the image, the authors placed a very long scroll.
It is so characteristic of the seriousness of platform wars that it is worth quot-
ing in its entirety:

Once upon a time, a certain alcoholic, under the tide of intoxicated genius, grabbed
a hammer and a chisel and created Atari. He then grabbed his head and hung himself
with the power supply cable. From then on, hundreds of absent-minded dim-wits
without imagination, later-scorned as “Atarists” (AT-Scums), buy this piece of scrap
metal, thus revealing their complete idiocy. They are characterized by complete help-
lessness and lack of imagination. Unlimited patience is the only positive attribute of
the Atarists. These people (like dogs) spend hours with a tape recorder, in order to
upload a program, play it for 10 seconds, and so on…trying to upload the next pro-
gram. Those with floppy disk drives (for sketching, bending, etc.) do not have to sit
for hours, but they are without a doubt the stupidest people, which is the mildest
term that can be used. Recently, the editorial board of one of the famous computer
magazines, you know which one, came to their aid. Yes, we’re talking about “Bajtek;”
they are inventing non-existent games on this piece-of-junk computer, and besides
this, they try to help the poor Atarists to adopt this junk into something resembling
the Spectrum and better computers in every issue. I will not mention all these at-
tempts. The results of these tests are all known. Here’s a brief summary of “Bajtek”
6/89 Atari 63 pages, Commodore 33 pages, Spectrum 23 pages, Amstrad 1 page, cal-
culators 1/2 page, advertisements 65 pages. I propose a new name for this tabloid
“Kajtek-Srajtek-Atarajtek.” That’s an appropriate name. Now, a riddle. Do you know
why the Chernobyl reactor crashed? Yes, Yes. The Russians bought the Atari. How
can it be? . . . Mr. Tramiel, I will sic an attorney on you. And if you have not done this
earlier, take a look at this image now. We understand it without words, no? This is
the future of Atari. When it comes to games on this funny comp(ugh)ter, we’d play
the Robocop one, wouldn’t we, you Atarist? No, I won’t go on. Yesterday, I caught

12 
Ibid.
 Platform Wars 33

up with an Atarist, and I thought about what to do with him. And I got it. Locked
into the monitor, the Atarist with all his power turns the crank on the screen and the
words “Rolling Scrolling” come up. Unfortunately, the Atarist got tired and he was
cranking unevenly. And that would be all.13

We can end this slew of insults against Atari with the example of the 1989
The Miracle14 demo by Mac, which shows a computer user manual and an
image of a toilet, in which the toilet is a user interface and a debugging tool.15
Studying the entire manual provides an ingenious example of how to of-
fend an enemy platform.
Other platforms don’t draw the ire of the ZX Spectrum scene as much.
Occasionally, one can find malicious pokes at PC, for example in the Russian
new-school demo Devotion from 1998 on the ZX 128K by the Antares group,
where the play on words was used in the diss “C64 IS SHIT, PC 64MB IS SHIT
TOO BIG” appears.16 Also on the viral wave of the 2006 blender commercial
called Will It Blend, ZX sceners decided to try to blend the C64. In the demo
Will It Blend?, comments from Commodore fans aimed to insult the Spectrum
went like this: “Wait. That’s a C64 in there? I couldn’t tell because of the Spec-
trum’s sucky graphics ;-)”17 Another example is the 2007 Koopaville18 demo, in
which a sign reads that the ZX is giving the C64 “the boot”.

13 
It is typical that in the demo there is a reference to Jacek Tramiel, the legendary creator of
Commodore-64, who in 1984 bought out the financially troubled company Atari Inc. Already after
the acquisition by Tramiel, the company released the Atari 8-bit series, especially popular in Eastern
Europe Atari 65XE. It is also worth noting that frequent reference to Tramiel gives these a bit of local
flavor. Fans of 8-bit platforms had to be aware that Tramiel was born in Łódź in 1928, he emigrated
to the USA only in 1947.
14 
http://zxdemo.org/productions/13389/ (accessed on 5 December 2018).
15 
Atari was also not liked by other platforms. In comparison with the Amiga-Atari war, the
Spectrum jabs appear to be mere child’s play. The Amiga battle against Atari is described in the
Anti Atari Song, released on the Youtube platform (about 25,000 views), where a survey is run with
questions like “What is Atari?,” to which the interviewer answers “I am not a farmer.” The song also
encourages the hanging of Jacek Tramiel. In Anti Atari Song 2 in the chorus, we can hear: “Atari was
made of shit and steel,” and the verse shoved in the mouth of a poor Atarist went like this:
“I loved my Atari, it was made of wood and steel,
it did not work well with electricity, it ran on coal instead,
throw wood in quickly evenly, because the piece of shit kept breaking.
I kept leaving it in the corner, and didn’t dare to use it.”
16 
http://zxdemo.org/productions/12905/ (accessed on 5 December 2018).
17 
http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=31182 (accessed on 5 December 2018).
18 
http://zxdemo.org/productions/9323/ (accessed on 5 December 2018).
34 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

The Atarists did not remain indebted and in retaliation, they prepared
their own products that were part of the flame wars phenomena. In 1990, in
Czechoslovakia, the game Revenge on Sinclair Users19 written by Michal Bu­
kovjan (Mibusoft Inc.) for Atari XE/XL was created. It is a text adventure game
(there are no images or other graphics, just text) controlled by the keyboard
input, i.e. the player writes the commands on the screen. As in other games
from that time, there is no description of the commands recognized by the
game player, which had to be discovered and mastered by the method of
trial and error. The whole game was written in Czech. The first screen of the
game explains the plot:

We find out that 40 years ago, SINCLAIR won the elections and started to terrorize
all Atari users by closing Atari clubs and kidnapping leaders of those clubs. Now the
revolution has started and the player was selected by the last member of the “Atari
caste” to infiltrate the SINCLAIR stronghold and kill the boss—David Gemrot. Af-
ter that, the player starts in the flat of the last member who gave him his flat to use
while preparing for the revolution.” The name of David Gemrot sounds similar to
Rostislav Gemrot—the author of Gama Copy, a tape copying program for Didaktik
Gama (ZX Spectrum clone from Slovakia).

The game itself is rather hard to play, as every bad move ends with the
death of the player and starts over. Analysis of the binary files allows one
to extract some information about the game without its completion. The
author knew ZX Spectrum games and mentioned some of them in one lo-
cation (COMMANDO, TRANTOR, MAD MIX). The game had to have been
fun for the Atari users because its author promised a sequel “Revenge on
the Sinclair Users II.”
The majority of demos, intros, games, which contain crusades against
other platforms, should be treated with a grain of salt. Factor6 says, “Of course,
the relic of the wars is poking at other-platform-guys with bad jokes every day,
but it’s just a light poke… just for fun. There are no more real wars between
those so-called retro platforms anymore.” Dividing up by the platforms has
also been taking place in the organization of contemporary parties, such as
the 8-bit ones, in which sceners organize space according to the platform.

19 
https://romsmania.cc/roms/atari-800/pomsta-sinclairistum-205969 (accessed on 5 Decem-
ber 2018).
 Teamwork 35

They occupy tables dedicated to individual computers. We can see that by

doing so there is an attempt to recreate the micro-worlds of those platforms.
In contemporary times, what remains from the platform wars are “nostalgia
and memories of those times more than anything else. Spectrum, Atari and
Commodore people meet at various parties and have fun together” (rdx).

Teamwork

The demoscene is a social construct. An extremely important aspect of its

existence are interpersonal relationships, camaraderie, cooperation, spend-
ing time together, mutual greetings. The platform is a factor connecting the
group’s activities. Thanks to it the sceners have met each other, and it is an
element that unites their acquaintanceships and friendships (it is stronger
than national affiliation). As has already been pointed out, the sceners often
become other versions of themselves thanks to the platform and nicks. They
open up and forget about the habits of regular life. The impressive power of
the relations on the scene was summed up by Scalesmann: “On the scene,
there are, above all, common interests and hobbies. Friendship at work is
born from the work itself. If you change your workplace, 99% of people who
you could identify as good friends or even friends disappear from your sight
forever.”
The scene without these social relations would lose its significance. Dem-
os become small productions about the platforms and skills of their produc-
ers. Only the experience of meeting and cooperating helps to understand
the whole picture. It is complemented by parties during which the sceners
spend time together, code together, create graphics or music or take part in
competitions. The sense of community is explained by the widespread use
of greetz, or greetings for other sceners, which, like a mantra, appear in most
demos and are related to the authors’ nicknames.
The scene is a social construct, but one that rewards skills and specializa-
tions. In this sense, it is a cooperative phenomenon, because it values the co-
operation of talented people in various fields. It is difficult to achieve mastery
as an organizer, coder, musician, and graphic artist. Due to the clear reliance
on competition, the most talented people in various fields work together on
36 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

a common project. Effort and effect are rewarded only by the recognition of
the group, which is expressed either with rewards at individual meetings or
in greetz in the demos of other groups.
If you were to look at the demoscene historically, it is worth noting that
teamwork has been a pursued model of cooperation for some time. In the
1980s, its participants were individualists. They independently programmed,
made graphics and music. Gradually—along with the development of pro-
gram distribution, information exchange, the emergence of parties, and then
the development of the Internet, a classic model based on cooperation de-
veloped. This is confirmed, for example, by Jordan of Exodus, who belonged
to the pioneers of the scene in Poland in the 1980s: “I made my first produc-
tions alone, then my circle of friends from the scene began to grow. I met DC
Pak and Roger, and we decided to start Exodus together.” When asked why
the sceners banded together in groups, the same sceners answered that it
was about improving skills:

In our case, it was the joint development of more and more effective algorithms. I re-
member how after a few months of work we developed the fastest, if I’m not mistak-
en, algorithm for plotting points and lines on the ZX Spectrum screen. The same was
true for algorithms computing trigonometric boards necessary for the 3D engine.

Yet another argument explaining this convergence into groups are aesthetic
changes, including the requirements for demos in the 1980s and later. Gas-
man explains these reasons as follows:

I suppose demos have progressively become more and more complex. There’s al-
ways the feeling that you’ve got to raise the bar over what’s been done before. In
the early days, a demo might as well be a scroll message, with a bit of parallax, and
that would be seen as a very respectable demo. But I think today there’s the feel-
ing that you really got to try and do something new, either technically or artistically.
That’s where it really helps to have the collaboration because you got to combine
the talents of multiple people.

It seems that similar reasons for working in teams are shared by other scen-
ers. Younger participants do not remember the individual work model at all,
although it should be emphasized that individual activities also occur and are
the exception. A good example of this is Gasman, a programmer as well as
a talented graphic artist and musician. These skills allow him to win many com-
 Teamwork 37

petitions at demoparties. LCD works similarly. He codes and creates graphics,

but always orders music from other groups or individual sceners. When asked
about the order in which the phases of the LCD demo are created, he respond-
ed: “At the beginning, the code is always created. During its creation, I think
about graphics. At the end, the music adapts to it, because it depends on the
size of the code and graphics, how much space is left for the music.”
Works produced by a team are created in a variety of ways: from brain-
storming among people who meet in person to long-distance collaborations.
Factor6, a musician, describes the production process in this way:

I think in our case, the Gemba Boys, it works like this. The first thing is the idea…
Someone makes a single effect; some coder makes an effect, then someone draws
pictures, graphics, and says “Let’s make a demo from this.” Then they send it to other
people, other members of the group. And they say “Wow, this is great, we think that
a demo will be possible. Hey, Factor, can you make some music?” I say yes because
I am the first factor. I’ve seen the effects. I have some inspiration already. If I didn’t
have it, I can make music as well, but it wouldn’t be as great.

Sceners work in teams not only on demos but also on testing programs or
preparing disc magazines. Alone Coder says that with the mag about ZX
Spectrum, Info Guide, he engages other sceners to translate texts from Rus-
sian to English. 20 But there are also other forms of cooperation, such as mix-
ing. The Russian scener mentions a piece of music mixed by his collaborators:

John Silver and I once tried to make a test song for a new version of ProTracker.
Then I sent the track to Macros who lives in the far-far North. And he changed the song.
I sent the result to N1k-O who lives in the far-far South. And he also changed the
song. I used all three versions in three editorials in ZX-Guide #4.5. I wrote three edi-
torials instead of one just because of these three versions of the song! Time passed,
and I eventually found another remix of the song!!! The fifth author, Artur (DjIK),
lived in Transnistria that is another country far-far West, and I even didn’t know him!

The above example points to an important element of the scene, that is, the
pleasure and fun of joint programming, creating graphics or music. Of course,
this element is also very significant in the contests organized on the scene.

20 
http://alonecoder.nedopc.com/zx/books/ (accessed on 5 December 2018).
38 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

Ill. 5. Frank Frazetta Demo 3, 1990, Rafii Soft, UBU lab, Jagiellonian University. Photo by Piotr Marecki

Teamwork and fun led to one of the most spectacular ZX Spectrum

platform ideas, the creation of the world’s largest demo, which lasted sever-
al hours. It is called First Association and it was created by Czech coders spe-
cifically to beat the world record in terms of size. 21 The final demo was pre-
pared by people from around the world, and the final result came together in
March 1997. It was presented at the Doxycon party in 1998. The usual demo
on the Spectrum was 45KB or 110KB, and in the case of megademos, it was
a maximum of 200–300. First Association has 1626KB, and it lasts about five
hours. The final version of the production consists of about fifty parts, with
some coders writing more than one. The following took part in this under-
taking: Black Team, Busysoft, Chrysagon, ESA, Factor6, +Gama, Gasman, Hlav-
soft, Illusion, K3L Corp, Laser, Software, Naughty Crew, Noro, Omega, Schiva,
Speccy Boyz, Starsoft, Steel Dragon, TDM, and The Unbelievables. Similar in
intentions, but smaller by half, were other outstanding megademo groups
exemplifying extensive cooperation. For example, MQM 5: The Reject weighed

21 
http://zxdemo.org/productions/7959/ (accessed on 5 December 2018).
 Teamwork 39

in at 625KB and was created in 1995. 22 Many sceners note that the commit-
ment to work on one production by such a large number of sceners was only
possible in the 1990s.
These monstrous (in size) demos reflected the idea of the demoscene
and parties, including overcoming barriers, meeting together and watching
both old, classic productions and new ones be submitted to the competi-
tion for hours.
One of the permanent and even inseparable elements of creativity
and community-building are the greetz. Greetings for other sceners and
groups appear in most productions, and they are often a leitmotif, as the
greetings of a tens or dozens of people and collectives can take up to sever-
al minutes. It will be a truism to add that it is an element cementing friend-
ships, cooperation, but also building hierarchies. “It’s definitely a way to
feel part of something bigger, a community of people interested in similar
things” (DC PAK). Rdx calls greetz fuel that drives the scene. According to
him: “As the whole demoscene is based on social interactions, fame, and
respect, greetz in demos are the basis of recognition. Greetz have more val-
ue when they are not just about greeting ‘everyone.’” It is no wonder that
some greetings are more memorable than others, especially the occasion-
al greetz from sceners that they never met. Because the demoscene is all
about showing and demonstrating capabilities, LCD thinks that the greetz
are part of this phenomenon: “It’s even fun—everyone wants to boast of
just how many contacts he has.” In this sense, the greetz also build stratifi-
cation. The more greetings in the demos, the more respect in the commu-
nity. These greetings can also have a transactional character: “It is also im-
portant to mark your presence on the scene. When I greet someone that’s
more well-known, maybe he will greet me and thanks to that I will become
more well-known” (DC PAK).
You can also assume that there is a certain poetics in the construction of
these greetings. Names or groups are not mentioned accidentally, but both
the order and presence are significant. For example, Alone Coder uses rules,
which he describes as follows:

People just greet their friends and ignore people they don’t like. My person-
al approach was to greet active groups (there were few when I did it), but later

22 
http://zxdemo.org/productions/13419/ (accessed on 5 December 2018).
40 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

I abandoned this. In the current situation, there are too few true groups, and we are
supposed to greet individual people. But there’s no point to greet people you chat
with every day, and there’s no point to greet a random guy that could later appear
in an opposing team.

There are over a  dozen productions featured at each party, so the dem-
osceners do a lot to spice up this fixed program element. And although the
demoscene rests somewhat on the suspension of normal day-to-day life,
there are exceptions. Factor6 talks about one of them, an extended voice
greeting on the Spectrum.

As you could hear in our demo Tailwind by Gemba Boys, we had a speech. It was
my invention; I made it on AY. I created the speech. So I said “Let’s do this for greet-
ings,” because they [Gemba Boys] weren’t sure if they want to include greetings in
this demo, but I put forth this idea to make greetings with these synthetic vocals,
so they did it.

Finally, there are many radically different demos, including those that only
consist of greetings, like the experimental 32-byte production of Alone
Coder Self Printing Greets from 2015; and unique ones without greetings.23
A good example is Haiku by Gasman.24
The teamwork model that rewards cooperation among the most talent-
ed coders, graphic artists, and musicians and strengthens relationships within
the community again differentiates the scene from other creative production
fields in the area of digital media. There are no such greetings in any other
area and other digital texts. It seems that the model of cooperation between
artists and programmers does not always look as perfect as in the demoscene.

23 
http://zxdemo.org/productions/174215/ (accessed on 5 December 2018). “The text is an ex-
ecutable Z80 code itself. It is loaded in memory address #e90c and contains (and prints): PrIvetbI/
Greets: maYHem MmcM Rsi” (Alone Coder).
24 
http://zxdemo.org/productions/17518/ (accessed on 5 December 2018). “Some demos are
not very text based at all, so it would kind of ruin the flow. There was one demo that I did that was
inspired by Japanese imagery. It was called ‘Haiku,’ so the title was the word ‘haiku’ written in kanji.
I had some space to fill, so I thought: ‘Should I have greetings?’ but I thought that no, because that
would break the mysterious quality, the idea, that this was an artifact from Japan” (Gasman).
 Contests and Voting 41

Contests and Voting

The demoscene cannot be monetized, and the activity on the scene does
not bring profits and revenue, however, the engaged and outstanding
sceners can count on various kinds of appreciation and bonuses. One of the
most important elements of the meetings organized by sceners is compo
(competition, tournament or contest), during which new productions are
shown. Parties are so important for the sceners that there is an unwritten
rule that a  new product can be put into the compo only once. Thus, the
work of a given group or scener is connected with the party at which it was
exhibited. This also distinguishes the scene from other fields of cultural pro-
duction in digital media.
Organized contests are usually considered to be the most important
part of the event. If you want to compare the scene to a fight club, it is in the
compo that the sceners fight each other. Competition categories are usually
set by the organizers. 25 For example, at Forever 2017 there were over a dozen
competitions in the categories of music compo, graphics compo, intro com-
po, demo compo for ZX Spectrum, Atari, Commodore 64 and other 8-bit plat-
forms. In addition to these basic competitions, other competitions took place,
such as the Walking Encyclopedia of 8-Bit Gaming, wild compo and real-time.
Music and graphics categories, as well as intros and demos, are treated seri-
ously, while the wild compo is a place for improvisers to show off. Here, they
can perform a digital song and show a movie or sing a song related to the par-
ty or demoscene theme, depending on their idea and imagination. A Forev-
er tradition is a category that tests knowledge in 8-bit production, especially
games and interactive fiction.
At the start of the party, the sceners receive a voting card. The prizes are
decided by those who are in the room where the demoparty is happening.26
They choose the winner, so only those involved in the scene have the chance
to select the best. During some parties, online and distance voting is possible
when the entire competition is transmitted on the Internet.
During the competition, all submitted productions are shown, always
from the equipment for which they were made. So if the song was made on

25 
https://demozoo.org/parties/3078/ (accessed on 5 December 2018).
26 
Select parties also organize voting online.
42 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

Ill. 6. A votesheet, Dihalt 2016 party. Photo by Piotr Marecki

ZX Spectrum 128 K, Forever organizers will use the original platform to pres-
ent it to the public. Sceners do not programmatically use emulators during
compo (actually this is rare). That’s why organizing a party is associated with
great effort on the part of the organizers, because they have to have all the
equipment ready, also that which can show productions created in real-time,
i.e. a competition announced at the meeting itself.
The gist of the real-time compo is that sceners program in real-time dur-
ing the event. The organizers announce the subject of the compo at the start
of the party, which gives the participants a few hours to prepare the graphics,
music or program that will take part in the competition. For example, during
 Contests and Voting 43

DiHalt 2016 the theme was “Sofa Scener.”27 Participants in the competition
had to refer to the theme that concerned sceners either coding on the sofa,
consuming alcohol on it, or being the usual ZX Spectrum couch potatoes. Not
infrequently, the productions that are the result of such a contest are bugged
or unfinished, which increases the risk that they will not be able to be shown,
and this raises the bar for the organizers. All scene productions are shown to
the public during the compo for the first time.
Demos and intros, as well as graphics and music productions, are always
shown on the big screen and using good sound equipment. During each
party, at which several dozens or even hundreds of sceners gather, a certain
atmosphere comes about. This is helped by the fact that alcohol is usually
served. Various elements influence the results of the vote. For example, SS
mentions: “Atmosphere, ‘catchyness’ and how it looks on the big screen or
sounds on big speakers. Also, it depends on how many works are in the com-
po. If it’s too much, it’s boring, and all works melt together. Then usually, the
winner is far from the best.”
Sceners come to the party with their equipment, and they set up their
computers at specific tables (during Forever, it’s most often in different parts
of the main room). Therefore, during the voting, people are talking at their
various stations. It is also important that the competition and voting take
place in the middle of the three-day event (usually on the second day), which
means that the voters are totally immersed in the experience by then.
Another factor influencing the vote may be fatigue. Some compo last for
several hours. For example, the competition portion of the 2016 DiHalt Spec-
trum party, which took place under the open sky, began at 6 PM and ended
around 3 or 4 AM. The new productions were presented for several hours, dur-
ing which it was necessary to focus and evaluate them. This fact (plus the re-
lationship between the sceners and the appearance of nicknames in greetz)
probably affects the results. It can be assumed that the results of the competi-
tion would look different if the sceners would rate the work alone, in the priva-
cy of their home, with the possibility of analyzing the code, etc. But then, the
social aspect would disappear. As underlined by rdx: “It’s quite similar to songs
on top hit lists. People decide. It is important, however, to know which people ;)”
Often it seems that one of the inseparable elements of the scene
is the desire to dazzle other sceners. Some describe new productions as

http://www.events.retroscene.org/dh2016/Realtime_LowEnd_Gfx/897 (accessed on 5 De-

27 

cember 2018).
44 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

a “jaw-dropping” (Ralf) and that their exact feelings and reactions are difficult
to express. For this reason, it is interesting to find out which elements were as-
sessed, what the authors appreciated during the presentation, what produc-
tion elements they paid attention to. Demoparty participants emphasize that
in the case of platforms such as the ZX Spectrum, where there are technical
limitations of the computer, it is exciting when someone overcomes barriers
and achieves the impossible. This is the most important factor. LCD says, “The
main criterion for evaluation is doing things that are considered technical-
ly impossible and showing how well the platform itself has been mastered.”
Factor6 adds that just pushing boundaries is not enough.

If it is done like this, and people don’t recognize it, it’s a bad demo. Because you
have viewers not only from the Spectrum scene but also from other scenes. They
don’t know the platform that well, so if you just make demo full of effects, pushing
the limits of the platform, but nothing else, it’s worthless.

He also identifies yet another factor. In his assessment what’s important is

the “[e]xpression of the demo. If I really like the graphic effects, and there are
wonderful graphics, but the music is shit, I don’t vote for it, because I don’t
like it. It’s very important, I must like the whole product.”
The reasons for a positive vote are hard to articulate. “It’s kind of a gut
feeling. It’s not really any one thing. It’s hard to say what exactly will make
me happy about a demo. If it’s technically capable but doesn’t really have ar-
tistic flow then… It has to be something that keeps my attention” (Gasman).
Ralf points out: “In music and graphics, I think we simply value ‘beauty’ or to
what extent something is nice, unique, evoking some reflection. And beauty
is difficult to define in words, but once we see something beautiful, we have
no doubt that it is beautiful :)” In turn, Busysoft states: “It’s all is about how
people like the works and how creative the people perceive the work to be.”
But Alone Coder defines what is to be achieved and what should be ap-
preciated differently: “A work is valuable if it brings something good and new
to the platform. If it is a tool, the more things people do with it, the more val-
uable it is.” Gasman draws attention to other elements:

I try to [vote] based on the whole package, rather than trying to be analytical
about it. The value can be in the humor or ideas behind it or the telling of a sto-
ry. It can just be a pure technical accomplishment. If you’ve got a lot of different
demos trying different things and competing against each other, it’s technical
 Contests and Voting 45

accomplishment up against humor which is up against creativity. So it’s hard to

really run with that. I think all you can really do is to go with a gut feeling. “Did this
make me smile?” I think that’s all you can really do.

Similarly, Ralf indicates a few possible ways of evaluating the works.

In the case of effects generated by the code, there are two methods of assessment.
The first evaluates how hard the effect was to achieve, the complexity of the code.
And the second is beauty, i.e. the graphics and music. The complexity of the code is
such that not everyone knows it, and we can, for example, have some massive sprites
fly around the screen. But the viewer will not appreciate it at all, because he has no
idea that such an effect is difficult to obtain within technical limitations of the Spec-
trum. Here, too, we have the topic of real-time vs pre-calculated animations. Again,
someone will be delighted that it is live, while someone else will not even notice.

There are also other factors that affect who and what wins the party. The
demoscene is a  male-dominated subculture, so “there is also a  dispute
whether you can use images of naked women in demos. I know that at some
parties it is not allowed to use images of naked women in demos, because
it is indecent, but that gives an unjust advantage to the viewer over other
demos” (Ralf ). If the party participants are in a cheerful mood, less serious
productions will be liked more. “Some funny jokes / catchy tunes / boobs
can catch the attention of the crowd, and better work may get worse votes
then it deserves. But that’s life” (SS). Or, “at Forever it’s recommended to
move things all the time and change colors because the viewers are drunk
and want joyful movement on screen :)” (Alone Coder). It also happens that
more emotional demos can attract more attention than the more distant
and calculated demos.

Definitely, a well-written demo that can bring people to tears—there are actual and
documented cases of that—or give them the creeps, can accumulate votes despite
relatively lower merit in some areas, but this is what demo is about—design and at-
mosphere. In that aspect, there is something “populistic” about demos, which if used
properly, can influence the crowd and, consequently, results. (rdx)

It also often happens that national or local aesthetics win. As DC PAK points
out, “For example, there were trends in voting for work from their own coun-
try. I’m not saying that it is wrong or dishonest. On the contrary, it largely
46 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

results from the fact that the aesthetics that we have been developing in our
own nation, in the end, turn out to be closest to us.”
And although these factors should be taken into account, compo is not
the only way to rank works on the scene. Another element is, for example,
voting for a given production on the pouet.net portal or discussing demos
and various other things in magazines, although these play a much smaller
role than the competitions themselves.
Sceners sometimes work for weeks or months on a full-blown demo. In
addition, they spend hours trying the reach a party, which often takes place
far away from where they live. So what makes them invest so much? What is at
stake in the game? Why do sceners do all of this? Busysoft responds: “Friend-
ship, face-to-face meetings, discussions about the scene, watching new produc-
tions live together, good atmosphere.” A very radical approach is exemplified
by Alone Coder for whom “[the] #1 [reason] is to support the ZX Spectrum plat-
form.” Gasman, on the other hand, is on the scene because “it’s a bit about mak-
ing an impression on people… actually showing off.” On the other hand, LCD
says: “The stake in this game is fame, being recognized by my peers. That’s why
sometimes people come to parties like this with different gadgets, for example,
someone brought a 3D printer with them last year.” And DC PAK puts forth:

In retrospect, I can say that the stake in the game and the prize is fame. At the same
time, we are not talking about celebrity, like the type a handsome young actor play-
ing in a popular series achieves. Rather, the admiration of a hundred people. From
which only a few, maybe ten, express it. And to make it clear, it’s totally worth the
time and energy invested in this game.

Many sceners have a very basic approach to fame, unhealthy camaraderie

or even populism existing in demos. The most radical is Alone Coder: “Those
who work for the platform, not popularity, don’t seek for fame, that’s why
they are usually less known.” Still others talk about ethics and purity:

I value the moral purity of the scene, like being appreciated for skills, doing fantas-
tic things but not for the money, friendship and knowledge-sharing. It’s a bit dif-
ferent than in the professional world, where effectiveness depends on skills 10 per-
cent of the time at most, as some research postulates (rdx).

For Factor6, the scene is also not about fame: “My main goal is to be with
people that I like and that accept me the way I am. For me, fame is in second
 Contests and Voting 47

place or third place, but not first. I’m doing it because of the good people
on the demo scene.”
When analyzing the works created on the demoscene, the most impor-
tant aspect should be collegiality. Subsequently, fruitful cooperation, greetz
in demos, and the establishment of one’s position in the hierarchy can be set
as a goal. Alone Coder describes one ascent within the community as a pro-
cess of creating a network of relationships:

I know one scener that gradually froze his scene activity in the 2000s and began
a marathon of meta-scene activity. He made friends at Pouet, then participated in
the Scene Awards jury. He brought one local friend of his with him and made his
other local friends the moderators at one known forum. Then he created his own
demoparty and his own forum.

Winning a compo can also help a scener gain the type of recognition that
can translate into professional relationships. In this way, the scene could
serve as an extension of one’s CV. The time, contacts, and networking in-
vested in the scene may result in further cooperation and projects. But as
SS warns,

Personal life and real-life connections may be at stake if someone is too focused on
the demoscene and ignores everything else. Recognition and good feelings are the
prize. Through the work, some artists, especially musicians may be recognized and
get famous. Coders may get interesting work in game producing companies. It is
like everything else, it gives opportunities and creates connections between people.

Many sceners have also gotten a job (although sometimes not directly) due
to skills acquired on the scene. DC PAK relates:

Well, after wrapping up my career on the Spectrum demoscene, I made a game for
the Nintendo GBC, which was released by Capcom. The game was written in As-
sembler from the beginning to the end, so the experience I gained on the dem-
oscene played a significant role here. However, I would be pressed to say that the
demoscene is efficient or proactive in any way. It is rather the individual interests of
a person that pushed him or her towards the scene, not the other way around. So
if someone likes and is able to program, draw, compose, he can gain experience on
the scene, but that’s not a given. It can also lead your career to something different,
more commercial, bypassing this strange creation, which is the scene.
48 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

Having fun and investing time in the scene resulted in a job also for Jordan
of Exodus, “The passion for coding demos turned into a profession, which
I have been in for over twenty years. From my perspective, every experience
counts. And the demoscene gave me a solid foundation for programming,
analysis and software optimization.” Gasman states that, “Everything I’ve
done in my life, including getting a job or inspired to learn computer pro-
gramming comes back to learning about the Spectrum back in the 1980s.”
The ability to program, make music or graphics helps many sceners land
in game development and we can even discuss video games inspired by dem-
oscene aesthetics. Ralf, the creator of many games, says:

But I also noticed (e.g. in Russian games made on the Spectrum by Russian scen-
ers) that some of the habits of the sceners are transferred to the games and what is
good in demos is bad in games. I am irritated by the game that has fancy logos, ani-
mations, effects on the borders, and other nonsense at the beginning, but then the
game itself turns out to be weak, because it is, for example, a simple game of tic-tac-
toe or whatever else. Games should not be made for effects but rather good game-
play, which people from the demoscene sometimes forget.

The above reflections about participation in the demoscene comment on

the possibilities that may arise from it, but very rarely do sceners point to
direct inspiration that they get from the scene and how they apply it in pro-
fessional life. In the past thirty years, this happened only once to Gasman:

There was one event that I helped to organize a couple of years back, where we were
at the Museum of Computer Science in Oxford and we collected lots of Spectrums
and networked them to play Mahler’s Symphony No. 1.28 In the original Spectrum
manual there was a challenge. It was to introduce the sound command, as an exer-
cise, and get it to play Mahler’s Symphony No. 1.

The sceners statements clearly indicate that they are aware of the fact that
the scene is a game that has its players, set rules and rewards. What’s more,
they confirm our intuition about the organized nature of this subculture.

28 
https://blogs.mhs.ox.ac.uk/insidemhs/tag/zx-spectrum/ (accessed on 16 December 2018).
 THE EAST-WEST DIVIDE OR DECENTERING DIGITAL MEDIA 49

The East-West Divide or Decentering Digital Media

Out of all 8-bit computers, and perhaps even all computers in general, the
ZX Spectrum seems to be the platform that provides the most substance
for a discussion about the differences between the East and the West and
the problem of decentering digital media. This computer serves as a good
example of the tension between the different approaches to technology,
how each treated the platform and its uses. These differences are also rel-
evant in the demoscene. This was noted by Factor6, who pointed to the
uniqueness of the Russian ZX scene: “If we didn’t have a  Russian scene
I  think the Spectrum would die. The Spectrum scene would die. .  .  . The
whole demo scene comes from the West; it comes from the West through
the middle. But the Spectrum scene… it came from the East to the West.”
The uniqueness of the Spectrum lies in the fact that the East did not have
to be inspired by the West, because similar phenomena on such a scale in
the West simply didn’t exist there.
It is easy to agree with the Czech scener. The first and basic difference
between the world of the West and the reality behind the Iron Curtain was
the level of access to computers and legal software. In the West, it was an
affordable good that could be bought in stores for money. Equipment was
advertised and treated like any other product. The situation was radical-
ly different in the countries behind the Iron Curtain, where the equipment
was difficult to acquire and very expensive. The unavailability of software
in stores was connected to the phenomenon of the electronics market, i.e.
the place where both hardware and software were traded.29 Such exchang-
es took place in the second half of the 1980s and in the 1990s in the Eastern
Bloc. What’s more, the markets exist to this day, but they are on the margin
and have a mercantile-commercial quality with no relation to creative dem-
oscene activity. In some cities, they served as computer clubs, that dissemi-
nated knowledge about computers or exchanged information (for example,
they had the patronage of popular computer magazines and thus, an educa-
tional function). Most people participating in the markets were active on the

29 
For more on the computer and electronics markets see: Patryk Wasiak, Strategie reklam­
owe polskich piratów komputerowych w okresie transformacji systemowej, https://www.academia.
edu/24234108/Strategie_reklamowe_polskich_pirat%C3%B3w_komputerowych_w_okresie_
transformacji_systemowej (accessed on 5 December 2018).
50 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

scene and did not treat computers only as equipment to play on. This situa-
tion, however, changed very quickly and the markets simply became a place
to trade equipment (thus they also lost the support of computer magazines).
In the iconic Bajtek magazine in Poland, the Warsaw market was de-
scribed in this way:

Slowly, the peddlers pour out into the school grounds. There’s no rush. They show
their reservations at the entrance and walk with kilograms of equipment up the stairs,
now hurrying to their stands. Once there, they set up their stalls. They set the equip-
ment on benches, hang fancy signs, ads about games cut from Western magazines.
DIY enthusiasts assemble sophisticated scaffolding with slats and vices or a dryer
stand. On the scaffolding hang the effects of a week’s worth of copying, drawing
on boards with titles and printouts of novelties. The stacks of cassettes with record-
ed games read COMPUTER STUDIO on the cover, occupying ordinary school bench-
es. The cassettes are taped together with scotch tape. They also distribute catalogs,
typed on the computer or printed on the printer.30

The press and TV media were very interested in the phenomenon, and they
treated the market as a cluster of “computer youth” or “bit people.” Young
people interested in computers (and thus mainly in Western goods) were
treated as successors of generations fascinated by other phenomena from
the West (like, jazz or punk).
The markets were a must for all those interested in purchasing equip-
ment and programs; they are a kind of generational experience for the first
generation of personal computer owners in the Eastern Bloc. The author of
the quoted article on the electronics market also described the development
of supply and demand for programs and the way goods were propagated:

Nobody is interested in where the NEW GAMES come from. If one has it, after a week
everyone has it. A kid with Bajtek approaches a stand. He reads the titles of games
that he does not have, and the trader notes them carefully. Then he records them
on a bootleg tape, collects the money, counts the money, and so it goes.31

30 
Bartłomiej Kluska (2015) Giełdy komputerowe: zlepek cwaniactwa i umiejętności, http://save-
thefloppy.com/2015/01/22/gieldy-komputerowe-zlepek-cwaniactwa-i-umiejetnosci.html (accessed
on 5 December 2018).
31 
Ibid.
 THE EAST-WEST DIVIDE OR DECENTERING DIGITAL MEDIA 51

Each of the protagonists in our book had a  similar experience with the
exchange or purchase of programs on the market. Many sellers also tried
to professionalize their work. The scale of the phenomenon was best de-
scribed by one of the distributors:

Most of my people dealing with copying had about 100 tape recorders connected
simultaneously! Can you imagine it? I had about ten people to do the tape record-
ing. Each of them had from 60 to 100 Commodore recorders connected to the C64,
which allowed for the production of several thousand tapes a day!32

Similar procedures stalled, on the one hand, the introduction of copyright

laws (for example in Poland in 1994), and on the other, the dissemination
of the PC. It is worth adding that many people dealing with computers and
leading computer companies came from these markets and exchanges.
Similarly, the market is closely related to the scene; demos and magazines
were distributed this way, and, most importantly, the first scene events were
organized in proximity to the places where the markets were held.
Another issue related to the East-West divide was hardware. Ralf stated:

In Western and Central Europe, people had original Sinclair machines; in Russia
and the post-Soviet countries, they had locally produced clones. Therefore, in Rus-
sia and Western countries, different computer models are considered the standard.
In the West and in Poland, it will be the Spectrum 48KB and 128KB, and in Russia,
the Pentagon with the TR-DOS disk system. TR-DOS is not very popular in the West
and in Poland. In Poland, the Portuguese Timex FDD 3000 disk station gained some
popularity, but it is not well-known in the West and Russia. The most uptight and
kosher about copyrights are probably the English. In other countries (especially in
Russia) people generally do not care.

Alone Coder sees things along the same lines:

People in the West had a stock machine with few significant add-ons that were rare-
ly used (such as disk drives and extra memory blocks). People in the East soldered
their computers themselves and added things, and the scene was always tied to disk

32 
Bartłomiej Kluska ([2011]), Opowieści z krypty: Pod piracką banderą, http://polygamia.pl/
opowie-ci-z-krypty-pod-piracka-bandera/ (accessed on 5 December 2018).
52 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

drives. Disk requirements limited the number of sceners, but disk computers were
more programmer friendly. They were not like game consoles. All our computers had
RGB, and we were not familiar with PAL artifacts (however, everybody had to solder
their computer to a TV or display in different ways, the same with the keyboard). AY
sound was stereo. And most of our computers had extra memory, sometimes with
even better graphics and sound capabilities.

Many Russian sceners admit that (despite the flame wars between the Spec-
trum-PC or Spectrum-Amiga), Sinclair’s original equipment was never seen.
Another reason for the differences is the wealth discrepancy between
western and eastern societies and the time when the platforms were used.
More affluent societies switched to more advanced platforms (especially
Amiga) sooner, while eastern ones were still discovering or expanding the
Spectrum. This is confirmed by Busysoft:

The main difference is the era in which most activities on the ZX Spectrum took place.
In the West, it was possible to buy an inexpensive ZX Spectrum, but in the East, peo-
ple did not have so much money, and the ZX Spectrum was very expensive for most.
So this caused the ZX Spectrum to spread to the East later than in the West.

Paradoxically, this kind of technological backwardness and the develop-

ment of equipment, which in the West was already considered obsolete,
had an impact on the originality of the scene in the East. The Russian scen-
ers started the impossible race, although it was often effective, which led
to an extension of the Spectrum that would make it compete with more
complicated computers (like the Amiga). Factor6 describes this competition
as follows,

It was in the early 1990s, so the demoscene on Amiga was very big also and they
started to copy these effects, these demos. They tried to push the limits of the Spec-
trum, which nobody else had done before. What I think is that Russian sceners started
to make such good demos because they wanted to be extraordinary, because they
didn’t have many chances to be extraordinary in their normal lives.

There is another cultural nuance. In many eastern countries, popular cul-

ture and music influenced perceptions about the world, different from
what was portrayed in the communist controlled media. In this respect, for
example, rock or punk music in Poland had enormous significance. West-
 THE EAST-WEST DIVIDE OR DECENTERING DIGITAL MEDIA 53

ern films unofficially distributed and circulated on video cassettes, also on

the market, had a  similar effect. Games and digital media uncontrolled
by the authorities had a political dimension. DC PAK explains: “It’s like that
kid who played games and thought to himself about how cool things are
in the West. So it must be cool and not as bad as they tell us it is on TV.” It is
worth emphasizing the unique significance of demos that had political and
opposition undertones on the Spectrum scene.
The Spectrum demoscene actively accompanied the changes from the
communist to the capitalist system. This subject was dealt with in a later pro-
duction, created by Mikropol, about the overturning of a system. Other dem-
os from this period include legendary politicians, oppositionists, revolution-
aries sitting in prisons during the Polish People’s Republic [PRL], for example,
the demo Solidarity: the first 500 days (Zoon Software, 1991).33
In Russian demos, ideology also played a big role; at the beginning of the
90s, we will find, for example, a demo showing and mixing two icons—the
last leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Mickey Mouse.34
A separate phenomenon on the Russian scene is modern communist demos
(one of them will be discussed later in the book). It is worth noting, howev-
er, that if Polish and Czechoslovakian sceners perceive the influence of com-
puters in preparation for capitalist entry and the overthrow of communism,
the Russian sceners report the votum separatum, which is associated with the
later appearance of the most popular 8-bit platform in Russia.
The attempt to sabotage the transmission of an official TV program by
Poland’s ruling regime using the ZX Spectrum is also very well-known. It was
the initiative of the underground Solidarity activists in the region of Toruń in
1985 and it happened during the broadcast of the official news program Dzie­
nnik Telewizyjny. Those responsible for the confusion prepared an electronic
system capable of broadcasting television signals and synchronizing them
with the frequency of the government transmitter. As a result, subtitles like
“Enough with these price increases, lies and repression” and “A boycott of the
elections is our duty” were displayed during the broadcast of the program.
The phenomenon that distinguishes the Spectrum scene from oth-
er scenes is also the linguistic diversity of demos and other genres. While

33 
http://zxspectrum48.i-demo.pl/classic_demos.html (accessed on 5 December 2018).
34 
Belyaev, Rukavishnikov (1993) Coming Soon: Crazy Mix, https://demozoo.org/produc-
tions/12816/ (accessed on 16 December 2018).
54 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

platforms of greater importance in Western Europe operated programmat-

ically in English, the ZX Spectrum demoscene, with its center in Russia, was
also unique in this way. While English dominated other scenes, in the world
of the Spectrum, Russian, but also Polish, Czech or Slovak, could be heard.
A common practice on this scene were bilingual demos, written in both Rus-
sian and English, with the option of choosing the appropriate language ver-
sion by the user.
It should be added that text plays a special role in the Spectrum scene,
especially due to the limitations of the platform. Sometimes sceners, unable
to cope with the competition of other platforms in the race for better graphic
effects, helped themselves with text, which was more visible in productions
on the Speccy. Factor6 stated:

This is because of the amount of Spectrum users in Russia. Russia is a rich country,
and they don’t have a reason to use English. Why would they use it? They compete
with each other, and I think they don’t need the rest of the world for this. So why
use English? It’s boring for them; it’s hard for them. You always see Russian demos
with bad English, if they are in English. It’s grammatically just bad, so it sticks out.

This scroll style, especially during the 1990s, is confirmed by Russian scen-
ers. Scalesmann points out that most Russian sceners use English, but “if
you speak English poorly, use your mother tongue. Now I sometimes watch
a demo/intro written in the 1990s, and sometimes I cry out ‘to write in Eng-
lish in this way is a disaster.’”
Alone Coder adds:

Scrolls were usually written in English. Maybe because the first authors of disk releas-
es used old fonts (even ROM font sometimes). Maybe they thought their disk release
will spread overseas. There were more strange things like claiming copyrights for
a crack :) So a standard appeared for disk releases with English text. However, music
demos were written in Russian or English, or both. Diskzines and electronic papers
from ex-USSR were written in Russian, rarely with English translation, and there was
one diskzine in Latvian without any translation.

Alone Coder explains this situation of linguistic diversity in demos: “4% of

Russians speak English, according to the census. Most people can’t read
English. There were a  lot of Russian versions of games, and there were
 THE EAST-WEST DIVIDE OR DECENTERING DIGITAL MEDIA 55

Ill. 7. Shock Megademo, 1992, ESI, UBU lab, Jagiellonian University. Photo by Piotr Marecki

games that existed only in Russian. Also, some jokes and allusions can be
understood only by people that know USSR culture.”
Ralf points out that another distinctive feature of the Spectrum is “mixing
languages—a part of a scroll is in English, another in Russian, Polish or Czech.”
This can be explained by the fact that Slovak, Polish or Czech are Slavic lan-
guages, but written in Latin script and quite understandable in neighboring
countries. It is worth noting that most of the sceners from the Eastern bloc
knew Russian, or at least a bit, because Russian was the primary foreign lan-
guage taught in primary schools in the 1980s.
Factor6 states that “I know many demos in Czech or Slovak [on] the Spec-
trum, mostly old ones. They were made just by people who wanted to make
the demo, and they didn’t know English. If they did know it, they would have
made it English.” This statement makes it very clear that the phenomenon of
old-school demos is connected to the use of national languages. Demos cre-
ated in the 1980s and early 1990s were created by people who did not know
English yet or knew it very poorly. DC PAK, whose productions belong to the
56 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

old school, recalls: “We already had the texts in demos written in English since
Exodus Megademo, because of accessibility to users, but also the trend at the
time was to do so. And English sounded more ‘pro’ to teenagers than Pol-
ish.” English was also the basic language for communication even between
sceners using Slavic languages: “I correspond with Poles in Polish, but with
a German or Czech in English. Of course, with the English in English” (DC PAK).
Another phenomenon was indicated by rdx:

With early 8-bit computers, there was an interesting phenomenon in Poland. As

there was very little software made by Polish people, anything that was written
locally, or mentioned local subjects, was an instant success. There were famous
cases of bad games, some written in Basic, with no real gameplay, that made huge
sales just because they were related to Poland, i.e. a soccer manager game that
had the list of the real Polish teams and players or a beat-them-up game that was
lousy, but it took place in a real Polish city with Polish graffiti on the wall, Polish
cars in the background etc. It may be that some demos also touched a much wider
audience because they were in Polish. This was however limited to a narrow win-
dow of time and already in the mid-1990s, being “Polish” was no longer enough
to guarantee success or popularity.

Demos usually took part in the compo during the party. During the event,
the sceners do not have much time to read the scrolls, let alone the long
ones often found on the ZX scene. It is no wonder that text demos are low
in the scene hierarchy:

Anyway, demos based on long texts are usually boring regardless of language un-
less they are specially targeted to you or your group or some local community. And
in that case, the local language is the way to go. It feels stupid to write jokes about
my friend in the language we both barely know. (SS)

And although demos filled with text other than the greetz, which you need
to focus on, were not shown great respect, many of the demos on the ZX
scene have a  distinct literary character. Sceners decide to perform poetic
demos or demos that play with text.
All the discussed phenomena, ranging from the East’s issue with cop-
yright to linguistic diversity (and thus attempts to combat the dominance
of English) and the social role of platforms in society (fighting the system),
demonstrate the cultural uniqueness of the ZX Spectrum against other
 Clones 57

platforms. To really understand these phenomena one should look at a nar-

rative other than the dominant one, affirm otherness and not succumb to
the influence of the center and the current poetics. This uniqueness also led
to the most important feature of the Spectrum, i.e. the opening of the plat-
form, which resulted in mass cloning of the equipment, a topic we will deal
with in the next chapter.

Clones

For the demoscene, the “pure platform” is important. Sceners are so ad-
vanced in hardware issues that during parties they usually present works
on original equipment instead of showcasing them, for example, on a PC
using emulators or as a video file. The demoscene is also sometimes called
a  field in which the works are presented in real-time so recreating them
from the original platform using original processors, graphics, and sound
chips is a fundamental issue for the work. 35 In terms of purity of the platform,
the ZX Spectrum is also a very specific scene. In Eastern Europe, where the
Spectrum enjoyed a revival, most of the users have never seen the original
Sinclair computer and called the computers built on the foundation of the
British hardware something different. This is related to the phenomenon of
mass cloning of the platform.
The traditional use of platforms (not only 8-bit ones) is based on the con-
sumption of content and the use of equipment and software officially pro-
vided by the manufacturer. And although narratives about platforms such as
the C64 or Atari do not deviate from a creative or bottom-up approach, it is
based on independent writing of programs. None of the platforms, in addition
to the ZX Spectrum, resulted in such a level of creativity and on such a scale
of hardware systems or clones. The machine’s uniqueness was based on its
openness, which distinguishes it from corporate platforms, such as the C64,
which users did not copy due to limited access to accessories. The reasons

35 
Lassi Tasajärvi (ed.); Bent Stamnes, Mikael Schustin (2004) Demoscene: The Art of Real-Time,
Even Lake Studios, Helsinki.
58 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

for and the scale of cloning have already been discussed. This phenomenon
consisted of both differences in the wealth of societies, as well as delays in
access and the race between Spectrum improvements and newer platforms.
When asked why the Spectrum was so often cloned, the sceners agree
that the simplicity behind the platform was the reason. Just as certain hu-
man inventions, such as the circle, spoon or book, are simple and perfect, the
Spectrum is great for followers of the platform and has been copied for these
reasons. This approach is slightly modified by rdx:

It is said that the main reason Bob Dylan’s songs are among the most common to
cover by other artists is that they are creative and good, but imperfect. We can say
the same about the ZX Spectrum. It was the first home microcomputer of its kind,
easily programmable, with sufficient memory and graphic capabilities to perform
tasks complex enough to capture the minds of an entire generation. Yet, it could be
easily improved, especially in two areas—capabilities and reliability.

In his comment, rdx does not pay attention to the local aspect of cloning,
which Scalesmann emphasizes. He says:

Relatively easy reproducibility on the basis of native parts (the main problem was
related to ULA, which was finally broken anyway), plus a huge number of programs,
mainly games, but above all, specific features of the Russian mentality (especially
interest in electronics and lack of awareness of copyright)… In the USSR, there were
also Apple II clones and other related projects, but the Speccy won.

It seems that the large-scale interest in computer science and the desire to
look under the computer casing, combined with the unavailability of the
original platforms on store shelves, were also important reasons for mass-
scale computer cloning. Again, Scalesmann articulates the following:

In the USSR, it was so accepted. For example, look at the magazines Radio or Mod­
elist-Konstruktor. Schemes and proposals for exchanging programs were published,
and given that at that time almost everyone was interested in technical things and
modeling (as opposed to contemporary youth who have all caught a humanistic
brain disease), the beginnings of computerization hit fertile ground. . . . This idea
came from the fact that there was a desire to learn how something works from the
inside and change something in it according to one’s own preferences. In addition,
it gave you absolute proficiency in using the thing, which is very useful for fulfilling
 Clones 59

big ambitions. The demoscene is a kind of evolution of hacking things when a per-
son can’t only break in but also must think up and tinker. It’s no coincidence that the
crack scene and demo scene go hand-in-hand.

As the chapter on the East-West divide indicates, the idea of cloning in the
Eastern bloc was associated not so much with the desire to recreate the
original 1:1, but with the improvement of the equipment. This is explained
vividly by rdx:

The original ZX Spectrum was prone to failure. It had poor video output and no
“proper” sound as compared to computer that entered the 8-bit market later, espe-
cially in Poland, like the Commodore 64 and Atari XL/XE. Therefore, many modifica-
tions, “improvements,” and concepts were created that either enhanced the orig-
inal ZX Spectrum (AY chip, disk drives, divIDE, etc.) or modified it in various ways
(Timex 2048, Harlequin, Speccy 2010, Pentagon), still achieving good compatibility.

Cloning instructions with even more details about the periphery and specif-
ic equipment are provided by Alone Coder:

That was because it had the simplest schematics (not counting ZX80 or ZX81, which
were cloned in Yugoslavia as far as I know). The only custom chip of original Speccy
contained just a few circuits that were easy to implement from off-the-shelf parts.
Somewhere in 1991, its counterpart Т34ВГ1 (it also had other names) was devel-
oped in the USSR for Didaktik and local mass production. We imported a clone of
Z80 CPU from DDR until 1991, then the same chip got produced here. Also in 1991,
Russian floppy disks ГМД130 appeared. 27512 ROM could be replaced to smaller
ROMs. The only part that had to be imported from the West was AY-3-8910 (or 8912,
or YM2149F) sound generator.

Scalesmann speaks about the race to create more refined equipment. He

thinks it is a form of showing off or demonstrating one’s abilities. And he
also refers to local specificity:

The basis of this idea is the uniqueness of the Soviet existence. Achieving scientif-
ic and technological progress by the nation was impossible to a large extent. It was
expensive and not for everyday use by ordinary citizens. And the attitude was that if
I can’t get it, I will do it myself or at least I will try. Accordingly, the demoscene devel-
oped the same way. They looked first. Later, they tried to understand how it works,
60 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

including stealing other people’s software. Then they started writing and measur-
ing their penises.

Russian sceners often did not have contact with the original Sinclair plat-
forms, and all their adventures with computers are limited to clones. A spe-
cific race in the production of clones should also be noted in the names,
parts, and materials from which modifications to the platform were built.
Gasman: “It’s really impressive to see that sort of creativity. I feel that people
build these cases with whatever material they had laying around, wood or
solid metal, and 5-pin DIN connectors for everything because that was what
they had. So it’s really impressive to see that sort of effort.”
What clones were among the most popular, and which platforms did
the ZX sceners have? Alone Coder says:

The most widespread clones were those based on Т34ВГ1 chip, using tape-recorders,
but they had no scene except in gaming. The Big Four of disk-based clones were (in
order of appearance) Pentagon, Profi, ATM-Turbo (also Turbo2), and Scorpion (also
KAY). They were mentioned together in the press and supported by operating sys-
tems and memory drivers in programs. I had all four.

Moroz also points to: “Pentagon and Scorpion. The ZX Evolution has now
joined them.” Even more names are mentioned by Semizarov, “ZX: Lenin-
grad, Moscow, Kharkov, Pentagon, ATM, Scorpion, Profi, KAY.” And Golubtsov
put forth, “Leningrad 48, Pentagon 128, Delta-C, ZX Scorpion 256.”
The most important ones for Scalesmann were those from the turn of
the 1980s and 1990s, i.e. Leningrad and Moscow (from which the Pentagon
later developed). “As far as contemporary ones are concerned, Pentevo is
almost the absolute leader,” he adds. From this short summary one can see
an abundance of choice and locality (Kharkov, Leningrad, Moscow). Sceners
agree also that currently the computer that is central to the image of the Rus-
sian world Speccy, is the ZX Evolution (also called Pentevo).
The situation is different in countries located to the west of Russia, in
which ZX clones were also used. SS mentions Didaktik M and Didaktik Gama,
which were popular and produced in Czechoslovakia, but at the same time,
he points out that Timex was famous. Busysoft also grew up on local clones
Didaktik Gama, Didaktik M, and Didaktik Kompakt. He lists how they differed
from the originals:
 Clones 61

Didaktik Gama has 80KB of RAM instead of 48KB as in the original ZX Spectrum. Dida-
ktik M has the original ULA replaced by programmable logic array (lack of original
ULAs). Didaktik Kompakt has a built-in floppy disk unit D80, so it is not necessary to
use slow cassettes or connect external units.

In Poland, in turn, the most popular clone was imported from Portugal, called
Timex, but local clones Elwro 800 and Unipolbrit were also very popular.
Czech scener Factor6 has and uses several clones:

I have an Evolution, that’s a Russian clone. I have the Reverse-U16, which is a small
Raspberry Pi-sized board Spectrum clone, also from Russia. I have a Harlequin Spec-
trum. This is from Germany, from Ingo Truppel. I also have a Spanish ZX-Uno com-
puter, which is also a RasPi sized clone, but more compatible with the Spectrum.
I think that’s all from the clones. Another good Spectrum clone is Speccy 2010,
but I don’t own it.

Characteristically, sceners from Western countries pay attention to com-

pletely different clones than the Russians. “In Western Europe, Speccy 2010 is
quite popular as it is portable and has all the modern ports (VGA, keyboard)”
(Gasman). But for rdx, the Harlequin is more significant for the Western user
(“for reverse engineering ULA and replacing it with modern hardware”) and
the ZX Spectrum Vega from 2016 (“for commercializing the nostalgia and
selling the emulator prepacked with game ROMs as a  new edition of the
computer”). We can add to the mix the ZX-Uno, or the Spectrum in Raspber-
ry Pi packaging and size, and the ZX Spectrum Vega Plus portable console.
In 2017, the new ZX Spectrum Next project was launched.
Gasman, living in the country where the original ZX was created, argues
that clones were useful for this reason:

I imported the Speccy 2010, the FPGA based model. In fact, it was interesting to me,
because when I’m travelling around to different parties, I’m looking for the most
convenient way of taking the Spectrum there. Because this is very small in form,
and because it’s FPGA-based, it’s possible to program it with new capabilities. It has
a TurboSound extension, which gives you two AY sound chips, so you can do more
interesting things with music performances.

Clone makers were creative not only in the names they came up with for the
clones but also for their appearance and diverse functions. For example, the
62 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

Poles built their version of the Spectrum, or Elwro, in a case for electronic
devices. Russian sceners point to Nafania computers as an “absolutely cra-
zy form, even taking into account its doubtful usability. Compliance with
the original version was very moderate” (Scalesmann). “Clone boards are ar-
ranged in the shape of a pentagon” (Wasiljew).
Alone Coder possessed a rich collection of clones, which he used for
creative purposes. This long list also shows the creativity of the platforms:

Q I had a version of Pentagon 48K where a single PCB contained two unconnected (!)
parts: the main circuit and a disk controller. You should connect them with wires.
Q  There were computers that had a cheap 2KB ROM and loaded the OS from tape. For
example, according to its schematics the ATM-Turbo allowed for this.
Q  Profi was designed as two boards. When you assemble your Profi, you first debug
the motherboard, then insert the peripheral board with the disk controller, Cov-
ox, and extra ports.
Q  ZX-Next had video output controlled by another Z80 CPU. It ran some sophisticat-
ed program from protected ROM (with floating bits), so this board was reverse en-
gineered only recently with the help of the original author.
Q  There was a popular keyboard with ЦУКЕНГ layout written atop of QWERTY. The
“Й” letter was missing!!! I failed to find out who produced it. It was supported by
the iS-DOS version distributed by SLOT Ltd (ZX-Next authors) and possibly nowhere
else. But there were also reports that the first databases about privatization that
started in 1991 were typed without “Й.”
Q  Our hardware man Vladimir Makarov (Tot/Invader8) made a SounDrive device us-
ing 5 chips on top of each other and surrounded with resistors that looked like
wings :)
Q  There were people (for example, U#74 from Samara) that used old PC boards as
a motherboard for their Spectrums. For this, they cut unnecessary connections and
left only the connections between ISA slots.

For example, the creative platform based on the Pentagon by Alone Coder
reminds one of, in the words of the same author, spaghetti, and has 1MB
RAM, Turbo mode, cache memory, Covox, 384  ×  304 gfx mode, color-per-
pixel gfx mode, HDD and CD-ROM.
Alone Coder was not the only one with hardware boosters. Sceners from
other countries also couldn’t boast of platform purity. DC PAK describes his
equipment,
 Clones 63

Not only was Timex a clone, but my Timex was a clone after modifications. First of
all, I bought an AY sound chip from 128K computers as an attachment that gets put
on to the side. Secondly, I expanded my memory to 128KB, just like in the ZX Spec-
trum 128K. And finally, I bought an FDD station, but with 5.25” drives.

Frugal Russians were also known for placing parts purchased on the elec-
tronics market into the equipment. Alone Coder explains:

In cities where there was a radio market, it was the first place you should visit (com-
puters were usually sold as separate boards, but you could contract a hardware guy
to assemble one). Somewhere there were even computer shops with boxed com-
puters. Or you could find ads in magazines such as Radio and order a computer by
mail. Scorpion were produced prolifically, so Scorpions can be found anywhere in
Russia, unlike other clones.

As mentioned by rdx: “In the 1990s, people used to create groups and buy
hardware together with one mail order to save on shipping costs. This was par-
ticularly popular in Poland for Russian clones.” Nowadays, clones are still being
produced. Most often, they can be ordered online or through auction stores,
such as eBay, or on websites dedicated to retro computer equipment. Here
you can buy a Pentevo, Phoenix, Speccy 2010. A separate category is dedicat-
ed to the legendary hardware creator (about whom there are demos made on
various platforms), Lotharek, who designs and sells peripherals for retro equip-
ment. He supplies the whole ZX world with Wonder AY and DivIDE 2k14.36
And although the appearance of clones is currently standardized, and the
producers even offer boxes sometimes, it often depended on the buyer what
the computer would look like. Again, we will refer to the equipment used by
Alone Coder to emphasize the difference between the packed carton bought in
the store and what the young Speccy user in Russia received in the early 1990s:

During these times there were empty PCBs sold at the radio market, and radio am-
ateurs soldered them with chips. For example, my cousin did so. Some of the PCBs
were defective. I had one such board with broken wires. Anyway, Pentagons re-
quired tuning even with good PCBs—mostly placing capacitors in random places.
The Ryazan radio market existed since 1990. There was a time around 1994 when it

36 
https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=71 (accessed on 5 December 2018).
64 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

had an entrance fee. Moscow Mitino radio market also had paid entrance then (Miti-
no market was originally held in Tushino before 1993, then in Opalikha, then in Ma-
linovka, and finally in Mitino; in Moscow there was also the Tsaritsyno radio market).
Initially the computer was opened and placed in half of a chess board (the neighbor
did the same). The keyboards of my father’s computers were made from a set pro-
duced at my father’s job (“Ryazan Plant of Metallo-Ceramic Devices”). These keys
were possibly for cash machines produced at “SAM,” I don’t know. A key consisted
of 8 parts (including a spring, a magnet, and a hermetically sealed contact), and you
marked it yourself with a piece of paper. I used these keyboards until my last home-
made Spectrum broke. Later my father glued a case of plastic blocks he found at his
job. Other computers he made (the mentioned Radio-86RK, then a disk version of the
Pentagon 48K, then a Pentagon 128K) were also placed in opened half chess boards.

The local mentality of clone creators never raised the issue of copyright as
a problem. Only Gasman, the British scener, commented on this issue:

I think there was some official word from the Amstrad in the 1990s, when they said
“What do you think about illegal clones?” Cliff Lawson gave a direct response. He said,
“I think, that people who copy hardware should be strangled,” or that they should be
hanged or something terrible [laughs]. I’m not sure if that was based on extensive in-
formation. I think over time… I think Sinclair has to acknowledge that that has been
a large part of the Spectrum’s legacy. I know he’s returned with the Spectrum Vega.
I think it’s been mentioned that Spectrum has been revived.

When asked about what stands behind their passion for DIY in the produc-
tion of computers, sceners responded by saying that: “hobby, saving money,
and creativity. And sometimes it was simply the only option” (Alone Coder),
and “the ability to do so, economic necessity, or curiosity” (rdx).

Creative Programming

The demoscene brings together people who wish to demonstrate their ca-
pabilities in programming, creating music and graphics on a given platform.
And although the parties are open to the public, who can have fun during
 Creative Programming 65

the compo, many demonstration programs are only appreciated by a hand-

ful of people with programming skills. Due to the fact that the sceners want
to dazzle other sceners with their capabilities and the possibilities of the
platforms, they have to climb to the top in terms of programming skills. Only
in this way can they push the boundaries and develop effects that nobody
has yet created on the platform.
In this sense, the sceners are standout programmers, thinking outside of
the box in comparison to people who have mastered this work, but who do
not go beyond routine. They are also different from regular programmers be-
cause they can appreciate the beauty of algorithms. And although they rarely
compare their work to art, this uniqueness and transgression of boundaries in
programming, makes us appreciate their creativity. Many of the sceners per-
ceive their activity as a hobby, fun, or pleasure. For such (and therefore not
necessarily useful) reasons, they also learned to program. This is confirmed
by LCD, who stated that he started programming for fun. He says, “I wanted
to prove to myself that I can do such things. I started with very simple, even
primitive games.”
The scene is probably the most important field in digital cultural produc-
tion, in which programs are designed for creative, entertainment and ludic
purposes. In this respect, it is difficult to compare it with any other area of
creativity in digital media, where it is mainly programmed for utility or profit
(like, games) or the transmission of content (as in the case of electronic liter­
ature or media art). Of course, there are exceptions in these areas and there
are programming artists, for whom programming is the goal in it of itself, the
most important element, the most appreciated and the least transparent.
When the scene started in the 1980s, programming was only for ad-
vanced users. Developers were not able to immediately check information,
learn, or inspect solutions to given problems. Such possibilities appeared only
with the development of the Internet. Therefore, ZX sceners (as well as other
8-bit sceners) were forced to undertake many efforts and efforts to acquire
the necessary knowledge. They could be divided into at least two groups: for-
mal and informal. In the former, the current and common computer clubs in
the countries of the Soviet bloc as well as magazines and books were impor-
tant. The latter was all about the informal contacts, market, reading diskmags,
analyzing and modifying programs or just talking with colleagues. This was
of great importance because as the elite of the elite, the sceners implement-
ed things that were not written in books on the topic of popular platforms
or programming languages.
66 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

Gasman claims that the use of the Spectrum was particularly encour-
aging for learning to program. On the one hand, BASIC starts up when the
computer is turned on. On the other hand the basic commands of this pro-
gramming language are printed on the keys, which obviously encourages
independent learning.

It’s like a collector mentality, I need to learn what these keywords do. For a long
time, as a child, that was SIN, COS and TAN. I just wanted to do math at school so
that I could learn what these things meant. I think that’s how I got into program-
ming, in BASIC at first. There were always programs that I wrote that you could kind
of recognize as a demo. They were just programs to play music with a long stream
of BEEP statements.

Busysoft’s statement exemplifies the characteristic approach to learning

how to program. He claims that it was by trial and error “and by disas-
sembling other programs. . . . mostly at home, then [those received] from
friends. Computer club was mainly about sharing programs and friendly
banter. And school… when I went to school, I knew programming.” Alone
Coder learned programming at home. He says, “My father brought maga-
zines and books, but he didn’t code himself. IT classes at school came too
late. 10th grade is for 15-year-old kids (however I was a 13-year-old then).
You must learn programming when you are 10 or so.” Both sceners, like
others, emphasize that when they came into contact with places where
they were officially taught, they already had this ability thanks to their pri-
vate efforts.
Depending on different cultural contexts, the sceners point to various
textbooks or mags from the 1980s that inspired them. Rdx states, “[I was]
scavenging for any knowledge in magazines, books, etc. . . . A lot of help was
actually coming from magazines like Bajtek where they sometimes published
quite complex code.” Besides Bajtek, which published fragments of codes
(with mistakes) to rewrite and launch, you could learn from several other
sources in Poland. DC PAK remembers his first steps:

However, I learned real programming, or Assembler, from Everything about the Com­
puter, which was recommended by Roger. Thirteen books were published, of which
the first three presented the BASIC course, and in the subsequent ones, the Assem-
bler was also included. Hence, the basis of my programming knowledge used in mak-
ing demos. Invaluable help came also from the Guide to ZX Spectrum by Kuryłowicz,
 Creative Programming 67

Madej and Marasek. So far, I have two copies, one has been read, with handwritten
notes, heavily used; the other is in pristine condition, like from the printing house.

In Britain, Your Sinclair was regularly read (Gasman). In Czechoslovakia, the

ZX Magazine, which published “Assembler language tutorials” and new pro-
grams (Factor6). Still other books were an inspiration in Russia:

During these times, I was reading code snippets for programmable calculators in
Science and Life magazine, collected by professors Ochkov and Puhnachev. Their
book 128 Advices to a Beginner Programmer (1991) also gave me creative ideas. How-
ever, their advice runs counter to professional programming practices (Alone Coder).

In the tutorials, the same thing was repeated about the game codes, check-
ing its operation and transforming it, which eventually led the sceners to
their first individual programming attempts. In the case of Alone Coder, it
was a demo for his mother’s birthday. Factor6, on the other hand, describes
his first attempt in this way written in Basic for Radio-86RK:

It was then that I saw the Commodore 64 for the first time, and I saw the demo “X.O.F.”
on it. It was a picture of X.O.F. from the film [with] Eddie Murphy and the melody.
I wanted to make it on Spectrum, so I made it. It was very shitty. I made it on a beep-
er, because I didn’t have the 128k Spectrum. Nobody had this kind of Spectrum here.
So I made this, and maybe this was the first one. It was in 1990.

A relatively small role in the education of the programming elite was played
by computer clubs. Sceners say that due to the amount of people attending
the classes a few people sat around the computer and did simple tasks (“the
basic of BASIC”) or had classes on the basics of computer use. Often, classes
were limited to playing games or, worse, watching how older people play
games (DC PAK). This is also confirmed by SS, who says that:

When I finally had a computer at home, this was the best. We had a computer lab
in school. I also visited a few computer clubs, but children were just playing games
there. I could sit behind the computer for only a limited amount of time, so there
was no chance to really learn something.

From these and other statements, it appears that the most important factor
for learning programming was the informal circulation of knowledge. The
68 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

first attempts immediately triggered the desire to establish contacts and

share knowledge. In this way, for example, Gasman developed his skills:

Once I started my first demo, it was an absolute mess. It wasn’t very good, with
some bad music. But I realized that I was able to start contacting other groups and
swapping my releases. At first it was Bogie from Extacy-3, a UK-based group. They
were very helpful, sending me lots of tools, assemblers. That really got me started
on taking my demo coding and writing code skills to the next level. My next demo
felt more like a real demo with a soundtrack all the way through and scroll messages.

Establishing contacts and developing the coders’ skills over time turned into
a willingness to cooperate but also to show their abilities and compete. This
is the genesis of parties. Sceners were asked if they associate programming
with creativity. They compare this process to the idea of “flow” described in
psychology, or an inspiration that causes one to forget about the world and
devote oneself completely to the task.

I will say more about writing amateur games, but I think it works similarly. Yes, you
really need to get some inspiration and enter into some kind of trance that you want
to write, your hands do not break away from the keyboard. It’s fun. It does not bore
you. You don’t get tired. You do not know when the hours pass (Ralf).

Such inspiration is also described by DC PAK:

Some effects were created at night, some when I had the house to myself for the
weekend. That’s where both Twin Worlds came from. Here I did not ask my friends
for graphics or music. I took what I had at hand, unused graphics and songs until
now . . . If it was necessary, I drafted an image myself, and on Sunday in the evening,
there was a demo about which nobody even thought about on Friday.

Creators—just like representatives of other disciplines—have very different

approaches to the creation process and each of them individually defines
what creation is, how ideas for demos and effects are created. rdx stated:

There are two basic ways, if we want to simplify it. I may call them top-down and bot­
tom-up. The second one is something like, I figured out a neat code, let’s try to make
something cool with it. Example: you just figured out how to quickly rotate a 3D view,
so you make an effect with some quickly rotating objects. The first one would be the
 Creative Programming 69

other way round, I imagine a cool effect, so how can I code it? This way you figure out
how to code something you want to see. Or, if we substitute I imagine with I saw some­
where, we come to an inspiration. This is the way effects are ported to different com-
puters. There are also legends about coders who saw some amazing effect and a cou-
ple of days later were able to produce it, or even an improved one, in their release.

Busysoft, on the other hand, translates ideas into new productions:

Sometimes I have an idea about how to realize some effect, or sometimes I see an
effect (maybe on another platform) and I figure out how it can be realized on the ZX
Spectrum. And sometimes I create some “routine” and then I solve what effect can
be created in this way. Sometimes it is about imagination mainly, and sometimes it
is about calculation.

LCD claims that coding is the simplest part of creating a demo, the biggest
challenge is design and landing a trial. “Creating effects began with sketches
in a notebook, then transforming the effect into an algorithm, so implementa-
tion and evaluation. The visual aspect is very important, more so than coding.”
SS reflects on similar attempts to measure one’s abilities against that of
the computer. Due to the hardware limitations of the ZX, not everything that
is invented in one’s head can be realized:

Sometimes there is inspiration, and from the first moment I know what I want to
achieve. Then during the process, there are some bugs… something must be cut,
because it is too expensive (I mean memory or cpu). The result often looks differ-
ent, but if I like it, then I will keep it. And if not, then I leave it. Maybe one day I will
find a use for it, maybe not.

goblinish has other inspirations: “Ideas based on old school effects or art-
ists’ GIFs”.
Alone Coder begins by visualizing the demo. He still has specifics visions
in mind all these years later. Like many other sceners, he previews some of
the effects on higher platforms and tries to implement them on Speccy. The
creative process itself goes like this:

Then you write inner loops to calculate possible timings and limitations. You can also
model the math in Pascal or C. Then you try to count timings for different versions of
inner and outer loops. When you are 100% sure of your algorithm, you code it. Sadly
70 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

most effects are unfinished because you don’t have the necessary images, 3D mod-
els, textures, etc. There can be another failure—insufficiently low or slow memory.

DC PAK emphasizes that it is useful to cultivate technical and mathematical

knowledge as well as abstract thinking. His recipe for the demo starts from
the visual elements.

And so all the effects were born from observation. Most often it was some distant
memory. It was not like “if you add 20 points and hide it under some top layer” or
“and if the stripes were replaced with balls and moved then…” Thanks to my imagina-
tion, I just saw animated bubbles reflecting on the surface of a lake, it will be so nice!

It should be remembered that the very process of creating on the dem-

oscene is very different from many other cultural fields. There are not many
artists who know advanced mathematics or physics and use these fields of
knowledge as starting points for artistic expression. Some say, with a pinch
of salt, “I think it depends on what department of mathematics. Integrals
and derivatives are not useful, but trigonometry (solids, sines, perspectives)
probably” (Ralf ). Busysoft also points to particular specializations as im-
portant for expression, “Many of my effects use very complex calculations,
including trigonometric functions, matrix transformations and simulating
physics features.” Jordan’s statement is also that “to create 3D engines or 2D
transformations, then [mathematics] is indispensable. In other cases, math
at the secondary level was sufficient.” Alone Coder states,

there were people who wrote effects with complex mathematics at school. How-
ever, if you want to implement the optimal algorithm for something, you must be
aware of the existing algorithms. That’s years of study. As for physics, they are still
not used in Speccy demos but possible. They can appear if fake effects would be
banned at democompos.

Semizatrov adds, “I think that mathematics is essential for writing really

nice and complicated effects. Physics will also be useful for realism.” Busy­
soft pays special attention to the use of mathematics to tackle ZX Spectrum
constraints:

Next, good application of math can help to accelerate computations. For example, mul-
tiplication of numbers. Since the Z80 has no multiplication instruction, multiplication
 Creative Programming 71

is simulated by a set of conditional additions. But it takes too much time, and in some
cases, it is not acceptable. So I get math, and math says: A*B = EXP(LOG A + LOG B).
So instead of slow and clumsy multiplication, I can do two logarithms, one addition
and one exponentiation. Addition is trivial (Z80 has direct instruction for it) and log-
arithm and exponentiation can be realized with simple and short tables. And that’s it.

Inspiration for the demo can, therefore, come from the effects from other
platforms, television, nature, science, and above all, geometry. The great-
est praise a scener can receive is appreciation from the community for his/
her contribution to the platform and the astonishment felt because of the
selected effects. Then come the assumptions from the scene about how it
was achieved. Having asked sceners about impressive effects, we wanted
to specify a few and discuss those that are repeated in the statements of
several people.
Several of the interviewees pointed to “the famous single-pixel full-
screen raster in Shock Megademo” (rdx, Jordan of Exodus, and DC PAK). SS
was impressed by the effect using many colors and 3D in high resolution
(Echology, demos by 3SC). Still other effects were indicated by DC PAK, like
point animations in Podpersons from Mars37by Scrunk, the scroll on the bor-
der in NMI 3 by Mez, the flaming logo in the game Space Crusade38, animated
dots in Dies Irae39 by Jordan of Exodus. SS explains very convincingly what
makes a given effect work:

The best effects are those that have visuals related to sounds. It doesn’t have to be
a direct or very visible connection. The best experience is when you just say “wow!”
and you have no idea why it worked for you. But tastes do change. Before I was a big
fan of colorful 2D effects. At the end of the 1990s, I was extremely happy with Russian
demos full of 3D effects. A few years later I was sick of them. They were slow and in
low resolution, and now I prefer fluent movement in as high resolution as possible.
Who knows what will be next. And yes, the best effects are those where the calcula-
tion is fast and your imagination can fill in the missing details without even realizing it.

37 
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseek.cgi (accessed on 5 December 2018).
38 
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0004660 (accessed on 5 December 2018).
39 
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseek.cgi (accessed on 5 December 2018).
72 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

For Busysoft, the real test of programming capabilities are attempts to trans-
fer complex effects from more advanced platforms to Speccy. Only such ac-
tivity can be treated as a test of skills:
Rotozoomer on PCs and Amigas—when a picture rotates and zooms
in on the screen. I worked hard on it for some time, and I succeeded. I did
it on ZX Spectrum too! And then I presented this effect as the third part of
the Echologia demo in 1995. The next example is the above-mentioned intro
80 rectangles on Atari. Normally, it is not possible on another 8-bit platform
because Atari uses special features of its video processor for displaying this
effect. But I again worked hard, and I succeeded. And my ZX Spectrum intro
80 rectangles, with the same amount of moving rectangles, was presented
at the Forever party in 2015.
It should also be added that on the contemporary ZX scene many effects
do not come from coding, but from animation conversions, which according
to coders disqualify the work. It is said that similar activities could not have
happened in the 1980s or 1990s.

The Archive

Due to the fact that the scene organizes a lot of parties (some very local, oth-
ers just ephemeral), during which a large number of works are pres­ented
in the competitions only once, one of the most important issues for the
scene is the way these works are archived and made public. In times before
the Internet, the demoscene products were distributed by swappers. After
sending out and disseminating the website after the presentation at the
party, they go to catalogs that are published online. But a common trend
was that sceners archived productions offline. Alone Coder also claims that
if in recent years a  new important function appeared in the world of the
demoscene, it will be that of the archivist. The issue of archiving is therefore
important due to the scale of the phenomenon (countless parties, thou-
sands of works) and the nature of the scene (voluntary activities, treating
creativity as a hobby). rdx points to three ways of archiving this vast volume
of creative work, both historical and new: “I’d call them private, semi-private
 The Archive 73

and public, which can be explained as a private collection at home, a private

server with limited access, and public scene servers.”
Despite the efforts of the archivists, a significant part of the demoscene
production was lost. There are many reasons for this. Alone Coder states,

When people leave the scene, they generally think all their stuff was child’s play. They
even refuse to give the stuff away. So the releases by Sergey Galishnikov, Nikolay
Medvedev, Miheevs, Alexey Bugrov, Igor Moiseev, and some other works from our
city (I also remember Dmitry Privalov and Pavel Panteleev) were lost.

It can be assumed that similar stories, where the earliest productions were
lost, took place in every city, not only in Ryazan, which Alone Coder mentions.
On the other hand, there are also sceners who programmatically do not
archive their work. Factor 6, widely recognized as one of the most important
characters on the ZX scene, says:

I don’t do anything to preserve my works. I don’t care. I don’t know if you could find
it online. I don’t store it anywhere. Maybe there are some works that I lost; I don’t re-
member everything I did. So it would be a really interesting attempt for me, as well
as you, to find some of my works. I have some of my works on my old discs, on Spec-
trum discs. Maybe there is something there that is not on the Internet, I don’t know.
Preserving it could be important for me, but I don’t have time for it.

The statement above is typical for these creators. On the opposite end are
sceners who create individual pages devoted to their productions (Busy­
soft), which is not a common phenomenon.
In terms of archiving, the history of the demoscene is also something
alive and growing. Every year, there are demos considered lost, whether it’s
when you rip old media, or randomly win an auction and other accidental
events. “Once, when I won a collection of cassettes on Allegro, which includ-
ed a few missing Polish demos, I sent them to ZXAAA and Speccy.pl” (Ralf).
Not only are individual productions lost. In the history of the ZX scene,
there are lost archives of individual parties. Sceners point to the RST#0, or-
ganized in the city of Cheboksary in Russia, as an example. From it, only one
graphic entitled Skull Chaser survived.40

40 
https://zxart.ee/eng/authors/s/skull-chaser/ (accessed on 5 December 2018).
74 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

It is impossible to list all the missing works. Many of them are surrounded
by legend. The sceners create narratives to preserve their memory. The cra-
ziness and carnival of the scene have various effects. We must be meticulous
and also note the actions of deliberate destruction of works of which there was
only one version. But there are also stories about disks that had gone missing:

The “Worms” game demoversion by Real Masters shown at Chaos Constructions

is lost. The disk was stolen at the party, and that was their only copy. I also men-
tioned a couple of games by Nikolay Medvedev that he removed from his disks be-
fore copy­ing them. If I remember correctly, these were a snake clone and a fighting
game. The latter was released at a local “Hacker competition” in 1995 and even won
the prize. (Alone Coder)

A couple of sceners also name Exception as a missing work on the ZX, which
was realized by the Czech scener Omega: “Only a low-quality video record-
ing of this demo and music survived” (A. Golubtsov—Diver). 41
As an example, Russian sceners also name Microhobby, the Spanish mag-
azine, as a lost work, which for five years organized extremely popular graphic
arts competitions. As pointed out by A. Golutbsov, “about 1,900 works were
submitted. Of these, only 376 have been published in the magazine, the rest
will never be seen again.”
A separate phenomenon, important from the point of view of archiving
and archeology of digital media, are the infinite, unfinished, and bugged
works. This phenomenon is related to the fact that the sceners often give
their works up to the contest at the last moment during parties and do not
finish the works; they finish them only a few days or a few months later, and
sometimes not at all. The archives are, therefore, composed of productions
that have several working or raw versions, as well as the final version that is
free from errors. SS states,

Demos are often created and finalized on a particular computer. Even if it is not fin-
ished at the party, it is often that a problem comes up, for example compatibility with
a clone, something that is more visible on the big screen, or some last-minute change
that actually broke something. Shit happens. The final version is about improvement.
Sometimes it is just about fixes, sometimes there are additional optimizations, or it

41 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDk3S8oCWZA (accessed on 5 December 2018).
 The Archive 75

is better compressed. Personally I download final versions when I can. An archived

version doesn’t have to be final, it depends on both the archivist and person/group
who released the final version of the work and if they replaced it or not.

Some demos, even in the name, retain this provisional character:

I’ve seen cases where a party version of a demo was named Demoname 75%, and the
full release appeared long after. Post-party versions are usually the final version but
not always because of possible fixes for future hardware/OS configurations without
changing the audiovisual sequence. (Alone Coder)

Another phenomenon on the scene, which is completely missing from ar-

chives storing productions, are demos with secrets and slogans. DC PAK
claims that none of the public websites pay any attention to this, and they
do not publish instructions on how to run such add-ons:

I do not know about other people, but in Schizophrenia there was a bit of it. For ex-
ample, in the first part with the scroll, you can enter the famous phrase “drink me”
from Alice in Wonderland and see the subsequent changes. In another part, by hold-
ing down the V key while decompressing you can see how the map is drawn in the
background. There are also passwords to view all the saved layouts for effects that
appear randomly in each order. In Lazarus, in turn, if the Caps Shift and Symbol Shift
are held down when the demo starts, you can try entering your own access pass-
word. After entering “alternative story,” a reassembled version of the demo starts,
using the same effects for different music.

Archiving looks different in different countries; the older versions are main-
tained differently, in ways that relate to old school aesthetics. Ralf:

In my opinion, unfortunately, this is done poorly in Poland. When one is a teenager,

he/she generally does not care enough to keep something for the future. So people
had some demos on floppy disks, but as soon as they saw it, they then without hesi-
tation removed them from the floppy disk to make room for something new. There
were also cases of throwing things into the trash; unfortunately, I myself threw away
my collection of cassettes for the Spectrum, when I got a PC. :( Later on, people often
regret it. Some have their cassettes / floppy disks somewhere in the attic, untouched
for 20 years, and unfortunately, they do not do anything to save it and share it with
others. It is sitting somewhere on a shelf till it rots or demagnetizes.
76 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

The ephemerality, randomness, and lack of planning for archiving are also
underlined by Scalesmann:

I think that a significant number of demos is lost forever. Too much time has passed.
There are examples, however, when absolutely unexpectedly, for example, a game
based on the film Dredd, which was found recently, about a year and a half ago. Every-
one thought it never existed.42

The demoscene has both fans and archivists. Private individuals running the
ZX Spectrum archives are an extremely interesting case to study. Many scen-
ers or party organizers are giving addresses to the servers on which they
store their achievements, but on the other hand, they list individual people
to whom they send each production.

Admittedly, it doesn’t happen often that the owner of a collection makes it available
to the public (such a person is called “a dog in the hay,” which comes from the Rus-
sian proverb). I oppose holding onto demos like this, because a production, which
is in the hands of one person without access to others has a very good chance of
disappearing without a trace (Scalesmann).

Alone Coder describes the local situation in Russia, emphasizing the special
role in creating an offline archive of a certain vBv (Vladimir Bogdanovich),
who completed most of the Speccy’s production archive:

He collected it since 1989. He constantly adds software from group archives. In the
past, vBv’s archive was distributed by snail-mail, but now you should contact vBv
to get a specific part. He can’t keep it online because of the enormous size (4 DVDs
not counting the printed magazines).

The same scener describes the process through which the productions go
through before they reach the archiver:

Generally, sceners copy their working disks to HDDs as early as they buy a comput-
er that allows Spectrum emulation. Older disks generally remain on floppies. After

42 
See: Bartłomiej Nagórski (2017) ZX Not Dead, czyli spektrumowe gry w nowym millenium,
https://polygamia.pl/zx-not-dead-czyli-spektrumowe-gry-w-nowym-millenium/ (accessed on
5 December 2018).
 The Archive 77

some time, the “last man standing” of a city collects the floppies from local ex-scen-
ers and tries to copy them to HDD. This was relatively easy before the mid-2000s
when computers and OSes changed. Today, most floppies in Russia are sent to AAA
who copies them all. After that, the local collection goes to Tiboh, and he recovers
unique programs and data from the disks (see his interview in Info Guide #11). The
demos go to the ZXAAA website, the press, games and utilities go to Virtual TR-DOS,
and the music to ZX-Tunes (sadly there hasn’t been an update in a long time). New-
art, the keeper of ZX-Tunes, also maintains ZX-Press where he recovers text from the
press. AAA also collects scene videos, so does vBv. (Alone Coder)

Similar functions are also present in Poland:

I dare say most of classic demos are in somebody’s storage, but they are not easily
accessible. You need to know who to ask. There are still people who do collect Spec-
trum stuff. There are attempts to create online archives (i.e. speccy.pl), but this is far
from perfect and complete at the moment (rdx).

In addition to semi-private archives, there are also generally available ones,

which you sometimes need to log in to, but you can often download these
sources without any registration. Sceners who think about establishing
themselves for posterity, upload their works there. Russian scener Moroz
jokes about archiving forever: “I’ve heard about archiving authentic tape
recordings in a solution that preserves their properties. But only collectors
are interested in physical media, and everything is being moved (or even
initially created) on a PC and stored in web-archives.”
The most popular ZX scene archives online according to sceners in-
clude worldofspectrum.org, zxtunes.com, bbb.retroscene.org, zxaaa.net,
zxart.ee, trd.speccy.cz, spectrum4ever.org, zxpress.ru, zxdemo.org. Some
of the archives are dedicated to special areas of the scene: demos, music,
and the press.
The lack of pouet.net amongst these sites is significant. It is the most di-
rectly associated with the demoscene archive, known for the large number of
active participants, comments and rankings. A. Golubtsov comments on this:

If we are talking about demos, then old demos ZX Spectrum are rarely published
on pouet.net. This is mainly because of the small amount of spectrumists on pou-
et. It’s the same situation with Commodore C64. In my opinion, if there are separate,
more complete archives of works from a given platform, it does not make sense to
78 I. ZX Spectrum Demoscene

publish all the old works on pouet.net. Pouet.net is not a tool for archiving, there is
no hosting. It is rather a way to promote the work.

Sceners making music often use modern Soundcloud tools that do not nec-
essarily connect to the scene. Factor6 or the Russian scener, MMcM, have
accounts on this platform.
Not only are the flagship productions of the scene, such as demos or
intros, treated as worthy of being archived. Diskmags, a digital genre that
accompanies the scene, are also archived. They include stories from parties,
reviews of equipment or programs, poems and all peri-musical works that
were also documented and published.

Electronic magazines are stored both in the form of digital releases and texts. There
is a large project dedicated to the ZX Spectrum press, called zxpress.ru. The authors
of the project publish articles in a convenient format for reading, and on the page
there are source files for ZX Spectrum (A. Golubtsov).

The least known aspect of the scene, which may never see the light of day,
are productions and private documents. “There are also cases of demos that
were only for private use and several people in the world have such docu-
ments. . . . I have private collections of a few souvenirs. A large collection
of letters, some notes from the times of demos, a few photos” (DC PAK). An
interesting area, especially from the point of view of lexicography or plat-
form wars, are archives of conversations or electronic letters, also largely
lost. Although, there are exceptions. Golubtsov states, “I do not see any spe-
cial value in this. Although, I also store irc-logs of my party’s (3bm openair)
channels from all the past years on my hard drive.”
One of the most important driving forces (especially within the 8-bit
scene) is nostalgia and the desire to get back to the 1980s and 1990s thanks
to computers. Hence the archive can be a kind of time capsule. But archiving
also has other functions:

The scene legacy is important for the culture of the demoscene and serves as
a source of knowledge for new sceners. Watching demos from different years is an
interesting journey. You can see the evolution of art, code, and style. We need to
remember that one of the key factors in the demoscene is admiration, so archiving
works is in a way similar to immortality in the real world (rdx).
II. D
 IGITAL GENRES OF ZX SPECTRUM
DEMOSCENE

Texts on the Scene

In the chapter below, we’ll take a look at the demoscene genres of the ZX
Spectrum.

Demos

It is widely believed that the most important genre created on the dem-
oscene is the demo, or a coded audio-visual presentation, in which the im-
age, graphics, design, and music are front and center. Demosceners write
demos to showcase the platform’s capabilities. Hence, effects are necessary,
and they are achieved thanks to graphics and music. Among the sceners,
there is the conviction that music that is bad or poorly adapted to graphic
effects can kill the demo. In the demos, there is less room for text; moreover,
they rarely have a specific message. Most often they are just effects, that is,
a message about what has been achieved in the program. The demo is also
a kind of pure computer art, a genre in which the possibilities of a computer
are being problematized.
80 II. Digital genres of ZX Spectrum Demoscene

Ill. 8. A glitch style demo USSR 2185, 2005, Skrju, UBU lab, Jagiellonian University.
Photo by Piotr Marecki

In terms of these works, the ZX Spectrum scene differs from other scenes
because of the use of text. The discussed platform is a computer with tech-
nical limitations, hence the sceners often decide to use the text as a visual
element that helps to attract attention and compete with the effects of oth-
er platforms. Demos with lyrics are also characteristic of the Russian scene,
although they also feature in demos from other countries. Demos with text
are called scene poetry, although sceners themselves rarely treat their pro-
ductions in terms of art or poetry.43
The goal of the demo is to dazzle the audience. The demoscene and
demoparties are based on competition. Graphic artists and coders therefore
try to get the best possible results. It is different on the ZX Spectrum, where
the productions are often glitched, unspectacular, unappealing. This type of

43 
A set of such demos has been developed for UBU lab in Kraków, and they are available on the
website: http://ubulab.edu.pl/projects/scene-poetry/ (accessed on 5 December 2018).
 Texts on the Scene 81

scene poetry prevails in Russia. Perhaps the Russian sceners want to discuss
the country’s situation, the problems of capitalism, longing for communism.
We outline in detail an old school and a new school demo. In old school
works, there are demos with text flowing (in the basic version) from one side
of the screen to the other (i.e. a scroll), an image, and music plus an effect.
New school demos are programs in the form of music videos or video clips
with a greater amount of effects. Especially in the old school demos, there is
a lot of text, and it is mainly in the scroll.
The authors of demos on the ZX Spectrum (or other computers) were
usually teenagers when they were programming. In their texts, they included
stories from everyday life (e.g. like the “fucks” sent to their ex-girlfriends), jokes,
invectives addressed to users of other competing platforms (sometimes very
fancy and elaborate, even short stories) or ones with which there was conflict,
even within their own platform. Currently, due to the age of the members
of the scene, the types of demo-obituaries or productions created in tribute
of a member of the demoscene that have died have appeared more often.
Greetings (or greetz) were usually placed in the scroll for other sceners,
mainly from one’s own platform, though not only. Greetz are fundamental to
the scroll. Almost everyone has them, and some are only made up of them. In
demos, there may also be an additional narrative text, if the demo tells a par-
ticular story44. Then the text and visualizations complement each other (e.g.
Condommed by E-Mag from 1997). A short story or a real-time recording of
an alcoholic libation taking place during the creation of a demo was also in-
serted sometimes (e.g. in the production of the Ethanol Soft Inc or Hooy-Pro-
gram groups), so the scroll was repeatedly written by many people. Not in-
frequently, there were notes about the various solutions used in the demo.
An interesting example of such a text is Kaz’s demo, the 1990 Fifth Demo,
which created a kind of a story about the author’s imagined struggles with
the computer and efforts to tame it. This is “illustrated” by fluctuations and
strange scroll behaviors said to be caused by a “faulty computer” and the
author’s attempts to fix it.
This demo has a graphic effect. It is a rotating 3D “KAZ” logo and an ef-
fect contained in the text (the whole action “takes place” in the scroll). The

44 
For further reading on this topic, see also Piotr Marecki (2015) Textual Demoscene, https://
dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/95704 and Piotr Marecki, Yerzmyey (in print) ZX Spectrum Scene Po­
etry. Genre, Platform, Localness.
82 II. Digital genres of ZX Spectrum Demoscene

Ill. 9. Kaz Demo 5 (also known as The Fifth Demo), 1990, Kaz, UBU lab, Jagiellonian University.
Photo by Piotr Marecki

idea of the scener was to discuss the rhythm and tempo of the scroll’s con-
tent. The text, therefore, either drags on, for which the author apologizes, or
accelerates and moves so fast that the audience finds it difficult to keep up
with the content. This text-based demo resembles a literary work so much so
that it was also presented 2015 in Norway at the Decentering: Global Electron­
ic Literature exhibition as an example of local electronic literature and as part
of the Pan Turbo Cogito exhibition presenting literary works made for 8-bit
computers during the 2018 Night of Poetry celebrated in Kraków, Poland45.
While most demos are usually limited to greetings, Fifth Demo has a large
amount of text with many sceners written into it, which is characteristic for
the genre. Included are insults flung at enemy platforms (C64) or the corre-

45 
To read more about both events, go to http://www.uib.no/en/rg/electronicliterature/90332/
decentering-global-electronic-literature and http://ubulab.edu.pl/resources/ (accessed on 16 De-
cember 2018).
 Texts on the Scene 83

spondence address of the creator of the demo. It is also an interactive demo

(a phenomenon very typical for the old school Spectrum scene), in which the
sound changes when the keyboard keys are pressed. The title is in English,
while the entire scroll is written in Polish:46

HEY! HERE’S KAZ WITH HIS “FIFTH DEMO”!!! TO START I WANT TO APOLOGIZE FOR THE
FAST SCROLL, BUT IT’S ACTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO MAKE IT GO SLOWER… OR MAYBE
IF… OH! SHIT! I FLIPPED THE SWITCH THE WRONG WAY… BUT I CAN STILL FIX THIS…
WHAT?! WHAT’S UP WITH THAT! HOW CAN HE (Z-80) DO IT… LIKE THAT, BEHIND MY
BACK… I SWITCH THE LEVER TO X-837 AND HE JUST SWITCHES IT BACK… BASTARD…
ANYWAY, NEVERMIND. WHAT, AGAIN? NEVERMIND. I DON’T CARE ABOUT HIM. HE
DOES HIS THING, I’LL JUST DO MINE. TIME FOR A MENU: IF YOU WANT TO LISTEN TO
SOME TUNES, PRESS THE FOLLOWING: 1 TO 3—DEFENDERS OF THE EARTH, 4-D—REN-
EGADE, E-M—UNTOUCHABLES AND N-S—HOT ROD… HE STILL DOES IT, DOESN’T HE?
ANYWAY, TIME FOR GREETINGS… GREETINGS TO: MAT (CODE THAT GAME), WISE MEN
(HMMM…), ANDYSOFT, BROMBA, GEN MARTINEZ, SEAN ADAMS, KASSOFT, RAFFII,
JOHN DALTHON AND EVERYONE ELSE I FORGOT ABOUT NOW… I DID NOT FORGET
ABOUT THE CATS… RECENTLY THERE’S BEEN A LOT OF THEM AROUND. IT’S MAYBE
TIME TO SET SOME CAT TRAPS… YEAH, YEAH, CAT-MAN, IT’S ON! THE GUY COMES
WITH HIS SHITTY C-64 (HONESTLY, IT’S ALMOST LIKE ATARI—SOLDER SOMETHING IN,
DESOLDER SOMETHING ELSE, SOME SPIT-SHINING, JUMP ON IT A LITTLE AND YOU GET
AN ATARI, LIKE NEW!) AND IT STARTS TO DISCUSS THE SPEED OF MY SCROLLS!… THAT’S
JUST… NOT NICE. HERE’S A NEW RULE FOR Y’ALL: CATS AND CHILDREN SHOULD BE
SEEN AND NOT HEARD! AS YOU CAN SEE, NOW YOU DON’T HAVE A CHANCE TO TALK
SHIT ABOUT ME… BUT DON’T WORRY CAT-MAN! YOU WON’T HAVE TO SIT SILENT
ALONE… THERE’S ONE MORE GENERALLY LIKED AND RESPECTED KITTEN OUT THERE…
BUT ENOUGH OF DEALING WITH THAT FOR NOW. TIME FOR SOME REMORSE… THIS IS
MY LAST DEMO… SINCE NO ONE EVEN LIKES THEM… YOU CAN PREVENT IT! IF YOU
WANT MY NEW KAZ DEMOS TO APPEAR, WRITE TO ME. MY ADDRESS: KAZIMIERZ BIE-
LACKI, UL. CHROBREGO 43/6, 87-100 TORUŃ. AND THAT’S ALL, FOLKS! BYE!

References to the current political situation in a  given country also came

up in scrolls and the graphics. Examples can include the demo Solidarność –

46 
Nowadays, the text in demos is mainly in English, although there are also other languages
represented (e.g. Russian demos, where poems appear, philosophical proclamations and other sub-
titles that can’t always be translated or just do not sound good in a foreign language).
84 II. Digital genres of ZX Spectrum Demoscene

500 pierwszych dni (Solidarity—the first 500 days) from 1991 (Zbigniew N.) or
Dowcipy (Jokes) from 1990 (Rajsoft & Bazooka).
In new school demos, the scroll usually does not appear at all or just
temporarily. It may list greetings or end with the credits. However, the text
is still present in such demos, mainly in the form of key words or whole sen-
tences wandering the screen. On the ZX Spectrum, it’s not uncommon to find
whole poems. These can also be political manifestations, mainly communist
ones (written by Russian groups), expressing a longing for the Soviet Union,
social equality and justice, as well as proclaiming hatred for capitalism, the
rat race, dehumanization, etc. An example of this is the demo BrightPast by
the group thesuper which had political overtones or the British production
of Losing Victoria by Gasman/HOOY-PROGRAM, an example of a poetic demo.
The demo BrightPast analyzed below was published in 2011 at The Al-
ternative Party in Helsinki. It received second place in the category of alter-
native demo.
What is worth emphasizing is that first place was given to a demo for the
modern, powerful PC/Windows platform, and the rest, from third to eleventh,
also included productions for powerful contemporary platforms (PC/Win-
dows, PC/Linux, Java, Intel/macOS X). So the production for an 8-bit computer
from 1985 placed extremely high and testifies to the uniqueness of the work.
Another interesting fact is that it was only the third demo in the careers
of the group and it came after 40% from 2010 and MCMXCVII from 2011. It
seems like a great achievement (usually new groups need years to “polish the
form” and achieve such a high level) and this may suggest that the collective
is not made up of novices and that this is a project made by Spectrum veter-
ans, who decided to hide their identity.
It is known that the group is of Russian origin, and its members use the
pseudonyms: drwho, nick roll, shugababe and lovebeam.
The title BrightPast (actually БЯIGHTPДST) is a play on words referring to
the term bright future, and in this perverse way it expresses the conviction
that nowadays everything that was bright is only in the past. In this case,
however, this does not refer to the nostalgia for classic computer equipment.
It is an expression of the deep conviction of the citizens of the former Sovi-
et Union, also young people who were born in a country called the Russian
Federation, that the best times for Russia and its inhabitants were in the past,
when the socialist system predominated.
The demo promotes the past epoch. And although such a trend on the
ZX Spectrum platform was already noticeable, the previous demos had this
 Texts on the Scene 85

Ill. 10. The BrightPast demo, 2011, thesuper, UBU lab, Jagiellonian University. Photo by Piotr Marecki

very strong overtone in the text, referring to the struggle, overcoming capital-
ism by force, toppling the bourgeoisie and empowering the working people.
In the visual layer, these were very raw productions, intended to be almost
avant-garde, futuristic or glitchy, mainly monochromatic (in black and white
or black-red). The musical component was either experimental or industrial
(industrial to the point that the 4-bit triple-channel sound chip General In-
strument AY-3-8910 / AY-3-8912 allows).
Meanwhile, BrightPast was eye-catching from the very beginning. It is
true that the ZX Spectrum has only 15 colors in both palettes, but these are
based on primary colors, so that combining them effectively creates the im-
pression of a vivid, colorful image.
Of the typical visual icons of communism, only two actually appear in
the demo.
The first is in the title screen, as if taken out of a socialist realist art piece.
On a white, uniform background we see a raw sketch of the red silhouettes
of three hammers and sickles underneath the title of the demo, which was
86 II. Digital genres of ZX Spectrum Demoscene

written in the Latin alphabet, but with stylized fonts. This is very similar to
Communist propaganda posters, both in subject matter (Proletarians moan
in the claws of the white eagle47 or We will not give up land to landowners48) and
visually (exemplified by Włodzimierz Zakrzewski’s The Party49).
The second icon appearing at the end of production is the likeness of
Włodzimierz Ilicz’s Leader of the Revolution, also in the socialist realist style
(reminiscent of poster art such as that with Mayakovski’s words “Lenin lived,
Lenin lives, Lenin will always live!”50).
Among the recognizable symbols one could add the image of a raised
fist against the background of a star that decorates the outro in the discussed
demo, although this type of iconography is more common in contemporary
communist and anarcho-communist movements.
Other pictures are very colorful and refer to peace, happiness, and pros-
perity, as well as to the technical developments during the Soviet Union (in-
cluding the conquest of space), which are understood here as the quintes-
sence of socialism.
The text in the demo (strongly related to the graphic image described
above, which is of course very common in the demoscene, especially Spec-
trum works) can be divided into three parts.
The first includes the traditional keywords, which in this case also include
the title of the production: BrightPast. The others are: peace, happiness, kindness,
Lenin, sputnik (being, as already mentioned, a reference to the achievements
of the Soviet Union in the field of astronautics), reflecting what the socialist
system meant to the authors of the demo. The mere juxtaposition of these
words, which is very intentional, helps to reflect on the differences between
the East and West, i.e. for the great majority of the latter combining the words
peace, happiness and kindness with the name Lenin would be unthinkable.
The second part is composed of more developed messages, appearing
(in accordance with the tradition of the genre) in the scroll and greetings.
And so, a slightly more extensive description of the USSR by the authors of
the work appears in the scroll: “A long time ago in a country far away …” as

47 
http://www.stalin.tv/grafika/plakat1.jpg (accessed on 16 December 2018).
48 
http://www.krzysztofhabich.pl/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/kapitalistom.jpg (accessed on
16 December 2018).
49 
http://www.ank.gov.pl/sites/default/files/02_4.jpg (accessed on 16 December 2018).
50 
https://www.etsy.com/pl/listing/167982839/sovet-plakat-polityczny-lenin-y-lenin (accessed
on 16 December 2018).
 Texts on the Scene 87

well as words in Finnish that refer to May 1st, namely Workers of the world,
unite!” In the greetings, the message has a humoristic undertone, because
the greeted groups are called “comrades,” and the list ends with the words
“and to all who keep communism alive,” although it is obvious that the groups
mentioned, as well as the demo creators, are not necessarily communists and
sometimes may have extremely different views.
The last textual part is the end scroll, which is the most extensive part.
In addition to the credits, this is an intensely ideological part of the demo:

We are the voice of the oppressed generation. Artists who want to show a differ-
ent way of thinking and reflecting on the inner world. We believe that culture with-
out a social component is a lie. In other words, fuck capitalism, fuck the banks,
fuck corrupt governments. It is time to regain dignity, and there is only one solu-
tion: communism.

The effects used in the demo combine styles called the old school and new
school. At the beginning, animation was used (enlarging elements in the
shape of a star along with the change of attributes from darkest to lightest)
to clear the screen, scroll the group name and scroll to reveal the first image
with the name of the demo.
The first proper effect is the so-called rotozoomer, consisting of rotation
and enlargement of the static pattern. The effect is achievable through the
use of appropriate transformation matrices. In addition, the gigascreen mode
was used (a fast continuous change of two specially prepared screens with
50 Hz frequency to achieve a greater range of colors, possible only on 128K
computers in a full-screen mode). The speed of the effect indicates pre-cal-
culated transformations.
The second effect is a combination of a scroll and a “particle system” that
performs a certain periodic movement in addition to a motion blur effect (usu-
ally a slow partial clearing of the screen).
As for the third effect, it is not possible to say whether it is an animation
or a real-time effect without reverse engineering the code. It could be an an-
imation; however, it can also be a well-designed effect with fast line drawing.
The next effect is based on sprites that move in three-dimensional space
together with a calculated perspective projection. It can be seen that sprites
are masked (at the moment when they overlap, one can observe the bound-
ary) and Z-buffer emulation techniques are used here (objects that are closer
“overlap” with objects that are further away).
88 II. Digital genres of ZX Spectrum Demoscene

Watching the fifth effect, it is difficult to say, just like in the case of the
third effect, whether it is only a visually attractive animation or a pre-calcu-
lated drawing on two screens. If it is actually an effect, then the image blur
and interpolations of the two screens were again used here.
The next part contains greetings, an integral and indispensable part of
every demo. As a base effect, the image and zoom of the chessboard and
the sine function with a dither were used. Two effects are combined in gigas-
creen mode, where greetz and the sine effect are rendered on one screen
and the chessboard on the other.
The next effect was performed only on attributes in gigascreen mode. It
presents the application of colors of an extended palette (three-point light
sources, integrating with the inscription “BRIGHTPAST”). Probably it was about
getting the bump mapping effect (showing the three-dimensional structure
of the object being lit up).
The eighth part is devoted to effects based on the pre-calculated move-
ment of particles in closed trajectories. Additionally, the movement of the
particles is followed by the attributes. Motion blur has also been added as in
the second effect. It is the same engine, which can be determined by observ-
ing the final effect of this part, where it is clearly visible on what trajectories
the drawn points move.
The last effect of the demo is flight simulation over the landscape. In this
effect, the gigascreen was used to enlarge the color palette and to better dis-
tinguish the voxel level of the generated map. The terrain map and pattern
for the sky is usually generated by the corresponding trigonometric func-
tions with the addition of a pseudo-random noise. Projection of the voxel
on the screen requires the use of the Z-buffer or another technique that will
allow the correct presentation of the 3D map on a two-dimensional screen.
The outro is just an animation and a scroll of the final subtitles. What’s
interesting is that the animation is in two frames, just like the scrolling text,
and each screen is in a different color (white and light blue), which addition-
ally adds the motion blur effect to both the scroll and animation.
The soundtrack of the demo is a rhythmic and quite dynamic song in the
style of electronic music. It is not heavy, it is not experimental, but it is still
an ambitious composition and a very good fit for the whole demo, because
the creators took care of the design, which is a very important feature of pro-
ductions on the computer scene. In the final part, the song quite smoothly
transforms into a kind of funk.
 Texts on the Scene 89

It seems that BrightPast, unlike other communist spectrum demos, is not

meant to frighten, warn or call to arms. It is supposed to be subdued and
help audiences to realize that there are different approaches to the world,
civilization, society, building community, economics and private interper-
sonal relations.
The end of the demo and its emphatic transmission gives the production
a slightly stronger tone, which makes the viewer and reader realize that these
relations will not improve spontaneously; indeed, they cannot be changed
in a gentle, soft way, but one should put in the right energy, strength and
conviction to do so.

Magazines

Disk magazines are another digital genre prevalent on the scene, developed
in pre-Internet times. Diskmags contained articles, music, graphics, stories,
poems, and information about parties, and they were originally distributed
in the form of floppy disks or cassettes. In the era of the Internet, they are
available on websites.
In Poland, two titles appeared on the ZX Spectrum, ZX-Land and Hooy.
The articles in them concerned mainly the demoscene and hardware. There
was also information about games, programming courses and “charts,” that
is the result of readers’ votes for the best demo, group, music, graphics, cod-
er and so on.
On Spectrum scene, most magazines were created in Russian language,
in the Soviet Union, and later in the countries that earned independence
from it. About 328 titles appeared on this scene (including ephemeris, which
came out in only one edition). In total, there were approximately 2688 of all
these magazines’ issues.51 The longest-appearing magazines on this scene
were the Russian Nicron and the lesser-known Fantastic (both with 132 is-
sues). The Russian magazines were most prolific. The British Alch News with
its 38 issues came in 15th place.

51 
The most complete catalog of magazines for the ZX Spectrum is available at https://vtrd.in/
press.php (accessed on 16 December 2018).
90 II. Digital genres of ZX Spectrum Demoscene

Ill. 11. ODDY disk magazine, UBU lab, Jagiellonian University. Photo by Piotr Marecki

There are magazines that are exceptionally technically and artistical-

ly advanced. There are also electronic “newspapers,” which have a partial
graphic frame, completely without sound and containing only text, based
on the same, unchangeable engine. Magazines usually have a short intro-
ductory demo, an intro, at the beginning. Greetz (for friends or esteemed
demoscene creators) and fucks (for enemies, competitors, opponents) ap-
peared in the magazines as well. There were also reports from the parties
that were published.
Electronic magazines also sometimes come out in the form of TXT files,
PDF files (e.g. the Russian ABZAC or the PDF version of the Zarulem mag-
azine), and less frequently, in paper form, such as MONOCHROME on the
ZX81 / ZX80 scene.
 Texts on the Scene 91

Electronic Books

A characteristic phenomenon for the ZX Spectrum scene are electronic

books. Such works were created only in Russia and the countries of the for-
mer Soviet Union (so in Russian). They began to appear in the 1990s and
were not e-books, but programs, or digital literary works with music and
graphics.
The specific effects of these digital books are complex ornaments. An
example may be The Book by the group Excess from 1997, in which, there are
many illustrations in addition to the traditional graphics and sound. On the
screen, we can see a book with animated “turning pages” when we press
the spacebar.
In addition to the collections of short stories or scene poetry, there were
the unexpected releases, including the Russian translation of The Witcher
[Wieď (U+010F) mak] by Andrzej Sapkowski, which was released on the ZX
Spectrum scene in the disk version by the Russian scener Eye-Q (2000). The
book has a code (of course), menu graphics, music, and even a screensaver. It
also has a classic design straight from Spectrum disk magazines with a black
background and multi-colored fonts.
There is also a Russian-language Spectrum adaptation of the LaVey Sa­
tanic Bible, which appeared as an addition to the diskmag Heresy in 1999. The
program was prepared by sceners Demiurge Ash and Slider.
Moreover, sceners also produced collections of fairy tales, poems, hu-
morous stories, and even film scripts, as well as many other literary works.

Real-time Text

It is customary that there to be a computer with a text editor at every meet-

ing of the users of a given platform or a multiplatform party, which is spe-
cially designated so that party participants can write down their impres-
sions, thoughts and feelings in real-time. This is real-time text. These types
of works are then published in the form of an ordinary TXT file or in a much
more decorative form, bearing a code and music (sometimes there are also
graphics or photos from the party).
Such a text is not a report, nor is it a stream of consciousness (unless we
half-jokingly mean a manifestation of the collective consciousness). It is simply
92 II. Digital genres of ZX Spectrum Demoscene

a pure, unprocessed form of a text with collective authorship. It is interesting

that these works do not follow a previously established plan or a pre-devel-
oped structure. It is simply the impressions and remarks of the participants
of the party, sometimes decorated with ASCII text graphics.

Text Games

Text games, also known as interactive fiction, on 8-bit computers made

up a big portion of activity on the scene. A significant part were commer-
cial productions sold by producers.52 On the ZX Spectrum and ZX81/ZX80
these are mostly works in English, but you can find several Polish works with
a demoscene-like character. In more recent times, there were more “literary”
role-playing games of this type (comedy-SF and comedy-fantasy), such as
Droga do Duplandu (released on the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Atari
XL/XE in 2003) or Ucieczka ze spejs-szipu53 (published on the ZX Spectrum
and Commodore 64 in 2004), written originally in the 1990s but coming out
in this century. 54, 55
However, the most important combination between textual interactive
games and the demoscene would be the game In hihilum reverteris made by
the co-authors of this book in 2018 in the Kraków UBU lab with effects char-
acteristic of the demoscene.56
These and many other digital projects realized on the ZX Spectrum since
the 1980s are evidence that amateurs from Central and Eastern Europe creat-
ed, despite the limitations of the platform (or maybe thanks to them?), many
works for which they used the Spectrum as a tool of non-trivial literary ex-
pression by treating the medium both playfully and seriously.

52 
Thomas A. Christie (2016) The Spectrum of Adventure: A Brief History of Interactive Fiction on the
Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Extremis Publishing Ltd., Castle House.
53 
http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=11446 (accessed on 16 December 2018).
54 
http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=9811 (accessed on 16 December 2018).
55 
http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=11446 (accessed on 16 December 2018).
56 
http://ubulab.edu.pl/projects/in-nihilum-reverteris/ (accessed on 16 December 2018).
 1-bit Sound 93

Ill. 12. Droga do Duplandu (The voyage to Assland), the text-game, UBU lab, Jagiellonian University.
Photo by Piotr Marecki

1-bit Sound

There exists a  whole series of iconic music chips of computers from the
1980s in which fans can hear the chiptune sound and be fascinated by the
aesthetics of lo-fi / micromusic / 8-bit. The most popular is the SID chip from
the Commodore 64. It is well-known that this is the most advanced sound
chip among all the others, being a  3-channel analogue synthesizer with
4-bit sound quality.
Other popular chips are AY / YM, known from computers such as the ZX
Spectrum 128K, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC and others; Pokey, a four-channel chip
from Atari XL/XE series computers; Philips SAA featured in the SAM Coupé
machine; TED, a two-channel chip in the Commodore 264 series.
94 II. Digital genres of ZX Spectrum Demoscene

However, not only did the most developed configuration gain a lot of
fans, and not only did the most technically advanced computers or individ-
ual systems attract multitudes of supporters. On the contrary, the challenge
that actually attracted creators was the limitation of the computer.
This was the case with the ZX Spectrum 48K and the beeper57 to which
this chapter is dedicated. The computer was equipped with the simplest
method of generating sound of 1-bit quality (it can be described as genera-
tor turned on or off, nothing more), only one sound channel, a square wave,
10 octaves, no modulation, no envelopes (resonance), and no volume levels.58
One can imagine that such sound equipped office computers, which needed
it to generate short signals in office or other utility programs. However, the
ZX Spectrum was intended as a home computer for family, education, and
entertainment purposes.
It is no wonder that the first music in the Spectrum games was, in fact,
just a simple series of tones triggered by the BEEP command. It is under-
standable that this could have been disappointing for users and program-
mers who decided to bypass the hardware limitations of the computer. The
sound in the ZX Spectrum computer is generated by means of a processor
and through the ULA Ferranti chip. The processor in the Spectrum is the Zilog
Z80 chip with a very high—for its time—speed of operation of 3.5 MHz. For
comparison, the European C64 model uses the MOS 6510 processor, oper-
ating at a speed of only 985 kHz, and the Atari XL/XE is based on the related
MOS 6502 1.77 MHz processor, also in the PAL version.
This meant that users had to deal with limitations that could be circum-
vented using ingenuity and programming skills. Developers and composers
wanting to create on the ZX Spectrum assumed that if the sound is gener-
ated by the processor, and the processor can be programmed, then you can

57 
Kenneth B. McAlpine (2017) wrote on the subject of 1-bit music among others: The Sound
of 1-bit: Technical Constraint and Musical Creativity on the 48k Sinclair ZX Spectrum GAME 6, https://
www.gamejournal.it/the-sound-of-1-bit-technical-constraint-as-a-driver-for-musical-creativity-on-
the-48k-sinclair-zx-spectrum/ (accessed on 16 December 2018); see also: Victor Adán (2010) Dis­
crete Time 1-Bit Music: Foundations and Models, PhD thesis, Columbia University, https://victoradan.
github.io/pdfs/va_phdthesis.pdf (accessed on 16 December 2018). This work is also discussed as
a  subgenre of chiptune music. A  selected bibliography about chiptune is available here: https://
chipflip.wordpress.com/chipmusic/ (accessed on 16 December 2018) and in the book: Kenneth
B. McAlpine (2019) Bits and Pieces. A History of Chiptunes, Oxford University Press, New York.
58 
See [Robee Shepherd] (2012) Pulse Width Modulation and How 1-bit Music Works (2012).
http://www.robeesworld.com/blog/58/pulse-width-modulation-how-1-bit-music-works (accessed
on 16 December 2018).
 1-bit Sound 95

also program your own sound. And programmed procedures for playing
music can developed further than with hardware solutions (one channel,
square wave, etc.).
Besides that, the ZX Spectrum was the only home microcomputer that
at that time had a standard sound output that could be connected to an am-
plifier or a stereo (using the jack port). Other computers had a sound output
“sewn into” the monitor connectors, because all producers assumed that us-
ers would only use TV speakers. No producers were interested in facilitating
the recording of music from computers. No one probably even thought that
after years of musical creation the chiptune scene would see renewed inter-
est. Sinclair, for some reason, however, introduced the jack port (in the Spec-
trum, it was the so-called MIC).
Hence on the ZX Spectrum, the first sound multichannel engines were
created. At first, they were only two channels of a square wave (software
mixing) with a programmed noise generator used for drums. This is how the
program Wham! The Music Box appeared on the market in 1985. Such a solu-
tion could not compete with the Atari XL/XE or C64, but it was already com-
parable to the sound of the two-channel TED chip from the Commodore
264 series launched in 1984 (C = Plus / 4, C = 16 and C = 116). The program
aroused great interest, and there were many games and demos with music
written using this engine. What’s more, Wham! The Music Box is very popular
even decades after its creation. There are still composers who use this very
engine to create sound for their programs. This spurred a race to see who will
program a better, more developed 1-bit sound engine on the ZX Spectrum.
Developers outdid themselves in order to design more channels, envelopes,
volume, and digital samples.
Of course, one also need to be aware of the characteristics and multiple
pathways of developing the IT market in that period. Progress did not con-
sist of immediately rejecting computers of previous generations. There was
much more time to develop a thorough knowledge of a given device.
In the second half of the 1980s, new multi-channel engines were creat-
ed in Western Europe, but they were mainly intended for making music in
games. They were not only a commercial product, but were also covered by
a kind of “trade secret,” because publishing companies did not want to pub-
lish and share them. Game producers competed for better sound. This is how
the multi-channel engines of Tim Follin, Lyndon Sharp, and other engines like
Special FX or Savage were created. Engines differed from each other. Their
creators introduced from 3 to 5 channels, complicated synthesis, envelopes,
96 II. Digital genres of ZX Spectrum Demoscene

several volume levels, and even digital samples. The authors coded the mu-
sic directly in Assembler, and if there were any editors, then, as mentioned,
they were not published.59
Meanwhile, the demoscene started to make an appearance in Europe
(in Eastern and Central Europe on the ZX Spectrum). The first demosceners
started to create demos, which in the early stages of the scene were more
“old school” (picture + effect + scroll + music). Demosceners regularly used
music from games in early works. The hackers would rip the music, then put
it into their own programs. At the same time, however, they learned how to
create such engines. It should be added that thanks to Music Box, the earliest
known ZX-demos with original music were created starting in 1987. Thanks
to this, programmers from Central and Eastern Europe could finally create
their own multi-channel complex music engines, place them in specially de-
signed editors and make them available on the scene or in the form of com-
mercial programs, but sold in the Eastern Bloc. In this way, more engines and
entire editors were created and made available to individual users, not only
to companies that publish games. It was a very important element in the de-
velopment of musical creativity on this computer.
Music Box was a very limited engine with no envelopes, with two vol-
ume levels, only square wave and noise. In addition, the drums occupied
both channels, meaning that no tone could be played along with the drums.
Therefore, in 1988 another program was created in Eastern Europe, but this
time, it was already a fully dual-channel and it was called The Music Studio.
Still without the volume and the envelopes, but with a much more interest-
ing synthesis, the drums could be played together with the tone, which made
composition much easier.
In 1988, the ZX-7 Polyphonic Musical Instrument was also created. It was
a Slovak engine and music editor for the Spectrum 48, and it was created by
Jan Deak. It was the most powerful beeper engine on the Spectrum for years,
because despite the lack of drums, it gave the composer all eight sound chan-
nels. It was also characterized by an interesting sound, although there were
no envelopes or volume control.
The Czech program Orfeus Music Assembler was created two years later
and focused not so much on the pursuit of as many channels as possible but

59 
A list of engines used to create 1-bit music can be found here: http://randomflux.info/1bit/
viewtopic.php?id=25 (accessed on 16 December 2018).
 1-bit Sound 97

on the most comprehensive set of tools for creating a song. The program had
three channels of sound (two tones plus drums with a variety of drum tones)
and offered several envelope types. It was based on the Special FX engine
from the Firefly game from 1988. The Czechoslovak version has been modi-
fied to have a softer synth sound and slightly different drums. Special FX and
Orfeus are still—apart from Music Box—the most classic engines, with the
most characteristic sound associated with the ZX Spectrum (despite the ap-
pearance of numerous engines since that time).
The only significant equivalent of these editors in the West came about
in 1989, but it was only released in 1993 by the British magazine Your Sinclair.
It was the program 3 Channel Synthesizer, also known as The Music Synth. It
had features similar to Orfeus, also a slightly similar sound, but although it had
an envelope editor and volume control, it also had tuning problems and the
songs written on it often suffered from out of tune sound.
It seems that the last important engine and editor from the original, clas-
sic period of the ZX Spectrum software development was the Czech Sample
Tracker program from 1993. Although the samples had already appeared on
the ZX Spectrum 48K, it was only the Czechs who managed to write the en-
gine, which featured three independent sample channels, thanks to which
you could finally create completely digital music on the Spectrum 48. Until
then it was only possible on the Amiga and Atari STE (possibly on a PC with
Covox or music cards). Apart from playing the sample music from the beep-
er, the program could also use the AY interface (the quality was up to 4-bit)
or the Covox variant (which allowed to obtain 8-bit quality).
In 1985 (the premiere in Spain) and 1986 (the premiere around the world),
another model from the Sinclair line, the ZX Spectrum 128K, was introduced
to the market, which in addition to the beeper already had a 4-bit 3-channel
AY sound generator. At the same time the 16-bit computers, the Amiga 1000
and Atari ST, appeared.
Therefore, the creation of software on the Spectrum 48 began to have
a slowly defined character and finally a niche. Fewer and fewer people saw
the sense in writing, publishing and even using software for a machine from
1982, since even in 8-bit line new stronger models of computers appeared.
Ultimately, 8-bit computers began to fall into oblivion in favor of the
mentioned 16-bit ones (at least until their renaissance along with retro trends).
A small number of die-hard fans stayed with the ZX Spectrum 48K and
the beeper. Since the mid-1990s they could no longer count on the creation
of new 1-bit songs. The phenomenon existed only shortly and sporadically.
98 II. Digital genres of ZX Spectrum Demoscene

It functioned as an exception to the rule. From the turn of the 1990s such
unique works appeared as the demos ANTARES II, Tim Follin Music, Orfeus
Music Demo, which were all from Eastern Europe. Also, the external AY inter-
face was introduced to the ZX Spectrum 48 computer.
A separate group to consider were demos with digital music that was
created in the 1990s, where you could switch the sound from AY or Covox to
the beeper, although these were not specially dedicated beeper programs,
like the Polish Ravers’ Paradise from 1996, the Slovakian Magic Show Intro from
1996, among others.

The Return of 1-bit Aesthetics: MISTER BEEP

The Sputnik demo from 2000, prepared by an international squad for the
Polish meeting called ZX Party that took place in Wrocław on August 25–27,
can be regarded as an agent of change. It seems that it was the first timid at-
tempt to revive the beeper/1-bit scene on the ZX Spectrum (long-mastered
by AY, Covox, music cards like GeneralSound and others). Unexpectedly,
a demo was created with songs for the beeper.
The breakthrough and return to the aesthetics of 1-bit music (also known
as the beeper trend) is considered to be MISTER BEEP from 2006.60 In its initial
phase this project consisted in finding the largest possible amount of classic
ZX Spectrum software used to generate 1-bit sound and to compose music
with it. It should be emphasized MISTER BEEP was not about archiving, but
about composing new, diverse works on the ZX48.
Although the project’s activities began in January 2006, for a long time
entire albums were not released, but rather individual compositions that
were distributed online via Internet radio stations (chiptune, lo-fi, demoscene),
portals, chiptune and retrocomputer forums, as well as websites that strictly
promote music (e.g. Soundcloud).61

60 
This is confirmed, for example, by the statement: “Then I discovered the creative works of
MISTER BEEP, at that time the only active 1-bit musician. That must have been around 2008–2009,”
quote from: Nikita Braguinski (2018) What is 1-bit-music?, Ludomusicology, Videogame Music Re-
search Group, https://www.ludomusicology.org/2018/12/09/what-is-1-bit-music/ (accessed on 16
December 2018).
61 
Ibid.
 1-bit Sound 99

The first full album was released in 2009 by the German independent la-
bel B-HACK / BERLIN Micromusic HQ, specializing in similar genres.62 It was en-
titled MONOPHONIC GENERATOR and it contained only covers of well-known
artists from classical electronic music such as Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream,
Marek Biliński and Vangelis. In addition to this, there was MISTER BEEP’s cov-
er of a song by the artist SLL, who created work on the Amiga computer. The
album also features two bonus recordings: one is a guest song composed by
a Czech musician with the pseudonym Factor6 (also a cover of the band Kraft-
werk), and the second is the only original work of the MISTER BEEP project.
In the explanation provided with the album, there is a lot of technical
information about the creation of individual songs. The author explains the
idea of 1-bit music:

It’s like a 1-bit picture. One can only turn the pixels “on” or “off.” One can “simulate”
grey scale by using dithering. ZX48K music is a kind of sonic dithering. My weapon
of choice has only one channel with only one volume level (sound turned on) or si-
lence (sound turned off). One bit. However, thanks to some brilliant programmers,
you can hear many channels and volume levels. Because of “sonic dithering.”

To emphasize the minimalist style of the album, the cover is extremely se-
vere. It is black and white (also 1-bit), and it refers to the cover of Radioac­
tivity, the Kraftwerk album from 1976, although the font used on the cover
comes from ZX Spectrum.
The second album of the project was entitled The LOwest FIdelity, and it
was released in 2010, also by the German B-HACK/BERLIN Micromusic HQ.63
The footnotes read Micromusic in 2 channels. This time it was about impos-
ing even more creative restrictions, and although the ZX Spectrum at that
time could play from 3 to 8 sound channels thanks to a variety of beeper
engines, the author used only 2-channel engines here. It was equally im-
portant to use only engines and editors from the 1980s. The main software
used was The Music Studio (1989) and The Music Box (1985). In the instruc-
tions, the artist writes about the simplicity of the mentioned programs: Only
notation, only linear editing, no copying, no patterns, no nothing. ;) Intros to
songs were made on other sound editors from the 1980s, like the NoiseFX

62 
http://berlin_hq.micromusic.net/bhack.html (accessed on 16 December 2018).
63 
Ibid.
100 II. Digital genres of ZX Spectrum Demoscene

Ill. 13. ZX Spectrum 1-bit music composers: MISTER BEEP and Zilog in UBU lab. Photo by Piotr Marecki

Machine Code Sound Effects, Percy The Rhythm Interpreter, Albert Einstein
Drums, Sonido 48K, Loop Synthesizer, Sintetizador De Voz and Orfeus Mu-
sic Assembler. The mentioned 1-bit programs are sound synthesizers, drum
machines and speech synthesizers.
The LOwest FIdelity album contained original compositions of the MISTER
BEEP project, and their titles referred to a subculture of retro games (e.g. Hor­
ace’s Adventure, The Game is Over, Pacman Will Eat You Alive and others) or to
nostalgia for the 1980s (e.g. The 90s Have Never Come Here!). Other works bear
auto-thematic titles related to equipment and sound (Romantic Central Process­
ing Unit, One Bit Sound) or the classic spectrum 1-bit editor Wham! The Music
Box (like Press the Corresponding Number, this phrase is a quote from the pro-
gram known to all its users). Again, there are two bonus-tracks, both guest. This
time they are by the German composer and programmer the Irrlicht Project.64

64 
More at: http://www.irrlichtproject.de/ (accessed on 16 December 2018).
 1-bit Sound 101

The third album of the project, A Thousand Furious Bees, was released
in 2011 by the Italian independent music label COUCOU.65 There were com-
pletely different challenges with it than in the previous ones. There is no min-
imalism here in the technical, musical, and visual sense. The artist wanted to
avoid hardware limitations using two computers simultaneously, but also
during the work on the album, programs appeared that helped to achieve
the intended effects using only one computer. This collaboration between
the composer and programmer is described in the accompanying manual:

The original idea was to make 6-channel chiptunes playing from 2 synchronized
Spectrums (3 channels from each ZX, using Special FX engine). I managed to make
four such songs, but in the meantime, Shiru programmed several totally new beep-
er engines. They were highly powerful and capable of playing even NINE channels
from a single ZX Spectrum 48K.

The music is made using multi-channel techniques. Programs created on

the wave of popularity of the 1-bit sound initiated by the MISTER BEEP pro-
ject were used. The Octode engine, which has 9 channels, and the QChan
engine, which has five, were also used. Technically experimental pieces,
including the mentioned 6 channels played simultaneously on two Spec-
trums with each loaded with “half” of a song, played on a standard 3 channel
old school engine.
Typically, the album contains extremely complicated compositions refer-
ring to styles such as art rock and progressive rock (Emerson Lake & Palmer,
ArsNova, others), art metal (Dream Theater, Haken and others), power metal
(DragonForce, Avantasia, etc.) and black metal (Bal-Sagoth, Equilibrium etc.).
Undoubtedly, this music was also influenced by music from classic games
on the ZX Spectrum 48K, because unlike other platforms, the art-rock style
was very popular in the 1980s (e.g. in the compositions of Tim Follin, Jason C.
Brook and Ben Daglish).
Both the cover made by Habib/H-PRG and the content of the album
are far from the chiptune aesthetics. It is rather serious electronic music, but
played on a computer from 1982. The author of the work tries to “race” with
much more advanced platforms, such as the Commodore 64 or Atari XL/XE.

65 
https://coucounetlabel.bandcamp.com/album/mister-beep-a-thousand-furious-bees-cou-
cou013 (accessed on 16 December 2018).
102 II. Digital genres of ZX Spectrum Demoscene

The fourth album of the project is the Z80 from 2012. It was put out by
the British independent music label Kittenrock. Its goal was mainly to show off
the extremely varied sound of the beeper. With the above-mentioned popu-
larity of beeper music, to the 1-bit movement coders also joined in the crea-
tion of new music engines. This album was based on the latest engines that
were created. The album also contains songs that were used in games and
demos. As MISTER BEEP writes:

The “Noise” series songs, for instance, have been made on the Huby engine, con-
structed especially for ZX game designers. The outcome file is very small and doesn’t
take too much of RAM. This one makes, indeed, a lot of noise, which is audible on
recordings. ;) Anyways. Most of these songs actually come from numerous games
I made music for. Yes, people still make new ZX-games. :) You can also find my tunes
in computer scene demos.

Another project from MISTER BEEP is a work entitled Chromospheric Flares

from 2014, released by the Polish Z80 Music Portal.66 This album can be
treated as a  continuation of the previous one (using the newest engines,
connections with the demoscene and the gamedev scene).

Development of the Scene

Each computer has its own characteristic sound, which is associated with
having a specific sound chip. The ZX Spectrum 48K does not have such a lay-
out, because it is a computer that, colloquially speaking, “plays” music with
the processor, so each engine, and hence each song, may sound different.
It is, in addition to the limitations of the machine itself, a challenge for lo-
fi musicians. The MISTER BEEP website has a selected list of programs that
have been created on the Spectrum 48 since the 1980s and that have been
used to generate sound and compose music. The list includes synthesizers
(tone/noise generators), sound effect generators, drum machines, various
speech synthesizers, trackers, music editors, and even programs for playing
live 1-bit sound from a computer keyboard.

66 
https://soundcloud.com/mister_beep/mister-beep-chromospheric (accessed on 16 Decem-
ber 2018).
 1-bit Sound 103

As a result of the intense activities of the project, more and more peo-
ple in Western and Eastern Europe were interested in this type of artistic and
programming activity. First, new tools began to be created, like beeper track-
ers on the ZX Spectrum. Starting from 2009, coders established cooperation
with the project, including Shiru from Russia and Ccowley from Great Britain.
There were various forms of new software. On the one hand, they were clas-
sic engines, but in a new, more accessible and contemporary form, e.g. Music
Synth 48K T.E. from 2009, written by Shiru for the ZX Spectrum. These were
also new engines that offered new possibilities, such as the Phaser1 tracker of
the same programmer, from 2010, which not only had an outstanding—for
the beeper—synthesis, but also completely digital percussion.
In the following years, a whole new series of beeper engines appeared.
They were programmed by coders related to the MISTER BEEP project and
with portals such as the 1-Bit Forum (http://randomflux.info/1bit/, http://
z80.i-demo.pl/ or http://zxspectrum48.i-demo.pl/). The engines were mainly
programmed by the Russians (Shiru and Alone Coder) and the German coder
Irrlicht Project. Later, the Russian programmer Introspec also took on crack-
ing and improving parts of these programs.
These were engines such as Huby, Octode, Phaser 1, Phaser 2, Qchan,
Tritone and others. Meanwhile, in the West, thanks to this increased beep-
er activity more and more games returned to the 1-bit musical setting, and
Ccowley collected the majority of existing engines (new and classic) and
placed them all in the BEEPOLA cross-platform tracker. There is also 1tracker
by Shiru allowing to add virtually any beeper engine. An interesting example
of software for composing directly on the ZX Spectrum, without the use of
a PC, is open-source Beep Tracker with two specific sound engines included.
As a result of the MISTER BEEP project and the 1-Bit Forum users, activi-
ty, more people from all over Europe appeared on the beeper scene (Poland,
Czech Republic, Russia, England, France, Germany, Greece, etc.). Interesting-
ly, due to the fact that BEEPOLA was not only a convenient program for PC/
Windows, but also had the ability to export music to a *.WAV file, musicians
who had never before come across the ZX Spectrum became more interest-
ed in lo-fi/chiptune and recruited from micro-music community portals such
as https://chipmusic.org/ and http://battleofthebits.org/ (as well as sources
from Europe, America, and Asia). So, paradoxically, there was a mass of 1-bit
songs destined for the ZX Spectrum, which had never been in contact with
this computer, just like their creators. The songs were made entirely on a PC,
which also had their WAV recordings rendered.
104 II. Digital genres of ZX Spectrum Demoscene

One can put forth the thesis that the phenomenon described is an unex-
pected renaissance of a music scene dedicated to the ZX Spectrum 48K com-
puter. Since 2006, new albums of artists from the West and the East started
to appear in Europe, such as Voxel (Russia), AER (Russia), Tufty (Great Britain),
MISTER BEEP (Poland), Irrlicht Project (Germany). Compilations with beeper
music were published (such as the international 1-Bit Wizards—The Journey
Begins from 2013). There are concerts of 1-bit ZX48 music (e.g. the mentioned
Irrlicht Project) as well we a whole series of “new wave” beeper demos on the
ZX Spectrum 48K.67 At music compos, beeper/1-bit returned to parties organ-
ized by demosceners. One of the most important micromusic portals, Battle
of the Bits, introduced a separate category for this chiptune variety. There
were also separate competitions dedicated to this music.
On the wave of the popularity of 1-bit music, a short comedy film Fishing
for Disaster (2011) directed by Derrick Hackman was created, and it dealt with
the history of computer development and gamedev in particular. The entire
soundtrack was written by MISTER BEEP using only the computer ZX Spec-
trum 48K and beeper.68
Another interesting feature of this scene is the EBM/Industrial German
music project called Tronimal. The vocalist sang to music created on the ZX48.
Yet another is the creation of mobile applications and VST plugins simulat-
ing the beeper sound for PC musicians and their professional music editors.
Around 2015, the activity of the MISTER BEEP project significantly de-
clined, resulting in an apogee of interest in 1-bit music performed on the
ZX Spectrum series computers. Nevertheless, it continues to develop. New
games are created with beeper sounds. There are still contests for the best
1-bit song, and more albums are appearing. Internet radio stations present
them on the air. There are also new demos, engines and editors not only on
the Spectrum, but also on other machines. 1-bit music was initially created
mainly for computers of the Sinclair series (Spectrum/Timex), but the creators
from other platforms became interested in 1-bit sound as well. Cooperation
with XXL, who is a Polish coder from the Atari 8-bit scene was established
and he joined in the activity by converting Spectrum-based beeper engines
to Atari, and he created his own demos on Atari XL/XE. These are also avail-
able on the MISTER BEEP website. Engines and editors were also created for

67 
http://zxspectrum48.i-demo.pl/beeper_demos.html (accessed on 5 December 2018).
68 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjkEz_9zMvU (accessed on 5 December 2018).
 Homebrew Games on the ZX Spectrum 105

other platforms with 1-bit sound, such as Texas Instruments, Arduino calcu-
lators, or Apple computers.
Thanks to such long and intense activity of the mentioned project, the
ZX Spectrum 48K finally gained its place on the micromusic/chiptune scene
and among the musical output created on 8-bit computers in general (espe-
cially in combination with machines and scenes in the C64 genre, Atari XL/
XE, ZX Spectrum 128K and others).
To sum up, the ZX Spectrum, one of the most hardware-limited platforms,
entered its fourth decade of existence, and without any hardware modifica-
tion it gained completely new software-driven capabilities, including 16 chan-
nels maximum, complicated synthesis methods, modulations and envelopes,
volume levels, digital samples, speech synthesizers and more. The ZX Spec-
trum music scene is also characterized by a large number of engines and ed-
itors tirelessly invented, developed, and programed by demoscene coders
from different parts of the world.69 The 1-bit movement, created thanks to
the activities of the MISTER BEEP project discussed here, is a phenomenon
at the intersection of art and programming. The aesthetics of minimalism
dominate these works. If not compositional, it is always technical due to the
ZX Spectrum sound transducer. Interestingly, this kind of renaissance (if you
can call compositions of a genre that was not too popular even in the 1980s in
Great Britain, aka the homeland of the ZX Spectrum that) just started in Poland.

Homebrew Games on the ZX Spectrum

It is well known that Sir Sinclair, when launching his latest product in 1982,
the ZX Spectrum 16/48K, was inclined to dedicate the computer to educa-
tional and utilitarian purposes. He did not have much respect for the gam-
ing industry, so much so that he was genuinely dissatisfied when it turned
out that the Spectrum became a hit among players in the 1980s.

69 
Important links: http://mister_beep.republika.pl/, http://z80.i-demo.pl/, http://zxspectrum48.i
-demo.pl/, http://shiru.untergrund.net/1bit/, http://randomflux.info/1bit/ (accessed on 5 December
2018).
106 II. Digital genres of ZX Spectrum Demoscene

In the initial stage, the games (with some appearing already in 1982)
were extremely simple, audio-visually unattractive. This was due to a varie-
ty of factors. First of all, both the creators and players only knew about the
productions from earlier machines, e.g. the Atari 2600, Commodore Vic-20,
and ZX81. They were usually simple arcade games with elementary graph-
ics and an unrefined soundtrack. As a result, players were used to a certain
standard, not realizing that it is low, while developers only just had discov-
ered the capabilities of new devices, such as the Spectrum 48 or Commodore
64. At the same time, they wanted to fill their platforms’ markets as soon as
possible with their games.
Games from those first Spectrum years were crude, primitive, and they
make a very oldschool impression, especially as compared to the later prod-
ucts from the 1980s and 1990s, as well as in comparison to modern games
on this platform.
The ZX Spectrum has 1-bit graphics with color map added, so the graph-
ic artist did not immediately grasp how to draw effectively on this comput-
er. The graphic design was very simple (Deathchase/1983/Micromega, Mag­
got/1983/Your Computer, Mage Cage/1983/Micro Adventurer, Heathrow Air
Traffic Control/1983/Hewson Consultants Ltd.).
Of course, there were some exceptions, which, in truth, cannot be com-
pared to the quality of later productions, although these games did stand
out positively against the background of dozens from a similar period. De-
spite the notable severity of the graphics, they became cult classics for thou-
sands of players from around the world who grew up on them: Jetpac/1983/
Ultimate Play The Game, Manic Miner/1983/Bug-Byte Software Ltd, Chuckie
Egg/1984/A’n’F Software, Boulder Dash/1984/Front Runner.
However, from 1984, the high-level productions (in terms of graphics,
good 1-bit shading by dithering, better layout and use of colors, but also
sound with more interesting synthesis, multichannel songs) and more devel-
oped gameplay, began to appear, including isometric games characteristic
for ZX Spectrum. Knight Lore/1984/Ultimate Play The Game, Sabre Wulf/1984/
Ultimate Play The Game, Robin of the Wood/1985/Odin Computer Graphics
Ltd, Cobra/1986/Ocean Software Ltd.
It may seem that, paradoxically, in the development of Spectrum games
(and other 8-bit platforms) helped the emergence and development of com-
petitive 16-bit platforms, such as Amiga 500 and Atari ST. The authors of 16-
bit games had better technical capabilities and readily used them, while set-
ting new trends and styles and discovering some new possibilities that no
 Homebrew Games on the ZX Spectrum 107

one had ever considered or even imagined before. This is both in reference
to the level of complexity of the story / game plots as well as the graphic and
audio solutions (e.g. the use of samples).
Game developers at ZX Spectrum were trying to catch up with leaders in
the field, doing everything (with success, we might add) to make their work
resemble games from 16-bit computers. They were both conversions/ports
and original or inspired games. This took place in the last period of the clas-
sic Spectrum, i.e. at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, with the last commercial
items appearing in the mid-1990s. We are talking about such titles as R-Type /
1988 / Electric Dreams Software, Rex / 1988 / Martech Games Ltd, Rick Danger­
ous / 1989 / Firebird Software Ltd, Myth: History in the Making / 1989 / System
3 Software Ltd, Rick Dangerous 2 / 1990 / Micro Style, Dan Dare III: The Escape /
1990 / Virgin Games Ltd, and The Addams Family / 1992 / Ocean Software Ltd.
It is also worth noting the importance of the Spanish-speaking market,
because the productions that appear there (e.g. companies such as Spanish
Topo-Soft or Opera Soft S.A.) were not only numerous, but also of very good
quality. Examples include: Stardust / 1987 / Topo Soft, Wells & Fargo / 1988 /
Topo Soft, Viaje al Centro de la Tierra / 1989 / Topo Soft, La Espada Sagrada /
1990 / Topo Soft, and Tour 91 / 1991 / Topo Soft.

Homebrew Games—The Modern Period

When the classic period of the ZX Spectrum as the platform, which was
treated seriously by software and hardware producers, ended around the
mid-1990s, it continued to be developed, but it became more of a hobby or
“retro” activity.
As we will see in the following text, the center of Spectrum-related ac-
tivity, including games, both in terms of development and production of
hardware and software, moved to the East, mainly to Russia and other coun-
tries of the former Soviet Union. A large number of games also appeared in
Czechoslovakia, also after the Dissolution. Although for the last ten years,
from around 2010, the West is again the leader in terms of the number of
Spectrum games created.
Other, unofficial parts of existing commercial games (continuations) were
actually done quite early, sometimes with better or worse results and of-
ten using elements of the original graphics mixed with their own. Examples
108 II. Digital genres of ZX Spectrum Demoscene

include: R-Type III / 1992 / Tlauli-ran (Czech Republic), Jet Set Willy: Lord of
the Rings / 2000 / Broadsoft (UK), and Myth II: Return to Hell / 2008 / Denis
Kuznetsov (Russia).
In the later period, from the mid-1990s to the 2000s, the most interesting
games were released by the Russians. Sometimes they were like the classics,
but with every last detail accounted for. Sometimes they were quite innova-
tive games, often conversions from “big” platforms, like PCs, or productions
that no one would have attempted on ZX Spectrum before. Either way, they
were often programs that could boldly compete with former commercial
ones, and sometimes they were even better than them.
Some games came out in truncated or demo versions, but they were
always playable and had at least one full level. Still, most often, full versions
appeared. НЛО 1 Враг Неизвестен (UFO 1) / 1995 / Copper Feet, Dina Blast­
er / 1995 / Legion of Steel Warriors, Worms / 1997 / Silicon Brains Software
LTD, Черный Ворон 1 (Black Raven) (equivalent of WarCraft) / 1997 / Copper
Feet, DOOM Pre-release / 1997 / Digital Reality & Hyper-Soft, Homer Simpson
в России / 1998 / Mr.Gluk & Co, Pussy: Love Story from Titanic / 2000 / Fatality
& Razzlers, and Wolfenstein 3D / 2004 / Alone Coder.
Another important place for the development of games on the platform
is Czechoslovakia and its member states after the Dissolution. Lots of games
were written there in the 1980s and 1990s. Later in this period, they were
homebrew programs, which means that they were sometimes even better
than commercial ones. At the time, many more games were coming out of
there than Poland, which was more focused on demoscene activity (demos
were mainly written and released, then mega demos, and finally trackmos,
also called music video demos, as well as new school demos).
The Česko-Slovenský Speccy Archiv portal (https://cs.speccy.cz/) states
that from 1982 to 2018, total of 364 games for the ZX Spectrum series com-
puters (both 48K and 128K) were created. These included commercial and
demoscene productions. Members of demoscene groups also released or
published games commercially sometimes. Of course, in the Internet age,
some of the software is created in cooperation with foreign partners (e.g. Slo-
vak-Polish collaborations). In the discussed region, games of all types were
created, including arcade, text, gambling, logic, platform, labyrinth, strategy,
adventure, simulators, space-shooters and others.
There were groups and creators of the demoscene who also released
games, including 7 Gods, ZeroTeam, SinDiKat, Busysoft (Slovakia), E.S.A,
MQM Team, Factor6 (Czech Republic) and many others. Of the classic game
 Homebrew Games on the ZX Spectrum 109

Ill. 14. DOOM Pre-release (1997), Digital Reality & Hyper-Soft, UBU lab, Jagiellonian University.
Photo by Piotr Marecki

developers and publishers, one should mention: Fuxoft, Cybexlab, Ultrasoft,

Proxima, Rumatisoft. Examples of titles are: Firewolf / 1986 / Cybexlab Soft-
ware (Czechoslovakia), F.I.R.E. / 1988 / Fuxoft (Czechoslovakia), Tetris 2 / 1990
/ Fuxoft (Czechoslovakia), Jet-Story / 1992 / Ultrasoft (Czechoslovakia), Cesta
bojovníka / 1992 / Ultrasoft (Czechoslovakia), Kliatba Noci / 1993 / Ultrasoft
(Slovakia), Boovie 2 / 1999 / E.S.A. Productions (Czech Republic), Pariboro / 2012
/ ZeroTeam & MISTER BEEP (Slovakia / Poland), Game About Squares / 2014 /
SinDiKat (Slovakia), and Stepping Stones / 2017–2018 / SinDiKat (Slovakia).70
In Poland, and mainly in the 1980s, games on the ZX Spectrum appeared
in smaller numbers (often on the computer market, also through magazines
like Bajtek). A few from the early 1990s are products derived from the dem-
oscene, and besides that, the majority was written for the platform related

70 
This trend is discussed by Jaroslav Švelch (2018) Gaming the Iron Curtain. How Teenagers and
Amateurs in Communist Czechoslovakia Claimed the Medium of Computer Games, MIT Press, Cam-
bridge.
110 II. Digital genres of ZX Spectrum Demoscene

with Spectrum—the SAM Coupé computer. Games released on Spectrum

were mainly text games. Mózg Procesor (1989), Metropolis 1 (1987), Hibernatus
(1987), Smok (1993) and the like are considered classics. Other types of games
were usually very simple, such as Kółko i krzyżyk (1987). Sometimes interest-
ing ideas came about, such as the game Hexan (1987) where you could move
around in a three-dimensional maze (both of the above-mentioned games
were issued by KAW / National Agency Publishing).
Economic games were also very frequent and not only conversions, e.g.
Hammurabi (1988), but also more original ones, such as Euro Biznes / 1988 /
Juza, or EkoBiznes / 1987 / Elkor, ZHP.
Sometimes more complex arcade games appeared, often conversions, of
which the outstanding Wiking / 1987 / Konczakowski deserves special attention.
As already mentioned, in the 1990s the Polish ZX scene moved gradu-
ally over to the SAM Coupé platform and other computers (like the Amiga),
and the majority of people simply left the scene definitively. At the turn of
the 1990s and 2000s, only two groups, Claw and H-PRG, remained active in
the demoscene, and two games from the early 2000s can be distinguished:
Droga do Duplandu from 2003, which also came on Atari XL/XE and Commo-
dore 64 at the same time, and Ucieczka ze spejs-szipu (2004), which also ap-
peared on the C64.
Since the late 2000s, dozens of new games have been released all over
the world. The West dominates especially when it comes to the quantity of
games (although the quality is comparable or sometimes much better than
commercial productions from the classic period). The creators mainly revolved
around the WOS / World of Spectrum portal, and later also around the Spec-
trum Computing Forums.
Among contemporary Polish productions, it is worth mentioning the pro-
grams of the most prolific ZX Spectrum game author, Rafał Miazga (Ralf), as
well as the demo-group H-PRG, who also deals with the creation and release
of games (including on the ZX Spectrum) and Tygrys. From this period, we
have Pamela the Zombie Hunter / 2005 / Rafał Miazga (Ralf), Phaeton / 2010 /
Rafał Miazga and MISTER BEEP, Necrospermia / 2012 / Rafał Miazga (Ralf), Wun­
derwaffe / 2017 / Rafał Miazga (Ralf), Zbylut Owrzodzień / 2012 / H-PRG, Dead­
ly Labyrinth of Lord Xyrx / 2013 / H-PRG, Mysterious Dimensions / 2016 / H-PRG,
In nihilum reverteris / 2018 / H-PRG, Dziurak / 2012 / Tygrys, Cat-man, Voyager,
Krunel / 2013 / Tygrys, Cat-man, Voyager, Atom, Slayer, Ziutek.
The rest of the productions came from all over the world, also from Rus-
sia, but this time they were not even head-to-head with Western games but
 Homebrew Games on the ZX Spectrum 111

they were simply overwhelmed. This was due to the fact that new authors or
entire gamedev groups appeared in the West, specializing in productions on
ZX Spectrum, and even generally in productions on retro platforms, where
Spectrum was just one of the targets. An example of this can be a Polish crea-
tor, Ralf, and the shiniest example of a group of creators is probably the Span-
ish The Mojon Twins / Ubhres Productions, which in 2009 alone released sev-
en new games on the ZX Spectrum. Selected titles are: Nanako Descends to
Hell / 2009 / Ubhres Productions, Zombie Calavera Prologue / 2010 / Ubhres
Productions, Fundamentally Loathsome / 2011 / Ubhres Productions, Maritrini,
Freelance Monster Slayer / 2012 / Ubhres Productions, Sgt. Helmet Training Day
/ 2013 / Ubhres Productions, and Sir Ababol DX / 2014 / Ubhres Productions.
Another very strong impulse for this influx of new games was the crea-
tion of a set of graphic editors in 2008 with a separate new language created
specifically for game development, called Arcade Game Designer, written by
one of the classic Spectrum creators, Jonathan Cauldwell. He also created the
Platform Game Designer program and Shoot-Em-Up-Designer.
The Arcade Game Designer turned out to be a useful tool for the Spec-
trum’s gamedev scene on many levels. It not only enabled the creation of full-
fledged games for people who had no idea about the process or how to code.
The existence and the products of the program generally caused ferment in
the scene and caused some to return to creating games after years, while oth-
ers, developers or demosceners, focused on the phenomenon and the pos-
sibilities of creating games on ZX, not only seeing it as a new way of expres-
sion, but also a way to reach a large and grateful audience with their works.
Contemporarily, new games are written in various programming lan-
guages, like​Assembler and BASIC. Others, many of them, have been made
with AGD. They are released in large numbers and come from various regions
of the world. Their execution are quality usually are at a good or very good
level. Coding solutions have been pushed by demoscene programmers to
the very limits of the hardware, or maybe they have already crossed them
a long time ago. Multicolor games, for example, are quite common nowadays.
The games are usually free, although sometimes commercial. A mixed
phenomenon isn’t rare, i.e. in the form of TAP / TRD files the games are avail-
able for download from the Internet, while cassette versions, professional-
ly made with covers for collectors or more orthodox retro fans are sold on
the Internet. We are talking about such works as: Teodoro Can’t Fly / 2010 /
Retro­Works, Cray 5 / 2011 / RetroWorks, More Tea, Vicar? / 2012 / Cronosoft,
Ossuary / 2013 / Cyningstan, Land of Mire Mare / 2014 / Luca Bordoni, MISTER
112 II. Digital genres of ZX Spectrum Demoscene

BEEP, BiNMaN Metal Man Reloaded / 2014 / Oleg Origin, Stella Aragonskaya,
Castlevania: Spectral Interlude / 2015 / SaNchez, diver4d, darkman007, Wan­
derers. Chained in the Dark / 2015 / SAM Style, SCL, Sand, Riskej, Fist-RO Fight­
er / 2016 / Retrobytes, The Dark / version from 2016 / Oleg Origin, Foggy’s
Quest: To Narg and Back Again! / 2017 / Rucksack Games, The Sword of Ianna /
2017 / RetroWorks, Impossabubble / 2018 / Dave Clarke, David Saphier, Castle
of Sorrow / 2018 / ZXMan48k, Parachute / 2018 / Miguel Ángel Tejedor López,
Gimmick! Yumetaro Odyssey / 2018 / Antonio Perez, Errazking, Ninja Gaiden
Shadow Warriors / 2018 / Jerri, DaRkHoRaCe, Diver, Gandalf / 2018 / Cristian M.
Gonzalez, Alvin Albrecht, Hikaru, Bobby Carrot / 2018 / Diver, Quiet, Kyv, Zor-
ba, The Adventures of Jane Jelly: The Egg Diamond / 2018 / Bumfun Software,
Harbinger 2: The Void / 2018 / APSIS, Mighty Final Fight / 2018 / SaNchez, and
Eugene Rogulin, Nik-O. There is also a big ZX Spectrum homebrew game-
making scene games written specifically for advanced Russian clones. Some
notable games: Prince of Persia / 1993 / Honey Soft, Gobliiins / 1994 / Hon-
ey Soft, Страна Мифов / 1995 / Fantasy, Kings Valley / 1996 / Jokers Alliance,
Walker: last edition / 2000 / Alien Factory, Imperia 2 / 2003 / Action, Atomic /
2004) / Looker, Ball Quest / 2006 / Alone Coder, Shiru, John Silver, XNX / 2012
/ Shiru, Edge Grinder / 2014 / Blade, SpaceMerc: Prologue / 2015 / Hippiman,
Nomad / 2016 / Conscience, Конёк-Горбунок (2018) / Skazka Entertainment.
This proves that constraints serve as an interesting challenge for crea-
tors and can even be a catalyst for new ideas and solutions. These inspired
changes were huge, especially in graphics, music, gameplay, as well as the
complexity of the game narratives.
III. THE PLATFORM

ZX Spectrum—Official Models

Below, we present our original perspective on the official ZX Spectrum

models, its clones as well as the main programming languages. The history
of the computer has been the subject of many studies, but we believe that
this narrative will prove to be a  fresh approach because it is was devel-
oped from the perspective of its users, who used the computer for creative
purposes. Thus, in discussing the subsequent models, we look at all the
possibilities related to graphics, music, and games on a given platform. In
addition, the purpose of this study is also to organize the research about
the computer to date.
The first computer named Spectrum was presented in Great Britain on
April 23, 198271, but considering its code name (ZX82) and the name that was
used in the design phase (ZX81 Colour) we probably ought to begin by men-
tioning the first two home computers designed and sold by Sinclair Research
Ltd, the ZX80 and ZX81.
These machines came out, as their names suggest, in 1980 and 1981. Both
had only one kilobyte of RAM and black-and-white, one-bit graphics. Though
they were equipped with microchips analogous to the ZX Spectrum—the

71 
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cessed on 5 December 2018).
114 III. The platform

Z80 and ULA—and could generate sound with those, the output amplifica-
tion from the MIC port was so weak that both computers, in fact, were totally
devoid of audio capabilities.
While the ZX80 was not even capable of displaying an animated image
(in recent years, a method has been invented for creating an animated image
on the ZX80, which has led to the creation of a handful of games), the ZX81
was a fully-fledged, though truly bare-bones, home computer. It could be
used for working on utility programs, but it was also a machine that provided
entertainment thanks to a large number of games dedicated to the platform.
These computers, like the subsequent ZX Spectrum, had modular con-
structions, i.e. depending on the user’s needs (and financial capacities) he/
she could purchase modules, like additional RAM (a maximum of 64KB, with
capacity to use 56KB, though the standard became 16KB), audio interface
with an AY sound chip, and even a graphic module, enhancing the capabili-
ties of the ZX81 with color display.
Both machines were equipped with a touch keyboard and a modulator
with an antenna port for a television. The processor was the above-mentioned
Z80, clocked at a frequency of 3.25 MHz. It generally displayed graphics only
in text mode, with a low resolution of 64 × 48 pixels; however, after the appli-
cation of a relevant program, you could get hi-res display, usually 256 × 192
pixels (programmers have achieved a maximum resolution of 320 × 240, but
only in recent years).
Although the ZX81 was produced until 1984, it was in 1982 that Sinclair
released its successor, the ZX Spectrum (the name was meant to emphasize
the introduction of color). The original 16KB version was swiftly replaced with
the 48KB RAM, and it was this configuration that became the standard plat-
form for many years. The touch keyboard was replaced by a rubber one, the
MIC port signal was enhanced, giving the computer one-bit sound. A built-
in speaker, the so-called beeper, was also introduced. The graphics were en-
hanced with hi-res (256 × 192 pixels) equipment and fifteen colors in a “color
map,” providing color resolution of 32 × 24 attributes. The processor worked
at a speed of 3.5 MHz. Like its predecessors, the computer had a built-in in-
terpreter of the BASIC programing language (but the Spectrum Sinclair Ba-
sic is considered one of the best and fastest BASICs among 8-bit computers).
The ZX Spectrum 48 inherited many traits from its predecessor, the ZX81,
including the modular construction. There were modules that could be pur-
chased for the central unit, such as an AY sound interface, a joystick interface,
as well as peripherals like printers or disk drives. Some of these devices were
 ZX Spectrum—Official Models 115

available on the market prior to the appearance of the ZX Spectrum, because

after the application of a twister-board you could add on peripherals and
modules originally designed for ZX81.
In 1984 Sinclair released another version of the 48 computer, the ZX Spec-
trum+, though these changes were primarily aesthetic and mechanical, i.e.
the computer was equipped with a reset button and installed in a new case,
now entirely plastic, with a plastic keyboard, which was more durable than
the rubber one (whose letters and digits quickly rubbed off, unfortunately).
But considering that it had been one of the main platforms for computer
games (there were numerous native ones, but also many Spectrum versions
of games from the 16-bit machines, like Amiga and Atari ST), the more dura-
ble keyboard was of major significance for gamers.
Just about every country had its local version of the ZX Spectrum. Sin-
clair officially collaborated with some companies that produced the clones.
Such was the case with the Spanish Investronica. Indeed, we could say that
the Spaniards designed the next Spectrum model, which set the standard
for the platform’s further development: the ZX Spectrum+ 128K. In any case,
this meant that the premiere of the Spanish Spectrum 128+ took place a year
earlier (in 1985) than the British premiere (1986).
The design was essentially the same as the 48+, only some inscription
details were altered and a radiator was also added on the right-hand side. In
terms of the external differences, we ought to mention that a numerical key-
board could be added to the 128+.
It’s safe to say that the ZX Spectrum 128+ is entirely backward compat-
ible; though, still this is a different model, i.e. adding RAM memory to the
Spectrum 48 would not give you the 128+.
In this model the AY chip was finally implemented into the motherboard,
something which had heretofore been added to the Spectrum 48 as a mod-
ule; and so a 4-bit digital synthesizer with 3 channels was added to the 1-bit
sound from the beeper. Interestingly, this was also to the advantage of the
48K model, because the modules sold prior to this were not standardized, and,
generally speaking, each one was connected to different ports. As a result,
the owner of a module (e.g. the Fuller Box) often was surprised to find utter
silence upon loading a game that was meant to have AY music; in other cas-
es, the problems could manifest themselves in a whole series of unexpected
noises instead of the proper music or sound effects. After the introduction of
the 128K model, all the new AY modules for the Spectrum 48 attached this
chip to the ports to which they were connected in the 128 model.
Ill. 15. Sinclair ZX81 computer, the ZX80 successor, released by Sinclair in 1981. 1KB of RAM,
monochromatic screen, no sound. Nonetheless it became a big success and—along with
the latter ZX Spectrum—it “computerized” Great Britain—and other countries, UBU lab,
Jagiellonian University. Photo by Iwona Grabska-Gradzińska

Ill. 16. Sinclair ZX Spectrum+, the improved model of Spectrum 48K, released by Sinclair in 1984.
It is characterized mainly by a new design of the case, stronger keyboard, reset button. UBU lab,
Jagiellonian University. Photo by Iwona Grabska-Gradzińska
 ZX Spectrum—Official Models 117

Although the Spectrum 128 has the same Z80 processor in the mother-
board that is present in Spectrum 48, also at the frequency of 3.5 MHz, it was
faster than the 48K (as is evident in the majority of cases) because of the larg-
er number of clock signals/tacts. The 48K operates at a speed of 69,880 tacts
per frame, while the Spectrum 128 has 70,900 tacts per frame, with a proces-
sor of equal power. The computer also has a monitor port, MIDI compatibility,
and a RS-232 serial port.
Another special attribute of the 128K was the addition of the second
video-RAM. This significantly improved color mixing, and thus, it improved
graphics. The ZX Spectrum as such was equipped with primary colors, which
the constructors intended to be later mixed by programmers and graphic art-
ists in order to gain more colors visible on the screen. While this was done
through dithering on the vast majority of 48K series computers, the Spectrum
128 let you prepare two similar graphics. Each displayed a slightly different
set of basic colors. With a very fast alternating display of the two video-RAMs,
one after another, there was the effect of a larger number of colors on screen
than the ZX Spectrum actually possessed. This mode of graphics display is
called GigaScreen, and it expands the palette of the 128K up to around 127
visible colors. These modes could also be joined with dithering and multi-
color (reducing the attributes, that is, making attributes smaller than stand-
ard squares of 8 × 8 pixels, thanks to the processor).
Yet another graphics mode that expanded the capabilities of the 128K
model is RGB, also known as “3-color” (after the number of layered colors) or
“8-color” (after the number of colors displayed).
And so, despite the fact that this mode displays only eight colors, it en-
tirely eliminates attributes (i.e. the separation of colors into 8 × 8 pixel squares),
and every pixel has its own color, which, with the computer’s high resolution,
greatly enhances the visual appeal of the graphics, allowing for nearly a re-
alistic quality. We ought to stress that this particular mode uses not two, but
three screens, and so every time the computer has to spend time copying
an additional screen from the RAM memory to the video-RAM memory, this
slows down the display process and causes a more intense and bothersome
flickering of the screen.
These graphics modes, involving the quick change of screens, might be
theoretically possible to obtain also on the 48K series computers, but it did not
catch on, because there was no point in using it with those machines. First-
ly, they were slower. Secondly, they had only one video-RAM, which would
have made the image display even slower. Instead of switching between two
118 III. The platform

screens, the Spectrum 48 would have had to copy one extra image from the
ordinary RAM to the video-RAM every time, and the final effect would have
been useless, certainly in full-screen mode.
In 1986, Sinclair’s company suffered financial problems and abandoned
the design and production of computers; the whole branch, along with the
“Sinclair” brand, was sold to Amstrad for five million pounds.72 The only ex-
ception was the release of the Cambridge Z88 palmtop, under the altered
name “Cambridge Computer Ltd,” in 1988.
From then on the ZX Spectrum computers were produced by the Brit-
ish Amstrad company. The first Amstrad ZX to see the light of day was the ZX
Spectrum 128+2. This was basically the 128+ with a slightly altered ROM in
a new case and with a more professional keyboard and a built-in tape deck.
The change in the ROM caused a minor incompatibility with the earlier mod-
els, but this was so insignificant and occurred so infrequently that the issue
can be ignored.
A year later, in 1987, Amstrad released another version of the 128K, this
time the ZX Spectrum 128K +3. With this one there were bigger changes:
a redesign of the motherboard, modifications in the ROM, which serviced
an added built-in disk drive in place of the tape deck (instead of the popular
3.5” drive, the manufacturer inserted the 3” standard it was promoting). The
Spectrum +3 remained compatible with the previous computers, but here
we have no trouble finding programs that had certain operating difficulties.
There were also timing differences, some lines from the ZX-bus port were
removed, and other smaller changes were made, all affecting the compati-
bility not only in terms of software, but also for some peripheral equipment.
Amstrad ceased production of the ZX Spectrum with the +2A and +2B
models, which, to avoid going into superfluous detail, were merely versions
of the Spectrum +3 in the casing of the ZX Spectrum +2 (i.e. with a tape deck
instead of a disk drive).
The last ZX Spectrum computers came off the production line in 1992.
Altogether, over five million units were sold from this series, not counting
a vast number of clones produced all over the world.
The history of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum brand continued on starting in
2015 when Sinclair ZX Spectrum Vega, the British game console, appeared

72 
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(accessed on 5 December 2018).
 ZX Spectrum—Official Models 119

Ill. 17. Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2, despite the name—it was being produced already by the Amstrad
company—it was an official continuation of ZX Spectrum 128+. Released in 1986, after buying
the Sinclair brand. A newly designed case, new better keyboard, on-board tape-recorder—those
are the main distinguishing features of this model. UBU lab, Jagiellonian University.
Photo by Iwona Grabska-Gradzińska

on the market. This was a contemporary redesign of the classic computer, in

most cases backward compatible, officially supported by Clive Sinclair, who
is endorsing it with his name and figures as one of its investors (which is in-
teresting in that Sinclair was always opposed to his equipment being used
for gaming). The console has been prepared by Retro Computers, and pro-
duced by SMS Electronics.
ZX Vega turned out to be a commercial success to the extent that anoth-
er version of the device was announced for 2016, the ZX Spectrum Vega +,
this time in the form of a handheld console (with a built-in LCD screen). The
design of the console was prepared by Rick Dickinson, who in the 1980s de-
signed the look of ZX80, ZX81 and ZX Spectrum computers. It turned out
that on April 8, 2016, Managing Director Paul Andrews and Chief Technical
Officer Chris Smith resigned from cooperation with Retro Computers Limited.
Numerous delays forced the company to postpone the announced release
date for 2017, and later 2018. As of the publication of this text, the fate of the
planned console is still unknown.
120 III. The platform

Ill. 18. Sinclair ZX Spectrum Vega, the modern game-console—the official new model of ZX
Spectrum, released in 2015 by Retro Computers company, with the rights to use the “Sinclair” brand
(sir Sinclair himself supported this project). It is a board with an emulator, it has only a few keys that
are necessary for playing games, optionally the virtual keyboard; the Vega is compatible with ZX
Spectrum 48K and 128K, but to the extent that only allows playing games—the hardware is too
weak to properly run demos. UBU lab, Jagiellonian University. Photo by Iwona Grabska-Gradzińska

Soviet and Post-Soviet ZX Spectrum Computer Clones

Clones and domestic versions of the ZX Spectrum computer were creat-

ed en masse all around the world (including in Poland). There were Spec-
trums from Argentina (CZ Czerweny), Brazil (TK Microdigital), Spain (Inves),
Czecho­slovakia (Didaktik), Romania (Electromagnetica Jet, for instance), Po-
land (Elwro 800 Junior and Unipolrbit 2086), the USA, and Portugal (Timex),
as well as many other countries. Yet, it was in the Soviet Union (and later
in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine) that most of these computers were built;
they also saw the most intensive technological development and, curiously
enough, some are still being produced and sold to this day.
In the Soviet Union clones of the ZX Spectrum computer were produced
fairly early, as far back as the 1980s. The model was probably chosen for its
 Soviet and Post-Soviet ZX Spectrum Computer Clones 121

Ill. 19. ZX-UNO, a modern Spanish clone of ZX Spectrum, entirely based on FPGA technology
(implementation); the computer has been developed in 2013. In 2016 its crowdfunding began
and its sales began the same year. Compatible with Pentagon, British ZX Spectrum and other
machines—depending on what core you load. UBU lab, Jagiellonian University. Photo by Iwona
Grabska-Gradzińska

relatively simple construction—it was only a motherboard with a RAM and

a processor.
On the one hand, this facilitated things for the builders and the producers;
on the other, it caused difficulties for the programmers, who had to try all the
harder to overcome the platform’s numerous limitations. Some models were
factory-produced, others were manufactured as a cottage industry, but even
the latter could be quite popular (with practically no promotion, advertising
campaigns, etc.). One example might be the most famous case, also known
in the Western world, of the Russian Pentagon 128 computer, which became
the benchmark for both hardware solutions and programming (it had only
minor differences from the ZX Spectrum—to the Pentagon’s advantage, we
might add—which meant that if a program was to run with 100% efficien-
cy, mainly in terms of timing, then a program had to be specially written for
a given model). When it comes to demoscene production, the Pentagon was
second only to the ZX Spectrum 128+, if not the world’s most important ma-
chine, first in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, and then, through the spread of the
Internet and the improving emulators on PCs, available practically everywhere.
122 III. The platform

A very characteristic attribute for all Soviet and post-Soviet models was
the use of the TR-DOS disk system and Betadisk interface, also cloned from
the original British version designed by Technology Research Ltd (the 48KB
model was released in 1985, while today’s most popular model, 128KB, came
out in 1987). It is a curious fact that in Great Britain itself this disk system never
took off, while it became a key element of the Spectrum world in the East—
to such an extent that, after some time, the whole was permanently imple-
mented for subsequent clones, no longer as a separate device.
The Russians designed for TR-DOS and the ZX Spectrum a boundless
quantity of programs, from file commanders to graphic browsers (some in
PC formats), synthetic and digital music players, all kinds of editors (text,
font, sprite, sound, graphic, music), assemblers (and other programming
languages), debuggers, data packers, converters, data copying programs,

Ill. 20. Timex Computer 2048. The official licensed clone of ZX Spectrum 48K, released in 1984 by
Timex North American Lda, a branch of American Timex Corporation. Unlike the American Timex
Sinclair 2068—the Portuguese TC-2048 was highly compatible with ZX Spectrum 48, although it
had a number of improvements (more durable keyboard, built-in Kempston joystick port, monitor
output, additional video modes—and more). Timex Portugal was selling TC-2048 in Portugal and
Poland, and its NTSC version was sold in Chile. UBU lab, Jagiellonian University. Photo by Iwona
Grabska-Gradzińska
 Soviet and Post-Soviet ZX Spectrum Computer Clones 123

system testers, disk drive utilities, net programs (Internet, Fidonet, there
was even a net devoted to the Spectrum: ZXNet—and others)… And apart
from this, of course, there were games, demos, disk magazines, and even
electronic books.
The first Russian ZX Spectrum clones were more or less exact copies of
the 48KB model, and later, clones of the 128KB model became widespread.
The Russians did not stop at this, however, and the memory was increased
in subsequent models. For example, the Scorpion ZS-256 (256KB RAM), Pen-
tagon 512 (512KB RAM), and Kay 1024 (1MB RAM) were developed, and then
computers like the Sprinter and the ZX Evolution (4MB RAM). Later models
were released only in the form of motherboards, designed to install in “cus-
tom” cases or traditional PC cases (AT, ATX); they could be attached to widely
available PC keyboards, mice, monitors, and FDD drives (and later IDE disks,
and finally, SD cards).
An enormous number of modifications, adapters, interfaces, and expan-
sion cards also emerged for computers compatible with ZX Spectrum. Some
were ultimately implemented in their entirety in the motherboards of later
machines. Some of these are described below.
The SMUC interface for hard disk was mainly designed for the Scorpion. It
let you attach two IDE disks to the Spectrum. You could also install a real-time
clock in the Dallas DS1287 chip and attach other PC equipment to the SMUC,
such as a modem. In its present version, the SMUC uses a CD/DVD drive, Win-
chester disk drive, and Compact Flash cards (with the right adapter). It is main-
ly used in Spectrums like the Scorpion, ZXM-Phoenix, KAY-1024, and Penta-
gon 1024.
The Nemo IDE Controller was originally designed for the Kay-1024 clone.
It is now used with the majority of existing Russian Spectrums (ZXM Phoe-
nix, Profi, Scorpion, Pentagon etc.). With help of Nemo IDE Controller one can
connect to ZX Spectrum hard disks and CD-ROM drives.
The Z-Controller is a very universal interface, through which we gain a slot
for SD cards for the Eastern version of the ZX Spectrum, as well as a hard disk
(or CD-ROM) IDE connector, and two PS/2 connectors for hooking up key-
boards and mice from PCs, which the ZX Spectrum treats as Kempston mice
and regular Spectrum keyboards. Some of the later clones have the Z-Con-
troller integrated into the motherboard (e.g. the ZX Evolution and the Pen-
tagon 1024 SL).
The ZX Multi Card lets you hook up PC mice and PS/2 keyboards to the
ZX Spectrum; you can also install a real time clock. Interestingly, there is also
124 III. The platform

a modem on the board of the card. The card can also be expanded with an
SD slot or a MIDI OUT connector.
The ProfROM was originally designed for the Scorpion. Later versions
allowed for expansion with other ZX platform machines. This is a ROM ex-
pansion card, serving to expand the preexisting Scorpion memory capacity.
This ROM has an original size of from 16KB to a maximum of 64KB, while the
card appears in versions from 128KB to 512KB and contains a range of tools
and test programs, other utilities, debuggers, etc.
Before the PS/2 standards arrived, two Russian companies, Scorpion and
D.K., co-developed IBM PC Keyboard Controller cards and the IBM PC Mouse
Controller for connecting to XT/AT-standard Spectrum keyboards and PC mice.
The Russians developed a whole range of Covox and Soundrive sound
adapters for the ZX Spectrum. These facilitated 8-bit audio quality (usually
with 4 channels of sound), which meant users could enhance new or pre-
existing games with digital sound effects, and also write and play MOD
music on the Spectrum (a music format coming originally from Amiga
computers). In many of today’s clones, Covox is integrated into the com-
puter motherboards. These adapters are simple digital-analogue convert-
ers that came out in various versions, depending on the number of trans-
ducer per channel. The most basic Covox mixes four channels on a single
transducer, which leads to loss of audio quality, obviously; meanwhile, the
most advanced Covox type—the SounDrive—has four separate sound
transducers for the four audio channels. It is essential to note that to play-
back sounds and music the Covox/SounDrive requires a ZX Spectrum pro-
cessor, so these adapters are not grouped with the sound cards. There re-
mains a large number of programs using the above-mentioned adapters;
these are tools, demos, and games. Where the last-named are concerned,
the general procedure was cracking existing games to provide them with
digital music and special effects on the Covox, SounDrive, or GeneralSound
(which we will discuss later).
A serious, authentic music card for the ZX Spectrum was the General-
Sound, designed and released in the 1990s. Although it is still available for
purchase, a new and more powerful version has emerged—the Neo General­
Sound. The GS card is based on a separate Z80 processor with a frequency of
12 MHz; it also has its own RAM (from 128KB to 512KB, depending on the mod-
el). This means that, after loading digital samples/music (Amiga four-channels
MODs) the card made no use of the computer’s resources, while remaining
controlled by it.
 Soviet and Post-Soviet ZX Spectrum Computer Clones 125

Over ten years later, in 2008, another version of the above-named card,
now called the Neo GeneralSound, was released by NedoPC. The card is to-
tally backward compatible, but far more powerful. It is based on a Z84 24
MHz processor, has 2MB RAM, its own SD slot, and can play MP3 files, Amiga
MOD (four-channels) files, and MOD eight-channels files.
Many tools, demos, and games were made for both cards, as with the
case of the Covox. A large number of specially-adapted pre-existing games
were also released. Interestingly enough, when the ZX Spectrum is playing
music through other equipment (e.g. through AY) or is not playing music at
all, the programmer can use GS/NGS power to perform calculations not con-
nected to the audio, accessing it as a fast co-processor. Such programs exist,
though these are mainly demos.
The TurboSound and TurboSound FM were other ways to expand the
audio/musical capabilities of the ZX Spectrum platform, created in the 1990s.
In general, the original British versions of this computer used the General In-
strument AY-3-8910 / General Instrument AY-3-8912 chips (first in the form
of a module attachment, then a circuit that was integrated into the mother-
board, beginning with the 128K). Meanwhile, the Russians decided that in-
stead of the single standard AY audio chip, they could link up two such chips
at once (or their Japanese equivalents, the YM2149, which are far more popular
in the East and easily accessible), thus gaining six audio channels. This yielded
the TurboSound, which gained quite a big number of software pieces dedicat-
ed for it, and was popular for years on the Spectrum demoscene. Apart from
demos, of course, a range of tools was also created—six-channels trackers,
and not only for the Spectrum. There were also cross-platform programs for
PC (based on sound emulators) capable of exporting music files to the real
platform. The same, in fact, goes for the later standard of the TurboSound FM,
where two YM (or AY) chips were replaced by two later Yamaha chips—the
YM2203—each with six channels, making twelve audio tracks. The Yamaha
2203 has three FM synthesis channels, and implementation of the standard
YM2149. Because of the use of the FM synthesis, the sound might resemble
the AdLib known from PC computers. At present, unfortunately, there is no
tracker that uses the full expansion capabilities (6 FM channels + 6 PSG chan-
nels). Thus, the most popular method is composing music partly on the FM—
with TFM Music Maker and partly on the VortexTracker II (the PSG parts). Both
programs are on PC, and can export the data onto the ZX Spectrum.
We also ought to mention the related ZXM-SoundCard designed—as
the name suggests—for the ZXM Phoenix, though it is compatible with
126 III. The platform

Ill. 21. DELTA (the Russian computer). A Russian clone of ZX Spectrum+, produced in 1991,
in a former military power plant near the city of Zelenograd. Fully compatible with ZX Spectrum+,
it has 48KB of RAM, video-output port, cassette player input and output ports, two joystick ports
(Kempston and Sinclair)—all ports along with expansion-bus are in Russian, in own standard.
UBU lab, Jagiellonian University. Photo by Iwona Grabska-Gradzińska

most Russian Spectrum clones. It is very advanced, possessing not only two
YM2203 chips (twelve-channels), but also a six-track Philips SAA1099 chip
borrowed from a Western clone (the SAM Coupé).
The Pentagon was and remains the standard platform for demos and
games (at least in the East), and the fact that it was made as a cottage industry
did not prevent even owners of such factory-made products as the Scorpion
from striving for greater compatibility. This was the function of the Scorpi-
on GMX (Graphics Memory eXpander) add-on. It ensured compatibility be-
tween the Scorpion and the Pentagon. We might find it interesting that this
set-up was apparently more stable than the original Pentagon alone. The GMX
could also work in other compatibility modes, as a Profi clone, for instance. It
also had 2MB RAM and a seven-megahertz turbo processor.
The ZXKit1 VGA&PAL Board is another piece of equipment for the ZX
Spectrum platform. It serves to transfer an image to the VGA monitor, or to
 Soviet and Post-Soviet ZX Spectrum Computer Clones 127

Ill. 22. ZX Evolution (another name: The Pentevo = Pentagon Evolution). Probably the most devel-
oped Russian clone of ZX Spectrum computer, compatible with the 128K standard, but with a lot
of extensions and improvements. Created in 2009 by the NedoPC group-members: Vadim Akimov
(LVD), Roman Chunin (CHRV) and Dmitry Dmitriev (DDp). The motherboard was first presented at
the Chaos Constructions 2009 party in Russia. 4Mb of RAM, SD card support, video output on RGB
and VGA, IDE port and many more. Extended graphics to the capabilities of the ATM Turbo clone,
20 MHz Z84C0020PEC CPU (here: it works at the maximum frequency of 14 MHz). Compatible with
ATM Turbo, Pentagon, British ZX Spectrum computers. UBU lab, Jagiellonian University. Photo by
Iwona Grabska-Gradzińska

an RGB television / monitor through an S-Video connector or an RGB Com-

posite. This add-on can be connected to the Pentagon 48/128, Scorpion, Len-
ingrad, ZXM-Phoenix, ZX-Next, Speccy2007, or Robik… It can also be con-
nected to such computers as the Profi, Specialist, or Orion, but it requires
firmware changes.
The ZXM-VideoCard serves a similar function.
Of course, there is no way to cover all the Eastern models of the ZX
Spectrum; there were too many. Nor can we describe all the equipment and
programing. However, this text should serve to introduce the subject to the
reader.
Below is a list (albeit incomplete) of the ZX Spectrum clones created in
the Soviet Union, and later in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.
128 III. The platform

1. Aeon 42. Inter

2. AF TV Game (a game-console) 43. ITC Spectrum
3. Anbelo/C 44. Karat
4. Ant-1024HD 45. Kay-1024
5. Argo 46. Kay-256
6. Arus 47. Kometa-01
7. Aspect 128 AVR ZX Spectrum 48. Kompanion
8. Atas 49. Kompanion 2
9. ATM Turbo 50. Kompozit-48
10. AZX-Monstrum 51. Kompozit-128
11. Baltik Russian 52. KR-05
12. Bayt 53. Krasnogorsk
13. Beysik (Basic) 54. Kvant
14. Briz 55. Kvant-BK
15. Byte 56. Kvorum
16. Composite Personal Computer 57. Kvorum 64
17. Computer Constructor 58. Kvorum 128
18. Contact 64 59. Kvorum 128+
19. Contact 128 60. Leningrad-1
20. Contact CPS-128 61. Leningrad-2
21. Delta-N 62. Leningrad-3
22. Delta-S 63. Leningrad-2010
23. Delta-SA 64. Leningrad-2012
24. Dik 65. Lik
25. Dubna 48K 66. Liliya
26. Duet 67. Lvov
27. Dynael 68. Magic Computer
28. Elbrus 69. Magic-05
29. Elektronika-KP05 70. Master
30. Elikon-050 71. Master 2
31. ETON ZX 48K 72. Miko-Best
32. Fanny 73. Moskva-48K
33. Forum BK 74. Moskva-128K
34. Gamma 75. Nafanya
35. GrandRomMax 76. Neis
36. Harkov 77. Novosibirsk 54
37. Himak 48 78. Olimpik-S
38. Himak 128 79. Orel BK-08
39. Hobbit 80. Orizon-Micro
40. Ikar 64 81. Parus
41. Impuls 82. Patisonic 48
 ZX Spectrum Programming Languages 129

83. Patisonic 48ST 108. Spark-128

84. Pentagon 48 109. Speccy2007
85. Pentagon 128 110. Speccy2010
86. Pentagon SL 111. Spektr
87. Pentagon 1024SL v2. 666 112. Sprinter
88. Peters 113. ST Sirius
89. Pik 114. Sunkar
90. PLM Avtomatika 115. Sura-S
91. PLM Ekspress 116. Taganrog-128
92. Poligon 117. TOKK PC48G
93. Profi 118. Ural 8/64 K
94. Radon Plus 119. Vega-64
95. Raduga-001 120. Vega-128
96. Raton-9003 121. Vesta IK-30
97. ReVerSE 122. Vesta IK-30M
98. Rita 123. Vesta IK-31
99. Robi 124. Yauza
100. Robik 125. Yulduz
101. Santaka-002 126. Zvezda
102. Scorpion ZS-256 127. ZX Evolution / Pentevo
103. Scorpion ZS-1024 Turbo 128. ZX Next
104. Sever-48/002 Spectrum-ZX 129. ZXM-777
105. Sibstar 130. ZXM-Phoenix
106. Simbol 131. ZXM-Zephyr
107. Sintez 132. ZX-Poly

ZX Spectrum Programming Languages

The programming languages used on the ZX Spectrum to develop games

and demoscene-related stuff are limited to BASIC and Assembler languages,
with the latter being the most used. 73 There were some games and “joke”
demos written partly or entirely in BASIC, however all serious productions
were developed right in Assembler. Apart from these two languages, other
more or less known languages had their compilers or at least interpreters

73 
BASIC is short for Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.
130 III. The platform

on the ZX Spectrum, e.g. C, PASCAL and FORTH. Another interesting phe-

nomenon was the presence of various software extending BASIC possibili-
ties even allowing for compilation of BASIC to machine code and thus faster
execution of the programs written in BASIC.
We start with BASIC as it is an integral part of the ZX Spectrum and re-
sides in the 16KB ROM, where it is readily available for the user when the
computer starts. We discuss compilers of BASIC and coding possibilities in
the machine code directly from BASIC. Next we take a look at several assem-
blers, disassemblers and monitors to finish off with other languages that ap-
peared on the ZX Spectrum.

BASIC

BASIC74 for the 48K model was an improved version of the ZX80 BASIC. The
original version for the ZX80 computer was developed by the Nine Tiles
Networks Ltd.75 The developers were John Grant and Steve Vickers. This
version took up to 4KB of RAM, and it was later extended by Vickers to the
8KB version used in the ZX81—the successor of the ZX80. The 16KB version
emerged from the 8KB version, and it was used in the 16K and 48K mod-
els. All improvements were made by the same programmers and consist of
adding floating point operations and other commands controlling input
and output. A total of 88 keywords were present in the 16/48K version with
51 command keywords, 32 logic operators and functions and five other key-
words.76 The 128K model BASIC contains a few new keywords, related to the
control of the sound chip, memory model and disc drive(+3 model only).
Keywords were entered by the pressing of one key only (a unique ap-
proach among 8-bit computers) and also stored as one byte in the RAM. This
allows for considerable saving of the memory and also typing time. The 128K
model offers an interpreter with letter by letter input. The listing with the

74 
By BASIC, we mean BASIC interpreter.
75 
Simon Garfield (2010) Sir Clive Sinclair: “I don’t use a computer at all,” The Guardian Media
Group, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/feb/28/clive-sinclair-interview-simon-gar-
field (accessed on 5 December 2018).
76 
Steven Vickers (1983) Sinclair ZX Spectrum BASIC Programming (2nd ed.), Sinclair Research.
 ZX Spectrum Programming Languages 131

rather iconic Hello World program for the ZX Spectrum BASIC together with
its output is given below.

Fig. 1. The listing of the Hello World program in the BASIC language (left) and the result after its
execution (right)

The keyword PRINT is entered by simply pressing the key P. The example
of the game and demo written in BASIC are shown in the following figures. In
order to speed up BASIC programs or to equip them in new commands and
features, the so-called compilers were used. Some of them are available on
the World of Spectrum website, including Hisoft’s COLT Compiler and BASIC
Compiler, MCODER 2, ZIP 1.5, SOFTEK IS & FP, and a few others.

Fig. 2. The game Labyrinth (left) and the demo A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse
or a Scotchman on a horse (right) both written entirely in the BASIC language

Another approach was to use machine codes inserted directly to the

RAM by means of the command POKE address, value and then execution of
the code by USR address command. Below is an example which insert the
machine code to the RAM, this code is used for loading a headless block with
screen data from the tape to the VRAM:
132 III. The platform

Fig. 3. The listing of a program in the BASIC that contains a machine code (left), the same code in
the assembler (right)

The listings of BASIC programs were very popular in the magazines pub-
lished in Europe, and there were also entire journal series with printed BASIC
listings (e.g. in Czechoslovakia it was journal “Robik”).

Assembler

Assembler was used to develop games, utilities, demos and intros, i.e. where
one needs maximum speed and control. Apart from the possibility to code
directly in the machine code using BASIC, there were a lot of commercial
editors with Assembler, but some authors also wrote their own. We have to
mention HiSoft’s Devpac with GENS and MONS, the editor/assembler and
monitor/debugger respectively. These two were well-known, well-docu-
mented and spread across Central Europe. It was also quite expensive as it
cost 12 GBP back in 1983.77
We also have to mention the Memory Resident System (MRS), devel-
oped by Slovak programmers in 1992. It was widespread software in Czech-
oslovakia and consisted of four modules: assembler, linker, disassembler and
debugger. One of the outstanding features was the 64 columns editor and
advanced debugger. Another well-known and used assembler was the Pro-
metheus by Universum, which was popular among Czech and Slovak demo
makers as it was released as public domain.

77 
“Your Computer” (May 1983).
 ZX Spectrum Programming Languages 133

Fig. 4. Screenshots with programs GENS (left) and MONS (right)

Fig. 5. Screenshots with the program MRS, an editor module (left) and a debugger module (right)

Many other assemblers, monitors and debuggers existed, apart from

them there were also tracing programs or memory monitors. These were
used to track execution of the loaded programs, thus they had to be as small
as possible. Some of them were located in the VRAM to not interfere with the
RAM—like the DevastAce monitor which was released in two versions, one
resided in memory and the second in VRAM.

Fig. 6. Screenshots with the program DevastAce, a RAM version (left) and a VRAM version (right)
134 III. The platform

Nowadays, with massive use of the PC, cross-compiling is almost always

used and the final binary is then executed in emulators in order to check and
debug the codes. Below is the gnome-vi-enhanced editor and the output
from the PASMO compiler.

Other Languages

Other languages for which there were interpreters or even compilers can be
found listed on the WOS.78 We should mention C, PASCAL, FORTH, LOGO and
FORTRAN but other rather exotic ones were developed for the ZX Spectrum
too, including COMAL, Karel, Modula-2, Prolog and LISP. Especially FORTH
and LOGO interpreters were numerous. However their use was educational
as we are not aware of any demo or intro written in those languages.

78 
www.worldofspectrum.org (accessed on 5 December 2018).
Fig. 7. A gVim editor with a source code in the z80 assembler (top), a BASH
shell with the result of the cross-compilation of the source code for the z80
CPU with the PASMO compilator (bottom)
CONCLUSIONS

The subject of our study was the ZX Spectrum platform in light of the re-
search and theories on platforms proposed by Nick Montfort and Ian Bogost.
When writing a computer monograph, we were interested not only in the
technical specification of the equipment, but first and foremost in the cul-
tural aspect surrounding the object. In this sense, our monograph differs
from many technical books devoted to the computer. We have examined
both the community of people identifying with the platform and the works
created on it. We also proposed a  narrative about the computer and its
clones from the perspective of the demoscene, situated on the margins of
the official history of the platform. We have limited it to the countries where
the demoscene on the ZX Spectrum—Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic
and Slovakia—has developed the most.
Our research was guided by the intuitions of media archeology, a dis-
cipline affirming the departure from objective, standardizing and chrono-
logical approaches. We have therefore tried to build a computer micro-his-
tory that will allow us to write our own narrative, based on our logic and to
establish unofficial beginnings. In this perspective, we agree with Siegfried
Zielinski that “order is a sign of lack, not excess.”79 We propose an approach
that addresses the peculiarities and atypical story of the ZX Spectrum. We
present a story that is not taken up by media historians or theoreticians and
does not fit into the linear understanding of computer development. The
understanding of “an-archeology of media” described by Zieliński is for this
reason shared by us:

79 
Siegfried Zielinski (2010) Archeologia mediów. O głębokim czasie technicznie zapośredniczone­
go słuchania i widzenia, translated by Krystyna Krzemieniowa, Oficyna Wydawnicza, Warszawa, p. 38.
138 Conclusions

The main rule underlying my thinking became the conviction that there are no com-
mon, single-origin, beginnings, that is why I prefer to say that I am undertaking the
“an-archeology of media” instead of “archeology of media.” An-archeology stands
in opposition to the idea of linear development.80

Therefore, our narrative eludes scientific standardization as well as uniform

academic argumentation (we give voice to the surveyed members of the
community), and it constructs a history of the computer not from the per-
spective of the producer but the sceners who took over the platform (with-
out the knowledge and consent of the producer) for creative purposes.
Our narrative is based on the demoscene. Both the computer itself, pe-
ripherals and clones are presented from such an approach that interests cre-
ators, who on given equipment create and often show off in terms of their
capability to code, design graphics or sound. Therefore, the ZX Spectrum did
not interest us as a platform intended for utility, entertainment or commercial
purposes. Instead we try to understand how it was a platform for creating dig-
ital art and breaking past hardware limitations. The history of the computer
we present is not entangled in the marketplace. In our view, the ZX Spectrum
computer is not a product that should be consumed according to patterns
set by the equipment and program manufacturers, but a tool for hacking and
engaging in creative expression.
The presented history of the ZX Spectrum computer affirms the concept
of diversity, and it is also part of the wild technology category, which can
be compared to the life of wild animals. Just as it develops according to its
own rules, and it is not controlled by the logic of a human being, so the ZX
Spectrum in our narrative becomes a computer based precisely on the idea
of diversity, a platform based on the standards set by the sceners. We have
specifically analyzed the phenomenon of computer domestication in Russia,
related to mass cloning of the platform, that is, the practice of creating your
own equipment based on the ZX Spectrum and the lack of the official model.
If you compare this strategy to known solutions in the world of technology,
the ZX Spectrum from behind the Iron Curtain will be something different
from the offer of Apple Corporation, which offers a standardized platform

80 
Arkadiusz Półtorak (2016) Teraźniejszość znika. Rozmowa z Siegfriedem Zielinskim, Dwuty­
godnik, nr 198, https://www.dwutygodnik.com/artykul/6848-terazniejszosc-znika.html (accessed
on 16 December 2018).
 Conclusions 139

and a product that can’t be changed by its owner. In the case of the ZX Spec-
trum, the resulting solutions and approaches to the computer are based on
its open concept, equipment improvement at home, new solutions, exten-
sions, peripherals, personalization. As a result, it is often impossible to run
advanced demoscene productions based on the platform’s capabilities on
original British equipment. What’s more, most of the protagonists in the book,
despite identifying themselves with the ZX Spectrum brand, have never used
or even touched the original equipment.
Another factor that distinguishes the ZX Spectrum is its “life” over time.
The phenomenon we have explored is evidence that fans, experts, demoscen-
ers keep the platform alive for a few decades after its commercial death. They
oppose planned aging of equipment (one of the most important practices of
capitalism), which makes it necessary to regularly exchange equipment for
a new one. Good knowledge of the computer and its peripheries leads to the
possibility of producing much more advanced work than the classic commer-
cial productions of the 1980s. Also, contemporary works that use refinements
created over the years are often incomparable qualitatively to those written
on the original platform created by the manufacturer.
The demoscene of the ZX Spectrum computer has not been studied be-
fore, and our project fills a gap in this area. The narrative focuses on giving
voice to the community and on ethnographic research. The voices of dem-
osceners and their works are for us the data for research and analysis.
Our key findings reflect the importance of the identification of the dem-
osceners with the computer. It is thanks to it that the sceners create, overcome
the limitations of the equipment, and continuously revive the commercially
dead computer. The information obtained from the interviews allow us to
venture the claim that users do not do it for their own fame, but for the plat-
form. The use of the computer for creative activities was due to the signifi-
cant hardware limitations. As we have already pointed out, the ZX Spectrum
has many limitations compared not only to higher-level computers (16-bit or
32-bit), but also other 8-bit platforms (Atari, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC).
However, this does not prevent users from creating original ZX-specific phe-
nomena that use these limitations (like 1-bit music, text-based demos, dem-
oscene poetry, or homebrew game development).
We extract creative phenomena specific to ZX Spectrum. However, we
do not discuss them in depth. They all deserve separate analysis, monographs.
We wanted to present these phenomena for the full narrative of the ZX Spec-
trum in light of the theory of platform research. We also analyze to a small
140 Conclusions

extent individual works (demos, musical activity of the MISTER BEEP project
or the phenomenon of the demoscene poetry). On the ZX Spectrum scene,
of course, there is a great amount of creative work that is a challenge for re-
searchers involved in digital programming. In the spirit of the demoscene we
analyze the BrightPast demo, detailing the applied effects and scope of the
code. However, in several works that were analyzed we point to the direct
dependence of the development of programs or peripheries on aesthetic
choices (games, 1-bit music). We also tried to pay attention to works in which
the message is important (poetry of demoscenes), which is not a standard for
the demoscene as it typically counts on graphic and music effects.
We also frame our narrative in the ongoing discussions on the decen-
tralization of ​​digital media, i.e. searching for original creative uses of digi-
tal media other than those from the hegemonic center. The ZX Spectrum
demoscene is for advanced computer users, strongly emphasizing the crea-
tive approach to the platform in both hardware and programming. In many
places of the monograph, we emphasize the elitism of the demoscene,
based on a high level of knowledge, both in terms of the equipment itself
and programs. The demoscene elite does not use the computer passively,
for entertainment, but for advanced creativity, based on the possibilities of
technology. Most of the produced works on the scene are demos or intros
aimed at “describing the platform” and demonstrating its possibilities. Let
us add, however, that the demoscene does not avoid games or application
programs, but these are often not used, for example, for commercial pur-
poses, but to achieve greater capabilities of the computer (we explain this
extensively, discussing the phenomenon for example of 1-bit music). The
games on the scene can be created for entertainment purposes, but we
also remember that games focus on effects, on overcoming the limitations
of the platform (characteristic of the homebrew trend).
It should be added that this approach to the platform and creativity
is born from a specific understanding of copyright in countries behind the
Iron Curtain (diametrically different from the approach to restrictions in the
computer’s homeland). This creative boom is an expression of a philosophy
that implies an ignorance of the creators’ limitations due to copyright. In
this approach, available programs can be hacked, remixed, but also add-
ed to their productions. Or elements of available programs can be used in
their own productions (mainly in the early period of the demoscene). Dis-
tribution and use are not punishable or disgraceful. This is a natural con-
dition for sceners on this platform (this rule also dominates till today). The
 Conclusions 141

widespread access to the works and programs turned into in-depth knowl-
edge, but also creativity and the phenomenon of freely sharing creativity.
Under these specific conditions—the hacking approach to the platform,
the non-use of original programs issued by the equipment’s producers, the
domination of demonstration programs, cloning of the original computer—
the creativity of the ZX Spectrum scene has grown. The phenomenon is very
characteristic for the region, but it also proves the thesis that there isn’t one
story or hegemonic approach to the use of the equipment.
The proposed narrative overturns the widespread view of the culture
created by the first home computers (such as Atari, Commodore 64, Amstrad
CPC etc.). Although we are writing about a computer from the early 1980s,
most of the phenomena described are from the 21st century. Therefore, we
were not interested only in the history of the computer, but above all the ZX
Spectrum as a modern cultural phenomenon and the contemporary works
produced on it.
When we started working on the monograph, the computer boom be-
gan again due to the appearance of the ZX Vega console; when we finished
work on the book, another wave of interest took place due to the populari-
ty of the interactive Black Mirror: Bandersnatch thriller, which is watched and
clicked on by millions of viewers around the world. In this Netflix special, the
ZX Spectrum does not leave the screen. These trends, however, appear on
the wave of retro interest, nostalgia for the equipment and mainly the aes-
thetics of games from the 1980s. Our monograph also emphasizes the vital-
ity and culture-forming nature of the computer, but it does so from a com-
pletely different perspective.
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2018).
https://blogs.mhs.ox.ac.uk/insidemhs/tag/zx-spectrum/ (accessed on 16 Decem-
ber 2018).
https://chipflip.wordpress.com/chipmusic/ (accessed on 16 December 2018).
https://coucounetlabel.bandcamp.com/album/mister-beep-a-thousand-furious-
bees-coucou013 (accessed on 16 December 2018).
https://demozoo.org/parties/3078/ (accessed on 5 December 2018).
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5 December 2018).
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16 December 2018).
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https://www.etsy.com/pl/listing/167982839/sovet-plakat-polityczny-lenin-y-
lenin (accessed on 16 December 2018).
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDk3S8oCWZA (accessed on 5 December
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjkEz_9zMvU (accessed on 5 December
2018).
https://zxart.ee/eng/authors/s/skull-chaser/ (accessed on 5 December 2018).
www.worldofspectrum.org (accessed on 5 December 2018).
INDEX

+Gama 38 BiNMaN 112

7 Gods 108 Black Team 38
Bloombecker Buck
AAA 77 Bogdanovich Vladimir (vBv) 76–77
Adán Victor 94 Bogie 68
Aer 104 Bogost Ian 137
Agent-X 25 Bordoni Luca 111
Akimov Vadim 127 Botz Daniel 23
Albrecht Alvin 112 Braguinski Nikita 98
Alone Coder 19, 20–22, 25, 26, 29, 30, 37, Bromba 83
39–40, 44–47, 51, 54, 59, 60, 62–64, 66, Brook Jason C.101
67, 69, 70, 72–77, 103, 108 Bugrov Alexey 73
Anderson Chris 19, 20 Bukovjan Michal 34
Andrews Paul 119 Bumfun Software 112
Andysoft 83
Anubis/SS 26 Cat-man 83, 110
APSIS 112 Cauldwell Jonathan 111
Aragonskaya Stella 112 Ccowley 103
Atom 110 Chaser Skull 73
Christie Thomas A. 92
Bachtin Michaił 24 Chrysagon 38
Bazooka 84 Chunin Roman 127
Belyaev Rukavishnikv 53 C-Jeff 26
Bielacki Kazimierz (Kaz) 81, 82, 83 Clarke Dave 112
Biliński Marek 99 Collins Steven 15
148 INDEX

Cronosoft 111 Golubtsov Aleksey (Diver) 60, 74, 77, 78,

Cyningstan 111 112
Gonzalez Cristian M. 112
Daglish Ben 101 Goreń Andrzej 24
Dalthon John 83 Goreń Anna 24
DaRkHoRaCe 112 Grabska-Gradzińska Iwona 13, 116, 119,
darkman007 112 120, 121, 122, 126, 127
DC PAK 20, 21, 24–26, 29, 36, 39, 45, 46, 47, Grant John 130
53, 55–56, 62, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71, 75, 78
Deak Jan 96 Habib/H-PRG 101
Demiurge Ash 91 Hacker Kicia 28
Dickinson Rick 119 Hackman Derrick 104
diver4d 112 Hikaru 112
DjIK 37 Hlavsoft 38
Dmitriev Dmitry 127
Drobik Daniel 30 Illusion 38
Dylan Bob 58 Irrlicht Project 100, 103, 104

E.S.A 108, 109 Jerri 112

Emerson Keith 101 Jordan Michael 25
Errazking 112 Jordan of Exodus 36, 48, 71
ESA 38 Juza 110
Expirt 26
Eye-Q 91 K3L 38
Kassoft 83
Factor6 25, 26, 34, 37, 38, 40, 44, 46, 49, 52, Kent Clark 24
54, 55, 61, 67, 78, 99, 108 Kluska Bartłomiej 50, 51
Faon 31 Konczakowski 110
Follin Tim 95, 98, 101 Krzemieniowa Krystyna 137
Kuryłowicz Krzysztof 66
Galishnikov Sergey 73 Kuznetsov Denis 108
Garfield Simon 130 Kyv 112
Gasman 24, 26, 27, 36,38, 40, 44, 46, 48,
60, 61, 64, 66, 67, 68, 84 Lake Greg 57, 101
Gates Bill 29, 30 Lamer1 26
Gemrot Rostislav 34 Lamer2 26
Gen Martinez 83 Laser 38
Goblin/Goblinish 24, 26, 69 LaVey 91
 INDEX 149

Lawson Cliff 64 Palmer Carl 101

LCD 29, 30, 37, 39, 44, 46, 65, 69 Panteleev Pavel 73
Lenin Vladimir (Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov) 86 Perez Antonio 112
López Miguel Ángel Tejedor 112 Półtorak Arkadiusz 138
Privalov Dmitry 73
Macros 37 Puhnachev 67
Madej Dariusz 67 Pylak Paweł 30
Mahler Gustav 48
Mayakovski Vladimir 86 Quiet 112
Makarov Vladimir 62
Marasek Krzysztof 67 Radxcell (rdx) 19, 20, 22, 25, 30, 35, 39, 43,
Marecki Piotr 9, 22, 31, 38, 42, 55, 80, 81, 45, 46, 56, 58, 59, 61, 63, 64, 66, 68, 71,
82, 85, 90, 93, 100, 109 72, 77, 78
Mark 31 Raffii 83
McAlpine Kenneth B. 94 Rajsoft 84
Miazga Rafał (Ralf ) 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 44, Retrobytes 112
45, 48, 51, 55, 68, 70, 73, 75, 110, 111 Retrospect 103
Medvedev Nikolaj 73, 74 RetroWorks 111, 112
Mikropol 53 Reunanen Markku 8, 23
MISTER BEEP 26, 98–102, 103, 104, 105, Riskej 112
109, 110, 111, 140 Roger 36, 66
MMcM 40, 78 Rogulin Eugene 112
Moiseev Igor 73 Rucksack Games 112
Montfort Nick 137
Moroz 30, 60, 77 SAM Style 112
Mr. Incognito 26 SaNchez 112
Mr. Gluk 108 Sand 112
Murphy Eddie 67 Saphier David 112
Sapkowski Andrzej 91
N1k-O 37 Scalesmann 25–26, 35, 54, 58, 59, 60, 62,
Nagórski Bartłomiej 76 76
Naughty Crew 38 Schiva 38,
Nik-O 112 Schustin Mikael 57
Noro 38 SCL 25, 112
Sean Adams 83
Ochkov 67 Semizarov Alexey 60, 70
Origin Oleg 112 Sharp Lyndon 95
150 INDEX

Shepherd Robee 94 Tufty 104

Shiru 101, 103 Tygrys 110
Silver John 37
Sinclair Clive Marles 7, 13, 15, 25, 52, 64, Ulyanov Vladimir Ilyich, see Lenin Vladimir
105, 115, 116, 118, 119, 120, 130 Unbelievables, the 38
SinDiKat 108, 109
Slayer 110 Vangelis 99
Slider 91 Vickers Steve 130
Voxel 104
SLL 99
Voyager 110
SMAN 26
Smith Chris 119
Wasiak Patryk 23, 49
Speccy Boyz 38
Wasiljew 62
Stamnes Bent 57
Wilde Oscar 26
Starsoft 38
Wise Men 83
Steel Dragon 38
Superman 24
Yerzmyey 81
Švelch Jaroslav 109

Zakrzewski Włodzimierz 86
Tangerine Dream 99 Zbigniew N. 84
Tasajärvi Lassi 57 ZeroTeam 108, 109
TDM 38 Zielinski Siegfried 137
Tiboh 77 Zilog 94, 100
Tomcio Paluch International 31 Ziutek 110
Tramiel Jacek 32, 33 Zorba 112
Trix 25 ZXDN 26
Truppel Ingo 61 ZXMan48k 112
EDITOR
Zofia Sajdek

PROOFREADER
Tomasz P. Bocheński

TYPESETTER
Hanna Wiechecka

Jagiellonian University Press

Editorial Offices: ul. Michałowskiego 9/2, 31-126 Kraków
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