Event planning for Demosplash 2024 is ongoing, and this page will be updated as featured events are scheduled.
Come to hear engaging discussions on topics across the demoscene. Check the schedule for event times, which are subject to change.
Presenter: Lincoln Roop
While many demosceners are nostalgic for the glory days of BBSes, many people's first exposure to connected computing happened during the dot com bubble. In the late 1990s, the Internet appeared to be a never-ending sea of free money. Tech stocks were all the rage, and anything with ".com" in the name was a guaranteed moneymaker. But it was not to last. Many entrepreneurs lost their fortunes overnight, and ".com" went from being a buzzword to a swear word. In this talk we'll discuss the Internet bubble, and how you can avoid making some of the same mistakes.
Presenter: Brendan Becker
Inverse Phase, also known as Brendan Becker, is old. Once upon a time, with a Compaq Portable and a modem, he discovered this thing where you could actually call other people's computers! And just like that, it was all over. Going down the rabbit hole as nerds often do, he sought to learn everything he could be about this whole ordeal (or-dial?), lived that life, and even started a computer museum. Now, he's here to share pre-internet tales, trials, and tribulations with y'all. So bring your favorite sitting device, any questions you might have about getting online in ye olden days, and let's learn about BBSes and more!
Come celebrate the spirit of the Demoscene with live screenings and competitions.
Throughout the weekend, we'll be offering live showings of demos running on real machines, old and new, from the CMU Computer Club's large collection — Amiga, Atari, Commodore, PC, you name it! We'll be showing both eternal classics and recent releases. Check the schedule for more details and times!
No demo party is complete without the chance to write your own demos and submit them to be screened and voted on by the audience! We have several categories — check the compos page for more info.
Over the years we've had a few attendees bring cool projects they're working on, retro hardware for gaming, and more to Demosplash. We think this is awesome and we'd like to encourage more of it. This year we'll be setting aside some tables in the retro game room for attendees to bring machines. We'll supply a table, chairs, and power but you'll need to bring your own monitor, speakers, cables, etc.
If you're planning to bring something, please e-mail us at organizers@demosplash.org letting us know what you're planning to bring so we can make space for you and coordinate move-in and move-out.
If you don't feel like bringing hardware of your own, fear not. As always, the Demosplash organizers will be setting up some of our favorite retro machines in the game room for attendees to enjoy!
Enjoy bootlegs, remixes, and concert recordings of some of our favorite chiptune-style music and game soundtracks. Listen to some of the most famous artists in the scene and discover a few lesser-known ones too.
In the evenings, we'll switch over to a playlist of rave demos. Loud, flashy, and generally seizure-inducing, these are the demoscene's link to the techno/rave culture it grew up alongside. We can't usually play these on the main big screen, but you can come see them here!