Survey submitted: Fri 22 Jun 2007 - 17:06:17

Handle, ex-handle(s):
gaiaSword (compagnie)



Name, birthday, origin:
Scott, 28-10-81, Australia

Group, ex-group(s):
N/A

What was your first group, your role in that group and what did that group produce?:
concept and graphics for a couple of 64ks. Pretending i could model and pretending even more poorly that i could code

What motivates you to spend time on the scene?:
sometimes it's searching for art, but also just looking for cool creative geeky stuff. Seeing the work of friends I've come to know in person is a big motivator now

What is your favorite color?:
Blue

On what platform(s) did you begin your computing journey, and when was this?:
I was a latecomer. PC/Dos, circa 1999.

What platform(s) do you use now?:
The very pixelshaderless PC/Win32 & BeOS

What is/are your favorite piece(s) of music(s) - from a demo production or a scener (released outside of a demo)?:
I'm always listening to the the output of scene-like netlables like enough records and kosmoplovci studiosound.

What is/are your favorite picture(s) - from a demo production or a scener(released outside of a demo)?:
well, i admit i love finding cool/odd gfx in source directories of demos. There's many...The 24bit uncompressed Bitmaps in Hwr2 come to mind though. Lapsen had some great textures in their prod.

What music program are you using the most to express yourself? Why?:
It would have to be Finale, because just everything i write involves pen and paper notation at some point. It's like sketching tool; a "notepad.exe" before i take my thoughts to say, a tracker program or Audition.

Which composer, artist or group of the real life did inspire you most?:
Right now i'm listening to a lot of Augie March - an Australian alternative group with a very 'advanced english' approach to their lyrics. It's like you have to grapple with each song to work it all out... it's very clever, poignant and crafted stuff. But there are many - lots of contemporary composers as well; nearly always music coming from my country.

Do you play any instrument? Which?:
percussion, trombone, piano and voice

Which project that you worked on was the most exciting and interesting for you? And why?:
elran, because it was a cool and abstract concept in64k

What is your favorite demo, intro, megademo, retrogame, slideshow, musicdisk, diskmag, wilddemo?:
whoa! I take two hours to pick a jukebox song! But off the top of my head:
a) My own bullet of Autumn by Crolyx
b) the little green frog
c) can't say i have a taste for them
d) carmen sandiego probably
e) no time by affinity
f) trilogy by insula, lo-tracked and emissions #4
g) R.O.M.; Hugi and Pain
h) 45 for electricity

Discuss: minimalistic demos, cracktros, fucktros, joke demos, lamers, compo winners at big parties, demotools, diskmags, chiptunes, glenz vectors, programming languages, photoshop, textmode :
the thing is, the scene doesn't have to necessarily be about any of these things. There's a sizable quantity of amazing demo guys out there - some of my favourite people, whom have never concerned with any of these. Follow your passion; then drink a beer with your mates.

not an aussie beer tho... go that danish stuff...

What percentage of modern demos are 3d flybys?:
60-70%

What percentage of older demos are the same effects recycled?:
35-50%

What platform(s) needs more demos?:
On one hand, we should do more with the odd platforms. The tamagotchi, the PDAs... There's something cool about the idea of demoing anything with electronics in it. I personally hope to one day see hacked demos on unsuspecting public transport ticket machines.. that's the exciting stuff. Oh, and OHPs, because they're fun! But on the other hand... sometimes I go into "all serious" modes - where i'm annoyed with the way we are making PC demos today (so much processing power at our hands, still to be exploited - yet we still make masses of the same "fps race" kinds of demos...)... sometimes i dream of a world with half the amount of demos and twice the amount of thought put into their ideas.

Which parties do you intend to go to, and which parties would you like to go to? lease describe your personal experiences with your most favourite or impressive party you have ever been at.:
Well, other than Syntax (which i'm organising), only ever been to Asm and Evoke '06. Evoke was wonderful in a both technically organised and friendly way. But ASM was an ideal headfuck. That said, I *have* to do a BP trip, sometime. I've also always wanted to experience some smaller ones, like Inercia and Simmulatio. Damn expensive europe...

How did the scene alter since you are taking an active part in it? Can you explain why?:
Well, everyone got drunk and logged into pouet; then it went to the dogs.
Honestly i think people are - generally speaking - a lot more content now. There's a higher demand for demos and yet we are consuming art quicker than we can stop and think about it. There's a lot less attitude around.... there's also a lot less Optimus posts and a lot more Rob is Jarig
It's very exciting to live somewhere where the scene is just starting to flourish; it's quite beautiful to be a part of.

What are your dreams/goals in life, did scene help you and have you achieved them yet?:
Well yeah. Nearly all of my professional career as a composer is inspired by the demoscene in some way. Not only that, but i've made some awesome friends

Finally, do you have some special greetings? Feel free to add links to your graphics, screenshots of effects, modules or other pieces of your work.:
nope