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                           "PHOTOTRO" by HEMOROIDS
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system... ST, STe, 512 KB RAM, RGB

size..... 15o KB

credits.. code - Nucleus
          gfx  -
          msx  - Epic

release.. demo finished 1993, released 2oo2

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At last here  we have another  antic from  a wellknown group from  the nineties,
the HEMOROIDS, who released mainly from 1992-1994 a bunch of  cool demos  on the
ST and STE such as "Humeur Vitree", "Necrosys" and "Colorz" and  who where  more
or less  responsible  for the  dead of "Amazine", the  godfather  of  pure scene
mags on the ST  with issue 4, and that created a very nice pack series  with the
"Speedy Packs" on the ST that were hard Amiga style oriented...

As well as many other bands in those times also the HEMOROIDS had  some stuff in
their chests that  never saw the  light of day in  the end, such  as  this demo,
that was  created for the CSC # 2 (Crystal Summer Convention) and  was  shown on
this party but in the end it was never officially released.

In 1998 I can remember a headline on the  DHS BBS that announced that  this lost
demo, called "PHOTOTRO" should  be  released  soon... now, 4 years later, we got
it, but does time play any role nowadays? Arf...

The "PHOTOTRO" is a typical HMD production, again a  filed demo  like some other
things, just as the "Beachtro". So let's take a closer look onto it...

The demo starts with a  HMD logo coming  in from above  with a sampled sound and
then the demo really starts while playing a  nice chip music by  EPIC, showing a
chessboard  in the background  together with some  text in  a nice  pixeled font
that gives some info and will  be displayed  between the single screens too. The
break between the screens is very stylish  done and changing from  time to time,
mostly the screen is frozen as it is in  grey colours and  some vector areas are
moving together over the frozen screenshot. Well done...

The first screen  shows a one plane  HMD logo in  the background and  a swinging
and delayed violett horizontal scroller. This part can be quitted with SPACE and
after another  info screen a  very HMD typical effect comes up, a plasma in full
screen mode. Nice, but you see the years the demo carries on his back.

After another info  screen a nice  pixel grafix comes  up, unfortunately I dunno
who has done it. Take a look at it here...



Space... the final frontier...

After  this picture  a 3D show is  announced, featuring  a few quite  big filled
vector objects, such as  a cube and a  pyramid, that are  lightsourced. The best
one is a vector cube that shows some kind of vector tunnel on his sides...



Unfortunately there is no movement on the sides... it's just 1993...

This screen is  followed by the same  idea, but now filling the  whole screen so
that you just see that vector tunnels and the edges of the cube.

And a  short "ByeBye" info  says that we  reached the end... But not at all. The
last  screen is some parody of the  Amiga-soft-colour-demo-design-style, showing
a one-plane vector  ball jumping around on a  mainly green coloured screen. Even
if it isn't meant earnest it doesn't looks bad  but doesn't matches to the other
parts of the demo...

After this  screen the demo loops, there  is no other way to get away from it as
reset...

Final words... This  demo is a  typical HMD production, with  some nice  grafix,
               neat chip musix, a bit  design and  some mediocre  effects. As it
               was as the HEMOROIDS were  still active, also  this demo leaves a
               good overall impression but isn't brainblasting in any way. Today
               it looks quite outdated  since the shown  effects have lost a lot
               of their power in comparison  with nowadays productions. Only the
               pixel/msx score is  able to leave a bit longer lasting impression
               today... so this demo  is just something  for collectors. Who has
               not seen it hasn't lost much...

___ratings______________________________________________________________________

visuals.......  6o % - a quite nice picture, good fonts...
audio.........  65 % - the chip soundtrack is ok
effects.......  25 % - mainly vectors, fullscreen plasma, disting scroller
design........  6o % - some very nice screen transitions
originality...  3o % - all things except the gfx seen before...

___overall______48_%____________________________________________________________

So what? A mediocre '93 production is far from being mind melting 9 years later...

_.tSCc.__________________________________________________________moondog_1o/2k2_