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                                 "Posh" by Checkpoint
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system... Atari ST/STe, 1 MB RAM, RGB, STeem 2.4

credits.. code - defjam/checkpoint
          gfx  - modmate/checkpoint
                 exocet/jff
                 sts/alive
          msx  - 5o5/checkpoint & creators

release.. o5/o3, took 1st place at Error In Line 2oo3 ST Demo compo

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-> Follow the crosslinks for more screenshots!!!!

Wow, we had to wait about  4 years for the next  big demo by Checkpoint, as this
is the first  diskfiller by Defjam and his mates since "Suretrip" 1999. Original
this demo should see the light many  years before, as it was originally produced
for the STNICCC 2ooo under the title "Monostyle" but  because of a bunch of bugs
the demo wasn't shown and not released at all.

As it didn't appeared on Error In Line 2oo1 nobody  thought it would be possible
to see it somewhen. Defjam conquered the Gameboy Advance and later on the PalmOS
with demo  coding and anybody  thought the Atari  scene wouldn´t see him back at
all doing some of his freaky stuffs on the ST.
How wrong we were! As the first rumours at the  Error In Line 2oo3 came up, that
Defjam might release something, all people  crossed their fingers and  have hold
their breath, as  already "Suretrip" was  able to show  Defjams skills very much
and  nobody  matched it  so far  to  top "Suretrip" really... Many  coders maybe
reached a quite similar style, but "Suretrip" was always one step beyond 'coz of
Defjam's hardcore ideas to present  us screens that  everyone thought they would
not be possible on the ST at all. So all wondered, if Defjam will be able to top
his own production. And... right now said, he did it...

"Posh" itself comes really old schoolish as boot disk onto our machines and runs
only on ST as well  as on emulation. But if we get some new demo for our beloved
STs we  have to dig out our old machines, torture it with the MSA packer (yummy)
and hep, we get some new and cool self running demo disk... put' into the floppy
and looking  if the ST still runs, ofcourse he does even if the drive makes some
strange noises... But this isn't that important  as right after putting the disk
into the floppy the demo starts...

At first a white  screen appears while coloured  blocks are building an abstract
loading  logo  and a  sample from  Headcrash's "Back to basics" that  matches in
parts  with some  discussions  in  the  scene... "what colour  is right and what
colour  is wrong..." hehehe... The screen turns black and a chip music starts to
play while a Checkpoint logo is build up line by line, it is drawn by Exocet and
well done.



The first bigger  effect is a Posh logo with 3 bumpmaps on it, filling the whole
low res screen, the whole  scenery turns white and then bright yellow to show us
some small stylish logos for Defjam, mOdmate and 5o5 jumping and snipping around
on the screen. The chipmusic  goes straight  forward and  turns out to be a real
cool demo soundtrack!

It goes on with a kind of plasma  effect with nice  colours, followed by the pic
that  was done by mOdmate for  the EIL 3 gfx  competition. A well  drawn picture
with a  lot of hardcore  dither  stuff. At next  follows  some kind  of whirling
effect that zoomes and distes on the screen.

Then a Checkpoint logo is build up on the screen piece by piece, it's again done
by mOdmate and quite stylish and  then a very big  burning vector cube is shown,
that remembers  hard to their  Drooling intro from 1996. Another  zoom something
effect comes up, that looks  a bit like a  wormhole that  can't decided  in what
direction  it has to run ;) and we get  another very  great picture  by mOdmate,
showing his "Monostyle Biest"... hehe. Then  another nice  effect comes up, that
brings us some raindrops onto the screen created out of shaded ascii signs. Also
a very cool effect.

-> some more cool effects <-

With a new music  a new part of the demo  starts. At first  there are given some
technical  notes about  the following  thing, while  the screen  swaps again and
again  to another  one, who  builds  up a  little logo, saying "doughnut"... Ah.
And then we  get the donut, build of 128 faces and  gouraudshaded... You can get
a screenshot by following the link some lines below.

That screen  runs quite a  while, exchanging  the background  pictures again and
again, those are downscaled pictures from Amiga/PC artists from several parties.
A little drawback in my eyes is  the fact that  the donut is halted in movement,
when the  pictures are exchanged. At last  you get the  whole screen filled with
donuts.

At next follows a fast textured tunnel with curves, a cool but  known picture by
Exocet again and... shaded  raytracing balls with  z-buffering?! I really don't
know how to describe it right...

But if you think Defjam has already finished his  effect orgy, you are so wrong,
as he  brings us the  fractal plant  from the "Terrorise Your Soul" Falcon demo
onto the screen, together  with a short  snipped of the  original tracker music,
wow, a dejavu! The chipmusic  comes shortly back  and makes place for one of the
last killer effects...

Defjam brings us now: "Terminal Fuckup" onto the ST, 1o years  after its release
on the  Falcon we  get a quite  good version  on our  little machines. You don't
remember? The original demo was created by Sanity on Amiga and then converted by
Sanity again onto the Falcon. It shows some texture mapped zoom rotator. Ok, you
might say, zoom rotators are old shit, Sanity did it on the ST too... yes, yes..
but Defjam  has done  it  in... fullscreen... with  distorting  texture and, the
original tracker  music! That screen really rocks! Look some lines below for the
screenshot link!

After a while the screen turns black and the music is turned off, while a little
"the end" logo is displayed... underlined with "has not been reached yet"... Uh!

And then we get the last killer effect, together with another stunning chipmusic
by 5o5 a wolfenstein routine appears on  the screen. But not an ordinary one, it
features  even floor  and ceiling mapping and  this with a quite good speed. Ok,
the resolution  isn't the highest  but therefore  we get some  animated walls as
well, showing wormholes, plasmas, zoomrotators and bumpmappers. What a rush!

-> the last orgasm <-

Then the music is  switched off and we  get a picture by mOdmate  again, showing
his winning "Jasmin" picture from  Quast'98 (?) in 16 colours  and brown shaded,
smoking a cigarette. Nice effect, that is build of Defjams fire routines.



"Die EU Gesundheitsminister: Rauchen gefährdet Ihre Gesundheit!"

Then you can either press space to see the end part or watch  Jasmin a while and
wait for the automatical move to the end part.

Here you get some scroller with changeable  speed, a Checkpoint  logo that dists
in X and Y axis  as well as  some purple bouncing something... Dunno, surely the
background of the logo...

The scroller features  a lot of technical  informations (smashing onto the shit,
harhar), the complete credits  and greetings. And  then you have no other choice
as to reset the machine, for another demotrip...

Final words... I can't describe it, Defjam  kicks ass like hell  and I think the
               scene surely will  forgive him the  last years in "doing nothing"
               and working on other  systems too. He shows us  again, what freak
               he is, as I think nobody  around thought  on converting  parts of
               Falcon demos to the ST, and  overall with  success. He shows what
               the ST is able to  do with such a  coding wizard  on the keys and
               Defjam surely has overrode his old idols for lightyears. The demo
               also  leaves us  a bit  split impression, since  it features very
               straight designed  parts while  on other  moments it  seems to be
               kicked together in  a hurry. mOdmates grafix and design and 5o5's
               outstanding  musix... if  this team would  sit and  work together
               much more close, yawn... I think  no one would be able to imagine
               the things they could do then... I'm so damn happy that this demo
               has finally found its way to our old ST's, kicking ass once more,
               in times as the Amiga 5oo is already burried and gone, harhar ;)

___ratings______________________________________________________________________

visuals.......  9o % - great grafix, logos and fonts, yummy!
audio......... 1oo % - 5o5's soundtrack is just outstanding
effects.......  9o % - overload, in parts not seen before on the ST
design........  8o % - in parts very cool designed, unfortunately some breaks
originality...  9o % - several parts weren't seen before on the ST

___Overall______9o_%____________________________________________________________

One thing  is  sure, Defjam  created with  his mates  a demo  that is  already a
classic now, technical  it is definitly  high end  but lacks a  bit consequently
design. Btw... have I mentioned that I watched the demo 11 times for this test?!

_.tSCc.__________________________________________________________moondog_o6/2k3_