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Learning paths

Learn demoscene and Assembly creative disciplines through hands-on labs, guided missions, tool pathways and submission preflight. Every foundation path here is free, runs entirely in your browser, and stores progress on your own device.

Every card opens a working activity with a live outcome preview. Progress and completion marks stay in this browser.

Need a reference point? Watch 10 essential demos and learn what to look for →

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Six paths include live interactive Canvas previews — try them now

Change the controls, paint grids, place cues or press Play. The preview responds to your choices and keeps progress locally in this browser.

Start here

A complete beginner route from first motion to a documented release.

  1. 1First Effects~15 MIN
  2. 2Core Demo Craft~20 MIN
  3. 3Production Design & Flow~15 MIN
  4. 4Release, Rights & Community~15 MIN

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What would you most like to make?

Demosceners often perform several roles, and many switch over time. Pick the one you are most curious about today — every path stays open.

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All paths

First Effects

~15 MIN

Interactive LabLIVE PREVIEW

Starfield, Plasma and Tunnel: the three classic browser-demo effects, with one practice mission each.

Create, remix and export your first real-time browser demo.

  • Starfield
  • Plasma
  • Tunnel
  • perspective and depth
  • sine-wave interference
  • polar geometry and apparent motion

0/3 DONE · Complete the Starfield, Plasma and Tunnel missions.

OPEN INTERACTIVE WORKSHOP

Text & Motion

~10 MIN

Interactive LabLIVE PREVIEW

Build a scrolltext and learn how speed, direction and spacing change the way moving typography reads.

Make moving typography that stays readable.

  • scrolltext
  • typography in motion
  • speed, direction and spacing
  • greetings and short messages

0/1 DONE · Complete the Control the scroll mission.

OPEN INTERACTIVE LAB

Core Demo Craft

~20 MIN

Interactive LabLIVE PREVIEW

The universal ideas behind every demo: scene time, waves, building one effect, combining effects, sync, flow and release.

Understand the concepts every demoscene discipline shares.

  • what a demo is
  • scene time
  • amplitude, frequency and phase
  • building one effect
  • a bag of tricks
  • combining effects
  • sound and sync
  • concept and flow

0/0 DONE · Complete all nine Core Demo Craft lessons.

OPEN INTERACTIVE LAB

Production Design & Flow

~15 MIN

Interactive LabGENERATED PLAN

Plan a whole production: platform, concept, mood, palette and a storyboard of scenes with an opening, escalation, climax and ending.

Turn isolated effects into one planned production.

  • platform profiles
  • concept in one sentence
  • mood and visual language
  • storyboarding
  • pacing and duration
  • transitions

0/1 DONE · Complete the three-scene arc mission.

OPEN INTERACTIVE LAB

Release, Rights & Community

~15 MIN

Interactive LabCHECKLIST + REPORT

Document what you used, generate a readme.txt, work through a release checklist, and learn how the community actually works.

Package and document a release honestly.

  • provenance ledger
  • licences and credit
  • AI-use disclosure
  • readme.txt
  • release checklist
  • demogroups and roles

0/1 DONE · Work through the release checklist with no unresolved asset rights.

OPEN INTERACTIVE LAB

Pixel & Palette

~20 MIN

Interactive Lab● LIVE PREVIEW

Colour, form and constraint in pixel graphics: why a small palette reads better than a large one, and how to keep a tiny image legible.

Draw a readable pixel study inside a strict four-colour palette.

  • limited palettes
  • readability at small sizes
  • silhouette and contrast
  • dithering as a value tool
  • clusters, not confetti

0/0 DONE · Pick a palette, paint at least 24 pixels using at most four colours, and describe the focal point.

TRY LIVE PREVIEW

Sound & Sync

~20 MIN

Interactive Lab● LIVE PREVIEW

How a demo is timed to music: beats, bars, accents and the silence that makes the next hit land.

Plan a cue sheet where visuals change on musical events.

  • beats and bars
  • cue sheets
  • accents
  • anticipation and silence
  • sync without audio files

0/0 DONE · Place at least three visual changes, one accent and one silence on different beats, then play the cue sheet until it reaches one of them.

TRY LIVE PREVIEW

Composition & Arrangement

~20 MIN

Guided Tool PathGENERATED PLAN

Sections, contrast and build-ups: how a soundtrack is shaped so a demo has somewhere to arrive.

Arrange a track structure that supports a production.

  • sections
  • contrast
  • build-ups
  • duration budgeting
  • supporting the visuals

0/0 DONE · Four or more sections including an intro and an outro, totalling between 60 and 300 seconds.

OPEN GUIDED TOOL

Rhythm & Groove

~15 MIN

Interactive Lab● LIVE PREVIEW

Beats, subdivision and variation: the rhythmic backbone under almost every demo soundtrack.

Program a drum pattern and one variation that keeps energy moving.

  • steps and subdivision
  • kick and snare relationship
  • hi-hat density
  • variation
  • groove as repetition plus change

0/0 DONE · A kick on step 1, at least one snare, four or more hits in total, a variation bar that differs from the main bar, and both bars played in the preview.

TRY LIVE PREVIEW

Tracked Music

~25 MIN

Guided Tool PathGENERATED PLAN

Patterns, channels, samples and order lists: how scene music has been written since the Amiga, and why trackers still win for size.

Plan a tracker pattern across four channels and an order list.

  • patterns and rows
  • channels
  • samples and instruments
  • order lists
  • module formats

0/0 DONE · At least six rows written, every one of the four channels used, and an order list described.

OPEN GUIDED TOOL

One-Screen Game

~20 MIN

Guided Tool PathGENERATED PLAN

Scope, loop and completion: how to design something small enough that you actually finish it.

Specify a tiny complete game that fits on a single screen.

  • core loop
  • single-screen scope
  • feedback
  • failure and restart
  • finishing

0/0 DONE · Every line of the design card is answered.

OPEN GUIDED TOOL

Shaders & 3D

~20 MIN

Interactive Lab● LIVE PREVIEW

Coordinates, repetition and distance fields: the mental model behind shader demos, without writing GLSL yet.

Explain how per-pixel maths and simple 3D distance fields make images.

  • per-pixel thinking
  • normalised coordinates
  • domain repetition
  • signed distance fields
  • raymarching in outline

0/0 DONE · Change the field away from its initial configuration and reach a repeated, tightly scaled field with a small radius.

TRY LIVE PREVIEW

Fantasy Consoles

~15 MIN

Guided Tool PathGENERATED PLAN

Deliberately limited machines with their own editors, palettes and export formats — and why limits make finishing easier.

Choose a fantasy console and plan a production inside its limits.

  • hard limits
  • built-in toolchains
  • cartridge formats
  • palette and resolution budgets
  • sharing a cart

0/0 DONE · Select a console, confirm at least four checklist items, and write your one-sentence pitch.

OPEN GUIDED TOOL

Size Coding

~15 MIN

Interactive Lab● LIVE PREVIEW

Why extreme size limits change every decision: procedural instead of stored, generated instead of authored.

Fit a production inside a 4K budget by choosing what to cut.

  • byte budgets
  • procedural generation
  • compression-friendly code
  • cutting features
  • intros vs demos

0/0 DONE · Select three or more features that fit inside 4096 bytes, and explain what you cut.

TRY LIVE PREVIEW

Oldskool Concepts

~15 MIN

Interactive Lab● LIVE PREVIEW

Copper bars, raster splits, palette tricks and sprite multiplexing: effects invented because the hardware left no other option.

Explain where classic hardware tricks came from and why they looked like that.

  • raster beam timing
  • copper bars
  • palette cycling
  • sprite multiplexing
  • hardware as a constraint

0/0 DONE · Configure at least six copper bars, an active raster split and palette cycling, and confirm three concepts.

TRY LIVE PREVIEW

Platform-Specific Workflows

~20 MIN

Hardware / Submission CompanionCHECKLIST + REPORT

Toolchains, emulator testing and real-hardware verification for classic and modern targets.

Know the build, test and packaging route for one target platform.

  • cross-assemblers and compilers
  • emulator vs hardware
  • disk and cartridge images
  • transfer methods
  • packaging for a party

0/0 DONE · Select a platform and confirm all five steps of its route.

OPEN INTERACTIVE COMPANION

Digital Graphics

~20 MIN

Guided Tool PathGENERATED PLAN

Composition, value and finish in still digital artwork — plus the WIP shots graphics competitions expect.

Plan a still image that holds a big screen, with work-in-progress evidence.

  • focal point
  • value structure
  • colour harmony
  • finish and restraint
  • work-in-progress evidence

0/0 DONE · Describe focal point, value structure and palette intent, and commit to at least three WIP stages.

OPEN GUIDED TOOL

3D Graphics

~20 MIN

Guided Tool PathGENERATED PLAN

Modelling, materials, lighting and rendering, taught as decisions rather than as menu clicks.

Plan a 3D still: subject, materials, three-point lighting and camera.

  • primitives and blockout
  • materials and roughness
  • three-point lighting
  • camera and framing
  • render settings

0/0 DONE · Every line of the shot plan is answered.

OPEN GUIDED TOOL

Short Film

~20 MIN

Guided Tool PathGENERATED PLAN

Shooting, editing and sound for short-film competitions: the smallest structure that still tells something.

Break a short film into shots with a clear arc and a real duration.

  • shot lists
  • coverage
  • pacing
  • sound as half the film
  • delivery formats

0/0 DONE · Three to eight shots totalling 30 to 300 seconds, including an opening, an escalation and an ending.

OPEN GUIDED TOOL

Real Wild

~15 MIN

Hardware / Submission CompanionCHECKLIST + REPORT

Physical builds and stunts, plus the safety thinking and capture plan a wild entry actually needs.

Plan a physical production and the footage that proves it happened.

  • physical builds
  • safety and risk
  • capture plan
  • evidence of authorship
  • delivery as video

0/0 DONE · Describe idea, materials and procedure, and confirm at least four safety and capture steps.

OPEN INTERACTIVE COMPANION

Competition Preparation

~15 MIN

Hardware / Submission CompanionCHECKLIST + REPORT

Deadlines, formats, screenshots and evidence — the unglamorous work that decides whether an entry runs at all.

Assemble a submission package without last-minute surprises.

  • compo rules
  • deadlines
  • delivery formats
  • screenshots and previews
  • backup captures
  • authorship evidence

0/0 DONE · Name the party and your personal deadline, select a competition type, and confirm all six package items.

OPEN INTERACTIVE COMPANION