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.
Demosceners often perform several roles, and many switch over time. Pick the one you are most curious about today — every path stays open.
No role selected. All paths are shown in their default order.
Interactive Lab
Change controls and immediately see or hear the result.
LIVE PREVIEW
Guided Tool Path
Build a usable plan and continue in established creative software.
GENERATED PLAN
Hardware / Submission Companion
Generate a target-specific checklist and takeaway.
CHECKLIST + REPORT
Not every path is a full browser editor. Each card below states what it produces.
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.
0/3 DONE · Complete the Starfield, Plasma and Tunnel missions.
START PATHInteractive LabLIVE PREVIEW
Build a scrolltext and learn how speed, direction and spacing change the way moving typography reads.
Make moving typography that stays readable.
0/1 DONE · Complete the Control the scroll mission.
START PATHInteractive 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.
0/0 DONE · Complete all nine Core Demo Craft lessons.
START PATHInteractive 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.
0/1 DONE · Complete the three-scene arc mission.
START PATHInteractive 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.
0/1 DONE · Work through the release checklist with no unresolved asset rights.
START PATHInteractive LabLIVE 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.
0/0 DONE · Pick a palette, paint at least 24 pixels using at most four colours, and describe the focal point.
START PATHInteractive LabLIVE 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.
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.
START PATHGuided 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.
0/0 DONE · Four or more sections including an intro and an outro, totalling between 60 and 300 seconds.
START PATHInteractive LabLIVE PREVIEW
Beats, subdivision and variation: the rhythmic backbone under almost every demo soundtrack.
Program a drum pattern and one variation that keeps energy moving.
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.
START PATHGuided 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.
0/0 DONE · At least six rows written, every one of the four channels used, and an order list described.
START PATHGuided 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.
0/0 DONE · Every line of the design card is answered.
START PATHInteractive LabLIVE 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.
0/0 DONE · Change the field away from its initial configuration and reach a repeated, tightly scaled field with a small radius.
START PATHGuided 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.
0/0 DONE · Select a console, confirm at least four checklist items, and write your one-sentence pitch.
START PATHInteractive LabLIVE 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.
0/0 DONE · Select three or more features that fit inside 4096 bytes, and explain what you cut.
START PATHInteractive LabLIVE 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.
0/0 DONE · Configure at least six copper bars, an active raster split and palette cycling, and confirm three concepts.
START PATHHardware / 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.
0/0 DONE · Select a platform and confirm all five steps of its route.
START PATHGuided 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.
0/0 DONE · Describe focal point, value structure and palette intent, and commit to at least three WIP stages.
START PATHGuided 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.
0/0 DONE · Every line of the shot plan is answered.
START PATHGuided 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.
0/0 DONE · Three to eight shots totalling 30 to 300 seconds, including an opening, an escalation and an ending.
START PATHHardware / 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.
0/0 DONE · Describe idea, materials and procedure, and confirm at least four safety and capture steps.
START PATHHardware / 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.
0/0 DONE · Name the party and your personal deadline, select a competition type, and confirm all six package items.
START PATH