Future Crew
Encyclopedia
Future Crew is a now-defunct Finnish
demogroup
who created PC demos
and software, active mostly between 1992 and 1994.
group, before moving to the PC
demoscene
in 1988; other members included, over time, Trug, Wildfire, Pixel, ICE, GORE, Abyss, Purple Motion
, and Skaven
, as well as several others not listed here.
Noteworthy demos by Future Crew include Unreal
(released at Assembly
1992), Panic (released at The Party
1992) and Second Reality
(released at Assembly 1993). Second Reality may be considered one of the most influential PC demos ever made. Future Crew was also responsible for the popular MOD
editor Scream Tracker
, which was fashioned after the Amiga
Soundtracker
, as well as the Advanced DigiPlayer sound editor and later became itself inspiration for other trackers like the Impulse Tracker
Future Crew was co-organizer of the first Assembly demo party
in 1992, and continued organizing the annual party until 1995, when the organization set up the Finnish company ASSEMBLY Organizing in order to "provide a solid financial basis for the events and a reliable partner for our sponsors." Long time Future Crew member Abyss is one of the party's main organizers.
Future Crew did not release anything as a group after Scream Tracker 3 (December 1994). While it was never officially dissolved, its members parted ways in the second half of the 1990s. Companies like Futuremark
(3DMark
), Remedy
(Death Rally
, Max Payne
, Alan Wake
), Bugbear Entertainment
(FlatOut
, Glimmerati, Rally Trophy) and Bitboys (a graphics hardware company) were all started in whole or in part by members of Future Crew.
voted the Future Crew Demo Second Reality
as one of the "Top 10 Hacks of All Time".
Tributes to Future Crew include a 3D graphics benchmark called Final Reality by Remedy Entertainment
(shown at Assembly 1997), and a remake of Second Reality for the Commodore 64 by Smash Designs called Second Reality 64 (released at The Party 1997).
Nectarine Records has released an album containing the most known songs of Future Crew as a tribute. The album's name is "Metropolis", and it's free to download through internet.
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
demogroup
Demogroup
Demogroups are teams of demosceners, who make computer based audio-visual works of art known as demos. Demogroups form a subculture collectively known as the demoscene....
who created PC demos
Demo (computer programming)
A demo is a non-interactive multimedia presentation made within the computer subculture known as the demoscene. Demogroups create demos to demonstrate their abilities in programming, music, drawing, and 3D modeling...
and software, active mostly between 1992 and 1994.
History
The group was founded in 1986 by PSI as a Commodore 64Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
group, before moving to the PC
IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981...
demoscene
Demoscene
The demoscene is a computer art subculture that specializes in producing demos, which are non-interactive audio-visual presentations that run in real-time on a computer...
in 1988; other members included, over time, Trug, Wildfire, Pixel, ICE, GORE, Abyss, Purple Motion
Jonne Valtonen
Jonne Valtonen is an award-winning Finnish composer, arranger and orchestrator. He is renowned for his contributions in the field of demoscene and video game music.- Life and early career :...
, and Skaven
Peter Hajba
Peter Hajba also known by his demoscene nickname Skaven, is a Finnish musician and graphic artist.Despite having no formal training, he has won numerous awards for his music, including winning the Assembly music competition in 1993, 1995 and 2002. His most recent project is with Remedy...
, as well as several others not listed here.
Noteworthy demos by Future Crew include Unreal
Unreal (demo)
Unreal is a demo created by Future Crew in 1992.-System requirements:The demo states that "[it] requires a 386 computer [and] runs perfectly on a 486/33 MHz [PC] with Tseng Labs SuperVGA"...
(released at Assembly
Assembly (demo party)
The Assembly demo party is a demoscene and gaming event in Finland. The main organizers of the event are Pekka Aakko and Jussi Laakkonen . The event takes place every year between late July and early August, and lasts three to four days...
1992), Panic (released at The Party
The Party (demo party)
The Party was an annual demoscene event held from 1991 to 2002 in Denmark. It was one of the first events of its kind and set the trend for many other demoscene parties in Europe.-The early years:...
1992) and Second Reality
Second Reality
Unreal ][ - The 2nd Reality , is a demo created by Future Crew for the Assembly '93 demoparty. In the PC demo competition, Second Reality placed first with its demonstration of 2D and 3D rendering. The demo was released to the public in October 1993. It is considered to be one of the best demos...
(released at Assembly 1993). Second Reality may be considered one of the most influential PC demos ever made. Future Crew was also responsible for the popular MOD
MOD (file format)
MOD is a computer file format used primarily to represent music, and was the first module file format. MOD files use the “.MOD” file extension, except on the Amiga where the original trackers instead use a “mod.” prefix scheme, e.g. “mod.echoing”...
editor Scream Tracker
Scream Tracker
Scream Tracker is a tracker . It was created by Psi of Finland's Future Crew It was coded in C and assembly language. The first popular version of Scream Tracker, version 2.2, was published in 1990...
, which was fashioned after the Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
Soundtracker
Ultimate Soundtracker
Ultimate Soundtracker, or Soundtracker for short, is a music tracker program for the Commodore Amiga. It is the creation of Karsten Obarski, a German software developer and composer at a game development company; sources differ as to the name of the company, recorded it as reLINE, whereas ...
, as well as the Advanced DigiPlayer sound editor and later became itself inspiration for other trackers like the Impulse Tracker
Impulse Tracker
Impulse Tracker is a multi-track digital sound tracker . It was one of the last tracker programs for the DOS platform. It was authored by Jeffrey "Pulse" Lim, and example music was provided by Jeffrey Lim and Chris Jarvis...
Future Crew was co-organizer of the first Assembly demo party
Assembly (demo party)
The Assembly demo party is a demoscene and gaming event in Finland. The main organizers of the event are Pekka Aakko and Jussi Laakkonen . The event takes place every year between late July and early August, and lasts three to four days...
in 1992, and continued organizing the annual party until 1995, when the organization set up the Finnish company ASSEMBLY Organizing in order to "provide a solid financial basis for the events and a reliable partner for our sponsors." Long time Future Crew member Abyss is one of the party's main organizers.
Future Crew did not release anything as a group after Scream Tracker 3 (December 1994). While it was never officially dissolved, its members parted ways in the second half of the 1990s. Companies like Futuremark
Futuremark
Futuremark Oy is a Finnish software development company, that produces computer benchmark applications for home users and businesses. Company headquarters and R&D department are located in Espoo, Finland...
(3DMark
3DMark
3DMark is a computer benchmarking tool created and developed by Futuremark Corporation to determine the performance of a computer's 3D graphic rendering and CPU workload processing capabilities. Running 3DMark produces a 3DMark score with higher numbers indicating better performance...
), Remedy
Remedy Entertainment
Remedy Entertainment is a Finnish computer game developer founded in 1995 and based in Espoo, Finland. The company is best known for its Max Payne and Alan Wake series of video games.-History:...
(Death Rally
Death Rally
Death Rally is a top-down perspective racing video game developed by Remedy, published by Apogee and distributed by GT Interactive. It was released on September 6, 1996...
, Max Payne
Max Payne
Max Payne is a BAFTA Award–winning third-person shooter video game developed by Finnish developers Remedy Entertainment and published by Gathering of Developers in July 2001 for Microsoft Windows. Ports created later in the year for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and the GameBoy Advance were published by...
, Alan Wake
Alan Wake
Alan Wake is a story-driven action game in the psychological thriller genre, developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Microsoft Game Studios, released for the Xbox 360 video game console in 2010...
), Bugbear Entertainment
Bugbear Entertainment
Bugbear Entertainment Ltd. is a Finnish video game company. It was established in March, 2000 and employed 40 employees as in 2007. The company solely focuses on various kinds of racing games.- Released games :- Upcoming games :...
(FlatOut
FlatOut
FlatOut is a racing video game developed by Finnish Bugbear Entertainment and published by Empire Interactive and Vivendi Universal Games in 2004 and 2005. Gameplay in Flatout places emphasis on demolition derby-style races, and features a sophisticated physics engine...
, Glimmerati, Rally Trophy) and Bitboys (a graphics hardware company) were all started in whole or in part by members of Future Crew.
Members
These are the members of the group at the time it released Second Reality:- Gore (Samuli Syvähuoko): organizer
- Psi (Sami Tammilehto): coder
- Trug (Mika Tuomi): coder
- Wildfire (Arto Vuori): coder
- Purple Motion (Jonne ValtonenJonne ValtonenJonne Valtonen is an award-winning Finnish composer, arranger and orchestrator. He is renowned for his contributions in the field of demoscene and video game music.- Life and early career :...
): music http://www.purplemotion.net/ - Skaven (Peter HajbaPeter HajbaPeter Hajba also known by his demoscene nickname Skaven, is a Finnish musician and graphic artist.Despite having no formal training, he has won numerous awards for his music, including winning the Assembly music competition in 1993, 1995 and 2002. His most recent project is with Remedy...
): music & graphics http://www.futurecrew.com/skaven/ - Marvel (Aki Raula, formerly Aki Määttä): graphic artist
- Pixel (Misko IhoMisko IhoBorn May 9, 1975 in Helsinki as Mikko Iho, Misko Iho is a Finnish commercial film and music video director.-Life & work:From 1992 to 1994, Misko was a part of a now-defunct computer demo group, Future Crew, as the graphic artist named "Pixel"...
) : graphic artist - Abyss (Jussi Laakkonen): BBSBulletin board systemA Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging...
coordinator / public relations - Henchman (Markus Mäki): BBS operator
- Jake (Jarkko Heinonen): Internet PR
Releases
Future Crew released the following productions on the PC demoscene :- GR8 (1988, demo)
- YO! (1989, demo)
- Slideshow I (1990, slideshow)
- Scream TrackerScream TrackerScream Tracker is a tracker . It was created by Psi of Finland's Future Crew It was coded in C and assembly language. The first popular version of Scream Tracker, version 2.2, was published in 1990...
2 (1990, tool) - Mental Surgery (1991, demo)
- Assembly '92 Invitation, aka. Fishtro (1992, invitation)
- UnrealUnreal (demo)Unreal is a demo created by Future Crew in 1992.-System requirements:The demo states that "[it] requires a 386 computer [and] runs perfectly on a 486/33 MHz [PC] with Tseng Labs SuperVGA"...
(1992, demo, 1st at Assembly 92) - Starport BBStro (1992, BBStro)
- The Party 92 Invite (1992, invite)
- Panic (1992, demo, 2nd at The Party 92)
- Assembly '93 Invitation (1993, invitation)
- Worldcharts #01 (1993, diskmag)
- Second RealitySecond RealityUnreal ][ - The 2nd Reality , is a demo created by Future Crew for the Assembly '93 demoparty. In the PC demo competition, Second Reality placed first with its demonstration of 2D and 3D rendering. The demo was released to the public in October 1993. It is considered to be one of the best demos...
(1993, 1st at Assembly 93) - Bussimatkaintro (1993, intro)
- Journey 1 (1993, musicdisk)
- Journey 2 (1993, musicdisk)
- Starport BBS Add 2 (1993, BBStro)
- Chaotic Mind (1994, musicdisk)
- Assembly '94 Pre-invitation (1994, invitation)
- Assembly '94 Invitation (1994, invitation)
- Soppa (1994, 64k demo)
- Scream Tracker 3 (1994, tool)
- Metropolis (2011, compilation)
Awards and Tributes
SlashdotSlashdot
Slashdot is a technology-related news website owned by Geeknet, Inc. The site, which bills itself as "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters", features user-submitted and ‑evaluated current affairs news stories about science- and technology-related topics. Each story has a comments section...
voted the Future Crew Demo Second Reality
Second Reality
Unreal ][ - The 2nd Reality , is a demo created by Future Crew for the Assembly '93 demoparty. In the PC demo competition, Second Reality placed first with its demonstration of 2D and 3D rendering. The demo was released to the public in October 1993. It is considered to be one of the best demos...
as one of the "Top 10 Hacks of All Time".
Tributes to Future Crew include a 3D graphics benchmark called Final Reality by Remedy Entertainment
Remedy Entertainment
Remedy Entertainment is a Finnish computer game developer founded in 1995 and based in Espoo, Finland. The company is best known for its Max Payne and Alan Wake series of video games.-History:...
(shown at Assembly 1997), and a remake of Second Reality for the Commodore 64 by Smash Designs called Second Reality 64 (released at The Party 1997).
Nectarine Records has released an album containing the most known songs of Future Crew as a tribute. The album's name is "Metropolis", and it's free to download through internet.
External links
- Future Crew at Pouët
- Future Crew at scene.orgScene.orgScene.org is a non-profit organization, providing the currently largest demoscene file repository. It was founded in 1996 by Jaakko "Mellow-D" Manninen, though originally it existed as ftp.fm.org, an FTP-server for releases from the group Five Musicians. In 1997, it re-opened as Scene.org...
- The History of the Future Crew
- The Demoscene Documentary: (Future Crew) episode.
- Download of "Metropolis" in MediaFire.