Future Crew - Second Reality (1993) [60fps]

DemosceneVids
7 HN recommenders · recommended in 6 months, 2008–2026
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241K views · 11 years ago · demo · historical

Second Reality, the 1993 demoscene production by Finnish group Future Crew, captured at 60fps. It is a classic MS-DOS demo of real-time effects, music and visuals running on PC hardware of the early 90s.

HN people hold it up as the demo that amazed a generation and the one to cite for the impact of the early-90s demoscene.

“You can draw a pretty clean line from the incredible Second Reality demo[1] in 1993 to Alan Wake 2 thirty years later.”
Shaders & real-time visualsGenerative art
#futurecrew#demoscene#secondreality#ms-dos#real-timegraphics

18 comments from Hacker News

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@carimura2023 · in “Turbo Rascal Syntax Error”
reminded me of one of my all-time favorite demos from Future Crew one of the moments that shaped my childhood towards a life of computers. ▶ this video
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@ChrisArchitect2023 · in “What is the Demoscene? An interview”
Nice little interview that touches on a number of the magical parts of the scene and the many elements and major sites. This guy only started in 1997? All good, but feel like that's just a bit 'after' the golden, significant era. There was definitely a change as PC/windows development happened ...right around then I'd say. But maybe that's just my take on it. Feel like references to some classic demos should be late 80s/early 90s for the sheer impact and that it was a much much more active scene then. Future Crew "Second Reality" forever. ;) ▶ this video
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@dzign2023 · in “What is the Demoscene? An interview”
My top 3 demos: Second Reality by Future Crew: ▶ this video Pump by Iguana: link Stash by TBL, The Black Lotus: link
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@herodoturtle2021 · in “Demoscene the Amiga Years Volume 1”
Loved reading this comment, thanks for sharing. The demo scene is what got me into programming in my youth - in particular Denthor's BBS tuts, and many late night adventures in mode13h. Good times! > That was when Future Crew showed up with 2nd Reality and the double bouncing, transparent balls. I still remember the feeling of amazement and utter loss at seeing that :) Future Crew's 2nd Reality demo, for those that haven't seen it: ▶ this video
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@drux2021 · in “Demoscene accepted as UNESCO cultural heritage in Germany”
Second Reality by Future Crew ▶ this video ( It is considered to be one of the best demos created during the early 1990s on the PC)
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C
@ChrisArchitect2020 · in “Finland adds the demoscene as a UNESCO intangible world cultural heritage”
this recognition gives me lots of warm feels. The number of aspects that the demoscene brought together: programming, art, music, an online world of connection, and community - was incredible and had a huge impact on me when I discovered and learned more about it as a young kid in the early 90s. All I can think of to commend this occasion is Future Crew 'Second Reality' :) ▶ this video
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@drKarl2011 · in “Demoscene nostalgia: Future Crew's Second Reality”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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@uptown2011 · in “Text Particles”
I miss that old classic stuff. Old animations with absurd graphics for the time. An S3M or MOD playing in the background. Really ground-breaking stuff. One of the classics: Second Reality by FUTURE CREW ▶ this video
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@tuzemec2026 · in “Plasma Effect (2016)”
All I hear is the music from Second Reality (the plasma cube part). ▶ this video
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F
@Flow2023 · in “Northlight technology in Alan Wake 2”
Here's a 60fps video of the same demo. The demo-sceners work really hard to make everything 60fps(1 vbl), so watching it in any other frame-rate feels wrong. ▶ this video
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C
@Centigonal2023 · in “Northlight technology in Alan Wake 2”
Remedy was started by Demoscene hackers, including a bunch of Future Crew folks. You can draw a pretty clean line from the incredible Second Reality demo[1] in 1993 to Alan Wake 2 thirty years later. [1] ▶ this video
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s
@stevefan19992023 · in “What is the Demoscene? An interview”
The gaming industry should always look on the demoscene. One of the most influential demo, Second Reality [1] (I think it is internally called Unreal 2), eventually impressed Tim Sweeney (yes, that Tim Sweeney from Epic Games today) and wanted to hire Future Crew to make Epic Pinball but was unsuccessful. Coincidentally, the first FC Assembly demo is called Unreal, and I'm not sure if that has anything to do with Unreal the game, and the etymology of Unreal Engine itself. I always liked demoscene because they push the tech to its limit, for example kkrieger which is a DirectX game in 96K [3], which is rare to this day due to Wirth's law [2], considering most of the games today are bloated as hell. Too bad there aren't demo groups in Hong Kong, or I may join when I was still a carefree teen back in 10 years ago when I was 14. [1]: ▶ this video [2]: link [3]: link
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