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Hello everyone and Happy New Year! 
As you may know, Pouët has turned 20 last year, and we thought it'd be fun to look at some of the #demoscene trends the site has observed in that timeframe, organized and visualized!
Strap in, [THREAD] starts here!
As you may know, Pouët has turned 20 last year, and we thought it'd be fun to look at some of the #demoscene trends the site has observed in that timeframe, organized and visualized!
Strap in, [THREAD] starts here!
1/ First and most important: Is the scene dead?
Judging by the number of prods released each year, no! Naturally the pandemic in 2020 didn't help matters, but there is a solid average of 1300 Pouët-worthy prods each year!
Judging by the number of prods released each year, no! Naturally the pandemic in 2020 didn't help matters, but there is a solid average of 1300 Pouët-worthy prods each year!
2/ Secondly, there are still enough #demoparties each year to have one every weekend - again, COVID obviously lowered that number last year, but it was still well above 50!
3/ So what platforms are most demos made on nowadays?
Like most of the world, @Windows is the most popular, but the "good ol' machines" are still holding up, and the C64 has been slowly eating into the hegemony...
Like most of the world, @Windows is the most popular, but the "good ol' machines" are still holding up, and the C64 has been slowly eating into the hegemony...
4/ ...so much so that in the last two years, the #Commodore64 has overtaken Windows entirely!
5/ Naturally, the #Amiga is just as alive, and there's an interesting switch: In the last decade, the "classic" Amiga 500 demos have began vastly outnumbering the demos on the ostensibly more performant A1200.
Why do you think that is? Sound off below!
Why do you think that is? Sound off below!
6/ On the other front, #Atari is still holding up, with a roughly even number of 16- and 8-bit demos each year, with the occasional Atari console demo thrown in.
7/ And in the legendary rivalry, while Atari had an upper hand in the mid-00s, the resurgence of A500 demos has solidified the Amiga's lead.
8/ On the 8-bit front, of course, there's no contest - the C64 vastly prods outnumber the Atari 8-bit prods.
9/ In what's perhaps the third largest pool of 8-bit platforms, there's always a solid number of classic #ZXSpectrum demos, with the occasional "modern ZX" demo as well.
10/ Among PC platforms, #Linux and #macOS is still present and battling for a podium place behind Windows and MS-DOS.
11/ However, it's worth noting that around half of the releases on those platforms are either ports from Windows or are eventually ported.
Notably, nearly all "pure macOS" released in 2020 came from @aliatraces
Notably, nearly all "pure macOS" released in 2020 came from @aliatraces
12/ There's still a solid scene on #MSDOS; it is little surprise though that by this point almost all of it consists of tiny intros.
13/ On the web side of things, the release of @threejs_org turbocharged the amount of #JavaScript releases; #Java continues to exist, and as we all know one of the sad casualties of 2020 was #AdobeFlash.
14/ Anyone remember #Alambik - the OG "fantasy platform"? The new kids in town #Pico8 ( @lexaloffle) and #TIC80 ( @tic_computer) have both lunged in and will probably conquer and divide the market.
15/ ...and speaking of "fantasy platforms", demoscene interest in #Android and #iOS still continues to be a fantasy.
16/ Let's talk types next.
There's a relatively even split between various types of intros, with tiny intros and #4k intros holding the most solidly, and #64k having both better and worse periods...
There's a relatively even split between various types of intros, with tiny intros and #4k intros holding the most solidly, and #64k having both better and worse periods...
17/ ... but the most popular category is still the #demo.
18/ In the "miscellaneous" bin, the #musicdisk and #diskmag category slowly but surely made way to #procedural graphics. Neither of them are dead yet, but the loss of diskmags is even more staggering when visualized.
19/ All of those pale in comparison, however, to the amount of wild demos and games released.
20/ Finally, let's talk a bit about Pouët itself.
Over the two decades of service, the amount of new users registered has seen a mild decline, and only about half of users who create an account ever make a comment.
(Note: Before 2014 our spam prevention was pretty atrocious.)
Over the two decades of service, the amount of new users registered has seen a mild decline, and only about half of users who create an account ever make a comment.
(Note: Before 2014 our spam prevention was pretty atrocious.)
21/ There's considerably less comments that are made compared to a peak around 2007 - whether this is the cause or the effect of the popularity of prods from that era is could be a good discussion to have.
What do you think?
What do you think?
22/ And finally to put a statistically proven end to an oft repeated accusation: Is Pouët a negative place?
No! Positive votes, and even neutral votes/comments on prods VASTLY outnumber negative votes!
So why take the risk and make a demo? There's a whole new decade waiting
No! Positive votes, and even neutral votes/comments on prods VASTLY outnumber negative votes!
So why take the risk and make a demo? There's a whole new decade waiting
PS2a/ A lot of people zeroed in on the Windows-C64 graph, but it's worth mentioning an asterisk to this: A lot of those C64 prods are single-screen-scroller prods - the analysis is quantitative, not qualitative. https://twitter.com/viznut/status/1345090141753380870
PS2b/ That's not to say there aren't "quick and easy" prods on PC, but they're an order of magnitude less, and they are more typical to be targeted towards Pico-8 and JavaScript.
PS3/ "...why NOT take the risk..."
Damn. :) https://twitter.com/pouetdotnet/status/1345060810591244289
Damn. :) https://twitter.com/pouetdotnet/status/1345060810591244289
