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CL9:           Review of A.D.A,
CL8:     The Amiga Demoscene Archive
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CL4:           By Darkhawk/IRIS

CL1:In  this  issue  of  the  Eurochart, I
wanted  to  focus  a bit on one of the
sites  on  the internet supporting the
Amiga  demo  scene.   Thus, it was not
hard  to decide to cover ADA, which is
in my opinion rather unique in being a
huge  Amiga demoarchive presented in a
very professional manner.

CL0:It is being run and maintained chiefly
by  the  belgian  Amiga  user z5, with
help  from  a  few others.  The URL to
the site is:  ada.planet-d.net.

CL1:Upon   entering   the  site,  you  are
greeted  with screenshots of the top10
most  popular Amiga productions of all
time  according to the visitors of the
site.   You can rate each demo that is
in  the  archive, and thus this little
list can change over time, but it is a
great  idea for newcomers, as they can
then  select  the demos right away and
get   to   a   page   with  additional
screenshots, info and download links.

CL0:Below  that, there are screenshots and
info   from  a  special  demo  in  the
archive,  that  the staff feels is not
to  be  missed.   This changes now and
then  naturally,  and  makes  it  very
inviting  to go exploring the site and
the productions contained in it.

CL1:At  the  time  I write this, there are
328  demos  online  and  available for
download  at  the  site,  some also in
.avi where possible, but always in the
original form, as a .dms file too.

CL0:Screenshots  play  a  major role here;
they  are  all of a very high quality,
and to my trained eye, have been taken
with  extreme  care  to  make the demo
look  the  most  pleasing.   There are
3325  screenshots in the archive right
now,  which really makes the site come
alive and nicely shows you a good deal
about  the  content  of  the  selected
production.

CL1:When  you  select  the demo listing on
the  homepage,  you  get  to  a screen
where  the  various  productions  (not
only    demos,    but   also   intros,
musicdisks  and slideshows) are listed
according to the groups who made them.
As only the best Amiga productions are
included,  you  get an overview of the
best  Amiga  groups  through the times
too,   and   I   guess   there   might
eventually,  when  public awareness of
the site grows, be quite some prestige
involved  in  being  accepted into the
archive.

CL0:Upon selecting a production, you go to
a  screen  that  has screenshots, info
aswell  as  a  download  link  to  the
desired  production.   Comments by the
users  of  ADA are displayed below, as
is  the  possibility  of  ranking  the
production  yourself,  according  to a
5/5   scala.    You   need   to  be  a
registered  user  of  the site to post
comments    and    rank   demos,   but
registration  is very easy, just enter
name,  password  and email, and you're
in.

CL1:Apart  from  the obvious section about
scenish   productions,  ADA  also  has
other   things  to  offer.   There  is
something  as  cool as a logo gallery,
where   you  can  watch  and  download
famous  and  artistic  logos from many
great Amiga productions, particularely
older  ones, as the making of logos is
not  an  artform that is too common in
the  scene nowadays.  In there you can
find  all the great logos you remember
from  old.   There  is  the  Fairlight
cracklogo,  the  Enigma demo logo, the
TRSI  logo, and so on.  Only complaint
here would be that newcomers might not
easily  find  the production where the
logo  features  in, as only the author
making the logo is displayed below the
logo.   Still,  this  is  a  very nice
idea, and everyone who wants to have a
collection   of   artistic  scenelogos
should   definately   check  out  this
section.

CL0:Other  than  that,  there  is not much
more  to  ADA, which is fine, as it is
quite specialized and focused on Amiga
productions.   There  is  a guestbook,
aswell  as  a  faq explaining what the
Amiga and the Amiga scene is, which it
manages  to  do quite well, again with
some nice screenshots.

CL1:ADA   is   a   great  site,  both  for
newcomers and sceners alike, though it
would  be  THE  perfect place to start
your  scenish interest in productions,
thanks  to  the  quality  productions,
screenshots  and  comments  available.
For   older   sceners,   it   is  very
interesting  to read what others think
of  your  productions, and maybe reply
too.    Other  sites  like  Pouet  and
Back2Roots  play similar roles, but at
ADA,  it  is  only about quality Amiga
productions  and their screenshots and
rating  systems make it unique, aswell
as  it  being  presented  in a better,
more  clean  way  than  the others do.
This  site  definately  deserves  your
attention,   and  also  your  comments
aswell    as    ratings   of   various
productions  once you're there.  As z5
writes  in  the  interview featured in
this  mag,  it  would  be wonderful to
have  a  lot  of  people writing their
opinions  about  the  productions,  so
that if you check the site in 5 years,
there  would  be a lot of comments and
votes on the different productions.

CL0:To  sum  it up, you can browse through
some  of  the  best  Amiga productions
ever  released here, read comments and
reviews,  maybe  see what the original
makers  thought  of the production and
so  on.   It  is  a  good  place to go
exploring for sure, and I for one hope
that  they  will  keep only adding the
best  Amiga  releases into the archive
to  preserve  the  quality.  There are
other  sites  to  visit  if you want a
more complete Amiga scene collection.

CL1:The  conclusion:   Two  thumbs  up for
ADA!




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