Demonic Newsletter – 4/2023 Edition

Transcribed from an old school ANSI version of this newletter available here, or here in PNG format if you’re still old school, but also lazy.

Jack Phlash Speaks! No One Listens!

As promised, we’re back with another randomly scheduled newsletter filled to the brim with interesting group and greater BBS scene news!

*crickets*

Okay, 2023 hasn’t been that exciting of a year so far. Since the last newsletter there have been some very cool art packs released by the usual suspects, but given the theme, I have to call out Rise of the Hierarchy, a killer Tradewars art pack/mod by Nitron and Warpus that’s definitely worth a look for fans of the game. A dude named Hollowone released a couple of cool PC demo scene retrospective packs (available to download from Absinthe.) The PC demo scene doesn’t get nearly enough love compared to the Amiga demo scene, which makes it all the more funny that these releases are affiliated with an Amiga board. Finally, let’s not forget Hyjinx releasing the eighth part of his “Back to the BBS” documentary series, this time focusing on the art scene. Easily one of the best episodes yet! There have, of course, been a slew of other releases, development updates, and the like, and I could go into a lot more detail about them, but these newsletters are supposed to be more about Demonic, so let’s ignore the fact that there isn’t a good central source for BBS news these days and move swiftly on…

Thanks in large part to our annual Girl Scout cookie sale, Demonic has met our financial goals for the first quarter of the fiscal year proving once again that no one can resist a box of Samoas. We’ve also continued to meet our stated goal releasing some pretty swell mods and doors, and if we keep a similar pace, this should be quite a productive year for us, likely having far more releases out than any of our peers despite our pathetically minuscule member list. Of course, exactly what we release will depend entirely on what each member is into at any particular time, and with at least two of our three members sporting some crippling ADHD tendencies, that will be as much of a surprise to us as to anyone reading this.

Still, what’s a group NFO file without spreading some bullshit rumors? I can at least say that esc has embarked on some sort of twisted crusade to update (and in some cases, remix) classic Daydream mods, so expect that to continue. jack phlash has a few bigger releases planned, including an impending update to his REFDoor door, and he might even get around to working on Darkness 2.1 and/or one of the 10 new door game ideas he has too. Meanwhile, xqtr will assuredly continue to spend his free time trying to find new and unusual ways to abuse MPL into making Mystic do a lot of funky shit it was never meant to do. Man, talking about yourself in third person feels kinda weird…

Speaking of bullshit, in an attempt to drum up some pointless scene drama, we’re throwing down the gauntlet. Phenom Productions, you have been challenged! In the grand tradition of the BBS modding scene, we will face off in a bout of competitive bog snorkeling to determine once and for all who the ultimate primarily USA-based modding group left in the scene in the first half of 2023 is. Consider it brought!

Schlongs

After rejecting exactly 370 membership applications since last September, I’m happy to announce our quality control team remains as vigilant as ever, and Demonic still consists of the same three incredible members we started with 6+ months ago. Take that!

Who are these amazing members? Well, allow me tell you all about them:

• Name: esc – Location: Some liberal wasteland of a city in California. Pray for this man’s soul! – Specialties: Daydreaming, not drawing ASCII, Linux Combatives
• Name: jack phlash – Location: Also a left coast city, but one with more pine trees and rain – Specialties: Pascalation, writing NFO files, declared conscientious objector in the great OS wars
• Name: xqtr – Location: The cradle of western civilization – Specialties: Mystic fuckery, MS-DOS coding shenanigans, practitioner of the Linux Phalanx

We’re still looking for new members! Get in touch with us if you don’t mind probably being the 371th application we reject. Seriously though, we’re only interested in members who want to actually release, so mention what you’re working on and/or planning on working on if you do decide to apply.

Release’s Pieces

Peanut buttery BBS stuff in a ZIP filey shell, ready for your consumption. Yummmm!

• JP!IR20.ZIP – jack phlash brings us another REF script for REFDoor 1.2+ that no one will care about, a rumors mod this time. This one is even less relevant, as it’s specifically intended for a release of Instinct BBS that doesn’t even exist. Like the last one of these, his justification for this is that its intended as more of a REF scripting example, and like the last one, you can fuck off!
• ESC-HELL.ZIP – Helloween Sent v1.1 by esc is a remake of an old PVM mod for Daydream BBS/Linux. Some might be tempted to accuse esc of being lazy and unoriginal, but at least he didn’t code this using libc5 and never release the source code, now did he? Checkmate!
• ESC-MLGN.ZIP – Maiden Login v1.1 is another remake of an old PVM for Daydream BBS/Linux by esc, and another opportunity for me to remind people that Daydream BBS exists and is pretty fucking rad. Oh yeah, it’s kind of a little quick logon type thing.
• XQ!ANGRM.ZIP – Anagram^5 is a funky word puzzle game by xqtr that should be compatible with most systems that can support 16-bit fossil based doors. Once you figure it out it’s addictive as hell. Personally, I think you should play it at work and if the bossman gives you any shit, tell him that Demonic Productions says “shut the fuck up, old man!” and guess another letter. Man, why are these release descriptions so aggressive? I should probably get some counseling or something.
• XQ!DOORS.ZIP – Not only does xqtr release DOS doors, he’s nice enough to tell you how to run them under Linux with a pair of guides covering DOSEMU and QEMU. These are kind of geared towards Raspberry Pi users, but no judgement here. It’s not the size that counts, or so I’ve heard…
• XQ!NURF.ZIP – The Mystic New User Registration Form mod is a… new user registration form for Mystic. Don’t worry, the creative juices xqtr saved on naming this release he put into the mod itself. Besides, we can all agree that “NURF” is a top tier acronym. As you might come to expect, all kinds of MPL fuckery is to be had here as xqtr replaces the entire new user registration process with a lightbar-like infoform style form resembling the type of thing you might find in a group application program or something, and it even records a bunch of optional non-user data and tosses it in a text file for later, so you can actually use it as a group application too. Neato!

Yep, still feels weird!

Disposable Contacts

Need technical support? Have a mod request? Want to trade meatloaf recipes? You reach each of our respective spam folders by emailing esc at demonic.net, jp at demonic.net, and/or xqtr at demonic.net.

Of course, a much more elite thing to do would be to call our BBSes. You’re elite, aren’t you?

• Another Droid (andr01d.zapto.org:9999) run by xqtr. Voted most likely to make you wonder if the SysOp also runs some kind of maniacal candy factory.
• Distortion (d1st.org:23) run by jack phlash. Voted most likely to give you 1990s flashbacks if you accidentally call it at the same time as listening to a Nirvana record.
• Monterey (not open for business yet) run by esc. Voted most exclusive BBS of 2022, and still pretty damn exclusive in 2023.

Another way to reach us on our BBSes without *gasp* having to actually call our BBSes, is all thanks to the wonders of echomail networking. If you find yourself on one of the millions of BBSes worldwide that belong to Zer0net, look for 0N-DPUB (or whatever the board you’re on called it) and prepare to have your face blown clean the fuck off. Daaaayamn!

As with last time, I’m legally obligated to mention that http://www.demonic.net still exists, but for now the real action is on my blog at https://jackphla.sh until one of eventually gets bored enough to redesign it. Don’t hold your breath.

There’s no greets section this time because it would be exactly the same as the last one. I really wasn’t lying about 2023 being boring.

Okay, I think I’ve just barely met the minimal word count specified in my contract. See you in the next newsletter!

EOF!?
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1. Demonic Header by Filth, first released in Demonic #1 – 01/97 (1997)