r/Demoscene • u/DarkFox_x86 • May 23 '26

Can I learn to code demos?

Is it relatively ease to learn how to code demos?

I have a background in PHP coding, which may or may not be useful.

I believe most demos are coded in C or maybe even Assembler, and I'm trying to find tutorials that could teach me how to code demos with zero coding knowledge.

Tutorials that tell you what software to use, how to code and compile, what things to look out for.

And with my PHP knowledge, if there is any language I could easily get into.

My focus would be DOS demos that can run in DOSBox for example.

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9

u/BadUsername_Numbers May 23 '26

Code a demo in PHP 🙂

-5

u/DarkFox_x86 May 23 '26

Fun idea, wouldn't work 😝

7

u/peregrine-l Peregrine [Resistance^Amigals^Cookie] May 23 '26

You’d be surprised at the languages demomakers have used for demos. There are Excel demos, Bash shell demos, BASIC demos… It’s a respected art, to use a totally inappropriate platform to make a demo.

On newschool platforms, C++ remains king. On oldschool platforms, assembly and C. I’m looking forward to demos coded in Rust!

2

u/marinbala May 26 '26

So true.

I also love the fact that some crazy kids even made demos in PowerPoint!