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Demoscene effects in ASCII

The demoscene is a computer art culture built around real-time effects: fire, plasma, tunnels, rotozoomers and metaballs coded to run fast on modest machines. This category recreates those classic demoscene effects in characters, from Pixel Fire and Sine Plasma to Texture Tunnel, Rotozoomer and a raycast Endless Corridor.

24 pieces

View use cases
Aurora CurtainsDemoscene
CRT Test CardDemoscene
Endless CorridorDemoscene
FireworksDemoscene
Holographic Grid SphereDemoscene
Hyperspace JumpDemoscene
Ink in WaterDemoscene
KaleidoscopeDemoscene
Lava Crust CracksDemoscene
Liquid ChromeDemoscene
Digital RainDemoscene
MetaballsDemoscene
Pixel FireDemoscene
Sine PlasmaDemoscene
Rainbow Warp RoadDemoscene
RotozoomerDemoscene
Rising Smoke RingsDemoscene
Grinder SparksDemoscene
StarburstDemoscene
Synthwave GridDemoscene
Texture TunnelDemoscene
TV StaticDemoscene
Vaporwave SunDemoscene
Pool CausticsDemoscene

Where to start

Demo effects were made to look spectacular inside tight limits, which is exactly why they translate so well to text. Each one here is a small file that draws to a canvas and plays only while it is on screen, so it makes a bold page background, a stream scene, a video thumbnail or a terminal show.

Pixel FireThe classic demo fire, heat rising from a white-hot base and breaking into flickering tongues.Sine PlasmaRainbow sine bands roll and fold into each other, a staple of classic intros.Texture TunnelA flight down an endless checkered tunnel that bends and twists as it goes.RotozoomerA checkered XOR texture spins and zooms in and out, the textbook rotozoomer.MetaballsGlowing blobs drift across the screen, merging and splitting like hot liquid.Synthwave GridA neon grid rushes toward a striped sunset sun, made for stream scenes and retro sites.

How the classic demoscene effects work

Most demo effects are a simple formula evaluated for every pixel, every frame. In ASCII, each character cell plays the part of a pixel and a ramp of characters stands in for the palette:

  • Fire: the bottom row is seeded with hot values, and each cell above takes a cooled average of the cells beneath it, so heat rises and fades into tongues.
  • Plasma: several sine waves over x, y and time are added together, and the sum indexes a cycling color palette.
  • Tunnel: each cell's angle and distance from the center become texture coordinates, and scrolling the distance flies you forward.
  • Rotozoomer: the texture coordinates of every cell are rotated and scaled each frame over a repeating pattern, such as x XOR y.
  • Metaballs: each blob adds a field that falls off with distance, and cells above a threshold light up, so nearby blobs merge.
  • Raycasting: Endless Corridor casts a ray for each column to find the nearest wall, the trick behind early first-person views.

ASCII fire, plasma and tunnels as backgrounds and stream scenes

These effects are built to be looked at, so they shine as full-bleed backgrounds. Synthwave Grid and Vaporwave Sun make instant retro scenes for a stream's starting or break screen, TV Static and CRT Test Card suit a glitchy 404 or a technical difficulties card, and Fireworks and Starburst mark a launch or a milestone. Pixel Fire behind a title reads as heat without any image files, and Lava Crust Cracks gives a slower, darker burn. Use bg to set the base color, contrast to punch up the tones and speed to calm an effect so text on top stays readable. For streaming software, the stream overlays guide at Animated ASCII overlays for OBS and streams shows how to load a piece as a browser source.

Thumbnails and wallpapers from demo effects

High contrast and saturated color make demo effects read well at small sizes, which suits thumbnails. Pause Rotozoomer, Kaleidoscope or Starburst on a strong frame, export the YouTube thumbnail preset at 1280x720, then add your title in any editor. For a desktop, Liquid Chrome, Aurora Curtains and Pool Caustics export as Desktop 4K wallpapers, and the phone size suits Ink in Water. The looks change the character of an effect: Blocks gives Pixel Fire a chunky retro feel, Binary turns Sine Plasma into a wash of ones and zeros, and chars lets you choose a set of symbols that fits your theme.

Tunnels, warps and digital rain

Flying forward is a demo staple, and there are several ways to do it here. Texture Tunnel bends and twists through a checkered tube, Endless Corridor rushes past ceiling lamps and red doors, Hyperspace Jump stretches stars into streaks before plunging into a blue tunnel, and Rainbow Warp Road snakes a striped highway through deep space. The falling columns of green code live in Digital Rain at Digital Rain. For a full intro in the old style, with copper bars, a wobbling logo and a sine wave scroller, see Copper Bar Demo at Copper Bar Demo in Retro Computing. Holographic Grid Sphere rounds out the set with a sci-fi globe of glowing grid lines.

Ways to use ASCII demoscene

Step-by-step guides with a live builder and code to copy.

All 18 use cases →
OBS

Animated ASCII overlays for OBS and streams

Use animated ASCII art as a browser source in OBS or Streamlabs for starting soon screens, borders and overlays.

YouTube

ASCII art for YouTube thumbnails

Export any animated ASCII piece as a 1280 by 720 YouTube thumbnail background, then add your title on top in any editor.

Portfolio

ASCII art for a developer portfolio

Make a developer portfolio stand out with an animated ASCII hero, a terminal-style about section and live ASCII charts.

/FAQS

ASCII demoscene: frequently asked questions

Answers about using ASCII demoscene on websites, in READMEs, in terminals and in exports.

Q. What is the demoscene?
The demoscene is an international computer art culture where people make demos: short programs that generate visuals and music in real time. It grew out of the home computer era and is known for squeezing spectacular effects into tiny programs on limited hardware. Groups still meet and compete at demo parties today.
Q. What are the classic demoscene effects?
The best known are fire, plasma, tunnels, rotozoomers, metaballs, starfields, copper bars and sine scrollers. Each is a compact formula run for every pixel on every frame. This category has ASCII versions of most of them, from Pixel Fire and Sine Plasma to Texture Tunnel and Rotozoomer.
Q. How does an ASCII fire effect work?
It seeds the bottom row with hot values and, every frame, sets each cell to a slightly cooled average of the cells below it. Heat drifts upward and fades, and its value picks a character and color from a white to red ramp. Pixel Fire is the classic version, with a white-hot base breaking into flickering tongues.
Q. Can I use ASCII art fire as a website background?
Yes, embed Pixel Fire with the script tag and an ascii-art element, then place your content above it. It draws to a canvas, pauses when it scrolls out of view and shows a still frame to visitors who prefer reduced motion. For a scene with logs and stones, see Campfire at Campfire.
Q. What is an ASCII plasma effect?
An ASCII plasma is a field of rolling color bands made by adding sine waves together and mapping the result to characters and a cycling palette. It was a staple of early demos because it looks rich but costs very little to compute. Sine Plasma shows the classic rainbow version.
Q. How is an ASCII tunnel effect made?
Every character cell is converted to an angle and a distance from the center of the screen, and those two numbers look up a texture. Scrolling the distance makes you fly forward, and shifting the angle makes the tunnel spin. Texture Tunnel adds bends and twists on top of the classic checkered version.
Q. What is a rotozoomer?
A rotozoomer is a demo effect that rotates and zooms a repeating texture across the whole screen, every frame. It was a way to show how fast a machine could transform every pixel at once. The Rotozoomer piece spins a checkered XOR pattern in and out, exactly in that tradition.
Q. What are metaballs?
Metaballs are blobs defined by fields that add together, so when two come close they melt into one smooth shape and then pull apart again. The Metaballs piece drifts glowing blobs across the screen like hot liquid, and Liquid Chrome shades the same idea as polished mercury reflecting the sky.
Q. Where is the falling green code effect?
It is the Digital Rain piece at Digital Rain: columns of green glyphs falling at different speeds, each led by a bright white head. It embeds, plays in a terminal and exports like every other piece, and it pairs well with CRT Test Card and TV Static for a hacker or retro theme.
Q. Can I play demoscene effects in a terminal?
Yes, every effect plays in a terminal in color: run npx --yes https://www.ascii-magic.com/ascii/cli.tgz plasma, or swap in another effect such as tunnel. Add --seconds=3 so it stops on its own, which suits a shell welcome, or --look=dots for a halftone version. Press any key to stop it early.
Q. Which demo effect works best as a stream background?
Synthwave Grid and Vaporwave Sun are the easiest wins, since a neon grid and a striped sun read instantly as a retro scene. Load the piece as a browser source with a transparent background, as the stream overlays guide at Animated ASCII overlays for OBS and streams shows. Aurora Curtains is a calmer option for a chat segment.
Q. Will a demo effect slow down my page?
Usually not, because each piece is a few KB, draws to a canvas and only animates while it is on screen. Visitors who prefer reduced motion get a still frame instead. If a page holds several effects, the ones scrolled out of view stay paused until they come back.

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