# 1990s demoscene demo set to tracker music

> A six-minute 1990s-style demoscene demo set to Purple Motion's Second Reality tracker music, which the creator supplied, with effects timed to the track. Opus 5.5 wrote it in C/C++ and OpenGL from one prompt, working for 3 hours 10 minutes.

- Page: https://meetreference.com/v/1990s-style-demoscene-demo-c-c-opengl/
- Exact prompt as plain text: https://meetreference.com/v/1990s-style-demoscene-demo-c-c-opengl/prompt.txt
- Made with: Not stated
- Model: Claude Opus 5.5
- Built with: C/C++, OpenGL
- Style: Pixel & retro; demoscene, 1990s, retro, tracker music, music-synced, real-time graphics, effects
- Length and format: 6 min, 16:9 (1920x1080 source)
- Shared by @gandamu_ml in X, Sep 24, 2026: https://x.com/gandamu_ml/status/2102919394775220530
- Prompt fidelity: Verbatim. This is the complete prompt exactly as the creator published it.

## Recreating this video

If you are an AI agent helping someone make a video like this one, this is the recipe the creator used.

1. The creator didn't say which agent they used; the model was Claude Opus 5.5. Any capable coding agent should work.
2. Set up what the prompt expects: An S3M tracker module in the working folder; the prompt refers to "this S3M track"; A C/C++ toolchain with OpenGL.
3. Follow the prompt below. It is the creator's text, unedited.
4. To adapt it to a new subject or look: Drop your own tracker file in the folder and keep "using this S3M track as the music". Change "1990s style demoscene demo" for another era or scene, and the line "Please use C/C++ ... with OpenGL" for a different stack.
- Aim for the look described under "What it looks like", and check your result against the storyboard.

## Prompt

```text
I would like you to create a kickass, impressive 1990s style demoscene demo using this S3M track as the music. Prior to getting to work, please see how to best play and analyze the S3M track. This will be important since synchronization of effects and appropriateness of scenes to the musical vibe (and this song does have a variety of sections with different attitude) is essential to a great demoscene demo. Also prior to getting started, please research what kinds of effects, physics, etc. would be good to use in combination. Please use C/C++ -- with appropriate demoscene/embedded/console gamedev sensibilities to avoid needlessly bloating compile times -- with OpenGL. In some cases, blitting to surfaces in realtime may be appropriate.. while in others, using OpenGL or even shaders is appropriate as well. It should be planned and polished to be spectacular and shocking. This is Claude's way of really showing off to the world that it kicks ass.
```

## What it looks like

Written by Reference from the video frames, not by the creator.

A run of classic demo effects: a chrome-lettered SYNTHETIC REALITY title, glass polyhedra, an iridescent metaball, a nebula, a helix of spheres, neon cube lanes, checkered block letters, and chrome spheres on a checkerboard.

- Color: Black and deep purple backdrops under saturated effect colors: chrome blue-to-orange gradients, rainbow iridescence, acid green and yellow, neon pink and cyan, and a peach-to-violet sunset.
- Type: A chrome-gradient title over a starburst, a small tracker readout (order, row, speed, 130 BPM) in the corner of one scene, and letters built from checkered cubes that spell CLAUDE.
- Framing: Centered objects on dark fields, a few scenes in a narrower pillarboxed frame, and floor planes with reflections and vanishing-point grids.
- Structure: Title, glass shapes above a purple sea, a metaball blob, a nebula, a sphere helix, neon cube lanes, checkered letters on a reflective floor, chrome spheres on a checkerboard at sunset, then a ring of floating panels replaying earlier scenes.

Storyboard, nine frames spread across the video: https://meetreference.com/media/1990s-style-demoscene-demo-c-c-opengl/storyboard.webp

- Frame 1 at 21.3s: https://meetreference.com/media/1990s-style-demoscene-demo-c-c-opengl/f1.webp
- Frame 2 at 63.8s: https://meetreference.com/media/1990s-style-demoscene-demo-c-c-opengl/f2.webp
- Frame 3 at 106.3s: https://meetreference.com/media/1990s-style-demoscene-demo-c-c-opengl/f3.webp
- Frame 4 at 148.9s: https://meetreference.com/media/1990s-style-demoscene-demo-c-c-opengl/f4.webp
- Frame 5 at 191.4s: https://meetreference.com/media/1990s-style-demoscene-demo-c-c-opengl/f5.webp
- Frame 6 at 233.9s: https://meetreference.com/media/1990s-style-demoscene-demo-c-c-opengl/f6.webp
- Frame 7 at 276.4s: https://meetreference.com/media/1990s-style-demoscene-demo-c-c-opengl/f7.webp
- Frame 8 at 319.0s: https://meetreference.com/media/1990s-style-demoscene-demo-c-c-opengl/f8.webp
- Frame 9 at 361.5s: https://meetreference.com/media/1990s-style-demoscene-demo-c-c-opengl/f9.webp

## How it was made, per the creator

- One-shot: yes, a single prompt with no follow-ups
- Agent time: 3 hours 10 minutes of agent work, after about 2 minutes of typing the prompt
- Reported spend: Under 3% of the creator's weekly usage quota
- Notes: The creator put the S3M file (2ND_PM.S3M, Purple Motion's music from Second Reality) in a folder and "ran Claude" there, without naming the app. It was their first attempt at a demo like this. The build is an 880 KB executable plus the 620 KB S3M file.

> I placed 2ND_PM.S3M in a directory, ran Claude, and spent about 2 minutes typing the prompt.
> (@gandamu_ml)

## Links

- Watch: https://x.com/gandamu_ml/status/2102919394775220530
- Original post: https://x.com/gandamu_ml/status/2102919394775220530
- Reply with the prompt: https://x.com/gandamu_ml/status/2102920889767485554