wake up! 16b
Key takeaways
- Released at the Outline Demoparty in May 2026, Ommen, NL An exploration of algorithmic density in 16 bytes of x86 assembly.
- I learned programming as a kid on an old IBM PC with a monochrome green monitor over 30 years ago and always wanted to create a program for this system.
- The creation of this program happened with the usual tinkering around.
Released at the Outline Demoparty in May 2026, Ommen, NL An exploration of algorithmic density in 16 bytes of x86 assembly.
Watch Video Demozoo Entry Hey everyone. I learned programming as a kid on an old IBM PC with a monochrome green monitor over 30 years ago and always wanted to create a program for this system. I created well over 100 tiny intros in the last 15 years. Recently I was not too active but the fantastic "Rainbow Surf" from Plex in just 16 bytes motivated me to dig up some old dusty sketches again and get to work.
The creation of this program happened with the usual tinkering around. I was messing with cellular automaton for graphics and sounds and discovering sizecoding tricks. Actually: a) polymorphic asm instructions, like add [bx+si],al which is 0x0000 b) jumping into the middle of instructions to save bytes and reuse opcodes. In hundreds of tiny experiments, this one stuck out, just by the sound of it.