FABLE 64
a c64 demo by XPLSV
for the Assembly 2026 AI coding demo compo

  code and music ... claude
  vibes ............ mrdoob

platform: C64 PAL, stock. no REU, no fastload tricks,
no precalculated animation data. runs from one file
(fable64.d64 / demo.prg, ~14 KB).

how to run:

  real hardware (PAL C64):
    LOAD"FABLE 64",8,1
    RUN
  the demo loops forever; press RESET to stop it.

  emulator (VICE recommended, PAL default):
    x64sc -autostart fable64.d64
  or simply drag fable64.d64 (or demo.prg) onto
  the emulator window.

what the little machine does, all realtime:

 - 13-part timeline, ~2:20, everything synced to a
   125 bpm SID techno track (kick pitch-sweep, acid
   bass through the resonant filter, rave stabs
   walking Am-F-C-G, claps, snare rolls, a noise
   riser into a white-flash drop)
 - 3d dot objects (cube / octa / ring / tetra) that
   morph continuously, with depth shading, per-part
   palettes, beat zoom and char ghost echoes
 - jelly distortion: big letters re-rendered every
   frame with per-row char displacement on top of a
   per-scanline-row fine-scroll raster chain, both
   pumped by the kick drum
 - kick-synced firework particles with gravity that
   fly across every part and never corrupt anything
   (all char effects negotiate cell ownership)
 - colour plasma, rotozoomer, copper bars, starfield
 - giant 5x5 block-letter greetings waving on three
   axes at once (vertical sine per column, horizontal
   fine scroll, per-row ripple)
 - the lower AND upper borders are open: sprites dive
   beneath the screen and float above it
 - a proper drop: noise riser, one last kick, three
   16ths of dead silence, then the whole display
   (borders included) flashes white
 - runs as an attract loop: after the end card fades
   it breathes for a few seconds and starts over

built live by an AI (Claude) pair-programming with
mrdoob, verified frame by frame through an instrumented
emulator pipeline because the AI cannot see a monitor
or hear a SID. every effect in this file was confirmed
from screenshots and memory dumps of the running demo.

greetings to the entire c64 scene - the full list
scrolls by in glorious 40 pixel letters.

xplsv * 2026