Psychedelia - VIC 20

Introduction

AN ENTERTAINMENT by Jeff Minter ……

An Explanation of the Concept … PSYCHEDELIA is really the culmination of several months’ idle thinking. I love games, but occasionally I’d think ’there must be some OTHER way of enjoying yourself using the computer …’ I also love music, and I’d daydream about creating … something … you could do to music, something you could put on the screen at a party and anyone could come up and have a go, something you’d do just because you enjoyed it, something others could enjoy even if they weren’t actually doing it themselves. Gradually the idea solidified into the concept of a light-show generator, something interactive, creative but simple enough so that anyone could do it, yet complex enough to produce breathtaking results once learned well. A program to do for light, in fact, what a synthesiser does for sound.

PSYCHEDELIA is the realisation of that dream. Some idle tinkering on a Sunday afternoon produced such startling results that all other work was dropped in order to pursue the development of my Light Synthesiser at last. Many evenings were spent in darkened rooms just freaking out to music and DOING it. Demos were given, minds were blown and a good time had by all.

PSYCHEDELIA is a completely new way of enjoying your micro. If you love music, if you love graphics, if you are creative then you’ll enjoy PSYCHEDELIA. You’ll boot it in when you turn on your hi-fi. You’ll find an appeal totally different to that of even the best games. You won’t get bored, because the pleasure is as fundamental as that of listening to music, and you’ll create different, dynamic light shows each time you use the program.

PSYCHEDELIA is the high point of my designing career so far. The concept is simple, the programming not too complex but the parts combine synergistically to create a whole which has given me the most pleasure to use, and the biggest pride in design, of anything I’ve ever programmed.

Enjoy PSYCHEDELIA. This one comes straight from the heart.