The mythology of demigods Hornet and Trixter looms large in any discussion of the demoscene, a subculture of computer hackers and programmers who write code to show off their programming prowess. This is a world where code is a plaything, where the challenge lies in the number of assembler instructions that can be executed within a single video frame (usually about one-fiftieth of a second). Constantly striving to better their rivals, devotees of the demoscene cram spectacular three-or four-minute visual animations into the space of a few mere kilobytes. Offering a perfect synthesis of art and science, demos integrate the cinematic grace of the moving image with the real-time rendering capabilities of 3D engines. A connection between form and function has rarely found such perfect articulation.

Demos are essentially a means of "showing off," of producing a piece of code that challenges traditional limits of the PC hardware through the design of self-terminating programs. The incredibly small file sizes achieved by programmers in the demoscene (files average between 40K and 6MB) reinforce the relationship between software and hardware innovation, particularly within the context of 3D real-time animation. "Kasparov," a twelve minute demo that pushes the hardware capabilities of even high end PCs, clocks in at less than 4MB, uncompressed, despite the fact that the pieces presents a fully rendered, complex 3D environment in real time.