The **Demoscene Experiment** is a series of live, time-boxed coding shows that bring classic demoscene spirit to the command line.
Performers build compact, surprising terminal pieces on a surprise theme, while each session is streamed and recorded for faithful replay and study - asciinema.org 
# What It Is
Think Ascii Theatre: minimal tools, maximum inventiveness. A range of different formats are possible within this framing. The audience sees every keystroke and explanation, then replays the session exactly as it happened - asciinema.org
Agent assistance is welcome as long as prompts and responses remain visible in the transcript. Reproducibility is non-negotiable: a fresh shell should be able to run the final piece using the published materials.
# Format
Events are decentralized and hybrid: join from home via stream or gather in game-jam-style venues that host watch-parties and local mini-compos. Our aim is to be creative, playful and iterate with the formats - some competative, some creative, all for the fun. Help suggest: - Battle Formats for the Ascii Olympics
# Agent In The Loop Agents may propose snippets, refactors, ports, and safety checks. The collaboration should favor clarity, portability, and robustness over cleverness. If randomness is used, fix seeds or capture artifacts so replays remain consistent.
How can we use agentic coding, or agent based judges in the competition and game formats. We imagine clear separation between Open Agent Formats and Closed Agent Formats.
# Recording & Streaming
Record with Asciinema for a clean `.cast` you can embed or share, and optionally stream with OBS while capturing the terminal session for replay - asciinema.org - obsproject.com
# Technical Setup Use a clean profile or container to avoid hidden aliases, note tested versions or pin them in a bootstrap script, and provide a single command or `run.sh` to reproduce the effect. Prefer safety flags such as `set -euo pipefail` when appropriate.
# Participation Announce participation, prepare to publish your code and dependencies, and record with Asciinema while optionally streaming with OBS. Share scripts, notes, and the `.cast` file in your preferred space, encourage forks and remixes, and attribute sources and improvements.
# Historical Parallels - Ascii Theatre - Demoscene Parties - Live Coding / Algorave - International Obfuscated C Code Contest - Code Golf and One-Liner Battles - Game Jams and Compos - Terminal Art and ANSI Demos - Competitive Programming Sprints - Unix Philosophy Workshops
# Infrastructure Note The project is platform-agnostic and welcomes any publishing workflow. We currently use Shell Script World to bundle scripts, metadata, and embedded Asciinema replays, which makes demos easy to browse, stream, and archive; it’s a convenience rather than a requirement, and you can mirror or host elsewhere as you like
# See Also Agentic Coding Vibe Coding