Ctrl-Alt-Test

Do you prepare for a live coding competition?

provod: Usually I do. I did not prepare for WeCan 2013 at all, however, and entered it at the party place on a whim really. It had a different format where you could continue to work on your shader in the next round, and in fact I immediately started making very specific preparations between rounds when I got the hang of it after the first round.

Any particularly memorable live coding event?

NuSan: My first shader showdown in public (at Cookie demoparty) was very intense, my fingers were shaking but it was awesome. I had some bad live coding sessions mostly when I’m tired or if I do several sessions in a row. After a while, you can’t really think anymore and your creativity runs dry. Then it’s not fun and usually you lose ^^.

Did live coding shaders get better with time, technically?

Flopine: For me I’m getting better each year, but not because I’m working on the same thing again and again. I’m learning new things every month and filling my own palette of techniques with them, which helps me build more complex/mastered images in my opinion. In general, live coding shaders is also becoming better and better technically because intros and 4k are getting better and better!

Does live coding require distinct skills from coding?

Flopine: The demoscene is full of super great coders that don’t livecode! Live coding is stressful not only because you have to type and think fast, but also because you have to be present, to be on stage in front of hundreds of people that will judge both your production AND the code of it.