Near Dark

History

Near Dark was part of MSX-Club Friesland-Noord (MCFN) from 1994 to 1995. The Club had grown too big and there were people not even knowing each other, so the software division Near Dark was born after two productions under MCFN.

The name Near Dark derives from a vampire movie. Since it was too cliche to pick a name like MSX club this and that, we wanted a catchy name that had nothing to do with computers. Opa and Meits went to the video store and checked if there were movies with such a name. Near Dark was the winner.

In 1993 Meits and Chip started developing music demos. Chip mastered assembly and Meits handled a freshly bought Moonblaster. Old time friend of Meits, W76, was asked to handle the mouse. Meits discovered .arj who entered some pictures in the art gallery of a major dutch MSX magazine. He joined the gang. Soon Soepfiskje got built.

On an MGF meeting in 1994 we met Opa, who turned out to be a skilled graphic designer as well. He joined the club. Soon followed by Ivor Bosloper who was (and still is) a brilliant coder. The result of this group was Jarretenk, which was completed by two freelance composers: Dandan and Impulse Corporation.

Ivor went a bit back to the background and supported Chip in his coding. Chip stayed until Near Dark 2.5 was released in 1996 and left the MSX scene. So did .arj and Ivor.

In 1997 Near Dark went completely on ice after the disappointing Zandvoort fair. They left the scene with Tweety's Choise (sic) and Alto - Hell on Wheels.

In 2004 Near Dark got reanimated by Meits, eager to release a tenth aniversary celebration of Soepfiskje. SMD joined for coding and graphics.

As of 2011 Near Dark is devided in two sections: The retro music disks department by Opa and Meits and the tools department by W76 and SMD.

Past and present members

• Meits (music, graphics, code)
• Opa (graphics)
• W76 (graphics)
• SMD (code)
• Chip (code, music)
• .arj (graphics)
• Ivor (code)

Third party collaborations

• John Hassink
• Danilo Danisi
• Impulse Corporation
• BiFi
• Peter Meulendijks
• Master of Audio
• Wolf
• Hoox

Productions

Diskmagazines

• DISK 1 (1995)
• DISK 2 (1995)
• DISK 3 (1996)
• DISK 4 (1996)
• DISK 5 (1996)
• DISK 6 (1996)
• DISK 7 (1997)
• DISK BBS (1997)

Music disks

• Soepfiskje (1994)
• Jarretenk (1995)
• Near Dark (1995)
• Near Dark 2.5 (1996)
• Illusions (1997)
• Tweety's Choise (1997)
• Alto - Hell on Wheels (1997)
• Happy 10th anniversary Soepfiskje (2004)
• DISK (2011)
• dIIsk (2011)
• Disxmas (2011)
• D3SK alias dIIIsk (2015)

Tools

• Runit (2005)

Trivia

• Near Dark never had a booth on an MSX fair. In the 90s they shared booths with MCFN and MGF (MSX Gebruikersgroep Friesland). In the revival years the MSX Resource Center shared a meter of table with Near Dark. Though between Zandvoort 1994 and 1997 the Near Darkies (as they name themselves) always released software.
• Near Dark is one of the very few groups that started out in the 90's and is still releasing software.
• The music disk Near Dark contains a hidden message on sector 7 and 8, telling you how to rip the music from the sectors and some other dutch inside jokes. A bit too much to paste here.
• Jarretenk has to be started from screen 0 with a minimal width of 41 to avoid a deformed intro demo.
• Near Dark released music disk DISK at the Nijmegen 2011 fair while being absent.
• Near Dark released music disk D3SK alias dIIIsk at the Nijmegen 2015 fair while being absent again due to bad weather. This would have been the first time since their existance they had a booth regitered on their own name.