Demosceners specialize themselves into various categories to be able to take part in the demomaking process. A few people are able to cross over between multiple archetypes (e.g. coder-musician, musician-designer), but this is by no means a trend.
Coder The coder is the demogroup's programmer who creates the demo's software framework and is responsible for the actual realtime state of the demo. While some coders specialize in developing system-level functionality (such as providing wrappers and
APIs for other coders to base their code on), others code effects which are usually visual representations of mathematical formulas, such as
fractals or
metaballs. In the 1990s, coders were most often entirely responsible for the demo's flow and arrangement, including the effect's synchronization to the music and sometimes even the design. Nowadays, software tools known as
demotools are widely used, allowing this work to be done by a designer who does not have to be a coder. Many groups, however, still prefer that the coder takes most of the responsibility in the demomaking process, including the design. In many cases, an attempt for excelling in several areas has resulted in one area outshadowing the others: for instance, coders who try to make music often come up with "coder music" which may be technically passable but lacks artistic ambitions. "Coder graphics" and "coder palettes" are similar terms for graphics and color schemes.
Graphic artist Graphic artists (or
graphicians in scene
lingo) create the visual coherency behind a demo, which include still pictures, design elements, fonts, colors, 3D objects, textures and animation. Originally, there was a single type of graphician creating typical 2D graphics (referred to as pixeled graphics because they were typically created pixel by pixel). Ever since demos started using complex (as in, much more elaborate than cubes and donuts) 3D graphics, graphicians that exclusively model 3D graphics are also around, sometimes referred to as (3D) modelers.
Musicians Musicians are responsible for the composing, arranging, mixing and mastering (and in some cases, performing) the soundtracks and sound effects in the demo. In the older days, musicians worked with
trackers, and the world of tracked music was heavily dominated by demoscene musicians. In later times, it became possible for the PC demos to use streaming, high-quality music formats, and the musicians started to gradually change their tools to professional
music sequencers. However, tracked music and other specialized formats still continue to be used in size-restricted intros as well as demos written for more restrictive platforms such as mobile devices and
vintage computers. ==Fake groups==