Ymgve at 19:26, 8 June 2010

2010-06-08T19:26:19Z

New page

<pre>

* Symposium '96 - Multimedia for the masses *
a partyreport by Chaotic/Atlantis

The party took place from the 5.April - 8.April 1996
in Hittfeld,which is near Hamburg/GERMANY.
It was a demoparty for all the main systems:Amiga,PC,
C-64,Archimedes and Atari ST/Falcon.
This year,the following groups organized this event:

Phantasm,Polka Brothers,Lego for Amiga
Cubic Team for PC
Oxyron for C-64
Avena,Absence for Atari

plus various organizers from other groups such as
Sanity or Bizarre Arts (Amiga)

The facilities were really good;the organizers rent
a nice convention center called "Burg Seevetal"...
It was really cosy,placed in a silent suburb,between
fields and lakes. But although it wasn't placed some-
where in the main city,you could get yourself the
needed things in local stores. If you compare the
location with the locations of,for example,the X-mas
parties,you really felt a lot better. It was more per-
sonal,and you didn't have the feeling that the party
was only done for commercial reasons. Also the
entrance-fee was really fair:35 DM for 4 days is not
too much,again compared to other parties.
The convention center featured a big hall,where all
the partypeople found a place,and a kind of "entrance
hall" with some more party people,a small snack-
counter and paths heading for e.g. the toilets.
A Disadvantage was,that the organizers weren't
allowed to sell their own food and drinks there. Instead
of this,the owners of the center wanted to sell their
"things" there. When the shop was open,you could buy

The usual 1,5l Coke bottles,coffee,cherry coke cans,
different chocolatesnacks and a quite expensive,
strange-tasting oily pizza there. The organizers
weren't that happy about this fact. They told me,that
they couldn't do anything against this,but that they'll
manage to change this fact next year. Anyway,this
"topic" was no major problem for the ppl,as most of
them bought their food and drinks in the near shops
or simply brought it with them.
To continue with the facilities:the organizers did a
very good job all the time,doing what they are
supposed to do:organize! For example,the toilets were
always in a good condition (no flooded rooms etc.),
and if there really was a ..erm,"problem" there,it
was cleaned within some minutes, a fact that the
ppl appreciated. This party also featured the biggest
"big-screen" I ever saw,in combination with a very
fine beamer(3M MP8020,for those who are interested)
Talking a bit about the different competitions that
took place at the Symposium '96:

the following competitions took place:
Amiga Demo Competition (#1 ARTWORK)
Amiga Intro Competition (#1 ARTWORK)
Amiga Coding Competition (#1 ABYSS)
PC Demo Competition (#1 BLANK)
C-64 Demo Competition (#1 CYANCE)
C-64 Intro/Coding Competition (#1 CREAM DE-ZIGN)
Falcon Demo Competition (#1 THERAPY)
Falcon Intro Competition (#1 SENTRY)
Falcon Coding (4k) Competition (#1 SPIRITS)
Acorn Demo Competition (#1 T.O.M.)
Graphics Competition (#1 A.-t-/CREAM)
Protracker Module Competition (#1 Evrimsson/ILLUS.)
Multichannel Music Competition (#1 KB/REFLEX)
Video Competition (#1 Takeoff/PHANTASM
Multimedia Competition (will be awarded later)

If everything goes right,you're able to find an extra
file on this disc,containing ALL results (+names/points)
So watch out for that one,too...

Ofcourse there were also some fun-competitions like
the Lake Competition ,involving the small lake outside
the convention center:An empty coke bottle was
thrown into the lake,and anyone who could get it out
there (catching it,swimming) could win some prizes.
Furthermore some ppl persuaded the organizers to
hold a best haircut Competition ,which also provided
some fun. The good thing about this party was,that
nearly ALL of the organizers were friendly and you
could talk with them. And they also had knowledge about
what they are doing. By the way,a new good invention
was,that nearly all competitions were previously
video-taped,so no disgusting computer crashes
destroyed the fine atmosphere during the compos
(like it often happened at the X-mas parties). Party-
organizers should think about this getting standard
for competitions. The sound system was good;the
convention-center offered a fine surround-sound
system. It didn't matter where you sat,the sound was
fine everywhere. Beside all the usual party-

competitions,the organizers provided a bunch of
extra-goodies ... They had a fine lasershow every
evening,provided by two danish guys. Another extra:
a techno/jungle live-act. I did miss that,because I
went home for sleeping a bit that night. But I heard that
it wasn't thaaat interesting,although the live-video-
performances by Sire/Lego should have been cool.
On the last day of the party,the organizers also
showed stuff coming directly from The Gathering '96,
such as the winning Amiga- and PC-Demos;also a
video was shown. They would have also shown stuff
from the X96,but no one of the ppl visiting both parties
was able to provide it. During the party,they had more
extra-stuff like Scenequizzes and so on. You could
say,they provided a fine entertainment all the time.
A disadvantage was that there was no extra sleeping-
hall,and no showers. But you were allowed to sleep
wherever you wanted (not like at TP5 etc.),and
during the night,the bigscreen was closed down and
it was really quite silent,due to the fact that no

amplifier-wars were allowed. Later,the organizers
nevertheless provided a smaller sleeping-room,which
was attended by quite some PPL. So the sleeping-
problem was also fixed. Another nice thing to tell is
the following:originally,you weren't allowed to bring
your own food into the center,at least not clearly
visible,because the organizers would get a problem
with the owners then. But after they discovered that
the snackbar was really sloppy,they told the ppl at the
entrance that they should cover their foodbags etc.
and said "OK,we haven't seen it". Cool one,indeed.
Although there were quite some people from other
countries,the party was mainly german-based.
Also nearly all C64-visitors came from this country.
As there were no official lists from the organizers
telling who entered (they had placed some lists where
you could enter it by your own,but they weren't very
frequented),I made the official C64 Visitor's list.
It will probably be published in the latest Vandalism
News,but here it is again. The list published in the PULSE

is really quite incomplete,so here's the round-up:

Accept Party Posse (Chaotic,Dusty,Fireball,Land-
stalker,Mr.Friese,Necrophilist,ned,Quevis)
Acrise+Excess (Creb)
AFL '70 (Danzig)
Arcoss (Seytan)
Art Project Studios (Carlos,Seytan,Sonic)
Atlantis (Chaotic)
Bass (Fanta)
Brainfart Paper Magazine (Dodger,Dragon,TGI)
Chalice (Lybis,Mike D)
Chromance (Skud)
Cosmic Style (Earthquake,Warp8)
Cream (Bugjam,Madrom,Syntax)
Crossline (Techno)
Demons of Sound (The Blue Ninja)
Fairlight (Mac Gywer,Vectrocon)
Flash (Warp8)
Hardcore (Carlos)

Masters' Design Group (Sky)
Metalvotze (Bitbreaker,DragoMckayb,Mephisto,Syntax
Motiv8 (TMG)
Netphreakers (Chaotic,Deceiver,ned,Rainbow Warrior
Nostalgia (Scare)
ONSLAUGHT (Cyrax,HeavyHead,Rap,TMM)
Oxyron (Axis,Fanta,Fuben,Graham,P.R.I.,Slide,TTS)
Paralyze Dopeline (Dodger,TGI)
Plush (Brix,Caprice Design,Cosowi,Dow Jones,Honk,
Map,Mip,Tecmo,V.O.)
(The) Pulse Mag (Earthquake,Duke)
Reflex (Quiss)
Shape (Duke)
Smash Designs (AEG,Dasheele,Idefix,Tardox)
The Obsessed Maniacs (KB,Luke)
Therapy (The Midnight Mover)
X-Rated (Danzig,Stan)
ex-AWT (Courage) ex-RSI (OB,Street Tuff)
ex-FLT (Ayatollah)
ex-Maitec (Pandaco) groupless (Hoogo)

alltogether,we had 32 present groups/projects at
the party. I assume this list is closed,as I had quite a
good overview of the party and its attendants.
However,compared to the rest of the attendants
(there was no offcial number of visitors;the
organizers said around 670 ppl showed up) this figure
is ofcourse quite low. But taking in mind that the X96 in
Holland possibly attracted more C64 visitors,this is
quite okay I guess.
Let's continue with some more facts about the party
itself:All through the time,Steeler/PHANTASM (Amiga)
did quite a good job,acting as a kind of presentator
of the party,leading the games,discussions and
competitions live on stage. Really good job,Ekki! :)
(In real life,he's a "Sonderschulpaedagoge"
(special school teacher),so he knows how to handle a
bunch of computer weirdos,hehe).
Talking a bit about the "C64-only"-Competitions:
The organizers this time also set up a coding
competition for the C-64. In case the complete results

are not on this disc,here are the results of it...

C64 Intro/Coding Competition

#1 Cream De-Zign (Entry Number 3,236 Votes)
#2 Smash Designs (Entry Number 2,229 Votes)
#3 BSE (Fake,Entry Number 1,101 Votes)

It wasn't clearly visible for me,but I guess this should
have been sth. like a 4K-Competition.
At the Symposium '96,there were no extra music and
graphics-competitions for the C-64,just like at the
last two Christmas-Parties. The Competitors had to
give their entries to the "normal" competitions.
There were no entries for the graphics competition.
The following dudes competed in the Multichannel-
Competition:
TMG/Motiv8 (#4,Number 10,88 Votes)
Cosowi/Plush (#6,Number 11,66 Votes)
Rap/Onslaught (#10,Number 2,25 Votes)
Cosowi/Plush+Xayne/Crest (not placed)
This multichannel music competition was won by
KB/REFLEX with a tune galled "beyond the gates".
179 Votes! I think it was done using an archimedes;
the trick is,that you might know this dude under the
name KB/The Obsessed Maniacs. He's a former C64-
Scener.. Yeah,we rule you all.. ;)

I would like to talk a bit about the Votesystem etc. now.
At the Symposium '96,no votedisks were given out.
Instead of that,every visitor got a bag with different
goodies from the sponsors such as cd-roms,pins etc.
Furthermore you got a little bracelet (pink colour,how
cute) to show you've paid the entrance-fee.
For the votingaffair,normal papervotesheets were
given out. Some people thought they could cheat the
votecounting,and grabbed as much votesheets as
possible (and probably filled them). But when it came
to the voting-deadline and you wanted to deliver your
votesheet to the organizer-counter,they ripped off
your bracelet. That's all. From that time on,everybody
who wanted to could enter the partyplace,as no
pay-identification was possible. But to be honest:who
would like to enter a party at the last day,with the
whole action already being over ?! Right. So if someone
wanted to deliver a votesheet to the organizers,they
just checked if he still got his bracelet. Clever move
I'd say,and this kind of voting should become standard,
atleast until the last C-64 has gone.... NEVER! :)

The Votecounting and pricegiving-ceremony was a
real kicker in my eyes. After all votes had been
counted out in the organizer-rooms,Steeler entered
the stage to start with the on-screen-votecounting.
This was done in a really cool way. You may perhaps
know this from some sort of gameshows etc..
On one side of the screen all the entries were listed.
Starting the voteprogram,every entry got a beam
which started to move across the screen,heading for
the other side. The entry with less points dropped out
and stopped,displaying the percentage it reached.
This went on until the first place was reached and
displayed. The system is hard to describe,but I think
you all know what I mean (for the germans:TED!)
Well,all prices consisted out of sponsored stuff.such
as one Amiga Surfer,software,v-labs etc etc.
One after one,each winner of the first prices was
announced and invited to come up to the stage,chat a
bit and then choose sth. out of the tables with
sponsored prices. After all first-price-winners
(which by the way also got a free Symposium '96-
T-Shirt) had been announced,the 2nd winners got
their prizes,and this went on until everyone had been
there. After this ceremony,the organizers announced
one of their last events:the big "Loewenfuetterung"
(Lion feeding):They threw some of the sponsored
stuff into the audience,and everyone could try to
grab sth. for himself. This event was really funny,
and the audience seemed to appreciate it quite much.
A last "rnning competition" was organized,were each
competitor had to run around the conference center.
The one who was back first received all the rest of the
sponsored stuff. After that event,the bigscreen got

closed,the party was declared to be over and
the organizers started to clean up the place. Those
people who didn't leave up to now packed their things
together and headed home,perhaps grabbing a T-Shirt
at the exit,very cool one I'd say (good black quality,
colourful backprint and a fine decent Symposium '96
logo at the frontside).

I would say that I really enjoyed that party,and in my
eyes the organizers succeeded in making it
"the best german party so far". The only problem was
that not so many people showed up. They expected
around 1000-1500 visitors (like said in the party
promotion video),but only about 670 showed up.
A problem might have been The Gathering '96 in
Norway,a party that obviously a lot of Amiga and PC
Sceners attended. But also the X96 for PC and
especially C-64 might have done its share.
Left to say is that the Symposium '96 was really a
party worth going to,and the organizers already

announced the Symposium '97 to take place. If you
have the opportunity to visit both the X97 (if there will
be one,that is!) and the Symposium '97,I'd advise you to
do so. If you're more concerned with the board/
crackerscene,the X97 would probably be the right
party for you. But if you're more into the demoscene,
and also enjoy a good entertainment,meeting up with
other scenes etc.,I really advise you to visit next
year's Symposium '97! NEXT Page for the final results
of the C64 DEMO COMPETITION!
As a round up,I'd like to give you a +/- chart,although
it can never be 100% fair I guess:
+ -
really well organized too less attendants
a lot of extra events no real sleeping hall
clean WC-Facilities no showers
superb audio/videoequipment no C64 gfx/msx compo
fair entrance price sloppy snackbar
clever+fair votingsystem,alcohol/smoking allowed
friendly organizers,good atmosphere
internetcafe(!) for everyone to surf around

THE C64 DEMO COMPETITION

Place Group Name Entry Votes
1 CYANCE "Centric Preview" 03 272
2 SMASH "Electric" 01 259
3 OXYRON "4 Years Oxyron" 02 170
4 PLUSH "Plushworld" 05 73
5 CREAM DE-ZIGN "Wishes" 04 68
6 ART PROJECT STD."Fire" 06 29

Cyance is the game-producing lable of Reflex .
The demo was compiled out of old Reflex-demoparts
to promote Quiss' new game called Centric. Some game-
sequences were put into the demo,but still it consisted
mainly out of old code. Lame act in my eyes;SMASH DES.
should have won.
btw :There'll probably be a C64 Music and GFX
Competition next year. The Organizers just didn't
thought that so many C64 Sceners would appear!
Yours.. Chaotic/Atlantis/N*P
</pre>

Domination 07 Symposium Report - Revision history

Ymgve at 19:26, 8 June 2010