2003 RETROSPECT
AND
2004 PREDICTIONS
Nope, the Scene News section isn't back... As I mentioned last time, it's
not worth writing about old news, better get connected to DHS awesome and so
fully informed website to keep in touch with everyday (or so :) news. I'd
rather use or waste this space to have a look backward to the past year and
hopefully another look forward to the newly born year !
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What was HOT in 2003 then ?
The year started nicely with first full demo by Lineout, understand the
active core of Fun. Earx and his fellows delivered a 2 year long work labelled
Delta and it's surely the biggest demo ever seen (not considering size, on that
topic I guess that Lost Blubb is unbeatable :). About 50 screens, most of them
very polished and so smooth on a bare Falcon show that the bird hasn't shown
its full potential yet !
In the meantime, some major events were strongly awaited such as the next
Error In Line party or release to the public of the CT060 accelerating card. So
that most of us were preparing something or getting ready to move another step
forward.
ERROR IN LINE 3 : It was hard to wait till Easter with so little to feed
our beloved Fuji labelled computers but the wait was worth !! More than a
hundred people gathered once again, tho in a new location, for what proved to
be another MEMORABLE event ! We were treated to the usual great and friendly
atmosphere and like the nice kids we are, we were even awarded an awful of
great demos, mostly on ST with Posh by Checkpoint, Moving into Darkness by DHS
but also the first demo by Damo of Reservoir Gods, namely Grimey. On the Falcon
side of things, it was a lot quieter but still impressive with Escape "_" demo
and tSCc (lost ??) Beams. I think that * everyone * will keep warm and great
memories from this great time and we cannot wait till 2005 when we will all
gather once again to... celebrate the ST's 20th birthay !
CT060 : we were about to calm down after EIL3 when the news hit the earth :
mythical (understand 'years awaited') CT060 wonder flooded over the summer.
First impressions were good in spite of some problems, gradually fixed so that
now about 100 of us can brag around, arguing that their Falcon has eaten viagra
(erm sorry, must be spam intruding this article :). The first CT060 exclusive
demo was brought to us some weeks ago by EVOLUTION, hopefully the first of a
series !
Summer passed on, mostly without any sign of activity but could it last
long ? Time to get warmed up again as some months later ILLUSION was finally
released ! Due to be given away back in 1993, the fate of this huge demo was
very questionable until brave ST Ghost decided to face the challenge ! Tho
clearly outdated, this demo brings back a lot of memories and offers nicely
designed screens supported by even neater gfx.
Already it was November and the only event to look forward was upcoming
PARACON party. As shit happens, some back troubles forced me to stay home while
a dozen of cool freaks spent a nice weekend in a family atmosphere.
Over the year, I have had several guest staying at home : first there was
Strider who joined me to Dresden for EIL3, months later Cooper spent a weekend
at my place (ask him why he feels like a true man now :) and I even managed to
get C-rem into my trap ! Indeed I found a real booze pretender there as the
both of us killed about 10 liters of beer in a single (but endless :) night.
Edo was supposed to meet me too but due to heavy train tickets, we had to
cancel. I hope to host a lot more of you, mail me if you want to be on the
guestlist but please bring in some beer (especially you Emeric ! :)
Then DHS organized a 15kb Xmas online competition that saw many entries tho
of very limited quality due to size restrictions. The screens I liked most
weren't even qualified, like Swe's entry or Paradox late screen. Better luck
with the next compo.
The year was almost gone when two events struck us hard : first on Xmas
eve, DUNE released FANTASIA first seen at EIL3 in a very previewish way. Now
the full demo offers many screens mixing old and new school stuff with always
the same dose of design and cool gfx by Mic. I just don't understand why
background looks so empty in the mapped screens :( Anyway this is undoubtedly
a great demo.
Unfortunately some other even blackened the end of this year as news was
spread that gfxman (and coder !!) Spiral had brutally died. Causes are still
unclear but we don't have to interfere with this. Later, Oxbab and Leonard
released a peecee tribute intro that covered the wide range of activities
Spiral had held.
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2004 : A new start or repeat ?
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Well even if 2004 was a repeat of last year, it would perfectly suit me as
we were offered so many wonders, not to forget YM Rockerz 2 compils gathering
chipping talents including from god knows where :)
The Easter convention subject remains unclear at the moment : while Havoc
has unofficially announced setting up a party, nothing has been made official
less than 2 months before the event ;( I doubt too many people have time to
work on peculiar demo projects...
Talking of parties, this reminds me that there are still some missing EIL3
entries such as Beams or Sprell. The fate of Beams seems quite bleak atm since
tSCc has lost one of their coders (hey better keep the leash tighter next time
pals :). As for Sprell... Hmm Nerve has managed to update Auto Behn so that it
runs on my standard Falcon about once in 10 tries... Not much more to expect
on that side I'm afraid (tho I've witnessed new gfx and another preview).
Not to forget EIL 1999 missing, erm what, 'preview' of Heftig and Mind
Design last demo (as far as the crewname is concerned). If you happen to browse
thru Cream's diary you'll read that Ultra (formely known as Candyman) is still
coding stuff, ultimately reoptimizing each screen for the hundredth time. Hey
someone has to stop him and get him to release the demo soon !!
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Predictions ?
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Well, being Alive's main editor, I've had the chance to learn more about
some projects... I won't tell you too much, just let me say there are some
sweeties still in preparation :
Dune is currently working on two, yes two, projects ! While highly skilled
Corbo is focusing on My Galaxy, the other guys are planning an STe demo called
Seeds. Dunno yet if the STe specs will really be used but I keep my fingers
crossed and trust Dune for bringing us more polished prods.
The Falcon has had a good start with another prod by Lineout and the first
CT60 exclusive intro by Evolution. We hope to see more on the new bird and
surely DHS and Lineout have their own ideas. As for Escape, it's hard to tell
whether or not they'll give CT60 a try...
On the diskmags front, life seems to extinguish slowly and surely. We are
still waiting for next Chosneck and Grey's desperate postings on DHS bbs show
that release isn't fixed yet. UCM 25 is still awaited and I have no idea about
its current state tho I've done some stuff for the intro :) Will it be the last
of a series ? It seems that the answer is "yes" and though it's sad, I can see
Moondog's point here. Indeed even Alive has gone thru hard times. It's not
possible to compete with extra fast internet as has everyone can read daily
news, reason for working on an old school diskmag are getting very slim. But
you can read more about my views in the editorial.
Well, we're left with missing demos from Cream, Mind Design, Creators or
tSCc. Having seen some previews, I can tell you that we are missing great stuff
and I sincerely hope that this year will bring us its lot of surprises.
Games ? Well if you couldn't feed on Zombie Apocalypse (cough, cough), you
surely can expect a lot more from Reservoir Gods ! Tho current state remains
unknown, Faery Lands is next on their schedule and no doubt it'll rock !
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Last words
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There are still good things planned for the old ST. As for the Falcon, it's
too early to say if crews fill keep to the basic standard or go for the CT60
setup. Tho I don't own one, I'd surely love to see the Falcon scene join hands
and go for the same direction, but I'm not the one making such decisions :)
2004 will surely see the death of diskmags tho. I can't believe people will
miss us, seeing the very little support all mags actually get. Maybe we'll try
to keep up with real life and go online or we'll vanish and be forgotten,
labelled productions from the old years ?
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STS Awards
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After reading Chris article about the Alive Oscars, I have decided to send
some personal rewards to the people who have done things on Atari over the
last year :
Best ST coder : undoubtedly this is Defjam/Checkpoint with Posh but also his
brilliant 4Kb intro ! Chuck, Corbo and Frost of Dune also deserve applause
for Illusion and Fantasia of course ! Last but not least Damo/Rg and Evil of
DHS have also brought us their share of cool stuff.
Best Falcon coder : two people share the throne here : first there is Earx
who released Delta and then Out, showing the world that optimized Falcon
still has the guts for it ! Also Charon of Escape amazed us with showing his
skills in "_" with help from No.
Best Gfxman : No real competition here. On the one side we have C-rem, the
guy has been busy like hell working with MJJ, RG, Dune, Dbug, DHS but also
Evolution (Echos) but also UCM, Alive and surely others I have forgotten !
Besides Emeric is of the kindest kinds of people, je t'adore mon poulpe :p
Mic also deserves some greetings for his art seen both in Illusion and
Fantasia but also soon in Faery Lands and Seeds.
Best musicians : instead of giving a single name, I would rather like to
greet a full crew, namely YM ROCKERZ, surely the best and most flavoured
collection of artists ! Most of them also brought contribution to the many
ST or Falcon releases !
Best website : DHS ? Could you possibly spend a single day surfing the web
without checking it ? If the answer's yes, then you probably think that the
Scene is dead :)
Best game : few pretenders but I'd like to grant special award to Roger, a
10 year old game that shows many good things, esp smooth and fast action.
Best lamer : that would surely be me : I've been lazy and demotivated and I
think that I'll even drop my nickname for some time. But if you come to meet
wee(r)do, hey it's me !
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