The Alternative Party 2003

mkoskimi writes "The fourth consecutive Alternative Party is arranged this weekend (Friday to Sunday) in Helsinki, Finland. As before, we expect up to 300 people joining this round-the-clock event, bringing along all kinds of weird machines (previous times have seen a Magnavox Odyssey, a M6800 Evaluation Kit II and the Vectrex). It's not yet another retro computer show though; there will be Competitions, artists and our guest of honour, Jeff Minter! There be llamas here..."

Comments

Demos

[Noodlenose]

I remember downloading and running a 3 minute demo on my Amiga 2000 that wasn't only mindbogglingly beautiful to look at but also had the coolest EBM-soundtrack you could imagine. Size of the file: 16kb

Bloody amazing...

Will there be a return of the mutant camels?

It's a finnish party allright!

[DrunkenPenguin]

This seems like a traditional finnish party. You better not go if you can't drink booze ;)

Think I'm kidding? No, I'm not. Check out these pictures from finnish geek parties!
---

A diverse set of competitions

[mmoncur]

I was imagining some kind of retro computer programming contest, but along with "Most Obscure Computer Competition" the events include:

- Photography Competition
- Short Story Competition
- Live Vocal Music Competition ("You do not necessarily have to sing, you can also make other sounds/noise with your mouth(s).")
- Love Music Competition
- Black and White Video Competition ("Shades of gray are not allowed.")

I love it. It's a shame I'm nowhere near Finland or I'd stop by just to see the spectacle of 300 retro computer geeks in a love song competition...

Re:Demo Scene

[Anonymous Coward]

My favorite was when a C64 demo-group "ported" the PC demo "second reality" by future crew to the commodore C64. That was amazing!

I think it's downloadable at www.scene.org under C64, think it was in 1995-1998 somewhere. Of cause you also need a good C64 emulator like CCS64.

Demo Scene DVD

[Duds]

No, I'm not connected with these guys.

But this is just such an obviously cool product I had to flag it. A load of guys have done a 4 hour plus DVD-Video of Demos running on the machines that ran them best. Everything from 1990-2001, including (of course) 2nd reality.

I got it on release day and it's superb, even with easter eggs and original music from demo artists for the menu.

http://www.mindcandydvd.com

Re:Demo Scene DVD

[Duds]

Go to their forum.

They're planning a volume 2, quite possibly with the Amiga stuff. Make your voice heard and we'll get our Amiga one.

I love both, fine by me :)

Invitation competition and previous Altparty stuff

[jjl]

Entries for the invitation competition are already available, featuring intros/videos, music/posters/flyers/pictures, text files and even a feast recipe invitation!

The intros have wide variety of entries, some working on Win32, some made with Perl, a 4k intro, invitation for GBA and Vic-20 and more.

Some stuff from Alternative Party III held in January 2002 is also archived and available.

Here is a pouet-link to one demo from the party, "Partaitiö" by tAAt (Platform: 386SX, works in Win2k box with VDMsound). (tAAt ry is also helping in organizing the party this year)
Check out also pictures from the overhead projector compo called "Valoköysiviljelijä".

Mirror of some parts

[jjl]

Here's copy-paste of some parts of the site since it probably gets slashdotted quite soon.

Party Schedule

Note that (almost) all times are estimates.

Friday 10th January
12:00 Doors open
18:00 Opening ceremony
18:30 Live music performances
CPU stage:
19:00 Folio
20:00 Juhani
21:00 Kris Kylven
22:00 Bass Cadet
FPU stage:
18:30 Die Rebels
19:30 Morlokkiarmeija
20:30 Grey Park
21:30 dA JoRMaS
22:30 Merryrastila Hardcorps
23:00 Invitation Competition
00:00 Non-/disqualified Demo Competition

Saturday 11th January
12:00 Deadline for all competitions
14:00 Guage Competition
16:00 Realtime Drawn Gfx Competition
17:00 Ludicrous Speed Gfx Competition
19:00 Live Vocal Music Competition
20:00 Love Music Competition
21:30 Photography Competition
22:00 Black and White Video Competition
00:00 Alternative Demo Competition

Sunday 12th January
12:00 Voting ends
13:00 TMDC5 Prize ceremony and showing of entries
14:00 Alternative Party 2003 prize ceremony
18:00 Doors close

Mission Statement

The demo scene has almost been a stifling force against creativity. It seems to be content to operate within its own secure borders, defended by angry troops and barbed wire. Almost afraid to explore new grounds and afraid of the world outside. Anything that is different is scorned at. It's not technically challenging. It's silly. There's no *wow bang*.

Demo coders end up becoming game coders and tracker musicians become game musicians. They become anonymous. Why can we not look at the world beyond? With the fourth incarnation of the semi-legendary Alternative Party that is what we are trying to do. Trying to make sceners realize there's more to life than having simply technically superb results, with no personality, style, originality or attitude. We want people to look at new solutions -- both for their hardware and, more importantly than ever, for their productions.

Please do contact us if you have ideas how best to do this. We are always looking for comments.

I'd just like to throw an extra greet to Antti Silvast for making me realize why the Alternative Party is important again.

--Kristoffer Lawson (Setok / Aggression)

The Facts

What: A new kind of computer party.
When: 10th-12th January 2003.
Where: Kulttuuriareena Gloria, Helsinki, Finland.
How much: 20/25 EUR. Ticket info

Background

The last Alternative Party was the most successful event, and the most challenging event we have ever organised. It was a truly memorable weekend in many respects. The music, the contributions, the people and the unbeatable spirit. Everyone combining together to prove to the world that change can take place. We honestly believe you cannot experience anything like that at any other scene event. In January 2002 we passed the 200 mark. Can we now reach 300?

The event is organised by Alternative Party ry, a non-profit organisation, in co-operatin with tAAt ry.

Contribute

If you wish to take part in discussions and hear the newest announcements, join the Alternative Party mailing list:

mailto:majordomo@fishpool.com

Body: subscribe altparty [address]

If you are only interested in announcements, use subscribe altparty-announce [address] instead. Note that all announcements will be posted to the altparty list as well.

Contact

For more information about the party, contact Setok or visit the Contact page.

Competitions

• Photography Competition
  
  • You can submit either a JPEG or TIFF image or a paper photo (which will then be scanned by the organisers).
  • Visible marks of editing and other kinds of "improving" the picture will cause the picture to be disqualified.
  • The pictures will be shown on the big screen.
  
  
• Non-/disqualified Demo Competition
  
  • You can participate with any machine or operating system - make sure that someone can show your demo or you must take your computer with you.
  • Only one entry per group.
  • The demo (or intro) must have been non- or disqualified at some party. You must state which party it was.
  • If the demo was disqualified because of some content that is not, for some reason, suitable for showing on the big screen, it will be disqualified again. ;-)
  
  
• Short Story Competition
  
  • You must submit a text file containing your story.
  • The file may contain no more than 70 lines of text with no more than 72 characters per line.
  • Character encoding should be US ASCII or ISO Latin 1.
  • Any language is allowed.
  • The stories will be printed and shown on the wall.
  
  
• Realtime Drawn Gfx Competition
  
  • You have exactly 30 minutes to draw your picture and submit it to the infodesk.
  • You can use a computer (and return the picture on a disk as GIF/PNG/JPEG/TIFF) or just paper (max. A4) and pens. In the latter case, the picture will be scanned in order to show it on the big screen.
  • Your picture must follow a topic given just before the competition starts.
  
  
• Ludicrous Speed Gfx Competition
  
  • You have exactly 30 seconds to draw your picture.
  • You must use A4 paper and any tools you wish.
  • The entries will be scanned and shown on the big screen.
  
  
• Live Vocal Music Competition
  
  • Only vox humana (human voice) may be used - no instruments, filters, vocoders etc.
  • There can be a single singer or a whole chord - we have many microphones.
  • You do not necessarily have to sing, you can also make other sounds/noise with your mouth(s).
  • Maximum length of your performance is 3 minutes.
  
  
• Love Music Competition
  
  • Allowed file formats are MOD, XM, IT, S3M, MP3 and OGG.
  • Maximum playtime of the song is 3 minutes.
  • The song must be about love. The style is not limited, though.
  
  
• Alternative Demo Competition
  
  • Any platform is allowed, but remember to make sure that someone at the party place has a machine that your production runs on - perhaps by bringing your own machine to the party place.
  • Maximum showing time of the demo is 8 minutes.
  • The demo must be somehow alternative, not ordinary.
  
  
• Black and White Video Competition
  
  • The contribution must be delivered as MPEG video and/or VHS tape.
  • Maximum showing time of the video is 5 minutes.
  • Audio is of course allowed.
  • Only two colors, black and white, are allowed. Shades of gray are not allowed.
  
  
• Invitation Competition
  
  Note that the deadline is over -- this competition has been closed.
  
  • Any platform is allowed.
  • The invitation can be a demo/intro, music, video or something completely different.
  • The invitation must be submitted (emailed to setok@fishpool.fi) before December 1st.
  • You don't have to be present at Alternative Party to participate.
  • You can submit an MPEG video to be shown and spread on the site. You can't expect to win the compo if people can't see your work!
  • The invitation can (and should!) be shown at other parties and events and spread like hell. It also must be spreadable somehow...
  • Feel free to use text and pictures from this site.
  • The production must really be an invitation, so it must contain at least the following information in some form: Alternative Party 2003
    10th-12th January 2003
    Gloria Helsinki Finland
    http://www.altparty.org/
    
  • The contributions are downloadable on the Archive Page.
  
  
• Guage Competition
  
  • GUAGE RULES!!!
  • This year we will organise a "traditional" Quake tournament.
  • The game will be played in text console (80x50).
  • More details will be announced at the party.
  
  
• Most Obscure Computer Competition
  
  • As usual we will pick the most obscure, strange or rare machine we can find.
  
  

Prizes

• Silicon Graphics Challenge M computer from Damicon Kraa Oy
• Custom made kilt from AmeriKilt Co.
• Cray T3E supercomputer system (not all of it!)
• Computer games from Atari and Llamasoft Co.
• Some other, more or less ordinary prizes

Common Misconceptions

We keep hearing things from people about our party, or the people involved, which simply are not true. Here are some of them.

• The Alternative Party is for old computers
  
  This has never been true, although it is by far the most common misconception we run into. So much so that it is potentially damaging. The Alternative Party has always been about doing and thinking things differently. Right from the very beginning we have allowed a wide range of computers to take part in the compos, from Vic 20s to Macintoshes. In fact we would very much like to see a modern supercomputer or UNIX workstation taking part. So just to emphasise this:
  
  The Alternative Party is not only for old computers
  
  
• I cannot enter the party with a modern PC
  
  This is simply not true. We do not turn anyone away because of the machine they bring with them and welcome anyone and everyone who has paid the entrance fee. Specific compos might have rules which limit the machines or technology that can be used, but they do not apply to the party on the whole.
  
  
• The compos are jokes
  
  While some people might think that, we put a lot of serious effort into working out new ideas for compos. This is indicated by the fact that a certain large computer event has used some of the ideas for their own compos. ;-) There have been many good entries in the past and we applaud the people who have gone to the effort. We would very much like to see more people do so. A bad joke entry just is not funny.
  
  
• Alternative Party organisers hate Assembly or Assembly organisers
  
  Not true. In fact many participate at Assembly every year. While it could be said that we do not consider Assembly to be the best party in the world --- that would naturally be our own --- we are on good terms with several Assembly organisers and would like to keep it that way.

For corporate use

[Dexter77]

The company I work for ordered a demo from one of the demogroups. It was displayed on a wide screen plasma-tv with hifi speakers at popular trade show. It was like a magnet for the customers. Most of the customers had never seen anything like it before and they stood there for minutes just staring and blinking their eyes.

The demo cost only few hundred euros because it was made by teenagers. But the quality was way above anything what we would've got from a design office for thousands of euros. I sincerely recommend everyone in a management position to use the skills of these democoders.

Definition of Party / Alt_party?

[fantomas]

Party: Good music, dancing, drugs (some maybe legal in different countries, some maybe not, careful in your choices, you wouldn't want alcohol in Saudi, you wouldn't want tobacco in California..), girls, boys, mixing it up and some people getting very friendly, lots of laughter...

Alternative Party: ... ok guys, you really sunk this article with this headline, you want to tell me why I want to come to an Alternative Party which presumably has none of the above ? :-))

going there.

[gl4ss]

though my hardware that i'm taking isn't exactly computer related, i'm just taking my(i'm supposed to be fixing it, which i guess i did already but i can't know for sure since i don't have tapes for it) grundig tape player(NOT c tape player, this one has tubes and all, and jury rigged line in, for hooking up to c64/lpt-dac whatever). pics are at here

and then i'm taking my camera, 'canon still video camera', that saves the stills on a video floppy disk(kinda hard to find them, the video is afaik saved in straight analog form on the disks too.). 50 bad or 25 better(interlaced) pics per disc.
a piece of totally pointless technology :P.

one irc-friend is bringing an alpha..

still, the more important thing is the people.. as this doesn't lure 14y cs 'vets'... too bad it's a little too cold for the right style scene bonfire outside(i don't know though if theres even proper forest near enough for it, no sense making it somewhere where you can drive because coppers are sure to come and put it out.)

Bring your pentium !

[mirko]

With temperature of between -5 degrees (Celsius) and -30, you'll sure need to heat the room ! :)

Jeff Minter

[oliverthered]

Jeff Minter used to live just around the corner from me(when I was about 5!), I still at the same place, I don't think he does any more (haven't seen him down the pub?)

Talley is a small town right, out in the countryside , next to the Aldermaston Nuclear establishment (The reactors probably less than a mile from my house, he says radiantly). I should imagine the radiation contributed to the llama fetish.
well that's my claim to fame.

Re:Demo Scene

[Goth Biker Babe]

It was attempting to code demos which use the hardware to it's limit (mainly on the BBC Micro) which laid the grounds for my future career in embedded software.

Demo coding (and game programming) produced a generation of software engineers who know how to keep memory usage to a minimum and eek as much power as they can out of the hardware. To solve solutions or produce effects they had to be inspirational and use hardware in ways the designers had never envisaged. One example being using hardware timers, the screen sync interrupt a nd low level coding to flip pallets during the screen draw and so get more colours than are supported normally.

I worry that the new generation have had it too easy and that these skills will be lost.

Jeff Minter

[Cally]

Jeff's a rather strange chap. There's a reason why his blog used to be called "Yak's Zoo"... that said, I've been reading his ramblings since the late 80s (when he first got an Apple and started producing a newsletter - I especially remember his lengthy description of hiking up Machu Pichu at dawn *soley* to watch the sun rise whilst listening to Pink Floyd on his Discman...

A shame that the relaunch of Llamasoft doesn't seem to have taken off. Anyone else remember Psychedelia? I was into that long before I even *saw* a spliff...

Clearly...

[slipgun]

My friends are welcome to use these pictures without any obligations.

Clearly he's not a lawyer.