I don't think these kind of approaches really teach programming. Programming is so much more about the structure of a whole program down to the minute details and everything in between, including the strict syntax.
These game-oriented things are great, but what one learns with them is basically just a certain way how logic how object and AI interaction can work in games. And the logic is input using a finely crafted UI.
We once gave bed sheets as a wedding present, but tied them to a torus knot using chicken wire, covered with cellophane and braid.
In that particular wedding the maid of honor slightly opened the packaged presents so that everyone would see what the happy couple were getting as a present... however, she wouldn't dare to touch the torus knot.
Thanks! I already wondered if it would be possible somehow to download older stuff from source forge, as the existing release files and CVS access were taken away.
Demoscene has always been quite closed about sources and how to make the best tricks. This is now changing slowly as even regular 3D HW api tutorials tend to have enough information available for creating some kind of demo, and some groups have also released source to old productions as well.
About demos being unrunnable on a modern computer, have to say that it really sucks. However, there's still projects like DemoDVD and Amidemos which try to archive demos as videos.
Also, to my and many others delight, open source project called DOSBox has managed to get its project up to the state being able to run quite a few older demos as well. Even some of the trick effects using VGA hw registers work fine, although there's still some room for improvement with that.:) Note that you'll need more or less top of the line computer to get enough emulating power.
PS. The Second Reality you mentioned still doesn't work...
Check out this band - it consists of old 386DX computer having a SB... The music is quite fun, as it consists of classics rendered in the adlib-style sounds and top of that the SB speech synthesizer is singing the vocals.:-D
As can be seen in the pages, they have done many "live concerts" which could be defined also quite nice computer art installations - just the computer sitting on street, playing out its music.
This was quite expected from Microsoft. For example, StarOffice/OpenOffice have quite successfully grabbed some ground off Microsoft Office. This is mostly because of the very low cost of StarOffice, or no cost at all in OpenOffice's case.
> Is pair programming OK, or do you sometimes get stuck with the nitpicker from hell who has to have every detail his own way?
The team should create a common guidelines specification which then must be agreed by everyone in the project. After that nitpicking to make stuff conform to the guideline is a good practise, since sticking to the agreed style is an improvement.
Yes, Assembly has lots of teens playing fps etc., but they still have the focus on supporting demoscene. That's not the case on The Party which once was a demoscene party but nowadays is nearly 100% gaming LAN party where they don't care about demosceners any more.
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?
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.
Invitation competition and previous Altparty stuff
on
The Alternative Party 2003
·
· Score: 5, Informative
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".
If "hitting a wall" seems to be a problem when writing with a regular keyboard, I'd suggest trying to learn using less force when writing with keyboard. That way the impact should be smaller when finger hits a key and gets stop when key is down.
I wonder if living near MagLev track will cause HD corruption..;-)
Re:Wow, they get to reinvent the wheel
on
TMDC5
·
· Score: 2, Informative
The compo organization gives you the invitation source code to have something to look into and use as a reference. The invitation source uses/includes also the TextFX4 library which is a simple image interpolation and text output library.
PS. Port of the TextFX4 library for Linux would be nice.. any volunteers?
Re:Very intriguing material
on
TMDC5
·
· Score: 2, Informative
For a lot more demos with pretty weird ideas, check out the demos available in the tAAt home page.
Archive of samples of non-spam messages should be collected as well, containing real E-mail messages which aren't spam. These messages should be more or less normal private E-mails which are just volunteered to make public for testing purposes. The purpose of the samples of non-spam messages would be to help preventing false hit testing for the spam filtering algorithms, just as real spam messages are used to tune the algos for detecting spam.
The game score was hacked pretty quickly after release of the game.. easiest way being to fiddle with the values straight to the memory when the game is running (trying to change the saved scores or online submit data should be a bit harder).
If I get around taking time for the project, I'll be adding some more obfuscation for those things (as if that would help any;-). Checking the hit on server side takes a LOT of cpu time but I guess some system for validating top entries could be viable.
Anyway, the true story is that the idea for the game came when one work day I personally almost did a stair dismount, and we started joking with colleagues about making a game out of that..
And that's not the only way you can get some funny scores with. For example, one dude wrote an extra application called "brutalizer" which poked straight inside the running game to change the hit force to some ridiculous amounts..
Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft reports over 90,000 preorders already for its new forthcoming Windows Phone 7.
I don't think these kind of approaches really teach programming. Programming is so much more about the structure of a whole program down to the minute details and everything in between, including the strict syntax.
These game-oriented things are great, but what one learns with them is basically just a certain way how logic how object and AI interaction can work in games. And the logic is input using a finely crafted UI.
We once gave bed sheets as a wedding present, but tied them to a torus knot using chicken wire, covered with cellophane and braid.
In that particular wedding the maid of honor slightly opened the packaged presents so that everyone would see what the happy couple were getting as a present... however, she wouldn't dare to touch the torus knot.
Thanks! I already wondered if it would be possible somehow to download older stuff from source forge, as the existing release files and CVS access were taken away.
SwiftShader code seems to be directly based on SoftWire and swShader, which used to be both SourceForge projects.
About demos being unrunnable on a modern computer, have to say that it really sucks. However, there's still projects like DemoDVD and Amidemos which try to archive demos as videos.
Also, to my and many others delight, open source project called DOSBox has managed to get its project up to the state being able to run quite a few older demos as well. Even some of the trick effects using VGA hw registers work fine, although there's still some room for improvement with that. :) Note that you'll need more or less top of the line computer to get enough emulating power.
PS. The Second Reality you mentioned still doesn't work...
Oops, you're right. I accidentally googled up some old link. :-(
Somebody mod the parent of this message up...
Check out this band - it consists of old 386DX computer having a SB... :-D
The music is quite fun, as it consists of classics rendered in the adlib-style sounds and top of that the SB speech synthesizer is singing the vocals.
As can be seen in the pages, they have done many "live concerts" which could be defined also quite nice computer art installations - just the computer sitting on street, playing out its music.
This was quite expected from Microsoft. For example, StarOffice/OpenOffice have quite successfully grabbed some ground off Microsoft Office.
This is mostly because of the very low cost of StarOffice, or no cost at all in OpenOffice's case.
The team should create a common guidelines specification which then must be agreed by everyone in the project. After that nitpicking to make stuff conform to the guideline is a good practise, since sticking to the agreed style is an improvement.
Yes, Assembly has lots of teens playing fps etc., but they still have the focus on supporting demoscene. That's not the case on The Party which once was a demoscene party but nowadays is nearly 100% gaming LAN party where they don't care about demosceners any more.
Party Schedule
Note that (almost) all times are estimates.
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
Note that the deadline is over -- this competition has been closed.
10th-12th January 2003
Gloria Helsinki Finland
http://www.altparty.org/
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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".
If "hitting a wall" seems to be a problem when writing with a regular keyboard, I'd suggest trying to learn using less force when writing with keyboard. That way the impact should be smaller when finger hits a key and gets stop when key is down.
Related to the story about taxis is the news that playing radio in Finnish police cars is allowed.
The reasoning behind this is that the police cars are not about business like taxis.
I wonder if living near MagLev track will cause HD corruption.. ;-)
The compo organization gives you the invitation source code to have something to look into and use as a reference. The invitation source uses/includes also the TextFX4 library which is a simple image interpolation and text output library.
PS. Port of the TextFX4 library for Linux would be nice.. any volunteers?
Check out e.g. these:
Archive of samples of non-spam messages should be collected as well, containing real E-mail messages which aren't spam. These messages should be more or less normal private E-mails which are just volunteered to make public for testing purposes.
The purpose of the samples of non-spam messages would be to help preventing false hit testing for the spam filtering algorithms, just as real spam messages are used to tune the algos for detecting spam.
It's not about the ease of doing that, but about the will of putting up it and wanting to put time and resources in it.
The game score was hacked pretty quickly after release of the game.. easiest way being to fiddle with the values straight to the memory when the game is running (trying to change the saved scores or online submit data should be a bit harder).
;-). Checking the hit on server side takes a LOT of cpu time but I guess some system for validating top entries could be viable.
If I get around taking time for the project, I'll be adding some more obfuscation for those things (as if that would help any
Lol :-)
Anyway, the true story is that the idea for the game came when one work day I personally almost did a stair dismount, and we started joking with colleagues about making a game out of that..
And that's not the only way you can get some funny scores with. For example, one dude wrote an extra application called "brutalizer" which poked straight inside the running game to change the hit force to some ridiculous amounts..
tonic -- Jetro Lauha
The Game Development Competition entries to the Assembly party have been released already.
Check out especially the cool game Stair Dismount.