The Gathering 1998 Information file revision 1.01 __________________ There is a new world out there, consisting of whizzing electrons and glowing, electrifying photons that whirl in a dazzling, almost hypnotic dance of the mind. The world extends through cables in all sort of colours painted from the rainbow, speeding thru switches at speed of light, sometimes being only light. The people and beings inhabiting this realm is the young and unafraid. Young at heart or age, where their desire to go beyond what has been done before is the proof of their courage. They will be caretakers and rulers of the electronic world we're entering where information is the highest currency and knowledge is both the key and the lock. Every once in a while these people and the ones that aspire to be like to them or allured by the performances they make, come together in the physical realm. One of these places of haven for the ones that live the future is computer festivals (demo parties), being the largest playground to meet, play with and even discss serious matters at hand with your fellow travellers on the path to future of bits and bytes. Here exists no skin colour, no nationalities, no political or religious bias, the way you live, say and think is the way others judge you, not only by the knowledge you possess, but what knowledge you seek and how you seek to gain it. At the top of these festivals ranks the Nordic party which caters for all ways of electronic and cyber indulgence. Welcome to The Gathering!!!!!!!!!! Another year, another party. Every year, it may seem like routine to the rest of you, but it really isn't. It's more or less another full time job for the quite a few of us. Anyhow, to settle for last years level would make it to easy, so we add extra features every year. The Gathering 1998 - Global spirit! Start: Wednesday 8. April 08:00 Sunday 12. April 18:00 : End Entrance-fee: Boys 300,- NOK (approx. $40 US) Girls 150,- NOK (approx. $20 US) Check our web-page: http://www.gathering.org/ for all the latest updates. Chat with us on irc: #tg98 on EFnet Mail us: tg98@gathering.org Vital stats ______________________ - More than 100 hours of partypleasure - Many compos - classic and new - Entertainment from the stage, ravers and funbands. This year we go for party, none of those moron bands who tried to make you get hearing aids after TG. - Internet and network? Being the best and staying the best. More bandwith in and out, more content and evens online than ever before will make TG98 into a truly international event. - A very hard working crew being there for YOU. - A videoroom of class. The only reason it's not one the best cinemas in Norway is that we provide LD and DVD only! - Food and beverage will improve even more this year. Give us input on what you would like. - The sound will still not be great all over the hall, but sound transmission will be available thru the net as well for personal sonics. - The bigscreen will be REALLY, REALLY big. 16x12 meters makes it 192 square meters. Since no one else had one in the Nordic countries, we had it SPECIALLY made for TG. - New and cool events, party compos and entertainment will keep you up for a few extra hours every day. - Some scene meets/symposiums. Get input from other wellknow sceners and discuss whatever. Transmission details ____________________ - The olympic hall of Hamar, Norway. More famously known as the Vikingship. Built for the 1994 Winter Olympics, with over 12000 square meters of rumbling space. With all these sport-activities fading away, we can use it for something more important (to us at least). - TG96 - about 2500 attendees. TG97 - about 3300 attendees. TG98 - a set limit of 4000 people. Get your tickets soon to be sure to get a spot. Time ____ - We open at 08:00, Wednesday the 8th of April, and kick everybody out the door by 18:00, Sunday the 12th of April. To make one thing clear, everybody NEEDING an entry before is considered slaves until we open. Ask the 2 guys peeling 50 kilos of potato last year if they WANT to be early next year (even though the probably will be it anyhow!) :-D Entrance ________ - For European residents, full price. 300,- NOK (About USD40). - For outside of Europe, still free entrance. (All 3 of them last year). - Aliens are still free, but have to guest star in the X-files episode to be filmed at TG98. (gotcha). * SPECIAL NOTIFICATION - PLEASE READ * - Due to the abnormous amount of girls coming to TG97 (about 350), we do have to do something really unpopular this year. Girls DO have to pay to get in, but they only have to pay half price. There are several reasons for this, but none of them have with us making a large amount of money of it. a) Everybody being there as an attendee, have to pay to get in, due to technical reasons. b) The hall is using a lot of resources on the girls as well, and with an estimated growth in the girls amassing to more than 500, we would could either raise the price for the boys by about 50 NOK to cater for all the girls entering free (or close to free, see point a). c) Some of the attending girls complained about feeling lesser worth because all girls would get in free, and they would like to pay full price. (Some of the girls even paid in full just to mark their point). All things being what they are, we decided to have an entry fee covering the extra cost of the girls coming, but still having them pay half price would be supportive for them, to make it easier for guys to talk the girls (or other girls talking to their friends) to come see. If we get MORE than a 1000 girls, we probably would have to take full price for them as well due to the same reasons as above the next year. To make it worthwhile for the girls to come out, we've made a provision to give them some extra goodies for paying for their entry this year. - Purchase tickets within Norway by calling "Billett-Service" at 81533133. This is the very best way to ensure you get a ticket, and the ticket is your key to being able to reserve a seat. People outside Norway should contact us for special arrangements to order a ticket before you arrive, and we have set aside enough tickets to provide for all foreign attendees. - Tickets can also be purchased directly at the door without any previous registration. You don't even have to tell us or mom that you're attending TG98 before you get there. However, preregistration at our web site will save you and us a lot of time at the entrance. All info can be entered thru our website before the party or at the party. Entrance will this year be lightening quick. Entrance security is separated from registration security this year. You will be able to enter - You may register your entranceinfo and reserve tablespace through our web. Please check back regularly at the web for updated information. - http://www.gathering.org is the spot to get all the updated info. Loads of buses set up for TG98 is also listed here. We have our own bus which will provide transport from Oslo at set intervals. Many others have already bus tours set up. The party starts with the tour! How to get there. _________________ - From Oslo, take E6 northbound (main road, you can not miss it). Right before you drive into "Hamar", you will see a sign pointing towards the ship. By this time you should be able to see it pretty easily. - From Trondheim, pretty much the same idea, except you'll see the signs exiting "Hamar". - From anyware else, get to Hamar, or hit into E6 and follow it! - Take the train from either Oslo or Trondheim (or connect thru theere) and exit at "Hamar railwaystation". Take the bus or taxi from the station to the ship, it's less than 800 meters away. - Other means of transport, send us a mail, we like to be flexible. Party network _____________ - TG96 set a new world standard for party networking. With the help from Accton and Lanco, TG97 provided more than 3000 connections (topping the 1500+ connections from 1997), this year, we will have 4500 connections and to set the standards high, both TP and Coax cabling will be available. A gigabit backbone will rock! - If you don't have a network card, high quality network adapters will be sold at bargain prices. - Information on how to get onto the network in a proper, fast and cool way will be provided for you by the experienced network crew. - Of course a highspeed internetlink will be available for all of you. This year, in and outlinks will exceed ANYTHING you experienced before, but follow the instructions from our crews to maximize performance for you and others. Special happenings __________________ - Yet to be decided, we will have some rather cool people entertaining us from the scene, quite a few scene artists will release new productions at TG98. - We will have surprise compos, surprise guests and cool symposiums to keep the party going. Compos ______ Amiga Demo PC Amiga Anim (Wild) Demo Totally Wild Compo C64 Demo PC 4K intro Amiga 4K intro Amiga/PC 64K intro (see compo rules for special note) Amiga/PC fast intro 3DFX Compo 4 channel Music Multichannel Music Fast Music Graphics - pixeled Graphics - raytrace Text-mode demo Useless utility Java game/demo/applet For a complete set of updated rules for each competition, check the web-page. For a preliminary set of rules, check end of this text file. Greetings _________ We will take this opportunity to thank everyone who attended TG97 and gave us the necessary inspiration to endure the masochistic work of arranging a party of this caliber again. Very special thanks to: - First of all, the wonderful people of HOA, which made us feel at home. - The local fire departement for helping us in every possible way. - The patient crew from ABB, which made a true AUPS (almostuninterruptable power supply) for all sceners present. - All the sponsors of TG97. - All voluntary crew members who did the impossible, day after day for nothing else than that magical experience. - And at last to all of you sceners out there, who makes all the difference in the world to us. C U at TG98! How to get in touch with us ___________________________ If you need any kind of help, or if you do have any questions on how, what, when, where, try to get in touch with any of these individuals. - Main Administrator: Vegard Skjefstad - (+47) 90 11 99 66 shady@crusaders.no - Registration Administrator: Trond Michelsen mike@crusaders.no - Network administrator: Andreas Lund - (+47) 90 07 71 62 floyd@crusaders.no - Any general questions and comments can be mailed to tg98@crusaders.no Or..... by the eversopresent snailmail: The Gathering '98 KANDU Stasjonsveien 56 N-2010 Stroemmen Norway The people on the top Shady / Crusaders Dictator Mike / Crusaders Registration The Joker / Crusaders Coder Dollar Bill / Crusaders GFX / DTP Freaky Angel / Crusaders TG-Vision Gunders / Crusaders TG-Vision IQ / Cryptoburners Internet Big-Papa / Crusaders Internet Andy Floyd / ATC Network Ferryman / ATC Network Meco IRC Jammer / ATC Power Don Valentino / Crusaders Security Dr.Outtasight / Crusaders Stagemanager Kinky / Crusaders Girls Crew care Wobba / Crusaders Compo Kinky / Crusaders Girls PR Nightshade / Crusaders Speaker Moms / Crusaders Girls Video-room RULES! RULES! RULES! RULES! RULES! RULES! RULES! RULES! RULES! RULES! ------------------------------------------- The following rules apply to all PC Compo's: -------------------------------------------- * Must work on a Pentium running at 90Mhz * Must work with 610Kb conventional memory * DOS v7.0+ * Loopable only by choice (-loop parameter) * Pressing the ESC-key at any thime should exit the production * The system must be returned to it's previous state upon exit (i.e. no temp-files, stuff not removed from memory aso.) * A production may only participate in one compo * VESA support will be provided with Science Display Doctor, current version. PC Demo: -------- In addition to the common PC rules, these rules apply to the PC Demo Compo: * Max 32Mb RAM * Max unarchived size 6Mb * VESA v2.0 complient and/or general VGA registers * Soundblaster and Gravis Ultrasound, and/or no-sound * The demos will be shown for a maximum of 15 minutes PC 64Kb: ------- In addition to the common PC rules, these rules apply to the PC 64K Compo: * Max 32Mb RAM * Max unarchived size 64Kb (65536 bytes) * VESA v2.0 complient and/or general VGA registers * Soundblaster and Gravis Ultrasound, and/or no-sound PC 4Kb: ------- In addition to the common PC rules, these rules apply to the PC 4K Compo: * Max 32Mb RAM * Max unarchived size 4Kb (4096 bytes) * VESA v2.0 complient and/or general VGA registers PC Textmode: ------------ In addition to the common PC rules, these rules apply to the PC Textmode Compo: * Max 32Mb RAM * Max unarchived size 4Mb * Max 80x50 text mode resolution * Max 16 colors, neither palette nor fontset modification allowed * All 256 standard characters are allowed (state language code, ie. 437,850) * Blink attribute can be modified to allow 16 background colors * Soundblaster and Gravis Ultrasound, and/or no-sound Amiga Demo ----------- * Max unarchived size 10Mb * Must work on 68030 and above * Can utilize FPU, but must then support 68881/68882/68040/68060 * Max 2Mb CHIP-RAM, 8Mb FAST-RAM * Must work after SetPatch is installed * The demo can not reboot the machine when done, but do a 'clean exit' * Demo will be shown maximum 15 minutes * HD installable/runnable * Loopable only by choice (-loop parameter) * Exit any time with a mouseclick Amiga 64Kb * Same as for Amiga Demo, but with max unarchived size 64Kb (65536 bytes) Amiga 4Kb * Same as for Amiga Demo, but with max unarchived size 4Kb (4096 bytes) HTML * We provide descriptions of a fictional company/organization. * Some text and pictures will be provided as a basis for the website. New text and pictures are allowed and highly recommended. * Points will be awarded for the following: - Graphic design - Functional design and implematation - Compatibility with browsers. Microsoft IE and Netscape is highly recommended to a precheck. Very peculiar browsers will not be utilized for the compatibility check. - Correct implementation of HTML. Fast Intro PC/Amiga ---------------------------------------- - See general demo rules - Topic will be announced at the party Most Useless Utility ---------------------------------------- Have you ever made something so totally useless by accident or you tried to on purpose? Then this is something for you. It doesn't matter if it's something which uses forever to calculate a number or if it's a simulation dog barker. All entries are welcome. C64 Demo * C64 standard model * 64kb RAM (no wonder :) * 1541 or compatible FDD WiLD ---------------------------------------- * Max 15 minutes * If the entry need any obscure hardware, contact us for arrangements. * Animations/CGI only * If you have the opportunity we would like animations to be delivered on s-vhs. That makes it easier for us. If not we will do it ourselves :) Totally WiLD ---------------------------------------- * Max 15 minutes * If the entry need any obscure hardware, contact us for arrangements. * Anything goes within legal limits. * Things to be delivered on video, must be clearly marked. Java game/demo/application ---------------------------------------- - You can pretty much do what you want to here as long as it's in the spirit of the competition. - Both binaries and source must be submitted - Entry must be applet executable, ie. from a browser 4 channel Music --------------- * One entry per person * 4 channels maximum * 15 modules will be selected by a jury * Max 4 minutes * Any midi modules will be played on an AWE32 with standard instrument set * S3M, MOD, XM, MID, IT, OctaMED, AMS and C64 SID's allowed * Max 1.44Mb unarchived Music competition ----------------- * One entry per person * 15 modules will be selected by a jury * Max 4 minutes * S3M, MOD, XM, MID, IT, OctaMED, AMS and C64 SID's allowed * Any midi modules will be played on an AWE32 with standard instrument set * Max 1.44Mb unarchived Fast Music ---------- Rules? Quick? Graphics compos common ---------------------- * 20 pictures will be show 2x30 seconds (These will be picked by a jury) * GIF, IFF, JPEG, LBM, ILBM, HAM8 and TIFF allowed * Max 24bit color depth * Max 1024x768 picture resolution * No color cycling effects allowed * The competition version must not be signed by the artist Graphics raytrace/rendered -------------------------- * Picture must be computergenerated and not pixeled. Graphics Pixelled ----------------- * Picture must be pixelled and neither rendered or raytraced. 3DFX Compo ---------- * Must run under either DirectX, Glide or OpenGL. * Compo will run on a machine with 3DFX card installed, and must work on this platform. However, any demo working under DirectX will adhere to the rules and therefore be eligible EVEN if it does not support 3DFX. These demos will have a distinct disadvantage though. ------------------------------------------------------- Other small competitions will be announced at the party. -------------------------------------------------------