»PIC:barclip2.ilbm» »CL9: The Gathering 2003 Demo Reviews »PIC:barclip2.ilbm» »CL4: By Zerox/Gods »CL7:The Gathering 2003 - www.gathering.org »CL1:When: 16th to the 20th of April 2003 Where: Hamar/Norway »CL7:Introduction »CL1:At the same time as the first Breakpoint party took place with most of the active scene present, one of the world largest computer events took place in Hamar/Norway. We're of course talking about the traditional Gathering party. »CL0:In the 90s the Gathering party was one of the best scene parties around, and this resulted in lots of great productions during these years. From the end of the 90s and until now, the Gathering could not really be described as a scene party anymore. The gamers have totally taken over, and therefore less productions are being released there. »CL1:This year there were about no sceners present at all at the Gathering party, at least not Amiga sceners. A few people were present the first days though, just to deliver their productions. But later on these sceners also went to the Breakpoint party instead. All in all, we've heard that there were around 5000 people at the Gathering this year, and only about 20-30 of these people could perhaps be described as sceners. So the Gathering party seems to be heading in the same direction as the The Party in Denmark, despite efforts to keep being a scene event also. Perhaps the Gathering party wont be cancelled though, as the Party is this year. »CL0:As in the latest years, the norwegian groups Contraz, Ephidrena and Spaceballs have delivered demos and intros. This year there were no Amiga intros at the Gathering party, however 3 demos got released. This was exactly the same amount of demos which got released at the Breakpoint party. »CL8:Demo Reviews »CL7:1. Ephidrena - Fake Elektronik Lightshow »CL1:Duration: Over 4 minutes The demo starts off with displaying a picture which shows the surroundings of a building, and the title of the demo: "Fake Elektronik Lightshow". Additionally you can spot the letters EPH, which stands for Ephidrena. While seeing this picture, you also hear a voice sample. »CL0:Now the first effect of the demo appears. We get to see the side of a fast train passing through. Quite nice actually. »CL1:Next up is a diffuse background and a vector moving synchronized with the music. The vector object is changing between being visible and invisible. Particles are being dropped from above, and rejected when hitting the vector. Then this routine is being divided into 4 screens, which are exact copies. »CL0:The credits part is next. In the right of the screen we get to see the traditional human 3d object which is spinning around, and on the left of the screen the credits are being shown. The text is hitting the screen with a blitz effect and synchronized to the music. »CL1:We're now moving in a landscape, it's like being into a loop as the landscape moves up and down. This routine also splits into 4 screens. »CL0:Then another background picture of the wall of a building appears. In front of it we see something which looks like a voxel-twister. The screen is divided into 4, just to return to 1 screen again. Suddenly a picture of half of a girl upside down pops up in front of the twister. »CL1:In the next routine we see a grey/blue background which is being stretched/zoomed a bit. A picture appears in front of it, just to vanish again. Then this routine turns into 4 screens as well, and back to 1 screen. Another picture in the same style appears in front. »CL0:The screen splits into 4 screens, and the screens display a sky and some clouds, in addition to an airplane which is flying towards us. We see the airplane in all kind of views. Suddenly the 4 screens turn into 1 screen, and we see the airplane in a real close-up view. Very nice. »CL1:Now the music changes a bit from electronic, more into hip-hop. We see alot of background pictures of tagged/graffiti walls. The entire scene/routine reminds me of the Tragedy-demo from the Party 4. »CL0:Next up is a background picture of some stairs and a picture of some men in front of it. In between an effect of a transforming object synchronized to the music appears. Nice light effects are added too. »CL1:Then the front picture of the men disappears, and the screen divides into 4 screens. Now we see the transforming object much clearer. Nice movements and other effects are added to this scene. The screen changes from 1 into 4 again, and back again, while the colours are changing as well. »CL0:Now the fast train appears again, it's exactly the same as displayed the first time. We see the side of the train. »CL1:The next routine is a background picture of another tagged wall I guess. In the middle of it we see a strong light, and particles are being spread away from it. We also see these black ball objects which are going towards this strong light. »CL0:The screen is divided into 4, just to be joined into 1 again. The strong light is now moving in the screen, and the ball-objects are suddenly coming towards us. »CL1:Then another stairs-scene appears. And some shadow-objects are moving up the stairs towards us. The object transforms alot, into something which looks a bit like a sea-star. We see a fast glimpse of the fast train passing through, just to return to the stairs-scene, which now has changed into 4 screens. We see a mix of all these routines many times; the fast train, the object moving up the stairs, the split into 4 screens etc. At the end it's just like a photographer taking pictures of the object. The music slows down and a voice says: "fake electronic lightshow". »CL0:This demo got good music which pushes the demo forwards. The music style really fits this kind of demo very well. The same style of design is going through the entire demo, but to me all these background pictures look like scans. Nevertheless, everything really fits. I can't say the demo has any really outstanding effects, but everything works great together. All in all, it is a good demo worth to watch a few times. Ephidrena managed to come second in the combined Amiga/PC competition, and should be happy about that. After all, at the same time they won the 4k intro competition in coop with Spaceballs at the Breakpoint party. »CL7:2. Spaceballs - We were dark helmets »CL1:Duration: Nearly 4 minutes »CL0:The opening of this demo is a bit chaotic. We see lots of variations of greyish colour, while the music indicates a storm. We vaguely see the name Spaceballs appear. »CL1:Then the real music kicks off the show, and the title of the demo is being revealed: "We were Dark Helmets" on the right of the screen, and in the left we see a blurred/lightened cube object which is rotating. »CL0:A background picture appears, and above it a rather big half-visable transforming object. It's changing to the rythm of the music. »CL1:Then there's another big silver 3d-object which is tranforming. The object seems to be inside a box or something, which is also moving. »CL0:Next up are some black dots/particles which are moving around, joining eachother and getting separated over a white background. We also see a text saying "audiovisual performances performed by the very best people in their respective fields". And another text above and below this giving the credits "Slummy and LugOOber". »CL1:After that we see some light beams which are coming out of a black background. And then something which looks a bit like a rubric cube appears. The rotating cube is in front of a background picture of some buildings. Inside this cube there's a light ball, which sends out light beams from the cube. »CL0:Then a text saying: "We respect...", and lots of names of Spaceballs members appear, over a background effect. »CL1:In the next scene we get to see lots of cube-like objects which are moving away from us, and they are joined together. The movements are timed to the music, and quite nice. »CL0:Next routine is a big sea-star object which is transforming. »CL1:Afterwards a huge ball object which is expanding hits the screen. It seems like more balls are being pressed out of this big ball-object. There's also a background picture of a building displayed. In this routine there seems to be a small bug in the mapping I think. »CL0:Then we see something which looks like some kind of twister-effect, but it isn't really. »CL1:Towards the end of the demo we see lots of small blurred cube-like vector objects in a pattern, moving up and down to the music. »CL0:At the end we just see a text saying: "We are Spaceballs you are not". »CL1:This demo also got fitting music, and "in your face"-effects. But actually I think some effects look a bit recycled, and the demo isn't very interesting after my opinion. I've seen far better demos from this group previously. Nevertheless, the demo came third in the combined Amiga/PC competition. This is the first time since ages that Spaceballs haven't won the TG demo competition though. In any case, Spaceballs in coop with Ephidrena presented a great 4k-intro at Breakpoint party at the same time, and that one surely won. »CL7:3. Contraz - Micromonster »CL1:Duration: About 3 minutes and 30 seconds. »CL0:The demo starts off by a loading picture. We see an Atari-disk with Micromonster. »CL1:Then something which looks like the negatives of a film pops up, and the word "Contraz" appears, and the credits are flying from left to right also, while the screen is flimmering when the credits hits their position. »CL0:Next up is something which looks like a small pac-man world. We see the micromonster move around in this "labyrinth" environment. »CL1:Then the real music starts, and the micromonster is rotating in front of the imaginary labyrinth, while the word "micromonster" is nicely being displayed. Then it's being zoomed out of the screen. »CL0:After that we see a picture of a monitor with the startup screen of the Commodore 64 in the left of the screen. On the right, some colourcycling and lots of signs/symbols are going from the bottom of the screen to the top. At the bottom of the screen there's also a "Nostalgia"-headline. »CL1:It now seems like we're moving in a weird blue/black voxel-landscape. Quite cool. »CL0:Then a really nice effect pops up. It's like a big black rotating cylinder with the sign of the micromonster. Out of the micromonster you can see the light reflecting on the background. »CL1:Next routine is an electric ball. When you see the electric beams hitting eachother and the edges of the ball, they're getting rejected. On the left of the screen there's also a text being displayed. It's moving from the bottom to the top of the screen. »CL0:Again we see some flimmering and the micromonster sign, which is almost invisible, is rotating. »CL1:Afterwards a very cool routine appears. It's some nice looking ball-objects which are moving slowly, jumping up and down, inside a tunnel. You can see the reflection of the balls in the ground. »CL0:Then it's time for the greetings part. We see some round vector-objects moving up and down. And on top of these, the greetings are being displayed. »CL1:The last routine is just a sign with the end and the micromonster. The picture is being lightened/bumpmapped. »CL0:The demo came 15th in the combined Amiga/PC demo competition, and I'm not sure why it didn't get a better ranking. Perhaps because the music is slower, just like most effects in this demo? And there are not many "in your face-effects". However, the demo got many interesting routines and it's well-designed (real pixelling). I miss a few part-links, but I've heard a final-version of this demo will arrive soon. I think this oldskool-demo should have been displayed at a real scene party instead, like at the Breakpoint party in Bingen where it would have gotten the respect it deserves. »CL7:Conclusion »CL1:Even though the Gathering party can't be described as a scene-event anymore, this party delivered the same amount of Amiga demos as the Breakpoint party. Contraz, Ephidrena and Spaceballs managed to come up with some decent productions just as the previous years. And if you haven't seen the productions yet, it's time to do so now. It's quite impressive that the demos did so well in competition with all the PC demos. Only one PC demo managed to beat two of the Amiga demos. It's however sad that the Gathering didn't have an own Amiga demo competition this year despite them saying they want the scene present at the party. »CL0:Next year I hope the Amiga groups will release their productions at the Breakpoint party instead of just trying to get some easy money at the The Gathering party, hehe. I think the Gathering as a scene-event is dead. But it's definately the place to be if you're a gamer.