![[Aggression 2 Party]](aggro.gif)
Many people travelled to Helsinki in late December to take part in the Aggressive Party 2
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Many people travelled to Helsinki in late
December to take part in the Aggressive Party 2
Was it cold? Very.
Were they mad? Probably.
Well, it was what's known as a "coding convention". If you've ever taken more than a passing interest in Demos on your Falcon, you'd have heard about these little oddities.
So what on Earth was it all about???
To be honest, I'm not quite sure. Different people went for different
reasons. Myself, I went to meet people I had chatted to over the internet
(in particular over a chat system called IRC). Others went to take part in
the demo competitions. Others just went to have a few days of junk food,
sleepless nights and loud, loud music.
As you may have guesses, this party was a very informal affair. I had
never been to one of these "coding conventions" before, and I could think
of many places far worse than Helsinki to spend New Year, so I decided it
might be a good idea to try one out.
So three of us Brits set out for Heathrow early on a Thursday morning to catch our flight to Helsinki, taking the opportunity to stock up on some ridiculously cheap duty free at the airport! A three hour flight later, and we were in Helsinki, surrounded by lots and lots of snow. Suprisingly with all this snow about, it didn't actually feel that cold (compared to the -20 reported on teletext a few days before). We were greeted at the airport by Creator, who had offered us a lift from the airport. The venue was a big hall, and when we got there - barely three hours after the doors opened - the place was already chock full. All the desks were already covered with computers, monitors, hi-fi equipment, bottles of coke, and (I kid you not) even toasters and microwaves! Overall, there was in excess of 160 people at the event. And even though this was an Atari, Amiga, and PC event, Atari's had a very large slice of the action. Also, the vast majority of Atari computers present were Falcons, although it was nice to see somebody using an STe running NeoChrome!
Soon enough, however, we found where most of the Atari people were. All along the one edge of the hall were those familiar grey slabs, with glowing monitors showing Apex Media and Devpac!
As you'd have guessed, many people there were part of "demo crews". Those from the Atari scene present were Dead Hackers Society, NoCrew, Aggression and IMPonance. There were also a lot of people at the party who were along for the ride, so to speak. The first thing you notice is that everybody has an alias. Now this isn't some nerdy computer thing - everybody is just as happy to use their real names - only alias' are more familiar. Why? Well, on IRC you have to use a nickname (and most real names are already in use by people, so you have to be a little more imaginative), and as time goes on you, and your nickname, become familiar to those you talk to. Admittedly, you do come across a few nicknames that are a little nerdy, [so what's yours Neil? FFF] but I guess that's to be expected!
Another of the organisers, called Setok, introduced us to some of the Atari users. So the introductions began, trying to work out who I'd "met" over IRC and who I hadn't. Beleive me, coming face to face for the first time with so many people you've talked to for a couple of years is a bizzare experience!
So the party itself - what was it like? Well, everybody spent a lot of time chatting, swapping ideas, programming techniques, and so on. Many of the demo crews were hard at work trying to get their demos finished in time for the competition deadline, those who weren't went for a tournament at the laser game centre (Aggression vs Swedes vs Others - the team us Brits were on lost badly!). Of course, many people were coming and going all the time as people went to nightclubs or fast food joints. The one thing there was a distinct lack of at the party was sleep! Even though there was a small room to the side of the hall you could try and get some sleep in, your chances weren't that good. Some people managed it, though! (somebody even fell asleep under one of the desks where there was a bunch of people working!)
And so midnight came on the Friday - the competition deadline. Well, it was supposed to be midnight, but there were 'technical difficulties' with the video projector, and they had to get a replacement. Many beleive it was a feeble attempt from the organisers to buy a little more time to finish their own demo entry off! At around 3.00 AM the competitions started. And first up was the Music competition.
Urgh... this made me feel REALLY rotten. Let me explain. I had a slight stomach ache at the time (too much junk food no doubt) and all the entries to this competition were very, very bassy techno tunes. And they were played very loudly indeed. With every beat my stomach ached just that little bit more. Anyway, techno isn't to my tastes, so nothing in this competition really interested me.
Next there was a brief pause so people could nip down to the fast food store before it closed - not that I felt like eating anything by this time! Then the demos competitions started. There were three in all - one where the demo's size was limited to 4Kb, another limited to 128Kb, and finally one with a generous 8Mb limit.
As you can guess, there were some fantastic entries and some pretty rubbishy ones too. Some of the 128Kb demos showed some very nice effects indeed (to be honest, the PC demos in this category really shone) - actually some of the 128Kb demos outclassed a few of the full size ones!! I won't describe them all to you, though - there were far too many - but the Falcon did very well indeed, taking 6 top-three positions in the competitions. A full list of the results is at the bottom or this article.
The graphics competition was fantastic - obviously some very good artists were present at the party. I wish I'd have been able to get the winning picture to include in this article - it really was that good!
I managed to get a bit of sleep after the competitions finished (it was around 6.00 AM Saturday morning by this point). You can imagine how shocked I was when I woke up to find half the people at the party had gone! All the Atari people were still around, though. Half of the Atarians were staying, you see, as we had our own little New Year party organised. We eventually cleared out of the hall and went back to the homes of a few people who were good enough to put us up for a few nights. We finally had a chance to catch up on all the sleep we had missed out on, and woke up around 5.00 Sunday afternoon! Well, it had been three days...Some of the party-goers from IRC #atari
So it was now getting late on New Years Eve. What was in store for us? Of all things, a Finnish Sauna! Now I'd read about these - very, very, very hot saunas with a certain "tradition" which entails rolling naked in the snow [what about the thrashing with twigs bit? FFF]. Not a chance, I thought. Next thing I know, I'm there in the sauna. How the hell did I get persuaded into this, I thought to myself. All the Brits (except one, mentioning no names fellow FFF member Nick Flintham!) had decided to go for it, and I've always been willing to try most things (!) once, so I'd decided to give it a try! But, I thought, I'm definately not rolling in the snow. You can guess what happened next. Actually, it's suprisingly invigorating (No, really?), and even funnier when I remembered the last thing my Mother had said to me before I left - "If you go outside in the cold, make sure you wrap up warm.". Yeah, right.
After the sauna it was back into Helsinki centre where we spent New Year in a nightclub, which rounded off the night perfectly. What a great weekend!!!
I suppose a big "THANK YOU" to those who made the party such a great event
is in order, so here goes...
Flinny, JimB, Cajun and Andrew (the Brits), Creator, Msk, RobertK, Yeager, Evl, Loke, Noring,
Nolars, Foner, Xenit, WizTom, Gore, Cuba, and PyRex.
Also, a special thanks to Setok (and his mum) for putting us Brits up for
the night after the party!
So, finally, for those who are still reading, here are the results from the party:
-- AGGRESSIVE PARTY II RESULTS --
GRAPHICS:
=========
1st Place: Dream by Slimy Devil/TDC (220 points)
2nd Place: Green Thing by Hitchy Hit (165 points)
3rd Place: FFIELD by Sage/Splat (150 points)
---
4th Place: Lego by Luma/IPS (133 points)
5th Place: Araknophobia 2 by Nitric/Trioxide (52 points)
6th Place: Koira by Hippo/Amen (41 points)
7th Place: Puu by Rectum/The Blues Boys (30 points)
8th Place: No Inspiration by Lance/Aggression (26 points)
9th Place: Think by Rainbow Rat (9 points)
10th Place: Newship by Hyper-cube/IMPonance (7 points)
11th Place: Kick-Ass Brite-Lite/NMP (0 points)
MUSIC:
======
1st Place: Pumppaus by Longjam & Wildjam (82 points)
2nd Place: Poco by Grave/VLP (76 points)
2nd Place: Saturation Point by Mudpecker/Diesel (76 points)
---
4th Place: $00a3 by Teque/Aggression (74 points)
5th Place: Boogeyman by Lagers/Abuse (71 points)
6th Place: Bemehoth steelmill by Cube/Aggression (60 points)
7th Place: Agressio by Slice/Nerveaxis (59 points)
8th Place: Light in the space by Qbic/Glacier & FoV (53 points)
9th Place: Voice of the rice by Flex/TBB (44 points)
10th Place: Rip my **** by TjM/Parallax (36 points)
11th Place: Trance8 by 1in10/MFX (29 points)
12th Place: Trumphet by Cuba (28 points)
13th Place: Joyful2 by Mithrandir (25 points)
14th Place: 2ilman3 by Manticore/Mewlers (21 points)
15th Place: Megatrance by Excrement & Hexagon/Interamnia (19 points)
Dropped: Binco by Droxal/VLP
Dropped: Start by Nosfe/VLP
Dropped: Peelo by Zelex
Dropped: Jvk by Savu-mulqvist
Dropped: KS-Tita by Tyyneys & Raivo
4KB INTRO:
==========
1st Place: Power of 8Mhz by T.O.Y.S. ST/STe (144 points)
2nd Place: Life by Mace/Xtream Falcon (136 points)
3rd Place: NoCrew Falcon (131 points)
---
4th Place: JimB ST/STe (94 points)
5th Place: Lehma by Skraappa!Skruuppi PC (85 points)
6th Place: Paska by Taxoblne PC (82 points)
7th Place: Kudzun by VLP PC (68 points)
8th Place: IMP Falcon (34 points)
128KB INTRO:
============
1st Place: Positive by Coral PC (212 points)
2nd Place: Transgression by MFX PC (202 points)
3rd Place: Preview by Aggression Falcon (119 points)
---
4th Place: Fortune by Fascination PC (98 points)
5th Place: Vittu, keta kiinnostaa by
Skraappa!Skruuppi PC (63 points)
6th Place: Frill by Grunt PC (44 points)
7th Place: Tripfish by Mewlers PC (31 points)
7th Place: Oppenheimer by Interamnia PC (31 points)
9th Place: Whirlpool by Xtream Falcon (22 points)
DEMO:
=====
1st Place: Demolition by DHS & IMPonance Falcon (268 points)
2nd Place: Seagull by NoCrew Falcon (230 points)
3rd Place: Traktor by Pakistan PC (117 points)
---
4th Place: Taxoblne PC (104 points)
5th Place: 115K Demo by Wildfire ST/STe (27 points)
The UTOPOS compo was won by Mikko Pervila (Pervert/-), with 4212 points.
Prizes will be announced shortly
Thanks to everyone at the party and our sponsors:
Kybersonik, McDonald's, Prisolo, Triosoft, Viking Line, Xgateway Finland.
By Neil Jones-Rodway
(Arnel [Your IRC nickname? FFF])
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