Invitation: Version 2.1 Release date: 02.03.97 MEKKA '97 SYMPOSIUM '97 The Official Invitation +------ Easter 1997 ------+ Polka Brothers * Phantasm Lego * Smash Designs Amable * Avena Teklords Sponsored by Creative Labs +---------+ + Content + +---------+ 1. Introduction 2. General Information (Date, Location, Bustrip, Price) 3. Features 4. Competitions 5. Network 6. Timetable 7. Organizers / Contacts 8. History 9. Disclaimer +---------------+ + 1. Introduction + +---------------+ Nearly one year ago two great parties took place: -> Mekka'96 (29th to 31st of march): Mekka was held the first time in 1996 and was a great success. Over 300 attenders from different countries joined the event. Before Mekka, there was no real party for the german pc demo scene in our country. -> Symposium'96 (5th to 8th of april): Symposium took place the 9th time and about 650 attenders from all over Europe came to be part of this special event. The multi-platform party got a good reputation cause it is a scene party organized by scene people. At eastern 1997 these both parties will be combined - not competing like last year - to provide you even more fun, entertainment and partyfeeling. It does not matter what kind of computers you like - we will support all platform and most of them will be represented by well known and famous demo groups for sure. - PC - Amiga - C64 - Atari Falcon - Acorn RISC PCs - This time Symposium/Mekka'97 will be an event not to miss - and remember: If you don't come... it's your fault! +------------------------+ + 2. General Information + +------------------------+ Date: ----- Join us at Easter 1997 -> Friday 28th to Monday 31st of March 1997. The doors will be opened for you on -> Friday at 12:00 CET and closed on Monday at the same time (12:00). Location: --------- The party will take place at -> "Heidmarkhalle Fallingbostel" between Hamburg and Hannover (approximatly 100km to the south of Hamburg) with enough space for all of you (sure!). By car: ------- You can reach the partyplace via the highway "Autobahn A7", exit "Fallingbostel". You will find signs directing you from this exit to the party. By train: --------- You will have to get to station "Fallingbostel" with the "Deutsche Bundesbahn". We will setup a bus-shuttle service to the party. Please contact: -> Michael Krause - Mannesallee 24 - 21107 Hamburg, GERMANY rawstyle@blackbox.dame.de, ii7349@fh-wedel.de (Raw Style/Lego) in advance to make sure that our bus is at the train-station when you are arriving. Bustrip: -------- Of course you can come by bus too. At the moment we have information about at least four bustrips coming from -> Switzerland and collection attenders from south germany too. If ----------- ------------- you want to join this bustrip or you need additional information about this bustrip you can contact Furball: "furball@space.ch" -> Germany: This trip is organized by PSIONIC/T.C.F. and will start -------- in Gaertingen/Stuttgart. The bus has space for about 40 persons including their hardware equipment. Please contact psionic if you need more information or want to register to his bustrip: "psionic@osg.bb.bawue.de" -> Sweden: This trip is organized by Excel/Balance and Newt/Abyss. If ------- enough people come together there might even be more than one bus. All this is not absolutely sure yet, but if you are interested, you can send Excel a mail: "excelblc@freenet.hut.fi" -> Hungary / Austria / Czech Republic: This bustrip will start in ----------------------------------- Budapest and maybe make intermediate stops in Austria and the Czech Republic. This trip is organized by Tomcat/Controlled Dreams and will cost around 100 DM (from Budapest). You can contact "Polgar Tamas, 1139 Budapest, Kartacs utca 7" by phone (english spoken of course) "(+36-1) 140-0598" or via email: "tomcat2@ursus.bke.hu" If you have information about any other bustrips or you want to organize one please contact: -> Malte Kanebley - Im Dorfe 3 - 21629 Neu Wulmstorf, GERMANY amable@aol.com (Hardball/amable), voice: +49-4168-8611 Table Reservation: ------------------ In the last week we got a great response on our invitationtext we released only a few days ago. We decided to let you reserve your table even if you do not want to pay in advance. Please send your reservation to -> Malte Kanebley - Im Dorfe 3 - 21629 Neu Wulmstorf, GERMANY amable@aol.com (Hardball/amable) Your registration should include the following information for each person you want to reserve a table: -> Realname -> Handle/Group (if you don't have one... leave it out) -> Platform (PC, Amiga, C64, Atari, Acorn, etc.) You will receive a confirmation as soon as possible. !!! But please no panic, there really is enough space for everybody !!! Online Table Reservation: ------------------------- You can also register online at -> The "Digital Nightmare BBS" (Login Name=Mekka, Password=Mekka): [X75] [V110] | | +-----[NUMBER]----+[SPEED]-+-+-+-+-----[TYPE]-------+-[ONLiNE]--+ | +49-5121- 39236 | 16.800 | O O | ZyX16.8 V32.b | 00-24 CET | | +49-5121-157635 | 19.200 | X X | ZyX19.2 V32.b | 00-24 CET | | +49-5121-157636 | 64.000 | X X | iSDN ONLY | 00-24 CET | | +49-5121-157107 | 36.200 | X O | USR V.everything | 08-24 CET | | +49-5121-157108 | 28.800 | X X | V.34 V.FC | 00-24 CET | | +49-5121-157109 |128.000 | X X | iSDN ONLY | 00-24 CET | +-----------------+--------+-----+------------------+-----------+ Price: ------ The entrance fee amounts 40 DM / person (about 25 US-Dollars). We are not able to change foreign currencies. The organisation is !NON-COMMERCIAL! As usual the entrance-fee will be distributed among the winners of the competitions. Pay in advance (possible until 10.03.97): ----------------------------------------- If you decide to pay in advance you can save 5 DM / person. Please transfer the entrance-fee (35 DM / person) to the following bank- account: -> Name of the Bank : Kreissparkasse Harburg Bank-Nr (BLZ) : 207 500 00 Account-Nr (Kto) : 211 00 888 Name : "Malte Kanebley" You will have to choose a password to protect your money. Please attach this line [german: "Verwendungszweck"] to your money order: -> "97"-HANDLE-PASSWORD-REALNAME Additionally you have to send an email or snail-mail to -> Malte Kanebley - Im Dorfe 3 - 21629 Neu Wulmstorf, GERMANY amable@aol.com (Hardball/amable), voice: +49-4168-8611. This is important because we need this to verify your money reached us properly. You will get a confirmation and an entrance-ticket. Of course, we will reserve a table for you. +-------------+ + 3. Features + +-------------+ Of course a lot of features await you: -> Everyone talks about *Internet* and so do we. We will have a Internet cafe installed for you with lots of terminals for IRC (17) and Web (5) access. -> Visit our IRC channel #sym97 to get the latest news and information. -> An ethernet network running with a big fileserver and party chat connected to the IRC. Our equipment will hopefully provide a fast and save party network all 72 hours. See chapter 5 for more details. -> Network: we are selling network equipment like NE2000 network cards or ethernet cables and connectors for a fair price. -> We will present all compos on a big screen of 6 * 4 squaremeters and a powerfull Dolby Surround music system. -> 100% public voting on all compos for everybody at the partyplace. -> There will be a quiet place for you to sleep if you decide not to do this in front of your computer or under the table ;) -> Food: We will sell drinks (Coke,Water) and cold snacks like (Snickers, Chips, etc.) for a cheap price. We can not provide warm food (sorry) and the shops in the city have only opened on Saturday from 09:00am to 04:00pm (that's only 7 hours during the hole party!) but you will find McDonald's and some nice restaurants in the city. Of course you can bring your own food with you. -> Every night there will be a mind blasting laser show. -> Live performances on the stage by Noisedrift, Ronny/Teklord and the FX Performer and Noodles/Phantasm. -> Flake/TRSI, the author of the well known Amiga anti-virus program VirusWorkshop will hold a small conference giving details on the latest virus techniques which are becoming more evil and destructive than ever before. -> The German BeBox Users Group (DeBUG) will also meet with us. We try to make room for a presentation in the Be Demo Tour series which took place also on The Party VI last X-Mas. -> Many other features of which we are not able or not willing to tell you yet. Now that we're organizing this party, you might think that all you can do is visiting it. This is wrong: We give you the one and only chance to produce yourself. If you want to give a lecture on something or if you have another idea of enriching the event, you're very welcome to do so. We would like you to contact someone of us as soon as possible, though. +-----------------+ + 4. Competitions + +-----------------+ First of all we must send a big THANX to our sponsors that support this event with hardware-, software- and cashprizes (alphabetical order): -> Amiga Plus Magazin -> Creative Labs -> I.S.M./beTON -> Kuester Datensysteme -> Mecomp GmbH -> Oberland Computer General competition rules: -------------------------- -> The Rules may change until the party starts. -> At least one of the competitors must be present. -> We must have all entries until deadline. -> We will have a preselection for the music compos. Only 15 entries will be presented. The preselection will be done by a jury of known scene people. -> The entry must be released at the party - not at any time before and not on other parties taking place at the same time (we will exchange us with the organizers of all other parties). -> You must release a "final"-version of your productions at the party. -> You have to license us to put your production on any digital media. -> The entry must be one archive with description (FILE_ID.DIZ). The name of the archive MUST be compatible with ISO 9660: only the characters "A"-"Z","0"-"9" and the underscore "_" are allowed! System configuration: --------------------- PC: --- -> The production must support a GUS or SB and -> your production MUST support NOSOUND too. -> The program must NOT use the commandline to select the soundcard. (use a soundcard-selection-menu or use a autodetect-function). -> 1oo% VGA-Register compatible videomode MUST BE SUPPORTED. -> Additionally you can use VESA 2.0-videomodes, too! -> Chipset specific code (ET4000, S3, 3D-Chips etc.) is not allowed. -> Your can test your production up to 3 times on our PC to fix the latest hardware-problems. -> The Competition-PC will have following configuration: Prozessor : Pentium 166 RAM : 16 MByte (minimum) L2-Cache : 512 KByte Videocard : fast PCI-Videoboard with 2 MByte RAM Soundboard : - Gravis Ultrasound with 1 MByte RAM - Creative SoundBlaster AWE32 Operating System: DOS 6.2 Max. Base-Mem : 600 KByte (= 614400 Bytes) Memory Configs. : HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE; no FlatRealMode! Amiga: ------ -> Processor: 68030 running at 50MHz, AGA. 68060 is optional. -> RAM : 2 + 16 MByte Atari: ------ -> Standard Falcon configuration C64: ---- -> New SID -> Action Replay MK6 -> 1541-II disk drive. Acorn: ------ -> Bring your own ;) Competitions: ------------- Demo (PC, Amiga, Atari, Acorn, C64): ------------------------------------ -> Maximum size PC, Amiga, Atari, Acorn: 6 MByte (= 6291456 Bytes). -> Maximum size C64: standard 5,25" DD disk. -> Must not require installation (Assigns, Libs, Drivers, etc.). -> Write access to the disk is NOT allowed. -> For PC: It must be possible to interrupt the Demo with ESC. -> Only the first 15 min. of the Demo will be shown on the screen. Intro (PC, Amiga, Atari): ------------------------- -> Maximum size PC: 64 KByte (= 65536 Bytes). -> Maximum size Amiga: 40 KByte (= 40960 Bytes). -> Maximum size Atari: 96 KByte (= 98304 Bytes). -> Must not require installation (Assigns, Libs, Drivers, etc.). -> Write access to the disk is NOT allowed. -> For PC: It must be possible to interrupt the Intro with ESC. -> Only the first 10 min. of the Intro will be shown on the screen. Intro 4KB (PC, Amiga, C64): --------------------------- -> Maximum size: 4 KByte (= 4096 Bytes). -> Sound (MIDI, AdLib, PC-Speaker or whatever you want) is possible. [Please include nessesary drivers] -> Write access to the disk is NOT allowed. -> Only the first 5 min. of the Intro will be shown on the screen. Game 32KB (plattform indepentant): ---------------------------------- -> Maximum size: 32 KByte (= 32768 Bytes). -> Just code a little, funny game, e.g. jump'n'run or shoot`em`up or whatever you want (KLF: what about magic carpet 32KB? ;). -> The coder of the game will play it on the big-screen. -> Write access to the disk is allowed (hiscore, playerinfo, etc.). If these files are *not needed* to run the game they can increse size by 8KB (so 40KB possible). We will delete these files before running the game on the compo-pc. Java 32KB (mostly plattform indepentant :) ------------------------------------------ -> Maximum codesize: 32 KByte (= 32768 Bytes). -> Only compiled client side Java code (.class files). No Javascript. -> Must be callable over the network and from the local disk. -> Must run on the newest Internet Explorer AND Netscape Navigator. -> Will run on Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.01 on the compo PC under Windows NT 4.0 and desktop size of 640x480 pixels. IE will run with maximized window size. -> Code whatever you want (Demo, Game, Paintprogram, ...). -> Sound possible (MIDI, Wave, Calculated, ...). -> Maybe controlled by keyboard or mouse. If the program needs interaction the coder will play/use it on the big screen. -> Up to 32 KB of extra files (HTML file with -tag that calls your java code, additional gfx or sound files (GIF, JPG, WAV, MID, AVI, ...) that are included with the -tag, ...). Protracker Module (4 channel, plattform indepentant, except C64): ----------------------------------------------------------------- -> Maximum size: 1 MByte (= 1048576 Bytes) unpacked. -> Only the first 3 min. will be played during the competition. Music (multichannel, plattform indepentant, except C64): -------------------------------------------------------- -> Maximum size: 1.4 MByte (= 1457664 Bytes). -> For PC: must be playable with Cubic-Player 1.7. -> For other platforms: must be executable. -> MIDI is not allowed. -> Only the first 3 min. will be played during the competition. Music (C64): ------------ -> All formats allowed, executable file. -> The C64 screen will not be shown during the compo. Graphics (plattform indepentant, except C64): --------------------------------------------- -> Allowed formats: max. 800x600 24bit, IFF, GIF, PNG, JPEG, LBM. -> Raytracing is possible. We need at least three significant steps of the picure. -> Scanned pictures are not allowed. Graphics (C64): --------------- -> All formats/modes allowed. -> Must be an executable file. ANSi (all Platforms): ---------------------- -> Amiga und PC charset possible. -> Will be shown with 14400 bps. -> Not more than 200 Lines! Wild/Video: ----------- -> Anything possible. -> Use any hardware you want. -> You must bring your hardware with you (we need F-BAS, Composite, VGA or RGB-output) or give us a VHS or S-VHS tape. Surprise: --------- -> We will have some surprise-competitions at the party, too. -> You really think we would tell you those compos yet? -> ...of course not. But there will be FAST and FUN-COMPOS! +------------+ + 5. Network + +------------+ A LAN (Local Area Network) and a Novell Netware Server for 1000 users with more than 2 GB HD-SPACE will be on the Party. The Party Server will be used to publish all entries after the competitions. Every table gets an own network cable with a terminator (BNC 10-BASE-2 Thin-Ethernet). We will support the following frames: -> Ethernet IEEE 802.2 with iPX -> Ethernet IEEE 802.3 with iPX -> Ethernet Type II with iPX & TCP/iP Please note, that we DO NOT SUPPORT NeuBEUI, DLC or DEC-NET! That's what you need to connect yourself to the party network and its party server: -> An ethernet cable and a T-Connector (we do NOT support Twisted Pair, unless you bring your own hub with you ;) -> A Novell NDS (Netware Directory Services) client OR you can get an instant client from the net-crew. -> For the instant client you will need the ODI Driver for your Network adapter. This client does NOT run with Windows 95 even if Windows 95 includes it's own ODI Driver. We are selling network equipment like NE2000 network cards, ethernet cables and connectors for a fair price. If you want to spread your releases over the network you can share the files with Windows 95/NT/WfW or get a permission by the net-crew to put them on the Party-Server. Our network is supported by (alphabetical order): -> Novell -> Proteon -> Silicon Graphics +-------------+ + 6. Timetable + +-------------+ Friday: ------- 12:00 The party will start 24:00 Liveact "Noisedrift" Saturday: --------- 01:00 Lasershow 15:00 DEADLINE for Wild/Video, Grafix, Music, Ansi, 4KB Intro DEADLINE for all Acorn-, Falcon- and C64-compos 20:00 COMPOS Wild, Grafix, ANSI, 4 Channel Musik Sunday: ------- 00:30 Liveact "Ronny/Teklords" 01:30 Lasershow with Liveact "Noodles/Phantasm" 10:00 DEADLINE all other compos (Demo, Intro, Game) 10:30 COMPO Intro 4k 15:30 COMPOS Musik, Intro 19:00 COMPOS Game 32k, Fast Intro, C64 Demo, Atari Demo Monday: ------- 00:00 COMPOS Acorn Demo, Amiga Demo, PC Demo 05:00 DEADLINE Voting 09:00 Prize ceremony 12:00 We will close the doors Additionally the video beam and sound system will go down every night for at least 4 hours so you can have a rest or do whatever else you need the silence for. +--------------------------+ + 7. Organizers / Contacts + +--------------------------+ The groups involved in organizing the MeKKa/Symposium '97 are -> Amable (for PC), -> Avena (for Atari), -> Lego (for Amiga), -> Phantasm (for Amiga), -> Polka Brothers (Amiga), -> Smash Designs (for C64) and -> Teklords (for Amiga and PC). But what do names mean? It's the experience that matters. And that's what we can *boast* with: ten Symposiums, the Mekka'96, the 680xx Convention 1993 and an in-depth knowledge of the scene provide us with the power necessary for organizing such an event. More information: ----------------- -> On our extensive World Wide Web pages: http://134.28.37.10/~frank/Sym97/ You can find the invitation intro (Amiga) and demo (C64) here. -> On the Black Box BBS: +49-4105-84619 (v34) +49-4105-669011 (ISDN) -> On the Digital Nightmare BBS: You will find the numbers in Chapter 2 "General Information". -> Directly from the organizers: PC: --- Malte Kanebley - Im Dorfe 3 - 21629 Neu Wulmstorf, GERMANY amable@aol.com (Hardball/amable), voice: +49-4168-8611 Jan Tegtmeier - Reinckeweg 9 - 22399 Hamburg, GERMANY tegtmeier@tu-harburg.de (Starcode/amable) Amiga: ------ Frank Schliefer - Am Musterplatz 27 - 21220 Seevetal, GERMANY gandalf@blackbox.dame.de (Gandalf/Phantasm) Michael Krause - Mannesallee 24 - 21107 Hamburg, GERMANY rawstyle@blackbox.dame.de, ii7349@fh-wedel.de (Raw Style/Lego) C64: ---- chaotic@blackbox.dame.de (Chaotic/Smash Designs) Atari: ------ michael_wiegers@hh3.maus.de (Jet/Avena) +-----------+ + 8. History + +-----------+ Version 1.0 (09.12.96): ----------------------- -> First invitation text released. Version 1.1 (19.12.96): ----------------------- -> Bustrip from sweden added. -> Timetable added (deadlines only). -> Pay in advance only possible until end of february. -> Compo rulez changed a little bit. Version 1.2 (27.12.96): ----------------------- -> Table reservation added. -> Rulez for Ansi-Compo specified. Version 2.0 (25.02.97): ----------------------- -> Bustrips added. -> Online Table reservation site added (Digital Nightmare BBS). -> Pay in advance now possible until the middle of march. -> Features added (liveacts, conferences) and updated (food support) -> Added a list of our sponsors in chapter 4 (competitions). -> No anonymous compos anymore. -> No gfx-chipset specifiy code for pc. -> Compo pc updated. -> 4k Intro for C64 added. -> Game 32k now for all plattforms. -> Gfx compo rulez changed (max. resolution). -> Wild and Video compo combined. -> Timetable updated (deadlines) and added (compos, liveacts). -> Chapter about the party network added. Version 2.1 (02.03.97): ----------------------- -> Java Compo added. -> New bustrip from Hungary added. +---------------+ + 9. Disclaimer + +---------------+ -> We are not responsible for your equipment you bring to the party: keep an eye on it. -> We are not responsible for possible accidents during the party. -> We are not interested in troublemaking people and will throw them out. -> You have to pay for everything you damage. -> You have to bring your own wires with you. There is only one power- connection for each table/computer. -> Of course hacked, cracked or illegal programs are not allowed. -> Racism is not allowed. -> You are under German law and everything that's forbidden outside the party-place will be forbidden inside, too! +----------------------+ + + + END OF INVITATION-FILE + + + +----------------------+