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- «s6=166,227,181»
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- «ac»«»
- «»
- «c2»LOOKING BUACK«»
- «as»«»
- «c3»BY DARKHAWK/IRIS«»
- «»
- «c7»For some, the best way to write, is to
- be told by others what to write about.
- I won't say it is the same with me, but
- it is quite nice to get a concrete
- article 'job' now and then. Well, «c6»Zerox
- «c7»has told me to write a bit about my
- «c6»impressions «c7»during «c6»the last 10 years in
- the scene. «c7»This could potentially
- become a quite long article, but I will
- try to make it short enough to put on
- one disk, heh. I am going to write a
- bit about some of the «c6»parties «c7»I have
- attended the last 10 years and about
- the mood of the scene during this time
- as I have seen it.«»
- «»
- Well, I began in my first group in
- «c6»1989, «c7»but let's jump forward to «c6»1991,
- «c7»where I was still quite wet behind
- the ears in regards to the scene. I
- had my idols ofcourse, like the
- «c6»Danish Crionics, the old Kefrens,
- Phenomena and Sanity, «c7»and my scene
- life was mostly spent getting all the
- great productions. Now, I must admit,
- that the productions released 89-91
- were not all that great, infact a lot
- of them were boring. However, there
- were true gems released, those demos
- that still are my absolute favourites
- today. And most of them were released
- in 91, which was the last year of the
- old scene so to speak, the old scene
- with the «c6»copy parties «c7»and totally
- nerdish atmosphere. After that, the
- scene became more international,
- professional, and bigger. However,
- first things first. In order to get
- all the flood of stuff released back
- then you had to either know a swapper
- or be a swapper yourself. So, in 1991,
- I found myself in the position of
- «c6»being a swapper, «c7»and organizer of my
- own local group I had started. Its
- name was «c6»Megalomania, «c7»and if some of
- you remember this group, it is pretty
- surprising, heh. I was a member in
- some other groups too around then, as
- there were really a lot of groups
- around, and if one could not get into
- any group, one simply created a new
- one.«»
- «»
- «c6»1991 «c7»was the year of the really great
- and outstanding trackmo's, as I see
- it, that is, «c6»Enigma and Hardwired
- «c7»shine above all others this year. It
- felt like a kind of magic being in the
- scene back then, getting letters
- delivered to your «c6»postbox, «c7»checking
- out the «c6»demos, «c7»studying the happenings
- in the groups and really living in and
- for the scene. Well, atleast I felt it
- that way. I attended a small cracker
- meeting as the only 'party' I attended
- in 91', I was at the «c6»Dexion Xmas
- Conference in 90' «c7»though, and that was
- my first party. I saw such legends as
- Celebrandil and the Crionics dudes
- there, and was totally in awe. That
- party was a true copyparty, with
- nerdish people going around and heated
- coder debate in the corners. C64's,
- Atari's and especially Amiga's all
- over the place, mhh.. The scene felt
- very much alive back then, atleast it
- did for me. Also, 1991 was the year I
- started my «c6»writing «c7»career, with my
- first articles appearing a while later
- in «c6»RAW «c7»and Top Secret, I think. «c6»Mags
- during that time were wonderful reads
- «c7»too, I can mention Stolen Data,
- Satanic Rites, Grapewine, «c6»DISC,
- «c7»Freedom Crack, Magbox and many others.
- Always a lot of stuff in the mags,
- although the articles might not have
- been as quality minded and structured
- as they got later on, when the quality
- of articles and mags topped in 96/97.«»
- «»
- As to quantity, the scene never had
- better years than 92 and partly 93,
- which saw an explosion in the number
- of sceners, new groups and released
- productions, many of which were nice of
- course, like «c6»State of the Art, Desert
- Dream and Arte «c7»for instance. My scene
- life was really hectic around here,
- 93' ended with me having around 80
- contacts and being a returning editor
- in Upstream and Top Secret. While it
- was stressing, it was also «c6»great fun.
- «c7»It did not feel like the magical
- moments and immersion of my first 3
- years, but the scene did still feel
- very much alive, and I was beginning to
- appear on a few charts by then. Being
- in the scene was beginning to feel like
- something normal and not like the wild
- rush of yesteryear. Notable parties I
- attended in 92 and 93 was «c6»The Party «c7»2
- and 3 really. I attended others, but
- not quite as notable I must confess.
- Back then, TP was actually fun, hard
- as that is to believe now, hehe.«»
- «c6»1994 «c7»marked the start of a new scene,
- just as 92' had done it previously.
- There, a lot of new blood had flowed
- into the scene, but in 94 that trend
- started reversing itself, groups died
- and people started to leave the scene
- and the Amiga, ofcourse mainly due to
- the «c6»death of Commodore, «c7»and the
- uncertainty of Amiga's future. That
- damn PC was starting to get really
- popular too around then, sadly, but
- that is ancient history ofcourse.
- >From 94' and onwards, the Amiga started
- to emulate the PC, and not the other
- way around. In regards to the scene,
- that meant the advent of chunky coding,
- with the resulting doom clones,
- objects and textures we can see in all
- of our scenish productions today. That
- meant a «c6»goodbye to the old way of
- doing demos, «c7»2D effects mostly, or
- quite simple vectors running fullframe
- if at all possible. Now groups really
- started experimenting with chunky
- coding and all that came of it. Well,
- this was not all bad ofcourse, as it
- is what lead up to the demos we enjoy
- and think great today. These 3 years
- were also the years of the «c6»great
- diskmags, «c7»or rather, many diskmags had
- reached a very high level of content
- by this time, since they were not
- written by 14 year old beginners
- anymore.«»
- «»
- As for myself, well, the excitement
- was beginning to fade by then, or that
- is maybe putting it too harshly, since
- I have always been interested in the
- scene. However, the golden days were
- over I felt. I topped at 110 contacts
- in early 94', and from there it has
- been a steady decline down to my
- some and 20 today. On the other hand
- I continued to write articles and I
- joined «c3»IRIS «c7»in the start of 94' too,
- who had some turbulent times before
- things quieted down for us. As for
- parties.. Well, I attended a lot, but
- noteworthy parties were few and far
- between. TP4 was ok, but the 3 parties
- I enjoyed the most during those three
- years, were the danish South Sealand
- parties, which were the first parties
- where we really boozed, heh. We also
- had some nice IRIS meetings that
- helped lay the foundation for our
- group during those years, aswell as a
- host of productions. Well, those three
- years were interesting, but where 92
- and 93 had felt a bit more like
- 'business as usual' to me, in regards
- to the scene, these 3 years gave me
- that feeling even more.«»
- «»
- 97' to 99' marks the years of the
- «c6»smallest Amiga scene ever, «c7»especially
- 97-98 were «c6»sad years «c7»in that regard,
- although there were many positive
- aspects too, like many demo groups
- topping these years and producing
- their best work ever. Too bad those
- demogroups then died promptly
- thereafter. «c6»Powerline, Embassy, Nerve
- Axis, Mellow Chips, Floppy and Artwork
- to name some of the more known. «c7»Also,
- in regards to diskmags, things went
- down the drain during those years. We
- had two really high quality mags,
- Scene Point and Generation, both of
- which died officially in 99'. On the
- other hand, the MS party series got
- their well deserved breakthrough in the
- scene, and «c6»MS «c7»is now known as the best
- party for sceners, with the popularity
- of «c6»TP «c7»on the decline.«»
- «»
- During these 3 years «c6»Poland «c7»really
- showed up on the scenish worldmap.
- Having had their golden period years
- later than the western scene, they had
- many more groups and sceners in their
- country, than the other countries
- combined, since those had already
- declined to a minimum. It is nice that
- it was timed like that, or who knows,
- the scene might have been much poorer
- today.«»
- «»
- Anyway, for me, those 3 years were
- nice. I got more responsibilty on the
- «c6»editor side, «c7»and managed to «c6»organize
- my group «c7»well enough. Swapping
- suffered, since there were fewer and
- fewer swappers around, but it
- eventually stabilized and became a
- nice pastime, if not quite as hectic
- as before, hehe. Also, I attended some
- of my «c6»best scene parties «c7»during this
- period, the MS parties each year and
- the Gravity97 in Poland, which was
- a very cool experience for me.
- Generally it was as if everything
- became more relaxed, and sceners too,
- taking the scene more easily, not
- wanting to prove as much as before.
- This is not neccesarily a bad thing,
- although this is really what the
- polish scene can't understand about
- us, that we're so relaxed about our
- hobby, we seem almost indifferent to
- them I guess. «c6»IRIS «c7»has also done the
- been quit active during these years,
- atleast in newer history, so my scene
- life has been fun and easy going
- during these years I feel.«»
- «»
- Now we have the «c6»year 2000 «c7»and it
- is almost over. This might be the
- beginning of something very positive
- again, a renewal of the scene. It can't
- be the end of the scene, since that
- should have come years ago if it would
- ever come, I think. We have become as
- small as we could be, and now only the
- truly hardcore are left, atleast in
- the west. And this latest half of the
- year seems to be very nice in regards
- to diskmags. Two new diskmags
- released, «c6»Showtime «c7»about to appear in
- some days, and the «c6»EuroChart «c7»appearing
- regularely, what more could one wish
- for in the mag department? It looks
- brighter than ever there.«»
- «»
- Otherwise this year has passed rather
- fast for me, guess that's because I'm
- getting so old, haha. Nothing more to
- add, we will see where the future
- takes us with the «c6»new Amiga plans,
- «c7»which also, for the first time since
- Commodore died, seem to be concrete.
- If they are, it «c6»WILL change the scene,
- «c7»and in a relatively short time I
- predict. Anyway, hope you aren't all
- asleep now ;)«»
- «»
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