Aminet 44/Aminet 44 (2001)(GTI - Schatztruhe)[!][Aug 2001].iso/Aminet/demo/mag/GDS-DISC11b.lha/text/LOOKING BUACK

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«c2»LOOKING BUACK«»
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«c3»BY DARKHAWK/IRIS«»
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«c1»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
«c1»has told me to write a bit about my
«c6»impressions «c1»during «c6»the last 10 years in
the scene. «c1»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 «c4»parties «c1»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, «c1»but let's jump forward to «c6»1991,
«c1»where I was still quite wet behind
the ears in regards to the scene. I
had my idols ofcourse, like the
«c4»Danish Crionics, the old Kefrens,
Phenomena and Sanity, «c1»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 «c1»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
«c4»being a swapper, «c1»and organizer of my
own local group I had started. Its
name was «c6»Megalomania, «c1»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 «c1»was the year of the really great
and outstanding trackmo's, as I see
it, that is, «c4»Enigma and Hardwired
«c1»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, «c1»checking
out the «c6»demos, «c1»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 «c4»Dexion Xmas
Conference in 90' «c1»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 «c1»career, with my
first articles appearing a while later
in «c4»RAW «c1»and Top Secret, I think. «c4»Mags
during that time were wonderful reads
«c1»too, I can mention Stolen Data,
Satanic Rites, Grapewine, «c3»DISC,
«c1»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 «c1»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 «c4»great fun.
«c1»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 «c4»The Party «c1»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.«»
«c4»1994 «c1»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, «c1»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 «c4»goodbye to the old way of
doing demos, «c1»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, «c1»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 «c1»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
«c4»smallest Amiga scene ever, «c1»especially
97-98 were «c6»sad years «c1»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. «c4»Powerline, Embassy, Nerve
Axis, Mellow Chips, Floppy and Artwork
to name some of the more known. «c1»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 «c1»is now known as the best
party for sceners, with the popularity
of «c4»TP «c1»on the decline.«»
During these 3 years «c6»Poland «c1»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, «c1»and managed to «c4»organize
my group «c1»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 «c1»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 «c1»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 «c4»year 2000 «c1»and it
is almost over (It is over-Ed). 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, «c4»Showtime «c1»about to appear in
some days, and the «c6»EuroChart «c1»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,
«c1»which also, for the first time since
Commodore died, seem to be concrete.
If they are, it «c4»WILL change the scene,
«c1»and in a relatively short time I
predict. Anyway, hope you aren't all
asleep now ;)«»
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