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� <<< THE FUTURE CREW INFORMATION PACKAGE >>> �
� �
� Version 1.2 �
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� 02-DEC-1993 �
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� This file contains general information about the Future �
� Crew and our demos. It also includes frequently asked �
� questions we often receive by mail and instructions on �
� how to contact us best. �
� �
� We will update this file as things change, and if the �
� above date is rather old, you can get the most recent �
� version of this file either by E-Mail from Internet or �
� from our distribution sites. �
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� �
� �
� �
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� CONTENTS �
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1: Opening words
2: Demos for Commercial Purposes
3: The Distribution and Use of Our Demos
4: The Current Memberstatus
5: International Demo Competitions
6: Official Assembly'93 Competition Results
7: Quick Information on The Party 3
8: How to Contact Future Crew
9: Frequently Asked Questions
10: Creativity Demo Net Information
11: Official Distribution Site BBS List
12: How to Become a Distribution Site
13: The Brief History of The Future Crew
14: Answers to rumors
15: Sonic Dreams is NOT a Future Crew demo
16: Final Words
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�1: OPENING WORDS �
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Signed, GORE
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�2: DEMOS FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES �
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We would like you to understand that our demos are not animations.
This means that nearly everything you see on the screen is being
real-time calculated. The speed of the movement is usually
dependant to the speed of the VGA card and the speed of the
processor.
When contacting us, you should realise that we are all rather
young and thus still studying in various schools. This is why
our time is usually quite limited. And it is very likely that
we might already be involved in another project.
You should also know that we do not make demos for Microsoft
Windows due to its limitations from an assembly language
programming point of view.
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�3: THE DISTRIBUTION AND USE OF OUR DEMOS �
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All our demos, except the ones which we have created for different
companies, are freeware.
This means that you can copy and distribute them freely as long
as you make no modifications to them. Also, no money can be
charged for copying them.
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�4: THE CURRENT MEMBERSTATUS �
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FC Internet Division:
Henchman Markus Maki - Thanks for helping with the e-mail
Jake Jarkko Heinonen - Thanks for providing the e-mail
address
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�5: INTERNATIONAL DEMO COMPETITIONS �
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For those who have no idea what the above are, I will explain.
Demo competitions (= parties) are international events where
the demo scene people go to meet each other and to compete in
the many competitions that are being held. These competitions
(= compos) are the demo, intro (= a demo sized under 100kb),
music and graphics. There are often different compos for different
machines (PC, Amiga, Atari ST and C-64). There are also prizes in
each compo (cash or computer hardware & software). The cash prizes
are usually the money people pay as the entrance fee (usually
about $20 US) and the possible computer hardware & software has
usually been sponsored by various computer companies. All
contributions are being experienced on a big screen (many meters
wide) and with the aid of a powerful audio system. After this all
the people or a selected jury vote and decide which contributions
are the best. After this the prizes are being given out and the
party is over. In the process people of course get to know each
other better and exchange a lot of new ideas.
All contributions are usually being released at the party itself,
but sometimes the PC demos are not. This is very unfortunate,
and will probably change in the future. The reason why this is
allowed to happen is becouse most demos haven't been beta-tested
well enough before the party and might not work on most machines.
So, the groups are being allowed to finish their demos after the
party and then release them when they so see fit.
Parties usually last for three days (a weekend) and are usually
organized by bigger demo groups.
A few months before the party, the organizing demo groups usually
release special invitation demos to advertise their parties.
Terton, Finland
HiCompu, Finland
Toptronics, Finland
The thanks to all the sponsoring companies are also in the end
scroller of the demo. We hope to see you also next year!
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�6: OFFICIAL ASSEMBLY'93 COMPETITION RESULTS �
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Assembly'93 party results for PC. Votes were calculated by giving five
points for the first place, four for the second place and so on. Up to
five contributions could be voted for. A total of 130 votes were cast.
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�7: QUICK INFORMATION ON THE PARTY 3 �
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�8: HOW TO CONTACT THE FUTURE CREW �
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A very good anonymous ftp site where you can find lots of
demos is ftp.uwp.edu. Our demos can be found in the directory:
pub/msdos/demos/groups/future.crew.
You can also call our many BBSes around the world. You can
find the list of these BBSes in this textfile.
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�9: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE FUTURE CREW �
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Q: What programming books would you recommend to learn assembler and VGA?
A: This is a hard question, and a general answer is, that any book will do.
You can get the basics from a book and books are a great reference,
but when it comes to creating something new, you can't just read it
from a book. We have all learned to code the hard way (a lot of
miscellaneous books and a lot of experimenting). Anyway, here are
some of the books we often find handy (there are undoutedly newer
prints, so check them out):
Q: I'm a beginner programmer. I wonder if you could help me learn demo coding?
A: To help beginners learn the secrets of democoding we have released the
full source of our Mental Surgery demo. This source code is spread along
with our STMIK (Scream Tracker Music Interface Kit), which is a 4 channel
music player, which you can link into your own programs. You can find these
from our distribution sites, under the name STMIK020.ZIP (be sure to grab
STMIKFIX.ZIP too, which fixes one nasty bug). Do not try to ask us send
you some of our unreleased source code.
If you are reading this file, you probably know already that we have
released a new source code pack which includes the full, documented
ASM source code of our new StarPort intro II.
There's always the possibility that we will release some other source code
in the future as well, but at this time there are no immediate plans for
such an event.
Q: What is the complete list of your released productions with release dates?
A: To date, we have released the following productions:
You SHOULD be able to find all of the above from our Distribution Sites.
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�10: CREATIVITY DEMO NET (CDN) INFORMATION �
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The idea behind The Creativity Demo Net(work) is now about 2 years
old. I had been dreaming about having a way to communicate electronically
between different demogroups. When we (Future Crew) attended Megaleif
Easter Party'92 last year in Uppsala, Sweden, I was positively surprised
when I found out that Mirage / Cascada had also been thinking about the
same thing. We both thought that it was a good idea and began developing it.
At first the net was called just plainly DemoNet, but it was almost
immediately changed to Creativity Demo Net. Anyway, at first it was planned
that StarPort would become the World HQ, but as Arjan wanted to take the job
and all the big responsibilities, Arco BBS became the WHQ (and still is). Much
of the coming success of CDN was based on Arjan's continuing hard work for CDN.
The net started working in August 1992, four months after the first idea
about a demonet had come to me. And after that the net has spread like a
wildfire! At first CDN spanned only 3 countries (Finland, Holland and Germany)
but soon Sweden joined in, and then country after country and bbs after bbs
joined in. To this date CDN spans the following countries: Finland, Holland,
Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, England, Italy, Turkey, Belgium,
Canada, USA, France, Hungary, Brazil, Austria and Australia. THAT'S 18
COUNTRIES! And there are about 140 nodes in CDN, all BBS's that are demogroup's
BBS'es. Considering the small amount of demogroup BBS'es, I would estimate
that about 75% of all demogroup BBSes are connected to CDN and all of the
biggest groups like FC, Triton, Renaissance, Cascada, etc... are connected
to the net.
So what kind of echoes does CDN carry? Well here is the complete list of
echomail areas:
* 1. CDN.4ALL
The area for everyone in CDN
* 2. CDN.ANNOUNCE
Made a new demo ? announce it overhere.
* 3. CDN.DISKMAG
All information about diskmagazines
% 4. CDN.CHAT
All chatting with other members
% 5. CDN.PROGRAMMING
For help with programming problems
% 6. CDN.GFX
For all graphics makers
% 7. CDN.MUSIC
MIDI/MOD/MUSIC help and questions
S 8. CDN.TEST
Test area
! 9. CDN.INTERGROUP
For selected groups within CDN
S 10. CDN.SYSOP
Sysops CDN only
H 11. CDN.HQ_HOST
For mail between HOSTS versus HQ
CDN has areas for relaxed talk between people (and it gets QUITE
relaxed sometimes, and QUITE weird =), but it's just fun!), and for
serious purposes such as programming.
And what does CDN require from a BBS? Well, the first and MOST
important requirement is that the BBS is some demogroups (preferably an
active one) BBS. That is rule that there are only few exceptions from.
But otherwise, you just have to:
- place the completed files of the CDN on his/her BBS that everyone
can download them
- use the CDN nodelist and it's updates
- connect to every area available to them
Not too many rules... And that is because we want CDN to be fun,
not some playground for idiots with a lawbook for brains.
Also, there are ABSOLUTELY no charges in CDN, so the only costs you have to
pay are your own phonebills.
You can FREQ more info about from for example the WHQ under the magic name
CDNINFO. So, get more info now if you are interested in joining in!
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�11: OFFICIAL FUTURE CREW DISTRIBUTION SITES �
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�Country �BBS name �BBS number(s) �SysOp / Other info�
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�Finland �StarPort - FC WHQ �+358-0-804-4626 HST/V32b�=ABYSS- / FC �
� � �+358-0-804-1133 V32bis � �
� � � � �
�Australia �Tequila Sunrise �+61-7-801-4446 V32bis �Bartender �
� � � � �
�Austria �Polymorph LIGHTS �+43-1-596-9026 V32b&HST�Gery �
� � � � �
�Belgium �Genesis �+32-2-2453498 16.8k �McGarret&MadFlight�
� � � � �
�Belgium �Point Break �+32-11436925 16.8k �Lord Cyrix & �
� �Access Denied WHQ � �Jumping Jack Flash�
� � � � �
�Brazil �Warmboot BBS �+55-19426-5112 V32b �Carlos Cantu �
� � � � �
�Canada �Spasm-o-Tron �+1-514-744-5718 V32bis �Snibble / HiTS �
� � � � �
�Canada �The Basement Breweries�+1-905-527-3469 V32bis �Wizard �
� � � � �
�Denmark �Crack Central BBS �+45-981.10096 19.2k �Executioner �
� � � � �
�England �Sound & Vision BBS �+44-932-252323 V32bis �Rob Barth �
� � � � �
�Germany �The BitBlasters BBS �+49-851-83994 16.8k �BitBlaster �
� � � � �
�Germany �The Continental BBS �+49-711-548501 16.8k �Trojaner �
� � � � �
�Holland �The Consultation BBS �+31-1170-54987 V32bis �Preceptor �
� � � � �
�Hungary �Dune II �+36-62-342-793 V32bis �TSC / Phantom �
� � �open: workdays 14-07 CET�weekends: 24h �
� � � � �
�Iceland �Mori BBS �+354-1-677020 V32bis �Arni Eggertsson �
� � � � �
�Israel �The Bureaucratic BBS �+972-9-984173 V32bis �Shachar Cafri �
� � �+92-9-426657 V22bis � �
� � � � �
�Norway �Romeo November �+47-4-536698 V32bis �Stinger �
� � �+47-4-536797 19.2k � �
� � � � �
�Singapore �MultiMedia GS �+65-252-1220 V32b �WildCat �
� � � � �
�Spain �Dracker BBS �+34-3-385-3393 16.8k �Gvyt / ENiAC �
� � � � �
�Sweden �Illusion �+46-18-260565 V32bis �ZED / FAiC �
� � � � �
�Switzerlan�Wonderland �+41-64-47-3046 16.8k �PfUsuUS �
� � � � �
�USA, NY �The Sound Barrier �+1-718-979-6629 HST V32b�Daredevil / REN �
� �Renaissance WHQ �+1-718-979-9406 V22bis �Charles Scheffold �
� � � � �
�USA, ND �Quantum Accelerator �+1-701-258-0319 V32bis �Chris Zimman �
� � � � �
�USA, TX �Programmer's Oasis �+1-214-328-6142 V32bis �Daniel Potter / �
� � � �Digital Infinity �
� � � � �
�USA, SC �The End of Time �+1-803-855-0783 V32bis �Holy Water and �
� � � �The Hit Man �
� � � � �
�USA, KY �Eleutheria �+1-606-223 1853 V32bis �Soul Rebel / �
� � � �Avalanche �
� � � � �
�USA, MO �Red Sector �+1-816-792 3821 16.8k �Lion Heart �
� � �+1-816-792 2029 HST � �
� � � � �
�USA, D.C. �Data Connection BBS �+1-703-506 8598 16.8kHST�Ryan / Renaissance�
� � � � �
�USA, FL �The Power Grid �+1-813-481-6539 16.8k �Grid Runner & �
� �HQ for many groups � �Syntax Error / iCE�
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�12: HOW TO BECOME A FUTURE CREW DISTRIBUTION SITE �
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Please read the above rules carefully and think twice before
sending in the application below:
-----8<------8<------8<------8<---cut-here------8<------8<------8<------8<-----
Would you be willing to join the Creativity Demo Net if you aren't
yet in? : (Yes / No)
-----8<------8<------8<------8<---cut-here------8<------8<------8<------8<-----
P.S. Filling up this form doesn't mean that you will automatically
become an FC distribution site! We'll check the form and get back
to you!
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�13: THE BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FUTURE CREW �
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- 1986-1987 -
Future Crew (FC) was founded in the year 1986 on the C-64. And only one
member has been in the group for the whole time - Psi. FC did two
demos on the C-64 before changing into the PC scene in the year 1988.
- 1988 -
FC's first PC demo was a CGA sinus -scroller called GR8. At that time
the members were HAL, JPM, SS (Psi) and SIDDER. And DARK POWER
was FC's BBS.
- 1989 -
Then there came YO! which was quite popular for a while. It used one of
the VGA's textmodes and included 'nice' PC-speaker music. It had
many scrollers, a sinusing YO!-logo, a little bouncing ball and
a 2D-starfield. At this time ICE joined and so FC
had another BBS - SILICON DRAGON.
- 1990 -
In the year 1990 there was only one demo release from us, the Slideshow I.
It was the first PC demo which included 4 voice SoundBlaster music.
It didn't include any other special code for it was a VGA picture
slideshow. And at this time there were a lot of members in FC:
Psi, ICE, HAL, JPM, SID, BIG, DAC, MAC and SEBU.
- 1990 -
And only shortly after Slideshow I, Psi released his ScreamTracker 2.0 -
a 4 voice music editing program inspired by the Amiga SoundTracker.
ST 2.0 was a real success. But of course, it didn't take much time
when a pirated version was on the move. This was in the year 1990.
- 1991 -
In summer 1991, FC released a demo called Mental Surgery. It had
a big scroller on the top of the screen, 3D-starfield, a nice writer,
music scopes and of course 4 voice SoundBlaster music.
This was the last FC demo that worked on a 286 machine. At this
time the members were: Psi, ICE, Dr.Venkman and Purple
Motion. And only a while after this I (GORE) joined FC and ICE lost
the interest to demos and left FC along with his BBS. And
Dr.Venkman went crazy by selling his computer and retired for a while.
- 1992 -
So, FC lived quietly for about half a year. But when the year
1992 came Trug, Pixel, Skaven and Abyss joined FC. And as Abyss
joined, FC had a BBS again, namely StarPort. So, in the
beginning of the year 1992 FC had the following members:
It was at this time that we had begun making UNREAL. Our first
plan was to release it at MEGA-Leif Convention - An Atari ST/PC party
held in Uppsala, Sweden. But about a month before MEGA-Leif,
MeeGosh/Rebels (Amiga) called me and told me about ASSEMBLY'92
and that it would be cool to have also the PC scene there. So, he
asked us to do an invitation intro for the PC scene about this
mega-event. We agreed and so, UNREAL was put to rest as Psi got
the idea of making something different - namely the Fishtro.
It took us about two weeks to create Fishtro from nothing, but
when we went to MEGA-Leif Convention, we still had little bugs in it and
therefore we couldn't release it until a week after MEGA-Leif.
We also competed with Fishtro in the MEGA-Leif PC demo compo, but
we were never told who came second. As the people who were at MEGA-Leif
remember, the belgian Raiders Brothers won the demo compo, but
they have not released their winning demo to this date (13.7.92).
After we came back from MEGA-Leif, we started on making UNREAL again.
And Dr.Venkman came back from his retirement.
- 1992 -
Then Unreal was released. Unreal was the first really big megademo for PC and
it hit the top of the charts immediately.
- 1992 -
Then we were contacted by the organizers of a BIG Amiga/C64/PC party, called
The Party 1992. They asked us to organize the PC demo compo there and make
again an Invitation Intro for it's PC side. So The Party 1992 Invitation Intro
was made. At that time we had the following members:
Psi - Code
Trug - Code
WildFire - Code
Pixel - GFX
Purple Motion - Music
Skaven - Music & GFX
GORE - Organizer
Abyss - BBS support
The Party 1992 Inv. Intro was mostly coded by Psi and WildFire. WildFire was
our new coder who joined us in autumn 1992. He had before been active on the
Atari ST scene.
- 1992 -
Then it was the time for another big demo. The making of Panic! began.
It was the normal process of making demos with blood and sweat and annoying
deadlines. WildFire was the one to assemble the demo together, but lots of
code was also done by Psi and Trug.
Then it was the time for The Party 1992. As we thought that it would really
nice to get as many people as possible to The Party as cheaply as possible,
we decided to organize a bus trip there with the amiga people. So we managed
to load two buses full of computer freaks and take our leave towards The
Party. At that time The Party 1992 was the biggest computer party ever.
There were about 2500 computer freaks of which around 400 were PC dudes.
There we entered the demo compo with Panic, and to our surprise we came
second. Witans Facts of Life had won the demo compo. We were quite
disappointed by this, because there was absolutely no voting. The voting
system on Amiga just didn't work. And then some organizer just asked the last
remaining PC organizer "What do you think were the best demos" without telling
him that these were going to be the official results. And without thinking he
just said "Witans, FCs and Sonics".
- 1993 -
After The Party 1992 we lived quietly for awhile. The only big change was
that Marvel (formerly from Sonic-PC) joined us. So we now have two gfx
artists. Then we began thinking of making a diskmag. At first nobody really
wanted to code it, so we thought that we would make it as a co-operation
with Stone (a finnish demogroup). But after some co-operation troubles we
began making it 100% by ourselves. We tried to make it the best diskmag
on the PC and according to many opinions, we succeeded quite well. What
we tried to do, was to set an example on how well you can do diskmags if
you really try. The diskmag was coded by Psi and the GFX were done by
Pixel and the musics by Purple Motion and C.C.Catch from Renaissance.
- 1993 -
Then it was the time for Assembly'93. Once again we were the PC organizers
and we made an invitation intro for it. It's name is quite easy to guess,
it's Assembly'93 Invitation Intro (hard one! =)). It was coded by Trug,
the GFX were done by Marvel and the musics by Purple Motion. It fulfilled
its purpose (to get as many people as possible to Asm'93) very well.
Assembly'93 was the biggest ever summer demo party. There were about 1300
people on the party place of which around 450 were PC demo freaks. Asm'93
was also a big advancement on the PC side. For the first time we also had
a intro, music (4 channel and multichannel) and graphic compos.
Our biggest production yet, the Second Reality won the PC demo competition.
You have most probably also seen it, so I won't (again) go into detail in
trying to describe its effects.
At the moment we are looking ahead to The Party III: The Ultimate. We are
again organizing a bustrip to Herning (were the party is to take place). We
really recommend this party because we feel that The Party III is going to
be the biggest and coolest demo party for PC ever. So be there or be square!
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�14: ANSWERS TO RUMORS �
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Question 7) Did you refuse to use any other player than ST3?
Answer 7) No we didn't. Most of the songs were supplied to us as
plain MOD files. No player was included with them. Only
one song had it's own player, and that player was used
to play it. In the Assembly'93 text file there was a
notion:"Bring your own player" (about the PC multichannel
competition). Because no player was supplied with most of
the MODs/multichannel files, we used the best player
we know of, the ST3 beta.
It is also claimed by people who have never used nor
seen ST3 that ST3 has still serious bugs in its .MOD
capabilities. This can't be more wrong as ST3 is one of
the very few composers that really play all Amiga commands
really correctly, not like many PC composers. So it's more
likely that composer used to create the tune wasn't enough
Amiga MOD compatible than ST3 to have bugs in it's MOD
playing module.
Question 9) Did you use dirty little tricks in The Party II?
Answer 9) Rick Dangerous / S!P has claimed that we used the
following dirty trick in The Party II:
� First telling everyone there'll be no demo from them
� then, all of a sudden, at the END of the compo Gore
shouted (you know in this certain style) And Now!
The new demo by the Future Crew.... (all other things
were anounced like uhh.. hmm yes.. copper? by humm...
surbrisse..?...)
� and finally they turned the volume up to give the
sound a special boost...
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�15: SONIC DREAMS �
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A*R*E F*A*K*E*S*!
We don't know the maker of these files nor the purpose of them.
Under our tests we have not found any viruses nor troijans in those
files. Those files are composed of PCX pictures with some simple
C source code. Please delete the files when encountered. We
(the Future Crew) are not the makers of these files.
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�16: FINAL WORDS �
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