608 lines
33 KiB
Plaintext
608 lines
33 KiB
Plaintext
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
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³ ³
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³ <<< THE FUTURE CREW INFORMATION PACKAGE >>> ³
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³ ³
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³ Version 1.7 ³
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³ ³
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³ 06-DEC-1994 ³
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³ ³
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³ ³
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³ This file contains general information about the Future ³
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³ Crew and our demos. It also includes frequently asked ³
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³ questions we often receive by mail and instructions on ³
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³ how to contact us best. Please read this info-file before ³
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³ contacting us. ³
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³ ³
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³ We will update this file as things change, and if the ³
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³ above date is rather old, you can get the most recent ³
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³ version of this file either by E-Mail from Internet or ³
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³ from our distribution sites. ³
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³ ³
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³ ³
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³ ³
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ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
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ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
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³ CONTENTS ³
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ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
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1: Opening words
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2: Commercial Productions
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3: Disclaimer, The Distribution and Use of Our Demos
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4: The Current Memberstatus
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5: List of all Future Crew releases
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6: How to Contact Future Crew
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7: Frequently Asked Questions
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8: International Demo Competitions
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9: The History of The Future Crew
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10: Final Words
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The following info is in FCSITE17.TXT:
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1: Official Distribution Site BBS List
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2: How to Become a Distribution Site
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ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
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³ 1: OPENING WORDS ³
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ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
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Welcome to the FCINFO file version 1.7 !
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This textfile is a new revision of FCINFO16.TXT, which was
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originally spread with the 2nd Assembly '94 invitation intro.
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This textfile was written to tell you about Future Crew, to
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give you answers to most of the things you would probably like
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to ask us, and to tell you how to get more demos.
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If you are interested in us making a demo for you, please,
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start reading from the next paragraph in this file.
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This file has changed quite much since FCINFO16.TXT, mostly
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because we tried to make this a little shorter. The most important
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change is the contact information part.
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ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
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³ 2: COMMERCIAL PRODUCTIONS ³
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ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
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If you find our demos and programs interesting and would like
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us to make a presentation for your company, do not hesitate to
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contact us.
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When contacting us, please include a short explanation what would
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you like us to do. That would help us greatly in evaluating the
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size of the project.
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Our resources are limited and we choose the projects we make with
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care, but especially our musicians and graphic artists are always
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looking for new projects.
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Since normal mail is a slow way to communicate, we would prefer
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the communication be made through e-mail (or if e-mail is not a
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possible way of communication for you, you can always try to send
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a fax).
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You can find our contact information from this file.
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ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
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³ 3: DISCLAIMER, THE DISTRIBUTION AND USE OF OUR DEMOS ³
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ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
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All our demos and programs, except the ones which we have created
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for different companies, are freeware.
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This means that you can copy and distribute them freely as long
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as you make no modifications to them. Also, no money can be charged
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for our products. This means that you can not sell these products
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without our permission. However a small compensation for copying/
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spreading them is acceptable.
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Future Crew's freeware software is supplied "as is". The authors
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hereby disclaim all warranties relating to all Future Crew freeware,
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express or implied, including but not limited to damage to hardware,
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software and/or data from use of Future Crew's products. In no event
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will the Future Crew be liable to you or any other party for any
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damages. Your use of this software indicates that you have read and
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agree to these terms.
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ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
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³ 4: THE CURRENT MEMBERSTATUS ³
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ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
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Alias: Real name: Born: Main responsibility:
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--------------------------------------------------------------
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GORE Samuli Syvahuoko 1973 Organizer/PR/E-mail
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Psi Sami Tammilehto 1973 Coder
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Trug Mika Tuomi 1972 Coder
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Wildfire Arto Vuori 1975 Coder
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Purple Motion Jonne Valtonen 1976 Musician
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Skaven Peter Hajba 1975 Musician
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Marvel Aki Maatta 1975 Graphics Artist
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Pixel Mikko Iho 1975 Graphics Artist
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Abyss Jussi Laakkonen 1975 BBS Coordinator/PR
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FC Internet Division:
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Henchman Markus Maki 1974 E-mail/PR/betatesting
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Jake Jarkko Heinonen 1973 E-mail/PR/betatesting
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ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
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³ 5: LIST OF ALL FUTURE CREW RELEASES ³
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ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
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Filename Size Released A Short Description
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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YO!.ZIP 32 kb 2-24-89 YO! intro, VGA textmode/PC-speaker
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GR8.ZIP 31 kb 7-12-89 GR8 intro, EGA/No sound
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FC-SLIDE.ZIP 350 kb 7-23-90 Slideshow I, a graphics collection, SB
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ST224.ZIP 130 kb 2-22-91 Scream Tracker 2.24 shareware version, SB
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MENTAL.ZIP 90 kb 7-02-91 Mental Surgery demo, SB/Covox/PC-speaker
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STMIK020.ZIP 170 kb 8-10-91 Scream Tracker Music Interface Kit 0.20
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FISHTRO.ZIP 230 kb 4-08-92 Assembly'92 invitation intro, SB
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STMIKFIX.ZIP 10 kb 7-14-92 A Bugfix to STMIK
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UNREAL.ZIP 1350 kb 8-06-92 Unreal megademo, SB/SBp
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STARPRT2.EXE 6 kb 9-13-92 StarPort BBS intro, VGA/AdLib
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THEPARTY.ZIP 165 kb 10-02-92 The Party II invitation intro, SB/SBp
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PANIC.ZIP 950 kb 2-04-93 Panic trackdemo, SB/SBp
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ASM-93.ZIP 400 kb 6-15-93 Assembly'93 invitation intro, SB/SBp/GUS
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WCHARTS.ZIP 680 kb 6-26-93 Worldcharts magazine issue #1, SB/SBp/GUS
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SOULOMAT.ZIP 100 kb 7-10-93 A song by Purple Motion (.MOD)
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ICEKNGDM.LBM 65 kb 8-01-93 Winner of PC graphics compo at Asm'93
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ICEFRONT.ZIP 180 kb 8-01-93 The winner of PC multichnl compo at Asm'93
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CAN'T.ZIP 125 kb 8-01-93 The second in PC multichnl compo at Asm'93
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STRSHINE.ZIP 225 kb 8-01-93 The third in PC multichnl compo at Asm'93
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TROLL.LBM 85 kb 8-01-93 The fourth in PC graphics compo at Asm'93
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SUNDANCE.ZIP 235 kb 8-10-93 The winner of PC 4chnl compo at Asm'93
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2NDREAL1.ZIP 1250 kb 10-07-93 Second Reality, Asm'93 winner, SB/SBp/GUS
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2NDREAL2.ZIP 790 kb 10-07-93 Second part of the Second Reality demo
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2NDR_MS.ZIP 280 kb 11-01-93 Skaven's songs from Second Reality
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SYMPHONY.ZIP 260 kb 11-01-93 Symphony by Skaven (.S3M file)
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PMFRACT.ZIP 210 kb 11-05-93 The winner of Megaleif ST/PC music compo
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BUSMATKA.ZIP 75 kb 11-09-93 Finnish invitation to Party3 bussymatka
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STARPORT.ZIP 5 kb 11-21-93 StarPort BBS intro II, VGA/Adlib
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SP2SRC.ZIP 30 kb 12-02-93 StarPort BBS intro II sources
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UNREAL11.ZIP 1335 kb 12-28-93 Unreal version 1.1 for Gravis UltraSound
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JOURNEY1.ZIP 867 kb 12-28-93 First Musicdisk by Purple Motion
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JOURNEY2.ZIP 1015 kb 12-28-93 Second Musicdisk by Purple Motion
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CHMIND.ZIP 1420 kb 02-20-94 Chaotic Mind - Music collection by Skaven
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2NDPATCH.ZIP 36 kb 02-20-94 Slowdown bugfix patch for 2nd Reality
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ASM-94.ZIP 221 kb 04-08-94 Assembly'94 Pre-Invitation Intro
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SCRMT301.ZIP 291 kb 04-18-94 Scream Tracker 3.01 BETA
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ASM-94_2.ZIP 567 kb 07-03-94 The Assembly '94 Invitation Dentro
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SCRMT32.ZIP 176 kb 12-06-94 Scream Tracker 3.2
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You SHOULD be able to find all of the above from our Distribution Sites.
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ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
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³ 6: HOW TO CONTACT THE FUTURE CREW ³
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ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
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NOTE! OUR BBS NUMBER HAS CHANGED! The new number is a 11-node
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ringdown. Also, StarPort can now be accessed internationally via
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internet.
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ALSO, SNAIL-MAIL ADDRESS HAS CHANGED!
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Our snail-mail address is: Our home BBS is:
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Abyss / Future Crew StarPort - FC WHQ BBS
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c/o Jussi Laakkonen +358-0-615 00028
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V„h„ntuvantie 5 C 34
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00390 Helsinki
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FINLAND
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GORE's cellular phone (GSM): +358-40-502 3025
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Fax: +358-0-420 8620 (at GORE's place)
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StarPort is available also for internet users. You can connect
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to StarPort either with "ftp" or "telnet/rlogin".
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Try "rlogin mpoli.fi -8e -l pcboard" or "telnet mpoli.fi" and put
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pcboard as the username. IP-Address for Staport is 193.210.15.65.
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If you want to transfer files, you can login to ftp.mpoli.fi as
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anonymous. FC demos can be found in /starport/fc.
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You can also e-mail us:
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Please direct general questions, requests for information etc.
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ONLY to fc@unix.mpoli.fi.
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Future Crew fc@unix.mpoli.fi
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Abyss abyss@unix.mpoli.fi
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GORE gore@unix.mpoli.fi
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Marvel marvel@pcb.mpoli.fi
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Pixel pixel@unix.mpoli.fi
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Purple Motion purple.motion@pcb.mpoli.fi
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Skaven skaven@mkoski.otol.fi
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or skaven@unix.mpoli.fi
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Jake jtheinon@cc.helsinki.fi
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or jake@unix.mpoli.fi
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Henchman mmaki@cc.helsinki.fi
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or markus@unix.mpoli.fi
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Comments and opinions are always appreciated, but if you
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also have questions, consider first if you might find the
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answers elsewhere, for example from the Frequently Asked
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Questions section inside this file.
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The best and the fastest way to contact us is through e-mail.
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We receive a lot of mail and simply can't answer all of it.
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We get a LOT of e-mail so you may have to wait for our reply
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for a while. We TRY to answer as many e-mails as possible,
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but because we get many e-mails every day, we simply don't
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have time to answer to all of them. Please, ask only FC-related
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questions! We are not some all-around info forum or internet
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users help center!
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If you use normal mail (snail-mail), please enclose a return
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envelope ready with your address and an international mail
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coupon. We simply can NOT afford to pay hundreds of dollars
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a year just to answer to our mails. This means: no mailing
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coupon = NO reply.
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To get our demos you can call our many BBSes around the world.
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You can find the list of these BBSes in the FCSITE textfile.
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Also, very good anonymous ftp demo sites (in addition to
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ftp.mpoli.fi) are ftp.uwp.edu and ftp.eng.ufl.edu. Our demos
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can be found in the directory /pub/msdos/demos/groups/future.crew.
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ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
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³ 7: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE FUTURE CREW ³
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ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
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Here we have compiled a list of questions along with the
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answers (in random order) which are being asked often in
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the letters we receive. Hopefully you will find the answers
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to your questions from here and save us and yourself from
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unnecessary work.
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Q: Where can I get your and other groups' demos?
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A: There are several ways to get demos.
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The best way (if you have a modem) is to call an FC distribution site
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near you. They have all of our productions online and you can download
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them freely. Also many normal BBSes carry our productions and other
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groups' demos. If you don't have a modem, then getting our demos is a
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lot harder. We don't have a mailswapping system. So, if you have a friend
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who has a modem, why not try to get him to call one of our distribution
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sites. Another VERY good way to get demos is from the INTERNET. Good
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anonymous ftp demo site is ftp.eng.ufl.edu. Our demos can be located
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in the /pub/msdos/demos/groups/future.crew directory.
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Q: When will you release your next demo?
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A: We had planned to do a demo for Assembly '94 but we noted that we didn't
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have enough time to make a demo good enough that it would have satisfied
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us. At the moment, we are planning to make a demo someday, but the
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release date is not fixed. You might see a demo from us at Assembly '95.
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Q: Have you released any musicdisks?
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A: We released Purple Motion's musicdisk called Journey at The Party 3.
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Skaven's musicdisk - Chaotic Mind - has also been released. A new music
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disk is not in our plans right now, but our musicians contribute songs
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to many other groups musicdisks.
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Q: When will you release a MOD/S3M player?
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A: It has already been released along with Skaven's and PM's musicdisks.
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It's called the MusicDiskPlayer (MDP) and it plays 4-8 channel ProTracker
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MOD files and all S3M files. It support SB, SBPro and GUS. The most recent
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version (v1.1) was released with Skaven's Chaotic Mind musicdisk.
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Q: When will you release a new version of Scream Tracker?
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A: Currently, the newest version of Scream Tracker is 3.2 and a new version
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is not planned. Maybe we will make some bugfixes, maybe not.
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Q: What soundcards will you support?
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A: At the moment our productions support the following sound cards:
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Gravis UltraSound - for it's programming advantages and for
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being the new standard on the demo scene
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Sound Blaster Pro - for being the old standard on the demo scene
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Sound Blaster - for being the basic sound card
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Support to other sound cards is always possible, but right now we
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don't see enough demand to support any other sound cards.
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Q: Why aren't we supporting General MIDI?
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A: Simply because our musicians don't like the idea of using a preselected
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patch of samples over and over again in all their songs. They want there
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to be the so called artistic freedom of using any kinds of sounds they
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like. General MIDI and other such things are not a good thing from our
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point of view - they are a limitation.
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Q: What programming books would you recommend to learn assembler and VGA?
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A: This is a hard question, and a general answer is, that any book will do.
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You can get the basics from a book and books are a great reference,
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but when it comes to creating something new, you can't just read it
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from a book. We have all learnt to code the hard way (a lot of
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miscellaneous books and a lot of experimenting). Anyway, here are
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some of the books we often find handy (there are undoubtably newer
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prints, so check them out):
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Mastering Turbo Assembler, Tom Swan
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Hayden Books 1989, ISBN 0-672-48435-8
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PC System Programming, Michael Tischer
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Abacus 1990, ISBN 1-55755-036-0
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The Programmers PC Sourcebook, Thom Hogan
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Microsoft Press 1988, ISBN 1-55615-118-7
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Programming the 80386, John H. Crawford and Patrick P. Gelsinger
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Sybex 1987, ISBN 0-89588-381-3
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Programmers guide to EGA and VGA cards, Richard F. Ferraro
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Addison Wesley 1989, ISBN 0-201-12692-3
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Also, most up to date are many software 'books', such as interrupt
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lists from bbs'es. We have also found a lot of valuable information
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in articles and such. In short, there is no magic way of learning to
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code, it really takes a lot of work.
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Q: How did you learn to code?
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A: Learning to code demos is a long and very very difficult process. It takes
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years to learn to code demos very well. A good way to start is some high
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level language like Pascal or C and then started to experiment with
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assembler. It takes a lot of time and experimenting to get better, and
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there are no shortcuts (for book recommendations, see a question before
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this). The main thing is trying to understand what you do, then trying
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to change the program to see what you get, and gain wisdom in what's
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the best way of doing things. Learning to code well requires a lot of
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patience, a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of time. It is not easy.
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Q: I'm a beginner programmer. I wonder if you could help me learn demo coding?
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A: Unfortunately our time does not allow that. If we would help others, we
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couldn't get anything done. We have released a few source codes of our
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productions, look for them in the releases-list.
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Q: What programs do you use to do your demos?
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A: We use the following programs to do our demos; For code we use Borland
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C++, Microsoft C, Watcom C, Stonybrook Pascal and Turbo Assembler. For
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graphics we use Deluxe Paint 2 Enhanced and 3D Studio 3.0. For making
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the music we use Scream Tracker 3.2, and for digitizing the samples for
|
|
our songs we use Advanced DigiPlayer 3.5 beta and Wavelite for Windows.
|
|
Scream Tracker 3.2 and Advanced DigiPlayer are our own programs made by
|
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Psi. Then we have all kinds of utilities crafted for our needs.
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|
Q: How long does it take to make a demo like Second Reality?
|
|
A: The complete time that it takes to make such demo can't really be counted.
|
|
Most of our knowledge is based on years of hard work and on our previous
|
|
works. All of us do little experiments on their freetime and when a
|
|
"critical mass" is achieved the making of a demo begins more seriously.
|
|
From this point to a final demo (in the case of a major production like
|
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Second Reality) it takes around three to six months.
|
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|
Q: Are you going to make games in the future?
|
|
A: Why not. It all depends if we have the time. We have always a few game
|
|
projects cooking, but they are far from being finished. But we will
|
|
let you all know when we have a game coming, don't you worry!
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|
Q: What do the members of Future Crew do besides computers?
|
|
A: Most of us are studying at the moment. In real life most of us are quite
|
|
normal(?) human beings. Our hobbies are for example, sci-fi, movies,
|
|
weight lifting, techno, hi-fi, etc. And most of us have or have had
|
|
a girlfriend.
|
|
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|
Q: Exactly where do FC members study and what?
|
|
A: Here is the complete list:
|
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Psi - University of Turku, Computer Science
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|
Trug - Working full-time with various projects
|
|
Wildfire - Helsinki University of Technology, Computer Science
|
|
Purple Motion - last year in high school
|
|
Skaven - not studying at the moment
|
|
Pixel - not studying at the moment
|
|
Marvel - not studying at the moment
|
|
Abyss - Helsinki University of Technology, Computer Science
|
|
GORE - studying in a business school/commercial college
|
|
Henchman - Institute of Technology, Computer Engineering
|
|
Jake - University of Helsinki, Computer Science
|
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|
|
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|
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
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|
³ 8: INTERNATIONAL DEMO COMPETITIONS ³
|
|
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
|
|
|
|
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 64kb),
|
|
music and graphics. There are often different compos for different
|
|
machines (PC, Amiga, 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 $20-30 US/person) 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 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 because 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. But if they do
|
|
not release their demos after a certain period of time (like
|
|
1-2 months), the party organizers will release the version which
|
|
was contributed to the competition.
|
|
|
|
Parties usually last for three days (a weekend) and are usually
|
|
organized by bigger demo groups.
|
|
|
|
There are a few big demo parties being held annually in Europe,
|
|
The Party in Denmark at Christmas-time and Assembly in Finland
|
|
in the end of Summer.
|
|
|
|
A few months before the party, the organizing demo groups usually
|
|
release special invitation intros to advertise their parties.
|
|
|
|
There were around 3000 visitors at Assembly'94m Most of them were
|
|
PC people, and about 800 came outside Finland; from Scandinavia,
|
|
Germany, Belgium, USA, Canada, Hungary and Spain and other countries.
|
|
|
|
At Assembly'94 were 4kb intro, 64kb intro, PC demo, graphics and music
|
|
competitions. The quality was good in all competitions, especially
|
|
in 4kb intro competition, organized for the first time.
|
|
|
|
You can obtain a list of ASM'94 CD-ROM retailers from StarPort
|
|
when it becomes available. Assembly organizers will not sell any
|
|
CD-ROMs. If you are interested in becoming a retailer, please contact
|
|
Sound Solutions in Germany.
|
|
|
|
Assembly '95 will also happen in August 1995 in Helsinki, Finland.
|
|
More info will be spread later. Don't forget to attend it!
|
|
|
|
|
|
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
|
|
³ 9: THE BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FUTURE CREW ³
|
|
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
|
|
|
|
- 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 moving into the PC scene in the year 1988.
|
|
|
|
- 1988 -
|
|
FC's first PC demo was a EGA 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.
|
|
Only shortly after Slideshow I, Psi released his Scream Tracker 2.0
|
|
- a 4 voice music editing program inspired by the Amiga SoundTracker.
|
|
ST 2.0 was a real success.
|
|
|
|
- 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. Little after this I (GORE) joined FC
|
|
and ICE lost the interest to demos and left FC along with his BBS.
|
|
|
|
- 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, called StarPort. So, in the beginning of the year
|
|
1992 FC had the following members:
|
|
|
|
Psi - Code
|
|
Trug - Code
|
|
GORE - Organizing
|
|
Pixel - GFX
|
|
Abyss - BBS Support
|
|
Skaven - Music & GFX
|
|
Purple Motion - Music
|
|
|
|
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 a few little bugs in it and therefore we couldn't
|
|
release it until a week after MEGA-Leif.
|
|
After we came back from MEGA-Leif, we started on making Unreal again in
|
|
order to get it finished for Assembly'92.
|
|
|
|
In July'92 came Assembly'92, and we won the demo competition with Unreal.
|
|
Around 1000 people attended this party, which wasn't so bad as it was being
|
|
held for the first time. The total amount of PC people was 300.
|
|
After this 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
|
|
to make an Invitation Intro for it's PC side.
|
|
At that time we had the following members: Psi, Trug, Wildfire, Pixel,
|
|
Purple Motion, Skaven, Abyss and GORE.
|
|
|
|
The Party 1992 Invitation 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.
|
|
|
|
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 be
|
|
really nice to get as many people as possible to The Party as cheaply as
|
|
possible, we decided to organize a bustrip there with the Amiga people.
|
|
So we managed to load two buses full of computer freaks and start our trip
|
|
to The Party.
|
|
At that time The Party 1992 was the biggest demo party ever. There were
|
|
about 2500 computer freaks of which around 300 were PC dudes.
|
|
There we entered the demo compo with Panic, and to our surprise we came
|
|
second. Witan's 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 Amiga organizer just asked
|
|
the last remaining PC organizer (A member of Danish Elite) "What do you
|
|
think were the best PC demos?" without telling him that these were going
|
|
to be the official results. And without thinking the PC organizer just
|
|
said "Witan's, FC's and Sonic's".
|
|
However, The Party 1992 was a nice party.
|
|
|
|
- 1993 -
|
|
After The Party 1992 we lived quietly for awhile. The only big change was
|
|
that Marvel (formerly in Sonic Amiga) joined us. So we now had two GFX
|
|
artists. Then we began thinking of making a diskmag (Worldcharts). 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
|
|
trouble we began making it 100% by ourselves. Only the first issue was
|
|
released. Then we decided to stop making it, for we had other more important
|
|
projects to attend to.
|
|
Then it was the time for Assembly'93. Once again we were the PC organizers
|
|
and we made an invitation intro about it.
|
|
|
|
Assembly'93 was the biggest summer demo party ever. There were about 1500
|
|
people on the party place of which around 550 were PC demo freaks. Asm'93
|
|
was also a big advancement on the PC side. For the first time we also had
|
|
an intro, a music (4 channel and multichannel) and a graphics competition.
|
|
Second Reality was also first presented at Assembly'93.
|
|
|
|
Next was The Party 1993 (also known as The Party 3), and all we can say is
|
|
that it wasn't such a good party as it could have been. This was NOT the
|
|
fault of the PC organizing group Access Denied, but instead it seemed that
|
|
the Amiga organizers had underestimated the PC side and thus treated the PC
|
|
side somewhat unfairly. Already there is some talk about organizing a
|
|
PC-only party for X-mas'94.
|
|
Anyway, we released the GUS version of our old Assembly'92 winner demo
|
|
Unreal, and Purple Motion's musicdisk called Journey (which also includes
|
|
the MDP - our MOD/S3M player for GUS/SB/SBPro).
|
|
|
|
- 1994 -
|
|
Future Crew is now almost 8 years old. We had big plans for this year,
|
|
both in the demo scene and in the commercial market. We organized
|
|
Assembly '94 with Accession, Sonic PC, Virtual Dreams and The Movement.
|
|
It was a big party, with about 3000 visitors. It was held on August 5th-
|
|
7th in the center of Helsinki (the capital city of Finland). Our major
|
|
release this year has been the long-awaited Scream Tracker 3, a project
|
|
which has been in the making for over 2 years.
|
|
Next, FC will go traditionally to The Party '94, held again in Herning,
|
|
Denmark, just after Christmas.
|
|
|
|
|
|
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
|
|
³10: FINAL WORDS ³
|
|
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
|
|
|
|
Thank you for reading this file.
|
|
|
|
Signed, GORE, Henchman & Abyss / FC
|