           The Gathering 1997                 Information file revision 1.0
           __________________

This year it will happen again...Brought to you by the experienced
members of the KANDU organization. One of the great events in the
history of the scene.............

The Gathering 1997 - it's a kind of magic!

Start:  Wednesday 26. March 10:00
        Sunday 30. March 16:00          : End


Entrance-fee: 300,- NOK
               (approx. $50 US)

Check our web-page:  http://www.gathering.org/ for all the latest updates.

Chat with us on irc: #tg97 on euro-efnet

Mail us:             tg97@crusaders.no

Vital stats
______________________

- More than 100 hours of partypleasure
- Many compos - classic and new
- Non-stop entertainment from the stage
- Network? What network? We got the worlds largest temporary network!
- A lot of hard(ly) :-d working crew members, there for your service
- The huge auditorium we promised you last year is now ready. 180 most
  excellent seats for your videoextragavanzas
- Your normal overdose of coca-cola will be available for those late hours
- Better sound, better bigscreen and better presentation. New and improved!
- Some cool events will be taken care of by "Tekno"-magazine
- We will also have some utterly cool gaming contests sponsored by Nintendo.
  They donated some ultrarad Nintendo64 consoles as the main prize in each
  and every gamingcompo! Hone those killerinsticts for h2h combat!

Space and time coordinates
__________________________

- The olympic hall of Hamar, Norway. More famously known as the Vikingship.
  Built for the 1994 Winter Olympics, with over 12000 square meters of
  rumbling space. With all these sport-activities fading away, we can use
  it for something more important (to us at least).
- At TG96 about 2500 attended with
  plenty of space for everyone, so we
  can fit quite a few more in there.
 
                
Time
____

- We open the podbay doors at 10:00, Wednesday the 26th of March, and
  close the hatch at 16:00, Sunday the 30th of March.


Entrance
________

- Note: at tg96 aliens did have the opportunity of free entrance. But
  after "ID4", which really shook us up, aliens have to pay double fee.
  Also, please leave your exoskeletons outside the hall, they smell to much!

- On the other hand, the alien species known as girls are still let in free
  of charge, and we expect quite a lot of  them.
  Tribble-trouble if you ask me!

- All other bipeds will have to pay the fee of 300 nok (approx. $50 US)
  to get in. Thats less than 3,- NOK (50 cents US) an hour!
  Talk about a bargain!

- Purchase tickets within Norway by calling "Billett-Service" at 81533133.
  People outside Norway should contact us for special arrangements to order
  a ticket before you arrive.
- Tickets can also be purchased directly at the door without any previous
  registration. You don't even have to tell us or mom that you're attending
  TG97 before you get there. However, preregistration at our web site will
  save you and us a lot of time at the entrance.

- You may register your entranceinfo and reserve tablespace through our
  web. Please check back regularly at the web for updated information.

- http://www.gathering.org is the spot to get all the updated info.
  Loads of buses set up for TG97 is also listed here.
  The party starts with the tour!


How to warpdrive there
______________________

- From Oslo, take E6 northbound (main road, you can not miss it).
  Right before you drive into "Hamar", you will see a sign pointing towards
  the ship. By this time you should be able to see it pretty easily.

- From Trondheim, pretty much the same
  idea, except you'll see the signs
  exiting "Hamar".

- From anyware else, get to Hamar, or hit into E6 and follow it!

- If you go by train, get off (huh-huh, he said get off - B&B) at "Hamar
  railwaystation". Take the bus or taxi from the station to the ship, it's
  less than 800 meters away.

- If you arrive by submarine, please keep your seats upright and your
  trays neatly folded in front of you. Check that the sub is not submerged
  when you try to exit. And since the Vikingship is close by a lake,
  not the sea, do give the captain my regards!


Party network
_____________

- TG96 set a new world standard for
  party networking. With the help from
  Accton and Lanco, TG97 will provide
  even more connections (topping the
  1500+ connections from last year), 
  More segmentation for higher speeds,
  and an extremely fast backbone.

- If you don't have a network card,
  high quality network adapters will be
  sold at bargain prices.

- Information on how to get onto the
  network in a proper, fast and cool
  way will be provided for you by the
  experienced network crew.

- Of course a highspeed internetlink
  will be available for all of you.

Special happenings
__________________

- Quite a few artists and companies will release productions at TG97
  Bjoern Lynne (Dr.Awesome/Crusaders) will release the CD called "The Void".
  Andrew Barnabas (Nightshade/Crusaders) will release his newest CD with the
  title yet unknown.

- Be Corp will have a small ymposium and present their little wonder -
  the Be Box.


Compos
______
Amiga Demo
PC Amiga
Wild Demo
C64 Demo
PC 4K intro
Amiga 4K intro
Amiga/PC 64K intro (see compo rules for special note)
Amiga/PC fast intro
Music - one competion only (see compo rules for special note)
Graphics
Text-mode demo
Useless utility
Java game
Java applet
Active-X
For a complete set of updated rules for each competition, check the
web-page. For a preliminary set of rules, check end of this text file.



Greetings
_________

We will take this opportunity to thank everyone who attended TG96 and gave
us the necessary inspiration to endure the masochistic work of arranging a
party of this caliber again.

Very special thanks to:

- First of all, the wonderful people of HOA, which made us feel at home.
  
- The local fire departement for helping us in every possible way.

- The patient crew from ABB, which made a true AUPS (almostuninterruptable
  power supply) for all sceners present.

- Masters (of disasters) for helping us sort out technical problems with
  over 150 net cards in a few hours.

- All the sponsors of TG96 (no free ads here this time guys!) :-)

- All voluntary crew members who did the impossible, day after day for
  nothing else than that magical experience.

- And at last to all of you sceners out there, who makes all the difference
  in the world to us. C U at TG97!

How to get in touch with us
___________________________
If you need any kind of help, or if you do have any questions on how, what,
when, where, try to get in touch with any of these individuals.

- Main Administrator:
  Vegard Skjefstad - (+47) 90 11 99 66
  shady@crusaders.no

- Registration Administrator:
  Trond Michelsen  - (+47) 93 05 45 93
  mike@crusaders.no

- Network administrator:
  Andreas Lund     - (+47) 90 07 71 62
  floyd@crusaders.no

- Any general questions and comments
  can be mailed to tg97@crusaders.no

Or..... by the eversopresent snailmail:
 
   The Gathering '97
   KANDU
   Stasjonsveien 56
   N-2010 Stroemmen
   Norway

           The people on the top

Shady / Crusaders               Dictator

Mike / Crusaders                Registration

The Joker / Crusaders           Coder

Dollar Bill / Crusaders         GFX / DTP

Andy Floyd / ATC                Network

Ferryman / ATC                  Network

Big-Papa / Crusaders            Network

Jammer / ATC                    Power

Don Valentino / Crusaders       Security

P-Man / Crusaders               Stagemanager

Dr.Outtasight / Crusaders       Stagemanager

IQ / Cryptoburners              Internet

Tez / Crusaders Girls           Info

Kinky / Crusaders Girls         Crew care/PR

Wobba / Crusaders               Compo

Angel                           PR

Nightshade / Crusaders          Speaker

Motormouth / Crusaders          Video-room

RULES! RULES! RULES! RULES! RULES! RULES! RULES! RULES! RULES! RULES!

              PC Demo
----------------------------------------
- Must work on a 486 DX2/66
- Must work with at least 570kb conventional memory
- Max 16mb ram
- DOS 5.0+
- VESA 2.0 complient and/or general VGA registers
- file_id.diz must be included
- Loopable only by choice (-loop parameter)
- Exit the demo at any time by pressing ESC
- All temporary files made during runtime must be deleted
- Gravis and Soundblaster support, and/or no sound support
- Max 5mb unpacked
- Demo will be shown maximum 15 minutes

Amiga Demo
----------------------------------------
- Can support CybergraphX compatible card
- Must work on an Amiga 1200 or Amiga 4000
- Must work with 2mb chip ram / 8 mb fast ram
- Must work with a 68030 or above
- HD installable/runnable
- file_id.diz must be included
- Loopable only by choice (-loop parameter)
- Exit any time with a mouseclick
- Max 5mb unpacked
- Demo will be shown maximum 15 minutes

PC Text Mode
----------------------------------------
- Max 80x50 text mode resolution
- Max 16 colors, no palette nor fontset modification allowed
- All 256 standard characters are allowed (state language code, ie. 437, 850)
- Max 2x1.44mb disks packed
- file_id.diz must be included
- Soundrules apply (see PC Demo)
- Must run on a 486 DX2/66
- Blink attribute can be modified to allow 16 background colors

Graphics
----------------------------------------
- 20 pictures will be show 2x30 seconds (These will be picked by a jury)
- GIF, IFF, JPEG, LBM, ILBM, HAM8 and TIFF allowed
- Max 24bit color depth
- Max 1024x768 picture resolution
- State drawing techniques
- No color cycling effects allowed
- The competition version must not be signed by the artist
- file_id.diz must be included

Music
----------------------------------------
- One entry per person
- 4 channel and multi-channel has been made one competition
- 30 modules will be selected by a jury
- Max 4 minutes
- Max 32 channels
- Any midi modules will be played on an AWE32 with standard instrument set
- S3M, MOD, XM, MID, IT, OctaMED, AMS and
- C64 SID's allowed
- Max 1mb unpacked

NOTE! Due to massive comments about having only one music competition
we have decided the following:
- If the modules picked by the jury is within a 40/60 split among
  4ch and multichannel, there will be only one competition with 5 winners.
- If the split is larger, for example 20/80, there will be two competitions
  with 20 contestants in each and 3 winners in each category.

A synthesizer will be given out to one of the contributers in addition to
the main prizes. This prize will be drawn randomly among all the
competitors which compete with a module.

C-64
----------------------------------------
- C64 standard model
- 64kb RAM (no wonder :)
- 1541 or compatible FDD

WiLD
----------------------------------------
- Max 15 minutes
- If the entry need any obscure hardware, contact us for arrangements.
- We strongly suggest that the entry is somewhat computer oriented.
- If you have the opportunity we would like animations to be delivered on
  s-vhs. That makes it easier for us. If not we will do it ourselves :)

4kb Intro PC
----------------------------------------
- Max 4096 bytes
- No dos extender allowed
- Exit with ESC
- file_id.diz must be included
- See demo rules for hardware requirements

4kb Intro Amiga
----------------------------------------
- Max 4096 bytes
- Exit with mouseclick at any time
- file_id.diz must be included
- See demo rules for hardware requirements

64k Intro PC/Amiga
----------------------------------------
- PC and Amiga will compete in the same competition
- Max 65536 bytes
- No dos extender allowed beside the intro. If you can squeeze it in the
- 64k, you're welcome to do it :)
- Support any soundcard and/or no sound option
- file_id.diz must be included
- See demo rules for hardware requirements

Fast Intro PC/Amiga
----------------------------------------
- See general demo rules
- Topic will be announced at the party
- file_id.diz must be included

Java game/demo
----------------------------------------
- You can pretty much do what you want to here as long as it's in the
  spirit of the competition.
- Both binaries and source must be submitted
- file_id.diz must be included
- Entry must be applet executable, ie. from a browser

Java application
----------------------------------------
- You can pretty much do what you want to here as long as it's in
  the spirit of the competition.
- Both binaries and source must be submitted
- file_id.diz must be included
- Entry must be applet executable, ie. from a browser

ActiveX
----------------------------------------
- If you can make something cool and spectacular using ActiveX this is
  where to submit it!!!

Most Useless Utility
----------------------------------------
Have you ever made something so totally useless by accident or you tried
to on purpose? Then this is something for you. It doesn't matter if it's
something which uses forever to calculate a number or if it's a simulation
dog barker. All entries are welcome.

-------------------------------------------------------
Other small competitions will be announced at the party.
-------------------------------------------------------

