Report

Written by Voxfreax for Push'n'Pop

Note: What will follow from now on is a solely subjective view of the meeting, and may differ from the ones of other people that were also there. As Hicks encouraged me, I might contribute in a way of helping this meeting becoming a bit more ‘international’-oriented, without at the same time losing its identity.

People say that the ‘murderer’ returns to the crime scene twice... I have to confess that the previous proverb is somehow true, since the ‘murderer’ (in this case it’s me - Voxfreax) returned for the second time to the ‘crime scene’, which is nothing else than the famous ReSeT party, held in the beautiful city of Coutances (France), from the 22nd until the 24th of June of 2012.

For the people who might not be aware of, ReSeT party is actually the sequel of Amstrad Expo party. Eliot / Benediction managed to organize another sequel of this event for the eighth year in a row, which is a clear proof of its success through the years. Last year, the party was given a brand new name in order to embrace a new, more international approach. I have to admit that the new name is a bit more catchier than the previous one ;)
Anyway, let’s move on. There are a lot yet to be written...

Friday
I started my long trip from Athens and arrived in Paris on Thursday by plane, where I passed the night in a friend’s place in order to be in the meeting on time the very next day. So, the very next morning I took an early train to Caen in order to meet Krusty and continue together the rest of the journey to Coutances. We met in the central station of Caen at around 11.00 pm and we arrived almost an hour later to the meeting place.

When we arrived there, Beb, Hicks, Genesis8, MaV and of course Eliot were already there. After a warm welcome, I reserved a place next to Krusty, who was sitting next to the Vanity guys. MaV reserved the place next to me. The room was different than the one reserved for Amstrad Expo 2010, but I found it even better. What I liked the most was the fact that there were several ‘corners’ around the room. These were the following:

- the CPCparts.net ‘corner’, where you could find different parts like connectors, drive-belts or switches for your CPC
- the R-Type ‘corner’, where there was a dedicated CPC for playing Easter Egg’s version of R-Type only
- the C-64 corner
- the ZX ‘corner’
- the Atari ST ‘corner’

In addition, there was a dedicated room with a projector to watch some of the coolest CPC demos, plus a big room where any tired scener could crash for some hours in order to be fresh later on ;) Furthermore, there was also the big restaurant hall, where we mainly had meals and dinners.

At around 14.30, Eliot called us for the first meal of the meeting in the big hall of the restaurant. In the meantime, Tom et Jerry arrived in the meeting place right after the whole meal preparation, so I am pretty sure that he smelled the food somehow by far :) If you wanna lose some fat and improve your sanity, then Eliot is your cook! That said, Eliot prepared several salads and a lot of other stuff, like cheese and ham, so that we all could find some extra energy for the next hours... Well, all? Not all exactly, as Beb decided to take a short ‘siesta’ after the meal.


Beb enjoying his nap

As I was a bit tired as well, I spent the next hours watching Atari ST and ZX demos with Krusty, Hicks, Beb and MaV, and whoever was passing by. A very educative afternoon I have to admit, since I watched a lot of demos which can inspire and motivate a CPC scener. In the period in-between, Dave Braco, Offset, Pulkomandy and Cloudstrife / Shinra arrived to the meeting with their hardware.

Tom et Jerry called us to his place to show us something that was kept a secret. Super Edge Grinder, by Axelay, was demonstrated with new improved graphics by rexbeng! A really well-polished work from rexbeng, in a version which includes also a stage-boss! I hope that this game will be continued and not be left as a one-stage only, because it is too short imo...

Some time later, I was ‘forced’ by Krusty to participate to his ‘Glory Holes’ project, by designing a screen for it. However, it was not such an easy task for me to focus on what I should be doing, so I passed the time mainly speaking with MaV, Krusty and Hicks about fractals’ coding, and demoscene in general.


Hicks enjoying his d(r)i(n)ck

Around midnight, Eliot and I configured the projector in order to be ready for the next day. We spent some time watching some of the latest CPC demos there like Batman Forever, Vanity’s From Scratch, Dirty Minds’ Wolfenstrad and Benediction’s productions released at Revision (Wake Up!, Stop that nyan cat!) in order to assure that the palette is being displayed as accurately as possible.

So, with this and that, time flew by quickly and, at around 4.00 am, I decided to hit the road to my ‘bed’, which (thanks to Eliot) was not the bare floor this time. End of day1...

Saturday - Pro-competition
The next morning I woke up at around 11.00 and the sun was already shining. Time for a good, strong filter coffee, some pieces of cake and a shower in order to pull myself together and start communicating with the rest. Thanks to Tom et Jerry, who let me go to his room for a quick shower - I can’t really find the adequate words to explain how refreshing it was for me ;)

When I returned back to the main meeting room, I found that even more people had already arrived. CeD/ Condense, together with his wife and another friend) were already there, same thing for Garett, Kawickboy and some other people, that we solely exchanged a simple ‘Hi!’ (or not in some cases). So apologies for not listing them here, but I can’t actually do it since I do not know even their names...

Anyway, I tried to work on my ‘Glory Holes’ task, but my motivation was not that high. MaV and Krusty, who were around me, tried to give me ideas for my screen, but somehow I was not in the mood... I was more interested in talking around with some people, so I went to Offset’s place and enjoyed some cool SID music on a CPC Plus (no, I am not joking – it was perfect!). Anyway, after this I decided to take a walk and breathe some fresh air, in order to clean my head and work later again, in order to meet the deadline for my screen submission at 19.00...

After an hourly walk in the center of Coutances, I returned back to the party room, where Fano and TotO/ Easter Egg had already arrived with their hardware and with their prize for the winner of R-Type contest. The one who would have ranked first in the high score list, he would win a boxed copy of the new R-Type version. Thus, the dedicated CPC was turned on, R-Type was loaded and every scener was able to check his abilities in exploding alien creatures and spacecrafts.


R-type loaded and running

When I realized that Eliot was absent for a long time from the main meeting area, I was sure that food was on its way! We had a great meal, at around 15.30, with some chicken with curry, together with some salads. I can recall Beb eating vast quantities of vegetables in order to avoid having the same during the dinner ;) Some funny stories, laughs and full of energy (and calories), we all returned back to the main room to start once again working on our CPC projects.

During the next hours I was mainly working on my screen for ‘Glory Holes’, thus I was not communicating a lot with the rest. Kudos to CeD, who explained me some Photoshop ‘tricks’, in order to ease my efforts in designing my screen. I have to admit that without CeD’s help, I am not sure whether I would have the nerve to find the necessary patience to find the coordinates for each circle... So, CeD, big thanks to you!

In the meantime, Krusty was preparing the final party version of ‘Glory Holes’ for the competition next to me, while Eliot was coding some new effects, before going to collect every remote submission from his mail account. Hicks was working on a new scroller (with a special message), while Beb was working on his screen (another special message, but this time only to ‘dead’ people:). The really impressive thing was that whenever I stared around the room, what I could see was people so enthusiastic about CPC, by working on a new effect/ screen, or explaining an effect to another, or talking about CPC and demoscene, or just sharing ideas in general! A really nice feeling, especially when there is no ‘CPC world’ commercially for 20 years...


Hard-working CPC sceners

At around 21.00, and after Eliot’s efforts to gather every participant, the demonstration started. We all gathered in front of a CPC in order to watch the new, ‘hot’ stuff...

Graphical competition
We started with the graphics competition, in which eight contestants were competing for the first place. The contestants were rexbeng, CeD, Grim, Mac Death, Exin, Pulkomandy, CoaXCable and Egotrip. I was surprised by the high level of the majority of the screens and it was a very enjoyable experience to find out that more and more graphicians are submitting their productions to be released during a demoparty. I am really happy for this and optimistic for the future. Beb’s screen wasn’t completed on time, so he decided to keep it for a future Vanity release...

Musical competition
After the end of the graphics compo, we moved on to the music competition, in which Pulkomandy, Zik, V0yager and Egotrip once again were competing for the first place. In my opinion, and with the utmost respect to all of the participants, the songs were good enough, but not in the same level of last year’s participations. Nevertheless, their efforts are more than appreciated.

Intermission
When both graphical and musical competitions were completed, we decided to add an intermission before watching the 4k competition. No, we were not that tired. We were all hungry since the time was already around 23.00. During the dinner, Dave Braco offered us some of the finest Belgian beer. A really cool surprise!


Offset smiling to the camera after drinking most of the beer...

The intermission/ dinner lasted for almost half an hour, discussing and commenting about what we have already watched until that time. After some digestion – result of the rich dinner right before, we headed back to the main room to ‘feed our impatience’ and watch the participations for the 4k competition.

4k competition
The first submission, ‘Clouds with virgins in the skies’ by Optimus/ Dirty Minds and Factor6/ HOOY! Program, was a nicely done 4k with some interesting ideas, while Factor6’s remix was really matching the whole thing. A nice work! After this, it was time for ‘Glory holes’ by Krusty, with the music of Tom et Jerry and screens by CeD/ Condense, Grim/ Semilanceata and Beb/ Vanity. There were some circles still pending on mine, so I asked if I could submit my screen within the next couple of days, which is what was actually done.

Post-competition
After the end of the 4k competition, the majority of the people went to the projector room, to watch once again the new productions, as well as to also watch some demos. It is always a good feeling to watch CPC demos via a projector – it reminded a bit of Revision 2012. We spent a lot of time watching demos like Batman Forever, From Scratch, Wolfenstrad, Wake Up!, Gozeur’s first plasma and many more.


Live coverage from the projection room

After a long demo-watching, I decided to go back to my laptop and work once again on my screen. For some reason, I found the necessary motivation to work once again, despite the fact that it was already late. I guess it was the side-effect of watching CPC demos on a huge screen.

Eliot came and sat next to me, trying to work on his new effects, while some other sceners, like Hicks, Beb, Offset, Pulkomandy, Cloudstrife were doing the same. Some other decided that it was already the time for them to go for sleep, before the voting the very next day. Nevertheless, the place was still full of guys watching demos and working on their projects – cool!

At around 3.00 am, I decided to stop working on the screen and go to sleep on a normal bed this time. End of day2.

Sunday
I woke up early on Sunday in order to spent as many hours as I could in the meeting place and to prepare my stuff for my trip as well. Sadly, Sunday morning in Coutances was rainy. After a quick shower in Eliot’s place, I dressed up and headed to the place where the meeting was taking place for the third day.

I arrived to the party place at around 9.30, together with Eliot. Surprisingly, the room was full with croissants and many other yummy things; a great sponsorship (and also a custom after so many years) by Tom et Jerry. As you might have already guessed correctly, when there is food around, it’s certain that CPC users will roam around it as well. Beb, Hicks, MaV, Dave Braco, Pulkomandy, Cloudstrife, fano, OffSet, Tom et Jerry, TotO, and some others were already there, having their cups of coffee on hand, and waiting for the final two ‘stages’ of the competition – nothing else than the voting and the prize-giving!

As there was some time available until the voting procedure, I decided to sit in front of my laptop to work once again. Minutes later, even more people arrived to the meeting room and all started watching once again ReSeT’s submissions. In the meantime, Beb was fighting against alien spaceships in the ‘R-Type’ corner, competing mainly with Hicks and MaV. I tried as well to beat him, but I failed... I guess when you are a bad gamer, you are for every game ;)

Anyway, at around 11.00 am the voting process started officially. Do not expect digital procedures as in huge demoparties here – we are all living in the retro age, that’s why we still enjoy CPC! That said, Eliot prepared some papers for each of us, in which we were able to note our top three ranking for all the competing submissions in the three categories (graphics, music and 4K). The rule used was simple: the first choice receives 5 points, the second 4 and the third 3. In addition, it is possible for someone to vote for as many productions he wants; thus, someone could have voted for 1 or 2 releases only per category. Freedom of choice ;)

After Eliot completed counting our votes, the results were announced. (As I was nearby Eliot during the whole process, I have to confess that it was a really challenge in the musical and graphical competitions - the final result was unsure until the very last vote counting...)

So, in the 4k demo competition the first three prods were ‘Glory Holes’ by Krusty, ‘Clouds with Virgins in the Skies’ by Optimus, and ‘Ultimate Nightmare’ by Egotrip. In the graphical competition, rexbeng with ‘FED’ ranked first, while in the second and third positions were CeD, with ‘Eightball’, and Grim with ‘Mad Leprechaun’ respectively. Mac Death followed in the fourth place with his ‘The drive belt exorcism ritual’ participation. In the music competition, the top-three ranking was ‘Comic Bakery’ (Pulkomandy), ‘Little Boat’ (Zik), and ‘ReSeT your party’ (V0yager).


Official calculator of votes

After the announcement of the results, it was time for prize-giving for the winners in each category. Rexbeng, the winner of the graphical compo, won an original copy of Sub Hunter game and Pulkomandy won a cool, original poster done by MaDe. I think Krusty got also a poster by MaDe, plus a commemorate photo with Tom et Jerry and the designers who worked on ‘Glory Holes’, and were present at ReSeT#8. In addition, Beb was given a boxed copy of Easter Egg’s ‘R-Type’ version, as he managed to do the highest high score in the gaming contest.


Pulkomandy proudly posing with his prize

The rest moments were mostly packing time for me and saying goodbye to people that were leaving the party in order to travel back to their residences. However, I spent some time to watch Pulkomandy soldering his new hardware SD expansion in Davebraco’s CPC. I have to admit that this small expansion is really interesting. I guess that we will have to wait for Pulkomandy to complete also the supporting software, in order to send him our orders and start the mass production ;)

Some time afterwards, it was time for me to go. I said goodbye to the rest of the people there and I started my way back to my place in Greece. I am sure that it won’t interest you that much, so it’s better for me to stop my short narration here. But before being done with my version of the story, kudos to Fano and Eliot for driving me to the train station on that rainy Sunday. Appreciate it!


The proud team of Glory Holes – say all cheese!

Conclusion
My personal feeling of ReSeT#8 is positive. It was a great experience to meet and have a lot of discussions with guys still interested in CPC, since I do not have the chance to meet them in a more frequent basis. As it was the second time being at ReSeT, I have to say that this meeting is like an educational school for a CPC scener! Why? Well, someone has the opportunity to learn a lot of things from some other people! Plus, it is a great feeling to understand that you are not ‘alone’... It’s cool to know that there are also some other crazy people ‘infected’ with the same ‘CPC-virus’...


Enjoying the last moments of ReSeT

Furthermore, Eliot’s organizational skills! He managed to organize another sequel of a CPC meeting in Coutances superbly. I guess it’s the experience that makes him such a great host. I have to admit that the ‘corner’ spots was a fantastic idea, while the projection room offered us the possibility to watch several CPC demos on a big screen. And, I should not forget the 24/7 coffee supply – a must have during sleepless meetings ;)

I hope I managed to describe what happened in ReSeT in the most precise way, but I am not totally sure I have every detail listed here. I guess this is what happens when a non-French guy is writing the report of a (mainly) French party ;)

Until the next time...

voxfreax/ Benediction – official PushnPop.net’s reporter for ReSeT#8 party