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c2LOOKING BUACK
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c3BY DARKHAWK/IRIS
as
c1For some, the best way to write, is to 
be told by others what to write about. 
I won't say it is the same with me, but 
it is quite nice to get a concrete 
article 'job' now and then. Well, c6Zerox
c1has told me to write a bit about my
c6impressions c1during c6the last 10 years in
the scene. c1This could potentially 
become a quite long article, but I will 
try to make it short enough to put on 
one disk, heh. I am going to write a 
bit about some of the c4parties c1I have 
attended the last 10 years and about 
the mood of the scene during this time 
as I have seen it. 

Well, I began in my first group in
c61989, c1but let's jump forward to c61991,
c1where I was still quite wet behind
the ears in regards to the scene. I
had my idols ofcourse, like the
c4Danish Crionics, the old Kefrens, 
Phenomena and Sanity, c1and my scene 
life was mostly spent getting all the
great productions. Now, I must admit,
that the productions released 89-91
were not all that great, infact a lot
of them were boring. However, there
were true gems released, those demos
that still are my absolute favourites
today. And most of them were released
in 91, which was the last year of the
old scene so to speak, the old scene
with the c6copy parties c1and totally
nerdish atmosphere. After that, the
scene became more international,
professional, and bigger. However,
first things first. In order to get
all the flood of stuff released back 
then you had to either know a swapper
or be a swapper yourself. So, in 1991,
I found myself in the position of
c4being a swapper, c1and organizer of my
own local group I had started. Its
name was c6Megalomania, c1and if some of
you remember this group, it is pretty
surprising, heh. I was a member in
some other groups too around then, as
there were really a lot of groups
around, and if one could not get into
any group, one simply created a new 
one. 

c61991 c1was the year of the really great 
and outstanding trackmo's, as I see 
it, that is, c4Enigma and Hardwired 
c1shine above all others this year. It 
felt like a kind of magic being in the
scene back then, getting letters
delivered to your c6postbox, c1checking
out the c6demos, c1studying the happenings
in the groups and really living in and
for the scene. Well, atleast I felt it
that way. I attended a small cracker
meeting as the only 'party' I attended
in 91', I was at the c4Dexion Xmas
Conference in 90' c1though, and that was
my first party. I saw such legends as
Celebrandil and the Crionics dudes
there, and was totally in awe. That
party was a true copyparty, with
nerdish people going around and heated
coder debate in the corners. C64's,
Atari's and especially Amiga's all
over the place, mhh.. The scene felt
very much alive back then, atleast it
did for me. Also, 1991 was the year I
started my c6writing c1career, with my
first articles appearing a while later 
in c4RAW c1and Top Secret, I think. c4Mags 
during that time were wonderful reads 
c1too, I can mention Stolen Data, 
Satanic Rites, Grapewine, c3DISC, 
c1Freedom Crack, Magbox and many others. 
Always a lot of stuff in the mags, 
although the articles might not have 
been as quality minded and structured 
as they got later on, when the quality
of articles and mags topped in 96/97.

As to quantity, the scene never had
better years than 92 and partly 93,
which saw an explosion in the number
of sceners, new groups and released 
productions, many of which were nice of
course, like c6State of the Art, Desert 
Dream and Arte c1for instance. My scene
life was really hectic around here,
93' ended with me having around 80
contacts and being a returning editor
in Upstream and Top Secret. While it
was stressing, it was also c4great fun. 
c1It did not feel like the magical 
moments and immersion of my first 3 
years, but the scene did still feel 
very much alive, and I was beginning to 
appear on a few charts by then. Being 
in the scene was beginning to feel like
something normal and not like the wild 
rush of yesteryear. Notable parties I
attended in 92 and 93 was c4The Party c12
and 3 really. I attended others, but
not quite as notable I must confess.
Back then, TP was actually fun, hard
as that is to believe now, hehe. 
c41994 c1marked the start of a new scene,
just as 92' had done it previously.
There, a lot of new blood had flowed
into the scene, but in 94 that trend
started reversing itself, groups died
and people started to leave the scene
and the Amiga, ofcourse mainly due to
the c6death of Commodore, c1and the
uncertainty of Amiga's future. That
damn PC was starting to get really
popular too around then, sadly, but
that is ancient history ofcourse. 
>From 94' and onwards, the Amiga started
to emulate the PC, and not the other 
way around. In regards to the scene, 
that meant the advent of chunky coding,
with the resulting doom clones,
objects and textures we can see in all
of our scenish productions today. That
meant a c4goodbye to the old way of
doing demos, c12D effects mostly, or
quite simple vectors running fullframe 
if at all possible. Now groups really
started experimenting with chunky
coding and all that came of it. Well,
this was not all bad ofcourse, as it
is what lead up to the demos we enjoy
and think great today. These 3 years
were also the years of the c6great
diskmags, c1or rather, many diskmags had
reached a very high level of content
by this time, since they were not 
written by 14 year old beginners 
anymore. 

As for myself, well, the excitement
was beginning to fade by then, or that
is maybe putting it too harshly, since
I have always been interested in the
scene. However, the golden days were
over I felt. I topped at 110 contacts 
in early 94', and from there it has 
been a steady decline down to my 
some and 20 today. On the other hand 
I continued to write articles and I
joined c3IRIS c1in the start of 94' too,
who had some turbulent times before
things quieted down for us. As for
parties.. Well, I attended a lot, but
noteworthy parties were few and far
between. TP4 was ok, but the 3 parties
I enjoyed the most during those three 
years, were the danish South Sealand 
parties, which were the first parties 
where we really boozed, heh. We also
had some nice IRIS meetings that
helped lay the foundation for our
group during those years, aswell as a
host of productions. Well, those three
years were interesting, but where 92
and 93 had felt a bit more like
'business as usual' to me, in regards
to the scene, these 3 years gave me
that feeling even more. 

97' to 99' marks the years of the
c4smallest Amiga scene ever, c1especially
97-98 were c6sad years c1in that regard,
although there were many positive
aspects too, like many demo groups
topping these years and producing
their best work ever. Too bad those
demogroups then died promptly
thereafter. c4Powerline, Embassy, Nerve
Axis, Mellow Chips, Floppy and Artwork
to name some of the more known. c1Also,
in regards to diskmags, things went
down the drain during those years. We
had two really high quality mags,
Scene Point and Generation, both of
which died officially in 99'. On the
other hand, the MS party series got
their well deserved breakthrough in the
scene, and c6MS c1is now known as the best
party for sceners, with the popularity
of c4TP c1on the decline. 
During these 3 years c6Poland c1really 
showed up on the scenish worldmap. 
Having had their golden period years 
later than the western scene, they had 
many more groups and sceners in their 
country, than the other countries 
combined, since those had already 
declined to a minimum. It is nice that 
it was timed like that, or who knows, 
the scene might have been much poorer 
today.

Anyway, for me, those 3 years were
nice. I got more responsibilty on the
c6editor side, c1and managed to c4organize
my group c1well enough. Swapping
suffered, since there were fewer and
fewer swappers around, but it
eventually stabilized and became a
nice pastime, if not quite as hectic
as before, hehe. Also, I attended some
of my c6best scene parties c1during this
period, the MS parties each year and
the Gravity97 in Poland, which was
a very cool experience for me.
Generally it was as if everything 
became more relaxed, and sceners too, 
taking the scene more easily, not 
wanting to prove as much as before. 
This is not neccesarily a bad thing, 
although this is really what the 
polish scene can't understand about 
us, that we're so relaxed about our 
hobby, we seem almost indifferent to 
them I guess. c6IRIS c1has also done the
been quit active during these years, 
atleast in newer history, so my scene 
life has been fun and easy going 
during these years I feel. 

Now we have the c4year 2000 c1and it 
is almost over (It is over-Ed). This might be the
beginning of something very positive
again, a renewal of the scene. It can't
be the end of the scene, since that 
should have come years ago if it would
ever come, I think. We have become as
small as we could be, and now only the
truly hardcore are left, atleast in
the west. And this latest half of the
year seems to be very nice in regards
to diskmags. Two new diskmags
released, c4Showtime c1about to appear in
some days, and the c6EuroChart c1appearing
regularely, what more could one wish
for in the mag department? It looks
brighter than ever there. 

Otherwise this year has passed rather 
fast for me, guess that's because I'm 
getting so old, haha. Nothing more to 
add, we will see where the future 
takes us with the c6new Amiga plans, 
c1which also, for the first time since
Commodore died, seem to be concrete.
If they are, it c4WILL change the scene,
c1and in a relatively short time I
predict. Anyway, hope you aren't all
asleep now ;)


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