All sorts of things - Funtop`98

(C) 1998 VEL / PROXIMA                    
(C) 1998 SERGIUS PUZZLER / PROXIMA        
                                          
 Special edition for e-magazins.      
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MAX> Since I didn’t have a chance this summer
devote a lot of time to your favorite speccy,
That’s why I don’t know almost any news. Already
I had a very stormy summer... So
that one has to be content with the math
rial that the post office brought. Similar
This text is available in the author's newspaper
ZXPILOT #28 with the requirement of a link to the original
nal source, which is what I do. Although re-
the guys sent the text separately from the newspaper and I
I understand that it’s for my magazine.         
   And a couple more words forVEL`a: not formatted
write texts in ZX-WORD - this is not profitable
but! BetteriS-DOSorZX-WINWORD.And so those
thank you very much for the life-giving information
tion and attention to my publication!!!         
------------------------------------------
                                          
 How we drove Proxima on FunTop.       
                                          
   For a trip to the International Festival
Computer Art FunTop we,
Proxima, we were preparing for a long time, even when we saw
share the first info. In the meantime, until August 22-
yeah, we saved money (we collected bottles,
swept the streets and took out trash
keepers ;-)))                             
                                          
   But the long-awaited 21st has arrived
number. From the very morning through my hause began
people walk. In the evening there is some traffic
stopped, taxied  Viky Monster,
Uncle Sam and Sergius.Tearing me off together
from interplanetary battles in Elite 3, friends re-
decided to pass the time playing a logic game
(with two difficulty levels! ;-) - Ugolki.
                                          
   Our time was inexorably approaching
departures :`-) We began to persuade
Viky Monster`and come with us. But Vitka
there was a pretty good reason to turn down
from the trip ;-) Next time he has this
an excuse won't work...                   
                                          
   On the way to the bus station we met -
There were two pretty girls. Sergius not
missed the moment and immediately invited them
come with us.  The girls politely refused
died, after whichSam`y out of disappointment
urgently needed bushes...
                                          
   Remaining time before bus departure
we were busy tearing away from the poor
thSam`a green burdock ;-)             
                                          
   It was time to leave, we took our
rulez`th places and then the braking began
nie... The first one to brake was an elderly man
age, who asked several times
where does this bus go, although it was the only one
local at the bus station and also at the local
there was a sign on the front glass "Kovrov-
Moscow"  :-) The second one to brake was also a man -
on, but somewhat younger. He squeezed into
bus with a huge suitcase,what caused
justified driver dissatisfaction. Himself
he still managed to place the modan somewhere
near you, but after the bus
moved off, he again brazenly
put him in the aisle :[                  
                                          
   Except for the overturned truck
and missed stop in Vladimir by
there is nothing interesting on the road to Moscow
it happened.  There was only one stop in Pokro-
ve, where Sam  immediately saw the departing
bus from Chelyabinsk and I made a guess
The feeling that it carries Clevers Group (they
publishes the magazineX-FILES). LaterSergiuss
Sam`th saved on 1 r.  on a paid
toilet, risking being fined 10.
We dozed the rest of the way. Despite
braking described above, we arrived in
record time - 4 hours 35 minutes.        
                                          
   Because  free time before opening
FunTop`and we had plenty,we re-
we went to see some of the sights -
representatives of the capital who had the courage
be nearby. In particular, we visited
tili Staroarbatskaya street, which at
On closer inspection there was more
similar to a boulevard than it actually is
is in reality. These mornings
There was no one there for several hours, except
a couple of homeless people and several apparently homeless people
dogs wandering around looking for something
or someone to grab a bite to eat. Here and with us
looking at these poor creatures, he made himself known
know the worm we share
effortlessly threw sandwiches, provided
heavily stocked at home and taken
Of course, with you.                           
                                          
   We liked Arbat, even if without
crowded, empty and lonely. But the time has come
I'm in a hurry to find the venue for the tu-
Sinclairist scoops. The city woke up after
cool night (it will soon be autumn, for some
and to school :-) By 8 o'clock we were around
school 91. In front of the entrance to the courtyard there is already a party
There were a dozen festival participants.  We
modestly joined their ranks. Didn't pass
five minutes, and we started making new ones
acquaintances, in particular in the person of representatives
Tela of the St. Petersburg company WELCOM
CORPORATION Evgenia Budera. Around nine o'clock everyone breaks down in unison
rushed into the school yard, and went there
the rest of the Sinclairists are catching up,
coming up later.  It should be mentioned that
that the delegation is from our city of Kovrov
turned out to be the largest - 11 people.     
                                          
   Somewhere after 9 o'clock, when everything is already
We had time to chat and take photos,
everyone was allowed into the school building. On the stairs
between the fourth and fifth floors began
people were gathering - registration was in progress
participants and guests.                      
                                          
   After registering and taking forms for
voting and personal cards, we went to
a medium-sized assembly hall filled with
chairs.  They also stood near the windows.
There were five monitors in total, which were quite
enough.  Three monitors stood in front of the first
nearby - one in the center and two closer to the windows.
One b/w monitor was intended for the needs
the organizers themselves, and therefore stood lower
others. Well, the last monitor was delivered -
linen approximately in the center of the hall - for the rear
rows. Much to our chagrin, we found out
It was stated that business cards would not be issued. This
greatly complicated the process of recognizing signs
personalities given to us by correspondence. Although, our
There were also such resourceful people who stayed at home
we made these for ourselves earliercards.    
                                          
   We decided to settle closer to the so-called.
podium and sat in the second row. Later oca-
It seemed that the guys from
CPU, and in the third row are the guys from Rage
Creative Group from Belarus.              
                                          
   At first, as always, they played the non-
how many demos and after a short
The festival itself began waiting.           
                                          
   At the very beginning with a short informal
The message was given byAlex.He told us
that at this time in the school itself there is a ca-
some other important event and try
strength to be more restrained in emotions and not violate
destroy public order.                
                                          
   Next came Wlodek Black himself,who
ry, in fact, solemnly opened
International Festival of Computer Science
arts FunTop`98.But hereWlodek surprised
everyone with the following message: I turn off the
chili electricity fordebts! That's such a bummer
- everyone probably thought. But even then I calmed down
coil.  All equipment was connected
to a neighboring private house, for which they - og-
Thank you very much (not free, of course :-)
                                          
   After this, the floor was passed to the President
Welcome Corp. - Evgeny Buder.     
                                          
   Then on the monitors there was some kind of vi-
video with a painfully familiar plot. "Pi-
they brought a syuk" - many thought and were not
are right.  It turns out that this is the company "Peters"
brought her new computer to the presentation
Yuter -  Sprinter  with 4 megas, screw and
other bells and whistles are terrible!  Video
lasted 4 minutes and took approximately 15OMB.
Naturally, after such a grandiose event
I contacted a representative of the Peters company and started
people with voice recorders burst in and began
ask a wide variety of questions.
Having withstood all the questions with honor, Peter's
replayed part of what was already shown
roller By the way, I’ll say that the prices are in advance
prepared by the company, they were not taken so well.
At least they didn't advertise it too much
these same prices. Or maybe the company itself was
don't care about it?Here it was the turn of the Captain
NEMO. He talked about his computerKAY-
1024and showed the motherboard. Whatever
strange, but there were practically no questions.
In conclusion, NEMO reported that Slava
Mednonogov could not come and transmits
Warm greetings to everyone. After these words Ka-
pitan took out a large stack of various
prices, from which in a few seconds
not a trace remained. In this pile was also
such a very interesting price list in A5 format,
the contents of which I quote verbatim.   
                                          
           Preparing for release            
  new game for Spectrum         
            "Black Raven - 2"            
                                          
 The game will be a continuation of real-
time strategy "Black Raven". Action 
transported forward two thousand years, to
a future where people and kungs are again presented
it is worth fighting in an unequal battle for a fair
vost. Get ready for the release of the full version!
 Always yours, Vyacheslav Mednonogov.
                                          
   The rest of the price range was
filled with gorgeous pictures.           
                                          
   Various Sinclairists spoke next,
presenting their new developments in the field
software, both system,
and gaming.                           
                                          
   In general, there was a presence at the festival
a lot of different people: strangers, acquaintances and
not really. RS`yuchnikov on FunTop`e noticed
there weren’t, but there were representatives of the platform
AMIGA  (how could it be otherwise? :-) In particular
sitting nearbyAMIG`nicknames from time to time
time they said something like "at
AMIGA is better for me." Well, their favorite phrase
Everyone has known it for a long time - "sux `n` must
die".                                     
                                          
   But here it isthe time has come for the first nomination -
tions. It turned out to be GFX compo. The pictures were
the most diverse and there were a great many of them -
gesture.  While displaying pictures, organize
congestion made an announcement to those who brought
pictures with myself, but did not have time to register
tear them down. And they were found! Under the very co-
After viewing, two more pictures appeared.
But, as I understand it, in the final collection
More pictures included. When voting
had to choose three pictures from
69. Much to our surprise, the prize
not the best pictures took the first place.
And it's strange.  But he was even more surprised
fact that there were several on compo
pictures by the same authors!          
                                          
   The next compo turned out to be 4K intro. Would-
There are not very many works presented - 14,
just like the demo.  The work turned out to be
truly the most diverse (at least
At least it seemed that way the first time). There were
and quite memorable works, there were
works with quite unexpected humor, and
there were also just 4K intro :-) Personally, we don’t
I liked that the authors of some intro
They didn’t bother themselves with extra work.
After all, it is enough just to take some part
from my demo - here's the 4K intro. On
in fact, they don’t deserve prizes
exactly the same people who received them.           
                                          
   Afterlong enough viewing of the
fics and 4K intro took a break. Some
other comrades immediately went to smoke in response
designated place for this, others left
hall just to chat, and others in general
remained in place. Particularly far away
They didn’t let me go, because time is money, especially
especially if you consider that electricity
"Downloaded" from a neighboring house. Of course, for
they didn’t start running around, but just warned
talked about the imminent start of the next compo.    
                                          
   But now it's time for music. All-
there were39 registered works, from
the numbers of which we chose the best. you
would you say that this is not so much? Judge-
those themselves, 39x3 minutes turns out to be about 2
hours.  And all these two hours it was necessary to pay attention
It’s important to listen and then choose the best ones!
Yeah... There was a lot of work here too
different, but some of them are frankly
got bored.  In the beginning everything was enough
calm.  But then several slaughterers came
rave music, to which, without hesitation,
several guys rushed to dance. And so
happened several times... The most unpleasant
it turned out that this roar woke up
Uncle Sam, who had been sleeping peacefully until that moment,
go on a chair ;-) After some time part
the hall hummed joyfully again, clapping
doshas andwhistling.  It turned out that it went
music from Moscow musicians. Result
could have been predicted with 100% probability
first place took Ilya Abrosimov/EA-
Soft/Antares.                             
                                          
   At the end of the compo people are tired, but
satisfied, they fell into the corridor, although,
again some remained in their places.
In the corridor itself they have already hung several
sheets glued together - if available
eat a marker, but it’s thicker, leave it about yourself pa-
crush.  It was also possible to purchase a license
sion software from Welcome and T-shirts with
nice symbols  FunTop. I don’t know,
what colors were used to make these inscriptions?
but already in Kovrov I learned from Mongol that
the inscriptions are erased almost with a damp finger -
tsem (well, such a “pleasure” of sleep was worth it)
initially 30, and later 25 rubles). Also opened
selling used books, former Sinclairist,
Now I am the happy owner of AMIGA. Also
it was possible to purchase licensed copies
magazines Adventurer #8, Deja Vu #5,
Spectrum Expert #2 Voyajer #1and others.
AlsoBranded versions of games were also sold:
Monstarland, Mirror, Ufo 2 etc. Except
all this was just given by people freeware soft
on used floppy disks.                          
                                          
   But then the break ended and it began
demo compo.  By this time I noticed
a small row of empty beer bottles
"Baltika", and some spektrumists with
the happy faces were not empty
kami.  Maybe I'm wrong, but it seemed
that these were mainly Moscow sincles
rists. And now the first demos have been launched. B
general, as well as on Enlight`e, in some
The demos have the same themes or the effects themselves.
But then came demos from MegaCode and Digital
Reality. The hall literally exploded with applause -
cops and screams. As it turned out later,
for the demo Exploder`and they shouted louder :-) Sa-
Our demos were very diverse and the audience
reacted to them differently.  For example
the phrase "vodka+beer=speccy rulez"  was
met with laughter.  But, for example, vi-
de-roll (which,by the way, first
filmed on a video camera, then dragged onto
RS'yuk and then to our beloved Speccy)
the public accepted it almost with such a roar
as well as prize demos. That's the point
that the cameraman captured the moment when
one resourceful guy stopped by Billy
Gates with a sponge cake in the face...      
                                          
   At the end compo played out of competition
hard work and three times to no avail
wanted to show the unfinished parts of the demo on
FT from Antares. Finally collecting all the forms
for voting, the organizers left
for counting votes. By the way, we managed
find out the approximate number of participants and government
tey - 150-160 people. Not so much
but if we take into account that we didn’t arrive
everyone, and those who came were from different parts
our beloved country, then it becomes
really great.                       
                                          
   The votes were being counted, and behind the b/w monitor
someone was busy fiddling around and copying something.
We also wondered what they had there.
on disks and calmly stood in line.
But here, finally and irrevocably, the
whether electricity.  But we are not very
were being built.  The counting of votes took a very long time.
oh, about an hour.  Some don't
endured and left...                  
                                          
   But herethe solemn moment has come
announcement of winners and presentation of diplomas
mov, cash prizes and gifts.          
                                          
   4K COMPO                               
                                          
1. GOA  BY EXPLODER/MEGACODE/EXTREME 
2. DIZZY  BY SERZH SOFT                
3. NEVERLAND BY SENAT/ETERNITY INDUSTRY   
                                          
   GFX COMPO                              
                                          
1. POLESJE  BY ARTHUR BURN/ELSSLAND      
2. TRASSA  BY ANTON SURANOV             
3. ALF 13  BY DEMIURGE ASH/ETERNITY MUSIC COMPO                            
                                          
1. I MUST WIN A COMPO BY ЕА-SOFT/ANTARES  
2. ZX-SOS             BY IGOVAL/ANTIQUE   
3. ...                BY IMP              
                                          
   DEMO COMPO                             
                                          
1. REFRESH   BY MEGACODE                  
2. FOREVER   BY DIGITAL REALITY           
3. BLAME     BY STARS OF KELADAN AND      
                SPEED COMPANY             
                                          
   Кстати,Exploder, except diploma and
received a cash prize as a gift to his mother
board KAY-1024, the same one that
indicated NEMO.                             
                                          
   Upon completion of the graduation ceremony,
the organizers announced that they invite everyone
on the unofficial second day of FunTop`98.
It will take place in Izmailovsky Park in
13 hours and everyone can take part in
famous sysopnik of Moscow ZX-Net.
We ourselves were not on the second day (it’s too bad
long wait - more than 15 hours :-( but
Maxwell/TNL wrote that they are "at this time
fermented vodka (under the Kremlin wall in
fireworks time!), and then spent the night in Kazan-
railway station, and then everyone wanted to sleep...
And at the sysopnik on Sunday it’s all over again
got drunk..."                          
                                          
   We got home without incident :-(
Because  there was a wait for the Moscow-Kovrov bus
long (about 10 hours), then we are on the first
We took a suitable bus to Vladimir.
There, after having a snack and a little nap, the first
We took the train to our native Kovrov.      
                                          
   Lastly, I would like to give a few
good advice to future organizers
FunTop`99:                                
                                          
   Firstly: you just need to exclude
voting for the works of members of one group.
Imagine the situation: I live in Moscow
(although this is not at all necessary) and I come
at a party with several guys I know
(from 10 to 20 or more ;-) And also if I lead
correspondence with a couple of dozen cities
Dov, from where there are also representatives...
Cool!  But this is just a bit of a joke
truth.                                   
                                          
   Secondly: exclude any coincidence
between 4K intro and demo. This, I think, is
clear.   These 4K intros can be made
as much as you like.  The same applies to
pictures. Stop allowing colorized
new scanned graphics and also not up-
let in those pictures that are already in
demo                                     
                                          
   Third: truly control
incoming work!  Do not allow more than 1
work in each nomination from the group or from
one person.                          
                                          
   Hereand all the main notes, not so much
and a lot! In general, we really like the festival itself
I liked it.    Thank you very much -
organizersFunTop`a.                    
                                          
 I would really like to hope that
and next year the Moscow Sinclairists
they won’t let this good beginning die out
nu.                                      
                                          
   You know, since I started talking about
Moscow, then I want to say the following. Everyone
it is known that the company "Inforcom"  first
ceased to be called as such, and then,
honestly fulfilling obligations to
subscribers, and disappeared altogether (although, according to
unverified information, they are now
We're getting serious about gaming consoles). K
Why am I doing this?! Yes to the fact that really
MOSCOW is such a small city where it’s just
you can’t find three or four enthusiastic sincle-
ristov?  Guys, take this matter into account.
your hands! After all, it’s not such a difficult task
the bot is waiting for you, but what a need for you
you will do it!  The whole job is
what you need  _to summarize_ information from different
corners of our vast homeland, and give
feasible comments. Firstnew number
ZX-REVIEW  shareware can and should be released
- so that everyone knows. Well, then you’ll be re-
to shuffle.  This can be done by any of the
Moscow groups. If only we, Proxima,
lived in Moscow, consider that the first number
ZX-REVIEW  NEW would already be on your disks.
That's probably all I wanted to say about this
about.                                   
                                          
   We send a big, big hello to our
new and old friends and in general all those
who was not too lazy to visit the International
Computer Art Festival -
FunTop.                                   
                                          
   And finally, I’ll give you a list of participants
Speccy party - FunTop, who kindly
provided by Mitchell from Hard Wave Crew, for
thank him very much.                  
                                          
    See you soon at FunTop`99!!!     
                                          
            (C) MITCHELL/HWC            
                                          
   The Fun Top`s 98 Party memberslist:   
                                          
Wolf/Rage, Mythos/Rage, Spirit, Recalder, 
  BOS/LOSW/GE/vP, Wlodek Black, Kano/RP,  
M!7сНе11/HWC, SerzhSoft, Mr.Z/HWC, SD/HWC,
   Frunze/SG/Logros, Captain/SG/Logros,   
 ALK/Stars of Keladan, L-Graph/VVG, GPV,  
  RCL/VVG, Rom Corp/VVG, High Lord/VVG,   
 Mic/VVG, Doctor Мах/Global, Twin/Global, 
   Alex Kerman/Global, Dan!!l/PGC/BDA,    
Mic/Progress, Rom/Progress, Fux/Progress, 
 KLR/Progress, Sauron/DR, OZ/DR, AR7Y/DR, 
 Flying/DR, John/VB, Calev/Ris, Alex(R),  
       ZX-Shadow, Antares, Sister,        
    Chazm/InfoSoft/CPU, Elf/Auryn/CPU,    
    Shaitan/Surdakar/CPU, Dr.Dash/DGN,    
 NSS/DGN, Dude/DGN, Balbes (Last Zahary), 
 Sand and his friend from Mayhem, Peters  
    Software, Welcome, OOPS group, Siv    
    Blader/Excess, Hacker Gri/Excess,     
Lion/Excess, Magic/Magic Soft/Extreme, Мас
  Buster/Magic Soft/Extreme, ХРЕН/Magic   
Soft/Extreme, Е.I., Gladiator, Die Crups, 
        M.M.A./Speed Со./Extreme,         
   Exploder(VAV)/Megacode/Extreme, Ilya   
   Komandin/ZX-Maniaks, Vel/PXM, Uncle    
Sam/PXM, Sergius Puzzler/PXM, Art Soft... 
            and many others...