
                        ABDUCTION'96 INVITATION TEXT
                        --- 28th of April,  1996 ---




   Abduction'96 will be held in 7-9th of June, in Oulu, Finland. The party
   will start at 10:00 (Friday) and end at around 13:00 (Sunday).

   The partyplace itself is a big school called Pohjankartano (see
   PKARTANO.GIF). It's located less than 800 meters away from the main center
   of Oulu (see OULU.GIF). Oulu is a nice, relatively big city in the
   Northern Finland. You can get there easily by bus, train, aeroplane or
   your own car. There are a lot of nice fast food places, restaurants
   and motels all over the city. Public transportation works fine so that
   moving around the city is not a problem.


General
=======

   The entrance fee is 100 FIM (about 22 USD). Girls get in for free as
   usual. When you pay the entrance fee, you receive a voting disk (it's PC
   formatted, but at the partyplace there are PCs for public use).
   The voting system is very similar to the experimental system we used last
   year (you liked it!);  the audience is able to see how the counting of
   votes proceeds, because the current situation scrolls on the bigscreen in
   real-time!

   At the partyplace there are bathrooms, electricity, sleeping places and
   tables for everybody. A 24h/day snackbar sells food and freshments;  the
   prices are low. There are a lot of good security guards, so that it's
   very unlikely that nothing big and valuable gets stolen or damaged.

   There are two very high-quality video projectors and two big screens.
   The PA system is very powerful also.

   We highly encourage you to take all your computer equipment (microwave
   oven is not computer equipment!), girlfriends and friends with you. Take
   your own electric cords with you (especially if you bring a lot of stuff),
   so that electricity is 100% guaranteed.

   Bring banners, posters and T-shirts which say who you are. It makes the
   partyplace look better and other people will recognize you and your group.

   At the partyplace you are not supposed to...
      o  break anything. If you cause damage, you pay for it.
      o  use (or possess) drugs, alcohol, weapons (not even waterpistols!).
      o  smoke. Outside there is a special place for smokers.
      o  sell hardware without organizers' permission.
      o  sell or distribute "warez".

   We don't forbid all the fun stuff just because we are arseholes, but be-
   cause most of it is against Finnish law and our insurance company's and
   sponsors' will.
   There are no exceptions. If you break the rules we may take your ticket
   away and throw you out - even without warning you first (if you really
   fuc* up).


Special events and competitions
===============================

   Fast music/graphics competitions will be held on Friday afternoon.
      Fast music competition rules:
         In order to attend fast music competition, you have to submit us
         an empty and error-free disk (3,5" DD or HD, PC formatted) before
         the registration ends at 16:00. When the competition starts, you
         receive a disk with a small number of samples. The idea is to
         compose a song using ONLY those samples. You have 45 minutes time.
         All standard module formats (S3M, XM, MOD, etc.) are allowed.
      Fast graphics competition rules:
         You simply draw a picture. The subject will be given by us when
         the competition starts. You have 45 minutes time. The picture can
         be signed. All standard picture formats (LBM, GIF, PCX, TGA, etc.)
         are allowed.
   A jury will check all entries and decide who win. The best entries will
   be shown/played after music/graphics competitions.

   A special prize will be given to that creep (or a bunch of creeps) whose
   clothing (or lack of it) manages to impress or shock the organizers most.
   So find something extremely stupid or funny to wear.

   On Saturday there will be a Magic the Gathering tournament. Those who have
   a ticket for Abduction'96 get in for free. Read MTG.TXT for more informa-
   tion about this tournament.

   Last year there was an anagram competition. People liked it and therefore
   we arrange it again. The rules are very simple:  On Saturday morning we
   give you a word or phrase (it probably has something to do with the party
   or demoscene) and you use your imagination.


Schedule
========

   Minor changes are possible (not likely, though) and you will be informed
   about them (see registration).

   Friday, 7th of June
   -------------------------------------------------------------------------
      10:00  Doors open
      16:00  Fast music competition registration ends
      17:00  Fast music competition
      18:00  Fast graphics competition
      19:30  Organizers choose people for the jury (music/graphics)
      20:00  Deadline for music/graphics competitions
             Classic demos on the bigscreen

         Saturday, 8th of June
         -------------------------------------------------------------------
             0:00  Music/graphics competitions
                   The best fast music/graphics competition entries are
                   shown/played
            10:00  Magic the Gathering tournament begins
                   Anagram competition begins
                   (Time to test your production on the competition machine)
            17:30  Organizers choose people for the jury (demo/intro)
            18:00  Deadline for demo/intro competitions
            20:00  Magic the Gathering tournament ends
                   Anagram competition ends

               Sunday, 9th of June
               -------------------------------------------------------------
                   0:00  Demo/intro competitions
                            PC intro
                            Amiga demo
                            PC demo
                         (A short break for voting)
                         Counting of votes
                         Winners are announced
                   8:00  Re-run (top 3 of every category)
                  13:00  Doors close


Competitions
============

   This year we tried something completely different and arranged a voting.
   You were able to vote for your favourite competition machines using WWW
   forms or email. We expected that a lot of people would visit the homepage
   of Abduction'96 and vote. But ONLY less than 100 out of 1500 visitors
   voted. Shame on you, people!
   We have made our final decisions now. As you can see, we had to make a
   compromise. Read VOTING.TXT if you want to see some figures and expla-
   nations.

   Competition machines are:  486DX4/120 and A1200/060.

      486DX4/120 - specs
         o  DOS 6.2
         o  8 Megabytes of RAM
         o  Fast videocard (PCI or VLB, at least 1 Mb)
         o  Gravis Ultrasound Max (1 Mb) / SoundBlaster Pro 2.0
         o  Several configurations (clean, HIMEM, HIMEM+EMM386)
         o  580 kilobytes of free basememory

      Amiga organizer, Karpow/Scoopex, has given us the following informa-
      tion about A1200:
         A1200 is equipped with AmigaOS 3.1, 68060/50 MHz, 2 Megs chip +
         16 Megs fast.
         Since we are using a brand new A1200 from Amiga Technologies, note
         this: one of the hardware features, the DSKRDY line, which was
         present on all previous drives used in the A1200, is not supported
         by the mechanism used in new machines. So, programmers take note:
         do NOT try to use calls to DSKRDY anymore.

   In order to attend a music or graphics competition, the author(s) of
   contribution must be present at the partyplace. What comes to the demo
   and intro competitions, at least one member of the group must be present
   at the partyplace.

   In every competition a jury will decide which contributions make their
   way to the finals. The minimum number of entries shown/played in the fi-
   nals is fifteen (15).

   All productions that compete must be ready for distribution. We will up-
   load all productions into popular demo sites/boards as the party is over.
   Therefore we hope that you submit us your production with proper info-
   texts and a FILE_ID.DIZ.

   By entering any competition you give us a permission to include your pro-
   duction on Abduction'96 CD-ROM (if CD-ROM will ever be made, who knows).
   Royalties will be paid to the authors of best productions (top 3?).
   All the profit - if any - will be used to make Abduction'97 even cooler
   party.

   You don't have to support both Gravis Ultrasound and Soundblaster, but it
   is highly recommended. Real coders don't have problems with that.

   We will announce the prizes as soon as we know how many abductees and
   productions (in each category) there will be. Anyway, the prizes will be
   excellent (we're expecting 500+ abductees).

   Organizers reserve a right to make changes in competition rules if neces-
   sary. Organizers also reserve a right to disqualify a contribution if it
   is either previously released or contains material that may upset other
   people (e.g. racism).

      PC demo competition rules:
         o  the maximum size of demo in executable form is 4096 kilobytes
         o  VESA 2.0 modes (up to 640x480x16,7M) are allowed, but 100% VGA
            register compatible videomode(s) must be supported
         o  pure animation files are not allowed
         o  demo must not save anything on the hard disk
         o  demo must work without any kind of interaction (except setup)
         o  only the first 15 minutes of the demo will be shown
         o  one must be able to quit demo by pressing ESC
         o  demo must work without sound / a sound card, too

      Amiga demo competition rules:
         o  the maximum size of demo in executable form is 4096 kilobytes
         o  demo must not save anything on the disk
         o  pure animation files are not allowed
         o  demo must be hard disk installable
         o  demo must work without any kind of interaction (except setup)
         o  only the first 10 minutes of the demo will be shown
         o  one must be able to quit demo by clicking the mouse

      PC intro competition rules:
         o  the maximum size of intro in an executable form is 64 kilobytes
         o  VESA 2.0 modes (up to 640x480x16,7M) are allowed, but 100% VGA
            register compatible videomode(s) must be supported
         o  pure animation files are not allowed
         o  intro must work without sound / a sound card, too
         o  intro must work without any kind of interaction (except setup)
         o  one must be able to quit intro by pressing ESC
         o  only the first 10 minutes of the intro will be shown

      Graphics competition rules:
         o  maximum resolution is 640x480, 256 colors out of 16,7 Million
         o  pictures must be in standard LBM, PCX, TGA or GIF format
         o  scanned, raytraced or ripped pictures are not allowed
         o  submit two versions of the picture (one with your signature,
            one without it)
         o  only one picture from one artist
         o  picture drawn with Amiga pictures will be shown using Amiga; and
            pictures drawn with PC will be shown using PC

      Music competition rules:
         o  both 4-channel and multichannel modules compete in this category
         o  all standard formats are allowed (such as S3M, XM and MOD)
         o  the maximum number of channels is 32
         o  only the first 4 minutes of the song will be played
         o  only one song from one artist
         o  Amiga modules will be played using Amiga (ProTracker v2.x);
            PC modules will be played using PC equipped with Gravis Ultra-
            sound Max (1 Mb)
         o  no MIDI songs
         o  maximum size of the module is 1024 kilobytes

   All questions and comments about Amiga demo competition can be directed
   to the Amiga organizer, Karpow/Scoopex:

      Mail:   Seppo Seppala
              Korpikylantie 245
              61980 Pantane
              Finland

      Email:  karpow@kauhajoki.fi


PartyLAN
========

   At the partyplace you can hook you machine into the PartyLAN. The server
   is Novell NetWare based and its HDD (4 Gigabytes) is full of demo-related
   material and extra stuff for network games (no illegal material at all).
   We try to arrange a lot of cables (thin Ethernet) and connectors (BNC),
   but bring your own cables, connectors and network drivers - just to make
   sure that you can get connected.


Registration
============

   If there are any late changes concerning the party, we inform all regist-
   red people about them (using Email). Use the WWW form (preferred) on the
   homepage of Abduction'96 to register. You can also send some Email to
   Makrus (makrus@iki.fi) if you can't access WWW.

   Homepage (Netscape Enhanced):  http://www.hut.fi/~maurala/abduction.html


Abduction Organizing ry
=======================

   Abduction Organizing ry is a society which consists of people who are
   involved in this project. The Finnish law forbids the society and its
   members to gain any profit;  all the money and hardware we manage to
   raise will be given away as competition prices (of course we pay the
   rent, insurance fee and possible damages first).

   Mail:              Phone (home):              Phone (cellular):
    c/o Ilkka Jauho    +358-(9)60-393902/Ilkka    +358-(9)40-5404704/Ilkka
    Urputie 17         +358-(9)60-393954/Ari      +358-(9)40-5530503/Ari
    96190 Rovaniemi                               +358-(9)40-5502719/Markus
    Finland

   Fax:                                          Email:
    +358-(9)60-393902                             makrus@iki.fi
                                                  synapse@triplex.fipnet.fi

   Send some Email to makrus@iki.fi if you want to get an answer fast.
   And if you call us, try cellulars first because we are not too often at
   home.


Sponsors
========

   Abduction'96 is sponsored by:

      POMI Center Laatumikro Oy  (the main sponsor)
      Telecom Finland Ltd
      Novell Finland Ltd
      Fantasiapelit Oy
      Zoo-lo-disk

   Without their support there would be no Abduction'96. Support them!


Disclaimer
==========

   Organizers reserve a right to change the rules if it is found necessary.
   We are NOT responsible for your stuff, but we have a lot of good security
   though. If the happening gets cancelled by a fire, riot, earthquake or
   similar, we don't have to pay your entrance fee back.


Closing words
=============

   This invitation text is final and it should be complete, but if you have
   any questions, feel free to contact us. Comments, suggestions and propo-
   sitions are also welcome. Thank you.


   Signed,

      Makrus

