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Outline 2015 - Back to the roots.
Where CiH finds himself back with the ghosts of a thousand Dutch campsites in the middle of May. It's the Atari party with some small traces of Atari. It's Outline!
Some time after an epically epic Sillyventure, and missing his demo party dosage, this one has been really keenly anticipated. Felice is still happily burbling about Revision 2015, but I did not have the pleasure this time around. So after many hours of hardcore travelling, we find this most venerable of parties has a new home in an even more remote part of the Netherlands, if such a thing is possible.
First impressions of Day 1...
03.30hrs.
A decision taken in a smug complacent daytime fashion bites down hard at this time of the morning. We decided on an early start, to try and get something resembling an early arrival at the party, thus avoiding setting up old computers in the dark styled fumblings, with only tiny scraps of table space remaining. Only it's blummin' painful to get going at that time of morning. Matt 'Gasman' Westcott is being strapped into the back of Felice's car, and has been staying overnight with us too. I may have channeled Zero hour plus one and a half seconds at Pearl Harbor, yelling "WE'RE UNDER ATTACK! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!" to rouse Matt's sleeping inert corpse. Or possibly not?
There is very little conversation and no ceremony. The conversation there is, relates to purely functional matters, including the never boring topic of 'how are we getting all of this stuff in the car?!'
Matt has made things interesting this year, bringing a very prolonged case with him. This contains a thing which is crucial to his live performance, or so he tells us. A suspicious Felice presses his ear against the case to try to detect a refrigerator hum. Is Matt trying to earn extra money as a bootleg transplant organ smuggler? Only time, and a vigilant customs official can tell!
I've packed as lightly as possible, well one of us has to! Felice's party goods and chattels sprawl in a leisurely fashion. However, his car has a handy partial back seat collapsing feature, so Matt doesn't have to juggle with his big box of illegally imported orphan kidneys on his lap. Everything else goes in remarkably easily as well.
It is 04.00, we set off in good spirits, if dead silence is an indication. The road picture is clear, dawn shimmers uneasily in the eastern sky. There is a minor but growing niggle, as the bit of the M25 which has the Dartford crossing on it, may be closed. We get there, and are ushered off the motorway by a dismal forest of cones, only to rejoin it scant seconds later, as the motorway reopens at the very moment we arrive.
The Eurotunnel bit passes in a blur of stereotyped announcements and movement. We arrive in France, with a plan to dodge French rush hour with a visit to Cite Europe. Felice pulls off a feat of optimisation, combined with a handily located early restaurant, that sees us done and out again an hour later. He even manages to show a massive amount of impulse control in the el vino section at Le Supermarche by not filling a trolley and smothering Matt in the back seat with a cardboard fortress made of wine containers. Fuel is purchased and we start off confidently on the journey to Outline.
Attempting to rejoin the motorway, we encounter a bunch of nervous French people, including one owner of a very old Citroen reversing back from where they had been to. It appears something horrible and traffic blocking has happened to make them reconsider their journey in such a drastic fashion. Felice manages to find an alternative way, being the clever Euro Cite expert that he is. We pass lines and lines of stationary traffic, including the obligatory 5,000 lorries going nowhere at all.
The rest of the journey was without incident, but with a couple of possibly interesting glitches thrown up by the satnav.
We were taken on a possibly unneeded tour of the centre of Antwerp as part of our new route. It got away with it, as there was no rush hour taking place. Not one to try to repeat at a busier time.
The other weirdness took place at the end of the journey, where the 'last mile' turned into the 'last several miles', as we were diverted down several small roads, across a swing bridge on a small shipping canal, and squeezing past several bunches of cyclists on a minor road that was very minor indeed. The arrival time at the party had been calculated optimistically, with the unclassified minor road with swarms of cyclists having no speed limit. (So it was assuming that we could take this at maximum warp with no thought of consequences of collecting maimed and dead cyclists in our radiator grille?!)
Anyway, we're here now.
First impressions..
It reminds me of at least a couple of the very early venues and serves the intended purpose, but has definitely seen better days. I think the owner might be hoping that we trash or burn down the place, so he can replace it on his insurance? The beds are in an outbuilding, up a set of small and very steep outside steps. I think Felice will have to be very careful about overdoing the adult lemonade, or else sleep on one of the several battered sofa's in the main hall. But we have table space, there is a fair bit of party outside, and the weather seems to be holding off from being obnoxious. There is currently absolutely NO internet connection, so some people will need to entertain themselves from their own resources. The overall theme or this year is going to be 'cosy'.
Atari stuff?
This is very low key. There are no official announcements or even decent rumours yet. However, I have met with Beetle, who has been showing off a very unoptimised SDL 'Descent' Port on his CT60. His companion in doing stuff, Insane, has a very decently ported version of 'Worms' to the Falcon. This is based on the Apple Mac '040 executable, and it sounds like it needs an Afterburner or CT60 Falcon to run decently. We have also seen Ukko, GGN and Zerkman here, and there will be Grazey with something from DBug.
Beetle with his CT60 playing Worms!
Okay, that'll do for now. I'll return to this text, when there is something more to report.
Laters.. (20.12hrs)
The Hapkar roared in triumphantly, dispensing its unique brand of vigilante justice and fried food. This was a reversal of the normal Outline process, where it is a last night feature. So it felt as if the party was in its final hours already.
Of Atari stuff, I have heard a little more. GGN has murmured about Checkpoint producing something for Outline, probably an intro. There may also be something coming from some Atari Jaguar fans too? 505 and RA of Paradox have arrived and set up nearby, which is always a good sign.
Even laters.. (22.45hrs)
Some more things fall into place, as I've had a preview of RA's latest medium resolution high-colour routines. And these are overscanned, so better than ST medium resolution, and close to something the Falcon can do.
Knoeki played a loud and fun set, and it turns out that Gasman did bring a keytar in that over-lengthy case after all. Okkie is still available for Vincent Price evenings.
Another point of interest. It feels like there is going to be quite a temperature drop tonight. We're sleeping in a converted barn!
Day 2 (Friday)
Earlies (09.02hrs)
Summing up the last bit of last night, after an enjoyable hour spent in the company of Knoeki, his upgraded Amiga 600, and several demo highlights, I leave shortly after the hour of 01.00. The upstairs bedding zone is silent and cold. As I close the outer door behind me, a rusty door handle follows me away from the door. Attempts to put it back where it should be are not successful.
Me and whoever else is in bed are now trapped upstairs. Figuring as this part of the sleeping quarters include the organisers room, someone will figure it out, so I go to bed, not too worried. (There was also an emergency exit out the back, so we could get out, if the worst came to the worst.)
The beds are bunk, even lower than the ones at Eersel, but very comfortable. The element which prevents immediate rest is the dropping temperature. It turns out though after a period of uncertainty, that my sleeping bag is up to this job, an island of warmth in an arctic bedroom.
The other thing which delays a final collapse is Felice, who is going to bed a bit later on. He has zero cat-burglar skills, especially when alcoholically challenged. After a couple of attempts which ended up with him wrestling the floor, he got into bed, and finally all was quiet(ish).
Morning!
At about 8-30ish and on waking up, I find the spare bed in the corner, which has been wastefully pre-reserved but not slept on at all. This is higher and firmer than my bed, so is a perfect place to sit on to get dressed. Back in the party hall finds a handful of people struggling awake, which is where we are right now.
Breakfast arrived nice and early. This was appreciated after the battle to field-strip and clean out the coffee maker which had stopped working overnight. Very simply, this has got full of discarded coffee pods and empty of water, apart from the bit with the spilled waste water in it, which was full.
The 'party outside' is having to adopt outdoor clothing, as it is still not too warm outside. Hopefully it does not get to rain, as about fifty percent of the enjoyment of this venue is dependent on the outdoors part not turning into a mud-pit. There is more bad news for fans of passive spoon-fed entertainment, as there is still no online connection. Guess people will have to make their own amusement then!
Middles.. (13.18hrs)
Since the last time.
Half another article written, and worked out how it's going to finish too. It was a short story that I've had in mind for a while. It had a beginning and an end, but a soggy and uncertain middle, which I've now worked out.
Weather has improved, so its more like mid-May than mid-March now. Lovely! Scouting trip to local emporia is being undertaken by Felice, so he can take us over sometime later or tomorrow.
More Middles.. (15.03hrs)
Not a lot of constructive activity since the last update, but with Felice away from his Atari STE, I've carried out a few admin updates on some of my UltraSatan SD cards. I've also investigated and found partial success with the mystery of the Dead Hackers 'Drone' demo with stuffed visuals and bombs on Felice's STE.
After trying various things, I've managed to get it running decently on his transfer card. It seems to have a deep and fundamental hatred of his main UltraSatan card for some reason? But all the other demo's I tried have been ok, including some others with large chunks of oddly named data.
Demo's I have watched today include 'More or Less Zero', 'Summer Delight', 'TalkTalk 2', 'Drone' (Several times during the investigation above) a couple of music disks, courtesy of Felice, 'US Policy' and RA of Paradox's latest hi- res hi colour routines. Now displaying very prettily at something like 700-ish x 450 pixels, in a very overscanned overscan. It is not something that is going to appear as an entry here, as their next demo is still some way off, with a lot of work gone in, but still more to do.
Grazey of PHF has turned up, and with GGN and Tinker, things looked a bit Atari-productive for a while in their corner.
Grazey and Rich K.
And Richard Karsmakers has turned up for his mid-party visit, also to summon up support for his event, STNICCC in December.
Night is still young.. (19.54hrs)
Just eaten. Staempot? I'd say Whampot! (Tabloid headline mode off.)
The curry replacement is up to scratch, as the catering team ply the hungry partygoers with vast amounts of Dutch style flavoured mash and tasty meaty treats. There is plenty to fill the plate, and even more encouragingly, plenty still to go around for a second helping. I could eat this until I explode, but as the party does not want a re-run of the Mr Creosote episode from Monty Python's 'Meaning of Life', I better had not.
(Not even as a wild compo entry, apparently.)
Of other things, not too much else to tell, we've glided through a couple of music compo's, I finished the short story that I told you about earlier. I'm going to see what else I can do for the monster that is Maggie for tomorrow. Apart from this report of course.
Not too laters.. (22.37hrs)
I can sleep through a live act! I have slept through a live act!
The sofas in the main hall are really coming into their own. Rather than have to go back to bed in the daytime, these are splendid alternative venues for weary heads and tired bodies. During one such energy lapse, I managed to be there and not there simultaneously through a live act.
We've had a small and no frills series of graphics compo's, time has passed pleasantly. I am being careful with drinkies levels, as it is very possible to drink oneself to tiredness, which is a shame as the night has passed its first flush of youth, but its still appealingly moist and tempting.
Another live act, and I guess this will keep going until the midnight hour.
Day 3 (shatterday!)
Definitely laters, or possibly the next lot of earlies? (00.21hrs)
I nearly slept through another live act.
Maybe this 5-6 hours sleep in 72 hours lark is catching up with me? I might call it a night soon.
Earlies! (09.16hrs)
We're back, it's raining, and there's very little sign of life right now, and nothing from anyone official.
I retired shortly after the last text extract. sleep came easily. So did interruptions. It happened quite a bit last night too, where people decided to open our door but then not enter, presumably an inspection tour, or else completely befuddled as to the location of their actual resting place?
(Continued after necessary interruption.)
A helpful person with a wifi access password dropped by, so we were able to connect to the campsite's network. Speed was a bit 'dial-up' in places, but enough to check things like email, then choke the connection on Pouet galleries, or topic threads such as Outline 2015 that have turned into picture and GIF galleries. Also breakfast has made its customary appearance and rapid disappearance, so that has taken a few cpu cycles from father time as well.
BEWARE ! FELICE HAS AN INTERLUDE COMING UP ! :)
The party is going well so far with some nice entries in the small amount of competitions we have viewed as of now. The live acts have also mostly been of good quality too - Deathy's set that he played yesterday evening was very good; I must remember to ask him for the setlist sooner.
The journey across to Willemsoord on Thursday went down well but was a little prolonged, slightly due to the satnav's weird routing at times. However, we managed to avoid too many wrong turns for the vast majority of the journey, so it passed well. We'll probably be making use of various places close to the port for getting wine, fuel and food, maybe also in that order :) The cost of diesel in France is around 0.84p or so a litre, quite a bit less than the £1.20 or so that we're being ripped off into paying in UK, but some things never change. Wine will be a requirement too, though Carrefour is closed on Sundays there are other places open on those days.
Music is pumping softly this morning but most people seem to be compos mentis ...... I don't remember going to bed at all on Thursday evening / Fri morning but woke up there, so I must have got there sometime without too many difficulties or anything else. Yep, the wine took it's toll, but nobody died so that's ok.
ALL IS WELL, YOU CAN COME BACK OUT AGAIN NOW ! :)
Yeah, you died alright!
A useful thing discovered with my online interlude is that we're stuck with the rain until this afternoon, but it does brighten up after.
Essential thing to check out on returning to a proper online connection. Doug Little has uploaded the fourth video of his quest to get the Quake 2 engine, or as much of it as possible, running on a standard Falcon '030. He said something about Amiga A1200 owners needing to get chairs ready. I'm looking forward to this already.
Time to see what else we can do to reduce the undone article pile on Maggie 25th, back laters.
Middles.. (13.26hrs)
We're still stuck with the rain. It seems that the real party is indoors, apart from a few people who really really need to smoke.
We've not been unoccupied since the last update, myself, Grazey and Felice had an interesting chat with an American lady called 'Metoikos' who is active in the other demo scene. We chatted old hardware. She got her start on an Apple II GS, but moved over to the dark side (Am*ga) later on.
Slightly later on, I investigated the lack of hot water for the shower, got cleaned as best as I could. With a change of clothing, I am no longer a prime entry for the 'Mr Freshness competition'. Not so sure about Felice though?
There's even another article been kicked out, with a classic demo revisited for the two demos, 'Breath' and 'Sweety' released at Error in Line 1999. So managing to make good use of this time, yes I am!
Rain is putting a dampener on any further movement. A pot of Wasabi noodles glowers evilly nearby. Back later.
Middles aged.. (16.50hrs)
Goddam, we've been productive again. Another review, this one of the Deflektor- inspired puzzler from SimonCam, 'Laserball 2015'. So including this party report, that's four proper articles and an ascii-art cartoon done this weekend.
Outside, the rain has stopped, the sun has come out, so a fair bit of the party has moved outside.
Speaking to Havoc earlier, he is quietly content with this current edition of Outline. There will be a further Outline party next year, with an 85 percent chance that it will be back here at this new venue.
The one thing which vexes him occasionally, is the tendency for some (newly arrived?) visitors to leave their cars parked on the narrow country lane of a high street.
There's no fresh news of any Atarian productions, but then again, I've been glued here over the previous hour or so.
Krawal! 18.27hrs I did a silly thing, I took on the rainbow challenge. Ok, its 128 byte competition now. I am feeling a bit Britelite!Less Drunky (19.29hrs)
Explanation needed, I'd better give one then.
I fell in with a bad crowd, namely the young people that look up to Knoeki as a leader. They were running the Krawal tasting challenge, so I, motivated by my love of freebies, took it on. The 'Rainbow' part of the rainbow challenge refers to the four flavours of sherbet nasties that are available. I completed all four without trouble.
I then reflected that not all of the sherbet fizzy stuff had dissolved, so we had better make sure with a second round. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it tasted of mostly vodka the second time around. We had to make sure of course.
Then there was the 'mix up everything together challenge' paradox type thing, which is best done when stone cold sober and able to plan ahead, but would only become a really good idea when half-drunk. So in a perfectly functioning universe, it would be impossible.
Needless to say, it wasn't. Five star clusterfuck in execution, yes, but not impossible.
A round of 128k bytros came up in the nick of time, to save the situation. Then food.
If last night was awesome, they were saving the best until last. Tonight was the Chinese and Indonesian cuisine, served in bulk to assuage the hunger of a hundred sceners! It sure did! And there was seconds.
So if we're coming back here next year, please engage the same caterers for their excellence in serving hot foody goodness!
We have the rest of the competitions shortly. This may include an entry from Weitze, who was responsible for the Sommerhack invitro. He has also made some kind of promise for Maggie stuff, as he was asking about compatible file formats to submit.
I'm calming down a bit now, best not to peak too early, eh!
Early Laters (20.45hrs)
A preliminary wave of competitions, with a so-so series of animations, but an interesting wild compo, culminating in a debut Raptor Basic Jaguar demo from SH3. This is pretty good for a first effort, and we keenly await more from that direction.
The final batch of demo compo's kicks off at around 2100hrs, with the Atari compo's and whatever they may contain going first. And I still have no idea what is forthcoming, apart from Wietze's Sommerhack invitro.
(20.59 - A flash of CT60 boot screen, does this signify anything?)
Compo Laters (21.37hrs)
Atari competitions went, as predicted, a serviceable but sweet Sommerhack invite, something made in-party as a boot sector, and the latest stage of BITS departing from reality with a contribution of theirs.
It also turns out that the Falcon 'Worms' release by Beetle and Insane is an official project, with an official release due via DHS.NU in the coming weeks. That is what the CT60 Boot screen was for. It even has the Team 17 official nod of approval, as the guys were put in touch. It's not as if there's a massive market being stolen away here, after all.
Not in the compo's but for a future party? RA's high resolution truecolour graphics for STE!
It'll be PeeCee demos next, and apart from some live music, that's pretty much the party done.
22.05hrs
A surprisingly short set of PeeCee compo's, with a nice Java Browser intro and the return of Poobrain and the demented horses of pixellated doom!
That is the end of the compo's, just some live acts including 505, and final day leaving regrets to go now.
Quote of the party! "Windows update gets in, even when there's no internet, like a fucking ninja and takes twenty minutes off your set!" - From Okkie, regarding the delayed start of Alpha C's live music set.
But will the prize-giving ceremony still be at 11.30?
Day 4 (Shun-day!)
Finality of lates! (00.17hrs)
Prize-giving ceremony was not at 11.30!
To be fair, it wasn't too far off. The expected winners were expected, such as the Sommerhack invite getting first place, Poobrain dominating their categories, and 505 dominating his categories.
Kev Dempsey, aka SH3 has won the wild compo with his Jaguar/Raptor Basic demo. I guess Grazey and the rest of the gang will drink his prize Fanta, but send the empty can on, as a token of his victory or something.
So with Havoc's summing up, there will be an Outline Party next year. It's not yet been confirmed that it will be back here.
Now 505 is setting up for the last live act of the party. Then its time for bed and uneasy contemplation of tomorrow and the return.
Having checked my email again, it appears that Doug Little has very kindly sent me a preview of his Quake 2 Walk-around on the Atari Falcon. I managed to watch the fourth video, and yes, Amiga owners will need chairs. Preferably commode styled chairs to shit unlimited quantities of bricks into! (The wifi signal got stronger, the further away one got from the main hall.)
At some point, there will need to be a final summing up, but I don't think tonight is going to be the night for this. I'll get back to you in the morning anyway.
A finality of earlies..(09.40hrs)
We're back, we're packing and sadly contemplating the long journey back home.
Last night was completely incident free, to the point that I managed to sleep through to nearly 09.00hrs. Various battered people look like they tried to stay up to make the final night last as long as possible. Alas, cruel reality and daylight has caught up with us all.
It is just a matter of slow arising, careful packing and vacating the sleeping room, finding breakfast and typing up most of the summing up bits that you'll read a bit later on.
Felice arrived to start packing up his many items of equipment and a bit later on still, Gasman turned up, to puzzle out how he was going to get everything of his back into the very long suitcase. Outside, various people gather in the still morning, awaiting various journeys home.
One of the 'new to me personally' sceners, Metoikos, is busily impersonating Robocop, the litter warden, with a long prosthetic stick for picking up stray items of scener debris off the floor. She has another need to fulfil a little bit later, that is, a lift to the nearest railway station in Steenwijk. This is soon done, this next town not much more than a mile or so away.
On return, it is time to reunite our possessions, and Gasman, with the car. Once this is done, it is only a little bit longer before we set off back, around 12.30.
The journey is unremarkable and incident free, which is how long journeys should be.
We overrode the errant satnav on a couple of occasions. Firstly, when it tried to take us back down the extremely scenic route it brought us in with. Secondly, when it tried to make us take a street level tour of Antwerp. On each occasion, when it was forced to recalculate, a fair chunk of time was knocked off our estimated arrival!
With reference to the journey there, My best guess is that the satnav was programmed for the shortest, but not necessarily the quickest route. On the way up, we diverged as early from our expected route as Utrecht, going via the more scenic A27/A6 motorway skimming past a massive parade of wind turbines just past Lelystad, with a spectacular view of the Ijsselmeer at the Ketelbrug crossing. The A28 that we returned on, did not have those views, and tracked the other side of the national park near the party place at Willemsoord.
We reach Calais without further incident. Felice displays a little too much local knowledge, as he homes in on the wine warehouses that are set up for insanely keen bulk shoppers. These live on an outlying industrial estate.
We manage to squeeze in the resulting trolley dash contents in the car, Gasman being entombed as per usual by a sarcophagus of wine boxes. It remains to satisfy our stomachs at the Euro Cite restaurants (Le Cappuccino), in my case a burger with a salad that looked like it had been prepared by a chef undergoing a salad-themed nervous breakdown.
The tunnel is straightforward, the motorways back home are behaving, and we find ourselves back at Bar Hill, Cambridge, unloading Felice's car with armfuls of stuff, shortly before 22.00hrs.
(Very final-most bit of report)
We both stayed overnight, as nobody had any prior obligations for Monday. The last hour of the journey was very very wet indeed, shrouded in the spray that lorries love to kick up. It was a relief to break free from all of that and finally get home.
Summing up for Outline 2015.
So did this 11th anniversary edition survive its transplant to a new venue? Is the same old laid back spirit still present?
The answer to both of those, is happily, yes.
The new venue at Willemsoord is yet another variation on the theme of Dutch campsites. The facilities are adequate, the location is lovely, if a bit remote. All the familiar facilities provided by the party itself were still there. Some people will cry out "One Euro Grolsch!" as their main reason for enjoying it.
We early payers managed to get a room with five sharing, so I had a more easy to sleep in experience than the dormitory downstairs perhaps. The only area where an improvement could be suggested, is with the limited availability of hot water. Cold showers in mid-May, when you are surrounded by cooler weather is not to be recommended.
The catering was taken up by a professional team. The extra money for the meal ticket was well worth the expenditure. The Hapkar, the highlight of Eersel style Outline, was just the opening move. The Staempot and Chinese/Indonesian food provided on the following nights in bulk redefined party catering. It's as if they knew I was coming?
"We'll need to have plenty of left-overs built in for second helpings. That CiH bloke is down to come. His appetite has been described in the bible as one of the plagues that ravaged ancient Egypt!"
With reference to 'people', most familiar faces were there. Quite a few were missing too. Perhaps the move to the new venue being a trip too far? The major new face to me personally, was a scene lady known as Metoikos. I enjoyed a first night Amiga demo show from Knoeki as well. We never got around to the return match with some ST/STE demos.
We were low on Atarian people as well, with people like GGN, Grazey (without Calsoft) Weitze, Beetle, Insane, Zerkman, Ukko and a couple of other Frenchies being there. Tinker was coerced into helping to make something by Grazey. We had RA of Paradox showing off some of his latest code. I think that was it? If someone else is missing on this list, I'll check later.
It seemed that those Atarians that were there, were being productive. Even if it wasn't for anything due at this party. At the end, we only got a scant handful of productions, which falls into the pattern of recent years. A 'thing' from Bits as usual, the usual Sommerhack Invite, and a little bootsector fancy from DBug. I really hope we're going to get to see some stunners from Sommerhack and STNICCC this year?
The competitions remained small and perfectly formed for the other categories as well. I guess that people are still exhausted from all their outpourings at Revision? Still, Outline is more of a 'party' party these days. And I do not say that like it is a bad thing.
On a personal level, I mostly managed to control my drinking, apart from one lapse on Saturday evening, which was a Krawal experiment too far! Felice was pretty good, apart from his one lapse on the first night, where he took up wrestling with the sleeping room floor.
My campaign to add to the article pile for the Maggie 25th birthday issue was successful, with this party report and three other proper articles being completed. I've even managed to pick up one or two promises of help, with Wietze promising some text, and I remember Havoc being available for a sixteen colour menu picture if needed.
So it looks like Outline 2015 matches up to the classic parties from previous years. With any luck, we will get this venue back for 2016, and the same catering team! All we need are some more Atarian people to make a return here to make it perfect!
Over to you now guys.
CiH - For Maggie 25th birthday, May 2015.