     (Almost) Final Coven 96 Information (by Red Haze) - 20/9/96
     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sponsored by: INGA BBS +61-8-8341-6660
              Leedall Presentation Systems
              Radio Rentals

*NEW* - smaller MAP.GIF for your convenience.
*NEW* - prize info.
*NEW* - headings so you know what each section of text is about.
*NEW* - some info about a possible Quake Server.
*NEW* - mirror site name changed and Algorhythm info changed.
*NEW* - some other stuff ;)
*NEW* - I got Blue Apache's name right this time!!

WARNING: COVEN 96 IS LESS THAN TWO WEEKS FROM NOW! Get your money in for
pre-paid tickets really soon, or else you'll miss out and have to pay the
full $20, unless you bring your computer along. But we'd prefer you to
pre-pay so that Coven gets paid off quicker.

INTRODUCTION
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi... I don't know if you've ever heard of Coven before, but it is a 
demo and games party which is held in Adelaide, South Australia. It
has nothing at all to do with witches, just in case you were wondering. 
It's a non-profit event, the first of which - Coven 95 - was held in 
1995. (funny about that)

WHERE/WHEN/ETC
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Coven 96 will be held from Monday 30th September to Wednesday 2nd 
October, which coincides with both school and university holidays all 
over Australia... with the exception of Tasmania's schools and perhaps 
Queensland's uni's. (NB: That is over 55 hours STRAIGHT!) The venue is 
the Upper Refectory of the Union Building in Adelaide University. Check
out the MAP.GIF in this archive if you don't know where it is.

WHAT HAPPENED WITH COVEN 95?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Coven 95 was a one day event which was attended by 50 people from the 
local SA demo/bbs scene. We had lots of computers there, including some 
P90s (they were fairly new a year ago), a GUS or two, Manladas Zarich's 
huge speakers blaring out S3Ms, XMs and MODs all day, the Escape Demo CD 
(made by the Hornet people who run ftp.cdrom.com), an Amiga 500, a 
network Doom competition, and lots of the other popular PC games at the 
time.

We also tried to run a 2 hour music competition, but that kinda died, 
although one song was finished and played to the crowd. Our 2 hour 
coding competition was abandoned when no one could be bothered entering 
it. (I for one was tired from trying to code my demo the night before, 
having all sorts of weird problems with Borland C++, and it never got 
finished. The others were just slack) :P No demos were released at Coven 
95, probably because there were no prizes! (We couldn't afford them, and 
we were dumb enough not to get sponsors: we've learnt our lesson!)

Towards the end of the day, most of us went to a lecture theatre with a 
digital projector (cool!) to watch demos and judge Algorhythm 95, which 
was an Australia-wide music competition. (Algorhythm 96 is being run 
this year, and it will also be judged by the people at Coven 96.) It was 
really good watching everything on the big screen for a change, and 
everyone is looking forward to doing it again, especially with all the 
new SVGA demos and the Freedom Demo CD that have been released. Overall, 
Coven 95 exceeded most people's expectations.

WHAT COVEN 96 WILL BE LIKE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This year Coven will be much bigger and better, with an expected turnout 
of around 150 people (local and interstate) during the 3 days, lots more 
competitions (one of which we have already had - the logo design 
competition. The winner has won $50 and a free ticket to Coven 96.), 
sponsors (currently Leedall Presentation Systems, Radio Rentals and INGA 
- a network game BBS +61-8-8341-6660), a digital projector for the whole 
3 days, Amiga scene people and hopefully a demo compo for them, 
Quake/other network game compos, and in general HEAPS of fun! Other non-
computer-related events will be held, probably including a BBQ and maybe 
a game of mugby, so don't think we're a complete mob of computer nerds. 
;)

WHY SHOULD YOU COME?! (as if you weren't going to anyway, right?)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you don't live in Adelaide, then we'd especially like you to come 
over for the party! If you want to come, and you live in Victoria, read
the next section in this info file. When more details are known, they will
be put up on our WWW pages (see below for addresses), and hopefully the
people organising them would get people like you to come along. ;) There
may be people from other places, and that would be really cool..
especially if ppl from WA came over! Adelaide is actually a fairly central
location in Australia to have a demo party, even though the scene is
mainly based in the east coast. Oh yeah, Coven 96 should kick butt on
OZ'96! ;P

I'M FROM MELBOURNE - HOW DO I GET TO COVEN?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You travel interstate, durr! ;) Seriously, contact Blue Apache with email
either do djholl@ecr.mu.oz.au or blue.apache@midian.apana.org.au ,or mail
him on "cheese factory, midian, dreamstate, communications barrier, the
shed, point blank, ignition or gangrene (in approximate order of 
preference }8-) )

  costs: it'll be $50 for a return vline train ticket with concession, and
         probably about $100 without concession
         entry is $20, then there's just food and accomodation. assuming
         we can crash at the partyplace, i figure it'd cost a victorian
         about $150 for the party allup...

i'll act as a general organiser or whatever for victorians even if i don't
end up going myself (besides, i wanna check out the adelaide goth club
scene }8-) )" <- all the stuff in quotes is by Blue Apache. :)

Just found out that Blue Apache will prolly be coming over, so go with
him!! Oh yeah, you'll need to contact him really soon, btw!

WHAT WILL BE THERE?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We will have a party LAN for those people who bring computers and have 
network cards (or buy them at C96 - yes we will be able to sell you 
cheap net cards!) We will have some form of an internet link for the party
network, which will be cool. I also want to set up a music server, with
lots of MODs/S3Ms/XMs/ITs/etc which you will be able to copy or play
through the network. All the C96 competition entries and heaps of demos
will be available on the LAN, too. So get a network card and bring your
computer along to C96! (There is discount on the entry fee if you bring
your computer along, and pay for your ticket at the door, which is the same
price as pre-paying for your ticket.)

If you bring a computer along, then we will do everything we can to keep it
safe (we had no problems last year) but you will be required to sign a
disclaimer that we have no responsibility for your computer(s).

There will be a place available where you can leave your computer
overnight/whatever if you need to go home but don't want to take your
computer with you. We will do all we can to keep them safe and sound.
(we'll be watching them all the time.) Putting a password on your CMOS
would be a good idea though.

We should have at least a P133 quake server too, in case you're wondering.
:)

COMPETITION INFO
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We intend to hold the following competitions: (preliminary info)

PC Demo - 4meg max demo (dx4-100 with 8meg of Ram, GUS and SB16)
        (any memory/sound setup required)
        No writing to the Hard Drive
        No Keyboard interaction allowed after the demo has started
        Must start and finish in 80x25 text mode (dos prompt)
        Must not be an obvious animation

Amiga Demo - Only if enough Ami demo groups tell us they will enter it!
             But it's probably too late now.

PC 4k intro - 4k max intro (dx4-100 with 8meg of Ram)
            (any memory setup required)
            No Sound
            No writing to the Hard Drive
            No keyboard interaction allowed after the intro has started
            Must start and finish in 80x25 text mode (dos prompt)

PC 64k intro - 64k max intro (dx4-100 with 8meg of Ram, GUS and SB16)
             (any memory/sound setup required)
             No writing to the Hard Drive
             No keyboard interaction allowed after the demo has started
             Must start and finish in 80x25 text mode (dos prompt)

VGA - Maximum resolution: 640x480 in 256 colours.
    No raytracing allowed.
    Entries must be one of: GIF,JPG,TIF,PCX or LBM.
    You must submit 3 versions of the picture as you were creating it,
    so we can verify that you were the actual creator.
    You must submit 2 versions of the final picture, one of which is not
    signed (for display at Coven 96) and the other signed, which will be
    the version which will be released.

RayTrace - Only if enough people want to enter this compo.

Music - 1,000,000 bytes max song. If the format does not play in Cubic
      Player or Impulse Tracker, you will have to supply the player.
      Only the first 5 minutes will be played.
      MUST BE COMPLETLY COMPOSED IN 2 HOURS at the Coven 96

ANSi - No size limit.
     No .bin files.
     Must be original work.
     MUST BE COMPLETLY DRAWN IN 2 HOURS at the Coven 96.

Code - No size limit, EXE/COM, any language (dx4-100 with 8meg Ram)
     (any memory setup required)
     Must utilize Coven 96 Logo provided (may be scaled within reason)
     No sound permitted.
     MUST BE COMPLETLY CODED IN 2 HOURS at the Coven 96.

Network Games - Undecided on the competitions at the moment, and the
              actual games which will be played. We're open to 		
              suggestions!

Algorhythm 96 - Music competition only open to people in the
              "Australasian" region, run by Red Haze. For the full
              details, look in the Algorhythm 96 info pack inside this
              archive.

              This competition will be judged by attenders of Coven 96.
              Please contact Red Haze if you have any questions.
              (Read below to contact us.)

PRIZES
~~~~~~
There will be prizes for most (if not all) competitions, but we haven't
organised them all yet. Only people attending Coven 96 will receive 
prizes for their entries, although entries from non-attenders will still 
be greatly appreciated, and will not forfeit their placing in the 
results. Prizes will most likely be cash, on the order of $100 for first
placing in the major competitions.

MORE COMPETITION INFO
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anyone may enter more than one entry in all competitions, except the PC 
demo competition. Contact us if you want to negotiate about that limit.
No competition entries may have been previously released, and no piece 
of work can be released in more than one competition. (e.g. so you can't 
release the music from a demo as a separate entry.) Any competition 
entry which breaks these rules will be automatically disqualified.

There will be entry forms distributed before and during Coven 96. 
Contact us if you can't find entry forms, and you want to enter 
something without attending Coven 96. Also contact us to find out how to 
enter competitions without attending. (details below)

MORE INFO ON COVEN 96
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We've got a WWW page which gets updated reasonably often. Check out 
http://www.student.adelaide.edu.au/~ed   or its mirror at
http://cyburbia.net.au/coven   (thanks to Perception/PoP). We'll try
to make sure all info which is on the WWW page is also spread through 
the BBS scene, so don't be too worried if you don't have internet 
access.

Also, there should be a directory on ftp.cdrom.com in
/pub/demos/incoming/COVEN96 or a similar directory name.

Parking will be a pain for Coven, so if you can get dropped off that would
be very beneficial for you - otherwise you'll have to pay a few dollars
each day to park in the council designated areas. We'll see if we can
arrange a private Coven area inside the uni, though. :)

TICKET DETAILS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ticket prices are $20 at the door, $15 pre-paid or if you bring your own 
computer, and $12 with group bookings of 10 or more. Day tickets will be 
available for $7 at the door, but conditions apply for winning prizes. 
Tickets are available at the Adelaide Uni SAUA office, or send money and 
your details to the PO BOX mentioned below, or contact us via email. 

We'd like as many people to pre-pay as possible, because we need to pay 
for Coven before it even starts! :( So start sending that money in now!

SOME RULES
~~~~~~~~~~
No alcohol or prohibited substances will be allowed at Coven 96. You 
will be asked to leave if you are found to have those substances, and 
any other necessary action will be taken to enforce this rule. The Coven 
96 Organisers reserve the right to refuse entry to any person for any 
reason at their disgression. You must accept these conditions to attend 
Coven 96.

We also don't accept any responsibility for pirated software, or any
other illegal things done by the attenders of Coven 96.

HOW TO CONTACT US
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anyway, hopefully I've convinced you to come to Coven 96 by now, so if 
you need to contact the organisers for any reason, here's some of our 
addresses:

redhaze@student.adelaide.edu.au  (Red Haze)
dmhazelt@aelmg.adelaide.edu.au   (Red Haze if the above doesn't work)
ed@student.adelaide.edu.au       (iCEWATER)
krblay@aelmg.adelaide.edu.au     (Manladas Zarich)
Red Haze on Morbid Incite 2 BBS  (+61-8-8281-0568)
Red Haze or MZ on Room IoI BBS   (+61-8-8294-2774)
iCEWATER on INGA BBS             (+61-8-8341-6660)

You can also send snail mail to:

Coven 96 Organisers
PO BOX 131
Mitcham Shopping Centre
Torrens Park SA 5062

IN CLOSING
~~~~~~~~~~
Remember to be in Adelaide, South Australia at the start of October in 
1996, so you can participate in the best ever PC and (hopefully) Amiga 
demo and games party in Australia! Oh yeah, get started composing music, 
coding demos and intros, drawing some cool VGAs, and practising your 
favourite network games.

I hope to see you there,

Red Haze/Coven 96 Organisation.
