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              ۱   ۲    - P R O D U C T I O N S -   
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 ۱  ۲                     - Information  File -     
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                        Volume five - Summer 1996
              Distributed with the demonstration "Infinity"



 Opening words...   
ͼ
        Craw productions is a Canadian software duo from Ottawa, composed of
LakEEE and PsychoMan.  We are big fans and supporters of computer graphical
and tracked musical demonstrations all over the world, and have made a few
ourselves.  In essence, one can call us a demo group, although we do dabble
in game and utility coding.
        Both LakEEE and PsychoMan were part of the demo group called 
"Axidental" back in 1994, but that is no more.  The other members of the old 
group have gone separate ways, whether on or off the demo scene, and these
people are: Cyclone, Biocide, Mental Floss and Dark Spy.  Our only production 
with these four was "The Accident", which competed at ASM '94.


 Group statistics   
ͼ
        Our group is made up of only two people, and it will probably stay 
that way for a while.  Both are from Canada, their native country, although
we do have family ties elsewhere...

          -Kenji Toyooka, "LakEEE" - (Born in 1976)
              is one of the main coders of Craw, as well as its only
              musician and graphics artist.

          -Michael Anttila, "PsychoMan" - (Born in 1976)
              is the other coder and handles most of the very low
              level assembly code and sound playing routines.


 NAID report        
ͼ
        This report was taken from the Craw Productions homepage, it is
LakEEE's summary of the weekend of May 31-June 2 in Longueil, Quebec - at the
NAID 1996 demo contest.  You can also read PsychoMan's report by visiting
the homepage.  (The address is below)


        NAID 1996 was certainly an incredible event.  It seemed almost
surreal to once again stand there in the main hall and watch as various demos
blasted their aura from the huge projector screen and massive speakers.
Practically everyone was there this time, all the familiar faces as well as
countless newcomers with awestruck eyes as they basked in the glow of the
ever ethereal demoscene.

        As the first night rolled by, people were still wandering around
almost dazed and dumbfounded by everything, the images of uncarpeted
hallways, frantic democoders glazing their eyes in front of their machines in
the classrooms, and the monstrous presences of ever famed demigod sceners,
actually standing there, actually talking, actual flesh and bone...

        I walked back and forth from our room to the main hall and met
several of the old NAID '95 attendants, greeting them and chatting as though
it was just yesterday that the first ever demo competition in North America
was held.  People were mainly just bored, confused, tired or speechless the
first night as some continued to wander aimlessly as others went out to an
assortment of bars or eateries and spent quality time.  I decided to stay at
the party place and check out all the new groups that had formed in the last
year.

        Countless new groups were there.  There were also the old familiar
names like Threesome, Psychic Monks, Renaissance, Hornet and Force 10 to name
a few... ...but the sheer number of brand new groups was incredible, just
astounding at how NAID hype had triggered so many souls to gather members and
create productions with their own blood and sweat.

        Friday night ran smoothly as everyone virtually passed out at 4:00 am
and woke up Saturday with caffeine and donut (doughnut) driven energy at
9:00am to witness the opening ceremonies and then wait eargerly for the intro
compo at noon.  The competition was a bit of a disappointment; There were
many joke productions, although the Threesome intro "Dyslexia" (or
"Aixelsyd") was very impressive design and humour wise.  It was an instant
winner.  Another intro, "Flower", began with an almost unbelieveable textured
shaded surface picture; This was also a popular vote amidst the audience.

        After the intro compo, people dispersed all over to either go back to
their rooms, go to the barbeque or compete in the throwing competitions.  It
was a marvelous day of sunshine and blue skies.  Later that afternoon, the
immensely popular music compo took place.  It was a big surprise for everyone
to learn that the compo had gathered as many as 73 entries.  It was also a
bigger surprise after the top 20 songs were played, for the quality of the
individual tracks was out of the world.  Every song had a distinct style, and
every song boomed or flowed into each of the hearts of the listeners... The
first sign that the North American scene was not like its slower, more clumsy
past had made itself shown.

        As I stumbled out from the main hall after the music compo, I visited
our room again only to be sent back to the hall to listen to "Wicked Access",
a live band that was kickin' some its fast paced licks.  They were very
impressive and wicked indeed.

        Sunday was a momentous day.  There was excitement and powerful energy
in the air, and people became more and more galvanized as the Best New FX,
3-Channel Chip Tunes and Graphics compos rolled on by with fantastic entries.
As the Free For All contest sauntered by, people were virtually at the edge
of their seats as they laughed at the hilarious performances of the
adventures of "Guy" animations and other shows.  But as the organizers
finally announced the start of the demo compo, everyone cheered a release of
their almost nervous anxiety.

        The compo made demoscene history.  The productions were not only a
great improvement from last year's competitors, but they were practically
mind-blowing.  The North American scene had at last bared its razor sharp
teeth... and growled with a ferociousness backed by mesmerizing effects like
hicolour plasma tunnels and unique phong textured objects that showed off the
idealism of its creators.  This, laced with design and themes that adhered to
the demoscene made up a wide assortment of demos that were well worth getting
a hold of and keeping.  The effects giant (and 1st place winner) "Trans
Cheeze Express" demonstrated several super-incredible effects like "gas flow"
plasma and "aimed diffuse light" out of a box, as well as amazing objects
such as a walking mech robot and a tower space colony.  The 3rd place winner,
Hornet's first demo "De" featured a memorable "demo history" object show and
then a trademark Trixter effect, perfectly synchronized animations of a dance
party with the bassy music... this was also a very stylish entry.

        Our production "Infinity" had placed second, as we were overjoyed to
hear.  It seems like we had gotten praise for our continuing conquest for
ultimate design, as we had concentrated on making this new demo very
"singular" with smooth transitions and a constant theme.

        Finally the competition was over.  As the delayed awards ceremonies
passed by, people began to realize that NAID was coming to an end; and as the
different groups went on stage to recieve their prizes and give ill-prepared
speeches, more and more people began wishing that a NAID '97 would become
reality.  At last we all cheered our final werds and "Perisoft"'s and packed
our bags to go home.  The strand of memories flashed in my mind: the contests,
the never-ending network games of Duke Nukem and C&C, Harvey's across the
street, the hard floor I had slept on, and Mental Floss' small DJ set he had
presented early, early that morning.

        The drive home was eventless.  I pictured all the other sceners
carpooling across the country in droves and wondered whether or not we were
all insane to do this or whether this was simply a family that just could not
give up on each other and would need to meet every year to once again to
compare demos, intros, tracks and graphics in friendly competetive spirit.


 Our productions    
ͼ

Mar 1995  "Optica"              - Preview demo for Opticron
Apr 1995  "Opticron"            - Our first demo (6:30 minutes, NAID 1st)
Apr 1995  "Stone Tears"         - An MCGA picture by LakEEE (NAID 3rd)
Jul 1995  "Vortex"              - Dual music disk by LakEEE (16 songs)
Feb 1996  "Eternal Gardens"     - Music disk by LakEEE (9 songs)
May 1996  "Window to Oblivion"  - Preview demo for Infinity (1:30 minutes)
May 1996  "Cityscape NAID 96"   - A multi-channel song by LakEEE
May 1996  "Introspectator"      - Music disk by LakEEE (6 songs)
Jun 1996  "Infinity"            - Our second demo (9:00 minutes, NAID 2nd)
Jun 1996  "Vanity"              - LakEEE's music entry into NAID 96
Jun 1996  "Salvation"           - An MCGA picture by LakEEE (NAID 3rd)
Jun 1996  "Septic Love"         - Techno music disk by LakEEE (6 songs)

Upcoming  "CrawDraw" - An MCGA motivated graphics drawing program
              with many practical, efficient options and an
              extensive "shape grabbing" interface with special
              effects.

          "CrawDir" - A fast and useful directory program that 
              has sorting, searching and viewing options.

          "Dreaming" - A shareware game; a horizontal shoot 'em
              up with a unique weapons system and fantastic enemies
              accompanied by 8 channel music and 4 channel sound
              effects.  Seven levels in total.

          "PsychoPlayer" - Our S3M / MOD music file player with
              file menu options and a playlist ability.

          "Release Me" - A new demo which bases itself around a
              robot and its existence.  Lots of plot and storyline 
              involved.

          "CrawWorlds" - New 3D system that will feature many effects 
              ideal for movies and presentations, this nice utility 
              may become shareware...


 Contacting us      
ͼ
        You may use any of the following methods to contact us.  However, 
some mediums are better than others - they are listed in order of preference
for us, from best to worst:

        E-Mail:
                craw@magi.com 
                  -Our primary Email account.  (Maintained by LakEEE)

                manttila@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca
                  -PsychoMan's personal account.

        Snail Mail:
                Kenji Toyooka (LakEEE),
                1124 Cline Cr.
                Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
                K2C 2P2

        LakEEE hangs around IRC from time to time, usually on #coders
        and #trax.  Yell if you see me!
        We also both keep track of the usenet newsgroup 
        comp.sys.ibm.pc.demos, so you can post something there as well.

        WWW page:
                http://www.magi.com/~craw/


 End of File        
ͼ
        Thank you very much for your time!

                                        signed,  Kenji Toyooka - "LakEEE"
                                                 of Craw Productions

                                                            June 6th, 1996
