Past party: 2018
2018-01-19 —— 2018-01-20
DEMOPARTY International
New York City —— Montréal
PHOTOS from the Party! - RESULTS - MAIN - REGISTER - COMPOS GENERAL RULES - COMPOS CATEGORIES - PEOPLE
:,, :,, :,, ......=NNNN,::DDDD:~~888O==+OZZZ?M$$$ZZZOOOO8D~~~~::DDD:,,NN,,..MMMMMMM .....$NNNN~~::DDDD~~~N8OO===ZZZZZ$$$$7ZZOOOO=~~~~~:DDDD:,,,,,,...MMMMMM .....ONNN~,,::DDDD~~~88OO===OZZZ$??$$7ZZOOOD=~~?88DDDDD:,,:NN,...MMMMMM ......MNNNN,::NDDD8~~888O~==OZZZ+??$$7ZZOOO==~~888DDDDD:,,8NN,...MMMMMM ......,DNNN::::ZDD88888O+===OZZZ+??$$7ZZOOOM=~~~88DDDDD:,,8NN,...MMMMMM .....MNNNNN,::::?D88888=====OZZZ???$$7ZZOOOO=~~~~~:7DDD:,,ONN,...MMMMMM ......MNN,,,:::::O8888~=====ZZZZ???$$7ZZOOOOO8=~~::ZDDD,,,$NN....MMMMMM ......,,,,,,::DDDD888~~=====++++?????ZZZOOOOO88888DDDDDNNNNNNNMMMMMMMMM ......,.,,,::::DDD8D~=~=====++++?????ZZZOOOO882818DDDDDNNNNNNNMMMMMMMMM S N 2018 Y S N O // 2018 N O nYsoyncHr rOsncyyNh Y Y // DEMO N R N O Y N cNyronhSy 1: 86 Pierre qui roule - GlandeurLessard rHcynoySn C S 2: 84 Sin City 1k - Shu H Y S N 3: 83 Tokyo Rain - kamalasaurus Y S cNhynsyRo nNyorcySh Y H S C Y C // NANO O H rYnohsyNc nNcorhsYy H N 1: 77 fireworx - g0blinish S Y R C 2: 75 Flash Fictions - axaxaxas Y O sNyychoRn 2: 75 Unicode Frenzy - rottytooyh rNhoyncYs Y H 3: 72 Matrix Rain - Shu H R N Y 4: 64 waveat - nom de nom H Y yNhsyrcNo yNsnyhcRo N O N R S N // OLD SCHOOL DEMO R Y yScorhyNn oYnyschNr O N 1: 85 antiox - shifty O Y Y H 2: 84 MAZEDEMO - Ezra/MopeDude R Y yHncyrnOs 3: 83 PPoT: Press Play on Tapeworm - nom de nom nYncsrhYo S Y S N S H O Y nRnyychOs // WILD yNhsocnRy H Y R N Y Y 1: 86 Line Wobbler Advance - ohsqueezy N O hYnyncoSr 2: 85 1-Bit Train vs. 3-Bit Beavers - Cobra sNcohryNy C Y 3: 84 Subway/Metro - 3dream Y O N Y R H hNnrsyoYc nRhnycsYo S O // MUSIC C N R N R N hOnryncYs 1: 83 Happy Little Chips - Ezra/MopeDude oYsryhcNn S R 1: 83 Gallium 5-2 - Sean Lee S N R O C N sCroyhnYn sNohyryNc Y C // GRAPHICS H N Y R Y H oHynsynCr 1: 84 Voodoo - Creonix/Brain Wave^Mistigris yRhnycnSo N C 2: 72 AtParty - EMi O Y C Y O R cYohrynNs / ascii:rottytooth sCrhonnYy N Y N Y .....NNNNONNI:::ID88888O====++++?????ZZZO====M~~~~:8DD8:,,ZNNN...$MMMMM .....DNNNNNN,::DDD88D888O===++++?????ZZZO====~~~~~::DD8:,,DNNN...IMMMMM .....INNNNZD:::DDDD~~~OOOM==++++?????ZZZO====888~~::DDO:,,$NND...IMMMMM .....INNN,,,:::DDDO~~~8OOD==++++?????ZZZO====888~~::DDD:,,,NM,..,NMMMMM .....INNN,,,:::DDD88O888O===++++?????IIIO====888~~::DDDN,,,,,,..MMMMMMM .....INNN,,,::::DD888888?===++++?????IIIO====888~~::DDDNN,,,,,,MMMMMMMM ......+++,,,::::::~NDO~=====++++?????IIIOOMMD888NNNDDDDNN$,,,.NMMMMMMMM ,,,,,. :,,,
Merci infiniment to our sponsors,
BABYCASTLES and SHOPIFY.
Who's coming — to the ENTIRE party, NYC/train/Montréal? amtrak, cameron, cestdiego, connor, Deborah, Dr. Clement Shimizu, EMi, frenata, GlandeurLessard, Jason Scott, kamalasaurus, Laura, Mike Erwin, MopeDude, mirka23, nom de nom, ohsqueezy, Oren, Rachel, Rey B, rottytooth, Salvatore, shifty, Shu, Tyler Tape. Others will be at the NYC concert and Montréal compos!
Opening/Ouverture & Concert, Babycastles, 145 West 14th St
New York City, Jan 19 (doors at 7pm)
Train, New York City (8:15am) —— Montréal (7:11pm),
Jan 20
Compos & Prizes/Prix, Shopify, 490 Rue de la Gauchetière O
Montréal, Jan
20 (immediately on train's arrival)
Synchrony is a DEMOPARTY that begins in NEW YORK CITY, continues on an Amtrak train, and concludes in MONTREAL.
Synchrony is about being creative with computers, and seeing how computers can produce amazing sorts of animation, graphics, music, and other experiences. At the end we have COMPOS (competitions) that are voted on by those who are there at the party. Some people may work on their entries for these compos for months beforehand; some, just on the train ride up. People are welcome to enter remotely, even if they are unable to attend.
We encourage work on today's computers and older computers. As is usually the case in the demoscene and with demoparties, we build on the positive force of constructive, old-school hacking, encouraging deep engagement with how computers function. This can mean programming them at low levels, for instance, and being aware of how sound chips and character sets work.
We believe this type of creative engagement should be undertaken by all sorts of people, and we have developed competition categories to welcome a diverse group of people and invite them to produce radical, exciting work.
REGISTRATION & DETAILED INFORMATION
TOO LATE TO REGISTER! The party already happened. See the current Synchrony site.
There are three main parts of the party, a CONCERT (performers to be announced), a TRAIN TRIP, and the COMPOS.
CONCERT
8bit bEtty is a Brooklyn-based wallflower with a pair of headphones and
shakey-at-best command of hyphenated words. Inspiration is drawn
from bleeps, blops, and a penchant for daydreaming.
Business Pastel is the solo project of Billy Murphy
from Long Island, NY. Using exclusively Game Boys and Little
Sound Dj, Billy pulls from numerous styles of music, to better
capture the complex feelings that come with growing up.
DOOM OF THE ROCK is a live coding visualist who was raised
in the east but has settled in the west. When he’s not writing
code on stage in front of people, friends call him Ramsey Nasser.
Sean Lee channels speculative rhythms, broken club beats and syntactic
ephemera through text boxes. He is the main author of gallium.live,
a browser-based environment for livecoding dance music.
A donation will be requested for the CONCERT at Babycastles to support the performers, including people doing music and visualization. It is not necessary to buy a ticket/give a donation in advance. You can offer a donation at the door.
To get from New York to Montréal with the group on the TRAIN TRIP, you should buy a ticket on train 69 on January 20, 2018. Go to Amtrak.com to purchase a ticket.
DETAILS ABOUT AMTRAK TICKET PURCHASE
The quickest way to indicate going from New York Penn Station to Montréal Gare Central is by using the abbreviations "NYP" and "MTR".
ONE-WAY: Select 2018-20-01 as the date and if you would like a one-way ticket just click the "Find Trains" button. There is only one train going from New York that day, the Adirondack, train number 69, departing at 8:15am and arriving at 7:11pm. If you are returning from Montréal some other way (bus, getting a ride, plane, etc.) or if you live in Montréal but will be in NYC before the party, this one-way trip may be what you want.
ROUND-TRIP: Those who attend are likely to wish to book a round trip, either Montréal-NYC-Montréal (if starting from Montréal) or NYC-Montréal-NYC (if starting from NYC). There is no discount for round-trip travel on Amtrak; a round-trip ticket costs the same as two one-way tickets, but it saves time to book both at once.
People coming along can talk, use computers, buy and consume food & drink including alcohol, and generally enjoy themselves — just follow the usual norms of behavior and don't bother other passengers or the crew! There are power outlets; be aware that the power quality is not good and at times the power may cut out entirely. There is wifi, but the quality of wifi is also not great. At times one can get a cell phone signal, but even this is not available everywhere along the route.
Since this is a party: Alcohol may be consumed, responsibly, by those who are of age at Babycastles in NYC, on the train, and at Shopify during the compos. The Amtrak cafe car has food and drink, including alcohol, available for sale. However, because the train is US-based there are no alcohol sales during the final part of the trip that is in Canada.
The trip involves a border crossing, so appropriate documentation (a passport) is required and will be checked before boarding. Please check the information on the Amtrak site, and other official information if necessary, to ensure that you will be able to cross the border. There is a customs inspection at the border and officials check the documents of everyone on the train. It takes a while.
COMPOS
Once in Montréal we will head immediately to the competitions or COMPOS, hosted at Shopify, a short walk from the train station. There is no charge to get into the compos, but there will be an opportunity to purchase food for delivery there ahead of time.
At some classic demoparties, people stay overnight at the party, for instance in a sleeping bag, all weekend. This won't be possible at Synchrony. Both venues (Babycastles and Synchrony) will close. Enjoy the fact that accommodations are cheapest around the end of January in both New York and Montréal!
COMPOS GENERAL RULES
The co-organizers of the compos are nom de nom (Nick Montfort) and unkelben (Jonathan Lessard) and their decisions about the compos are the final ones.
Submit only work that you yourself have done, individually or collaboratively, and which had not been previously released. Some previously released material may be incorporated in a significantly new production. The compos organizers will ultimately determine how much material of this sort is allowed, and should be consulted if there is any question.
Everything entered in any compos, unless it is disqualified, will be spread -- that is, made available for free download online. Don't enter work unless you want to share it at the party and beyond! All entries that are included on the ballot will be released/spread as soon as is practical.
Your would have used the detailed instructions at (link removed) to send your production to us by email in the format we request.
Remote entries are allowed, but will have an earlier deadline, to be specified. We will allow competitors to fix problems to whatever extent time permits.
Imagery or other content that is illegal, egregiously hateful or offensive, or otherwise unsuitable the environment of a demoparty will be disqualified and will neither be shown nor appear on the ballot. We respect that productions can have different sorts of content, and that people may wish to make strong statements of various sorts; please, also respect that we are having a fun party. The organizers' decisions will be final.
Entries must be either entirely original or use only officially licensed or public domain content, with adequate documentation provided to the compos organizers. Ripped music and video, for instance, is not allowed unless permission has been granted for its use.
Because this is an all-ages event or for other reasons, the compos organizers may use their judgment and choose not to screen some productions that are nevertheless allowed in a compo; if they do, these will still be available online to those at the party and on the ballot. The compos organizers may also skip lengthy parts of demos, such as scroller sections, once the relevant effects have been demonstrated.
If there are less than three entries for a compo, the given compo will either be canceled or (more likely) combined with another compo. If you wish to withdraw your production from a compo that is being combined, you may. In the event of a withdrawn production or a canceled compo, you are of course welcome to release your productions elsewhere, later.
While this is an international party, it is also a local party. There will be no guaranteed, high-end "compos machine." You will be responsible for being able to run your demos on hardware you bring or that you arrange to be at the party. You can contact the compos organizers or others to see about borrowing hardware with particular operating systems installed. Some retro hardware will be along for the trip, and some computers with high-end graphics cards are likely to be at Shopify at the end of the trip. Essentially, though, you need to be able to run your production on a computer you bring.
For Demo, Nano, and Oldskool Demo entries we ask for a video of the production. Please make it an mp4 file with h.264 video (30fps, Main Level <=4.1, two pass encoding, either 1280×720@>=3mbps or 1920×1080@>=6mbps) and AAC audio (stereo, at least 128kpbs). Don’t put it in your release archive. If it is not possible for you to produce this, we will still accept the entry as long as we can run it on hardware at the compos.
COMPOS CATEGORIES
DEMO
This is the classic category for spectacular executable audiovisual displays. Usually very recent hardware and a very recent operating system are assumed. State the graphics hardware your entry is compatible with on the submission form. Also declare the graphics settings you want used.
Maximum screening time: 7 minutes (including loading/precalc).
Pressing either ESC or Alt-F4 must end the demo instantly. The entry has to be delivered as single .zip or .rar file. To check the demo, we will not install any additional redistributable packages. It’s good to be sure that any additional DLLs are packed into your release.
NANO
This category is not unique to Synchrony, but has become closely associated with the party.
Maximum file size is 256 bytes for the executable. Entries are allowed in standard interpreted languages that are standard with the OS, free software, or freeware (e.g., JavaScript, Perl, Processing, BASIC, QBasic). If the nano is for an interpreted language, the source file is limited to 256 bytes. If you wish to write an esoteric language custom-made to play your 256b production, that will be Wild! It will not, however, be Nano. (That is, a language you wrote yourself for this compo is not suitable for this compo.) All other files in the archive will be deleted before showing the entry in the competition.
Maximum screening time: 7 minutes (including loading/precalc).
You may deliver bigger versions of the 256b along with the compo version (which must be <=256 bytes) in the same archive. We will not show any larger version in the compo and voting should be on the <=256 byte version.
For executables we will not install any additional runtimes, SDKs, codecs, drivers etc on the compo machine. For interpreted programs we will not install any libraries, and we will use the current stable version or a current stable version in the case of languages such as Python for which there are more than one stable version (2/3). This means that, among others, msvcr70.dll, msvcr71.dll and msvcr80.dll will not be available. You may not use the contents of the Windows “Media” or “Music Samples” directories. These directories will be deleted on the compo machine. Import by ordinal for DLLs with non-fixed ordinals is forbidden; so is directly jumping into DLLs with hardcoded offsets.
OLDSKOOL DEMO
Allowed platforms are those from before 1992 in which the CPU has no data bus exceeding 16 bits (Atari VCS, VIC-20, C64, Amiga ECS, Atari ST, NES, SNES, Game Boy, Master System, Mega Drive, ZX Spectrum).
Maximum screening time: 7 minutes (including loading/precalc).
Maximum size is 1 standard medium for your platform. For example: 1 disk (both sides on single-side media) on VIC-20, C64, Atari ST; 1 cartridge image for NES, Master System. The entry has to be delivered as a disk or cartridge file (strongly preferred).
Please contact us beforehand if you are going to use any platform that does not produce a VGA or NTSC signal, and bring a recording of the production running in this case. Remember that providing your own recording does not mean we don’t need to see the real hardware or evidence of the demo running on it. If entries cannot be projected from real hardware, you must deliver adequate proof that your entry works on real hardware. You can do this, for instance, by bringing the hardware with you and showing the organizers, or by providing a video that shows the program running on hardware and is not just a screen capture.
Pressing the standard ESC-like key (such as STOP on the Commodore 64) must stop the demo instantly. Demos should load so they can be RUN in a standard way (on the C64, for instance, loaded at $801 with a BASIC program to jump to the demo via SYS). For C64: Please state which SID chip to use (6581/8580). This information will be displayed on the info slides for your production. We don't guarantee the desired SID, but we still want people to know which one you prefer!
WILD
Like the Joker, this category is wild. You may not use fire, spill fluids, or generate unguarded arcs of electricity or potentially hazardous wavelengths of light. If your electrical entry needs to plug into the wall, make sure it runs from a standard 120V outlet without tripping the breaker. Test it beforehand. Other than that, please use your common sense and contact us with any questions. All entries must be demonstrated to the competition organizer before the deadline if requested.
Maximum screening/performance time: 7 minutes.
When applicable, submissions must include working binaries for the target platform, and you must prove that your demo works on real hardware/software.
MUSIC
Only one entry per composer and competition allowed. As is generally the case for all productions: Do not use any copyrighted material in your track.
Maximum playing time during the compo is 4 minutes, although the track itself can be longer.
Please submit an NFO file or ID3 tag along with the media as with as much detail as possible. This can include author, tools used and name of the song.
GRAPHICS
We particularly encourage PIXEL ART that engages the way computers use pixels to build images; CHARACTER GRAPHICS (such as ASCII, ANSI, and PETSCII) images; and EXECUTABLE graphics (computer programs that generate images).
Only one entry per artist and competition allowed.
As is always the case, your entry must be new work that has not been released previously. Also, if you have posted any work in progress images in public anywhere, your entry will be disqualified. You may not use photos or other source images in the production itself that you do not have the rights to use.
Maximum resolution is 1920×1080 pixels. If the image is smaller, please include an upsampled version in your submission while preserving the aspect ratio! If the image is smaller than 1920×1080 pixels, we will display it with black borders around the image as necessary.
Maximum filesize for your final picture is 20 megabytes.
The entries will be shown once on the big screen and uploaded to the party site after the compo, so visitors can judge the entries on their own screens.
You must include exactly 4 (four) working stages together with your final version – the entry. All entries without plausible looking working stages will be disqualified. The working stages must have the filename “step1.???”, “step2.???”, “step3.???” and “step4.???”, where ??? is the extension of whatever format you use. Please put your 4 working stages into a seperate folder in your zip archive!
When uploading your entry you must include a list of the tools used, to be displayed on the big screen. Only still images are allowed in this compo, no animations.
PEOPLE
We are nom de nom (Nick Montfort), unkelben (Jonathan Lessard), EMiSpicer, Frank, and Etienne.
nom de nom (lead organizer, compos co-director), based in New York and Boston,
writes very small productions for the Commodore 64 and other
platforms, often with language and poetry as a focus. http://nickm.com
GlandeurLessard / Unkelben (compos co-director) has been organizing demoparties in Montréal
since 1999 mainly because nobody else would do it. Besides that,
he's a university professor making games, researching games,
playing games ... not yet tired of games.
Frank (NYC organizer) is a life-sized human with a human face stretched
over bone. He transmits the origin of the universe through his
vessel at a frequency that recalls the primordial ooze and heralds
the age of the Sun. He lives in a small room with his microwave.
http://a-o.in
EMiSpicer (concert
organizer) is a 30-something good-for-nothing. She is best known
for her work as a documentation photographer and events organizer.
PHOTOS from the Party! - RESULTS - MAIN - REGISTER - COMPOS GENERAL RULES - COMPOS CATEGORIES - PEOPLE
Synchrony 2016 ... Synchrony 2017
Banner developed using a a CC by-sa 4.0 photo by Ben Turon, offered under the same license.
