On November 28, the 2023 edition of the Flash Party was held, which is probably the most important demo party in Latin America. Like every year, computer art competitions were organized and divided into categories. And on this occasion it was also 25 years since that first edition in a warehouse in the Villa Crespo neighborhood. To add to the excitement, we returned to the in-person format at the old and beloved General San Martín Cultural Center where the massive deliveries of 2000 and 2001 were held.
With all of this at stake, I couldn't resist the temptation to return to visit Argentina and meet up with many acquaintances from my days on the scene. And that's not all: considering the excellent quality of the works presented in the 2022 competitions, it became too tempting to participate again. The last time I did it was probably in the 1999 edition!
Therefore I presented a new ANSI called "Skate Kittens" and a chiptune for Commodore 64 called "Kawaii". I had never composed music for Commodore 64 and I had only 4 days to do it. I finished just hours before the final deadline!
The format of this edition consisted of a section of stands for the public and a stage with a big screen where the works of each participant were projected. In the intervals between competitions, the organizers commented and explained what was being seen to the audience to make things easier for newcomers. Unlike the first editions, this time you couldn't take up space with your computer, which was logical considering that the format was reduced from three days to only eight hours.
At all times, the public could use their cell phones to live vote for each work presented with a score from 0 to 5. At the time of the vote count, the points awarded for each contribution are added and leaderboards are calculated based on that.
But there was more than just art competitions. There was also an area with different types of games that people could try. Several of them were experimental oddities that ran on custom hardware designed by their creators. Particularly striking was the Ventilastation™, which was basically a custom console that could run simple games using an upright fan with a strip of LEDs on its blades as a screen. And it did not only run games: there was even an intro that participated in one of the competitions. Why? Because they can, of course.
After all the competitions were over, Francisco "Foco" Cerda joined from Chile with an incredible live show. Using the giant screen to present videos synchronized with his music, he took the opportunity to present some songs from the soundtrack of ProtoCorgi, an excellent shoot them up developed in Chile.
When the show ended, the organizers went on stage to read the results of each competition, which were defined by public voting.
My ANSI ended up being voted the winner of its category and my chiptune came in second in theirs! You can see the results of all the other competitions here.
And as a bonus track, I met up again with Panoramix and Rave-N, my former pals from Mindprobe! We took the opportunity to catch up after so many years without seeing each other, and there was even talk of the possibility of doing something together again... probably... eventually...
We will see.
