Wiz of Oz

DECAY - THAT WAS THEN...  
by Wiz of Oz/Decay         

The following is basically just my views of how things have changed over        
the past 5 years in regards to my group Decay and the scene in general.         
I'll ignore the 4 or so years before 1990 as they're probably a bit             
boring and nothing of notable interest really happened then!                    
                                                                                
1990                                                                            
                                                                                
Decay started back in 1990 when myself and the original members decided         
to leave our current group ("Freedom Force" which at that time was in           
co-operation with "Amiga Industries") because there was nothing                 
happening and we weren't gaining any benefits from this group.                  
                                                                                
We almost joined with some guys down south (Vic, Aus.) to create a new          
group, but we didn't (I can't remember the details properly, but there          
was a bit of a disagreement or something) and so Decay was born.                
                                                                                
These were the days when all swapping was done by mail and if you got           
something that was about 7 - 14 days old it was VERY hot stuff.                 
                                                                                
Our first creation was actually made for us by Piranha (formerly of The         
Predators).  This was our entry at the Mystix Summer Conference '90 held        
in Brisbane (which we won).  I can't remember much about this party,            
just that it was fairly small, and was held in a metal shed thing that          
got quite warm!                                                                
                                                                               
Later 1990                                                                     
                                                                               
Next came the Hinch demo.  Pretty simple demo which had captured               
animations of Hinch moving with the music.  Nothing spectacular here,          
but it did manage to get onto Tonight Live with Steve Vizard here in OZ,       
and was also used to show what things "pirates" get up to on the               
National News.                                                                 
                                                                               
Later 1990 AGAIN. :)                                                           
                                                                               
Our follow up demo was the Vizard demo.  In the hope that we could get         
this one onto TV as well.  It didn't get on, but was quite popular, and        
we got some free Tonight Live stickers out of Vizard (oh yay....).             
                                                                               
1991                                                                           
                                                                               
This was one of the best times we had.  This was the year of the Mystix        
Easter party held in Canberra.  The biggest scene get together so far in       
Oz, there were around 80 people in attendance with some well known scene       
members.  This is where the Decay Simpsons demo was entered into the demo      
competition (and won).  I'm trying to remember what the other place getters    
were, I think 2nd was (can't remember their name!) with their gross Simpsons   
satire, and 3rd was (might not be correct here) Mystix's Glitch demo.. Or it  
could have been the nice demo by Caddy/Defjam.                                
                                                                              
The most memorable bits of this party?  Rob (can't remember your alias!)      
of Mystix spewing on our power cables!!, The Simpsons demo actually NOT       
BEING RELEASED at the party!, and the Stripper who cleaned my glasses on      
her fur!.. Hehe, was a great weekend.                                         
                                                                              
Our Simpsons demo then went on to appearing in HEAPS of Euro mags in the      
then in vogue "Demo" sections.  Heaps of rave reviews all over the            
place, lots of shops selling Amigas with the Simpsons demo running.  It       
was the height of our popularity! Oh, if I remember rightly it also hit       
number 3 in the one parter demo section of the Eurocharts.                    
                                                                              
1991 - onwards!                                                               
                                                                              
But there was a downside.  What do we do next, people expected AMAZING        
things from us, and well, I couldn't be bothered myself!                      
                                                                              
This is when we got pretty darn lazy..  Other people were happy to do         
HUGE animations for us (the nice Coyote demo, and the Get Frogged demo)       
and all we had to do was the code and the music (I had it easy, I             
suggested things and did credit pages :) )                                    
                                                                              
These were probably the last proper Decay releases to be seen (they also     
hit the Euro mag scene, along with a crappy intro called Wormtro.. It        
seems the editors of these mags were expecting a lot from us as well).       
                                                                             
Since then a few other things happened.  A sequel to the Coyote demo was     
made ("Revenge 2: Doris Day") but as it stands is still not released.        
Ask enough and we might pull it out of the closet and get it out.  We        
also held a graphics competition in '93 under our home BBS name..  The       
Enconn BBS GFX comp..  It's now 1995, it's still not out.  I decided to      
stop producing my diskmag Blip-Verts. I'd lost interested and it was         
taking too long to produce.                                                  
                                                                             
By this time the scene is almost 100% BBS dominated..  Everything is         
fast.  Something new is around the world and back again in a few hours.      
Friendship in the scene is not such a huge factor anymore.  It wasn't        
fun any more.                                                                
                                                                             
So the time between 1992 and 1994 was pretty much a lull year.  We did       
nothing of interest, things got pretty normal in the scene, I got a job      
selling computers (PC's) and started making some money.                      
                                                                             
Then the big Commodore bankruptcy debarcle happened.  I got sick of waiting  
for something to happen so joined many people by buying a PC.  I kept        
my Amiga in the hope that something might happen and it might get strong     
again....                                                                   
                                                                            
I stopped waiting in January '95.  I sold my complete Amiga system and am   
now fully PC (and hating Windows).                                          
                                                                            
It really is a bit sad to see how things have gone.  Here in Australia      
there is very little left of the original Amiga scene which, though         
never huge, was a friendly place if anything.  There are a few diehard      
Sceners out there, (I raise my hat to you guys, you're more patient         
then I) keeping this stuff alive.                                           
                                                                            
So is Decay dead? Well, officially no.. But we're not really active         
either.  Who knows what might happen, but don't hold your breath!  Out      
of the final members of Decay, only one of us is still on the Amiga, the    
rest of us are PCing.                                                       
                                                                            
I'd like to think of Decay as never dieing.  More of "fading into the       
memories of the true diehard Amiga scene members"                           
                                                                            
So are any of you original Amiga Scene Dwellers out there still??  If       
so, I'd like to hear from a lot of you.  If you can, Email me on the        
address down the bottom.                                                    
                                                                            
"...This is now..."                                                         
                                                                           
Cyuz,                                                                      
         Wiz of Oz/Decay                                                   
                                                                           
Justin Trevena  -  [email protected]                                
          Fido  -  3:623/666