Info

About

Graffathon is a weekend-long computer graphics hackathon, aiming to introduce graphics programming and demoscene culture in a beginner-friendly way. Participants create a computer program that produces a non-interactive multimedia presentation, also known as a demo. At the end of the event, the demos are submitted to one of two competitions ("compos"): the beginner compo or advanced compo. The entries are shown on a big screen and participants vote for their favorites. You can check out creations from previous years on Youtube.

Graffathon has been organized yearly by DOT since 2013, except for 2020-2022 due to circumstances. After the break, Graffathon is back again this year, at Otakaari 20 in Otaniemi. The event starts in the afternoon on Friday July 28th and lasts until Sunday afternoon. Some free snacks and refreshments will be provided to the participants.

Demoscene

The demoscene refers to a loose collective of people who enjoy and create digital art, usually in the form of demos. The demoscene has its roots in the home computer video game sharing culture of the late 70's and early 80's. A demoparty is an event where "sceners" gather to show their creations and collectively enjoy them. The main attraction at a demoparty are the compos, friendly competitions where participants show off their skills in coding, music and design. There are usually multiple compos during a demoparty with different categories, such as limitations on the size of the program or the platform in use. Graffathon tries to capture at least partially the feeling of a demoparty, and hopefully inspire people to find out more about the demoscene culture.

What to expect

Friday 28.7.

On Friday, the doors to the site open at 5 PM. The event starts with an opening ceremony at 6 PM. After the opening ceremony, there will be an inspirational presentation from a veteran demoscener and a tutorial on the basics of Processing, and how to use it to create a demo.

After the presentations, there will be time for participants to form groups. After that, groups can start to plan their demo, write some code and to gather graphical and musical assets.

Saturday 29.7.

On Saturday the participants will be busy working on their entries.

Sunday 30.7.

The deadline for uploading the demos to the party management system is at noon on Sunday. Before submitting your demo, you should check with the organizers that it runs properly on the party machine.

For more details, see the Schedule page.

Compos

Graffathon has two compos: Beginner and advanced. Each team can choose which compo they participate in, but if the group members have some experience with making a demo, we strongly recommend choosing the advanced compo. Each participant will be given a vote key, which is used to register to the party management system, upload the group's demo and to peer evaluate the demos after they're shown on Sunday. The creators of the three most highly evaluated demos of both compos will be awarded with a small prize.

What to bring

A laptop + charger (or a desktop if you are brave enough)
Headphones
If you want to use wired internet, bring a 5m long ethernet cable. Wi-Fi is also provided.
Food, unless you want to order. Some small snacks will be provided by the party.
There is a sauna. If you are interested, bring a towel and swim suit.
Party mood (and gear if you have).

Telegram and IRC

You should definitely join the Telegram chat of the event. To avoid bot spam, we don't post the direct link here, but you can find the channel by searching @graffathon in Telegram. You can also join on irc at #graffathon@IRCnet, which is linked to the Telegram chat.

The chat is the main communication channel during the event and is also the quickest way to contact the organizers. Don't hesitate to also ask for help with programming or anything else!