greetings noobs and boobs alike!

today i would like to announce my hemi-retirement from botb as i won't be doing all formats for these big chip compos anymore. us old dogs need to learn when to hang it up or learn new tricks or whatever.

BUT i'd like to see the challenge of completing all formats accepted and defeated by the most manliest of manly botbrs.

and so i pose this challenge to you! the rules are simple:

+ submit an entry to every format
+ score 20 points or better on each entry

i am the final judge jury and executioner as far as scores go. things like mario paint/tia/ect... i may allow to score lower than that. and 5 second entries that get upvoted by back patting pals will be disqualified and a vicious scrubbing will be in order.

so what's in it for you should you complete this arduous trial?

* a princely sum of 2,500 boons
* my priceless feedback and review of each track
* eternal glory

there can be only one winner of the chip's challenge crown, so i will personally choose between multiple completionists should that happen. but all format challenge completers will be memorialized here in this post! and there are even more titles to be gained!

@ top 7 every format: FORMAT MASTER
@ top 3 every format: BARON OF BOTB
@ 1st place every format: BOTB DEITY

"but champ-sensei, how can i possibly do this?" everyone has a different workflow, but here are a few bro tips from somebody who's been there:

# keep on a schedule. if you start putting things off it won't take long before you're in a track debt you won't be able to dig your way out of.

# new software takes extra time. the more esoteric formats generally have weird tools. weird tools that suck and are difficult to use and you're going to hate them. remember that you are going to need extra time to deal with these things.

# fuck your social life. friendships are fleeting but botb glory is forever.

# you are going to hit a wall. making this much music is emotionally draining and you're going to reach a point where you are just DONE. you just have to keep plowing ahead and be ready to call something "good enough."

i have already begun endeavouring to do this

a tale of Manufact Industries will be written

but wait there's more! if you do all of this before 25 January 7:06 PST (6:66), i will award you 666 boons because you are the devil and only the devil could do all these formats before the month ends... (but only to the first person that does it)

uhhhhh.... so many boons...
Im tempted, but I think I'd personally rather aim for half the amount of tracks, but with all 25+ (that, in my eyes, would be something to see).

I wish all the best of luck in such an endeavour.

I think I will give this a try. ;)

throwing 750 of my own boons into the pot for anyone who accomplishes this

that said, on the subject of "making this much music is emotionally draining and you're going to reach a point where you are just DONE."

God fucking DAMN do I know what you're talking about. While my own style is vastly different from Chip Champion's (one VERY LARGE entry as opposed to twenty normal-sized entries), the fact that either road leads to the need to produce a LOT of music is indisputable.

(It's worth mentioning that his style is vastly more difficult from a technical perspective, as I know that I personally would struggle immensely with attempting that many formats)

Though my own advice is nowhere near as indispensable as Chip's, I hope that someone somewhere can draw strength from it.

My own advice for anyone attempting to complete this challenge: You might think that giving all of your entries some common theme or overarching story will help you. It definitely DEFINITELY will not, especially if you have the same mentality I have when it comes to this sort of thing. What you might inadvertently end up doing is investing too much time trying to tie all of your compositions together, and in doing so lose valuable time you could be using to Actually Compose Music. (ACM). (fan).

You wanna keep loose if you're going to write this much music. If it helps, you should listen to lots of different music to get ideas for what to do. Drench yourself in music. Feeling like you absolutely can't write another note? By all means, take a breather, but instead of spending that time in silence, listen to an old favorite album, or ask around for recommendations in the irc (I'm certain that people are more than willing to share their favorite songs/albums if you ask).

Tell a lot of people that you're doing this. And I mean a LOT of people. All of them, if you can. The pressure from so many people now expecting you to do this great thing will force you to ACTUALLY do the great thing. Or in this case, things.

That said, I will be rooting for anyone who takes on this challenge, and you will have my full support. But if you don't take the music seriously and submit a pile of garbage, I will be absolutely merciless with my criticism and voting, and I heartily expect others to do the same.

Well, good luck, that's all from me on the subject.

fuck this compo. just do some time to time. i'm gonna miss you if you leave. :/

i did it for spring tracks 3, how much harder could winter chip be? why yes, i'm reading from "famous last words: 3rd edition", why do you ask

(anyone who does this owes me 20 boons)

hey this might also be something to keep in mind: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultradian_rhythm

aka, take a 20-30 minute break every 90-120 minutes of work

I will give 2000 boons to someone who manages to do this AND get in the top 7 for each format

This is not even a challenge for Mr. Strobers :)

Making all formats is not that hard, making all formats with decent scores, that is pretty damn hard!!

yibbon will get in the top sixteen, even his worst entry will receive a higher score than the best first runner-up entry of all categories

I will most likely not manage to enter all 18 formats.... R.I.P.

I will try to aim for 12 of them instead...

I actually want to keep myself to 9 entries now because it's an excellent number... ;3

A combination of a platform incompatibility with some of the tools, impeding college work and the fact that I would have to do a lot of manual work to create working sound engines for some of these systems means I won't be able to do so this go round.

so it turns out i really just do not have any interest in learning how to use ten pieces of inaccessible software and ASM/C++ in a narrow timeframe

suppose come ST4 i'll wrap the narrative up in one long entry that'll score higher because it's one long entry /cynicism

2 weeks left! time to take a tally on the current standings:

gotoandplay - 6 entries
mega9man - 6 entries
djmaximum - 4 entries
garvalf - 4 entries
kfaraday - 4 entries

id also like to say that i completely agree with flaminglog about how difficult it can be to have all your tracks connected via theme, style, ect... i personally always tried a bunch of different styles for tunes to keep things fresh. if you do nothing but four to the floor unce, 5 tracks in you're going to be sick of it and probably hate yourself.

OK, guys, time to get real with you. if somebody had 9 entries done, i would say they were on point to complete. but at this point, it's pretty much impossible for anyone to defeat chips challenge. barring an extension or a botbr with absolutely no work/school responsibilities, it's GG already.

but by all means, prove me wrong. feel free to take a look at the newly erected Hall of Completionists if you are in need of inspiration.

http://battleofthebits.com/lyceum/View/The+Hall+of+Completionists/

yeah, i'm tapping out, there are too many formats i don't know, and i don't want to just flood BotB with crap for the sake of entering all formats

haha :) I have a week off work... but I'll likely be using it for other things. I'm well on my way to finishing off one song, and I have 'a' pattern for two others... who knows.

I believe in m9m!!

winter got an extension! are there any heroes yet among thee?!

mega9man - 10
gotoandplay - 7
garvalf - 7


...probably not

you should just win your own competition and stfu

...because you know you will

Did anyone win?

nope! but ill see you noobz next compo ;3

CHIP'S CHALLENGE is BACK IN ACTION

******SPRING TRACKS IV EDITION******

i'll award 2k boons to ze winner this time around.

get cracking, noobs!