Hi everyone.

I was thinking last night. I listen to a lot of music on this site and appreciate many different aspects of what people share around here. But the aspects of your art that you most enjoy may not necessarily be the same thing that stands out to me because of my own perspective and preferences.

On that note, I’d love to take a moment and celebrate some cool stuff from 2023 if people are willing to share. if you had to pick one or two of your own creations this year (a song, drawing, a poem, whatever) that you particularly enjoyed making or are proud of —what stands out to you?

It can be anything! It doesn’t need to be anything that scored higher in a compo or whatever, I just want to know about what you liked the very most of your own work, and why. It could be An XHB entry, a major submission, or even something outside of botb if you’d like. (In fact it would be very interesting if the stuff you were most passionate about was not the one that did the best here!) I’d just love to have a little glimpse into your own work that you enjoy and I think we might learn something about our interests that way. If it feels a bit awkward to share something you’re happy with, share anyway. It’s great to enjoy and celebrate your own work.

Happy New Year everyone!

I’ll start!

Infinite Patterns was probably my favorite thing I wrote this year. It felt like I was successful at expressing something, developing my skills a bit, and saying what I actually wanted to say in a song - it felt like I got a tiny bit closer to getting something from an idea in my head authentically down to paper and have it maintain what it was supposed to be (this doesn’t seem to happen for me super often). It felt really personal too for whatever reason.

Me, my favorite moment i done this year, it's when i enter to this website for the first time ever it was on October 2023

Still really happy with how Checkerboard Cookies turned out the most out of all my '23 pieces. It was made with samples from Yoshi no Cookie: Kuruppon Oven de Cookie, an obscure JP only SNES game in which Yoshi teaches you how to bake cookies. Despite never playing the game, I love its soundtrack

a lot <3

this is a cool idea! and i had to give it some thought. i like the ones shared so far a lot!

on here, the answer is probably Dreamrenders for similar reasons to what you're saying in the OP - i was able to translate my idea for a sound into the resulting song. more specifically, i find writing proggy mathy stuff like the 2nd section really challenging, but that kind of sound is something i've always sought after and enjoyed. it feels like a workout, but ultimately a really satisfying one when i get it right. and i think the more i do it, the more comfortable i will ostensibly get with writing that way. in several ways it was a sequel to 2022's Static Rain Dance and, to me at least, it was a successful one.

the pc-98 stuff gets an honorable mention shout-out too, but i'm still building up to something there, and that started in late 2022 :o)

outside of botb, a couple of my favorite picks are "Sylvestris" which is track 3 on staffcirc vol 8

, and the 19th st skyscraper volcanic event

, both situations where i got to be as weird and bombastic as i wanted to be, to great effect. i like a lot of music that builds up to wall-of-sound type affairs and in both cases i felt like i achieved that sound pretty much how i wanted it. basically the same reason, again!

some of my collabs from this year i'm also really happy with - a few of which i can't even share yet because they're forthcoming album material! but soon!

I wasn't that active this year, so there aren't really that many contenders for like favorite works I've done this year. That being said I'm really proud of this ""comeback"" track I did for an allgear, thinking on the forest floor.

What I love about this track is that, even though it's an allgear and I've done quite a few of those before, this one was done completely differently from anything I've done here before, both sonically and also in how it was constructed. I recorded most of it on a hardware synth I had just started using at the time, and you can definitely hear that considering it relies on a pretty simple riff through-out. The synth in question also uses FM synthesis, which I had next to no experience with, so that was also something I had to quickly wrestle with before I got a synth sound I was happy with. I love how expansive and ethereal I got it to sound in the end... but I suppose all in all it's my favorite because of the experience of making it above anything else, and the fact that it broke my BOTB hiatus spell hehe

I feel like getting back into the swing of things with that entry made me realise that my time spent on BOTB hasn't really been one where I've pushed myself a whole lot. I've mostly spent my time in formats I already enjoyed doing stuff in. I want to try getting out of my comfort zone for 2024 when it comes to BOTBing!!!

Well, i literally started being active here this year although i had this account since 2022; so this is pretty much my first year in review on this site lol.
I'm not really the best composer, I'm just someone who does it for fun and passion. I was expecting to end up this year without any major badges at all, so it was surprising when i managed to get silver Klystrack of all badges in Very Rare Formats II.

I feel like the non-XHB song i composed that i liked the most was Feelings I Usually Keep Inside, although that also might be because i kept working on it after Spring Tracks XII was over and i eventually made it into something I'm really happy with

. I just wish i didn't rush it at that time and let it cook for longer x . x

There are many XHBs tracks I'm happy with, but the one i published very recently for my s3xmodit OHB "unreal tournament nightclub.it" is one I'm really happy because i somehow managed to make something actually catchy, kickass and just plain good in only one hour (the other hour was waiting people to submit their entries lol)
Oh and about that XHBs, "actually good s3xmodit 2" and it's prequel "actually good s3xmodit bitpack'" i really loved doing these ones in particular because they were pretty much the direct contrast to a lot of gimmicky XHBs where the samples were literally terrible on purpose and consisting of Spongebob saying deez nuts; I instead wanted to provide a miniseries consisting of something actually good, especially for the second one where there was 2 hours to choose from 82 samples overall that i carefully selected. The entries were really good too :3

I wanna do more OHBs and 2HBs, maybe a 4HB when i get the chance and opportunity to do so. I'm also looking forward to the next Winter Chip and other upcoming majors. I'm really happy to have found this community in general so many nice and amazing people that also do some wonderful music.

BTW, outside of BOTB i have planned a new extended play release. I'm not sure when it's going to be ready, but I'm really proud of what I'm doing for it so far. A lot of the songs there are fleshed out and finished versions of my allgear OHB entries, because i always felt like they deserved more love and attention.

Continuing to enter
Thats it

well i did a lot this year!! there was february fever, there was battle of the bands, i earned my 7th badge... all of these things were special in their own ways.

there was also the introduction of the writist formats which, although not my doing, i had been advocating for for a long time. probably my most significant creative achievement of the year has been my progress in writing - i think my skills have improved noticeably just from joining an OHB a few times a week or so. i still drop a few duds now & then but that's what you get when you always submit, even if it's shit!

however, my proudest achievement isn't any entry or battle. it's being accepted by BotB's community - no longer feeling like 'the new guy'. meeting up with pidge at my place was a highlight of my year all on its own, and being inducted into the admin team meant so much to me. i want to keep contributing to this creative community that has enriched my life immeasurably for a long, long time.

anyway i'll cut my gushing there because i've got to hit post on this thing in time to watch the fireworks with rory. gubbye!!

Looking back, my favorite XHB entries were the subtlest and simplest ones. Especially with the time constraints of an OHB, I feel pressure to develop an entry by piling up layers and half-baked solos, so I'm very pleased with myself when I come up with something that works without embellishment and restrain myself from overcomplicating it. I had a few entries that fit that description; my favorite was The Depths.

I was proud of all the music I made for majors this year, but my favorite major entry was actually Professor Littlewood's Secret Prime Number Stash. It was fun to share one of my non-musical passions with the site, I'm really happy with how I wrote it, and it seemed to get a good reception here.

Outside of BotB, I'm tremendously proud of STAFFcirc vol. 8

(which dami mentioned above). I proposed the premise for the comp and managed some of the logistics, and it was exciting to hear how well it turned out. "Percolation Station", the track I made for it, was one of the most structurally ambitious things I've ever done, and I think it sounds pretty good too.

actually getting off my butt after 16 years and hosting some battles with my preferred format & bitpack style, i guess

giving it some thought, february fever was probably the extrinsic motivation i needed to do such a thing. surely it's different for everyone, but i think all this time i was taking for granted how much mental and social friction hostists have to overcome, compared to merely participating in a battle.

It didn't seem like I was as active on the site throughout the year, but in retrospect maybe I'm not giving myself enough credit. The cool stuff I achieved this year on BotB were hitting L29 with nary a badge still, and getting into the Hall of Completionists in TINYMOD GRANDPRIX and Very Rare Formats II.

Probably the top achievement though was Path to Ascension, it's one of the toppest ranking entries I've submitted to the site ever and I'm happy to see it was well-received for a non-conventional entry! It was just really fun and interesting to work on, and it makes all the little details and effort I put into it worth it.

Also, this year BotB motivated me to start making content for a wider audience outside of the site with the FM Synthesis Crash Course

video I made. Likewise, I'm happy to see this was pretty well-received too. While I did a bunch of planning behind the organization and structure of the video, the actual video itself being just a one-take recording session helped me get past writers' block/planning hell (i.e. "perfect is the enemy of good").

I foresee 2024 being another fun year, looking forward to it! Might hit L30 badgeless, might make more content stuff, who knows? We'll see!

My favorite entry on botb in 2023?

Ultra Boss Fight Arena

usually my compositions are kinda, mid, tbh.
They are the type of thing you write when you bored with very little thought and more just
"Go go random stuff, go!"
and hope it sounds good (which it usually doesn't)

this one however
it feels like I properly used chords and note intervals to its best here
(pitch mod did help alot tho)

seriously, I've never been as proud of a botb entry this
(not like I've entered that many, anyways)

the best thing I did in 2023?
join botb

so uhh,
Happy New Year n00bs
(or botbrs)

I made two bytebeats that people really liked. Bytebeat is cool.

Submitted to a lot of less common formats for the first time.

Won an audio OHB for the first time.

Furnace got added, but I was so inactive for most of the year that I still don't have the Furnace badge :(

Here's to 2024!

My favorite time making music this year was the collab I made with mirageofher and Yung Gotenks for the pxtone battle of the Advent Calendar. I never did a music jam because I suck at improvising but it really had the same spirit! I like how the song turned out, here is the link !
https://battleofthebits.com/arena/Entry/Cold+Pork/63857/

In term of personal creation, I started chiptune (and computer music in general) this year so I'm still experimenting a lot. For now I have fun and I learn something new at each entry but to me, I don't have a particular song that musically stands out yet........ but there is one entry I've been very proud of since I made it: https://battleofthebits.com/arena/Entry/solid+groove.mp3/62788/

It was fun to do, but even funnier to see voters reactions on Discord. This was my greatest hit

My favourite track of mine that i made in 2023 was one that i haven't released yet, so i can't tell much about it:p

Tho from what has been released, i like how Endless Landscape turned out, i feel like the mix was one of the better ones compared to other stuff of mine (there isn't much to compare to tho, i have still have only like under 20 tracks uploaded on this site).

Lol i posted my comment too early.

Other thing is that i like the collab that i was a part of ("BotBrs On Parade"), it was exciting, as this was the first collab that i was a ever a part of, it was a really messy outcome, but there was such a good amount of like raw art in it, i love it.

Interacting on discord during battles is very cool, even if i don't interact much, there are so many people here who have way more experience in music and art in general, and it is really great thing to like ask them and try to find a lesson and engrain it into whatever i am doing (tho sometimes it's really difficult to break habits, so it doesn't always work out i am not gonna lie).

So yeah that's it:p

The favorite thing I've done in all of 2023 was the demo I wrote for Very Rare Formats II: Compofiller Computer

The last time I wrote anything like that was for Xenium 2019. It showed me that I do, indeed, have it in me to create an enjoyable demo (much less any piece of art), despite the direct feedback I get from my brain. I've spent lots of time thinking about philosophy of creating things or ergonomics in tooling and... no time proving to myself that I could actually do it.

As always, it's just realizing the truisms are important. It doesn't matter if your tool or game or demo or music isn't written for the "right" platform or language or whatever. To me, art that exists is infinitely better than art that is conceptual. If you don't like that ideology, make a demo about it.

Also, it's cool to stop by BotB again! As always I genuinely forget that I enjoy making things and talking to people. Here's to a less in-our-heads-about-things 2024!

dgsjfdkhlsjhfdhg NOW I HAVE TO GET USED TO WRITING 24 ON PAPERS aHAHGHFJ alright my indecisive ass cant decide anything so have this linkspam ENJOY!!!

this holds the best memories of 2023
i had the most fun with this collab
i went back to my roots with this song
i dont remember writing this but it rocks
i DO remember writing this but always forget how it sounds
this song always haunts my mind at the worst times
this one encapsulates a time i want to remember forever
proudest 2023 work at the moment (i even uploaded my project file to the musescore site here

)

thx for listnening love u guys, heress to another year with u all <3

I am having a great time listening and reading about your favorite songs, achievements, and memories from the year. Thank you everybody

One of my favorite entries this year is my Chorale for Lost Ghosts. Idk exactly why I like it so much... maybe because it combines baroque/classical style music with chiptune, two genres I love. I also wrote it in a single night after a burst of inspiration and procrastinating making something for the Spoopy 7 major.
https://battleofthebits.com/arena/Entry/Chorale+For+Lost+Ghosts/62417/

My favorite XHB entry might still be Pinkball from my Kirbotby's Adventure battle (2nd battle I ever hosted). I have a lot of other entries I'm proud of but I like this one because Kirby's Adventure is one of my favorite video game soundtracks and it's inspired my music a lot. Also I got 1st place with it which was nice :D
https://battleofthebits.com/arena/Entry/pinkball.nsf/62661/

Editing this comment to add Christmas Nursery Rhyme #6, a SID death metal track I made with my roommate doing vocals. Fun memories making this one and actually helped me get a lot better at Goattracker!
https://battleofthebits.com/arena/Entry/Christmas+Nursery+Rhyme+_6/63879/

2023 went down through a lot of failed experimentation, multiple steps and votes leading to a more consistent setup of song writing in the current ear.

Gambler's Cup was my favorite song from last year as I've been invested both in continuous story telling and combining multiple tracks into one soundtrack as if it was part of the same game, which will set a new standard of multi-track releases with the Cup format in 2024, rendering the marathon unusable.
https://battleofthebits.com/arena/Entry/Gambler%27s+Cup+%28150cc%29/61147/

I wished I could've been more active, but life has been more busy since I've started to study again.

I'm happy with Calyp-soo good!, since it showed the syxg50's Yamaha-stamped sounds you can find in Yamahas higher tier music-gear, that Nintendo or other classic game-devs used for their more mid to modern game-era music, to replicate their sound with those gears, but through the freely accessible syxg50 instead. That and the fact that I just had fun with Latin-style inspirations satisfied me.

I'll see if I'll update this - I'm not sure how I think about my other tracks I posted here yet.
Overall, I am a little happy that I managed to contribute something at least 2023, despite inactivity.

It was honestly such a difficult year for me, but it kinda started turning around at the end!

Didn't get my next proper album out, but still managed to do a small tour and random one-offs in spite of my stupid full time job, did music for an "overwhelmingly positive" FPS

(I think this

is probably my favorite contribution), wrote and recorded a ton of stuff for future albums, and of course was very happy with the results of the first ever open submission installment in my long running Christmas music compilation

(it'll be open this year too!) Without getting too in depth about it, I'm just happy to still be alive (friendly reminder to do research on interactions if you get put on a medication, even if the person writing the prescription seems perfectly qualified)

Anyway, BotB stuff. Since I only did two majors I had to think about what my favorite XHB entry was and deaathlinnneee is probably the one! I wasn't always able to feel the state of "flow" or whatever that 2021/early 2022 XHBs gave me, in part just cuz I did most of my XHBs at work... but whenever I hit that feeling, especially when it's in a midi battle, I kinda feel like I'm at peace or something. I love midi and midi-ing with others!!

I had a good bit of fun trying my best to XHB with SMS and NSF, two formats I like but can't really hang with at all. I liked connecting with a slightly different group of botbrs because of it, as well as getting help (versus trying to help others with .mid format stuff).
Also had a lot of fun forcing people to mariopaint with me for the badge quest.

starting off 2023 with my first collab WindRider! kilowatt and I on nsf classic. first time I got to be part of a song that breathed this much. so much space! so much room! the noise channel textures. the hi arps! kilowatt64 was on fire for this one

groove jam genesis feels like the third and final entry in a kinda unintentional trilogy that started w chemical apprentice and went thru battery flight test. started off trying to do smth that would fit in NBA Jam or Hang Time and ended up here? absolutely had to kick it off w the synth lead up top. 1:43's where I totally switched the music vocab and did smth more upbeat? current? tried to meet the digifu syle halfway? and brought in the horn chords to make it blend. mid way thru writing this I knew my whole style had to change bc there's no way in hell I can follow this one up; I'll just have to knock this one out of the park and then switch up everything

and really the rest of the year up to Advent I ran up to almost any battle that wasn't an allgear and took a wild crack at it. most felt good? I wanna go with another collab; kilowatt64 and I did paper jam! nitro's aa9 ruled and I too wanted to jam out some printers. kinda idm style? somehow we just kept adding more detail, more layers, more depth, until I modulated a crap ton at the end and k64 screamed the printer raw for the final outro

picking any part of Advent 2023 would be near impossible. can't guarantee another completion run but what a finish if three years in a row is it for me. at least for a while. this one just about tore me in half and it already feels like a lifetime ago. and yeah totally worth it!

my proudest moment all year may be my second to final 2023 track midnight ocean ritual. what a sample pack. mb the first time I ever really felt like I knew what to do with samples? my best time with breakbeats ever? what a strange way for the year to end. whole year; get my FM together, rework my approach to rhythm from the ground up, bull doze thru Advent 2023, and then this song out of everything feels like the best or close. really wanna do more like this

While I wasn't super active on BotB, in 2023 I enjoyed my very first BotB collaboration by developing a theme DonutShoes composed. In the springtime I brought my "Dorothy Matrix 8-Bit Orchestra

" of eight Game Boys to a middle school for a grand classical music performance.

I took part in two Game Boy game jams, the GB Showdown '23 and GBCompo23. In the Showdown, I provided the soundtrack for the second-place entry by AllAloneGamez

, as well as programmed a story game about Noah's Ark

that featured my music and my friend's art. In the GBCompo, I made another soundtrack for AllAloneGamez

and discovered how to make music roms with LSDPack to create a 4-song EP for Game Boy

. (I'm still waiting hopefully for the judging results.)

I played a small handful of fun shows and open mics, saw my name on a venue marquee for the first time, and, during a summertime porch concert, got one of my most enthusiastic audience responses.

I played some accordion for roz's epic BotB Battle of the Bands collab, released some well-received EPs and tracks on Bandcamp

and put an album into the online distribution network for the first time.

I made a full-fledged Game Boy Camera music video

for a song I ALMOST finished in time for the Spoopy battle, but had to just finish on my own instead, and ended up being very very proud of the results. I busted out a Christmas cover for BubblegumOctopus's Christmas compilation

and brought a smile to my own face.

This is a lot to type out, but in the moment it always feels like other people are working much harder. I'm impressed by everything that BotBers like you are doing in this community. I can't promise I'll be hugely active on BotB in 2024, but everything is groundwork for everything else, isn't it? In 2024 I'm excited to play chips at my very first MAGFest

, record/upload/share lots more music, and play more shows in person as well! Let's do this!!

This year I collaborated with Graham on his new album. Which I now have on cassette! Very awesome to hold a physical copy of your music. At the time I worked so much on the song I couldn't tell if I liked it anymore but now I think it's pretty good.
botched siesta

Thanks to all collaborators in 2023 as all of them were awesome and great. If I had 3 links instead of 2 I would link a moss covered statue (feat. damifortune) as well.
...

In general tinymod was so awesome and the completionist push made made make a lot of music I'm proud of. But making the oswald 3 song might have permanently lodged "oswald-type" music into my brain as an influence.

Thanks all, and happy new year, and happy glue year, and thanks botb.

It was my first year on BOTB, I only submitted a couple tunes but I'm happy with how this one came out :>

https://battleofthebits.com/arena/Entry/summertrip+to+the+arcades/61622/