Idk if enough people care about this game to warrant this but I feel like it's something that would work well for OHCs on this site

charting software:
https://arrowvortex.ddrnl.com/

lua guide:
https://quietly-turning.github.io/Lua-For-SM5/

what about the music though? there could be problems with copyright if someone's not careful and i doubt the admins want to deal with that

Right, but the idea I had in mind was something more like the OHC bitpack being a song (or multiple songs, to choose 1 from) that the competitors have to chart
To address the music problem, I guess if the OHC host were to host a bitpack with rules that let you select your own music, it would have to be copyright free music with attribution or music you made yourself.

Folks occasionally (rarely?) host "cover battles" where the bitpack is some variant of "pick another botbr's tune in [category x]". Something similar here, e.g. "make a chart for a Summer Chip XIV song" could be a great way to do this while maintaining both the spirit of BotB and complying with the CC licenses.

i feel like this is something decadent decade 2 would probably introduce if only because that would be the best place to introduce it. like xaser implied, the only way for this to be a format is if it were limited to cc licensed songs only, and ones that line up with botb's standard cc license at that (by-nc-sa 3.0

). so, in essence:

• previous entries only, or
• songs that happen to share our license, if possible

i feel like it's in enough of that grey area to find some pushback a la smw tho since copyright and piracy concerns are very much a thing that exists^tm. with that said, it should be fine however, so long as people follows the rules and don't upload smth like this is america or megalovania as bitpacks :)

hello.

I'm sure someone suggested this before, I think it was keffie.
I think the idea back then was that you may only chart existing botb entries.

this is botb-rules grey area tho, because covers are not allowed.
grey area because you can argue against this being a cover, and I totally see that.

everything else shld be off limits.

nitpick: CC BY and CC BY-NC are also compatible with CC BY-NC-SA

also to be clear, covers are currently disallowed in minor battles even if they're covers of other botb works

Yes, the tool is still going strong on the original website: https://www.stepmania.com/

I have a very long knowledge of Stepmania itself... as in, back to I think 2005-2006, so I've heard of the tool. However, I ended up leaving that behind over the years, though I still have fun with some of the audio from time to time (namely, the announcers). And one of the themes that I have is the reason why I know of the Odd Couple theme song... and it is the earliest that I remember hearing the Sega Saturn version of Daytona USA's Game Over song.

The biggest thing running through my head is indeed the song selection. I recommend limiting the scope to the songs that were actually released on Battle of the Bits for the time being... and perhaps we should even create a Battle of the Bits theme (not the music kind of theme, but rather an add-on for Stepmania that allows you to customize the user interface, music for the menus, etc.: announcer calls are their own separate package). I think creating a theme would probably be part of the fun when it comes to showcasing these charts.

Also, I remember my own songs being charted, though not with Stepmania that I'm aware of. Instead, they were charted through Clone Hero. So yes, I am aware of them in that manner.

"Yes, the tool is still going strong"
Not exactly, there hasn't been a new release in a hot minute, and there's a successor called Outfox that performs a lot better
I use both

i think charts for botb entries is a pretty creative idea. definitely that should be the scope of the format imo. i also think it sort of transcends coverness since the focus is on a completely different process that just happens to involve an entry - it's not so different from kilowatt's series where you listen to an entry and draw something around it, or Tex's serieses that cross reference other botb entries in other mediums as the bitpack.

that said, this is also not something i have any experience with, so i am no authority on the matter

i feel like it's only a cover if any music is being made that has the intent of matching the original as much as possible. of course, people have different definitions on what can and can't be one, but my opinion on the matter is that if it isn't music it isn't technically a cover

kommisar will destroy everyone

When did covers get banned? This definitely used to be a thing "way back when" -- couple of links:

https://battleofthebits.com/arena/Battle/2462
https://battleofthebits.com/arena/Battle/1294
https://battleofthebits.com/arena/Battle/777
https://battleofthebits.com/arena/Battle/1639

If the intent is to prevent folks from submitting a cover instead of an original track in a random battle, that makes sense for sure, but it's written in a way that prevents these dedicated "cover battles" from existing again, which is a shame since there was some cool collab stuff coming out of these.

I don't really think this applies in stepmania's case either way though -- it's ultimately a different medium (i.e. basically what damifortune said).

From what I've heard the rules are the way they are now due to a specific instance where a person pulled from a botbr's work on souncloud that was not licensed to be covered. If anyone was present at the time and could elaborate that'd be great.

That said... if it was never entered on botb that is entirely on the host. I don't see why the rules needed to change. If you select a work that is not on botb, again, that is entirely on you for not doing your due diligence to confirm whether or not it was an entry...

I guess that's not really what's being asked here, though, only sort of adjacent. Sorry for going off-topic.

So I do have a question, then; what about creating a format specifically for covers of previous BotB entries?

We have that little rule box that lists the rules for every battle. It can be updated depending on whether or not late penalties have been disabled, so why not just remove / modify that rule when doing a cover battle?

I think it might be a good idea to summarize format-specific rules there, too, then link to the lyceum for more info. Currently a lot of entries get entered that might slightly break the rules in one way or another. Displaying a summary of rules might help new users a lot.

But this way, the same logic can be applied to the Stepmania chart, without going through a bunch of hoops to let users know how those battles work.