::|CONTENTS
- Where am I?
- The Battles
- The Community
- The XP Grinding
- The Money
- The Miscellaneous Things (that are Still Important)
So I registered.
What now?!
Where am I?
You are in Battle of the Bits! Ever since 2005, Battle of the Bits (BotB) has been an artistic hub particularly for those in the remix and chiptuning community!
You've joined our ranks! That means you are now a
BotBr - a member of Battle of the Bits. So you are probably wondering what you can do here!
The Battles
Most of the action takes place within battles of all shapes and sizes. We love to create music and art and love to train our skills and love to have fun with lots of other people all around the planet (Earth)!
Getting involved with battles is super easy! There are two flavours available:
Major Battles
Major battles are colossal clashes between giants and titans, gods and demons, wars that will go down in history and change the shape of the world forever... This explanation a bit of a fabrication...
Major battles are ones that typically run for several weeks so that a lot of people have a chance to enter. Major battles have a specific
format which define what chips/tools can be used. Some battles have more than one format, which means you can submit an entry for each format if you wish! (There is no requirement to).
There are three stages to a major battle. First is the submission period, in which time anybody can submit an original composition to any of the given formats (if there is a choice). Secondly comes the voting period, where you can score other people's tracks. Finally, the results of the battle are publicised.
Recurring competitions (such as
Detroit and
Winter/Summer Chip) are held annually. But there are also smaller battles all year round...
One Hour Battles
One-hour battles (OHB) are battles that last for one hour, surprisingly. Like major battles, OHBs also have an individual format, but unlike major battles an OHB includes a
bitpack. This bitpack provides a set of samples that can be used in your composition and/or any additional rules/themes/restrictions; remember - no using outside sources (any sample not provided in the pack) and abide by the rules or you will be down-voted by your fellow competitors!
OHBs are hosted by other members of BotB. You can host your own battles, too! But you need seven entries above a 20 score on other people's OHBs before you can make your own. For more information on OHBs,
go to the Lyceum page.
Unlike major battles, OHBs are hosted rather spontaneously. But how can you ever know about new OHBs? That's when you join the chats! Read the section below for more.
Battle Formats
As of November 23, 2016, Battle of the Bits hosts battles in
60 formats! Check the
Browser for all entries in all formats, or to learn about a format.
#botb
You have undoubtedly seen BotB's forum - it's that long list of things on the front page. The forum is great for posting comments on submissions, or for posting about feature requests and site bugs (puke's work is never done </3).
However, by only browsing the website you are missing out on half of what the site has to offer! Indeed, most of the musical knowledge discussion, OHB round-ups and, of course, happy fun times and general chit-chat is done in
IRC. The BotB IRC channel is a great place to hang out. Don't be shy, come on by! We are all very lovely people and we are very welcoming to new users who want to contribute something. And we'll happily answer any questions you have, too!
You can find the BotB IRC at:
irc.esper.net #botb
Alternatively,
you can use the "Chats" link above.
Rules and Guidelines
As with any community, BotB has some guidelines which should be followed in order to withhold maximum respect from your peers; please keep to them!
- This site prides itself in serving a wide range of people from all over the world that share an interest in chiptune/sample-based composition. There are users that have participated in the site's activities since its birth, as well as BotBrs that are very new to the community. Please keep this in mind when making comments and submissions on the site, or talking in IRC. We want to make BotB a fun place for everyone!
- Deliberately attempting to break the site; or exploiting a bug or competition votes for personal gains and/or the attack of other BotBrs is deeply frowned upon. This includes, but is not limited to, the abuse of the voting, tagging, commenting, MP3 rendering, hosting and submission mechanisms. Please compete honestly and fairly!
- Silliness is welcome on BotB, but only in moderation. Please recognise scenarios in which silliness is not appropriate, and act sensibly. For example, submitting extremely short joke songs ("troll entries") to major battles is not appropriate.
A BotBr who disobeys these guidelines recieves
ailments on their profile.
The XP Grinding
Indeed, BotB is an MMORPG in the making!
By involving yourself in the community, you gain points! And after you get a certain amount of points, you level up! You all know how it works!
There are points for many different
classes -
chipist points for chiptune creators,
criticist points for the mass-voters,
pixelist points for the artsy fartsy, and many more. The number is always increasing!
Leveling up may sound daunting, but it's actually really easy to jump up levels really quickly, so long as you get involved! By leveling up, you get access to
more features on BotB.
The Money
The official legal tender on BotB is the boon. Boons are subdivided into one hundred nubs. Here are the current exchange rates for the boon:
b1 = 489.37 USD
b1 = 658.89 EUR
b1 = 485.58 CAD
b1 = 773.21 GBP
Except these values are all MADE UP (but in proportion). And you cannot actually exchange boons for real money (if we could, I think everyone here would be millionaires).
Boons are used for many transactions in BotB. Unlike MMORPGs you cannot buy bigger weapons of mass destruction or some really tacky looking armour or anything like that
yet, but you can make a deposit of
b750 to host your very own
OHB! Don't worry, you get your deposit back if three or more people compete in it!
Also, if you are a LEVEL 7 or higher you can make a new article here on the Lyceum! You even get a sum of
b33 for your hard work!
You can also give boons to another BotBr! Perhaps as a gift to your secret love interest... <3 <3 <3
You can earn boons in more ways than you can spend them (which is why they inflate so much). You earn boons by participating in OHBs and major battles and you get even more for winning them or placing high. You also get boons when people listen to your songs or look at your pictures and download them. So make more things and you'll be raking in the cash!
The Miscellaneous Things (that are Still Important)
Who runs this place??
puke7 does! He is a very kind and thoughtful man who does a lot to keep this site running in his spare time! So ALL THE HEARTS FOR PUKE! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
Where can I upload my new song?
BotB does not have anywhere for uploading music you've done outside of a major compo or OHB, unfortunately. You could try dropping it in our
chatroom, I'm sure someone would give it a listen!
What do these words mean on the voting page? WTF is heart-magic and shit in pants??? What do these mean???
These are voting categories for major competitions. You judge the entry based on 5 categories which are entirely up to your interpretation! For example, if you think a song really shreds and has an extreeeeeeeeeeeeeme guitar solo, maybe you can vote it highly in "thumb-blister"! If you are still a bit confused by the voting categories, you can also treat them like a normal OHB vote. For example, if you would vote on a certain song a 6/7, you can give that entry all 6s in all 5 categories.
Can I create my own OHBs?
Yes! Before you have the ability to host, you need to submit at least 7 entries (with a score of 20 or higher) of a particular format in either a major battle or other people's OHBs! This then "proves your worth" in that format and unlocks it for you to host. (proof of this accomplishment is shown on your profile in the form of that format's icon appearing next to your name [a badge]) After doing this, you need to make a
b750 deposit, which you will get back if three or more people submit - for this reason, it's best to chat in IRC first to see if people will compete to avoid losing your boons!!
Admins (BotBrs by
) are exempt from the 7 submissions rule - they can host any format they choose.
Why are the OHB hosting costs so expensive?
The hosting costs were recently increased to stop all the trolls!! There were a lot of silly OHBs hosted which had either a very bad bitpack (i.e. "submit anything" OHBs) or only promoted troll entries - non-serious submissions. Silliness is welcome on BotB, but only limited quantities!
Remember that admins can host any format at any time. So if you want your chance to host a particularly uncommon format, ask the admins! This is the only way a lot of formats ever get hosted, because no one has the badges for them.
What are the rules for OHBs?
1) No uploading songs created outside of the allotted hour.
2) No using samples not in the bitpack when one is provided.
3) Follow the rules/themes/restrictions in the bitpack when they are provided.
4a) No covers/remixes. All submissions are to be your own original compositions.
4b) Do not claim somebody else's work as your own.
5) All OHB entries are to be anonymous.
6) Submit songs in the correct format. No NSFs in a S3XMODIT!
Rules 2), 4b), and 6) also apply to all major battles, also.
Can I get away with breaking the rules?
NO!!
What happens if I find a bug?
You should go to our
feature requests and bugs forum and create a new thread!
Can I exploit said bug for my own benefits?
NO!!
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If you still have queries, check out the other pages in our fair
Lyceum, or come to our
chatroom and ask any one of us!
Now get out there and make me proud!
