::|CONTENTS
- Where am I?
- The Battles
- The Community
- The XP Grinding
- The Money
- The Miscellaneous Things (that are still important)
So you registered.
What now?!
Where am I?
You are on Battle of the Bits! Since 2005,
Battle of the Bits (BotB) has been an artistic hub particularly for those in the remix and chiptune communities. You've joined our ranks, which means you are now a
BotBr—a member of Battle of the Bits. You are probably wondering what you can do here...
The Battles
Most of the action takes place as battles of all shapes and sizes. We love to create music and art, train our skills, and have fun with lots of other people all around the globe!
Getting involved in battles is super easy; there are two flavors 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 may be a bit of an exaggeration...).
Major battles typically run for a month or more so that many people have a chance to enter. They often have a specific
format that specifies which tools can be used. Some battles allow more than one format, which means you can submit an entry for each format if you so desire.
There are three (sometimes four) stages to a major battle: the bit period, the entry period, the voting period, and the results. Not all battles have a bit period; in this stage, users can submit samples to be used in the battle. Few major battles have a bit period; the most prominent one to have it is
Detroit. If there is no bit period, then the first phase of the battle is the entry period. During the entry period, BotBrs can submit an original work to any of the given formats. After the entry period comes the voting period, where all registered users can vote on entries. After the voting period ends, the entries of the battle are ranked based on the average score that they received; those with the highest-scoring entries get trophies and glory!
Many major battles occur annually, and other ones often are held in-between.
Spring Tracks,
Summer Chip, and
Winter Chip, and
Detroit are four examples of yearly major battles.
One Hour Battles
One Hour Battles (OHBs) are battles that last for one hour. These are hosted by other BotBrs and occur on a spontaneous basis (i.e., they have no regular schedule). You can host your own OHBs, too! However, you must have a format badge for the format you wish for the OHB to have. To obtain a format badge, you must have at least seven entries in that format, each with an average voting score of 20 or greater. OHBs restrict participants to one format, and always include a
bitpack. This bitpack provides either a set of samples that must be used in your submission and/or any additional rules, themes, and restrictions. It is important to abide by the bitpack, or you may be downvoted by those who vote on the entries.
Two Hour Battles
Added in 2020, these battles last 2 hours instead of only one. The hosting criterias are different for this battle type and it also depends on your current level.
Four Hour Battles
Also added in 2020 and with an even longer entry period!
For more detailed information about hour battles, see
XHB,
OHB,
2HB and
4HB.
For more detailed information about battles, see
battle.
For more detailed information about formats, see
format.
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!).
However, by only browsing the website you are missing out on half of what the site has to offer! Most of the musical knowledge discussion, OHB round-ups, happy fun times, and general chit-chat is done in the
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. 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 in the site's top bar.
Rules and Guidelines
As with any community, BotB has some guidelines which should be followed in order to maintain 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, and the hosting/submission mechanisms. Please compete honestly and fairly!
- Silliness is welcome on BotB, but only in moderation. Please recognize 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.
BotBrs who disobey these guidelines will receive
ailments on their account.
The XP Grinding
Indeed, BotB is an MMORPG in the making!
By involving yourself in the community, you gain points. After you get a certain amount of points, you level up. Once you reach certain levels, you will gain access to more features on the site. To view a chart of the exact point values required to level up and obtain
Bonus Magic Powers, refer to
this page.
There are points for many different
classes—
chipist points for chiptune creators,
criticist points for the mass-voters,
pixelist points for the artsy types, and many more.
Leveling up may sound daunting, but it's actually quite easy to jump up levels really quickly if you get involved!
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 = 532.44 USD
b1 = 683.70 CAD
b1 = 452.65 EUR
b1 = 396.72 GBP
b1 = 58,835 JPY
...except these values are all MADE UP (but in proportion)!. You cannot actually exchange boons for real money, unfortunately (if we could, everyone here would probably be millionaires).
Boons are used for many transactions in BotB. Unlike MMORPGs, you cannot buy bigger weapons of mass destruction or really tacky-looking armor (yet), but you can make a deposit of
b725 to host your very own
OHB! Don't worry, you will get your deposit back
if three or more people compete in it!
Also, if you are level seven or higher you can edit articles here on the Lyceum. You even get boons for your hard work!
You can also give boons to another BotBr. Perhaps as a gift to your secret love interest...
You can earn boons in more ways than you can spend them (which is why they inflate so much). Boons can easily be earned by participating in major battles and OHBs and you get even more for winning them or placing high. You also get boons when people listen to or view your entry and/or and download it. 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.
Where can I upload my new song?
BotB does not have anywhere for uploading music you've created outside major battles or OHBs, unfortunately. You could try dropping it in our
chatroom, someone would probably give it a listen!
What do the words on the voting page mean? What is heart-magic and shit in pants?
These are voting categories for major competitions. You judge the entry based on five categories which are entirely up to your interpretation! For example, if you think a song really shreds and has an extreme 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 six out of seven, you can give that entry a six in all five categories.
Can I create my own OHBs?
Yes! Before you have the ability to host, you must submit at least seven entries of a particular format with a voting score of 20 or higher to either a major battle or OHBs. This "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 badge appearing next to your name. Once you have a format badge, to host an OHB in that format you need to make a
b725 deposit. You will get this deposit 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!
Mighty BotBrs (
) with seven or more format badges, Ascended BotBrs (
), and Admins (
) are exempt from the seven-submissions rule—they can host in any format they choose regardless of if they have a badge for it.
Why are the OHB hosting costs so expensive?
The hosting costs were 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 those mentioned above can host any format at any time. If you want a chance to use a particularly uncommon format, ask one of them! This is the only way a lot of formats ever get hosted, because few people actually have the badges.
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, unless the rules specifically state otherwise.
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! There have been cover OHBs in the past, but it has been decided that this isn't what we want on BotB!
4b) Do not claim someone 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!
Rule number two, four, and six also apply to all major battles.
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.
If you still have queries, check out the other pages in the
Lyceum or come to our
chatroom and ask any one of us!
Now get out there and make yourself proud!
