Best Chiptune Contest
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Origins
In November 2006, Drakken proposed a Best Chiptune Contest (BCC) as a way to fill the time in-between BSC's. The idea met with immediate community approval, and a list of eligible "chiptune" systems was drawn up. Nominations began in December, and the contest proper began on Christmas with preliminary voting rounds. Round 1 brackets opened in January 2007, followed by Round 2 in February, Round 3 in early March, and Round 4 in mid-March.
Format
The basic format was borrowed from the Best Song Contests, with a bracket system pitting pairs of tracks against one another. Voting was public, and beginning in Round 2 streaming songs were added to the bracket pairings using MP3 tags, allowing participants to listen to the songs without leaving GFF. There were 44 nominators total, and 256 tracks made it into the contest.
As in the BSC, results were posted in results threads. Several threads were made outside of the bracket sub-forums, notably the main discussion thread and two threads where participants could express praise over new tracks they liked or pay tribute to tracks that had been eliminated.
Eligible Systems
Eligibility was determined by community consensus. Generally, any system with FM Towns or similar hardware synthesis was accepted, while sample-based formats like MIDI and SPC were inelligible.
- Adlib
- Amstrad CPC
- Amstrad GX400
- Atari 2600-7800
- Atari Lynx
- Atari ST
- Commodore 64
- Colecovision
- Fujitsu FM-Towns (except the CDDA tracks)
- Intellivision
- MSX
- MSX2
- NEC PC-88 (except CDDA or MIDI enhanced tracks)
- NEC PC Engine / TG-16 (except the CDDA tracks)
- Neo Geo
- Nintendo Game Boy / Game Boy Color
- Nintendo Famicom / NES
- Nintendo Virtual Boy
- Sega SG 1000
- Sega Master System
- Sega Game Gear
- Sega Megadrive / Genesis
- Sega CD (except the CDDA tracks)
- Sharp X1
- Sharp X68000 (except the MIDI enhanced tracks)
- TI-99/4A
- Vectrex
- ZX Spectrum
Discussion and Notable Events
Discussion over the tracks has been similar to that in past Best Song Contests, with participants frequently clashing and breaking into camps. There was some initial resistance to music deemed "not chippy enough," and the usual ROCKIN' and ORCHESTRATIN' camps have made appearances, albeit in modified forms. The BCC has also seen a surge of interest in Commodore 64 music, particularly that of Tim and Geoff Follin, helping to spur the establishment of The Follin Project.
The later stages of the BCC coincided with GFF's instability and rebirth, and were repeatedly delayed throughout April and May 2007.
Staff
- Drakken - Contest Idea, Nominations, Tagging, Thread Creation, Thread Maintenence
- orion_mk3 - Results Threads, Minor Thread Creation/Maintenence
- Crash Landon - Moderator Support
- Dr. Uzuki - Moderator Support
- niki - Moderator Support
