Hi everyone.
We wanted to let everyone know some of the things that have been going on lately, and some of the things that are GOING to be happening around here in the months to come. First of all, BitFellas recently - on the 18th of march, actually - celebrated its second birthday! And just a short while later, the scene kind of celebrated US by making may of 2008 our biggest month visitor-wise ever. A big thank you goes out to everyone who has visited us and has shown a continued interest in BitFellas!
The 2nd birthday was also celebrated in style with
#28, a specially dedicated issue of our podcast.
Anyway, on with the show. We'll deal with each section of the site separately, since there's a lot going on.
As you all probably know,
BitJam is the umbrella that houses the BitJam scene radio and database, the BitJam podcasts and now the
BitJam Music Competition #1! Not heard of it you say? Well, let us explain! It is a remix competition, open to all and any musicians that would like to try their hand at it. Basically, you are given a choice of three wellknown scene tunes to remix. Samplepacks are provided, though you are by no means bound by them - we encourage the use of your own instruments. The competition was launched may 1st, and is open for new submissions upto the 30th of june. The best contributions will receive exposure both on the site and in a musicdisk. More info at the site.
BitJam is a very important part of BitFellas. It encompasses the
BitJam Podcast as well as the BitJam
scene radio, not to mention a few other projects as well.
Every sunday a new issue of the podcast comes out, and so far no less than 38 episodes have been made for everyone's enjoyment. You may even want to get involved, or do an issue for yourself? Check the site for more information on who to talk to, and how to do it. The BitJam podcast is also available though
iTunes.
As for the BitJam scene radio, it is also constantly growing, and currently consists of near 23,000 tunes by musicians spread over all active and nonactive platforms. The database which holds all the information about the music, and tells you things like which productions any given tune was used in is growing every day, as is the amount of tunes that have direct download links. There is currently a whopping 5,000 comments and 29,000 votes in the database, and growing every day. Some of our users have even started having internal competitions over who can add the most download links in a given day. Head over and start requesting your favourite tunes right now!
BitJam also spawned a musicdisk,
BitJam Vol. 1.1 : Solaris that you should go check out if you haven't already.
Many people have contributed to the BitJam section of the site since the beginning, and we would like to acknowledge 505, ALecs, AlienPDX, aMUSIC, AMI, Angeldawn, Axel, Bobic, Bpoint, BrainBox, BuZz, Buzzer, C-Jeff, Can, Chromag, Critikill, CONS, Core, CSDb, dalezy, Dipswitch, Electrolyte, Evil, Flaxo, Gargaj, Genetic Gemini, Ghandy, Gloom, Grim, H2O, Helge, Icecast, Jacorre, JCO, KEiTO, Kenët, KF, Little Bitchard, MadenMann, Menace, Modland, ne7, Pohar, Pouët, pOWL, Raynoa, rc55, SaphirJD, Scamp, Serpent, Skan, SMT, SOASC=, Talus, tEiS, Truck, Ultra, Vincenzo, Virgill, xeNusion, Xiph, Zeg, Zoom, all involved in the first musicdisk and all we forgot.
Our section for articles, diskmagazines and other content continues to grow, and is currently nearing 1,000 unique articles. Our partnership with the newly revitalized ZINE has proven to be of mutual benefit, and both issues that have been released since the rebirth can now be read in full online at
SceneCity. We also host the online editions of diskmagazines like Jurassic Pack, Recollection and Hugi.
With this we also have a small announcement; ALL issues of
ZINE are coming to SceneCity! On june 4th we released the online editon of
issue #1, with the rest to follow at irregular intervals during the summer. And, that may not be the only gem from the past you'll be seeing in this section, so we strongly advise to keep watching this space.
BitWorld is our scene database project - still very much in beta and missing a lot of the functionality that we envision for the project. That does not mean the extremely dedicated team behind it is not giving it everything it has every day. On any typical day any where between 10 and 50 productions have been added or
updated with new information, so check back often and feel free to use the new
BitWorld subforum for feedback and anything else. BitWorld recently broke the 20,000 productions banner, and covers them all in great detail - just check out
Sonic Attack,
Zine #11 or
Psylteflesk for some examples. Currently the database is Amiga only.
ArtCity our art section will see a major upgrade in the next months, that's really all there is to say on the subject - stay tuned and you will simply have to see with your own eyes what is coming around the corner.
In the two years since BitFellas opened, the
BitFellas News section is perhaps the section that has grown to be most successful. In that time, we have entered into a successful partnership with Pouët to supply the news for their front page, and are syndicated at several other sites, the newest of which started carrying our feed - scene.org.
Rest assured we will continue to deliver up-to-the minute scene news, and continue trying to do the best news editing we possibly can. However, it's also up to you - the scene to help us do that. If you are launching your demoparty, or you have some other hot demoscene scoop, let us know by
submitting your news item directly on our page.
BitFellas ForumOur forums are the core of our awesome community. As simple as that. We have worked hard to strengthen and focus the forum recently, merging some sections for a better, more easily manouverable forum. We hope everyone agrees with us that the changes are for the better. We certainly think so.
The FutureSo, for now, that's it. We are very happy about the way this site has grown and made its niche as a valuable community and resource in the scene since its inception just two years ago. How time flies. However, a few things need mentioning before we will shut up. As good as anything is, it can always get better. We need the feedback and ideas of our users to enhance this site even more. We want everyone with an idea or anthing to get in touch with us. Write in the forum, join our
#bitfellas irc or
Skype chats.
We are always
looking for more talented individuals to help out with certain areas of the site. If you are an experienced php programmer with knowledge of mysql and want to get into the guts of a biggish community site, then we are especially interested in hearing from you.
Yours,
BitFellas staff.
