thasauce.netThaSauce Network - News Portal for the Video Game ReMix Community

ThaSauce Network News Portal for the Video Game ReMix Community Menu ☰ Home Community Facebook Landing Page Forums Frequently Asked Questions Friends Rules of Etiquette Sitemap Tutorials ThaSauce Development Update Posted on March 12, 2021 by Ramaniscence What’s going on with VGMix? OverLooked ReMix? ReMix:ThaSauce? Compoverse? Hi. Hello. Is this thing on? It’s been a while since I’ve made a post on this site. The days of using ThaSauce.net as a news portal have been behind us for a while, but development on ThaSauce websites has been active for some time. Over the years we’ve inherited a lot of your favorite sites and with them a lot of responsibility. We get a number of questions from time-to-time about the status is of a particular website. The answer is always the same: It’s…coming along. There’s a larger, overarching plan we’re working on and I think I’ve explained it enough times in enough places to finally sit down and write it out. So here it goes… A bit of history… Before we can talk about everything that we plan on doing, let me take a short moment to talk about how we got here. What originally started out in 2005 as an idea to make a VGM news portal, eventually tacked on yet another arrangement site” and then a compo portal? Now things are just out of control. As mentioned above ThaSauce Network currently consists of this site ThaSauce.net”, ReMix:ThaSauce , Compoverse (our rebranding of Compo:ThaSauce), OverLooked ReMi X (officially handed to us by richter), VGMix Archive for all known files from former VGMix sites, and a version of VGMix (currently called VG(Re)Mix) based on the vision of the would-be new site as laid out by virt. The story of OverLooked ReMiX is a pretty short one: richter is just too busy these days and wanted to hand it off to someone who would maintain it. We control the hosting, domains, the full gamut. Future development of the site is…difficult as it’s so closely tied to a particular version of PhpBB and software updates have gotten even harder. We’re describing the current status of the site as archival,” which basically means it is in a read-only state for the foreseeable future. The story of VGMix is a more complicated one. In 2013 we started development on what we were initially calling VGMix 4”. Users had been asking when a new version of VGMix would pop up, and some had even tried to roll out their own, but we decided we’d take the responsibility onto us. After reaching out to virt and getting his ideas for what a new version of VGMix would look like, we went to work. There were a lot of details about VGMix that virt had envisioned, but the basis was this: Users should be able to upload their own tracks, freely, whenever they want. This includes completed tracks and works-in-progress (or WIPs). Users should be able to provide feedback to each other for the above tracks. Users should be able to host impromptu compos on demand. Users should be able to fully host and release album projects on the site, including submitting applications, WIPs, and feedback. Much of our vision for the future development of all the sites revolve around these goals and, ultimately, VGMix will likely be the center of this network.” The Vision So VGMix is the cornerstone of the future, but where does that leave all of the other sites? In the current vision for the future, each site plays a role in a sort of music development pipeline”. A process to take a beginner musician to, potentially, a full video game music composer. Here’s the breakdown: Compoverse Everything starts with Compoverse. For the uninitiated, Compoverse is where we host compos,” or music composition competitions. As the site explains: Compo is a slang word for composition competition” commonly used by the arrangement community. It is derived from the demoscene competitions by the same name. Contrary to this, compos are less of a competition and more of an exercise in composition abilities. Each compo has its own unique format and guidelines and while some are as short as 1 hour , others can last anywhere from a month to a few months . It’s important to remember that the primary purpose of compos is to hone your skills and abilites by working within, sometimes very constricting, guidelines. These techniques have proven essential to the growth of countless musicians. Remember: the only way to lose a compo is to not participate . The site currently hosts about 7 compos on weekly or monthly schedules. One particular compo, One Hour Compo, has been hosted every week for over 10 years. During these compos, users work on tracks, following a particular theme, under a constricting time-limit. In many cases after the compo is completed we host a live listening party on our community Discord server , and users can get live peer review. This process has been invaluable to the growth of countless musicians throughout the years, including VGM composers virt and Danny Baranowski. Compoverse offers new users an opportunity to develop experience with new tools and techniques and receive live feedback. Additionally, it challenges veteran users to try new things and streamline their workflow. Compoverse will continue to offer a small number of ThaSauce-hosted”, regularly scheduled compos. Additionally, the system will be expanded to offer a number of new features to admins that will also allow us to white-label the service to other compo communities. Making it easier for admins of all compos to host and administer regularly scheduled compos anywhere they desire. VGMix (Part 1: WIPs/Compos) Once users gain some confidence and experience it’s time to move on to VGMix. Here, users will be able to submit WIPs of more full-featured game arrangements and receive feedback. Additionally, users can join, or create , impromptu compos. These compos can be created by anyone, at any time, and is a great opportunity for a few friends to quickly jump in, create some constraints, host their files, and even have a live on-site listening party. VGMix (Part 2: Releases) Once users are comfortable with the feedback they received from WIPs, users will be able to convert their track from a work-in-progress to an actual released track. Once released they can continue to receive private critique, or simply receive public comments like This song is great!” Users will receive on-site Achievements” as they progress as artists to help encourage them to keep working as well as try new things. Additionally, VGMix will provide templates to allow for easy submissions to other arrangement sites including ReMix:ThaSauce, OverLooked ReMix, and even OverClocked ReMix. ReMix:ThaSauce ReMix:ThaSauce will maintain a similar position to where it has previously been: a bridge between self-released tracks and submission to a curated platform. Users will be able to submit tracks, that will be evaluated by panel, for an opportunity to be included within the curated collection. Consider this to be a badge of pride for user growth. OverLooked ReMiX OverLooked ReMix will continue to do exactly what it excels in: provide ridiculous interpretations of video game music and video game culture . Users that want to create joke, parody, or just simply outlandish tracks will be able to submit them here. Again, songs will be evaluated by a panel of passionate administrators for an opportunity to be included within that collection. OverClocked ReMix Though not within ThaSauce Network, OCReMix’s existence can’t be ignored. It has long been the center of the video game arrangement community and it too is included within the overall vision of our future development. As it has always been OCReMix remains the pinnacle” of achievement within the VGM community. A mountain for users to climb, and conquer along their journey. As previously mentioned, VGMix will work to not only prepare but also help facilitate users’ transition to OverClocked ReMix releases by hosting their tracks and providing them with formatted submission templates. This...