What is Babylon?

Alexandria, our current testnet release, offered changes which were relatively minor (from the point of view of a regular testnet participant). This is because these enhancements were motivated by technical objectives to support the future development of the platform rather than broadening functionality or improving user experience.

Our upcoming testnet release however, codenamed Babylon, is rather different from Alexandria in the sense that some of the changes will have a very obvious tangible impact on testnet participants. We are particularly excited about the introduction of Atlas 0.1, which will provide a much more attractive and user-friendly video consumption experience.

Babylon's main goals are:

  • Launching Atlas 0.1: This will be the initial release of our content consumption client, aiming to be considerably more effective than the current Pioneer media experience.
  • Deploy a new content directory and corresponding working group: We will be modifying the content directory to allow for a new data model for content, supported by new schemas. We will also make some associated improvements to the Content Curator Working Group.
  • Deploy first self-hosted Joystream Hydra node only supporting content directory: Further work on our Hydra framework is required in order to support the new content directory.

Unlike Alexandria, Babylon will not be launched on a new chain, so there will be no need to migrate data or balances.

Introducing Atlas

Arguably the most significant noticeable change for testnet participants will be the launch of Atlas 0.1.

For our past testnets, the only way to upload and consume content has been through our Pioneer interface. For Babylon however, publishing content will be achieved using our CLI tool and content consumption will be done using Atlas.

When?

Based on work still outstanding for the release of Babylon, we hope to launch the new testnet on or before November 30th, though this tentative date is subject to change!

If you would like to take a closer look at how we're progressing with development of Babylon, please take a look at our GitHub projects.

Also, if you haven't already joined, we recommend checking out our Telegram group, where you can ask questions and discuss the project with the rest of our community.

Disclaimer

All forward looking statements, estimates and commitments found in this blog post should be understood to be highly uncertain, not binding and for which no guarantees of accuracy or reliability can be provided. To the fullest extent permitted by law, in no event shall Joystream, Jsgenesis or our affiliates, or any of our directors, employees, contractors, service providers or agents have any liability whatsoever to any person for any direct or indirect loss, liability, cost, claim, expense or damage of any kind, whether in contract or in tort, including negligence, or otherwise, arising out of or related to the use of all or part of this post, or any links to third party websites.