In December, we launched our Do-It-Yourself online contest platform. Since then, we've been fielding a lot of requests from clients looking for help with designing and customizing contests, or incorporating contests into their existing marketing mix.

We simply can't keep up. Demand is out-pacing what we can deliver on, and the product is already at a state where fulfillment on these requests can come from other sources.

The Strutta platform is multi-faceted. There is the online solution, which itself is quite extinsible and customizable, and then there is the pending API, which will help put the control in the hands of developers to repurpose as they see fit.

While we work with developers to prepare the API, we have demand for CSS designers too. The online DIY contests still need to deft hands of a CSS designer to make them unique for each client, and we've made the process relatively simple. Ask us about how you can use our style kit to build contests that match existing client websites, or create your own original designs.

We're hoping to team up with a number of trusted partners to help us fulfill many of these requests. Put simply, we may have some work for you, so if you're interested or have questions, please get in touch so we can talk specifics by using info[at]strutta.com.

*img: "Help Wanted" by Egan Snow on Flickr.

When we were preparing our site, we used some of the better YouTube videos we could find and put them into games. We were careful only to use videos that allowed embedding, and we made sure that the video creators got all of the credit for their work.

It will be possible for the YouTubers to claim their accounts in a just a few steps, and the video below will explain more:

It's time to open up Strutta to the talented guitar heroes, breakdancers, BMX freestylers, cow-bell players and chainsaw jugglers of YouTube. We shot a short call-to-action video for the YouTube community, today. Check it out below.

It's been a few weeks since we allowed our first wave of tester/users into the site, and since then the development team has been hard at work. They're tightening up loose ends, building new features and responding to "alpha user" feedback, making sure that the game is as fun as possible.

I sat Lyal down and put him in the hot seat for some questions about what's shaking: