OSC5
DDR Bracket
1
Comments by
Juub005
Hello, and welcome to the 5th
Original Step Contest (OSC) hosted by Bemanistyle, formerly known as the Dance
Dance Revolution Original Step Contest (DDROSC). This is my third OSC contest,
and coincidentally the third contest I’ll have ever judged (the first two being
DDRExtreme.co.uk’s 80s MIX and WORLD TOUR). OSC was originally made due to the
overall lack of quality in DDRei Tournamix entries back in the day, but since
Dyogenez hasn’t realized that he uploaded DDRei without the forums, well,
Tournamix doesn’t happen to be alive right now. So will OSC replace Tournamix
in terms of popularity? Hopefully. Will OSC replace
Tournamix in terms of the lack of overall quality? Hopefully
not. Let’s go.
Okay, let’s start off with what I’ve
been given:
JUDGING
CRITERIA
GRAPHICS
/15
BANNER /7
Includes song artist and
song title /3
Does it look good? /3
Proper size/format /1
BACKGROUND /8
Includes song title /3
Does it look good? /4
Proper size/format (320
x 240 does not follow the rules) /1
SONG
Bitrate
128 kbps and doesn’t sound horrible /2
Creativity
in song choice /4
Edit
(length and cut) /4
Playability/appropriate for DDR? /5
SONG /15
STEPS /60
· fun?
· creative patterns used?
· did the
steps fit the song?
LIGHT /15
Bug-free?
Difficulty rating appropriate? /3
Fun?
/12
STANDARD /20
Bug-free?
Difficulty rating appropriate? /3
Fun?
/17
HEAVY /25
Bug-free?
Difficulty rating appropriate? /3
Fun?
/22
IF CHALLENGE IS INCLUDED
LIGHT /10
STANDARD /14
HEAVY /18
CHALLENGE /18
“Bug-free?
Difficulty rating appropriate?” remains /3
“Fun?”
/7, /11, /15, /15 respectively
TILT /10
Would I play it again? /3
Other /7
Now I’m
going to expand on that stuff.
GRAPHICS
/15
BANNER /7
Includes song artist and
song title /3
· If you mess this up, I’m not looking forward to playing
the rest of your entry. This is a must for DDR (with the exception of the lazy
banner style in DDR 5th Mix). If you don’t have both of these I’m
just going to give you a 0 because you just didn’t read the rules and because
it’s so essential to the graphics. If you spell something incorrectly or get
the artist wrong you’ll get a 1 or a 2. Otherwise, this is pretty much a free
three points!
Does it look good? /3
· Yeah, this is one thing I used to say was unimportant. But
it really is important. If you asked someone else to make your graphics
and they turned out awesome, you get 3 points even if you didn’t make the
banner! But yeah… if you’re having trouble making your graphics, download the
GIMP, which is free and which some people say is even better than Photoshop
(the billion dollar price difference probably helps)…I can’t name all the
things that look good or bad here; I’ll get specific on that stuff once I get
to playing the entries. One general thing I’d really prefer to see, though, is
for the title and the artist to have separate fonts.
Proper size/format /1
· Very simple: 256 by 80 or a larger multiple in PNG
format, please. No ITG dimensions here.
BACKGROUND /8
Includes song title /3
· Not too difficult. 0 if you somehow fail to include it, 1
or 2 if you spell it wrong.
Does it look good? /4
· See what I said for the banner. Also, I have this bias
against the artist appearing in the background because that’s mainly something
that started popping up ridiculously frequently thanks to Ultramix…
but don’t worry that’s not fair if I grade you down for something that was
perfectly allowed by the rules.
Proper size/format (320
x 240 does not follow the rules) /1
· Yeah like I said above, 320 x 240 is a smaller
multiple of 640 by 480 and will land you a 0. Yes, it’s an acceptable multiple
for DDR backgrounds, but it’s against the rules. Larger multiples are
acceptable, of course.
SONG /15
Bitrate
“over” 128 kbps and doesn’t sound horrible /2
· Um, I don’t know why it says over 128 kbps because
I’m pretty sure 128 is allowed. Yeah, it is. I won’t grade you down for having
128 kbps. Also, the “doesn’t sound horrible” part is much more important. Some
good entries have just been ruined by poor sound quality.
Creativity in song choice /4
· If you picked some song that’s been stepped over and over
again or something like that then you might suffer here. If you amuse me with
what you were brave enough to step (a song like “My Humps” or “POP”) you will
almost certainly get a 4.
Edit (length and cut) /4
· Acceptable DDR length is 1:02 to 2:10, generally, with
anything 2 minutes and over being ESPECIALLY rarely acceptable. Minimum 1:00;
maximum 2:45 (good luck getting a good grade on length for the latter). If your
song could obviously be cut shorter, that’s usually not good. If it’s too
obvious where you made the cut in the song, you might lose a point. If it’s too
obvious where you made the cut in the song and the cut is done messily enough
to throw off the sync (see Come Into My World from DDRei Tournamix 5), you’ll
lose 3-4 points depending on how much of the song it affects. Also, fadeouts
should not be too short and shouldn’t start too soon. If your steps make me dance
into a fadeout you will always lose points.
Playability/appropriate for DDR? /5
· Pretty important. It certainly affects all the stepcharts. You’ve (most likely) got an infinite amount of
songs to choose from, so you better have chosen intelligently. Also, is this a
good song? If not, how playable is that? I like most songs in DDR and I'm fine
with most music anyway so you shouldn’t have to worry too much about
that.
STEPS /60
· For
bug-free on all of these, I’ll interpret that as meaning no mines, hands, or
rolls (not that I can play rolls anyway), and… well it’s pretty rare that I
come across anything I’d call a bug on a chart. We’ll see.
LIGHT /15
Bug-free? Difficulty
rating appropriate? /3
· Difficulty rating is extremely important on light, because
that’s where the player is most likely to fail. The length of the song and
the max combo are certainly relevant to the foot rating.
Fun? /12
· Yes, Light charts can be fun. I didn’t have any problem
with Mission Mode or whatever it was on DDR Extreme 2 because the light charts
were still fun. Oh, by the way, on Light, anything that the Light player simply
can’t be expected to be able to do is not fun.
STANDARD /20
Bug-free? Difficulty
rating appropriate? /3
· I’m more lenient on Standard difficulty ratings because
they’re a bit trickier to determine. Still, they’re relevant…The length of
the song and the max combo are certainly relevant to the foot rating.
Fun? /17
· A lot of casual veteran players find Standard to be more
fun than Heavy, and I can see why. This level combines the ease of Light play
with the rhythmic development and stuff of Heavy play. and stuff. I don’t want
to see anything too hard here.
HEAVY /25
Bug-free? Difficulty
rating appropriate? /3
· Again, one more time: The length of the song and the
max combo are certainly relevant to the foot rating. Your 508-combo 180-BPM
stepchart is NOT an 8-footer unless it qualifies as a
5th Mix style long version—if it’s 2:10 it better be rated 9 feet.
(yes, it’s POSSIBLE for a 508-combo 180-BPM stepchart
that’s 2 minutes 10 seconds long to be 8 feet, but highly unlikely) Also, it’s
better to rate too high than to rate too low.
Fun? /22
· We’re not playing Theory Theory
Revolution here. Is it fun, and intentionally fun??? Is it LITTLE BOY (BOY OH*
BOY MIX) or is it JET WORLD? Is it SOMETHING WONDERFUL or is it CUTIE CHASER?
IF CHALLENGE IS INCLUDED
LIGHT /10
STANDARD /14
HEAVY /18
CHALLENGE /18
“Bug-free? Difficulty
rating appropriate?” remains /3
“Fun?” /7, /11, /15, /15
respectively
· If I see any ITG gimmicks here, well, that’s supposed to
be in the ITG bracket so you might get DQ’d or
something; I haven’t checked yet what the official ruling on that is. At most
you’ll get a 0/15 on challenge because it’s just against the rules for the DDR
division. UPDATE for Rock Steady: Going beyond 10 feet with your difficulty
rating is not an automatic "you lose."
As for a challenge… well, first of all, back when DDRMAX2
first hit the arcades, challenge charts were (not sure if this was 100% of the
time) specifically designed so you would mess up on an Oni
course and fail, due to certain tricks in the steps. Super Star -from Nonstop Megamix- is an excellent, excellent example of this, with a
16th concealed because it’s atop a freeze so you might not notice
when you have to hit it. Challenge charts don’t have to be overly hard
overall—they could be designed DDRMAX2-style.
Or they could be there as a chart harder than the Heavy
chart. Not as a chart that’s just on challenge because you wanted it included
in the file and it just didn’t turn out as well as Heavy. That’s not gonna fly. It’s gotta be harder
if it’s not specifically designed to break my combo in one or a few places.
Challenge should be fun as well. Psst…
I don’t like Maxx Unlimited all that much; I like
MAX300, though. Anyway, the fact that something’s 10 feet doesn’t mean that I
will be all that okay with seeing streams into jumps at speeds where they’re
ridiculously inconvenient, especially when it happens 3 or more times.
TILT /10
Would I play it again? /3
· A very, very simple
question that I will answer like this:
· NO
0
– I would not play this either by myself or with friends.
· NO, BUT…
1
– I don’t enjoy your harder steps that much, but I know
people
who would enjoy just playing this song
because
you chose your song well and you did
well
designing your beginner steps.
· MAYBE
2
– It’s okay. Your harder steps leave something to be
desired
or something but there’s a chance I’ll come
back
to it.
· YES
3
– Yes; I would come back to this file for sure.
Other /7
Things I will consider
in this HIGHLY SUBJECTIVE SECTION:
· Back to your song choice. Am I sick of hearing this song
after just five charts? (I can tolerate hearing songs repeated that much,
usually). By the way, I won’t be only playing your x number of charts once
each, so don’t worry about that.
· First of all, with your extras… if they weren’t that good
I’m not sure how much credit I’ll be willing to give you.
· Did something just blatantly hurt the whole entry for me?
Did you manage to annoy the hell out of me somewhere?
· Did something just make me love the whole entry? THE
README CAN PERTAIN TO THIS PART ESPECIALLY or other places where humor can be
found
· Your BPMs. Did you do them the
way they’re supposed to be? (I wasn’t a big fan of the 100 BPM at the beginning
of Mei…)
· If you included lyrics, were they accurate? You might get
points if they’re unintentionally funny due to their inaccuracy, actually (as
it happened in a certain TM6 entry…) Also, did you choose a good color or good
colors for your lyrics or did you mess up like I did in OSC4?
· Double steps. I will try to play them, but my pad
connector might not work properly. It’s stupid like that. I’m going to try to
find some way to credit you for these anyway. Oh, and I mean steps on DOUBLE
mode as opposed to SINGLE mode; I didn’t just say that I can’t do steps that
require you to double-step.
· I have no idea why you would make SOLO steps before the
Challenge round. I did on OSC3 though just to get credit >_> It’s not a
good idea; slows down the judging process and it’s not like I can give you much
credit for them anyway.
· CDtitles. I forgot to mention
that there IS a brand of CDtitle I always hate, and
that’s the image of the album cover. Don’t do that. How am I supposed to see
any of the detail on it? It’s just ugly. Otherwise, whatever it is—as long as
it looks good, it’s okay with me.
· Small things like #SAMPLESTART or however it’s called and
whether your title/artist in the banner match the title/artist in the song
selection wheel which they should 100%, including capitalization and stuff…
· If you provided extra backgrounds and banners, are they
humorously bad first drafts like in Roppongi Carillon
in TM5 that show how you gradually built your file, or are they just bad images
that do nothing but take up space because there’s no way I’d even think of
using them? Do they have a reason to be there, in other words? Just about the
same goes for CDtitles; are they ones I might want to
use?
· In the end here's what's going to happen: every minus will
count as -1 from the Other section of the tilt, and every + will count as +1!
Lowest possible score is 0 and highest possible is 10. If you end up in the
negatives (you could) it's still not that embarrassing.
So there we
go.
I’m going
to be typing these comments on a laptop… in between my playing of the stepcharts on Stepmania rc2a on
my regular computer. on high-quality pads. It’s a fairly efficient method.
Let’s
begin.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
24
jem
--Hey, I
know what you mean by people not enjoying 7-footers that are under 100 BPM.
That happened to me once in a tournament. Yeah. Anyway.
BANNER
Has song
title and artist, yes 3/3
Does it
look good? - Your text is definitely A-OK; you could have made the rest of the
image more interesting, though. Your color choice is fine; I just wish there
were more than that orange gradient and the text. 2/3
Proper
size/format, yes 1/1
Total: 6/7
BACKGROUND
Includes
song title, yes 3/3
Does it
look good? – well, it looks like you just resized the 320 x 240 version you
uploaded earlier, and maybe you tried to fix the blurriness, but unfortunately
it’s blurry at the size it’s at now so it’s going to be even blurrier in full-screen
size. I like the design of the background, though, with the numbers and with
the parabolic (I’m imagining) shape of the orange thing. It’s just too bad you
didn’t read the background part of the rules before making it… 2/4
Proper
size/format, yes 1/1
Total: 6/8.
Er, it looks like you didn’t gain anything from
submitting the resized version. You probably would’ve gotten a 3 on the
aesthetics part and a 0 on the size part… oh well
GRAPHICS
12/15
SONG
Bitrate
over 127 kbps and doesn’t sound horrible, yes 2/2
Creativity
in song choice: Interesting find. Pretty dark, too; dancing the darkness away
or something? 4/4
Edit
(length and cut): Feels a bit long. 3/4
Playability/appropriate
for DDR? There are a few long parts that aren't that good for putting steps to
(I mean the I meant it, I sense it parts) but I thought it made for interesting
steps overall. 4/5
Total:
13/15
LIGHT
- believe
it or not I'm not quite sure this is only 2 feet and that's because of your
corner jumps. I mean they fit and everything as far as patterning goes...
+ ...by the
way this chart was very carefully patterned and that's a good thing
- but man,
at 96 BPM those are hard to hit on time for anyone who might be interested in
attempting a 2 feet song!
- also most
of those corner jumps feel awkward to elevate myself in the air slightly and
then hit. you probably should cut down on them
| see
Standard for the little thing about freezes where there's nothing being held in
the music; for some reason here it didn't feel as big of a problem
+ overall
except for the corner jumps problem it was pretty good
Difficulty
correct? That's a bit too debatable. Without those corner jumps it certainly
would be 2 feet without question. Bug-free? yeah 2/3
Fun? The
corner jumps aren't but the rest is pretty good. 9/12
Total:
11/15
STANDARD
| maybe I'm
just being obsessive-compulsive or something but it feels like you're facing
northwest too much (however I played this chart after Heavy [read where I talk
about facing northwest in those comments] so I might've just been concentrating
on it)
- this
started out good but then there were a few problems that were somewhat nagging,
like putting freezes down when there's nothing being held in the music except
for silence (during the "I meant it, I meant it" part)
- and
during the "I sense it, I sense it" part before that, I didn't really
hear the 8ths that you used in the music, which means they didn't feel like
they were following anything
- also
there was this LD jump early on that was followed by a lack of steps; the lack
of steps wasn't a problem but the jump was; you could've chosen 6 different
types of jump and you chose that one and it doesn't fit and I don't know why
you chose it. Why left-down?
- and
finally you go [DR][DL][DR][DL] at one point which is a bit difficult for a
Standard player at 96 BPM to pull off; also, I didn't like the pattern anyway
+ but the
pattern you used to follow those 4 jumps in the next measure worked notably
well
+ good end,
good beginning
+ actually
despite the number of flaws I just pointed out this is fairly well done. Not
too hard, comfortable, enjoyable. Any jumps I didn't mention above were good.
Difficulty
correct/no bugs? true 3/3
Fun? Some
flaws but overall pretty good 14/17
Total:
17/20
HEAVY
+ pretty
good
+ is 7 feet
+ use of
24th mini-gallops is correct and smart (as opposed to the Maniac chart for Only
You which doesn't acknowledge that they exist)
- some of
it is a bit too easy ...
- ...when
she says "I sense it" I don't like how you only go exactly with the
vocals
| hold on i'm getting a rash on my chest or something it doesn't feel
good especially with its proximity to my
| okay I
fixed the problem, stupid frisbee shirt
| also the
end is just two LR jumps which doesn't kick as much ass as, say, ending with
[LR][UD] -- though actually I'd have to test that to see if it works; in any
case it could be slightly better but it's okay anyway
| some more
turns (I don't mean necessarily crossovers) and different kinds of footwork
might make it a bit more interesting, so try fooling around with it a bit. It
actually feels somewhat long and that might have to do with too much repetition
of rhythms or step patterns... I'm not sure. During the first time the chorus
happens (if it happens twice? I just played this like 4 times in a row and I
didn't catch whether it does or not) it feels like you're facing northwest too
much, despite that you do switch to facing northeast during that time.
+ but for
the most part this feels like it could actually be in DDR (apart from the whole
24ths thing, whatever it goes with the beat)
+ I like
the part after the "I sense it" part with the jump jump single arrow patterns; that was done very well
+ The spin
at around 71 combo before the chorus is fine
+ you used
jumps well too
Difficulty
correct/no bugs? true 3/3
Fun? Some
of this could be better, but there are a lot of neat patterns in here and you
did a nice job overall. 19/22
Total:
22/25
TILT
Would I
play this again? ehh. Maybe. Your steps are pretty
good but it's not the song I'd exactly be rushing back to 2/3
Other:
+ nice job
on the beginner steps though some patterning could be done more carefully
| your cdtitle is ugly and hasn't changed since Tournamix 6 and it
needs to be redone
++ this is
like the strange cookie that still fits well in the batch. or something. fits
well in the batch meaning I'd keep it if I ever wanted to delete the stuff I
wasn't really interested in. meaning I'm interested in this. Okay??
+ you
didn't try to be overly difficult on Heavy; in fact, you basically displayed
your reluctance. you were smart enough not to go with the violin unlike all
those people who think V (for Extreme) shouldn't have that long [LR] freeze and
would prefer WILD SIXTEENTHS
4/7
Total: 6/10
Total for
24: 81/100. That's a good score.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
action
radius
SONIC
MAYHEM
BANNER
Contains
artist/title yes 3/3
Correct
size/format yes 1/1
Does it
look good? It’s okay. I would’ve preferred different fonts for the artist and
the title or at least a different look between them. Right now because the text
is the same for the artist and the title, the banner doesn’t stick out all that
much. 2/3
Total: 6/7
BACKGROUND
Contains
title yes 3/3
Correct
size/format yes 1/1
Does it
look good? I’m not sure why you changed the capitalization here; it would’ve been
nice to see that consistent between the background and the banner, but
whatever. Overall it’s a somewhat uninteresting, blurry background but it’s
okay. 2/4
Total: 6/8
GRAPHICS
12/15
SONG
Bitrate +
or = 128 kbps and doesn’t sound horrible 2/2
Creativity
in song choice: Decently creative and strange. 3/4
Edit
(length and cut): I didn't think the long parts of nothing needed to be there;
they didn't really do anything for the charts, especially the second long part
of nothing that went up to the end. 2/4
Playability/appropriate
for DDR? Sure. 5/5
Total:
12/15
LIGHT
- not only
do you use too many 8ths, you BEGIN with using too many 8ths.
+ this gets
to where it needs to be in terms of difficulty at least
- but only
in like the last stages of the song
- really
too many 8ths all over the place, completely inappropriate for Light
- and the
8ths aren't even that organized. they require double-steps all over the place
or foot switches on the same arrow between steps, which is really bad
- this
might've made a decent Heavy chart which shows how inappropriate the 8ths are
- not 5
feet either, more like 6. maybe 5 feet on Heavy but man you're on Light
Difficulty
rating correct (no) / bug-free (yes) 1.5/3
Fun? Not on
light. .5/12
Total: 2/15
STANDARD
- at 235 combo
I am facing backwards because I alternated feet the whole way. I was facing
backwards for way too many steps in order to achieve this. If you meant to make
that a double step in that pattern of freezes then I've still got a problem
with that - that's bad stepmaking on any difficulty
level.
- 6 feet?
Nope. From fairly early on it's too hard for 6 feet.
- Too many
double-steps
- This
could've been Heavy, and perhaps should have been.
+ after the
first big lack-of-steps section it gets good and decently Standard level
- though it
still feels a bit too difficult for the level
- too much
8th-then-jump-on-different-arrows-than-the-8th-was, like D[RU]
- again
there's hardly anything at the end
- there was
at least one instance of a freeze too short to get a NG on
Bug-free/difficulty
rating correct? Very wrong feet level, bug-free though 1.5/3
Fun? Not on
Standard. You didn't cater to players of this difficulty level very well at
all. 1/17
Total:
2.5/20
HEAVY
- Save this
for the ITG division
- One time
you had 16ths going into a jump which you only see in DDR in like MIRACLE
(where they're on the same arrow by the way) and in MAXX UNLIMITED (8ths, but
basically my feet are moving as fast, you know what I mean). It was pretty
awkward
- Two parts
in the song (in the middle and in the end?) had like a hell of a lot of nothing
and I was wondering why you even bothered to include those parts of the song in
the cut if you were going to put so few steps there
- it
doesn't build up very well since you introduce the difficulty so early
- did you
really have to make a 10-footer out of this? I don't know why the high amount
of jumps was so necessary
+ there's
some fun in this I'll admit.
- but dude
the lots o' jumps later on are really unnecessary and take the fun out of playing
any of it
- also did
you have to hold a freeze with one foot and then have the other hit consecutive
8ths on different arrows?
-
unnecessary really short freeze earlier on
- weird
double-steps that are well awkward
- and why
is this on Heavy and not on Challenge?
Difficulty
correct/bug-free? okay. 3/3
Fun? 3/22
Your attempts to make this more difficult than it needs to be kill off the fun.
Total: 6/25
TILT
Would I
play this again? No... 0/3
Other:
+ how about
a plus for caring to upload your file 3 times to fix spelling errors; otherwise
I can't really give you anything sorry
Total: 1/10
Total for
action radius: 35.5/100 - Everything should've been a difficulty level higher
(NOT in terms of feet; I mean from Light to Standard etc.). That's a fairly big
mistake. With that, however, there was certainly effort put into this; still, I
can't grade you on effort alone. Watch for awkward step patterns too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ai~n!
Dance no Uta
Bakatono-sama to Minimoni-hime
--What on
earth…
BANNER
Contains
title/artist yes 3/3
Proper
size/format: Technically, no… how did you not notice that? 0/1
Does it
look good? Yeah, for the most part, but the title text looks slightly blurry.
2.5/3
Total:
5.5/7
BACKGROUND
Contains
title 3/3
Proper
size/format yes 1/1
Does it look
good? Yes, and completely at that. Nice job doing whatever you did to get that
scene (yeah I read your readme)… it’s really nice and
colorful. 4/4
Total: 8/8
GRAPHICS
13.5/15
SONG
Bitrate
over 128 kbps and doesn’t sound horrible, true 2/2
Creativity
in song choice: Even for Hello! Project this is completely ridiculous and wayyyy out there. 4/4
Edit
(length and cut) is perfect 4/4
Playability/appropriate
for DDR? Absolutely playable and DDR-appropriate. 5/5
Total:
15/15
LIGHT
+ good
lots-o-stream at the end
+ I love
the buildup to the end
| I thought
maybe there could've been a little more right foot on down arrow but maybe I'm
just being pokecapn for a day or something
| could be
3 feet but 4 is fine
+ overall
good flow and good motion
Difficulty
correct/bug-free? Yeah 3/3
Fun? Solid,
well put together. Nothing really wrong with it at all. 12/12
Total:
15/15
STANDARD
+ beginning
and end feel solidly like DDR.
| AI~N
parts are okay
+ the daffunda parts are outstanding
+
LRLRLRLRDU (AI~N!!!) part is great haha you might not
even know what I'm talking about. I think it comes before the last AI~N AI~N AI~N part
+ possibly
the best chart I've seen so far. A lot of this reminds me 100% of DDR
Difficulty
correct/bug-free? Yeah. 3/3
Fun? Quite.
17/17
Total: 20/20
HEAVY
+ Really
hard but really good
- Somewhat
repetitive. I thought you could've started the last AI~N pattern in a somewhat
different fashion; that would've been nice
+ I love
how you switch direction halfway through the AI~N pattern and bring it back
around, that's pretty good
+
Everything here is really fun. All your sixteenths are fun except for maybe the
ULULD but whatever that's just one time and it's a good trick to pull
+ I love
how you just start off difficult and get right to the point, it really works
well with mr. crazy man officiating everything
Bug-free/difficulty
rating appropriate? Yeah. 3/3
Fun?
Somewhat repetitive but man this is a blast, a blast of solid steps. 21/22
Total:
24/25
TILT:
Would I
play this again? Hell yes! 3/3
Other:
+++++ The
beginning is just beyond novelty
+ video
- why is
your samplestart so long
+ lyrics
- I can't
read the dark blue lyrics
+++ dude
solid standard steps
+ nice
thick readme though I really wish you knew who that
guy is
++++++ a
certain person gave you a 4/10 last time on a public review which basically
said "I hate you because you have a crush on Aya
Matsuura" or something so I think you need some compensation for that.
7/7
Total:
10/10
Total for Ai~n! Dance no Uta: 97.5/100 -
This should probably win the contest though this is only the 4th file I've
finished judging so I don't know. Good job.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
BLOW ME
AWAY
BREAKING
BENJAMIN
BANNER
Correct
size/format 1/1
Contains
title/artist 3/3
Does it
look good? What is that, a picture of an animal’s head in the background?
Because that’s what it looks like. The image behind the text here is not that
hot. The text isn’t any good either; here, it definitely hurt that you didn’t
use different fonts for the title and the artist, and I’m not sure the font
that you used was any good for you either. You need different effects on the
text (like outlines or something) and different fonts…This isn’t abhorrent to
look at but it’s pretty boring. 1/3
Total: 5/7
BACKGROUND
Correct
size/format 1/1
Contains
title 3/3
Does it
look good? That’s a pretty high-res or high-quality
whatever you wanna call it picture, but your text
again is a problem. It’s too blurry and needs to be big and stand out and have
good effects on it; right now it’s kind of weak. And the positioning of the
text is kind of awkward in the image. 1.5/4
Total:
5.5/8
GRAPHICS
10.5/15
SONG
Bitrate
128 kbps and doesn’t sound horrible 2/2
Creativity
in song choice: This is one of the more boring rock songs I've heard. 1/4
Edit
(length and cut): You cut it off too early; listen to the very end. It's also
pretty long 2/4
Playability/appropriate
for DDR? Though there are a lot of varied rhythms in this song, I'm not sure
it's the kind that would go well with DDR stepcharts.
3/5
Total: 8/15
NOTE: ALL
STEPS PLAYED ON 0.5x which would give the correct BPM
Also you
probably need to know that I played the charts in H/S/L order.
LIGHT
- ugh you
did that AGAIN let me paste it from Standard; note, I think it only happened
once this time
"-
there are at least two places where you made me hold an up arrow freeze with
the left foot and then at the end of the freeze hit a left arrow followed
immediately by a right arrow. That's just not a good pattern; I have four
possibilities to choose from to hit the next two steps, and they're all awkward
ones."
- whenever
you can you go to the vocals; seriously, about 90% of this chart goes to the
vocals. around that point you should've figured out that you didn't have much
to go to in the song for Light and that you must've doubled the BPM but
unfortunately you didn't
- on 0.5x
this is just filled with 8ths and inappropriate for light
- even on
1x there's an 8th, and (disagreeing with your readme)
it's hard to hit. why?
- not 3
feet
+ there are
maybe a few
- but still
there's awkward positioning again, with weird crossovers and double-steps
- look at
your combo
- you again
fail to lead up to the end efficiently
Difficulty
correct/bug-free? not 3 feet, BPM doubled 0/3
Fun? No.
You go to the vocals as often as you can, these are 8ths on the correct BPM,
there's an 8th on the doubled BPM that's hard to hit on Light, and it's overall
just completely inappropriate for the difficulty level. 3/12
Total: 3/15
STANDARD
- already I
know this isn't 6 feet by just looking at your groove radar; I've made and seen
9 footers with less stream than that
- you made
me laugh again with your steps going to the screamo
part
- yeah,
confirmed that it's too difficult for 6 feet
- that big
pause at the end is just random; you should be leading up to the end. If you're
looking for a place to put a break, again, it's the place where there's a
guitar solo with no beat behind it.
- it looks
like you just got really lazy when you were making this thanks to that
DURDURDUR part you have with the quarter notes that'd be 8ths on the right BPM.
not only does that require either a spin (which the Standard player won't do)
or weird double-steps, it just looks like stuff you just put there because you
got bored
- also
those two parts (one's the mirror of another) where you had either the L or R
arrow holding down a freeze and short freezes on the opposite arrow... those
parts were pretty boring
- a lot of
awkward double steps and even places where I have to twist around awkwardly
after freeze parts
- also why
are you so obsessed with freezes
- Lastly,
these patterns that are 8ths on the 1x BPM become 16ths on the proper BPM.
That's a problem because that means the chart is really complicated on the
correct BPM-- too complicated for Standard.
- there are
at least two places where you made me hold an up arrow freeze with the left
foot and then at the end of the freeze hit a left arrow followed immediately by
a right arrow. That's just not a good pattern; I have four possibilities to
choose from to hit the next two steps, and they're all awkward ones.
Difficulty
correct/bug-free? doubled BPM, wrong foot difficulty 0/3
Fun?
There's really hardly anything good in this chart. Even if the song were the 1x
BPM those double steps on quarter notes would still be very frequent and
frequently awkward. 3/17
Total: 3/20
HEAVY
| initial
observation: that groove radar is ugly
- your main
problem here is that because you thought it was double the BPM it's supposed to
be you've got a lot of inconvenient double-steps that would be 8ths on the
correct BPM
- and even
if you did have the right BPM, these jumps that I end up doing backwards are
still awkward and kind of don't rock along with the song because they're
awkward
- like the
jump on combo #18 and the steps around it; also around step #68 you have a
weird foot positioning problem
+ some of
the freeze patterns are good
+ and
actually for about 1/3 to 1/2 of this it's decent fun on the 1x BPM
- but dude
this isn't the 1x BPM so those steps don't really go with the song
- some of
the freeze patterns are really awkward, like around step #88 (?) or somewhere
after the pattern that involves step 68
- those
16ths that end up being 32nds on the correct BPM aren't necessary, and you tend
not to lead into them very well with your foot positioning.
- you've
got a lot of twisting here that doesn't fit with the song's feel at the .5x BPM
- something
else... what was it... oh yeah, you go to the guitar solo part or whatever
(which has no beat behind it by the way) and start putting steps to it. If you
used that as a break and put no steps there, that would've been a good idea. It
would have led up to the next part better (the guitar WITH beat backing it).
Kind of like the "dramatic pause" idea but not really since we're not
talking about classical music here or anything
| going to
the screamo parts or the GRAR I LIKE TO SHOUT
INCOHERENTLY parts or whatever they are with the steps before the guitar solo
made me laugh a bit, sorry
- two of
these 16th parts (the ones that end up 32nds on the right BPM) have crossovers
in them. those are really annoying. also, it's more like all the 16ths are
annoying
| also you
don't need so many freezes
- finally
some freezes here are too short to get an NG on, the sort of freezes that you
want to avoid using
Difficulty
correct/bug-free? double the BPM is a big problem 1.5/3
Fun? Sort
of, for a bit, but because all these steps are designed for double the BPM and
because of those 16ths that would be bad even if the song were double the BPM,
this just gets really unenjoyable. 5/22
Total:
7.5/25
TILT
Would I
play this again? No 0/3
Other:
- double
the BPM, double the minus. Actually I'll only give you one minus because unlike
other songs this isn't SO evidently double the BPM. But it is doubled
- far too
much freeze use
- this song
is awful
+ you only
included 3 stepcharts that was nice to me
| you
shouldn't have to justify your taste in music
| also next
time double-check everything to make sure you put the difficulty you wanted in
the actual file
+++ you
have shown that you care about what you made so I'm going to make sure you at
least get one point here.
1/7
Total: 1/10
Total for
BLOW ME AWAY: 33/100 - I've never seen song choice hurt an entry so badly. The
song tricked you into doubling the BPM, and well it just didn't work that well
after that. I know you'll do better next time.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Disco Dog
Asletics
BANNER
Correct
size/format 1/1
Contains
title/artist 3/3
Does it
look good? Different fonts for the title and artist would’ve been nice as well
as different effects. Overall it looks okay. I have a problem with the
blurriness or whatever it was that happened to the picture of the dog in the
background… If those squares that I see are there as an effect, it’s not a very
good one. 2/3
Total: 6/7
BACKGROUND
Correct size/format
1/1
Contains
title 3/3
Does it
look good? What the… the edges on the dog could’ve been smoother but whatever
good effort on Photoshopping this if that’s what you
did. Your text is a problem, though. The text is positioned awkwardly and it
doesn’t go very well with the rest of the image, which is probably partially
due to its simplicity. The photoshop (with the
somewhat low-quality image in the background) borders on being tacky; what
could’ve gotten you out of that was good text. 2.5/4
Total: 6.5/8
GRAPHICS
12.5/15
SONG
Bitrate
over 128 kbps and doesn’t sound horrible sure 2/2
Creativity
in song choice: This song is kind of stupid with the woof noises but that's
irrelevant to this part anyway. Beatmania songs are
never fully creative song choices but this one at least sticks out from the
rest. 2/4
Edit
(length and cut) is fine 4/4
Playability/appropriate
for DDR? Yeah, it's a nice funky tune. 5/5
Total:
13/15
LIGHT
- argh you started at the very beginning sound again read the
first heavy comment please
+ the
lead-in to combo 83 with the LR and UD jumps or whatever the proper combo
number is is very good
- later on
you do [UD] jumps to an emphasis in the lyric "everybody does their
best" or whatever it is; I'm pathetic at hearing lyrics correctly. I think
you put the jump on "best" and I would've preferred it at the start
of the measure where it would feel like it goes with the music better
+ for the
most part this is decent fun
- but it's
not as interesting as it could be because you're so dedicated to keeping a
constant stream going
+ good end
+ those
freeze breaks at "who let the dogs out?" were good but
| they
would've been even better if they weren't freezes!
Difficulty
correct no bugs? Yes, definitely 4 feet 3/3
Fun? Again,
could be more interesting, but the problems aren't really that big (aside from
starting at the very beginning) 10/12
Total:
13/15
STANDARD
- argh you started at the very beginning sound again read the
first heavy comment please
| Initial
impression before playing: The stream on that groove radar might be a bit high
for 6 feet. Might. Depends how complicated it is.
+ Might, I
said. This is basically relaxed enough to be 6 feet and to be a good Standard
chart.
- I wish
you put some [more?] freezeless gaps in there
somewhere, though; that would've been a good idea and it's really commonplace
in DDR Standard charts to have gaps between quarter note steps as a means of
giving the player a break every now and then.
| Not much
to say about this chart. Nothing entirely notable (save for the lack of breaks
for the player), but sometimes on Standard that's a good thing; and I think
it's a good thing here.
Difficulty
correct? Yes and bug-free okay I'm tired of repeating bug-free and this is only
like the 8th entry I've gotten to 3/3
Fun? Yes;
nothing incredibly majorly incredibly kick ass but
it's still fun. Nonetheless it's necessary to say that you've got time for a
break or two here. 14/17
Total:
17/20
HEAVY
| Initial
impression before playing: The stream on that groove radar might be a bit high
for this song. (yeah, that's the way it turned out)
- No DDR
chart ever has started on the very first sound of a song. Please don't do that.
-
completely inappropriately difficult; what the heck? Your steps are much more
frantic than they should be for this song, which has a SOMEWHAT laid back
groove to it or in any case a groove, while these steps didn't.
- Also it
hardly ever lets up being frantic, though there is a break or two.
+ I liked
the UUUUUUUUU or however many times the arrow was hit
+ Also at
the beginning it was good though I wish you introduced that somewhat difficult
16th in between an 8th and a 4th a little further on in the song. Actually now
I realize I really wish you didn't do anything that difficult until
later in the song.
- the 16ths
are too complicated so the good parts of this chart are just buried in the
complication; for example I like the 16ths part DUDUDU U(hold) but that could stick out so much
better if the steps around it were easier
- I don't
really like the end either
- A lot of
this goes to a funky sound in the song that's moderately audible but that
doesn't stick out at all as inspiring "woo let's go all over the place
with my legs" steps. Leave that work to the instrument, or, if you want to
keep the rhythms you selected, at least choose your arrows more carefully (I
mean the directions, like using a left here instead of a right and so forth) so
that I can feel the groove of the song in a more relaxed manner; again it's
just too frantic.
|
Ordinarily I'd say you tried too hard to go to a lot of sounds, but based on
who you are you probably were trying hard to avoid that. You didn't quite do
that well enough - in order to connect sounds together you put down a lot of
steps that could've and should've been omitted.
- This
chart has that ugly ITG feeling of "I know enough to avoid double steps
but I want to make sure this is difficult enough to be interesting." What
happens is that everything becomes connected and lacks double steps, which
sounds like a good thing; but here, everything is just too connected. Give it a
break and switch it up by using something that makes your feet switch in a more
interesting way that doesn't require so much exertion; maybe do a simple
quarter quarter quarter-eighth-quarter pattern or
just something that doesn't require so much effort from me.
Difficulty
rating correct/no bugs? yeah 3/3
Fun? It's
not. Parts of it are fun, hell, a LOT of parts of this would be fun on their
own, but overall, with everything laid down... it's not funky, it's strenuous.
6/22
Total: 9/25
- I'm really sorry I'm giving you a score this low but something this difficult
doesn't feel right for the song at all.
TILT
Would I
play this again? no; good lower difficulties for other people aren't enough for
me to be okay with going through Heavy again 0/3
Other:
- Way to
spell “Asletics” wrong on the songwheel
- every
chart started at the very beginning of the song which is annoying and a pretty
significant flaw
| too much
stream and the woofs in the song are embarrassing to some part of my brain, but
I'm not going to mark you down here for that
+ cdtitle
++ good
beginner chart
1/7
Total: 1/10
Total for
Disco Dog: 65.5/100 - You've got a lot of things down well, and that's
reflected in the score, but in order to improve the overall picture, well,
you've got to realize that you've got a LOT of stuff in that overall picture
and some of it needs to be removed. Okay that wasn't as well-written as I
intended it to be but you get what I mean.
Oh. You
said in your readme "I almost thought that this
should've been an ITG entry."... well, you should've thought it! (I really
don't care about the short duration; length is a major ITG flaw anyway.
actually I just realized you might not have been able to enter it at all due to
length restrictions)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
DOMINO
Alvin
BANNER
Correct
size/format 1/1
Contains
title/artist 3/3
Does it
look good? Semi-professional title text combined with bad artist text isn’t
good enough. Work on your color choice, effects and font choice, ESPECIALLY on
the artist text. The image with the dominoes behind the text is good. 1.5/3
Total:
5.5/7
BACKGROUND
Correct
size/format 1/1
Contains
title 3/3
Does it
look good? The simplicity of the text doesn’t match the effect you put on the
background image, and the effect you put on the background image certainly
isn’t the one I would’ve chosen. That effect doesn’t fit the song that much…
whereas the banner had the dominoes look like they were marching like soldiers,
or something like that, the dominoes in this picture look wimpy. It just
doesn’t work. 1.5/4
Total:
5.5/8
GRAPHICS
11/15
SONG
Bitrate
128 kbps and doesn’t sound horrible 2/2
Creativity
in song choice: I'm sorry but I can't give you too many points here as it's
just eurobeat really. 1/4
Edit (length
and cut): definitely unnecessarily long but at least the sections in the song
that you included are different enough. 2/4
Playability/appropriate
for DDR? definitely appropriate 5/5
Total:
10/15
STEPS
- well yeah
that BPM doubling shouldn't be there but you probably gathered that already
from what I'm guessing most people said on the forums
| You can
get away with the BPM halving later on. That's fine.
LIGHT
- BPM
doubling part too hard. You could've at least put all the steps on places that
would've been quarter notes at the correct BPM; I doubt the player would be
able to get any of this. Twice in a row I've just forgotten the doubling part
is there and I've missed that up arrow.
- not 4
feet; your 8ths are for the most part acceptable, especially in the chorus
(though there might be a few too many of them). However, if you add up the
8ths, the BPM doubling part, and the corner jumps, I think you get something
higher than 4 feet.
+ I like
the spins that are really obviously spins
- I don't
like some of the quarter-note patterns that are most efficiently done by
double-stepping instead of alternating feet. Be careful with those. (Especially
in the synth-melody part after the chorus near the
end.)
- the UD
jumps around like combo 32 don't really go with anything and you should take
those out
- why the
right arrow at step 130? kind of an odd crossover
- a bit too
much facing northwest at the beginning before the BPM doubling
+ this
chart is fun usually unless it's too hard
Difficulty
correct/bug-free? Well I can't vouch for either... not 4 feet and you've got
that BPM doubling problem. 0/3
Fun? It can
be a bit too difficult especially with the speedups and a few other minor flaws
but it can be pretty fun too. Just watch out for oddities that bump up the
difficulty unnecessarily, and I'm not even talking about your 8ths! 7/12
Total: 7/15
STANDARD
| Initial
impression: um... I'm a bit wary of that groove radar and 6 feet combination.
Hopefully 99 percent of that chaos comes from the slowdown.
- okay I
don't approve of that early chaos; the Standard player's going to interpret it
as a bunch of nonsense and won't be able to do it really
- I also
don't like the odd pattern that can effectively create a double-step concealed
on a quarter note right at the end of the chorus
+ however I
appreciate that you were aware you were facing northwest a little too much here
- this pattern forces me to face northeast. good job
+ good good patterns scattered all around this chart including the
spins despite the difficulty in pulling them off
+ I love
how you stepped the slowdown
- the
beginning of the doubled BPM part is just too hard, especially with the BPM
doubled.
- Also, you
should've at made the part immediately after the doubled BPM finishes easy
enough to pick up and pull off.
+ Overall
pretty fun
Difficulty
correct/bug-free? Well I'm going to have to tell you that this should be 7 feet
with the difficult part at the BPM doubling; also the BPM doubling is a problem
in itself. 1/3
Fun? Yeah,
for the most part. Watch the difficulty. 15/17
Total:
16/20
HEAVY
+ the last
6 steps are awesome.
+ your
spins in the chorus may cause cries of protest from some people but they're
actually fun
- not the
LURD spin after the slowdown though, you're pushing it a little at that point
- What's up
with the freeze just before the part where the BPM is doubled? It forces me to
double-step with one of my feet and there's no reason for that really.
+ the part
where the BPM is doubled is actually well-stepped.
- except
for the weird double-stepping at the very end of it with the fast 8ths
- and it's
a damn shame it's doubled too
+ I like
the domino domino domino domino etc. parts early on around combo 118 or so
| what's
with those early 16ths, though? You can barely hear them in the song and they're
not really that important. Whatever, it'll pass.
+ actually
you know what? those 16ths are really fun
+ and this
is a really well-done chart.
- maybe a
bit too much facing northwest a few measures before the slowdown, though.
Ignore this if you don't know what I'm talking about
Difficulty
correct/bug-free? BPM doubling problem for part of the chart 2/3
Fun? Yes.
Nice job for most of this. Some flaws. 19/22
Total:
21/25
TILT
Would I
play this again? I'll go in to the editor to fix the BPM doubling, but sure.
2/3
Other:
++ good job
with the background videos, especially with the falling dominoes and the very
end part (though the falling dominoes could've looked like dominoes instead of
falling ugly pieces of white chocolate with swirls of milk chocolate)
-
unnecessary BPM doubling
| I don't
really like your cdtitle; it's somewhat
unprofessional.
+ there
were some very pleasing steps scattered all over this entry
+ decent
Beginner. Just watch out again for difficulty, especially in the BPM doubling
part where I think you should've just forgotten about jumps altogether; one
would've been fine for OH MY GOD I CAN'T BELIEVE I HIT THAT beginner novelty
value. Also, some early unnecessary jumps, and I don't think you should've put
steps on every quarter note in the slowdown.
+ I love
your song choice.
4/7
Total: 6/10
Total for
DOMINO: 71/100 - congratulations for managing to be an entry that I like
despite a BPM doubling.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Dragostea
Din Tei
O-Zone
BANNER
Correct
size/format 1/1
Contains
title/artist 3/3
Does it
look good? let's see: fat guy in the banner representing numa
numa dance video fad, random scandinavian
airlines jet in the background, bad font choice for the text, the text for the
artist is the same font and style as the title's text, the shadowing is bad
anyway... and honestly the fat guy being in the banner is enough for me to give
you a 0 on this. That's completely unprofessional. 0/3
Total: 4/7
BACKGROUND
Correct
size/format 1/1
Contains
title 3/3
Does it
look good? It’s certainly better than the banner, but a picture of the artist
is not the best or most innovative way to make a background, especially when
how you modify the image isn’t all that good. (The guy on the right wouldn’t be
all that happy with how he looks…) Again, your text is a problem. Get a font
that isn’t completely 8-bit-fashioned, and use better effects than a simple
weak shadow. 1/4
Total: 5/8
GRAPHICS:
9/15
SONG
Bitrate
over or equal to 128 kbps and doesn’t sound horrible 2/2
Creativity
in song choice: Absolutely none. 0/4
Edit
(length and cut) is fine 4/4
Playability/appropriate
for DDR? The playability of this is already hurt because this song is basically
a fad and too old of one at that; I do have to say it's appropriate for DDR.
3/5
Total: 9/15
LIGHT
- Way too
connected. What I mean is that when the song changes from one section to
another your steps tend not to change at all, seeming to continue in the same
stream pattern they were in before.
- What's
worse is that there's not enough movement; it feels like I'm standing in one
place too often in the chart. The reason for this is probably your decision to
have so many consecutive steps on the same arrow, then hit another arrow, and
then again have so many consecutive steps on the same arrow.
- This is 3
feet? No... Titiln (who made the 2nd place entry in
both DDROSC4 and DDRei Tournamix 6, albeit the latter one being one of like 4
entries) once pointed out that one thing that a lot of people have trouble with
on Light is corner jumps. I'll agree, but I do think they're appropriate for 4
feet. The problem is that you rated this 3 feet; difficulty rating does matter.
+ I thought
where you placed the very first step of the song was different in a good way
- But for
some reason you continue it with a stream on every other quarter note that
requires a crossover or a double-step (and I know double-steps don't really
exist when you're talking about every other quarter note but it just feels odd)
and then there's the first corner jump.
- My second
comment is especially true going into the ALLO SALUT part and going into the
chorus.
- Your
jumps don't help either. I think around combo 48 there were these two UD jumps
that I didn't really like because they just didn't really fit
- Also
what's with the double-steps scattered throughout the song, especially in the
latter half? I know they're easy as pie to do but they make the stream feel
boring and it just seems like you didn't put much effort in putting them
together. Edit: Oh, you assumed the light player would read those as
crossovers. You did that earlier in the chart too and I didn't think that was a
great assumption to make. A Light player isn't going to alternate feet all the
time especially if the crossovers aren't that obvious.
+ At least
you made sure not to put any steps in the beep beep
part
Bug-free/difficulty
correct? Not 3 feet; should be 4 or just modify the chart so that the corner
jumps are used sparingly 1.5/3
Fun?
No... the chorus bordered on okay but
the not enough movement part hurt there too 3.5/12
Total: 5/15
STANDARD
| Odd.
+ The
rhythm that you chose to begin your steps is okay though it's heavily tied to
the vocals
- Some
weird foot positioning in that part... looks as if you wanted me to do the UL
jump by putting my right foot on the L arrow which is a big no-no in standard
- And you
also wanted me to do the LD jump that followed with my right foot on the left
arrow... that's occasionally fun on heavy but I don't think you should expect a
Standard player to know to do that at all.
+ Chorus is
fairly good
| The verse
leading up to the chorus is a mixed bag. There's a fair amount of karaoke and
it feels like you're forcing the steps a bit to go to it (particularly when you
make me stop alternating feet)
+ That
double-step halfway through the chorus is good
Bug-free/difficulty
correct? Okay, 5 feet is fine. 3/3
Fun? 14/17
The chorus was not bad and is the best I've seen from you so far (yes I'm
playing LSH in order). Overall it's good. The things I mentioned in the second
and 3rd comments kind of bug me though.
Total:
17/20
HEAVY
- Sometimes
going overboard on karaoke is okay. But that's only when the vocals can provide
you with an interesting enough rhythm for your steps. There's a bit too much
tie to the vocals in this chart
+ You got
lucky. the mayahi rhythm is actually pretty fun and
you were smart enough to make the steps carefully enough so that they would be
fun
- But
afterwards (especially where it creates gaps in the steps) the karaoke just
sticks out too much.
- at