Z-I-v Summer Contest 2016

Clarification, YES Belt Parkway Nights' sync is not correct.
To fix it, change the audio start value from -0.05 to -0.01 and change the stop with the typo that gave it a 0.775 stop time back to 0.755.
Like I said, there's always something.

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I adjusted the size of the graphics for both of my files. If you care about that you can re-download them.

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First off, I would like to apologize for giving a point to 'No Light, No Light' without playing it. I felt that it was an overcompensation for my own limits, but have since come to the realization that it was a dishonest vote. I'll make sure to avoid that mistake in the future.

With that being said, I'd like to advertise my two submissions for this week:

An orchestral piece that I thought made for an interesting stepchart! There is more room for a chart, but such a chart would be a repetitive triplet fest, so I figured that it wouldn't help this file out and didn't make one. I can't promise that the sync is perfect, since this was an orchestra performance, but it should be better than the sync of Arizona Cowboys. Nevertheless, I wouldn't be surprised if this got zero points.

On the other hand, there's also...

Evil Enchantress [Euro Spell Mix] / Eurobeat Brony
: 1/ : 4/ : 6/ : 9

A song based on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. DDR Addict also stepped this song for the 2012 Summer Contest, and the Trotmania team later polished that file for Trotmania (Rhythm is Magic). I wasn't aware of this until after I begun creating this file, but, comparatively, my file is quite a bit easier than that file, and is quite heavy on the gallops. Because of learning of that file's existence, I didn't want to compete in the graphics department, so I came across this human enchantress and ran away with it. (The text effects do not quite give the 'Super Eurobeat' style I wanted, but I feel it's good enough in its own right, given my limited graphics skills.) If you were curious, the only reason the chart is rated a 4 is because of the 4th-16th-8th patterns; otherwise, I wouldn't mind rating it a 3. Also, you might find slight influences from Melissa's FANTASY in the and doubles charts

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Any further feedback on America's Sweetheart? Based on the comments I've seen I get the impression it was okay but people aren't a fan of cheesy pop music and are looking for songs faster / harder than a 7 foot. So basically people didn't hate it but no one really liked it, either.

My votes for this week:

+3 Belt Parkway Nights
+3 Moskau
+3 P. Tokyo Underground
+2 Gangnam Avenue
+1 American Idiot
+1 Delhi
+1 Help Me
+1 Night In Paris

HM Las Vegas
HM New York City Boy
HM Things We Lost

Totals:

Psychedelic Tokyo Underground [Gameoson] - 29
Moskau (DIGIMIND REMIX) [brunobg24] - 20
Help Me!! [chewi] - 17
The Gangnam Avenue [brunobg24] - 14
DM★STAR ~関西 energy style~ [DDRDAIKENKAI] - 14
FloriDada [Birdwards] - 13
ロンドンは夜8時(LON 8PM - TYO 4AM) [Scarz] - 12
American Idiot [mf32892] - 11
LAS VEGAS [Spirit Of Nightmare] - 8
Vegas Lights [DDRDAIKENKAI] - 8
Belt Parkway Nights [The Legendary DJXYZ] - 6
Dancing☆Samurai -english cover- [ddrstepper] - 6
Kashmir [Feraligatr] - 6
Paris [Benpai] - 6
Delhi [KevinRocker10] - 5
Things We Lost In The Fire [The Legendary DJXYZ] - 5
Tokyo [Lisek] - 5
Siberia [ohaiimian] - 3
Fun Fun Pharoah [Vinylyarou] - 2
New York City Boy [Nezemarth] - 2
A Geisha's Dream (Ruffage Remix) [hooky] - 1
Lose It (feat. Vic Mensa) [Astroman129] - 1
Night in Paris - 1

Some hopefully constructive notes. I recut "Night in Paris" and "Delhi" for my own personal use, if anyone wants updated audio files for those songs.

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Just a question but did you actually play all the files as you are missing several in your comments. I would often specify when I only would provide comments on a certain number of files when I would review files.

I've been on a hardstyle kick as of late.

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@Scarz - yes, I played them all. Some of them I didn't have anything to say that hadn't already been said by others, and some of them weren't to my musical taste.

the song is bassboosted, hence the genre. there isn't an audio file of the song where it doesn't sound hella gritty

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More than one person can step a song...

No, it doesn't.

There's no "first come, first serve" mentality when it comes to stepfile making, if more than one person wants to make a simfile for a song then they should. You don't need to check before stepping things that have already been stepped, just step the song if you want to.

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The chances that two people will step the same song the same way is very small. If 10 different people all stepped I Took A Pill, I guarantee you those 10 simfiles would all look different in some way shape or form.

Dibs is stupid, step whatever you want. Even if you're stepping Xepher for the 573rd time.

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I agree. Everything except for the timing comments are just my opinion. (Hopefully other people can verify the timing comments.) My personal opinion is I find songs more appealing when I don't already have a simfile for that song in my library.


Of course. Again, for me personally, simfiles are improved by having graphics. If I like a simfile enough and it doesn't have graphics, I'll want to go track down graphics on my own.

I'm just stating why I voted the way I did for some songs.

I know when I don't get votes it's helpful to have specific feedback for what I could have done better. (For me personally it seems to be "song selection", but that's another story.) In the case of Veridian City, I personally felt it seemed unfinished. "I Took a Pill" is one of my favorite songs, but I didn't vote for that simfile either. In that case, it was because I already had a version I liked more. I liked the other version more because of the second half of my feedback for that entry, "the steps seemed a lot simpler than the rhythm would allow".

A little late, but here's the Week 3 pack.

CuzcoBlocko stepped Chance It, my first round draw for Simfile Shuffle... and used it against me in TOI. There's no beef though, because his steps were very different (and far better lol). Honestly if somebody stepped Belt Parkway Nights, there'd still be no beef, it's their decision to step the song they want. The above is good advice for any stepper, new or old. (and yeah, Xepher has been stepped at least 573 times. #CSEditMode)

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I forgot to do HMs last week. You could probably figure it out by looking at the spreadsheet I posted.

Votes

+2 Help me!!
+2 The Gangnam Avenue
+1 American Idiot
+1 Dancing☆Samurai ~english cover~
+1 ロンドンは夜8時(LON 8PM - TYO 4AM)
+1 Moskau (DIGIMIND REMIX)
+1 Night in Paris
+1 Paris
+1 Psychedelic Tokyo Underground
+1 Tokyo
+1 Tokyo: Midnite Runners
+1 Vegas Lights
+1 Viridian City

HMs: DM STAR ~KANSAI energy style~, FloriDada, Fun Fun Pharaoh, Kashmir (Paradesi Version), LAS VEGAS, Lose It (feat. Vic Mensa), New York City Boy, Things We Lost in the Fire

Ratings/Feedback Here

Totals

Psychedelic Tokyo Underground [Gameoson] - 30
Moskau (DIGIMIND REMIX) [brunobg24] - 21
Help me!! [chewi] - 19
The Gangnam Avenue [brunobg24] - 16
DM★STAR ~関西 energy style~ [DDRDAIKENKAI] - 14
FloriDada [Birdwards] - 13
ロンドンは夜8時(LON 8PM - TYO 4AM) [Scarz] - 13
American Idiot [mf32892] - 12
Vegas Lights [DDRDAIKENKAI] - 9
LAS VEGAS [Spirit Of Nightmare] - 8
Dancing☆Samurai -english cover- [ddrstepper] - 7
Paris [Benpai] - 7
Belt Parkway Nights [The Legendary DJXYZ] - 6
Kashmir [Feraligatr] - 6
Tokyo [Lisek] - 6
Delhi [KevinRocker10] - 5
Things We Lost In The Fire [The Legendary DJXYZ] - 5
Siberia [ohaiimian] - 3
Fun Fun Pharoah [Vinylyarou] - 2
New York City Boy [Nezemarth] - 2
Night in Paris - 2
A Geisha's Dream (Ruffage Remix) [hooky] - 1
Lose It (feat. Vic Mensa) [Astroman129] - 1
Tokyo: Midnite Runners [5l1n65h07] - 1
Viridian City [Braeden47] - 1

After the impressively mediocre performance on week 2 I'd really love to be able to corrupt the comp pick a theme for a week so I've even doubled up on charts this time.

There's actually a subtheme with the charts I've picked; both of them are remasters of old gimmick charts I made, but hopefully not as messy as the last iterations (and without the FG changes). I've also recut both of these to in one case cut out vocals but in both make a more pleasant experience.

A quick word about each:

Powerhaus is sprinkled with 16th patterns, gallops on and single steps on as well as some 24ths on the to spice things up.
Difficulties are 1/4/8/10/- (ITG/old DDR scale)

Backflip Dinosaur is a bit curvy and uses plenty of layers of hold and patterning rhetoric, especially on so watch your back. There's one gimmick but it's marked with either a jump in the lower levels, or mines.
Difficulties are 1/3/5/7/9 (same deal with the scale)

I'm curious how these end up comparing to each other but we shall see! I'm a bit graphically challenged so backflip's imagery isn't the best, sorry. I tried taking into account the feedback I got so the gimmicks are marked and I tried to avoid some awkward parts; hopefully I get some more this time.

Click each to download, best of luck everyone!





EDIT: As I didn't submit for last week I'm electing on passing on voting for last week's, fyi. If you want me to look over something you did last week (albeit that I won't be voting regardless of quality) drop me a line.

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Is JPG extermination is happening here? This is pretty new to me

Kinda rusty in charting Pad nowadays, and bad song choice haha. Not going to put much here, but this is the best I can provide now. Please Enjoy~

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