What makes a good simfile/song pack?

Hi guys. I'm not sure if I've posted this thread on the right forum. If it's not, I apologize.

I'm currently making my first song pack for dance mats. But I kept thinking to myself, are my charts good enough? Will other people be OK with the music that I picked? Will they find it too hard or too easy?

So here's my question to all the steppers:What makes a good, if not great stepfile or song pack?

Here are some of my assumptions:
1.A balanced blend of genres (not too much EDM/Rock, etc.).
2..Some sort of 'flow' in all of the stepcharts.

Hope somebody would give some answers because I really want to make my pack great!

Stick on to the four "A"s!!
- Accurate BPM.
- Appropriate arrows according to the song.
- Add banner and background pictures.
- Adjust the difficulties accordingly.

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In my opinion...
・sync is good
・every song has full difficulties (beginner~heavy at the least) *since i don't play double, i don't look for double
・fun charts, i don't like packs full of 10 footers
・no annoying gimmicks
・good song choices, stuff that hasn't been stepped before is always a plus for me
・graphics that don't look horrible (personal preference)

it's interesting if you keep to a theme, so if you have any ideas for that then definitely try them out.

also make sure the previews are enticing. listen to the song before you finish the stepfile and think of the part of the song where if you heard it, it would make you want to select it.

just my preference at least, take it or leave it

Yeah I agree, when I make files I try to make the samplestart to the part of the song I think is most interesting (or in some cases most known).

What I try to do when I make a pack are these things.

1. Sync steps/good charts. They can have a 5 song pack or a 500 song pack. If the steps are trash than what's the point? I also think having a limit of songs for a pack is good too. I regret doing 100+ song packs because they took me over a year to finish them and I feel some of my best work is lost in the amount of content that's there. Also sound quietly is important to me. I can take some lower quietly songs but there's a point where it's just too much. MGD3 pretty much violates what I've just said and what not to do imo.

2. VARIETY. I could not stress this one enough. Every time I try to make a pack, I try to have many different kinds of genres and styles of music. Say someone downloads a pack and it's 90% J-Core songs. What if the player is not a fan of J-Core? Different people like different kinds of music and I try to find songs that I think would make good charts and that are songs at least someone can get into. There's songs I've just not stepped because they have been done to death and/or I don't feel like I could bring anything new to it.

This also goes for stepcharts as well. Nothing drives me crazy more than finding a song that sounds amazing but only has one chart that I have no chance doing. I feel like that I'm being punished as a player because I'm not good enough. Just like with song choice, have charts that anyone from first time players to the most advance players can have fun playing or find something challenging.

3. Consistency. Being consistent with difficulties and how BPM changes are done. Have a standard of what people can relate to when making a file. Also gives the people getting simfiles an expectation. It's one of the main reasons why I don't use the X scale for songs. Yes you will have some missteps here and there after time or base on who you ask but that's going to happen regardless.

Gimmicks go with this as well. It's fine to have gimmicks if that's what you specialize in. However your gimmicks need to be consistent in how you do them. I HATE it when someone puts in gimmicks for a song just for the sake of putting in gimmicks and has nothing to do with the song. Not every song needs to be a sightread chart with 20 speed changes. A song that's just a flat 130 BPM can be just as fun.

4. What makes the simfile pack stand out from everyone else? Is there something with the simfile artist that he/she specialize in? Also I think this also goes with events and user interactivity. I found that much more people will check out a simfile pack if they feel like they got a say on what is stepped.

5. Presentation. I don't put as much stock in graphics when downloading other files but there's many that do. Graphics and song previews are like your advertisements. The role for them is to try to hook them into playing a song or downloading a file. I've played songs with awful graphics and amazing charts and I've played songs with amazing graphics and awful charts. It's like telling a book by it's cover. A bad cover doesn't make it a bad book but it's important if you are trying to find people do download your files.

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Thanks for the feedback everybody! You guys have been a real help.

In a pop song, this is generally the chorus.

It's not a good pack without a boss song

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I dunno. I don't think there needs to be a boss song. But if you insist on having boss songs, make sure there are only a few. Maybe a maximum of three, depending on the size of the pack.

There doesn't need to be, but you have to challenge all skill levels. That's just my personal opinion though

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Have a mix of easy and hard songs. I don't think there will be any DDR beginners even using StepMania, so there's no need for Expert charts rated a 7.

Here's what I'd recommend for a difficulty spread (X-scale);

Beginner: 2-6
Basic: 5-11
Difficult: 8-14
Expert: 10-17
Challenge: 16+

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Usually when I feel the right rhythm with the song is when the simfile works, also sometimes I use the WWKD (What would Konami do?) thinking to get through charts.

Some people might not agree with all charts but the fun factor for me is more important than anything, if it's fun it works, unless there's a very bad sync