ZIv's Summer Contest 2011

http://zenius-i-vanisher.com/v5.2/viewsimfile.php?simfileid=13441

Own Little World by Celldweller

Game: Dead Rising 2

3
6
9

Credit to Lord Toon for the Banner and Background

Credit to Tyma for the Music Cut

... !

FYI, you can rate songs on the 1-14 ITG scale if you wish.

Click on banner to get to file.

Still Alive is from Portal
2
3
5
7

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And the rest of my review


Break the Rule
[+] - Very very very very very very good use of spins and turning. The rhythm felt to add to the song rather than being completely karaoke.
[-] - It had to end

Phantom
[+] Clever use of the speed up and slow downs. Good rhythms.
[-] Just some flow issues which are especially important to keep in mind on 12th galloping songs such as this.

Pulse Attack
[+] Heavy had nice variations of rhythm during otherwise dull parts. Some double stepping that felt appropriate. Challenge had good uses of freezes to induce more difficulty.
[-] Lot of issues with facing to the right too much. Some of the double steeping had good intentions but made the chart unfun in parts.

Ring
[+] When I heard the preview I first thought "great this will be over stepped." Boy I was surprised. You had the potential to make this chart terrible but you held back and seemed to follow a course of action. It worked.
[-] I think I noticed a couple of double steps, not entirely sure.

Rush -
[+] - Nothing terrible about this file
[-] - Found challenge complete unnecessary.

S&M -
[+] - Not monotanous, good graphics.
[-] - I just never felt like I was really dancing to the chart. I dunno something about it just turned oe mff.

Show Me Love
[+] - Start of the chart had good rhythm.
[-] - The rhythm at the end got really really weird.

Starry Sky
[+] - Good rhythm choices and decent chart overall.
[-] - Challenge seemed unnecessary and some of the flow seemed compromised.

Sweet Rain
[+] - Wtf was this chart autogenned? It felt like a franken-chart from ITG, DDR Extreme, 4th + and Technomotion.
[-] - I stubbed my toe getting some water as I waited to auto-fail this chart.

Take On Me
[+] - My octopus had fun playing this chart.
[-] - A ton of flow issues and odd rhythm choices.

Target Has Been Destroyed
[+] - You didn't go insane on the Heavy chart. Not a terrible chart though the jumps towards the end are a bit much.
[-] - You saved it for Challenge. It seems you were trying to compete with 888 Oni. It wasn't even THIS insane.

tant pis pour toi
[+] - Interesing use of gimmicks.
[-] - Over all just a really bad chart.

[+] - Extremely solid chart. Great use of the jumps and double steps.
[-] - Not enough Gwen Stefani on the ground going "ah ah ah ah"

Yume to Genjitus
[+] - Pretty good chart that did rely solely on the song to create rhythms that fit.
[-] - Patterns and rhythm seemed slightly all over the place. Not TOO bad though.

AI
[+] - I didn't finish it.
[-] - The song started.

And my votes are:

Blust of Wind - 5
Break the Rule - 4
What You Waiting For? - 3
Ring - 2
Dough-Nuts Active Dust Map- 1

What You Waiting For? - 39
Break The Rule - 28
L'erisia (Primary Logic) - 17
Dough-Nuts Active map - 16
BLUST OF WIND - 16
Starry Sky - 12
Drive away - 11
HELP ME DR. DICK - 11
Baby Boy - 8
Club Can't Handle Me - 7
Icicles - 7
Target Planet Has Been Destroyed - 7
BUTTERFLY (DELACTION REMIX) - 6
Pulse Attack - 6
Flower of Bravery - 5
S&M - 5
Ring - 5
Flower of Bravery - 4
Golden Skans - 4
Phantom - 4
Dragonfly - 2
夢の現実 - 2
I Can't Let You Go - 2
neoMAX - 1
So Fabulous!! - 1

That means a lot coming from you, thanks.


Is a island dance, mahn!

Z-I-v SC11 Vote Counter updated.

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Technical question, can contest files be uploaded to personal categories or does one have to wait until this is over?

Just got back from a club meeting and a small group of me and 4 other heavy players gave all the charts a good play through. After that here are my votes:

Break The Rule - 5: Everyone wanted to play this chart, and I think it got played 3 times in a row at one point too XD. Really enjoyable, really solid, and definitely deserving of the top slot. The use of spins felt like they complimented the song rather than being unneeded gimmicks, so that gets pluses too.

BLUST OF WIND - 4: This and Break The Rule were really close for being the best simfiles of the day, they both were so good I actually had to ask the other people which they thought was better and they were pretty split on the issue too, we almost had to flip a coin for it. Well done.

Icicles - 3: The tricky rhythms in this song made it really interesting to sight read, and it took a couple of pass throughs from the group before any of us really got it down. That said, it's great to see a song with some tricky rhythms instead of some of the standard rhythms a lot of people tend to stick to, so good job on that.

Ring - 2: The Kozo Nakamura fan in me cried in joy when I saw this song, and you did very well with the song. I liked how you stayed reserved and didn't overstep the song like a lot of people would have (guilty ), and the last few measures of the song sold me on the chart.

Jewelry Angel - 1: We did the crotch grind . Everyone seriously couldn't stop laughing, and we all loved the freeze so we could actually have some fun and goof around, when a lot of simfiles these days try to be serious all the time. It would have been nice to continue the pattern rather than putting in a break there, but the rest of the chart was solid enough and the crotch thrust was so funny that this earns a spot here.

Honorable mention to BUTTERFLY (delaction mix), Diamond Dust, and L'erisia.

It was really hard to decide because there were so many great simfiles. Good job everyone. Hope next round is just as good.

What You Waiting For? - 39
Break The Rule - 33
BLUST OF WIND - 20
L'erisia (Primary Logic) - 17
Dough-Nuts Active map - 16
Starry Sky - 12
Drive away - 11
HELP ME DR. DICK - 11
Baby Boy - 8
Club Can't Handle Me - 7
Icicles - 10
Target Planet Has Been Destroyed - 7
Ring - 7
BUTTERFLY (DELACTION REMIX) - 6
Pulse Attack - 6
Flower of Bravery - 5
S&M - 5
Flower of Bravery - 4
Golden Skans - 4
Phantom - 4
Dragonfly - 2
夢の現実 - 2
I Can't Let You Go - 2
neoMAX - 1
So Fabulous!! - 1
Jewelry Angel - 1

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Others have waited until the contest was over to maximize attention to the tournament. You know, kinda like an exclusivity type of thing. It also helps draw attention to other files whose owners do not have a category of their own.

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Break the Rules - 5
Drive Away - 4
Diamond Dust - 3
Ring - 2
Help Me Dr. Dick - 1

What You Waiting For? - 39
Break The Rule - 38
BLUST OF WIND - 20
L'erisia (Primary Logic) - 17
Dough-Nuts Active map - 16
Drive away - 15
Starry Sky - 12
HELP ME DR. DICK - 12
Baby Boy - 8
Club Can't Handle Me - 7
Icicles - 10
Ring - 9
Target Planet Has Been Destroyed - 7
BUTTERFLY (DELACTION REMIX) - 6
Pulse Attack - 6
Flower of Bravery - 5
S&M - 5
Flower of Bravery - 4
Golden Skans - 4
Phantom - 4
Diamond Dust - 3
Dragonfly - 2
夢の現実 - 2
I Can't Let You Go - 2
neoMAX - 1
So Fabulous!! - 1
Jewelry Angel - 1

We have quite the competition on our hands .

I'd hope everyone waits unt il it's over, to encourage people to check out the contest.

One huge benefit is that you can incorporate feedback before re-uploading the file to your own catagory. For example, I obviously made a mistake with my file (and a lot of my earlier simfiles), and because so many people are giving awesome and helpful feedback, I can take out the freeze in Jewelry Angel Heavy, and replace it with a stream that doesn't break up the song, then add an Oni chart full of crotch-grabbing goodness!

Don't you dare!

Don't worry, Tyma. If it makes you feel any better, I crotch-grab throughout the entire song.
UMFUMFimeanwhat?

ALSO: for the current week, all three simfile submissions of mine are in:


WHEN THE END / ITOU KANAKO & WATANABE KAZUHIRO
From Lamento -Beyond the Void- (A World Devoid of Emotion)
- 1
- 2
- 5
- 7


SUPERMAN / GOLDFINGER
From Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
- 2
- 5
- 6
- 8


LONG DREAM / TAKEHARU ISHIMOTO
From The World Ends With You
- 1
- 4
- 5
- 8
- 9

L'erisia (Primary Logic) +5
Break The Rules +4
Icicles +3
What You Waiting For? +2
Pulse Attack (DJ Stormtrooper Remix) +1

Honorable mentions: Ring & Starry Sky


Break The Rule - 42
What You Waiting For? - 41
L'erisia (Primary Logic) - 22
BLUST OF WIND - 20
Dough-Nuts Active map - 16
Drive away - 15
Icicles - 13
Starry Sky - 12
HELP ME DR. DICK - 12
Ring - 9
Baby Boy - 8
Club Can't Handle Me - 7
Pulse Attack (DJ Stormtrooper Remix) - 7
Target Planet Has Been Destroyed - 7
BUTTERFLY (DELACTION REMIX) - 6
Flower of Bravery - 5
S&M - 5
Golden Skans - 4
Phantom - 4
Diamond Dust - 3
Dragonfly - 2
夢の現実 - 2
I Can't Let You Go - 2
neoMAX - 1
So Fabulous!! - 1
Jewelry Angel - 1


I really think this week's theme should have been limited to music WRITTEN for a non-music video game. Too many games just have a Top 20 Pop Songs Of The Time soundtrack.

All right, here are my votes:

1 - L'erisia (Primary Logic) (+5)
2 - Icicles (+4)
3 - HELP ME DR. DICK (+3)
4 - Ring (+1)
5 - What You Waiting For? (+1)

Simfile Totals

Break The Rule - 42
What You Waiting For? - 42
L'erisia (Primary Logic) - 27
BLUST OF WIND - 20
Icicles - 17
Dough-Nuts Active map - 16
Drive away - 15
HELP ME DR. DICK - 15
Starry Sky - 12
Ring - 10
Baby Boy - 8
Club Can't Handle Me - 7
Pulse Attack (DJ Stormtrooper Remix) - 7
Target Planet Has Been Destroyed - 7
BUTTERFLY (DELACTION REMIX) - 6
Flower of Bravery - 5
S&M - 5
Golden Skans - 4
Phantom - 4
Diamond Dust - 3
Dragonfly - 2
Yume to Genjitsu - 2
I Can't Let You Go - 2
neoMAX - 1
So Fabulous!! - 1
Jewelry Angel - 1

And in case anyone is interested, since some people submitted more than one simfile...

Contributors' Totals

DM Ashura - 42
Pie-kun - 42
DMAxel - 20+16+2 = 38
TaroNuke - 27
Daiz - 15+6+1 = 22
Telperion - 17
Azn_punk_07 - 12+4 = 16
eataninja - 15
Blinded_No_More - 10+5 = 15
Dancefreak - 8+1 = 9
ziv348 - 7+2 = 9
Darkstorm091 - 7
Chewi? - 7
DJ OMiY - 5
Oni-91 - 4
Pandemonium X - 3
Braeden47 - 2
Tyma - 1

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Wow, +10 in quick succession!

Thank you all!

Funny story: I heard that having a slightly understepped heavy and an overstepped oni is called "ziv348 syndrome",
and I also came to the conclusion that people are likely vote for simfiles that are either charted how they wish
they could chart, or charted in their own style. I was told my simfile had "ziv348 syndrome", and then look who voted for it!

Because there were so many freaking good simfiles submitted, if I don't mention your file, assume it scored 9.0/9.3, it just didn't stand out.

feel free to ctrl+f your name.

VOTES (irrelevant of how high I rated the simfiles, this is about how much fun I had):
(Also, because so many simfiles were good, the songs themselves ended up playing a part in my decision.)

+5 Dough Nuts
+4 Starry sky
+3 Target Planet has been destroyed
+2 Diamond dust
+1 Blust of Wind

+0 Icicles
+0 Baby boy
+0 Show me love
+0 Jewelry angel
+0 Golden Skans
+0 What you waiting for
+0 Break the Rule

+0 Dragonfly (for the crossovers, NOT the spins)

I attempt every crossover in a chart until I see a doublestep.
At which point I assume "screw this chart's turns", and then proceed to doublestep the rest of the song,
and not perform a single crossover. You deserve to have your turns ignored for misplacing one!

I tried to do spins if they were at reasonable speeds, which pretty much all of them were, but I'm not very good at spins.

Reviews:

Azn_punk_07 - Starry Sky:
I found myself legitimately having fun with this one. I tried the 8 first because I hadn't warmed up and was a little apprehensive of the 10, and I had a great time, but at the same time hearing where the 10 could be made a 10. So I tried the 10, and I wasn't disappointed. All round great file. I also used to hate the song but it really really grew on me.
9.3/9.3

Tyma - Jewelry angel:
This was a lot of fun too, I especially enjoyed those crossovers toward the ending, and also enjoyed the song.
9.2/9.3

Darkstorm091 - Target planet has been destroyed:
Thanks for that haha, it was a real challenge, but fair, and not as hard as I thought it was going to be.
Really full of energy too.
9.2/9.3

Pie-kun - What you waiting for:
Damn you for making this simfile. Everything about it was perfect. </jelly>
NaN/9.3 (the formula was "win+epic+awesome+9.5", which somehow gave NaN (not a number)I don't get it either.

DM Ashura - Break the rule:
Yeah you can spin, but I don't enjoy that or doublestepping because I'm not very good at it!
Overall godly file though...
9.3/9.3

Oni-91 - Golden Skans:
I had fun with this one, but it didn't really stand out compared to the rest. It was very well made though!
9.2/9.3

DMaxel - Dough nuts active map:
Haha, this was fun as hell, love the steps, love the gimmicks and love the song.
9.2/9.3

Braeden47 - I won't let you go - step artist: Copied from Copied f... -.1
I like charts like this (patterns used, general difficulty) +9
Single solitary doublestep. Measure 41. -1 (buzz kill; the tech was going so well!)
After said buzz kill, chart felt like it was running on too long. -.1
8.8/9.3

DMAxel - YUME TO GENJITSU - Really fun, but I felt the song went on too long, such that I wouldn't play it again.
I got a really good score on it though: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2526020/Scores/screen00086.jpg
9.0/9.3

Azn_Punk_07 - Holy Humiliation - hold step step step got boring long before it ended. Enjoyed rest of song. -.5
Ending is really really hard!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2526020/Scores/screen00095.jpg
8.6/9.3

Azn_Punk_07 - Phantom - what happened here? I can't even put my finger on it, even before the gimmick game up
I found myself not having very much fun playing this file, and I ended up practicing bracketing on it...
The gimmick somewhat impressed me, but it didn't add to how much fun I was having.
7.4/9.3

Aegis - ACT - broken steps that shouldn't have been there, then acting like a douche about it after misreading my statement. -0.4
He fixed it, but it still hurt my feelings >: -0.4
Really inconsistent sound choices for the steps, and imbalanced overall difficulty,
7.7/9.3
Sim itself was great okay, but others were just better ^^;

Dancefreak - NeoMAX - Ouch, very difficult crossovers.
It's a very good file when played on keyboard, lots of variation in patterns.
I played it on keyboard and couldn't really be bothered to try and pad it because of how hard it was, sorry ^^;
8.7/9.3

Dancefreak - Baby boy - Very good! Everything about it seemed well thought out.
9.2/9.3

Blinded_no_more - Ring
9.1/9.3

xRGTMx - No more - somehow managed to make me enjoy spins!?
9.2/9.3

Chewphoria/Chewi☆ (blanket review) - I don't like spins and not enough else happened in the charts.
I normally hate Chewi's musical taste, but this time it wasn't the case.
8.9/9.3

Club Can't handle me - I quite liked the song, but I don't like spins.
9.0/9.3
Eddies are back - Enjoyed the song, but the steps were a bit boring.
8.8/9.3
Blow - See Eddies are back, but a tiny bit less fun.
8.7/9.3

Lucie - Show me love - really good all the way, I didn't expect to full combo it on pad, but I did somehow!
BUT-the "sho~w me love sho~w me love" section towards the end, with the greens/orange, was REALLY offsync. Wrong color of note choice perhaps?
I think they words are actually on 12ths.
It was really good except for that one section.
9.1/9.3

You should have tried multiple note types before sticking with the ctrl+r. If worst comes to worst, CTRL+R on 192s,
then clean it up so it's all 192nd (green), so then at least it doesn't look visually offsync.

Pictured: 18th notes.

ziv348 - Dragonfly - well placed stops. Song is super catchy!
I really enjoyed all the twisty tech, but at the two spins:
I'm sorry but I just can't spin that fast. Only reason this isn't top 5. -0.1
Hold at the end should have ended on at least measure 75. Just sayin'!
9.1/9.3

Pandemonium X - Diamond Dust - Wow, I don't know what exactly, but I really liked something about this file.
9.3/9.3

ziv348 - Pulse attack - good-ass simfile. I found this to be a wee bit harder than most other 9s entered, not that that
affects anything.
9.2/9.3

DJ OMiY - S&M - good-ass simfile. Though I hated the song :V.
9.2/9.3

Telperion - Icicles - Fun! Lots of fun! I enjoyed this a lot. Love both the song and chart. Nothing about it was really wrong.
9.3/9.3

DMAxel - Blust of Wind - See Icicles, but I enjoyed the chart for different reasons.
9.3/9.3

Aegis - Tante pis pour toi -
Why was this not #DISPLAYBPM'd? Seeing 276 when the song is mainly 138 is just annoying.
Can't pick the right speed mod. I really enjoyed the gimmicks though. Shame the leading beats are bluenote.
8.8

Mr. Music - Sweet rain - #DISPLAYBPM:140.000;, that's just plain false. #BPMS:155.000;, also just incorrect. -3
You should read your .sm file to make sure it doesn't contain silliness!
Rhythms stepped incorrectly (maybe due to incorrect bpms), doublesteps that show no thought of FOOT placement -3
(or highlighting the chart artist's own lack of skill perhaps?)
Total: -4.5/9.3

Mr. Music - Crystalline green - LOTS of junk step data. -0.5
Chart goes on for like a minute after the song finishes, with no steps. Possibly due to junk step data. -2 (ruined "experience")
Seriously if you open the .sm and you find something not part of your chart, PURGE IT!
The 10 footer, bored me. To sleep. Way too easy, way misrated. 10s shouldn't do that. -3
Total: -4.5/9.3

Hooky - Dance in the Dark - 48ths? Doublestepping? Spins everywhere?
6.5/9.3

Daiz - So Fabulous!! - Great fun, but didn't really stand out!
9.2/9.3

eataninja - Not conforming with title. It's "[DDR Artists] - x" not "[DDR ARTISTS] - x" (Help Me Mr. Dick) -0.2
Score also hurt by weird fade out.
Score: 9.1/9.3

eataninja - Not conforming with title. It's "[DDR Artists] - x" not "[DDR ARTISTS] x" (Take on Me) <my face when not even internally consistent! -0.8
I was a little bored by the song, and the chart ended in what seemed like the middle of a sentence haha.
8.2/9.3

Daiz - Butterfly - Good (running out of review steam here)
9.1/9.3

Braeden47 - Feel good time - it was okay
8.9/9.3

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Random question (i'm sure i already asked for this in the first few pages but it might have been drowned with all the other replies about other things) :

- Can we use hands ?
- Can we use mines ?
- Can we use rolls ?

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Yes to hands, yes to mines, no to rolls without warning (or make and edit chart, which an edit of the rolls chart so that it contains no rolls)

I use OpenITG, so rolls are fine for me, but lots of people use 3.9 still.

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This is pretty much the most authentic simfile, and I'm glad people are willing to lossen their "stepmaking rules", to appreciate something which is (and always has been) genuinly fun. You'll find double-stepping if you specifically look for it, but it's not like anyone is going to play this and even notice, let alone become pained by it.

I guess this is immortal now, but for the record, I can assure you that the vote is a total and complete coincidence.

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