ZIv's Summer Contest 2011

GET READY TO BREAK DEM UFO'S PEOPLE!



http://zenius-i-vanisher.com/v5.2/viewsimfile.php?simfileid=13582

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uh this is weird, I made both light and standard stepcharts, maybe I submitted the wrong one.

But about the length, it can't be accepted like that D:?

Edit:


This one contains stepchart - ... but its length is greater than 2:30 yet. I can't find really find a way to cut it down D:

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oh ok. Thanks.

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Ok, what time is it over there?

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5:09 EST
17:09 EST

9:09 GMT?
21:09 GMT?

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My file is in...
I guess I made it in last second!

*started upload at 22.59*
So I was right and my deadline was 11pm
Thank God I made it in time!

Here the file!
http://zenius-i-vanisher.com/v5.2/viewsimfile.php?simfileid=13585

5 7 9 10

Have fun!

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Sorry, I had to attend a religious service. (SWANSEA!!! 3-1)

Give me 10 minutes to get everything together ^^;

I'm not even a football fan and I enjoyed that service thoroughly. I support everyone who's again Forest.

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Forest Funk / Danny Baranowsky
2 5 7 9

From the indie game Super Meat Boy.

Anyone that needs help cutting a song to under 2:30, give me a PM.

Week 1 (DDR Artists) voting is now closed.

Week 2 (Video Games) submissions are now closed.

Week 2 (Video Games) voting is now open.

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Week 1 - Results

[1st Place]

DM Ashura

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[2nd Place]

Pie-Kun

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[3rd Place]

Taronuke

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Week 3 - Happy Songs
Step a happy song. Only happy songs are allowed. (Happy Hardcore is always happy!)

Ok... WTF is a happy song??
O_O

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Can you please define that better, and would Ryu count as happy?

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A happy song is a happy song! Happy and upbeat, or a song with really positive lyrics.

If you think it's a happy song, then it's probably ok. I would say that Ryu songs are normally very happy.

Paper Engine - 5
Rotterdam Nation '94 - 4
Battle! VS Team Plasma - 3
AIR CRASH -secret area- - 2
Quaternary Game - 1

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I'll take a crack at defining this a little better, although Tyma is absolutely welcome to correct me. (Note: These criteria do not all have to be satisfied in a single song!)

Happy is something written in the major key, with an upbeat, possibly fast tempo.

Example:


Happy may include poppy, saccharine vocals with a light-hearted theme.

Example:


Happy may be a house tune, happy hardcore, or just about any genre of music.

Examples:





Those should be good examples of "happy" songs! ^^

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I WAS RIGHT! XD. And I know what song I want to step for this too :3

Votes and reviews coming later this week.

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Wolverine NES Title Theme - 5
Quarternary Game - 4
Rotterdam Nation '93 - 3
The Justice Ray Part.3 - 2
Drawcia Soul - 1

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It's 5 now! THIS WEEKS SUBMISSIONS ARE CLOSED.

I don't know what this weeks theme it.

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Okay, let me just say that almost everyone did really, really well this week. There were a lot of songs that I ended up loving that I thought I would hate, and a lot of songs that I thought I would love... and was right. So in the following reviews, I'm being really, really critical. You'll see a lot of complaints about the 'energy of the file'--that pretty much means outright playability; how much "fun" I found your file to play, I just wanted to clear that up. Because I use that excuse a moderate amount. :x And next, a word on scoring:

REMEMBER: 5/10 DOES NOT MEAN 'BAD'. 1/10 MEANS BAD; 5/10 MEANS 'AVERAGE'. DO NOT EXPECT TO GET A 10/10 UNLESS YOU CREATE A FLAWLESS SIMFILE.

warning in advance: wall of text. :x Ctrl+F + your username = YAY YOU FOUND YOUR FILE'S CRITIQUE.

OWN LITTLE WORLD: TomoGlaciertear. 4/10
I'm SO sad. This simfile was glorious--it was difficult enough to give it a "bite", but hard without being retarded (also props to Tyma and LordToon for the cut and graphics o3o )--except for the fact that it was so offsync that 80% of my results were GREAT... and I'm on the most lenient score setting. It's a given that I later synced and archived it, but I'm judging them as-is. A runthrough in Edit Mode with Auto Adjust on could've bumped this up to at least a 7. :c

STILL ALIVE: Mr.Music. 2/10
This song had potential. It really did. At least, I think. The thing is, though, the lack of a little thing we call "sync" made the song almost unplayable. There were a few parts where I'm sure that stops should have been used, but they weren't. After the song, I had to check to see if I was actually playing a 7; it felt more like a 5. The song ended at an awkward time... Then again, though it was misrated and all, it was easy without being stupid, so that's laudable.

DIGI-BOY: Darkstorm091. 4/10
I could really copy and paste my review for "Own Little World" here, as this song had pretty much the exact same strengths as that song. Unfortunately, it had the same weaknesses. I'm starting to wonder if maybe my Stepmania is drifting, but when I play official simfiles, they're completely on-sync. Like "Own Little World", though, the steps made complete sense, a runthrough with Auto Adjust would bumpt the score to, like, a 7.

AIR CRASH: TaroNuke. 8/10
Someone likes his freeze arrows, eh? I only have two qualms about this simfile: (1) The stream of 8th-note freezes irritated me and, while they should have made sense given the part of the song in which they were played, they just didn't. (2) The Groove Radar looks forboding, but that's not your fault. BUT YEAH. That's it. Everything else about this file was immaculate; you but the DD back in DDR, as--and I know it sounds cheesy, but a lot of the jumps and streams made it seem like I was actually dancing. The catchy music helped a lot. :3 Good job!

WOLVERINE TITLE THEME: eataninja. 8/10
I have to admit. I went into this one expecting to dislike it. I was, however, pleasantly surprised. This is one of the better simfiles that I've played... almost ever. The crossovers made sense, the freezes worked, and I guess everything just clicked together to make the steps themselves work. While I thought that everything should be moved up one level (Beginner to Basic, Basic to Difficult, etc), the steps weren't terrible by a long shot. It may just be my aversion to chiptune, but the only thing I didn't like about this file was the music. Otherwise, good job!

BATTLE! VS. TEAM PLASMA: Blinded_No_More. 5/10
I... don't know how I feel about this one. It was very average. While there was no double-stepping and the steps flowed into each other, the entire thing was kind of like "meh". I continually asked myself, "Okay, when's the real chart going to start?" In short, the steps weren't as intense as the song itself let on. The steps weren't bad, but it just wasn't enough to "wow" me.

ROTTERDAM NATION '94: Oni_91. 7/10
This was a very dainty simfile. Not music-wise, kind of, but the way the steps were handled: everything with total eloquence. There was no double-stepping. The steps flowed together well. Even the speedup at the end was handled really well! However, therein lies its fault and why I didn't give you a higher score: this is a very high-energy piece, and isn't necessarily a place to play by the rules. If the song had more energy, it would have gotten a higher score. Don't feel slighted by what you got, though! It's not bad.

DRAWCIA SOUL: TaroNuke. 8/10
When I first read your review of other peoples' simfiles, poking at them for double-stepping and lack of flow, I asked myself, "Who does this guy think he is?!" With this simfile, you proved to me just who the hell you are. Apparently somewhere along the way there had to be a conversion law of intensity, because all of the energy that was sucked out of Rotterdam Nation '94 was apparently injected into this one. There were a few parts where the steps even shouldn't have worked, but did, which was... odd. But good odd. While there was a badly-placed 16th here and a weird jump there (towards the end, mostly), everything worked really, really well, and it actually felt like a boss battle song without being retardedly hard. It was a really well done file, good job!

PAPER ENGINE: Pandemonium X. 6/10
This was an above-average file, but in saying that, I mean that it was good, but not great. There was kind of a strange syncing problem that's difficult to describe (it seemed offsync but wasn't... it's weird), and some of the steps seemed a bit awkwardly placed, such as a few freezes when there shouldn't be or just a few steps that seemed too early for where they were placed. I'm not saying that a complete overhaul is in order, but I've played your other files and know that you can definitely do better.

TITLE FROM HARVEST MOON - BACK TO NATURE: ziv348. 5/10
Simfiles fall into one of three categories for me: the Good, the Bad, and the WTF YOU ARE A SIMFILE GOD. Normally the ones that are Bad are either offsync or just retarded charts, so you can assume correctly there's a huge gap between that and the Best Simfiles Ever. This wasn't one of those; it kinda fell into the gap. There were a few misplaced freezes, and the Heavy (NOT Challenge) seemed overstepped for what the song was worth. The Challenge steps were completely unnecessary. The 12th runs in that had no real base in the song, which made the entire difficulty seem forced. It was pretty good, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't great.

THE WEEKEND: Chewi☆. 8/10
Where are your graphics?! I was so looking forward to your usually-orgasmic, song-specific graphics! ;A; But barring that small tidbit, you're definitely getting a vote of mine. Not only was the song, like Air Crash, dance-able, it had everything I like in a simfile--a fair amount of freezes, a chart that gets progressively harder, and, of course, a catchy song. This is one of the better simfiles this week, IMO; good job!

GENE GADGET: -Viper-. 7/10
I like the song, I like the steps. The sync drifted a little bit in the beginning, but it definitely got better as the file went on. The Expert chart wasn't understepped and, though easy, was easy to get into. The Challenge chart was welcomed, too; it wasn't necessarily necessary by any means, but it was a nice addition to the simfile, though you could've stood to shed a few freezes from that chart. The only reason I'm not ranking it higher is because it lacked a certain quality that I thought made the other simfiles just that much better. Sorry, but it was still good!

EXEC_HYMM_BATTLESPHERE/.#TYRIA EXTRACTING: Azn_punk_07. 8/10
I can go either way on your files. Case in point, your Weave Detonator and Programmed Sun files vs your Phantom file from last week. Here was one of the former. The steps were consistant, though there were some parts towards the end where there were straight 8th streams where it made sense to chop them up, or at least leave gaps in between arrows to reflect what was going on in the song. However, like Gene Gadget, I liked the song and the steps quite a bit. Good job!

EXEC_HYMM_BATTLESPHERE/.#FINNEL EXTRACTING: Azn_punk_07. 4/10
Eh. There wasn't anything really special about this file that made it stand out, but its lackluster-ness was accompanied by a few flaws. Freezes were liberally used--almost too much so. Around the 200-combo mark was my favorite part, which was really well-executed. I wouldn't mind if the entire file was like that--remember, simple does not mean bad! Keep that in mind, as the difficulty seemed uneven. You can do better!

EXEC_CUTYPUMP/.: Azn_punk_07. 8/10
RABU
RABU
RABU :U
This. Was. Very. Very. Good. After playing Finnel extracting, I didn't quite have such high hopes for this file, but the energy in the steps manifested itself well, and, though they weren't overused, I found myself jumping way more than I would, even on, say, Flow Expert. I may be biased due to my love of music that combines lite-hardcore techno and rock, but still. I had a lot of fun playing this one! Good job!

FLASHING LIGHTS: Chewi☆. 8/10
Chewi, you are gifted. Very, very much so. And here's why: if this was a song contest and you submitted this, I'd give you a 2. I've never liked R&B, but the synths that play underneath "FLASHING. LIGHTS. FLASHING. LIGHTS." are nice. But this isn't a song contest: it's a simfile contest. Which brings me back to my point: holy shit your steps make me want to play this song. Voluntarily. While your Expert steps would be great for people just starting out on Expert, the Challenge chart is good for those of us who want harder charts, and executes it really well, actually. The energy of the steps match that of the song, which, though I don't like the song, work in this file's favor. If only you put graphics, though! Good job!

WANT YOU GONE: hooky. 6/10
In theory, it seemed like a good idea. I could see Want You Gone (I thought the song was called "I Want You Gone", but I could be wrong) as a simfile more than Still Alive, but in order for it to work, it needs to be executed very, very well. Unfortunately, though the steps themselves weren't bad by a long shot, the song had much, much more potential than you used. Plus, the stops, while they made sense in a musical sense, didn't when it came to step-making. I couldn't anticipate when it ended, which caused in much unnecessary stumbling. But still, you did a pretty good job... if only you took it to the next level.

STATE OF EMERGENCY: ziv348. 7/10
I know that people are going to say that I'm hiding behind this excuse, but I'm really not--the energy of the steps matched the energy of the song. While I wished you used less freeze arrows and kept it more on the "jump"-y side, the usage of complex step patterns like "candlesteps" (I think that's what they're called... patterns like LURLUR or LURLDR :U ) and crossovers made the Expert chart shine, the key word being Expert. The Challenge chart, I thought, was a bit overstepped, and wasn't my favorite, overall. Though then again, you did a good job on the Expert chart, all in all. So we have that. c:

QUATERNARY GAME: Telperion. 9/10
Be my friend.
The fact that the Expert chart had only 205 steps and I didn't find it understepped (I even thought it could pass for an 8!) should tell you something. This was, by FAR, the best simfile I've played this entire week. The freezes lasted exactly the amount of time they should've, the amount of 16ths in the stop section (which was phenominally executed, by the way) worked without being retarded... everything was so great taohoashfoeufhngggggg. Though the Challenge chart was relatively unnecessary and, IMO, overstepped, it wasn't too divergent from what made the Expert chart so great. I'm definitely archiving this one. Great job!!

EXISTENS: DM Axel. 7/10.
The first thing I said when I saw this file was, "I don't really remember existens from Backdrops, but any Nekomata Master is always appreciated." The steps were easy to get into, but a bit too challenging for a song like existens. Though there were a lot of freezes, they were used well; this goes for gaps in the stepchart too, used well especially at the beginning and end. While playing the song refreshed my memory of the song, the file matched the song: though I enjoyed it at the time, it wasn't my favorite and was, all in all, relatively forgettable.

THE JUSTICE RAY: DM Axel. 7.5/10.
I don't know how to rate this one. On one hand, it played like one of my favorite songs of all time, Burning Heat! (3 Option Mix), which was what you were aiming for. I think this channeled that really well, but it still firmly held its own. On the other hand, it was relatively off-sync, which threw me a bit. I know you were pressed for time, but one runthrough with Auto Adjust could've done WONDERS for this file. Also, you might want to have thrown a few freezes from existens into this file; there were a few spots where I thought they were lacking. Though that's just a personal opinion; you did a good job, otherwise. :3

WALUIGI PINBALL: DM Axel. 4.5/10
IT'S-A WEEE. WAAAAAAAALUIGI. 8|
I... did not like this. The steps seemed uneven, schizophrenic, even, as if they did know if they wanted to be Challenge steps or Expert steps. Adding a Challenge chart that incorperated some of the more complex rhythms into it could have solved the problem, but instead, the song was kind of an unbalanced mess. Some of the rhythms were wrong (the end of the 16th run was an 8th off), and the slowdown was unwelcome, unneeded and just felt wrong. The song, even, annoyed me. Though some of the karaoke-step portions were good for a level-9 Challenge chart, it just didn't work for a level-8 Expert.

DIAMOND DUST ZONE ACT 1: . 7.5/10
What's bad is that I actively attempted to dislike this file; what's worse is that I failed. While the Challenge chart, like most Challenge charts this week, was relatively unneeded and overstepped, the Expert chart was a very enjoyable 7. It never seemed too difficult to be a 7, and, though there were freezes everywhere, they were used appropriately and never forced. The only problem that I have with the Expert steps is that you used a lot of the pseudotriplets (4-16-8 triplets; I think that's what they're called .-. ) on one arrow instead of spreading them out and making this chart more fun and more flexible. Otherwise, you did a good job. :3

HE HAS NO FACE: ziv348. 7/10
This was above-average. The reason I'm not giving it a 6, then, is because it was above-average with respect to this competition. The steps were, much like existens, a lot of fun while I was playing them, but overall forgettable. The way you used 16ths sparingly in the Expert chart was nice, due to the fact that people tend to whore out 16ths to songs under 110 BPM. Of course, there were a few problems--I knew that the slowdown was coming, so I could prepare for it; if I didn't, though, I'd definitely not have liked it. Also, the Challenge chart added an unneeded bite to the set of steps, which, for a trance song like this, didn't work in your favor. Remember, everyone, sometimes simpler is better!

BATTLE I: Pie-kun. 7/10
This was a good file! Then again, I'm a sucker for "good-awkward" timing, meaning syncopation like with the jumps around the 60-combo mark, the freezes around the 40 mark, and overall the entire beginning. I would've wanted some more variety during the freezes around the 200 mark, though, but otherwise, I think you did a good job. I didn't feel the rush that I got from some other good simfiles, though, but still, the file that you put out was very good nonetheless.

PRIMAL EYES: Oni_91. 7/10
The middle of the song made sense, but wasn't very good, for lack of better terms; between the 25-mark and the 50-mark of the song was awkward to play. It isn't your fault; you did the best with what you were given with respect to that section. Thing is, you weren't given a whole lot. Aside from that, I really liked the file. It was a consistent 9 (barring, of course, the 25-50 section), the stop at the end was used really well, and the rest of the song was enough to save the file from a score not unlike a 5 or a 6.

CHEAP SHOP: Telperion. 6/10
You said you tried to channel MY SUMMER LOVE, but there's only so much MITSU-O! that can be channeled through Anamanaguchi's chiptune. The song itself annoys me, but, unlike Chewi's Flashing Lights file, the steps weren't anything special, much less anything that would save my ears from bleeding. [/hyperbole] The difficulty as an 8 annoyed me a bit: it was inconsistent. While at some parts the steps were easy without being stupid, there were others that felt off-balance with difficulty, ricocheting it between an easy 7 and a hard 8. You can definitely do better; show me that better!

THIS IS MY DESTINY: Tyma. 6.5/10
You were right in your description: Paula Terry does sing a creepy song about cars, and my destiny is crossovers. You forgot to mention, however, that, as much as he apparently wants to be, Yuzo Koshiro is not NAOKI. To me, this felt like Drivin' for people who can't handle 9s. Good news, I like Drivin'. Bad news, emulating a 9 is not something that an 8 should do. Case in point, there were parts where the difficulty was great, albeit too easy for an 8 (the pseudotriplets, though they could do without the random jumps in the middle of them :x ), but also parts where it seemed too difficult to be an 8 (the random clumps of 16th clusters, anyone?). Don't get me wrong, I like the file, but I didn't feel like it was its own.

RAINBOW ROAD: Braeden47. 5/10
Iiiiiiiiiii did not like this that much. The steps were very average, and after playing files like Quaternary Game and Drawcia Soul, having average steps just doesn't excite me that much anymore. Rainbow Road is supposed to be THE stage in Mario Kart 64, the one where you're rewarded for your work in the actually pretty difficult Special Cup, and the excitement of that stage that I thought would reflect itself in the steps really didn't. Like Blinded_No_More's Battle! Vs. Team Plasma file, I kept asking myself, "Okay, when's the real chart going to start?" The steps weren't bad, but it just wasn't really enough :x

SPECIAL STAGE: DM Ashura. 8/10
I really, really don't like Sonic games. At. All. Maybe next week I'll stop being so biased. Unless the theme is, like, "SONGS THAT MAKE YOU WANT TO PUNCH A BABY KITTEN". But anyway, sorry about my little tangent. The fact that I have a bias against Sonic games means NOTHING here--this was a genuinely good file. You know how I keep saying, "inconsistent difficulty, no energy, you can do better" and such? Yeah, I can't say any of that because, quite frankly, though far from a perfect file (that 16th cluster in measure 48... why??), it was one of the better ones I played this week. Good job!

ALL IN ALL:
Quaternary Game - +5
Drawcia Soul - +4
EXEC_CUTYPUMP - +3
Special Stage - +2
The Weekend - +1

Again, everyone did REALLY well. :3

I should upload my file earlier than 1 second before deadline next time...

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