Z-I-v Simfile Shuffle 2015 — thank you for playing!

When I'm testing out my file for double-steps and flow, I put the file on AutoPlay (by pressing F8) and pretend that I am playing it on a dance pad on the floor. However, you need decent experience playing on pad.
Also, playing index-style for testing pad charts is a must to get good files w/out double-steps. Playing other styles like spread do not account for which foot (or finger) players hit the arrow with.

Additionally, here's a basic rule to see which way you'd be facing on a pad when you play index-style.
If you hit the down arrow with your left finger or the up arrow with your right finger, this is when you'd be facing left. (This is the natural position that people are comfortable with while playing on pad because the down arrow is to the left of the right arrow.)

Here's an example:
←– – –
— – ↑ –
— ↓ – –
– – –→

Likewise, if you hit the down arrow with your right finger or the up arrow with your left finger, this is when you'd be facing right.

Here's an example:
←– – –
— ↓ – –
— – ↑ –
– – –→

EDIT: Fixed the examples.
Hope this helps you.

"What am I doing wrong? Do I have problems with patterning? Am I constantly getting the wrong files?"
"My main goal here is to submit files for all 12 rounds. Each file has a unique experience to step."
"Are there any other keyboard-only players?"
Ditto.
and WOW WAR TONIGHT is probably going to flop as well, low sound quality actually hurts it a lot. is a really hard 12 which, though it has no doublesteps, is still pretty out there. is the only one unfinished, so I may have my chance at redemption there.
My best accomplishment was a 2nd place song with groovin'... and then every consecutive song got vetoed. [ROUND F] may be my redemption, but even then I don't know.

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Regarding patterning and keyboard restrictions, I too judge files on keyboard (generally not on a mat). Despite this, I've had enough pad experience to know when patterns will make me face a certain direction. And it does tend to get monotonous when you are forced to face the same direction for a long time.

Picking just the right rhythms to step is also a pretty big factor in determining whether or not I like a file. I like charts that are relatively balanced in terms of difficulty and have rhythms that fit the "mood" of the song. To me, gradually increasing the difficulty as the song goes on is fine. I just don't like it when there's like one 2-beat section that is all of the sudden way harder than the rest of the chart. Sometimes it doesn't deter me too much, other times it really bothers me.

I don't know if this helps at all, this is basically how I tend to look at things. It's also basically a rant and I'm probably forgetting some stuff.

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I think whether or not this is "bad" depends on the person. For me, most of the time it feels like a forced difficulty gimmick that doesn't really add anything... but it's a way to make "DDR-like" boss charts, I guess. I'm not a fan of it that much. but I'm definitely guilty of doing it once or twice.

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Well I think it's OK for some instances. If the song sounds like it should be a boss song, then speed changes like that work (in my opinion).

Only one of my songs got veto'd so far (Metric; I forced that one because I wanted to submit a Hommarju song after Gameoson said "if only I had one to step). Everything else I sent has been stepped.

And I know for sure my Round F submission isn't being veto'd.

Anyway, I finished the heavy chart for my file. It's a 10 footer, with speed gimmicks, however, you have to bare with me on this one. I think I've made it easy to get far for a sightread.

To add to this, you should be playing index on the numpad with 4-2-8-6 (left-down-up-right, respectively) as opposed to the arrow keys. It makes left-down-right crossovers and such a lot easier plus it properly mimics a DDR pad.


My Round G submission is going to have a 65.9% chance of being vetoed but I'm really curious to see how it'll get stepped if someone does decide to step it.

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Yes, I started using the numpad starting at Round D. It takes some time to get used to, though (I made 5 calibrate to down as well so that I can at least use the arrow key set up on the numpad sometimes). However, it's doable. I just full-combo'd Nezemarth's KISS TO KISS file with it.


Well... there are at least 6 people without any vetoes left, they might not have a choice. :P

I have tried that, but it somehow messed me up. It probably could work for me if i set 5 also to down.

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First off, I want to apologize for not being more in-depth when I rank files. I just haven't had as much time to write reviews this year. That said, I think a major selling point of previous simfile contests at Zenius was everybody's willingness to provide feedback, and I'd encourage EVERYBODY to say what you're feeling about each file. Even if you don't feel confident in your skills or taste, and even if you don't have much to say. Comment on song, chart, or both, especially for this contest. (And if the sheer number of submissions worries you, wait a week or two for it to taper off )

Lots of good responses in the last couple pages already, so I'll just pile on a bunch of my unorganized thoughts.

Comp performance depends a lot on who enters. If Silverhawke, Pie, GariK+, DMAxel, etc. threw their hats in this ring, I'd be off the podium more often than on. I got absolutely steamrolled in the last 4-panel comp the handsome fellas at r21freak ran, and I didn't even do that great in the last 8-panel comp. Don't use the rankings as a yardstick - instead, pay attention to the comments you receive.

I've been simfiling for six years now! Lisek's been simfiling since before I was born! Chart sense doesn't happen overnight. (Well, maybe in Gameoson's case. Where the h*ck did you come from, anyway??) Dig up some of your favorite step artists' oldest files and get ready to laugh. If I hadn't entered Z-I-v SC2010, I'd still be writing charts that were 90% crossovers.

I'd actually recommend against trying to create that "unique experience" in each simfile you write. Especially for this contest, where you get handed music and just have to do your best. FIGHT!, for example, is a very unique experience, but look carefully: the song is very oddly structured, and Gameoson put all the chart's weight behind that oddness (the more ordinary sections are complete repetitions). And it will all crash and burn without good chart-writing skills.
This also applies to deciding whether or not to make a Challenge chart: You Don't Have To. And like Spork! said, I'd only recommend doing it if you can really set it apart from the Expert.

Other tips:
＊　Know your audience. I love stream dumps to Pendulum and Helblinde and SHARPNEL, but Z-I-v mostly does not. I loooooove mind-bending gimmick trips, but... well, I don't enter them here very often. Push boundaries, but be prepared to encounter resistance. Expect that you'll get one chance to impress; the reason I've been so loud about ditching double/half-speed gimmicks is that they're not easy to understand on the first play.
＊　Develop a pattern repertoire. Look through official DDR charts you like to play on pad and concentrate on the bits of the chart that are most memorable, and think about how your body moves to hit those arrows. darkanine above did a great job explaining chart "facing"; others have called out "alternating feet".
＊　Listen closely to the music. Place steps to follow prominent melodies or percussion rhythms. Switch up karaoke stepping with more steady beats (something for the feet, something for the ears). Break down the song into verse, chorus, bridge, reprise, etc. and think about how your patterns and rhythms can be re-used or tie it all together.
＊　Play any and all pad files on index with a layout close to diamond-shaped, even if you are more comfortable with a spread configuration.
No cheating!! Focus as much as you can on only using the 4286 arrangement. I also recommend the SCRG/HMIL mapping for index players - it is a little crooked and wide on most keyboards, but also allows you to index double charts (which is invaluable if you're writing doubles, even if you can pad test).

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I set 5 to down because of doubles. It's difficult to handle the left "pad" having down in the center and then the right pad having down in the correct spot. In other words, they are in different locations. However, I have been trying to avoid the 5 key as much as possible when it comes to single play.

Once Round G comes, I'll look over the file as much as I can (and also step some successful files like DATA SUPER HIGHWAY/Nigra Ludia/Catteya/GOTTA BE YOU/etc. myself to see how I compare to the people that did make them)and see how I can make it the best. However, it depends on the song I receive.

Take Hopelessly Devoted to You. I'm not sure who submitted this (it's an .ogg file, which rules out the slithering possibility I thought of), but they should probably find more...dynamic songs to submit. There is no way to make this song a challenging chart without it turning into Macuilxochitl 2.0. It's impaired at a 6-7 footer. Although Loodee managed to get it out anyway (and after fixing syncing issues too!), and while he isn't in the top half yet, he got SOME points (9). CAN'T SLEEP LOVE is another example of impaired songs, it relies on karaoke stepping to get to a 7 footer. I think I'm the only one who gave points to it for being a unique song and for being super friendly (not having any Valkyrie Dimension bullshit).

Sometimes, I think how well a file does depends on if the stepper like the song enough to put their soul into it. Gameoson got far with groovin' and Qubism, Telperion got far with every file he's stepped so far, and others. HOWEVER, sometimes how much you like the song doesn't matter, as long as the song can still be a fun file. Mokou wasn't all about GOTTA BE YOU but she scored 1st place (and that song is god damn awesome). Gameoson got a song he didn't like in Round C, veto'd, and his veto was even worse, so he had to take a risk and use two vetoes in a single round. And then his songs for Round D and Round E, he didn't like either, but since he tends to participate in all rounds of Simfile Shuffle, he had to step them anyway. Lo and behold, Living In The City got far (almost got into the top three), and he managed to make FIGHT! a unique experience too (1st place).

So in the end, it depends if the song is extremely stepable. If it's not, it's probably not gonna get far.

In retrospect, maybe I should've just stuck with Bokura no 16bit Wars and then I *probably* would have gotten better songs for Round B/Round C, but I didn't feel like stepping 429 measures total (143 x 3 for each chart) and I wanted to participate in all 12 rounds, so...yeah.

I've been playing DDR since 2005, really it's just a matter of knowing what I like and what I don't like from playing for as long as I have. *shrug*

Hell even among the good files I've made, I've still put out mediocre stuff. Anybody that remembers Arcanine or especially Rolling Girl probably remembers they weren't spectacular. Even good simfile artists flop every so often. It happens.

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To be fair to GOTTA BE YOU, I like the song, I just don't like my own steps. That makes sense maybe.
Sometimes you just wing it and a file turns out well. Don't rely on this method.

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I also want to bring one thing up about making better simfiles. You should always play the heck out of your expert/challenge charts. I usually take 4 hours to make my expert chart because of the fact that I test the chart out every time I make a change or add steps, and one I finish a part of the song, I play it from the start. When you are doing this, anything that sticks out as awkward, unnatural or seems like it could be done better should be fixed. (Changing something in the middle of the song often requires you to modify the rest of the chart to avoid doublesteps.) You should also compare them to charts of the same difficulty and song style. I do this mainly to see what I should rate the file, but also to see how I can make it better.

Overall, don't be afraid to test your file many times.

I started around 2007.
What I like is not what others like... Pluto and Anti-Matter are two of my favorite charts, and I've always been fascinated with gimmicky boss songs, thus that's how I step (and for the most part how I vote, if the steps were unique and matched the song). Since I'm relatively new to StepMania (started in 2014), I'm not great at making these types of songs from scratch. But as Mokou said, it clearly takes a bit of practice.

Oh yeah, and this too.
You Will Know Our Names. I got like 7th/20 or something with this on my first try, and I don't know how.

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The most accurate thing said concerning simfiles.

Also im itching to step something after a long time so throw a veto my way for this week.

You'll be stepping i-revolution -Album New Mix-. Good luck!

Hey guys, I would like to ask if you guys use wireless headphones/speakers. Numerous files I've received from Braeden47 and The Legendary DJXYZ's files have consistently been off-sync on my side, despite The Legendary DJXYZ having the same global offset as me.

This may seem off-topic, but I recently got Bluetooth headphones (Bluedio) so I can listen to music and be a distance away from my computer. They work, but only after a long and tedious process of getting them to pair with the computer. Again, it may seem off-topic, however, when I went to play licca, it was horribly off-sync, even though I KNEW it shouldn't have been. The other files had the same problem. Then when I went to Windows' sound test area, I quickly realized that my headphones weren't in sync with my computer. Everything was a quarter of a second off. This is very bad when it comes to rhythm games like Stepmania. I connected them normally (with a cord) and the problem was fixed.

So may I ask if anyone is using wireless headphones, speakers, or other audio devices? Because you might be relying on delayed audio for your syncing. And if your audio IS delayed, this is bad because you either risk getting in trouble by sending mis-synced simfile basises (remember the syncing warnings vincentw and Scarz established?) or having your file get screwed over because it's offsync for just about everyone else and will distract from properly enjoying the simfile (Time again, Destroyer, Guns & Roses, Sharaku, possibly others).

Thats why I highly suggest Calibrating Audio Sync through the options menu before syncing a song