Z-I-v Summer Contest 2020

I would like to join your contest, please.

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Eh, why not. I'll join in.

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Erm, I'm not sure if I join this contest but... Sign me in please.

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Sign me up! Hoping to beat my previous year record of 0.

I'm wondering with the larger-than-average pool of participants, would it make sense to increase the number of points given in voting to 20 or 25? Just a thought.

I would really like that, but the maximum number of points to give to a file should then be increased to 6 or 7.

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Hey everyone! It would seem that it's time to get underway. Welcome to the 2020 Summer Contest! For those who don't know me, my name's Daniel and I'll be your emcee for the odd weeks. I look forward to getting to know everybody and to seeing what each of our competitors has to offer. I know, I'm just as excited as you are. I'm ready to dive right in, trust me. It's just... I tend to cramp up pretty easily. So I think it would be best if we start with a quick warmup first...



Alright, calm down. I'll answer the burning question:

"Do jumps count as two notes?"
That is correct. It would only make sense considering that's how it worked for the original MAX 300. Otherwise the full combo doesn't add up to 573. I'd say most themes count it this way, but if not, you can verify it in edit mode and checking the Tap Steps in the "View Steps Data" menu. Now for the other burning question:

"Isn't this kinda hard?"
Never said it would be easy.

Without any further delay, submissions are now open! As a reminder, everyone will be putting "MAX 300" in the section field. If you have any other questions, you can refer to the guide I posted on the drive, or ask here.

Good luck everyone. Let's get started!

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I don't think this is accurate, at least not in the version of StepMania I'm using (5.1). The "Tap Steps" counter looks like it counts jumps as 2 steps. Something to be aware of.

by hardest chart, do you mean hardest in difficulty level or foot rating?

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The highest foot rating. You could in theory have an easier difficulty with more steps, but only the chart that is affected by the challenge will be the one that is being judged.

I'll show you what I have on my end...

This is on simply love, so I'm not 100% certain what it looks like for other themes, but you can see at the bottom taps plus jumps is 573.

This is a good point. I want to at least see how this round turns out first. It'll depend on the number of people that submit (I'm certain not all 50 something people will be participating every single week), and even when there aren't as many participants, people's tastes are diverse enough that many of the files should be voted on anyway, and more people voting could increase that amount too. But if there is significant stratification in terms of people getting votes and people being left behind I may consider giving more votes.

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Not to start controversy, but I'll say right here right now I'm not going to vote for anyone who tries to bypass the theme by putting a chart with more than 300 steps on a lower difficulty! No cheesing the theme!

I seem to remember there being a minimum song length in past competitions as well, is there a minimum length here too or could you step a 30 second song if you really wanted to?

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@tam i'm p sure doing would be against the rules for the theme anyways since he already clarified that the hardest chart being judged would be the hardest in terms of foot rating in the post above you

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Typically there wouldn't need to be a rule for that. I'd guess natural selection would weed out a 30 second file in any other week, but considering the unique circumstances right now... technically there's no lower limit for song length.

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There's more ways to make a chart harder than adding more steps. Crossovers, spins, footswitches, and split BPMs are just a few ways you can go about that.

In terms of cheesing it, STARS★★★ (Re-tuned by HΛL) -DDR EDITION- has a harder Difficult chart than Expert with less steps. It doesn't matter what slot it goes in. The chart remains the same.

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I was looking at the editor for step/jump count, the theme I use doesn't show it on the song select screen.

I'm gonna chime in and say that whilst it's technically allowed, unless it's an amazing shitpost-y file, then there's no way in hell you're getting points.

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You could also create a step chart that is fun and not about being super difficult as is my plan for this one

Relax, I'm not actually stepping a 30 second song. I was asking more so out of curiosity than anything.

Really though there should probably be a minimum of at least 1:00-1:10 as an anti-cheese rule.

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I'm not specifically saying that you were gonna, but someone is reading this and thinking that they're gonna. And to them, I say this: you, yes, you, reading this now and thinking of stepping PPAP...I'm very disappointed in you, son.

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