Z-I-v Summer Contest 2016

+4 - Exchange Place [Oni-91]
+3 - Samba do Brasil [vincentw]
+3 - まるでマトリョーシカ [brunobg24]
+2 - Nowhere [Gameoson]
+2 - Special One [ledgam3r1279]
+1 - 戦場の聖バレンタイン [mf32892]
HM: HandClap [mf32892]
HM: Alive (Remix) [ohaiimian]
HM: Tokyo Mannequin [coolpeaches]
Jungle Bae (feat. Bunji Garlin) [Benpai]
Rainbow Locus [Loodee]
Allegro PIU Mosso [brunobg24]
ポコポンペコーリャ [Lisek]
Motivation is Dead [coolpeaches]
Transport [Gameoson]
Lost and Found [Astroman129]
I'm A Spy [Professor Raine]
STARDUST MERMAID [ledgam3r1279]
Sweet [Feraligatr]
Small Waves [Astroman 129]
Death By Glamour [Pandemonium X]
appreciation [DDRDAIKENKAI]
Gloss (Niteloop Flip) [Benpai]
みんなのきもち [usaminseijin]
Bangerz (SMS) (feat. Britney Spears) [chewi]
The Rock City Boy [The Legendary DJXYZ]
SA-KU-RA [CuzcoBlocko]
Brain Fog [Spirit of Nightmare]
Confetti [chewi]
Game [DDRDAIKENKAI]
로꾸거!!! [usaminseijin]
Souq [KevinRocker10]
Koko Soko (2016 Radio Edit) [Nezemarth]
Clarity [HealingDMax300]
Solar Eclipse [Prodessor Raine]
Music Adjustment [5l1n65h07]
Hard Driver [NuVirus]
Give Me Up [Nezemarth]
Bohemian [CLOUDIO]
Apocalypse [Braeden47]
ポリリズム [K-Step]
Lookin' Like Magic [1033Forest]
AI 2016 [reiji_suzuki]
NO LIMIT -oretachi ni genkai wa nai- [reiji_suzuki]

Lookin’ Like Magic- I would suggest starting the steps a little latter; in this case, measure 3 would be good.
The beginner chart is actually quite good, so nothing to say about that. (♥♥)

The basic chart isn’t bad, but freeze arrows for measures 28/29 start a beat early, which has to be an oversight. The pattern from beats 140-145 was a little stilted, so I’d suggest you use at least ¾ arrows for such a pattern. The part that faces you left, starting at beat 28, also overstays its welcome. (++)


The standard chart really shouldn’t have used those jacks; instead, I would advise have the 12th note/4th notes that are close together use different notes. There’s a doublestep early, which can be fixed by swapping the directions of the arrows from measures 9-10. From measure 11 onwards, some rhythms go wrong; beats 44-44.333 should be beats 43.667-44, beat 45.667 doesn’t go to the vocals (which I felt the chart goes too in that case, a 12th should go on beat 47.667; , beats 52-52.333 should be beats 51.667-52, and beats 54-54..333 should be beats 54.667-55. From measures 21-24, the 12ths feel a little strange on beats 87.333 and 95.333, but I don’t know how to fix them. As for the ones in measures 25-28, the arrow on beat 106.667 seems like it should really be on beat 107.33, and the arrow on beat 115 should be on beat 116 instead. For the jump stream starting on measure 30, I would consider making the first jump an up-right jump, and the second one a down-left jump, for better flow and more variety. The 12th on beat 146.33 doesn’t go to anything; the vocal 12ths here go to beat 146, 146.667, and 147.33, if you want to consider that while stepping. Another 12th could have gone on beat h148.667, but don’t belong to beats 150.33 or 151.33 (the latter could be moved to 151.66, though). Other than that, the chart is okay. (..)

As for the heavy chart, the first major error with the note placement is in measure 6, where the notes are placed in beats 27-27.333 instead of 26.667-27. Also, there seems to be a missed note opportunity at beat 35.667. The arrow at beat 49.333 should instead be placed at beat 49.667; ditto for the note at beat 54.333, which would make more sense at beat 54.667. The spin at measure 14 makes no sense rhythmically. The notes from beats 59-60 should all be pushed a 12th up to go to the music. The note on beat 64.333 should also be pushed down to beat 64.667. Moreover, the arrows from beats 97.667 to 99 should be pushed a 12th up. In measure 25, the 12th pattern should go like ‘X-XX-X’, instead of ‘XX-XX-XX’. As for measure 26, see your challenge chart for the correct rhythms there. The freeze arrow in measure 27 should start on beat 111.677, not beat 111, and the one after that should start on beat 116, not beat 115.67. Personally, I feel the whole freeze arrow pattern doesn’t end well, so I would replace the left arrow at beat 124 into a down arrow, and change the jump that follows it into a left-down jump. The arrow on beat 147.333 sounds like it should be moved down to beat 147.667. The gallops in measure 37 should be moved a 12th early, or use the pattern from the challenge chart. Likewise, the gallops from measures 40-41 should be moved a 12th up. Measure 42-43’s arrows are simply awkward to begin with, but the arrow on beat 172.333 should be moved to beat 173, and the freeze arrow on beat 175 should be moved to beat 175.333. The series of green notes that follow feel like sheer nonsense, and need a restepping. Finally, the note on beat 192 should be moved to beat 191.667. (-?/-!)

For the challenge chart, the note on beat 25 should be moved to beat 24.667. The pattern from beats 34-35.33 should be moved up a 12th. There’s a minor doublestep in measure 11, which can be eliminated by changing the down-right jump in beat 43 to a down-left jump. The arrow on beat 57.333 should be on beat 57, and the one on beat 58 should be on beat 57.667. The patterns from beats 59-60 should be shifted a 12th note backwards. Additionally, the left note on beat 64.333 should be on beat 64.677 instead. Also, the patterns from beats 66-67.333 should be shifted a 12th backwards to go with the music. On another note, it sounds like what the arrows on beats 97.667-99 were trying to follow are actually quantized in 8th notes. Another instance of patterns that should be shifted up a 12th, in beats 102-104, can be found. Furthermore, the down arrow on beat 177.667 should be shifted down to beat 118. Strangely, beats 120.67-122.67 should be shifted down by a 12th, and the same could be said for the note on beat 152.667. Like the heavy chart, the pattern on measures 40-42 also need to be shifted a 12th note up. Beats 173.667-175.667, on the other hand, should be shifted down a 12th. For the 48th note, I feel that it should switch directions with the note that precedes it, as a general rule of thumb. Overall, a little better than your heavy chart, but some glaring errors persist. (-?/-!)


SA-KU-RA- The beginner chart was great, though I feel that the left arrows in measure 51 should be right arrows. (♥♥/+♥)

The basic chart was great, nothing to say about it. (♥♥)

The standard chart was pretty interesting, though personally, I felt that the freeze arrows in the beginning should have only been used to go to the flute (and the beginning of measure 9 seemed a tad strange). Verse 1’s 8th notes (up to measure 20) were also interestingly stepped. (+♥)

The heavy chart is also very good, though I feel the same way about verse 1 as I do about the standard chart; maybe I would prefer stepping to the bass in this sections. Also, some fleshed-out gallop patterns during the bridge would be nice, particularly in the sections with mostly 4th notes (though in that case, it would be better to eliminate the 8th notes from each affected measure).. (♥♥/+♥)

Taking a look at your basic doubles chart, I find it interesting that you’re a little reserved with your pad transitions here. (If you noticed on my charts, I go crazy with transitions; maybe I do need to consider this more heavily in the future.) That aside, I felt that the jump on beat 192, and maybe the ones on beats 183-184, weren’t justified enough to include them. The pattern at measure 56 also felt a little strange to me; I know that you ended the singles chart facing backwards, so maybe you attempted to do the same here, but it still plays a little awkwardly, requiring the player to transition facing backwards. Other than that I like the chart. (+♥/++)

As for the standard doubles chart, I prefer the way you stepped the beginning to the way you stepped it in the singles chart. Other than that, there isn’t anything for me to say. (♥♥)

I also liked the heavy doubles chart, and there isn’t anything to say here which I didn’t say for the singles heavy chart. (♥♥/+♥)

Ratings:
♥♥- エイリアンエイリアン (DIVELA REMIX), Allegro Piu Mosso, Appreciation, Battlefield of St. Valentine, BLACK AND WHITE, Brainfog, Confetti, Death By Glamour, Exchange Place, GAME, GLOSS (Niteloop Flip), Lost and Found, Marude Matriyoshka, Minna No Kimochi, Music Adjustment, Nowhere, Pokopon Pekroya, Rainbow Locus, Rokuko!!, Solar Eclipse (Interesting difficulty spread/chart), Sweet (more of a 5-6 footer, in my opinion), Transport

+♥- SA-KU-RA, Alive (Remix) (some harmless, but purposeless doublesteps), Bohemian (the first 16th didn't make sense to me) Clarity (I had 1-2 things to say about it, but I forgot what they were. Check back here soon if you're interested., Hard Driver (felt that maybe a freeze arrow at the end would have been nice), I’m A Spy (I feel a light sprinkling of 16ths would have given it the pop it needs, since the rhythms seem to be begging for it), Jungle Bae (A little too inconsistent with the triplets for my tastes, but otherwise a very fun, albeit mine heavy, chart), Motivation is Dead (the left arrows that correspond to the freeze arrow at beat 108 are a little repetitive, so maybe make the middle on an up/down arrow), Samba Do Brazil (Sounds familar! Personally, I would have loved to have seen jumps for the 12th drums, similar to how GET UP AND MOVE’s heavy chart ends, especially before the slowdown.), Small Waves (Interesting graphics, though hard to read. I didn’t like how the music’s 8th/16th stream was handled with a plain 4th pattern.), Special One (I’m not too much of a fan of how you followed left-right jumps with up/down arrows, since some of them can easily lead to doublesteps, but otherwise a good chart), The Rock City Boy (Stepping the guitar from beats 48-76 wasn’t a good idea, since it was not very audible. I liked the step jumps, but beat 195-195.5 felt overkill for this speed. Also, considering the graphics were based around Fairy Tail, I was expecting a shorter (90 second) cut than used here, and honestly, it feels like it drags on for a little long.)

++-Handclap (beat 171.5 felt a little carelessly synced), No Limit (This is a very bad example of using down arrows after left-right jumps, but fortunately for you, many of the doublesteps made for very fun spins, unless they were intentional), SMS Bangerz (Unfortunately, I found the doublestep at beat 32 to not be well-executed, since it began on an up arrow and doesn’t seem like a doublestep at first glance.), Souq (similar to I’m A Spy, though more severe in my opinion: a good chart, but one that begs for a few 16th notes, especially to replace the first 2 and final 8th streams.), Tokyo Mannequin (I dislike the first 4th notes that don’t go to anything in the music, but there were some very fun patterns in this chart, and overall, it was put together well)

..AI 2016 (some pretty bad doublesteps and wierd patterns throughout the song), , Lookin Like Magic, Polyrhythm (you still seem to be using the same base for all difficulties, but at least you made more extensive modifications to them. Still some doublesteps, but the rhythm choices weren’t bad.), Stardust Mermaid (Mostly a good chart, though I still have a similar issue to this as I do to Stardust Mermaid, but the two measures without notes is inexcusably confusing!)

-?- Apocalypse (I guess this wasn’t designed with Stepmania 3.9 in mind, since on it, the steps end far too late…)