Z-I-v Simfile Tycoon '19 [Thanks for playing!]

All right, this is dumb, and I am dumb, and you are right.

I fixed everything now, and it SHOULD work. I am sorry and thank you for your help.

Download actually fixed version

---

Don't feel bad, everyone makes mistakes.

The file works now, just got done testing it.

---

+4 A Man Like Putin
+3 Caught Red Handed
+3 Secret Kakuranger
+2 At The Time of Christmas Carol
+2 Novaground
+1 Desert Rain

6 - Desert Rain [Daffa212162]
6 - Secret Kakuranger [Nezemarth]
5 - A Man Like Putin [FoRCeDNaTuRe]
5 - Halogen Blindness [CuzcoBlocko]
3 - Caught Red Handed [Gameoson]
2 - At The Time of Christmas Carol [ledgam3r1279]
2 - Novaground [Braeden47]
1 - Gradation [HealingDMax300]
0 - Overkill [tsugaru7reveng]
0 - Function #05 [K-Step]
0 - Run Run Run [TikalFan9000]

Most underwhelming round so far IMO. Hoping Round D is even better.

---

Time to give my votes -- For the songs, I didn't like most of them, but the steps I think on average were the best yet. So many of these files are really fun.

+4 Caught Red Handed
+4 Halogen Blindness
+2 Secret Kakuranger
+2 Run Run Run
+2 Overkill
+1 Function #05

9 - Halogen Blindness [CuzcoBlocko]
8 - Secret Kakuranger [Nezemarth]
7 - Caught Red Handed [Gameoson]
6 - Desert Rain [Daffa212162]
5 - A Man Like Putin [FoRCeDNaTuRe]
2 - Run Run Run [TikalFan9000]
2 - Overkill [tsugaru7reveng]
2 - At The Time of Christmas Carol [ledgam3r1279]
2 - Novaground [Braeden47]
1 - Gradation [HealingDMax300]
1 - Function #05 [K-Step]

---

I thought I'd give some feedback on files like when we use to review them back in the days of DDREvolved.com/DDRExtreme.co.uk, I miss taking part of comps like that, and this is a pretty good way to find new simfile artists


A Man Like Putin / Singing Together:
Expert was overall good, for an easier harder chart it worked. The chorus felt like a bit boring though, a few extra arrows could have made me more fun (maybe stepping on the beat->into the vocals instead of on the vocal leaving a gap) just a suggestion.
Challenge was also nice, I didn't feel that the freezes were necessary on the vocals in the chorus, and the opening with all the 8ths seemed a little odd, there wasn't much going on in the music for that many 8ths.
Artwork seems to be cut from an album cover perhaps? Its odd that the art doesn't say what the song name and artist says so minus points for that but its a keeper!


At The Time of Christmas Carol / Michael Fortunati:
This one I really like, reminds me of some of the winners back from the days, its a fun chart, surprised there is no challenge chart following more of the piano patterns in between the vocals in the chorus, its a little twisty but still a very good chart. It's a keeper!
Artwork is missing its 2018, almost 2019, I'm surprised there isn't a nice snowy background for this.


Caught Red Handed / Jake Kaufman:
Expert chart was pretty fun, though I didn't understand the blue notes at bar 30, just seemed a little odd, apart from that the chart was pretty wonderful, I'd say this would be a 7 based on old scale ratings due to the twistyness of the chart, I do wish the audio was cut a little better, I hate fadeouts haha.
Challenge was very good, a lot (and I mean A LOT) of freezes, but it seemed to work as the song has that sort of flowy/echo sound to it. It's a keeper!
Artwork I'm unsure of, the colors are good but it looks like the image was probably found on google and had the black & white text slapped over the top of it.


Desert Rain / Edward Maya feat. Vika Jigulina
Overall the chart was pretty good, followed some interesting patterns, the gallops towards the end felt like something else could have been done to be more fun, sometimes I feel like a lot of the newer DDR songs if the song is house/tropical/dancey, they'll have gallops instead of other patterns that could have been followed, but this is a keeper (a lot of you guys seem to be doing a lot more twisty patterns recently) It's a keeper!
Artwork looks nice, I'm hoping this was made without going to google and finding an image, it looks like it could have been made from scratch, but the colors are really nice, don't be afraid to throw a shadow or bevel in there!


Function #05 / Yu_Asahina:
Expert, the opening feels a little odd switching between the vcals and the piano sounds, the yellow note just before bar 12 seems off too, I think the 12ths should have been full on at bar 33, having the gap between 33-1 seems a bit odd, it would have been fine to have 12ths from 33 to 33-2. I really like the gallops between bar 46 and bar 60, they seem fun going to the pianos, a lot of the slower part at bar 50 doesn't make too much sense, 58-2 the gallops don't make sense here. Bar 75 you seem to hold back on the difficulty again, sometimes its pushed, sometimes not, feels a little inconsistent.
Challenge~ seems ok up until bar 32, feels like the author was trying to follow every single pattern in the track, I had to keep replacing this section because the 12ths at 33 seemed non existent because of the things happening before it. The 12th patterns are deffo there in the song though, it just feels bizarre. I think that the problem is where the 16ths are just before bar 33, those are also 12th notes in the song. The double taps between bar 54 and 56 work really well, nice section. Again, the slowdown at bar 58 feels really odd, I'm not hearing those gallops in the song. The end run seems to have what I called "BUSMS" or "Butterfly UpSwing Mix Syndrome" where the chart feels like it focuses on facing the same direction for more than it should, again towards the end we have some 8ths where you've pulled back the difficulty to make it easier where you could have followed interesting patterns, I don't understand the roll at the end either, why make people tap when the song is suppose to be over? debating whether to throw away or not :/
Artwork looks like it was taken from google, and the text ontop is a bland, nothing really interesting happening.


Gradation / The Natural Maghoganies:
The Expert chart was pretty nice, opened with some twisties, you guys REALLY love your twisty charts eh? overall though, it was nice, not too hard, not too difficult, a solid level 7 (maybe an 8 with the jumps in certain places) I am disappointed that there are no easier charts, it makes it feel very incomplete
Challenge~ the opening was a little bit weird, there felt like there wasn't enough variety in terms of patterns, just double tapping after double tapping, after bar 8 it was almost perfection was a lovely chart, this reminds me of some of the sort of music featured in SuperNOVA, like tierra buena, la bamba, like... it'd fit in perfectly with that.
Artwork is non existent, shame as it has 2 nice charts


Halogen Blindness / Junie XL:
Little disappointed with this as again, there is only 1 chart, it seems to be doing a lot of interesting things, I had only found out that footswitches existed a year or so ago, though I think Konami used it as an excuse for bad stepcharts, the bpm pauses/minus bpm/speed changes in this seem like it'd make a very fun chart, I want to see a chart without footswitches and without double stepping and rolls as well, I don't understand rolls because all the objective for them is to "tap fast" on it, so why not just place arrows? but yeah, I'll keep this one as its interesting enough to keep and could be fun to show to others.


Novaground / Quarks:
Expert's opening was a little weird in the audio, sounds like a fade-in, I think some bars should be empty too before a stepchart starts, its a bit abrupts. Some parts feel a little odd, you could be stepping to the handclap sound and vocals in certain parts, following the vocals alone feels a little off/boring, the part just before bar 54, you could have added in some arrows to the jabs in the audio (red, yellow yellow blue) certain places switching between vocals and the track seem a little odd.
Challenge is perhaps worse, again switching between the vocals and the track, the opening is following the vocals and then suddenly 8ths everywhere, a lot of this chart feels like overkill, rolls again seem uselessthe jumps after bar 38 are also overkill (I saw braedens name pop up, assuming this is his based on the genre) just before bar 48 there's an awkward double step, bar 67 onwards seems to only be focused on up, right and down, until the middle of 69, then repeats, it feels odd. Yeah I don't think I'll keep this one.
Artwork is non-existent :/ again, in 2018, if this is braeden's, I'd be surprised he's been making charts since ddrevolved/ddrextreme.co.uk days and still not managed to even download a free program and attempt making artwork.


Overkill / Riot:
Expert only :/ that makes me feel like you only care about you and nobody else who may not be at good at playing harder charts. Of course there would be a fade-out at the end, apart from the rolls, mines, Hands, and 16ths at bar 69 onwards, this seems like it would have been fun but *shrug* I don't think I'll keep this, I really enjoyed the parts in the main part of the song with the jacks, and the song is really energetic.
Artwork looks kinda cool, but I'm thinking this was probably found on google or DA, nothing much going on with the text.


Run Run Run / Receptor:
A level 7 for difficult and 13 for challenge? odd... Audio was ok, is that a fade in? difficult chart was alright, nothing really exciting going on, this song reminds me of something that would fit right into the ultramix series (those odd glitchy drum'n bass tracks) I think the lack of jumps made it a bit weird tbh, like, it would have felt more energetic with some jumps in there.
Challenge was also odd, no jumps and, I guess its not a problem? it just feels odd, I feel it works well with the music but again, I don't like the foot switching in charts (I to process it though as the arrows were coming up) and the rolls... again, I feel as if they're not needed.
Artwork looks ok, I'm hoping thats a photograph you took (please, I want one person to do original art) not too much going on with the text.


シークレット カクレンジャー / トゥー・チー・チェン;
Sometimes people say save the best for last, this was fun though very short, I'm glad it has a full complete chart too. It does get twisty in some places but its ok, my only feedback would probably be that if this was an old DDR song, this would probably be a challenge chart and then heavy/expert/hard would have a slightly easier version, and less twisties.
Artwork, found on google I would assume T__T ah well


シークレット カクレンジャー / トゥー・チー・チェン; 4points (coz the chart is fun)
Desert Rain / Edward Maya feat. Vika Jigulina 3points
A Man Like Putin / Singing Together: 3points
At The Time of Christmas Carol / Michael Fortunati 3 points
Halogen Blindness / Junie XL: 2 (coz its interesting)
(these songs are the ones that were most memorable whilst playing through)

---

+5 Gradation [HealingDMax300]
+4 Desert Rain [Daffa212162]
+4 Secret Kakuranger [Nezemarth]
+2 At The Time of Christmas Carol [ledgam3r1279]

TBH I didn't really like this round all that much.

TOTALS (added Aaron's votes in as well)
16 - Secret Kakuranger [Nezemarth]
13 - Desert Rain [Daffa212162]
11 - Halogen Blindness [CuzcoBlocko]
8 - A Man Like Putin [FoRCeDNaTuRe]
7 - At The Time of Christmas Carol [ledgam3r1279]
7 - Caught Red Handed [Gameoson]
6 - Gradation [HealingDMax300]
2 - Run Run Run [TikalFan9000]
2 - Overkill [tsugaru7reveng]
2 - Novaground [Braeden47]
1 - Function #05 [K-Step]


As much as I hate fade-outs too and I try to avoid them as much as possible, it's completely unavoidable with Caught Red Handed. It's from the game Mighty Switch Force and it was designed to be looped multiple times during the game. Even on the official OST it just does a fade-out.
The fade-in at the start of Run Run Run is actually in the original song, not terribly much you can do about that either unfortunately.


If I was actually any good at art maybe I'd make my own. That being said I'd rather my files have "ripped from Google" graphics than poorly drawn stick figures.

---

It appears it's just as I suspected... it wasn't just me...

This round seems quite half-assed for the most part. Interest/effort into files is starting to wane out, it's very slowly starting to become Simfile Shuffle 2016 all over again. :<

I understand everyone (myself included) has things to do outside of simfiles but that didn't stop Rounds A and B from being good line-ups.

Here's to hoping all of the Round D participants can come together and make it much better. It may be a smaller audience than Battle Royale/Summer Contest but a stepper's best simfile can still be lurking among it, you know?

Votes coming tomorrow.

yeah tbh this round was pretty bad.

5 pts - Halogen Blindness (Cuzco) (Honestly the only unique file, I feel, in this round due to the use of gimmicks and the steps themselves were solid)
4 pts - Desert Rain (DaffaK) (Felt like some parts could've followed to the song a bit, but I think you did a good job on this)
3 pts - Secret Kakuranger (Nezemarth)
2 pts - Run Run Run (TiKAL)
1 pt - At The Time of Christmas Carol (ledgam3r)
HM - NOVAGROUND (Braeden)
HM - Overkill (t7r)
HM - Gaught Red Handed (Gameoson)

19 - Secret Kakuranger [Nezemarth]
17 - Desert Rain [Daffa212162]
16 - Halogen Blindness [CuzcoBlocko]
8 - A Man Like Putin [FoRCeDNaTuRe]
8 - At The Time of Christmas Carol [ledgam3r1279]
7 - Caught Red Handed [Gameoson]
6 - Gradation [HealingDMax300]
4 - Run Run Run [TikalFan9000]
2 - Overkill [tsugaru7reveng]
2 - Novaground [Braeden47]
1 - Function #05 [K-Step]


Alright, not going to lie. I rushed the charting for this song. I only had, like, 3 days to work on it when I got back from Melbourne and the song was hell to work on this. Honestly I hate my own simfile more than any other files submitted this round. You do make good points in your review of mine, so I'll take those into consideration for future simfiles whether for this competition or outside from this.

---

Uhh, I must confess that I'm not just the only one that this round are feels kinda boring.



Alright, as usual, voting time.

5 pts: Caught Red Handed
4 pts: Halogen Blindness
3 pts: At The Time of Christmas Carol
2 pts: シークレット カクレンジャー
1 pt: Такого как Путин

HM: Overkill
HM: Function #05
HM: Gradation

21 - シークレット カクレンジャー [Nezemarth]
20 - Halogen Blindness [CuzcoBlocko]
17 - Desert Rain [Daffa212162]
12 - Caught Red Handed [Gameoson]
11 - At The Time of Christmas Carol [ledgam3r1279]
9 - Такого как Путин [FoRCeDNaTuRe]
6 - Gradation [HealingDMax300]
4 - Run Run Run [TikalFan9000]
2 - Overkill [tsugaru7reveng]
2 - Novaground [Braeden47]
1 - Function #05 [K-Step]

---

+5 Halogen Blindness
+4 Run Run Run
+3 At The Time of Christmas Carol
+3 Caught Red Handed

25 - Halogen Blindness [CuzcoBlocko]
21 - シークレット カクレンジャー [Nezemarth]
17 - Desert Rain [Daffa212162]
15 - Caught Red Handed [Gameoson]
14 - At The Time of Christmas Carol [ledgam3r1279]
9 - Такого как Путин [FoRCeDNaTuRe]
8 - Run Run Run [TikalFan9000]
6 - Gradation [HealingDMax300]
2 - Overkill [tsugaru7reveng]
2 - Novaground [Braeden47]
1 - Function #05 [K-Step]

+5 Halogen Blindness
+3 Desert Rain
+2 Run Run Run
+3 Такого как Пути
+2 Function #05

30 - Halogen Blindness [CuzcoBlocko]
21 - シークレット カクレンジャー [Nezemarth]
20 - Desert Rain [Daffa212162]
15 - Caught Red Handed [Gameoson]
14 - At The Time of Christmas Carol [ledgam3r1279]
12 - Такого как Путин [FoRCeDNaTuRe]
10 - Run Run Run [TikalFan9000]
6 - Gradation [HealingDMax300]
3 - Function #05 [K-Step]
2 - Overkill [tsugaru7reveng]
2 - Novaground [Braeden47]

---

Here are my votes:

+1 Function #05
+1 A Man Like Putin
+1 Overkill
+2 Caught Red Handed
+2 Gradation
+2 Novaground
+3 At the Time of Christmas Carol
+3 Halogen Blindness

Totals:
33 - Halogen Blindness [CuzcoBlocko]
21 - シークレット カクレンジャー [Nezemarth]
20 - Desert Rain [Daffa212162]
17 - At The Time of Christmas Carol [ledgam3r1279]
17 - Caught Red Handed [Gameoson]
13 - Такого как Путин [FoRCeDNaTuRe]
10 - Run Run Run [TikalFan9000]
8 - Gradation [HealingDMax300]
4 - Novaground [Braeden47]
3 - Function #05 [K-Step]
3 - Overkill [tsugaru7reveng]

---

+5 Caught Red Handed
+4 Desert Rain
+3 シークレット カクレンジャー
+1 Такого как Путин
+1 Function #05
+1 Gradation

Totals:
33 - Halogen Blindness [CuzcoBlocko]
24 - Desert Rain [Daffa212162]
24 - シークレット カクレンジャー [Nezemarth]
22 - Caught Red Handed [Gameoson]
17 - At The Time of Christmas Carol [ledgam3r1279]
14 - Такого как Путин [FoRCeDNaTuRe]
10 - Run Run Run [TikalFan9000]
9 - Gradation [HealingDMax300]
4 - Function #05 [K-Step]
4 - Novaground [Braeden47]
3 - Overkill [tsugaru7reveng]

---

It's weird being 1st place because of Halogen Blindness. Like, I don't know, I feel like I'm in shoes that don't belong.

I don't know how I won so many people's +4s or +5s too. I expected to have maybe 15 points at this point of voting. Maybe it's because of the surrounding files? I'm interested on the input of these people, would you have voted for it if it was in a previous round?

After actually playing the files I see what some people were talking about. There were definitely some "meh" files, ones that were a bit too crazy, and ones that just seemed incomplete. Fortunately, I still enjoyed at least half of them.

Brief feedback/first impressions below.



33 - Halogen Blindness [CuzcoBlocko]
28 - Desert Rain [Daffa212162]
27 - Caught Red Handed [Gameoson]
27 - シークレット カクレンジャー [Nezemarth]
17 - At The Time of Christmas Carol [ledgam3r1279]
14 - Такого как Путин [FoRCeDNaTuRe]
11 - Run Run Run [TikalFan9000]
11 - Gradation [HealingDMax300]
4 - Function #05 [K-Step]
4 - Novaground [Braeden47]
3 - Overkill [tsugaru7reveng]

Well, I guess that's that. I always appreciate the votes (as long as you played the file, of course XP) so thank you everyone. ^w^

Votes:

+5 Desert Rain
+4 Halogen Blindness
+2 Function #05
+2 NOVAGROUND
+2 Overkill
HM Caught Red Handed
HM Gradation

Check out my reviews here.

Final Standings:

37 - Halogen Blindness [CuzcoBlocko]
33 - Desert Rain [Daffa212162]
27 - Caught Red Handed [Gameoson]
27 - シークレット カクレンジャー [Nezemarth]
17 - At The Time of Christmas Carol [ledgam3r1279]
14 - Такого как Путин [FoRCeDNaTuRe]
11 - Gradation [HealingDMax300]
11 - Run Run Run [TikalFan9000]
6 - Function #05 [K-Step]
6 - Novaground [Braeden47]
5 - Overkill [tsugaru7reveng]


Get your Round D Skeletons here while they're still fresh

---

Quick FYI: I actually submitted ボカロPになりたい for this round and not White Christmas (despite what the sheets may have you believe right now).

---

Thanks for noticing that. The spreadsheet should be fixed now.

---

Complete set of SP charts! to make up for my sins in Overkill

---

---

---