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

Yes, Simfile Shuffle is back for the third year in a row! Silverhawke is unable to host because he's on his final year of university. Best wishes to him! Instead, Scarz and I are going to host this event!


ABOUT THE CONTEST
This is Simfile Shuffle. Every week, each player will submit a song file and a synced SM skeleton (no steps) to one of the hosts. This year, there are two, Scarz and vincentw. These files are then distributed randomly across all players. Each player will get one skeleton, and their job is to fill it with steps. After one week, there will be a vote for the best simfile of the week.

CONTEST RULES
1. To join a round, you have to send a skeleton.
2. You have to vote. Otherwise, your entry for that week will be disqualified.
3. You are not allowed to vote for your own entry.
4. Only one entry per week.
5. Entries must be uploaded by the deadline: Monday, 17:00 UTC every week. Otherwise, disqualification.
6. The entries must be named accordingly: [ROUND X] - SONG. Yes, that includes the hyphen.
Note: This year, we'll be using letters instead of numbers, so [ROUND A], [ROUND B], etc. This is done so that the entries are ordered chronologically by default. With numbers, Rounds 10~12 come up before Rounds 1~9.

SONG SUBMISSION RULES
1. Don't intentionally cheese your submission.
2. Songs submitted are required to be less than two minutes and thirty seconds. That means you have to cut it beforehand.
3. No minimum bitrate is imposed, but please submit songs with a decent quality.
4. Don't intentionally cheese your submission.
5. Submit an SM skeleton with the music file in a ZIP file.
6. The skeleton must include the BPM tag and the OFFSET tag.
7. Again, DO NOT intentionally cheese your submission.

SIMFILE RULES
1. The simfile must contain at least , , and Singles charts. Any other chart is optional.
2. Songs must be rated in DDR's old scale of 1-10 or ITG's scale of 1-13.
3. No keyboard charts. Pad (DDR/ITG) charts only.
4. Automatically generated (autogen) steps are not allowed.
5. New simfiles only. Previous publicly released simfiles are not allowed.
6. If you refuse to step your given file, you can request a veto. Refer to "Vetoing" for more information.
7. If you got a song you've stepped before, you can swap it with another song from the backup pile. This doesn't count as a veto. Refer to "Backup Pile" for more information.

SONG RE-CUTS
1. Please only cut when you think it's absolutely necessary (e.g.: offsync). You're supposed to work with what you're given in the first place.
2. Before submitting, notify a host about the re-cut, and provide the cut.
3. You may only cut from the full version of the song. You cannot combine your cut with another song.
4. You may ask for the full version (a host will ask the filemaker for it), or find it yourself.

WARNINGS
1. Anyone who doesn't comply to the song submission rules will receive a warning.
1. The person who gets the troubling file will be given a replacement file from the backup pile.
1. The troubling file will be discarded.
2. Each additional warning after the first will either deduct one veto from the filemaker or disqualify them from the next round if they have no more vetoes.

VETOING
Veto: a token that allows you to swap your assigned file with another file picked at random.
1. You are given two of these. You cannot obtain more veto rights, or asking other players for more.
2. To use this, write in the thread stating that you want to use a veto. A host will then give you a new file to step.
3. Once you veto, you're not allowed to step your original file.
4. You can use both of your vetoes in a single round. You cannot step either of the earlier files. Beware, you'll be left with none for the rest of the competition if you do that.
5. You may also use a veto if you didn't submit a skeleton, but you want to participate.

BACKUP PILE
Backup pile: the pile that hosts backup files. If someone requests a veto, one file will be taken from here.
1. Everyone, including non-players, can submit a skeleton to the pile.
2. The skeletons must follow the rules stated above.
3. To submit a file, PM a host. Do not post in the thread.
4. You may send multiple backups.
5. This pile is not publicly visible.
6. If you got a song you've stepped before, you can swap it with another song from here. Your assigned song will swap places with a random song, so the number of backups won't change. This won't count towards your veto tally.

VOTING
This section has since been changed. The old version can be found here.

You are given 15 points which you can freely distribute to any number of entries, subject to a maximum of 5 pts per entry. The winner is decided on which simfile has the highest number of points.

Example:

Special cases for 0~5 files:
0 files: Round skipped. No winner.
1 file: The one who submits wins.
2 files: Submitters don't vote. Others get 1 point to distribute.
3/4/5 files: Everyone gets 3/5/10 points to distribute.

BONUSES
If a song finishes in the top 3, the song provider will get bonus points as a recognition for the good choice they made. These will be added to the final point count.

The song provider will receive points if the song placed:
1st: 15% of points or 3pts,
2nd: 10% of points or 2pts,
3rd: 5% of points or 1pt,
whichever is higher.

To be eligible for bonuses:
1. The simfile must finish in the top 3.
2. The song provider must have finished their assigned simfile.
3. Both the filemaker and the stepper cannot be disqualified for the week.
4. The file must not be a backup, even though it's by valid contestants.
4. Bonus points for backup files will be void and will not be carried over to the next best file(s).

Example:
1st: file by F, steps by G (gets either 15% or 3pts)
2nd: backup
3rd: file by H, steps by K (gets either 5% or 1pt)
4th: file by P, steps by Q (no bonus points)

TIMING
Week 1: Send in your song files for ROUND A.
Week 2: Songs are picked at random; you have 1 week to make a simfile out of it. Send in song files for ROUND B.
Week 3: Judgement starts on ROUND A simfiles and submissions for ROUND B simfiles begin. Send in songs for ROUND C.
After that, it's rinse and repeat.

This contest will run for 12 rounds. Sign-ups start now and the contest will start on 2,November.
Sign-ups don't close until pretty much the start of ROUND L.

PARTICIPANTS

TL;DR -- CHANGES FROM LAST SS:
・Rounds are now labelled with letters (ROUND A), not numbers (ROUND 1).
・Slight change to points given when there are 2~5 files: 1/3/5/10 instead of 3/6/10/15.

In, duh.

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Of course I'm in, why wouldn't I be in?

The voting tweak doesn't really seem necessary, and 57 points to spend in a theoretical 20 file round sounds like way too many points. I vote for last year's system.

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Yeah, sure, I've been looking for a reason to sim again.


New voting system is too much change for the sake of change, having something arbitrary like 57 points to vote with is just plain weird.

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well, I do have a bunch of simfile skeletons all dressed up and nowhere to go...

...fine

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I'm in.

I might have to sit this one out but there's a good chance I'll change my mind later on.

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(that means yes)

Old voting system is fine, the more change is introduced the more confusion there is and the high likelihood that points go missing somewhere down the line. Keep it relatively simple. /opinion

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Or you could number the rounds 01, 02, . . . , 09, 10, 11, 12. That should help fix the sorting.

Also, I'm in. But for how many rounds? Who knows.

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I'm in! And I vote for the old vote system too.

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Ooh, goody! I get to stock up on ideas for DDRMAX4 songs.

In. And this time I'll actually start being good at this.

i'm in

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Also requesting a sticky.

I'll play this time! (and hopefully won't randomly drop out first round)

I'll sign up but dont expect much

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I did think about that, but people might forget to put the leading zeroes in and it'll lead to more disorder, so I choose letters.

Pretty much all of you prefer last year's system, so we'll use that. Thanks for the input! I'm glad that I asked you guys this first instead of just forcing it on you.

I'll add everyone who signed in to the category. Not now, though, as scrolling through ~15,000 names on phone to add Mokou isn't very practical. (Can't just type the name on mobile, see. Nothing against Mokou.)

The hype is real! Count me in!

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Everyone who signed up at this point should have themselves in the category. Get ready!

A reminder: 2 November is the start of the skeleton submission period. The actual shuffle happens on 9 November.
I posted this because 2 people have already sent me skeletons. Maybe because it's Halloween or something.

Oops... sorry. I thought that was the actual deadline for sending files.

Sounds fun! I would like to join