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

Oops. forgot to vote last week, but thanks for all!

---

First of all, thank you everyone. In every single round my files have been voted in the green half or higher. Big thanks to everyone who voted on my files. Without you I wouldn't be able to achieve that. I hope that you enjoyed all of my simfiles and skeletons provided. Big thanks to top 5 with my fierce adversaries - Gameoson, mf32892, Telperion and Chewi. Too bad that brunobg24, ledgam3r1279 and Loodee missed half of the contest, with them fight for top5 would be even harder! Big thanks to Scarz and vincentw for running the contest.

My participation in this contest have marked few personal achievements for me. Managing to produce 12 files in 12 weeks was really hard to do. Also, I'm super happy how the graphics for my files turned out. Nusa did a lot of great job for them and put a lot of heart into them (even thought she was extremely busy in last months).

Hopefully next Shuffle (and other contests) will turn out as good as this one. Vincentw are you planning to make info graphic about this year SS?

--

Also a little comment about Little Star. Actually I made charts from to like I normally do. Addition of was last minute change (or actually last 8 hour change because that's how much it took me ...) because... I found out that this song was in IIDX. At first I treated it like a cut song from whatever REDALiCE album. When I found that it was in BeatMania I decided to create Challenge chart because I was worried that people may lower my points because Heavy chart is too easy.

--

Suggestion for rules for future Simfile Shuffle contests:
- clearing up rules about recutting files
- minimum audio quality checked by judges (we are talking here about stuff that sounds like youtube rips, that is 128kbps or lower, that has problems with volume)
- length of file limited to from 1:35 to 2:05 (to avoid 'too short' or 'too long' problematic files)
- managing situation with "unstepable" song (variable BPM songs without proper sync, songs like 'F**k face' or 'Hopelessly Devoted to You)

Congratulations to everyone! I'd wish I had more time to participate, but college stuff didn't let me. Although, I'm satisfied with my performance in the weeks I participated. I'd like to list my top 10 favorite simfiles of the contest, as usual:

1) Qubism [Gameoson]
2) Cattleya [Telperion]
3) Nigra Ludia [Lisek]
4) DATA SUPER HIGHWAY [Telperion]
5) Leviathan [Gameoson]
6) Seedy Try [CuzcoBlocko]
7) Wuv U -More2 HAPPY Re-Mix Special- [rikame]
8) Samba de Hardcore!! [Loodee]
9) Gatorix [mf32892]
10) Ultra Thizz [xRGTMx]

See you in future contests!

---

Personal Final Shuffle Stats (in code to conserve space)

I might make an Xmix2015 -simfile shuffle- for all of my simfiles and put it in the Etcetera category.
Thanks to everyone who submitted the songs I got!
Is there going to be a final results graphic like Summer Contest's?

---

Can't believe I made it in the Top 5. Thanks everyone who voted for me. I had fun despite some obstacles that came up in terms of song choice and my personal life making me too busy to participate in every round.

Kudos to Scarz and vincentw for hosting this event, I (and probably most of us) really appreciate the effort you two have put in.


Expanding on Lisek's post (posting my own suggestions and thoughts):


- I'd vouch for having the max limit be either something like 2:15 or not changed at all. Although it sounds minor, 2:05 can be a little short and actually mess up quite a few cuts. And tbh, if the song feels too long and is tedious to step, it's usually due to a bad/repetitive cut or poor song selection anyway.

- I agree with this, though I think it is important that the decision to reject a song submission should be solely in the hands of the judges. They shouldn't have to manually check every single song+skeleton for sync issues or such since it would be unnecessarily tedious, but if someone gets a song that they believe is too unsteppable or off-sync, they should be able to sent a PM to the hosts and appeal (?) their file.

As a suggestion, something similar to the following points could be considered when appealing:
- If the song is judged by the hosts to be too poor of a charting material (excessively repetitive, lots of empty room with no sounds to follow, etc.), a replacement file can be requested.
- If the song is off-sync to the point where significant changes has to be made to fix it, a replacement file can be requested. "Significant changes" could be things like having to sync a variable bpm, having to find multiple bpm changes, having to sync a gradual speedup/slowdown, having to re-cut the song due to the original cut messing up offsets, etc. Basically anything that isn't just correcting a wrong (but constant) bpm or fixing an incorrect offset. In the case with an incorrect cut, the stepper would be able to request to re-cut the song themselves, instead of requesting a completely new song.

...all according to the hosts's judgement.


I didn't play anything in the rounds that I didn't participate in, but Cattleya and Nigra Ludia by Telperion and Lisek respectively were two very enjoyable and good files. Of course, there were many solid files, but these two stood out in particular, GJ

and ofc I'm looking forward to the info graphics too haha

---

I had a Top 10 somewhere and then lost the list, oops. I'll just say that Pumpkin Panic was my favorite file in the contest, you can probably guess which other files I really enjoyed based on what I gave a +5 to.


^ Pretty much this. There's a few files I've stepped that went past the 2:05 mark that really wouldn't feel right if I forced the cut to go under 2:05. Next contest I would suggest setting 2:15 as the maximum (it's pretty rare anyone ends up stepping something longer than 2:15 anyway, so I don't think this would be a big deal).

---

I second this. I actually wanted to play all of the files that week and vote so I could give it points.

Oops... I forgot to play through the files for the week again. ^^;

Oh well. I had a blast with this contest, although I didn't end up making the last two rounds, I had a blast with all of the other rounds, even if some of the simfiles didn't turn out well.

I'll post my top 30 (I have too many to fit in just 10, lol) and rank the Round L files later today.

Thank you everyone!

Infographics? Uh… I don't have anything planned out for it, unfortunately. A big chunk of the SC graphics is about the weekly themes, so without that, I don't have many ideas for it.

The 2:15 maximum limit? We'll consider it.

The bad simfiles appeal is what the current warning system is doing. So people don't think that they're above consequences. It happened once with F**K FACE, didn't it? Maybe we'll see it being applied more next year. And thanks for your examples, Loodee.

This is the recut policy that will be implemented next Shuffle. Lisek's suggestion should be pretty much covered there.

Thanks for all your insights! Definitely improves this event as a whole.

I would also like to add that while 2:15 as a maximum limit for the Simfile Shuffle is fine, I really hope that it doesn't carry over to the Tournament of Immortals or the Summer Contest, since in those events, the user has complete consent over stepping longer music, while not necesarily so much for a random participant in the Simfile Shuffle.

---

Each contest has their advantages and weaknesses.

Simfile Shuffle; Choose 12 (or less, depending on what weeks you wanna enter) skeletons to submit prior, and maybe some backups, and gradually pour them into the cauldron as the rounds go by. The problem is that it's very unlikely to actually receive your own file, and, while it's not a bad thing most of the time, you only have two chances to turn down a song you can't/don't wanna work with/hate, then what you get at the start of the round is what you're stuck with (unless it's something as unsteppable as F!!K FACE).

Summer Contest; As I said before, as long as you made the steps and you didn't publicly release it prior, you can submit ANY simfile you've made in the past, even if it's YEARS ago (just be sure to tune it up to your standards. :P). However, if you don't have a song you stepped/wanna step that matches the theme, you'll have to scour the internet for a song you wanna work with. In my experience, it's difficult to find a song you wanna like on the spot. This might not be the case with other people, though.

Tournament of Immortals; You can, again, submit any simfile you've made in the past or make it on the spot AND you can submit whatever you want, it's not constrained to a specific theme. But one false simfile and you are out.

My personal favorite contest is Simfile Shuffle, followed by Summer Contest and then Tournament of Immortals. I'll be coming back for Summer Contest 2016 but unfortunately I'll only spectate Tournament of Immortals.

Great Shuffle guys. Sorry I flaked out early - I lost interest in writing files - but I will be definitely be back for the ToI with some unique files. I just don't know what happened this year, I usually have no issue writing a set of charts a week.
Anyways, hopefully I'll do better in the ToI now that more people are considering my files' uniqueness and complexity instead of immediately writing them off as bad. I swear I've lost a million times over the years to offbeat charts with patterns that don't go to anything xD
I'm never going to win another comp lol. BEST-mix 1.5 was my only victory, and it was one of the only anonymous entry comps I've seen. That was what? 2008? I know it doesn't matter but it hate how horrible I've done ever since lol

I love everyone's enthusiasm! The Stepmania community would have died YEARS ago if it wasn't for dedicated fans such as yourselves Keep being yourselves, and don't let a lack of interest in those you surround yourself with to stop you from enjoying what you enjoy!