Einherjar's Original Simfile Thread

As I mentioned in my introduction, I've made a few simfiles, and I figured I'd share them on ZiV for some criticism given that I'm still new at this so there's probably a ton of stuff that can be fixed up on these charts.


Here Comes a Thought
Video


Strong in the Real Way
Video


Full Disclosure
Video

yes they're all steven universe songs i'm sorry

also if posting this thread is breaking guidelines in any way i'll be happy to take it down; i know that i'd need 50 points before getting my own category but i don't think i saw anything against posting simfiles in the forums as a new member

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Hi! You are in the right place. I'm new making simfiles too and this is the best way to show your work.

YAAAYYYY Steven Universe Check this:


Meat Beat Mania - FLAMBÉE!

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I'm not normally one to criticize simfiles, but I'll look into those if you would like! Welcome to ZIv by the way!! I'm thrilled to see you!
You should get to know and have fun with us!

I didn't feel like this song had much of a swing beat, particularly at the end. There are a few patterns to clean up (like at 3:12 on the chart or the ending of the chart), and some of the jumps feel a little forced and a bit too difficult compared to everything else (2:56 on the chart, for example). I was a bit surprised to see hands and rolls make an appearance, so that was quite interesting.

I'll look at the other two in a bit.

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@KevinRocker10: I tried unzipping that file but for some reason it won't appear in my stepmania >:?

@NewbStepper: Thanks for that! I posted Here Comes a Thought (oh my god i can't believe i didn't actually write down the correct title on the banner how did i mess up that badly) on reddit and I also got some similar comments on the timing; I actually had most of the song in 16ths and not 12ths which was. Pretty Scary.

but yeah i think a lot of the timing issues on were fixed at the very least, though i'll go back to do some more precise revisions on before reuploading. Are there any other specific jumps that feel forced? I did think about 2:56 on the chart while doing it and in my head I think my thought process was to make that part of the song slightly harder every time it came up. I think I might make that one similar to the version but that might be too much of a jump as well.

And yeah I always wanted to try my hand at putting in hands and rolls since a lot of the files i've downloaded haven't made too much use of them though i wasn't sure if it was too much/if it seemed to forced

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Oh, and about that, I might want to advise you to keep it simple since it's your first time making a file. Stick to what you know, what you feel comfortable playing, and add stuff as you go and learn! I'll definitely come back to your other works.

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You are the first one that have an issue with one of my simfiles. Can you try rename the song folder to "Meat Beat Mania" and reload the songs after that? I guess the É char is the problem.

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ahahahahaha yeah that is why; I went into the .sm file and found that every instance of É was replaced with some odd kind of curved character, most likely because i'm running a japanese language pack on this computer

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Am I a little late for the welcoming party? If not, then greetings to you and your simfiles!

Most of the 16th jumps in the chart during the "It's okay, it's okay, it's okay" parts feel quite random in appearance and do not appear to correctly enhance on a particular beat in the music. Furthermore, I think the beats are evenly spaced, so perhaps the use of 12th notes may be more appropriate.

You could either elect to speed up the song to 180 BPM at 0:58 to reflect the mood change, or have it run at constant 180 throughout the entire song.

[Refer to timestamps in the video you provided]
:
[0:30] If you want to use footswitches (not sure if this is what you intended), it's best to keep it consistent throughout the chart (either use it throughout or not use at all, or make it clear which parts should be switched). From what I observed, a handful of step artists elect to put a mine next to a repeated arrow (or a jack) to denote a footswitch pattern (this is not necessary, but it's something you can do).
[0:32 - DRULDRL sequence] This is fine if a 360-degree spin is what you intended, but these can be annoying at higher speeds, so keep an extra eye out if you ever see a sequence containing "DRULD" or such to ensure that it is what you meant to make.
[0:53~0:57] If performed correctly, the player would face towards the right during this sequence (cross left over to the right, repeatedly hit right arrows, then perform a sideway turn). Try not to force a player to face one direction for too long unless there is a good (musical) reason for that.
[0:57~1:08] Here's a sequence containing an example of unnecessarily high use of jumps as I've talked about before. Jumps are best done when they're to indicate a strong beat in the rhythm, but all the sounds seemed a bit too weak to warrant two consecutive jumps containing different arrows. They're also very difficult to hit compared to everything around them.
[1:42] There are very limited situations where a forced one-footed note hitting around a hold would make sense. At this speed, and given the song in question, this pattern usually turns out to be more awkward than enjoyable.

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[0:50] It's good practice to always keep in mind of how the player is turned and which foot was used to hit each arrow. The right arrow, if alternately stepped, would be stepped with the left foot and the player would turn sideways for a few arrows and turn around with a spin. It's best to make it clear what you'd like the player to do in this case, since facing one direction and having the patterns go into oblivion is never fun.

There are a few more stylistic tips that others may want to give you right now, but I'll save those for another day. Let's take it one step at a time. If these are indeed your first stepfiles, you are making good progress.

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in regards to Here Comes a Thought:

In regards to the jumps on the "It's okay its okay its okay" part for that chart, i believe that's in regards to the last time that verse happens, right? I personally liked the placement of the jumps in the first part of it where it was step-step-jump pattern because the jump does go with the emphasized noted it matches up with (if that wording made sense), though I do agree with you how the step-jump-step and jump-step-step patters feel random in place.

In regards to Strong in the Real Way:

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[0:30]: Pardon my ignorance, but i keep rewatching this part trying to figure out how footswitching would be used here (actually i had to look up with footswitching was after reading your post and im still confused oops)
[0:32]: Yeah, the 360 degree spin was intentional, though I will keep an eye out on that in the future to avoid it at higher speeds; I think its fine at the speed it is currently out now
[0:53-0:57]: That's actually a really great point to keep in mind; I don't think I ever thought that hard about the direction the player was facing throughout the entirety of a stream of notes
[0:57-1:08] you're absolutely right i thought i was just awful when i had problems hitting those jumps when i was playtesting it
[1:42] i think my brain fried while making the end to this song; that whole part needs a revision I think

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[0:50] : oh my god how did i miss that that's pretty glaring.... i think if i changed those right arrows to left arrows and left arrows to right arrows and reversed the direction of the spin it would play better. am i right in this thought?

thank u again for your help

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Essentially speaking, yes. You want to be consistent with which notes get the jumps.

Footswitching is simply a technique that involves switching feet on the same arrow panel. The down arrow is used twice in a row - once on a quarter beat and once again 3/16 afterwards. To be able to step that part alternately, a player could elect to hit the first down arrow with the right foot and the second down arrow with the left foot.

It's not necessary to keep a perfect balance per se, but facing one way for too long can induce carpal tunnel, and that's not fun for anyone. SUNKiSS♥DROP S- is a good example of that.

Haha. If you play a chart like Unreal S- (or even S- ) and find yourself having a harder time hitting the jumps than you thought, just know it's how the chart is.

If you changed the left arrows to right arrows up until 0:53 (right before the red up arrow), it would play much more smoothly. If you want to include a spin, it's best to make it obvious.

You're welcome. I'll discuss Full Disclosure when I'm feeling well enough to critically examine that.

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haha, take your time with that; there's no rush at all considering the changes I gotta get on so far

and sunkiss drop is actually one of my fave charts so that probably speaks a lot about the questionable "making someone stand in the same direction for too long"

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I download the file for a closer examination. It was much warranted here.


[0:20] I'm a bit unclear on the purpose of the freeze arrows on the jumps here, but for whatever reason they were used, the second jump had a freeze on the wrong arrow. The down arrow would have to be hit with your left foot and the patterns afterwards would force a doublestep.
[0:24] This is one of many instances of other forced doublesteps on 8th beats.
[0:27] The notes here appear to actually be 12th apart. Furthermore, the ending with the 4 jumps in a row seems a bit excessive and overly difficult.
[0:44] Another instance of forced sliding.
[0:53] The rhythms here may need revision.
[0:55] Refer to my earlier comment on footswitches. Here's another example of when they can be used.
[0:59~1:08] Try to be conservative with step-step-jump patterns where the jump contains two different arrows from the last one used. On another note, it helps to vary the arrow placements a bit more on the 8ths.
[1:10~1:26] I don't think the song warranted any use of 32nd arrows; the only beats I hear are 16ths. In fact, this section as a whole is much more difficult than it should be.
[1:30 to end] Same note as [0:59~1:08].


[0:44] Visually, putting a down arrow with a short freeze followed by another down arrow the next quarter beat just looks unnecessarily messy. You are better off either following the freeze with another arrow, or by getting rid of the hold.
[0:56] This is only my opinion, but I would leave that part blank or with just longer freezes from before, followed by just another jump to match the bass beat.
[1:22] The freezes pattern out to an incomplete spin. You can simply fix this by switching the left and right arrows after the up arrow freeze, up to the left/right jump that appears at 1:29.
[1:38] Consider switching the up/right arrow jump to a down/right arrow jump.
[1:46] This stream of jumps feels like an unnecessarily massive difficulty spike. It would suffice to either leave them all as single arrows, or to have just the first and fifth arrows as jumps.

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