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Thoughts On My Own Files Too
Posted on: August 9, 2013, at 08:07:31pm

Well, I guess I had to follow the trend.

I started stepping back in late 2010 for this site. In the meantime, I've become an adult, began University and such. I didn't even realize I've been part of this community for so long. While I'm in no way the focal center of FFR, I think I left my mark, something I was dreaming of as soon as I knew this site ran on user-made creations. So, without further ado, here are my thoughts on the files I made that got released on FFR.

Automata: Wow, this takes me back. This was when I discovered what dubstep was (thanks to Elite_Ninja who introduced me indirectly to xKore back when he was still unknown on Newgrounds) and how to work DDReamStudio (thanks to WV, who I cannot thank enough for urging me to stop using Stepmania to step my files). Since I didn't know how the inner workings of DDReam worked, I started thinking unconventionally, and eventually came up with the "red-accelerating-arrows-of-doom". It proved to be quite a success with the judges and, quite frankly, the song is so catchy that I can't help but coming back to this song once in a while. Trivia: I had to PM xKore himself for the actual name of the song. The official title is "Xkur Top Secret Preview!!!!!!!", since no final version of the song has been released. PS: I WAS THE FIRST ONE IN ALL OF FFR TO STEP XKORE MUSIC.

botu1: I saw someone (Silvuh? dore? I don't remember) mention on the forums that stepping an easier chart was harder than stepping a hard chart, as you have to know precisely what arrow goes to what and to make decisions in your layering. I was then tempted to verify that. botu1 was a sweet song from 44teru-k who didn't have any files in at the time, and I just wanted to verify if that statement in the forums was true. Turns out, it really wasn't (lol), but I'm still glad with how that file came out.

Comfortably Lost: This is when I started discovering Nick Perrin's music on Newgrounds. I was in shock; this music was exactly the kind of music I was looking for. It was diverse, inventive and, especially, fresh. Comfortably Lost was my first foray in the "jazz" genre and is a testament to how much I love stepping drums over anything else, rofl. Now that I can play it in 2013, it doesn't feel as good as I remember, but I still get a fuzzy feeling when I see this file.

Lives Without Meaning: This song is so, so good and I love this chart so, so much. Justin_ator told me it was his favorite to AAA, and I have to agree with him; the chart came out (in my opinion) as a timeless one. It's not a hard file at all, but it really has a heavy feel which makes the percussions stand out in a fantastic way. I also always liked the idea of having pitch relevancy for drums, so this was my attempt with this song. It was the first Clonepa song in all of FFR, too! Take that, OWA!

Love, The Elephant: When I got permission from Starship Amazing to step their songs (this band is made of the Happy Video Game Nerd and his friend Calvin who are pretty popular on Youtube), I was ecstatic. I immediately wanted to have the first chart of this band in the game. I took what I considered at the time their most steppable songs and just ran with it. Turns out, no one really played that file and it's a really forgettable chart, but I like its retro easy-going 2003 style feel. :)

spanish: It was a war between me and bmah. We both wanted to step this one. The solution? Stepping it together! I think it was a nice blend of our styles, with his methodic layering and my rigid PR. It was released as a tournament file, which I guess made a few people rage (I can't AAA this one for the sake of my life)! Still, a wonderful piece by katoh, which inspired me to step more stuff from him in the future (see car select). I come back to this one from time to time and I always enjoy myself. An underrated gem! :)

Submission Rules: This song caused such a stir, omfg rofl. It all started with this thread. As a new user to FFR in 2008, back when the simfil database still existed (take that, admins!), I had a really hard time understanding how the selection process for simfiles worked on FFR. Maybe it was because the default viewing option for threads on the forums was REVERSE, which confused the living shit out of me until I realized that you could set it back for good like two years later, but, for whatever reason, I didn't get it, even when I was on the very page that explained how to send files to FFR. I then thought of a way that players who were confused like me would realize that there are indeed real guidelines as to how to send stuff to the site if you wanted too: singing those guidelines and making it into a simfile. At the same time, it was also a way for me to test with how much I could get away with when sending files, and it was a lame excuse to add the "FFR R1 music producer" under my username. As a side note, kommisar gave it a perfect score, so SUCK IT. XD

Mortal Kombat Metal Menu: There weren't any Mortal Kombat songs in the game, and this song was really good! Turns out I always wanted to step rock (maybe for the percussions...), so, whaddaya know, it all came together pretty quickly. Not a timeless one by my standards, but hey, I guess it's pretty fun!

Animus Intorqueo No. 1, 2 and 3: In my opinion, this will always stand as my grand masterpiece. My greatest contribution to the FFR community. Whereas Rebirth0 has his The Games We Played in 5 parts, I have those three Animus Intorqueos by Nick Perrin. In 2011, the year when they were stepped, I was really into impressionnist music. I tried to learn Liebestraume no. 3 and Clair de Lune for piano, and so I really fell in love with Animus Intorqueo as soon as I heard it. These are the first songs I stepped in DDReamStudio, right after having stepped In Flux on Stepmania. The new software created a world of difference and made those chart possible. It took me a lot of tries to get the layering and PR just right (hence why it got released in 2012), but I think they're pretty much perfect simfiles by my standards. They even inspired me to post the official DDReam guide on the forums! xP All kidding aside, I really feel these three files represent my style simfile-wise and I definitely think you should play them again, if you haven't yet.

UMAD?: I stepped it only for its name and its percussion. By that time, I was a pretty big fan of xKore. On a side note, kommisar gave it a perfect score, so BAM.

.357 magnum: In that point in time, I had 11 songs in game. The judges definitely knew who I was, but I didn't feel the players themselves were really playing my files at all (except for Automata, which I got an amazing feedback from). I then started thikning that I had to step intense japanese-touhou-muzie shit like oster project (when he doesn't do jazz) or xi to interest players in my files. After a quick listen to both artist, I decided to opt for xi with this particular file. It was my hardest file at the time and I guess it came out pretty well. Not being a really good player myself, I always try to make the file more fun than technical. On that special occasion, I think I managed to have a good balance between both. Oh, and, also, since the name of the song begins with a dot, it's at the top of the "all songs" list, so every player sees it before clicking on another song, which is good advertisement for me! Smart move, MN. ;) Side note: Originally, this song had a ton of hands, but I felt it didn't really match the old school "this song is so japanese" feel of it, so I removed them. That means that this song has quads, but no hands. rofl!

Baby Still Too Fat: Chosen solely for its weirdass name and stepped at the same time as Love, The Elephant, it was released later only becauset it was rejected the first time I sent it in. There isn't anything else to say about this file. It's forgettable as hell. I had forgotten I had stepped it myself, lol! It's not that bad, though, so try it out.

Never Enough (xKrmix): I stepped this song in a single day. Literally, I made a hi19hi19 out of myself: I heard the song for the first time, thought: "wow, that is really steppable!" and farted out a simfile in the afternoon. Maybe I should have cut the song later, because we don't get a lot of wub-wubs for our money's worth, but what you get is still a great dose of fun. :)

In Flux (5 Note Piano Prelude): This is the second song I stepped to send to FFR. It was first stepped in Stepmania... and that's the reason why it took so long for it to be released. While the sync was impressive for being fully made out of Stepmania (the BPMs vary so much through this piece!), it really wasn't good enough to make the cut. I put the project on hold for a year and, when I finally got to open it in DDReam to tweak a few things here and there and finally make the PR right, the project came full circle. I think this song almost matches the Animus Intorqueo ones, but I'll mostly remember it as one of my oldest files (the oldest one being Nocturne Ab Min No. 2 by Nick Perrin, unreleased as of this writing). I also like its difficulty. :)

Xanthystrauma: I stepped this song for two reasons: firstly, I had just discovered scylaax who had released his song album on the forums (really great stuff on there! check it out!) and I really wanted to be the first one to get him into the FFR music producer circle. Secondly, I was so disgusted (read: jealous) by the amount of talent some players had that I really wanted to make an un-AAA-able file just to troll with them. Turns out, some players use this file as a workout, and, worse yet, some players have been dedicated enough to AAA it. Damn. Congrats. I can't even FC it, and I have a hard time barely PASSING it on stepmania! Side note, the earlier version was supposed to be even harder, sadly (thankfully) it was deemed too ridiculous by the judges.

Redirected Moonlight: A user called jak22 really wanted me to step his song. I found it alright, so I stepped it. Weirdly enough, he never logged in after it was released, and I never heard from him again. What a mystery, lol. Anyway, the song is nothing special, but I think the steps are fun in this one. Nothing much to say about it.

S: I'm super sad about this song because I'll probably never get to play it, it being a skill token. I don't even remember how to unlock it, but I know I gave up on it a long ago. The song is all about old school charts, with fast stream patterns and clean layering. Good stuff! It's also a classical file, which makes it all the better. Too bad it's hidden so far away... :( By the way, this is the first song by Y.W in the game, even though you probably didn't know it!

Mario Mix For Piano: This song. This fucking song. (too bad no one played it) I first heard it through this flash on Newgrounds. I instantly fell in love with it. To be perfectly honest with you, I always wanted this song to be in FFR, from the moment I first logged in in 2008. I think the reason it took so long to get it in is the fact that the author of the song, jackie1188, was so hard to contact. I had to use the internet archive to see his lost German blog which was linked to his Newgrounds account, and fiddle around to find a contact page, to notice he had a youtube account called paradoxonmusic. His last login at the time was 2 years ago. I dropped him a PM expecting nothing, and a month later I got a positive response. His name is Andreas Kuch, and he is a brilliant timid musician. Anyway, I tried to step this song with utmost respect after all this time it took me to contact the guy. I think it shows in the final simfile. I will always have a great time playing this and I really think this is one of my most underrated songs.

Pokemon BW - Elite Four Battle: Originally, this song was called "bwshitennou" on Y.W.'s site. Not noticing it was a Pokémon boss battle song, I stepped it because it had "shit" in the title and it made me laugh. Yeah, I'm an idiot. This song is great, though, and, while I didn't provide it with the best chart, I think it's a decent challenge and a good warmup if you need it. Just don't expect anything groundbreaking!

Mega Man 9 Rock Medley: This is the song that took me the longest to step. I had read this random post on SulferDragon's profile and totally agreed; someone had to step this beast. It was meant to be a collab between me and Shikari, since we talked together a lot on Dragon's Fury forums at the time. I stepped half of it probably in 2011, and left the other half for him to step (when I say half, I really mean 50%, as I stepped here and there but not a whole half). Turns out, the guy really wasn't interested at all in stepping, so we split parts and I left the project on hiatus for a long time. I tried to finish it by myself, but I couldn't get the layering right even if I tried my best, it being almost an 8 minutes song. A year later, after playing many of megamon88's files, I started to realize he had the kind of vision I needed in charts. His name also worked with the song I wanted to step. So I contacted him, and it got finished pretty quick. The dude is pretty sweet, and I'm totally satisfied with the result. This song is one hell of a marathon, but, if you can handle it, you'll be greated with some of the most rewarding melodies ever conceived! Plus the steps are nice so that's a plus for sure. XD

Jazzman - Super Mario Bros.: Upon discovering this masterpiece by KgZ, I couldn't even understand why it wasn't stepped yet. It was an incredible piece, perfectly suited for FFR. I have to be honest; I really love this chart. It's one of my favorites. My weakness being layering in stepping, I think I really did a great job with how I handled this one. It's just so fun! And, as a special bonus, it has 777 arrows, something I totally didn't expect while I was stepping it!

ULTRAnumb: Blue Stahli. This band has millions of views on Youtube, yet no one had stepped a song from them at that point in time. I thought it would make me famous if I stepped their most popular song...... Turns out, Silvuh gave it a perfect score, but I don't remember anyone telling me they had played it. lol! It's nothing exceptionnal, to say the least, but hey, it was a decent attempt at stepping mainstream music. :)

FF7 - Theme of Aeris: In my neverending pursuit to step music that would attract every single players, me not knowing which song is currently looked upon by those very players, I stepped a very emotional burst of nostalgia: the theme of aeris. The mp3 quality is bad and it took me two tries to get it accepted, something I did not expect at all, and it's, in the end, a really flat song. You might enjoy it if you're really beginning to play FFR, but, other than that, there isn't much to this one. :P

car select: GOD, now this is painful. This is currently the song at the end of the skill chain tokens. This means that, whatever the efforts, I will probably never get to play this song either, just like S. The saddest part? Aside from Animus Intorqueo, this is my other masterpiece. While Animus is a pure classical piano file, this one a pure arcade rock file, and it just plays like a Scintill file (read: fantastic file). It's really worth your time to unlock. Too bad I'll never get to play it myself. :'( I had to PM bmah to ask him NOT to step it, because I knew it was his kind of songs. lol, thanks for not breaking your promise man. :3

Art Of The Madness: I always liked Kil songs. I don't understand how the guy can be so secretive about himself, but whatever. His songs are overkill. Gaussian blur series? Wow. Toph OP? Genius! Do A Barrel Roll? omfg. Gameboy Rave? Goddamn Jesus. So even though the guy was long departed from FFR, I took it upon myself to step a Kil song. I had just found out his Youtube channel thanks to Kommisar's help, where the bastard kept on uploading miraculous songs one after another like it was nothing. I took his best and gave it a good step. I tried to keep a retro feel to match the fact that Kil files are associated with the golden age of FFR and Stepmania. I hope it shows. I absolutely adore this one.

Pictures At An Exhibition: Now this one has a weird history. I first heard this song when I played The Incredible Machine 2 (TIM2) on my PC at the age of 5. It's an old Sierra puzzle game, still one of the best. It has fantastic midi music, and, among those, this very song. Since I played it at such a young age, I always thought the people of Sierra had composed it themselves, but turns out, it really was an older song than I thought. I gave a listen to the orchestral version on Youtube and was shocked by its beauty. The rest is history! Forgettable chart, but damn fine song.

Unshakeable: Celldweller has had songs on FFR since 2003, if I recall. Still, it had been a long time since we had any song from his released, and I really liked this one. The weird dubstep it had, the whole feel was really nice. I thought it could be my second Automata. It probably wasn't as good as Automata was for its time, but it's a decent one. Too bad I stepped it so short, I should've left the whole ending :(

-Slapstick-: I recently discovered Waterflame, an awesome fellow on Newgrounds who creates music that sounds like old Sonic games. I got hooked. That's my favorite kind of music. -Slapstick- really reminded me of Jet Grind Radio, and I thought it would make a good entry to Waterflame to out little game. I think it's a solid one, and that you should give it a try again! :D

A Crimson Rose & A Gin Tonic (YMCK): Yes. Holy shit yes. Yessssss, in fact! I first heard of this song from the Video Game Megapacks on Stepmania, it was stepped by Yessssss. One of his best charts, that bastard. I always liked it. When I discovered that YMCK made a version of this song, which had bleeps and boops and that we had permission for it, I immediately took a dive in. I didn't want anyone else to nab it. It only took me......... a year to step it. Call it lack of time or motivation, I couldn't finish the damn thing. Maybe it's because I really intended it to be my final song. I had to give it my all in June of this summer to end it. Upon finishing this beast, I knew I had something special in my hands. It got the highest ratings in the batch it was. Talk about ending on a high note! At this state, I don't know if I'll ever step again, but one thing is for certain. When this song gets released, I think you people will be most pleased with what you will see. This just might be my real, grand masterpiece. :)

Felix^3: This was stepped before Crimson Rose and was meant to be released before it. It's a tricky file. Stepped it for its appealing name. haha. x)

Accelerator: Believe it or not, had been wanting to step this file since summer 2012. It was the same time I had stepped the (soon to be infamous) Xanthystrauma. I feel these two files were some of the most steppable material Scylaax had at that time, and I'm really happy that my version was included in the game. I hope I made a worthy chart, since the song is really interesting in my opinion!

  1. Lives Without Meaning is still an amazing chart and will always be.

  2. Crimson Rose & A Gin Tonic too stronk

  3. I just clicked on one of the mario bricks and got here. Holla.