The Future of SpinItUp - Your Input Is Wanted!

[chardish]

Synth and I were talking tonight about implementing some possible interface changes to SpinItUp. The general idea behind these interface changes would be making the game easier to "read" as you play - in other words, trying to remove clutter and streamline the interface as much as possible.

We really need your input, though - implementing changes like these take several hours of development time, and we don't want to do something that all of you are going to hate just to change it back. Tell us what you think of the following ideas:

1) Removing the white circles that come out of the center with the percentage display. I feel this would make it easier to read the waves because there's less clutter in the play area.
2) Removing the percentages from each column. Instead of percentages, change the color of the background outside the play area to the most recently hit wave. So, if you get a long string of nothing but green, you know you're doing well - yellow denotes a non-combo hit, and red denotes an outright miss. These colors would be mild and subdued enough not to cause seizures, but obvious enough to give you a clear indicator of how you're doing.
3) Moving the combo count to the center of the screen. Make it display as:
132
COMBO
instead of
132 COMBO

So, tell us what you think of these ideas, and if you have any others to make the gameplay screen better and easier to read. I'll update this sticky with ideas that seem either good to me or good to you guys, so comment on each others' ideas as well. This is a community driven game, and we really want the community's input.

Cheers,
Chardish, Synthlight, and the rest of the FFR/SIU staff


-------
Other ideas I like:
Shashakiro suggested putting stats at the beginning of the song, i.e. length, BPM, number of waves, etc.
Talisman suggested allowing the user to change the difficulty right there at the song wheel instead of having to go backwards.
Shamo0 suggested having waves you miss fade out after leaving the circle.
Flypie743 suggested having the game return to the song select instead of the home screen after you're done.
Pyroshock suggested having the score appear more quickly after the song.

[falconsfan14]

I think it sounds great. I dont think the white circles make that much of an impact, but they can go. Every little bit helps. And im definitally loving the different colored notes, that is a definite yes.

[sertman]

The main thing I've been wanting to see is an option to change the quality... my laptop is terrible and hi-res isn't cutting it at this point, it's really laggy

Another thing (and I'm not sure if this is interface related or not) is that you should have to click when the arrow hits the top... it just doesn't feel like a rhythm game, it would be like DDR but all you have to do is step on the arrow and wait for it to hit.

[chardish]

Sertman - I can see what you mean about needing to click for the wave to register, but I don't think we're going to be changing anything about the way the game is actually played. We're really talking about cosmetic interface changes here.

And, if you ever played Dance Maniax or Para Para Paradise, those were rhythm games that didn't involve hitting anything. Ez2Dancer even had a couple motion sensors that didn't involve hitting things either. Dance Maniax is still among my favorite rhythm games to this day. (It's a shame there are so few around.)

[KingOreO-]

I think the colors will surely help, however something that wasn't mentioned and I think will help most would be, when you miss an arc, it continues off screen. Since we will now be indicated by a color that we have missed the arc, I really don't think the continuing of the arc past the circle is necessary because I really do think it clutters everything a whole lot more when trying to complete a large stream like the ones in uber rave.

But overall the game looks great; could care less about the white circle. Can't wait til you guys add some more songs.

[Shashakiro]

I'd like to see some song stats before the song starts, like song length, BPM, number of steps, and spinfile artist :)

Also, extend the end of game-stats screen to show more lines, it doesn't show enough now.

p.s. everyone go play dot death it's up

[sertman]

Alright, that's fine. I do it anyways, just to keep the beat and to let myself know when I should move on to the next wave.

How about changing the color of the "wave"skin to reflect whether it's a 4th, 8th, or 16th note, much like note and what's done in FFR nowadays?

[talisman]

the levels of the interface are redundant and time consuming.

just cut it to one wheel with clicking on each number bringing up the songs for that level. Having to go backwards to change difficulty is annoying and counterintuitive... it feels like one should be able just to do it right there. Essentially what I'm saying is to combine the difficulty selection interface with the song selection interface.

[Pyroshock]

the levels of the interface are redundant and time consuming.

just cut it to one wheel with clicking on each number bringing up the songs for that level. Having to go backwards to change difficulty is annoying and counterintuitive... it feels like one should be able just to do it right there. Essentially what I'm saying is to combine the difficulty selection interface with the song selection interface.

I love this idea.

For the other ones, I don't mind the circle, the combo text, or the percentage text.

[lord_carbo]

The percent thing is fine IMO. It really helps on freezes so I can move my mouse a tad bit to get 100%.

Oh and adjustable wave speed would be nice. I'd be able to do a lot better if I wasn't playing songs at <C100 =/

[Shamo0]

How about once the waves you miss pass the outer circle how about you have them slowly fade out. Cuz It gets really crazy when you have big huge things coming at you and you already missed them =/

I actually like the % circles that come from the middle. It makes it feel like you're playing in a speaker and the percentage lines are the beats and the speaker thing is moving.

[emptiness]

life bar if you hadn't already said it

[talisman]

oh and also on the interface make it so that we can see that there are other songs in the section and we don't have to click the arrows to find out if there are more or not.

[chardish]

oh and also on the interface make it so that we can see that there are other songs in the section and we don't have to click the arrows to find out if there are more or not.

Synth mentioned this last night. He said it'd be pretty CPU-intensive to show all the songs at once. He thinks the most it could handle would be the currently selected song and the ones before and after it.

[flypie743]

A few things I was thinking about:

I think that after you finish a song and click on the score screen it should go back to song selection and not the home screen.
A replay button on the score screen, for sure.
I was thinking about showing more songs on the song wheel then just what is selected, as well. I think making it show 3 at a time is a good idea if it can't handle showing all of the songs.

[Pyroshock]

Maybe on the results screen you could make so you can click to get to your score instead of waiting for all the bars on the left?

[Lipidman]

Maybe on the results screen you could make so you can click to get to your score instead of waiting for all the bars on the left?
But thats cool..it's like a drum roll lol

[omfgitsaraver]

How about once the waves you miss pass the outer circle how about you have them slowly fade out. Cuz It gets really crazy when you have big huge things coming at you and you already missed them =/


great idea :)

[AMBX]

I think a line in the middle of the arcs would be a great help for me. All I do when I play is move the mouse to the middle of the arc and it seems to work great, Its just hard to find the middle with multiple arcs. Also a brightly colored curser would be awesome. Maybe an option to change it if wanted, like discussed before. ok Thanks

[chardish]

I think a line in the middle of the arcs would be a great help for me. All I do when I play is move the mouse to the middle of the arc and it seems to work great, Its just hard to find the middle with multiple arcs. Also a brightly colored curser would be awesome. Maybe an option to change it if wanted, like discussed before. ok Thanks

I'd like a better cursor as well (maybe a large white circle), since it's easy to lose my mouse in the chaos. But I think having lines down the arcs makes it too easy.

[Cobalt_Stryker]

I think for the hard songs that you should put different arrow speeds to confuse someone that is playing. If gives a challenging twist to the game if u move your thingy when u realzie its not going 2 come there so go 2 a different one. I think you should have like a "how to play" explaining the different colors of arrows and their speeds. Also put some see through arrows that are kind of visible like the spinning one and make it go so they will not really notice it. Also put a life bar to give it a more DDR thingy.

[Triplex72]

I think point 2) would be a great idea because it is hard to look at the percentages when playing faster songs. Different colors for different windows of accuracy would be similar to stepmania. (Marv:white, Perf:yellow great:green)

[templesOFtofu]

can we work on ffr first. just look what happens when i actually FINISH silence

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/2814/0xf9.th.jpg (http://img138.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0xf9.jpg)

THIS is why my friends dont believe me. i hold the title for the WORST score in ffr.

heh, -infinity%

[2_1337]

-Get rid of the mouse cursor!!!

-Put this game on an iPod! ^_^

[Ninja_Monkey]

-Get rid of the mouse cursor!!!

-Put this game on an iPod! ^_^


That was me saying that. I just never pay attention to who im logged in as >_>

[templesOFtofu]

HAHAHA, thats good

you guys should ipod this game. it would work extremely well with an ipod.

[Orch_Dork]

after choosing a dificulty make it so you can see the other songs too, not just one and be suprised there was another song a min. later and be dissapointed

[stlunatic0124]

Don't know if this has already been said, but is there any way you guys can make the playing field bigger? At least twice the game I move my cursor too far outside the circle so I can't control my bar anymore. It's REALLY annoying.

[Sol_Solis]

Two words:
FULL SCREEN.
That would cexify this game^100000000

[iopq]

how about a quit button to quit out of a song

also, add a volume slider that **** is LOUD

[regretful]

Don't know if this has already been said, but is there any way you guys can make the playing field bigger? At least twice the game I move my cursor too far outside the circle so I can't control my bar anymore. It's REALLY annoying.

Quick fix: Hold down the mouse button. Even if the cursor leaves the screen, the game reads it's location relative to the center. I play all songs with the button held down, flailing my mouse about the entire screen. Yeah, I'm not that good.

[Bu5hman]

how about a quit button to quit out of a song



Please put this in, I hate having to refresh to quit a song :(

Also make the area for the change difficulty button larger, I keep missing it and starting the song I don't want by accident.

Oh and is it just my compuer or does "force of light" never actually end?

[the_ballistic_mystic]

An R2 style speed selector!

[Delphion]

am i on? now? talk now? What i should have talked 2 minutes ago, oh ok.......damn i forgot what i was going to say....FLEE!

[allproxxx1]

MAKE IT SO U CAN HAVE DIFFERENT COLOR SETTINGS BECAUSE PINK IS NOT THAT GREAT, LIKE BLACK AND BLUE WOULD BE COOLER THEN PINK.

[solopro]

Try giving it a grading system similar to ITG, like a school thing? Like, for example:

90.0%-100.0%=A
80.0%-89.99%=B
70.0%-79.99%=C
60.0%-69.99%=D
59.99% and below=F

But how about something like school?

[Sirnaka]

First of all I'm loving the SpinitUp game, I definitely agree with the color changing suggestion.

Try giving it a grading system similar to ITG, like a school thing? Like, for example:

90.0%-100.0%=A
80.0%-89.99%=B
70.0%-79.99%=C
60.0%-69.99%=D
59.99% and below=F

But how about something like school?

This idea doesn't seem bad at all.

[ChanelBabe92]

spin it up is crazy.....very cool very fun....but difficulty 8 is like impossible....funny but impossible!!!

[ChanelBabe92]

Try giving it a grading system similar to ITG, like a school thing? Like, for example:

90.0%-100.0%=A
80.0%-89.99%=B
70.0%-79.99%=C
60.0%-69.99%=D
59.99% and below=F

But how about something like school?

i like this idea....i think it would work very well.....plus then it would be more like ddr......lolz

[Amcreva]

Perhaps is their can eventually be a Mod just like in FFR like Dark.

However, one of them could be Backwards mode where you have to avoid the spin it up waves instead of hit them. I don't know if we have a choice of speed mods yet, but that would be cool. Also, instead of having set diffuculties could we not have a 'spinner' that we can click so we can choose how hard the song is?

[xenonslight]

Already put:

Quality low-res
Colored
Show stats before song
combine difficulty and song selection
have escaped waves fade
Life bar-show overall percent at moment
Show all songs on wheel
Click on finished score, go to same song selection
Replay button at end of song
click to get score and skip bar animation
Different cursor
Have the waves go at different speeds
Get rid of mouse cursor - rely on outer white goal
Make game field(the flash app itself) bigger
Full screen
Exit button
Volume slider
Grading system
Wave appearence mods

My suggestions:
Show area percentages in numbers
ie:
100% Perfect
99.9%-85% Great
84.9%-70% Good
69.9%-50% Average
49.9%-0% Miss

More songs!
Fix FoL!
Have the time circle (way back there now), to be a bar
Have mods that trick you, like FFR's tornado

[Trustfull]

I really like it, just needs more work/songs and little better visual look :P

[doan123]

I think the spinup need new songs

[jewpinthethird]

New tagline: Get your Spin on.

[Varia]

New tagline: Get your Spin on.

We all know where that one came from.

[Sniper911]

This game SpinItUp is really fun!
I hope there will be new modifications like a play the song again menu or something.
It would also help if the text was a bit bigger too.

[kre8ive_kid56]

I'm not sure about the suggestion of different coloured arcs in the game, I believe it will just become a distraction.

[TomatoShadow]

One thing I'd like pretty much is personal high scores... So that I can see my top score of every song and try to break my high scores :D

[dore]

I'd like the option for square ends to the arrows and receptors (dunno the proper SIU terms). It wouldn't look as good but I think it'd be more functional.

[SithCait22]

Spin It Up could MAYBE use a choice between an actual score like in FFR -OR- The percentages like they have now...
Also they should take out the being able to play the song before its done loading (dial up peoples can do this)

[Dreamcube017]

Hm, I'm just going to comment for right now. I'll put what I wanted tosay in another thread only because it doesn't really have anything to do with this.

I like the color idea. As far as removing the curser while in game play, if they do that, I hope the section that's highlighted is brighter because that would make it a bit harder.

lol I have a good modifire. What if the play-circle is spinning? Not fast, just spinning. It could have some sort of markings on the edge to show that it's spinning. That would be kind of cool.

[schoogie]

i just played the game for the first time, very interesting!

i thought it'd be a fun game to play on my Wii (the new browser just came out), as it does not require the keyboard.

unfortunately, the browser only supports flash files compatible with flash 7 or earlier.

i don't know much about flash, but if its not a chore to make it flash 7 compatible, it would be the first music flash game people could play on their Wii's =D

[Afrobean]

i don't know much about flash, but if its not a chore to make it flash 7 compatible, it would be the first music flash game people could play on their Wii's =D
You'd be better off emailing Nintendo/Opera and asking them to update the browser to support higher flash versions.

ps apparently FFR R1 is playable on the Wii already ;)

[schoogie]

ps apparently FFR R1 is playable on the Wii already ;)


yes, it does load and work fine, but with no arrow keys on the wii remote you can't really play it D;

[Dreamcube017]

Why doesn't the Wii have USB keyboard capability?

[schoogie]

Why doesn't the Wii have USB keyboard capability?

because...... nintendo finds joy in making everyone type with the equivilent of one finger xP

lolz, i dunno. the current browser is still in "test" phase, so they'll probably have a bunch of stuff fixed/updated before the final release =P

[TomatoShadow]

So... When is there going to be some updates for SpinItUp? I play this game more than I play FFR and it's always the same things... If only I knew how to do songs :( I'm pretty sure that remix community wouldn't mind seeing their songs on that games. That would be pretty cool :)

[Xandertrax]

So, my idea is for a roll.

Like in ITG, where you had to keep hitting the note repeatedly to get it?

Have a hold, but you need to keep on clicking or hitting a key to keep the note active.

[Yesssss]

Fix the 1.5 speedmod so it's actually 1.5 instead of 0.5.

Also colored notes depending on what type of note it is would be nice (like a noteskin).

Edit: And some quit out of the song function. People might accidentaly click it while playing if it's a button on the screen. Have it quit out when the Esc button is pressed (or if you can't do that in flash for some reason, then Q would be the best alternative).

[Ryker Ridgley]

It's been a while since a suggestion.... how about fixing the scores over 96% (or around that area)? I get 100% but nothing seems to happen.... but I remember playing when I didn't have a screen name and people's scores would show up if I got lower than around 96%.

Perhaps 100% should record?

[Estmid24]

all of the above are sweet ideas but what about changing the theme of spin it up. Instead of a circle it could have a bigger screen for more room, the area to see and play SIU would be easier and so on.

[Yesssss]

A bug happening on a lot of songs is that some of the waves will slow down for no reason, but some of the other ones will keep going. This only happens near the beginning and once per song (although it sometimes happens to multiple waves).

Here's a screenshot on dot death which is where it gets hit the worst:
http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/3286/glitchdq2.png (http://imageshack.us)

Also maybe there should be some sort of pinpointable spot where you can hit the waves more accurately. Something like this (although it doesn't have to be arrows, or that certain color).
http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/8674/arrowvd7.png (http://imageshack.us)

[Kekeb]

A bug happening on a lot of songs is that some of the waves will slow down for no reason, but some of the other ones will keep going. This only happens near the beginning and once per song (although it sometimes happens to multiple waves).

Here's a screenshot on dot death which is where it gets hit the worst:
http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/3286/glitchdq2.png (http://imageshack.us)

Also maybe there should be some sort of pinpointable spot where you can hit the waves more accurately. Something like this (although it doesn't have to be arrows, or that certain color).
http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/8674/arrowvd7.png (http://imageshack.us)
that takes away the challenge though.

[fido123]

Serioulsly I find the way the targets come from makes it really hard to read. Personally I think if the targets went in a diffrent direction instead of the center coming upwards.

[lord_carbo]

Not just the challenge, but it looks ugly to boot. The game screen is nothing but circles, and that doesn't really look too hot.

[swordmasterz]

How about more than four places to put notes?
A circle has "infinite sides"... might as well take advantage of that.
Like instead of just the 12-3, 3-6, 6-9, and the 9-12 positions (clock numbers by the way), you can have 2-5, 7-10, etc.
Allows for greater variation, and more or less difficult songs.

[Infernova]

Personally I think SpinItUp would be awesome to have on the iPod, lol.

I'm not sure if it has been suggested before, but after playing 'Vortex', I'm sure it would be perfectly compatible with the click-wheel. =P

The only problem would probably be re-programming SIU for a portable music device, but it's just an idea... XD

[Kekeb]

Personally I think SpinItUp would be awesome to have on the iPod, lol.
that would frigging own...

[jugglinguy]

that'd be insaneeeeeeee

[Matrixdude]

Damn, that idea deserves this totally unwanted bump.

[Kekeb]

Damn, that idea deserves this totally unwanted bump.I don't see a bump.

[Matrixdude]

I don't see a bump.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a129/Red_Star_/orlybump.jpg

[Kekeb]

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a129/Red_Star_/orlybump.jpg
It's a sticky.
ya rly

[Mjaria]

i think spin it up should come up with a special version for ipods cause that would kick ass

[sexyinpink]

more colors would be nice RAINBOW EFFECT!

[travman301]

I know Synth doesn't want to take SPI to any other medium outside the internet, but it would make a great arcade cabinet and they could make a lot of money that way.

[0peth]

Like FFR, I'd like to see the option to be able to put on low quality. In the hard songs when a lot of notes come in a line, it skips alot and lags making it hard to hit the next notes. Maybe making lower quality might fix this.

Also having somewhat of a dark mode, where you only move your mouse on the screen and having no line follow your mouse. Personally I think it would be alot easier for hard songs and reduce clutter.

[stoners_netname]

^^^^^^ *likes those ideas*

any chance of a re-syncing of a few songs?

[Kagami_Hiiragi]

i play siu sometimes any i really enjoy it and i always complain about alot of things. but here's my ideas:
-we should be able to see our display names i.e. Kagami_Hiiragi instead of guest_00110 ya know? cause i would want to know who is who instead of asking. (cause i'm lazy)
-levels for mp not to disappear. like i played one day in mp with some friends and noticed if i leave then come back, my level (i.e. Kagami_Hiiragi [2]) would be gone.so it'd be nice if they didn't reset.
-the chat should be like an mp for ffr type thing.but on the bottom of the siu screen.that'd be pretty cool.

[Kekeb]

-the chat should be like an mp for ffr type thing.but on the bottom of the siu screen.that'd be pretty cool.
not enough room

[t-rogdor]

We should be able to access the songs in the 7 and 8 Difficulties.

[Kekeb]

We should be able to access the songs in the 7 and 8 Difficulties.That's a bug, not sure if it's plan to get fixed but they know about it at least.

[[TeRa]]

I sure hope it gets fixed, that and the MP problem where everyone is a guest.
Being able to pick a speedmod while in a room in MP would be great also.
I want to play the day the planet decided to explode so bad, I remember it being an awesome song, I haven't heard it in so long though :(

Also I can only scroll down the song list, not up, not sure if it's just in MP, I never play the SP.

[Breakdown16]

This isn't so much a suggestion as a bug report, but here goes. What's wrong with the speedmods? When I play Balloon Fever, which has a BPM of 192, on x1.0, it's faster than Hellbeat, which has a BPM of 200. Doing a quick search, I also found another thread (http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/vbz/showthread.php?t=48477) that reported oddities with the speed mods. Hopefully, these can also be eventually fixed.

[Netjet!]

Guys, come on. Stop focusing on r1 all the time and take a look at the games that have more potential.

[fido123]

Guys, come on. Stop focusing on r1 all the time and take a look at the games that have more potential.

Holy **** Netjet. If you're going to bump a topic please at least add some content. SIU is pretty much dead IMO but if you want to help it get some idea's and if the admins don't want to do it they're not going to.

[Netjet!]

It's a sticky, no need to get pissed about it being bumped..

And also I'm working on some ideas.

[L0NEvvolf]

Sounds good to me, but also try to fix all the glitches with SiU while your at it please. Whenever I try to play like two songs in a row I have to reload SiU to get it to work.

[customstuff]

I suggest that you make it able to play on iPods, I would love you forever!

[nestlekwik]

I suggest that you make it able to play on iPods, I would love you forever!

It should be fully playable on computers first.

[Kekeb]

It should be fully playable on computers first.
...

[Starshot]

I will make a whole ****ing album of exclusive tracks if I have to. SpinItUp means a lot to me. It represents the resilience and uniqueness in it's files and music that reminds me of when FFR was first out. The time where good, original music by up and comers meant more then the damn file. The time where the little guy was hailed as a god.

I would be sad to see it die.

[Silver_Brian]

It kind of died already =/ We need to bring it back to life.

[Netjet!]

How? We'd need to code it ourselves, because the admins aren't.

[Mr.Nothing]

How? We'd need to code it ourselves, because the admins aren't.

Good luck lol.
The problem is that no matter what they do, the site is called Flash Flash Revolution, and new people, or non-forum-goers probably just don't even pay attention to it.

[Netjet!]

Let's get a different site, just like Metrivia,

[nestlekwik]

It kind of died already =/ We need to bring it back to life.

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n92/ecgxpo/23113873.jpg

[Kekeb]

IT'S ALIVEEEEEEE
http://i34.tinypic.com/zoetyx.png

[richyrich55]

Imo, we should just forget about SIU. Flight FFR has taken off and SIU has been left at the terminal.

[blindreper1179]

i loved playing this game, but now it doesn't work, and no admins keep to it except nestle, and he's doing what he can do. i don't see why you would make a new game, and not try to make it just as big as the original game of the site.

[Breakdown16]

Imo, we should just forget about SIU. Flight FFR has taken off and SIU has been left at the terminal.

This game has a lot of potential, even if it's only a side distraction/amusement game for most people. SiU deserves much more attention.

[MixMasterLar]

I Wish someone would take the mouse-moving music game idea and do something with it. If someone started coding such a thing (rather it was a giant O or even a breakout looking line type of thing) then I would be glad to help out with files and getting artist permissions. I had gotten alot for SiU right before it went down (T2Kazuya, Pixietricks, Shandrick the Mage, Group X, Heck Im the guy who aleated The great DJS to the game) and Im sure I have their contacts somewhere around here if I need to ask them again for another game

[chupadream]

The version I played had two discs that you rotate.

I think that if you added another then it would make the game more fun yet challenging

[Breakdown16]

The version I played had two discs that you rotate.

I think that if you added another then it would make the game more fun yet challenging

I'm against changing that, unless it becomes another "side project" completely. SIU will completely change and all previous stats would not apply anymore.