StepCon 2023
 

What is a stepcon you might ask? It’s a Simfile-creating contest open to Steppers, Mappers, Charters, Simfile Artists and Stepauthors of all skill levels and styles.
*all times listed are servertime*


Thank you so much to all of our finalists that participated and put their best foot forward to approach the file for this year's Finals! It is not easy to overcome a song that might not be advantageous for you and still provide quality that a majority likes. I will be rewarding extra prizes and rewards from the Final StepOff shortly to those that have earned them, and updating badges to reflect the Final StepOff results. I sincerely hope to be able to continue this event next year! But with that, it will draw this year's StepCon to a close. Thank you again as well to everyone that participated in the first round, and those that voted for their favorites throughout StepCon!

On a very specific note to basicdrummerman, similarly to the previous round, you will have 1 week to submit any fixes needed for your file, and then it will take another week to move the file through the batch process for difficulty rating before it ultimately sees a release in the Songs of the Week of November 25th. And, congratulations on the win!

Participants and voters are now open & free to talk about which file is theirs in-order on the StepCon 2023 engine (if they prefer), and talk about which specific songs they voted for (again, if they prefer).








Some clarifications/rules:

-After sign-ups are finished, you will receive a Direct Message on FFR of which group you are in, along with a .zip file of everything you need to participate within your Class.
-After Direct Messages go out to all sign-ups (thread will be bumped with notification as such), you may swap Classes with another person in a different Class, but this can only be done ONCE between BOTH people involved, and may only happen within the first week (cutoff will be 11:59pm, October 7th 2023). If you are unable to obtain the original .zip provided for that Class after both people agreeing to a swap, contact me (gold stinger on FFR, Goldstinger#8592 on Discord).
-You ARE ALLOWED to make cuts and edits to any song during the StepCon.
-You MAY NOT collaborate with another Stepartist/Simfiler/sign-up/out-of-tournament individual.
-Submissions should meet Submission Rules requirements (listed here: https://www.flashflashrevolution.com...d.php?t=145458 )
-You ARE NOT allowed to solicit votes or reveal information regarding which submission is yours during the public voting process. Doing so will result in immediate disqualification and ban from future StepCon's.
-As a participant, you MAY NOT vote during public voting within your own Class. YOU MAY vote in any other Classes of which you are not directly participating in.
-Songs submitted to the 'StepCon 2023' Batch that are not part of this event will be automatically rejected. Please don't submit random songs to it. Spamming the batch may result in disciplinary action.
-Treat your fellow participants and public voters with kindness. Actively putting down someone's submissions or anonymously calling people's submissions "shit" is a good way to get yourself disqualified as a participant, and banned from public voting. Feedback & Criticism is welcome during the public voting periods, but do so in moderation with respect to newer Stepauthors.
-I think it goes without saying, but please DO NOT CHEAT OR ATTEMPT TO CIRCUMVENT THESE RULES. Doing so may result in disqualification from the current StepCon and ban from future events and StepCons.

Added clarifications:
-Class placement is purely randomized. You will have a week to swap with another player (if willing) on the case RNG doesn't go your way, but notably this will not be an option for participants that reach the Final StepOff.
-All metadata, Simfile properties, and sync will be provided before-hand in the .sm file you receive during this event. You are more than welcome to change any of it to however you see fit, this is just to make the event more approachable for new Stepartists. (This includes but not limited to BPM changes, Signature changes, Colorization, etc.)
-Judges reserve the right to reject a winning file from going in-game due to incompleteness of a file in extreme situations (such-as, a joke dump file, only half of the file done and silence for the other half, 0/10-worthy files after judgment, etc.)
-1st Place Class Winners will get 1 week to submit any fixes they would like from feedback on their submission after voting results, and then song will take another week for Difficulty Consultants and finalizing for release for a total of 2 weeks between end of voting and release. Otherwise, songs submitted and processed this way will we be done so under the Batch "Accepted" status. For more information, please refer to 'Ratings and Status' in the Submission Guidelines.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Hype

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Yooo hype!!

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Here to defend my title.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

I WANT IN

Re: StepCon 2023
 

not yet sure if i'll actually have the time for this, but i'll put my name down

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Just finished making good on the request from last StepCon for a broader range of badges for participation & runner-ups (as well as doing so for this current StepCon). If you participated in 'StepCon 2022' and never got a profile badge, you have one now.

Looking forward to all the love & soul everyone puts into their Songs this year :mrgreen:

Re: StepCon 2023
 

hype

Re: StepCon 2023
 

omago

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Y'all got this!

Re: StepCon 2023
 

You'd best hit that join button : l

Re: StepCon 2023
 

FNF ARROW???

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Looks like we've just hit over 50 sign-ups, which is at least more than there was last StepCon! That means there's going to be 5 or more sets of files/songs in the first round, depending on how many more sign up.

Just as a reminder, sign-ups will close at night on September 30th, as it switches over to October 1st. At that time, all sign-ups will be given a randomized song assignment, DM'd with everything they need to participate in StepCon 2023, and the thread will be open and serving as the location if you want to swap your song with someone else's.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

1 more hour! :OOO

good luck everyone!

Re: StepCon 2023
 

StepCon 2023 is now live! Messages / DM's have been sent out to everyone that has signed up, along with their respective Songs, Classes and Match-ups. Check out the main post for more info!

As always, feel free to let me know if you have any issues. And, you are now free to communicate with your fellow Stepauthors to trade songs / classes.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

any1 in group A wanna trade :mrgreen:

Re: StepCon 2023
 

ill trade you

Re: StepCon 2023
 

we have traded the files

Re: StepCon 2023
 

to late...............................................................................................................................................

Re: StepCon 2023
 

WTT anyone. get me the heck out of class D

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Will trade for anything except D

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Trading Class C for either A, B, or E if anyone wants.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

question can use long notes

Re: StepCon 2023
 

These dont exist in FFR, so as per the submission guidelines no.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

willing to trade class C for A or B

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Class D, I offer you my actual apologies for being given something that is impossible to listen to, let alone make a file out of that isn't a dumpy mess, or incredibly monotonous.

A B and E got the good songs.

C got the worst one though. So at least there's that.

I somehow landed the one that is most catered to my style, so I'm pretty happy.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Some trade requests that have been posted between here and discord for visual:

[Class D] Lights: Looking for Class A, Class B, Class C, Class E.
[Class C] M0nkeyz: Looking for Class A, Class B, Class E.
[Class C] Elite Ninja: Looking for Class A, Class B, Class E.

Discord:
[Class C] Wind0ze: Looking for Class A, Class B.
[Class E] WirryWoo: Looking for Class A.

Feel free to contact whomever you like and trade zip files, just make sure to post in this thread if/when a trade has been done so I can add it to the front page post.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

good luck to class e
may teh best vibrato charting win
c sucks to listen to but it'll make for a more rhythmically interesting chart than d

Re: StepCon 2023
 

hai can I joinnn

Re: StepCon 2023
 

No longer looking to trade Class E as I finished a first draft of my submission.

Will submit with minor fixes later today.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

This is true.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Yep! Check your Direct Messages. You are in Class A, best of luck. You are still able to trade your song/class until the end of October 7th.

Recommend checking rules in the first page of this thread for more information.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

oh god well I'll be trading A for C now ����

Re: StepCon 2023
 

traded A for C with Wind0ze :D

Re: StepCon 2023
 

lemme innnnnnnn lemme innnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!! (pls let me join)

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Check your Direct Messages. You are in Class E, best of luck. You are still able to trade your song/class until the end of October 7th, and the deadline is the end of October 14th.

Check the Front Page post of this thread for more information.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

uhum

Re: StepCon 2023
 

"I like it" has joined the StepCon as a late sign-up, and was assigned to Class B at random.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

:mrgreen:

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Nixelkton has joined the StepCon as a late sign-up, and was assigned to Class E at random.


As of this post, it is now October 8th. Meaning, late sign-ups and trading songs/classes are now closed!

There is still 1 week left to create, refine, and fix submissions to your liking for those participating. Best of luck to those still working on their projects!

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Just a subtle reminder that there are 2 days left, give or take, to get submissions in while you can for StepCon 2023. We've gotten quite a few submissions already, but a fair majority haven't submitted yet.

Deadline (the absolute last & final cutoff for submissions) is Tomorrow (Saturday), 11:59pm SERVER TIME. If you're in Eastern Standard Time (EST), that's 12:59am on Sunday.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

We're currently processing submitted files/songs and getting them ready for public voting. Thanks to all 35 people whom submitted! Should hopefully be ready sometime tonight before tomorrow morning if all goes well.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

During this time, all participants (including and especially people not participating in the event), can vote for songs submitted for Round 1 of StepCon 2023. No further submissions for the event will be accepted at this time. You can re-visit the Google Form link in the future to change your votes (until the end of the Public Voting period), and you can vote for multiple options across all Classes (Pick any & all that you like!).

You may fill out the form at https://forms.gle/2zfmt8CxoUCReoo17 to submit your votes.

Please be advised, participants CANNOT vote for their own Class. Votes for that class will not count for said participants.



Everyone will have until the end of Saturday, October 21st, 11:59PM SERVER TIME to complete voting and submit their forms at the above google link.

Furthermore, discussion is allowed in-thread during voting. But please do not deliberately attempt to sway votes/vote brigade particular submissions, and treat your fellow Stepauthors with respect. People of all skill levels participate within this event, and there is going to be good/bad matchups for people's skills and preferred genres. Keep it civil and respectful. There's also the #events channel in FFR's Official Discord for discussing the event as well!

Also, on a sidenote, please let me know if there's any issue with filling out the google form for voting. I copied some of it from last year, and appears to work on my end, but ya never know. Songs are tested & working.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Want to preface this by saying that this is my opinion, alot of these comments will have personal bias and aren't necessarily reflective of the quality of the chart itself, but moreso the attributes I value when looking at a chart.

Fat Lip 1: Color Theory felt a bit arbitrary at times and I think the dump sections were too dense for the song, I definitely think dump is a good approach to this song, but it could've been a bit more nuanced.
Fat Lip 2: I think this chart does a few things right, but suffers from alot of PR(pitch relevance) problems and there are alot of unnecessary anchors. There were empty sections where I would expect there to be notes as well.
Fat Lip 3: The patterns in this are quite fun to play, but I think a large portion of the chart has very little relevancy to the music. I also think that 16ths do not work too well when dumping vocals, to me the entire thing felt very ghost-y.
Fat Lip 4: Definitely an approach closer to how I would've done it. I think some of the white notes to the vocals were slightly offputting, we see this type of stuff all the time in accepted charts nowadays so it might just be me, but I find these white ''grace'' notes so hard to read sometimes. I really liked the triple jump motifs to the guitar, they capture the rhythm quite well. I think the short jacks are also quite fun and fit the song.
Fat Lip 5: Really solid entry, the whole chart felt right. Pretty much my only gripe with this one were those 2 spots where you had [23]/[14] anchors leading into a 16th pattern. Those felt a little too dense in my opinion. Other than that though, this one is almost entirely like how I would've approached it.
Fat Lip 6: I knew someone would do this haha, the color theory to the particular vocals does seem like a good idea, but I feel like the spots where the vocals coincided with the rest of the music the chart became a bit too hard to read. There were also a few technical errors that were noticeable from playing the file.

Overall thoughts on the charts and song: I think this is a really difficult song to chart. The rhythms aren't super dynamic and most of the interest comes from the lyrics and the vocals. I think dumping is a viable strategy for a song like this, but I'm personally quite particular when it comes to dumping, I'm not a huge fan of vocal dumps and making an accurate vocal dump is insanely difficult.

Clumsy Communication 1: The chart captured the essence of the song quite nicely, but I was missing a bit of flavor. It could've been nice to have some grace notes or some variety to spice the chart up. PR seemed a bit shoddy in places. The jacks felt a bit jarring, because the rest of the chart is so simple.
Clumsy Communication 2: Dumping doesn't feel right to me for this song. I feel there are enough interesting sounds/rhythms in this song for a regular (does probably need a cut) chart and alot of those aren't being captured because you have a large stream of notes going to the synth. I can tell a good charter made this, because some of the patterns are really fun and capture the music quite well, but the approach doesn't quite work for me personally.
Clumsy Communication 3: I really liked this entry, it was structured clearly and PR felt pretty accurate. I kinda wish you'd deviate a little from the ''jump-to-chord'' structure you have, because I felt certain dynamics in the song could've been captured a bit better (Mainly towards the middle of the song where the lead takes the forefront).
Clumsy Communication 4: The intro did not feel accurate at all to me, I played it several times on lower rates and it's pretty clear these notes are not synced correctly. This is the first song that stepped the grace notes, I really liked that about this chart, I think it's a bit too dense in parts and some parts felt a bit too ghost-y though. The vibrato of the synth is also really hard to capture without long notes, those little trill patterns felt a bit dumpy at times because it wasn't immediately clear to me what you were following.
Clumsy Communication 5: I like how you captured the swingy nature of the song with your chart, but the layering felt really inaccurate. I think this has to do with missing quite a few notes and missing jumps to the chords. Similarly to the previous entry stepping the vibrato of the synth didn't feel super accurate to me.
Clumsy Communication 6: Not sure how accurate some of the notes are, would have to open the chart up in an editor, it felt accurate for the most part. I'm not sure if you were missing jumps to the chords, but the layering definitely wasn't super straightforward, I also think PR could've been a bit better here. The ending cut was pretty bad. I do think out of all entries this one had the most interesting rhythms and patterns.
Clumsy Communication 7: The density in this chart felt a bit weird, there were parts where you put hands to the chords and others where you only put jumps, these felt a bit arbitrary and didn't seem related to the intensity of the sounds. Some parts were quite empty and others were quite full even though the song keeps the same energy throughout. PR could've been better, especially the ending felt really off because you used the same 1-2-3-4-4 pattern even though the pitch changed.
Clumsy Communication 8: This chart started off really strong, the graces felt super fun and the layering made sense, but again I'm really not a fan of how the vibrato is stepped. I also think the chart dragged a bit due to length, the yellow note section was kinda cool near the end, would have to see in the editor how accurate it is though.

Overall thoughts on the charts and song: I think this song is quite repetitive in alot of ways, it isn't really dynamic enough to warrant it being stepped from beginning to end and as such requires a cut in my opinion. Alot of the charts were either too basic and as a result a bit boring or they tried to capture elements in the song such as the vibrato that didn't really work or added minijacks that didn't make much sense. Some of the cuts were also pretty bad and it all stems from the song being uninteresting and hard to step.

AIN'T NOTHIN' LIKE A FUNKY BEAT 1: First and foremost, this is a good chart. However, I do think it suffers from repetitiveness(largely due to the nature of the song itself), I like the color theory spicing things up a bit.
AIN'T NOTHIN' LIKE A FUNKY BEAT 2: This chart is very dynamic, which is insanely impressive considering the reptitiveness of the song. I really like the 24th patterns to the vocals it adds alot of variety to this. My biggest gripe was that the 3-jump gluts felt a little too aggressive, the entire chart is based on how well you can execute those gluts and it doesn't even really go to a sound that stands out that much to me.
AIN'T NOTHIN' LIKE A FUNKY BEAT 3: This chart has a distinct lack of jacks, I think it's a shame considering how often the song has sounds that repeat. The layering also didn't feel super intuitive to me while playing.
AIN'T NOTHIN' LIKE A FUNKY BEAT 4: Not sure how to feel about this one, the structure is quite clear but the difficulty ramps up considerably to a point where the layering almost becomes comically dense. Meanwhile the little drum fills aren't really being stepped. Certain elements of this chart felt great and others were complete headscratchers to me, towards the end where you use 3 and 4-note jacks it was hard for me follow how exactly the chart related to the music.
AIN'T NOTHIN' LIKE A FUNKY BEAT 5: I really like the majority of this entry, the jumpstream felt nice and the way you layered it went well with the music, there was a point tho near the end where the intensity of the music dropped, but the chart kept the same JS structure. I would've personally thinned the layering down a bit there.
AIN'T NOTHIN' LIKE A FUNKY BEAT 6: Really solid entry, this felt alot shorter and alot more dynamic than some of the others. The differently colored notes were a nice touch and the layering was understandable and tasteful, I didn't notice the cut either.
AIN'T NOTHIN' LIKE A FUNKY BEAT 7: This chart really shows how a good use of jumps can make or break a chart, I think the way this chart was structured was head and shoulders above the rest. It wasn't quite as dynamic as some of the others in terms of pattern variety, but because of the changes in jump use it captured my attention the whole time. Using colored notes for the drum fills was also a nice touch. I would've liked to see a few minijacks though.

Overall thoughts on the charts and song: The rhythms are quite interesting in this, but I think the biggest challenge when stepping this is how to overcome the repetitiveness of the song itself. A few charts have done this quite effectively with well placed cuts and the use of color theory or simply clever patterning while others couldn't really keep my attention.

Progressive Temporal Corruption

I couldn't really play any of these submissions so I'm probably not voting on this, but the song itself is quite cool. It's a shame there wasn't an easier chart submitted because I do think this song lends itself well for an fmo/fgo file.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

it says "error loading legacy engine" when i try loading the xml thingy
hellp

Re: StepCon 2023
 

When you visit the webpage for https://www.flashflashrevolution.com...tepcon2023.xml what do you see? Do you time out, or see some code?

Try putting it in again following the steps in my post above. It could be that FFR was down at the time. Try other alt engines and see if you can connect to those. Full list at https://www.flashflashrevolution.com/~velocity/~alt/

I do not think the internet cache would be at-fault here but could try clearing it if it still doesn't work.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

ye i see a couple lines of code in the link
tried loading it again but still doesnt work
ffrmania, ffr widgets, and team blaze engine load fine, but dragons fury and velocity stepped things give the same legacy error thingy
tried clearing cache but dont think it worked
might just wait for vid compilation of the charts idk,,,

Re: StepCon 2023
 

All engines are loading the xml correctly so it's not a version issue.

The issue is either with some setting specifically within your game that's preventing it and would normally not be changeable, or something specifically internet-wise which we can't fix on our end.

Only other suggestion I have is reinstalling the newest version of the game from scratch and see if that helps. I'll see if I can't get the video content ready sometime today. Hopecaster did it last year.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Class A

1
Too hard for me to play/judge fairly

2
Too hard for me to play/judge fairly

3
Undeniably a pretty chart, lots of cool bursts and colors. But if you're using all these fancy bursts to represent the swishy sounds in the background, it makes it harder to follow the more important sounds.

4
I like the quirky patterns in the first have that effectively capture the glitchy nature of the song. I found that the increasing density in the second half takes away from this feel .

5
Really solid, not much to pick apart here but I like it.

6
The way some of the sounds were represented was interesting and creative, but is this supposed to be a smooth/chill kind of chart or a more aggressive one? Some of the bursts and minijacks felt jarring when surrounded by streamy patterns.

7
This one did the best job of capturing the rhythms and intensity curve of the music by focusing on the more prominent sounds. As a bonus, it's playable for more of us.

Class C

1
I'm not sure if gluts/chordjacks are the most fitting pattern to use in the outer sections, but the middle part with the bursts is really fun.

2
A well-constructed vocal dump, not so much in line with the FFR meta but it plays nicely.

3
Very aggressive tech dump. I'm not a fan of this charting style but hey, there's definitely an audience for it.

4
Very good and polished chart, not much to say here other than good job.

5
Very much an abstract/dump approach but I have to say a lot of the patterns are pretty cool.

6
The standout in this class IMO, really good attention to detail with how sounds are represented and a lot of interesting patterns.

7
A jack file is not what I'd expect from this song, but what can I say, I had fun playing it.

Class D

1
I think I know who made this :D so yeah, probably not what FFR is looking for but it works just fine as a dump file. The colored jacks were a nice touch.

2
A blast from the past... all that jumpchain stuff is actually pretty fun despite not fitting the current FFR meta, though it does suffer from some technical errors (lack of PR, missing notes and so on)

3
That's... that's some patterning alright. Not sure what to say about this one but you get points for uniqueness!

4
This is pretty much how I'd expect most people to chart the song. That could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it... maybe it's better to do something that stands out more? Either way, very solid entry.

5
Very polished and great sense of structure, jacks are used to build up tension in the more climactic parts.

6
Pretty colors... perfectly fine easier approach, nothing wrong with how the chart plays but I do feel the colors can get a little distracting/overbearing in some places.

Class E

1
A straightforward approach like this is fine, although there's not much to make it stand out. But I did notice some inconsistencies in the layering, mainly with whether or not jumps are used to represent the stronger drum beats.

2
Tasteful dump approach, plays quite nicely. Some of the rolls get a little monotonous and maybe could use more variation but otherwise I like it.

3
Very polished, effectively represents the song's rhythmic quirks.

4
Most of the chart plays well, but I found the streamy patterning in the middle section to detract from the swingy nature of the song. Some layering issues as well.

5
I was confused by some of the patterning choices - there are some good ideas, but many of the rhythmic fills and prominent beats are missing or represented in a way that isn't clear.

6
Most of this plays nicely and captures the feel of the song very well, but the ending confused me a bit - what do the green notes go to? why the abrupt cut?

7
I would suggest re-thinking the overall structure and difficulty curve of the chart. Some parts felt underlayered and did not emphasize the stronger beats, in a way that didn't feel consistent with the intensity of the music.

8
Interesting pattern choices, I can tell a lot of thought went into this, but I did find that some of the one-handed patterning and minijacks into hands felt unnecessarily spiky.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

tl;dr: I said a whole lot, arguably too much lol

Progressive Temporal Corruption:


AIN'T NOTHIN' LIKE A FUNKY BEAT:


GETCHA!:


Fat Lip:


Clumsy Communication:

Re: StepCon 2023
 

YouTube Video Previews are out:
Timestamps for each submission are in the video description.

Class A - Progressive Temporal Corruption


Class B - AIN'T NOTHIN' LIKE A FUNKY BEAT


Class C - GETCHA! (Cover)


Class D - Fat Lip


Class E - Clumsy Communication

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Funky Beat


GETCHA!


Fat Lip


Clumsy Communication


Still deciding on whether I want to weigh in on any of my fellow class A submissions (if so will post those after the voting period).

Re: StepCon 2023
 

I know there was a Front Page Post notice about this, but posting in here too for posterity; Today is the last day available for voting!

If you haven't voted yet, please consider doing so! Every single vote matters and can potentially decide who gets their song in-game, and who advances to Final StepOff!

Re: StepCon 2023
 

I deleted my overall review on a whim so here's a per-entry review instead.

B: AIN'T NOTHIN' LIKE A FUNKY BEAT

Fun song. I expected some bouncy, jacky approaches, and a challenge would be how to effectively cut the song or keep the chart intersting against its repetitive nature. All submissions were quite enjoyable.



C: GETCHA! (Cover)

Surprised at the amount of hate this song received. Well yeah that might not mean much coming from a vtuber pfp, but I think there can be a good amount of attention to detail that would make a chart fresh throughout, even without dumping.



D: Fat Lip

Now this one is a really difficult one to make an interesting chart out of. (Ironically, this group ended up to be the only group where I gave more than 2 votes...)



E: Clumsy Communication

A mix of B and C, this song has many viable instruments to pick for charting, but it also requires dealing against repetitiveness.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

A huge congratulations to everyone that participated, played and voted for their favorites! It was quite a riveting battle over the week from every Class for the coveted 1st Place to participate in the Final StepOff! So much so, that we saw last-minute tiebreakers be resolved in the last couple hours of voting! I will be getting prizes (credits, badges and the such) out shortly while juggling the rest of the swap-over period as we transition into the Final StepOff.

Participants and voters are now open & free to talk about which file is theirs in-order on the StepCon 2023 engine (if they prefer), and talk about which specific songs they voted for (again, if they prefer).

Re: StepCon 2023
 

During this time, all participants will have received a Direct Message from me containing the Final StepOff song, and their Pre-built .sm File to begin Charting.

All participants will have until the end of Saturday, November 4th 11:59PM SERVER TIME to complete their submissions and submit it to the StepCon 2023 Batch located here.

There will be no trading of songs during Final StepOff, as everyone has the same song.

Class Exam: Schwank vs. Tanger - deathwish

jh05013
basicdrummerman
Elite Ninja
storn42
WirryWoo

Schwank and Tanger come together to form a fusion of genres suited only for the rhythm game scene. How will finalists balance the highs and lows of this high-energy, extremely viable piece behind 2 of the bigger-known Beat Saber musicians? Only time will tell in this year's Final StepOff!
3 participants will be walking away with an extra-special StepOff profile badge (plus a hefty bonus of credits), and the winner will also have this song released to FFR.

Best of luck to the Finalists! To other participants, I will be sending out 2nd & 3rd place prizes, and participation prizes in a bit. The Second Judging Period will begin on November 5th.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

we did it boys

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Well played everyone and congrats to all the winners! The competition was extremely tight @_@

I... I didn't think I was making it this far to be honest and almost wanted to give up early on in the competition but I decided in the end to try my best. Thanks to everyone who voted for me <3 ;-;

Re: StepCon 2023
 

i've been defeated by a chair and a storn!

you both made great files, good luck in the finals storn!

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Wow! I'll take Taunfolk, Crawling From Hell, and Kokeshi Cat Medley for the event tokens. Thanks!

I went with my comfortable range of near-90, because the chart would be quite complex already and I wasn't confident with stepping it any harder without hindering the readability. I didn't expect mine to be the only entry in that range, lol. Not fully satisfied with my chart so I'll be tweaking it throughout the week, but I'm glad that it was received well.

IMO entry 6 nailed everything that I found lacking in my chart's second half, so big kudos to the stepauthor.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

got 5 votes, not bad

would've voted ptc1 if i wasn't in class A, very based maximal get-fucked interpretation of the song :mrgreen:

ptc 4 kinda funney since it was pretty similar to my sub in certain spots

not surprised ptc7 is by jh93284023980323827392384092384 since it's a more reserved take, would've been my vote if not for my raging hardon for ptc1

sorry was too lazy to watch the other classes so i didnt vote for shit anyway glhf to the weiners in the final stepoff!

Re: StepCon 2023
 

I'll take Strangeprogram v0, Secret Area (Between My Legs), and The Worst Goku Rap for my token picks please and thank you! All tokens + skill tokens achieved with that yay \o/

Good luck to everyone in finals o7 (I'll certainly need it against you guys as this is way out of my comfort zone x_x)

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Thanks for the positive reviews and the votes! :) I agree with all of the constructive criticisms received and will be editing my file prior to submitting it to FFR. I would like:

Crawling From Hell
Taunfolk
Secret Area (Between My Legs)

I took a listen at the Final Stepoff song and it's a fucking bop haha. Looking forward to this round even though I'm sure jh will take this as this song is in his alleyway imo.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Congrats to all!

I took a bit of a risk in my submission, favoring a very "old-school" approach and choosing not to include any jacks which made the chart feel light (probably a bit too light?).

Still, I am glad I gave this a shot amidst a very very busy schedule on my end.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Your submission was actually very formidable. I can say while watching votes come in throughout the week, you were in 2nd at one point in the votes.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

For my tokens i'll take:
Taunfolk
Secret Area (Between My Legs)
Recursive Call

This song is going to be a super challenging one for me to chart. I hope i'll be able to make something good.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Thanks so much to anyone who voted for me, super happy with getting 3rd- especially considering that a lot of people don't like dumps at all, glad there were some people who enjoyed my chart.

For anyone curious I'll write my ordering and ratings for each group below, with the ones I voted for (or would have voted for) in bold:
[A] - 6 & 7, 4, 5, 3, 2, 1
[A/10] - forgot to write down my ratings oops

[B] - 2, 6, 4, 1, 7, 5, 3
[B/10] - 9.5, 9.4, 9.1, 8.5, 8.4, 8, 7

{C} - 6, 3 (-aka me) & 5, 1 & 2, 4, 7
{C/10} - 8.9, 8.75 & 8.7, 8.6 & 8.6, 8.5, 8.4

[D] - 1, 4 & 5, 6, 3, 2
[D/10] - 9.2, 9.05 & 9, 8.9, 7.8, 3

[E] - 8, 3, 4, 2 & 5, 1 & 6, 7
[E/10] - 9.3, 8.8, 8.4, 8.1 & 8.1, 8 & 8, 7.7

Overall the competition for this was extremely intense, a huge congratulations to the winners of each class.


And for group C specifically, here are some more detailed thoughts on each chart (including my own, with me attempting to look at it in an unbiassed way)

{C6} - A little rough on the first drop (the one after the first buildup), with the layering not quite so good, but the main drop absolutely carried this chart with an extremely fun and accurate vocal dump. If I were to rate that section alone it would get something like a 9.7, there are a couple minor inconsistencies in which sounds are determined to be 'dumpable', and probably a couple other nit-picks, but other than that I felt it was an almost perfect representation of that section of the song.

{C3} - A quite creative dump chart that for the most part flows very well, but there were some areas (especially in the intro and first drop) where the start and end points (or speed) of the dumps corresponding to the vocals didn't quite line up, and left you feeling a bit awkward. This happens at a fair few points throughout the chart.
At the start of the first main drop the initial feeling was a bit lacking, but it was quickly connected into some more interesting dump patterns and rhythms. Maybe should have just replaced the first burst of that drop with something more interesting.
Overall it needs a bit more polish, and is a bit lacking in style consistency at times, but is a solid attempt at a dump chart.

{C5} - A extremely solid pick overall, probably the best constructed chart in terms of consistency and layering choices. There were a few points where I disagree with the layering choices, but ultimately they didn't affect the enjoyability too much. The main reason this isn't rated higher is because the chart itself is quite boring due to the fact that it doesn't express changes in vocals in any way- e.g. a vocal slide/pitch bend, vibrato, or just single held pitch- were all charted the exact same way, which lost a ton of the interesting parts of the song

{C1} - A solid pick that incorporated mainly the instrumentals, with vocals layered as jumps on top where relevant. Overall this pick was very similar to C5, the main differences being that the main drop was far more jacky.
The choices I disagreed with here were more egregious in my opinion though, like some of the jacks slightly overextended their welcome with anchors, or switching between gluts and jumptrills in the snare buildup sections, and there wasn't much creative flair, so it ended up being rated slightly lower than C5.

{C2} - Very fun usage of dumps and minijacks in the main drop section. The problem with this chart is some of the choices in everything before the main drop.
For the intro/buildup, it felt like the charter was deathly afraid of minijacks, and wanted to make the chart as easy as possible, then in the first drop you get jumpscared with two vocal dump minitrills with minijacks at the end of them- two instances of a vocal dump in that entire section- it feels so weird to play only because oh how sparsely the vocal dump aspect was used, it would have been much better to fully commit either way.
Then in the buildup to the main drop, we are greeted with not the most accurate vocal dump, with patterns that are not friendly to play- then we switch to instrumental charting- then back to vocal dump. Again, it would have been better to fully commit to one way, switching back and forth makes the layering very confusing for the player.
The saving grace of this chart is the insanely fun main drop section (which is how I think C7 should have charted it).

{C4} - Started off very strong, similar to C5 but with a slightly more creative patterning choice for the instrumentals. Unfortunately the chart lost its flow a little bit with the dicksynced vocals after the first drop, which I felt were not timed correctly. Then later on in the main drop, it suffered the same problems as mentioned above in C5.
Hard to describe, but overall I just felt the chart became less consistent/polished over time.

{C7} - The minijacks in the main drop worked extremely well, along with the combination of small dumpy bursts- it felt great to play- but the anchors/longjacks almost always just felt unjustified and unnecessary to me. I would've given a much higher score if they had been toned down.
The layering/patterning of the intro/buildup also felt oversimplified for no good reason.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Song is dope. Looking forward to see what remaining contestants come up with!

Re: StepCon 2023
 

I'm a little disappointed with how I did, but eh. I did better than I expected by a long shot.

A few things I wanna toss out there,

1. My file would make a lot more sense if you could skim it with the waveform, the 96ths aren't for "style" or to make it cool, that's actually how they are. It would be really cool if there was a way to overlay the preview with the wave form for the next iteration of this if there is one.

2. The intro, monkeys, wasn't meant to be synced completely. It's a basic structure with dump layered into it. Literally the rest of the file should have put that in perspective for you. It's a foreshadowing to the hold note "dumping" so the player isn't thrown off by it later. I could agree that maybe I missed the mark in execution, which is kind of obvious, but still. I don't know why you'd phrase it that way. Sorry if this comes off as harsh, but you're a judge, so I actually expect someone like you to have caught that.

3. jacob, I like your comments, but I will toss out that I don't layer traditionally, so while I accept the critique of course, you aren't wrong, it's also an indication that the execution was too sloppy, thank you.

Comments aside, I got something stylistically out of it, so thank you all regardless.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

not bad, and the first time I participate in the stepcon : )

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Just providing a short little bump for those whom are participating still in the Final StepOff (as well as those waiting for the next voting period,) that submissions for the Final StepOff and the StepCon 2023 batch will be closing in under 2 days from now.

The absolute final time to submit your version of the song and fixes will be 11:59pm SERVER TIME on Saturday, November 4th. At that time, public voting will open once again for everyone in the same fashion as the first round of voting.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

I'm both excited and nervous as heck

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Excited to see what everyone has come up with. The wait is killing me.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Submitted. Good luck to all of the finalists (I'm definitely going to need it) and have fun with the charts community. :)

Re: StepCon 2023
 

During this time, the public abroad, can vote for songs submitted for Final StepOff of StepCon 2023. No further submissions for the event will be accepted at this time. You can re-visit the Google Form link in the future to change your votes (until the end of the Public Voting period), and you can vote for multiple options across all Classes (Pick any & all that you like!).

You may fill out the form at https://forms.gle/ZdzdLEGd8YDdLbwR6 to submit your votes.

Please be advised, participants CANNOT vote for their own Class. Votes for Final StepOff will not count for participants. In the unique case that a finalist has not submitted for Final StepOff, they are allowed to participate in voting.



Everyone will have until the end of Saturday, November 11th, 11:59PM SERVER TIME to complete voting and submit their forms at the above google link.

Furthermore, discussion is allowed in-thread during voting. But please do not deliberately attempt to sway votes/vote brigade particular submissions, and treat your fellow Stepauthors with respect. People of all skill levels participate within this event, and there is going to be good/bad matchups for people's skills and preferred genres. Keep it civil and respectful. There's also the #events channel in FFR's Official Discord for discussing the event as well!

Re: StepCon 2023
 

1 was solid, though not as crazy with the minijacks/wubs like some of the other entries. 2 had some sussy three-16ths jacks (need to see in AV if justified). 3 had some nasty 32nd bursts. 4 had one nasty 32nd triplet burst and some of the ascents were stepped as descents, but I did like the different wubs having different colors. 5 was tamer than 1; not very crazy; easiest entry of the bunch.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

YouTube previews are up!

Re: StepCon 2023
 

Got some Very brief notes for the submissions. Went through each chart about 3 times at least to not be too biased by the order they're presented.

1:
This chart is pretty tame and has good execution throughout. Bit of an odd spike with the hands and polys at the end given how easy the drops (breakcore and dubstep) were, making the latter much less memorable. Could've had more originality, like patterning or color theory; as is nothing really stands out much.

2:
Cool approach with the higher difficulty. The patterning and difficulty curve are sound for most sections locally, but as a whole it's a bit hard to justify; there are bursty/minijack-y sections where the music isnt at its peak intensity yet those sections are the hardest to play. Also while the color trills are neat, the poly they create with the 8ths and 4ths are a bit jank. Pretty fun dubstep-y drop though that was one of the more enjoyable versions of that section.

3:
Pretty clean overall. There could have been more abstraction than 24ths and 16ths in the dubstep part to really make it pop, because it's probably the most underwhelming section of the chart. Handstream at the end is a bit of a difficulty bump too and the layering could be toned down just a bit (or would be fine if the dubstep part was harder), but at least it's relatively friendly patterning.

4:
This one hits a sweet spot in terms of difficulty management; the js/hs, breakcore and dubstep all have their own interesting approach without being underwhelming or too spiky. The color theory in the first half (white notes) is a bit hard to follow because it's not distinct enough of a sound with everything going on in that section. The handstream layering is also a bit weird in the second half because there are hands going to sounds much softer than others.

5:
Easiest approach, pretty friendly to play. A couple of sections lack pattern diversity and are mostly just rolls and/or split rolls. The handstream at the end is a bit too hard for the rest of the chart though.


Overall, I think all submissions are pretty strong and enjoyable to play. There isn't any specific chart that nails everything, nor is there a chart that messes up lots of sections. For the most part it was often a tradeoff between which section was charted "better" imo; some had better breakcore, some had better dubstep, and some had better js/hs. I can see this finale getting diverse votes for sure. I picked one in particular which I believe would be the most memorable and wouldn't require many structural fixes to get ingame. Congrats to everyone for submitting a chart, y'all did well. Good luck!

Re: StepCon 2023
 

This is going to be a very interesting round imo because my 2 cents is that everyone at least did one thing in their file that stood out extremely well amongst everyone else whom submitted. Like for example, 'number 4' has imo the best representation of the dubstep section, 'number 1' has the best representation of the breakcore section, and 'number 5' has the best intro sections. Just to list a few examples. I also liked the white-note color theory jumps in the intro from one submission but I forget if it's one of the ones that I listed.

The absolute perfect file to me would be a melting pot of all 5 and their best qualities.

Re: StepCon 2023
 

So funny because I was actually thinking about this the other day. If community and winners agree, can the file be released as a “collab” between “first place ties”? A lot of the submitted charts have their own respective qualities and it would be a shame to miss out on some of them haha.