Flash Flash Revolution - View Single Post - on the current SM difficulty system (also relevant to FFRCP4)

moches · 01-13-2013, 08:42 AM

so I'm going through the 90+ files in FFR Community Pack 4 so far and I'm thinking of ways to set the difficulty...at first, I noticed that a lot of the files were rated according to (roughly) NPS, yet a LOT of them are much harder/easier than that number suggests.

for instance:
Abandon by Valor. 1266 notes in around 3 minutes should be, in theory, a low 7 (the actual file is rated a 9). yet the file's chockful of incredibly unforgiving dodgeball sections, 32nd/24th bursts, and some really rough jumpjacks. I sightread it and got an A, to my surprise.

compare and contrast to

Guitar Hero by, once again, Valor. ~1850 notes (with a few tweaks by me) in roughly 3.5 minutes, right in 9 territory (again, the actual file is rated a 9, right where its NPS is). the actual file is super easy, though. it should be a sightread AAA for most proficient players barring like two mines.

obviously there has to be a system in place so that we can fudge numbers up/down where they belong, but how would one standardize the system?

I was thinking of the way FFR handles its difficulty ratings and got a rough sketch of how we might do things. divide things into around 6 tiers of difficulty as such:

NPS +/- up to 5 difficulty points on this scale depending on external factors

1-3: beginner files. 4ths/8ths galore, consecutive 16ths are incredibly rare or nonexistent. patterns made to be as friendly as possible
4-6: lower-tier intermediate files. more complex rhythms or patterns might appear, but these should still be manageable.
7-9: edging into advanced territory with nothing really off-limits. you might see, say, 150BPM 16th jumpstream with some liberal use of jack theory and a few mines in this range. struggling on how to separate these files from files in the 10-12 range, though. anybody got any ideas?
10-12: either difficult/draining files or files designed to trip people up. AAAs should not come easily, even to advanced players.
13-14: unrelenting, intense files. AAs should not come easily by this point.
15+: forget scoring on these files since you'll be lucky to even pass them.

if anybody has ideas, I'm all ears.

01-13-2013, 08:42 AM	#1
moches FFR Player Join Date: Aug 2005 Age: 28 Posts: 3,996	on the current SM difficulty system (also relevant to FFRCP4) so I'm going through the 90+ files in FFR Community Pack 4 so far and I'm thinking of ways to set the difficulty...at first, I noticed that a lot of the files were rated according to (roughly) NPS, yet a LOT of them are much harder/easier than that number suggests. for instance: Abandon by Valor. 1266 notes in around 3 minutes should be, in theory, a low 7 (the actual file is rated a 9). yet the file's chockful of incredibly unforgiving dodgeball sections, 32nd/24th bursts, and some really rough jumpjacks. I sightread it and got an A, to my surprise. compare and contrast to Guitar Hero by, once again, Valor. ~1850 notes (with a few tweaks by me) in roughly 3.5 minutes, right in 9 territory (again, the actual file is rated a 9, right where its NPS is). the actual file is super easy, though. it should be a sightread AAA for most proficient players barring like two mines. obviously there has to be a system in place so that we can fudge numbers up/down where they belong, but how would one standardize the system? I was thinking of the way FFR handles its difficulty ratings and got a rough sketch of how we might do things. divide things into around 6 tiers of difficulty as such: NPS +/- up to 5 difficulty points on this scale depending on external factors 1-3: beginner files. 4ths/8ths galore, consecutive 16ths are incredibly rare or nonexistent. patterns made to be as friendly as possible 4-6: lower-tier intermediate files. more complex rhythms or patterns might appear, but these should still be manageable. 7-9: edging into advanced territory with nothing really off-limits. you might see, say, 150BPM 16th jumpstream with some liberal use of jack theory and a few mines in this range. struggling on how to separate these files from files in the 10-12 range, though. anybody got any ideas? 10-12: either difficult/draining files or files designed to trip people up. AAAs should not come easily, even to advanced players. 13-14: unrelenting, intense files. AAs should not come easily by this point. 15+: forget scoring on these files since you'll be lucky to even pass them. if anybody has ideas, I'm all ears.