Questions for stepartists

[Wayward Vagabond]

who has influenced your stepping style and why?

if you just started stepping who do you look up to?

for the vet stepartists

would you say you have your own style?

how much has your stepping/style evolved since you started?

[blindreper1179]

1. No one has influenced how I step.
2. I love the popular simfile artists. They all have something to offer.

[Herogashix]

NVLM (or whatever the guy's name is) is one of my favorite stepartists, and I like his style. Although kinda dumpy, his files are great. He's probably one of my biggest influences as a stepartist (even though- I'll admit- I'm not all that great.)

[Xx{Midnight}xX]

Who has influenced your stepping style and why?

TC_Halogen, Rebirth0, Behanjc, Dore, Xandertrax.

Halogen: Has the best blend of fun and technicality in my honest opinion. I very much wish my charts to play a lot like his, though lately I'd argue he deviated from this, his charting style in the past has directly influenced one of my more notable charts.

Rebirth: Influenced mostly how I approach easier charts. They're more about being fun rather than being technically correct, though my recent chart Shade doesn't hit this category nearly as much as December 9th, and two of the charts I have in batch currently, Malevolent Mansion [Standard], and Nekomimi Switch.

Behanjc, Dore, Xandertrax: If I go out of my way to make something hard pattern wise, I strive to hit more of a blend of the three, to where it's hard as living hell and is memorable because of it. I more often try to avoid their styles as from a player point of view, I ****ing hate these three people in particular because their charts are very memorable to me, but for the wrong reasons.

Would you say you have your own style?
Only recently with Shade would I say a style from me has emerged. I like to make charts where you don't need to emphasize your notes in what you're playing because the chart forces you to do so. I very much tackle a lot of charts with learning emphasis of specific notes to force less mistakes. Shade is a chart where all the emphasis is very unconscious in your hitting, but very conscious in the chart with the graces being at specific points.

How much has your stepping/style evolved since you started?

I used to step very much the style of charts I hated most, where you had these anchors and dick-ish patterns everywhere. I've very much gained control of what I am doing and I feel comfortable finally saying I have more than a basic grasp of charting. I'd say I'm starting to blend how I'd approach it as a player and how I'd approach it as a step artist. I want my charts to very much be memorable for being accurate to the music, not so much because it's destroying you.

Granted all that said, I'm still an utter nooblet in comparison to the great ones.

[~Zero~]

who has influenced your stepping style and why?
Tsuka, his files were the shit back in the day, for me atleast

would you say you have your own style?
idk, maybe, a little old school, a little new school

how much has your stepping/style evolved since you started?
A lot, i am not totally garbage anymore

[Niala]

bmah and wc were probably my biggest influences. wc showed me how to optimize colour theory which I now love doing, bmah gave me a lot of useful tips and info on how to get better patterns and stuff like that.

Who I'd look up to? Probably bmah wc and kommi. Make fun files with technical quality to them which is what I aspire to do with mine.

I think I have my own style now, lots of quirky colour theory, minijacks, anything that I can take advantage of something fun in the music to make enjoyable and memorable in the steps.

Quite a bit. When I started stepping keyboard files it was quite a bit of generic JS, and, quite honestly, a lot of poor decisions because I thought it was funny more than a realistic choice (see Saffron Beach Driving.) Granted, while I have my own niche, I'm not a great stepper like the majority of the judges, I'm just good at making fun, quality, but relatively simple files instead of some of the more complex stuff done by the more veteran step-artists.

[xVaLoRx]

1. I don't really know if anyone has influenced me to be honest. I just step things the way I want to.

2. Kommisar, Moches, and Torrent

[AlexDest]

who has influenced your stepping style and why?
NPV was a little bit of an influence for me because he taught me the basics of stepping around mid-2008. When I started noticing moches' simfiles in Xoon 3 I became attached to his stepping style, he taught me quite a bit of theories and some of his own style to me when I sent a few files to him to playtest.

would you say you have your own style?
I can say I have my own stepping style. Mine is minimal and to the point, I can step somewhat freely but still hold onto a technical attribute with a song.

how much has your stepping/style evolved since you started?
I sent every file I stepped to a few people to playtest for me back when, I'm doing that much less now and letting out single releases. Became more confident in other words.

[TC_Halogen]

I attribute two stepartists for my stepping influence: bmah and wc. wc knows how to pull a lot of fun factor on his files, and bmah has an amazing technical accuracy. I like to think that my files are somewhat in the middle of these guys in terms of fun-factor/technique.

As far as my style - I've definitely evolved from old school to new school; I started stepping back in early 2005 and gained enough confidence to at least try and submit in the simfile database (man, I'd do anything to have it back right on FFR...). From 2009 and on, both wc and bmah helped me along little by little.

I'm still a bit timid and don't like releasing files, though.

[leonid]

who has influenced your stepping style and why?
bmah and Roar

would you say you have your own style?
yeah

how much has your stepping/style evolved since you started?
I don't think my stepping has changed much but everyone else says otherwise

[Wayward Vagabond]

might as well answer my own questions heh

who has influenced your stepping style and why?
well i first started stepping when i had my internet connection cut off and the only files i had to play were plaguemix files which i cant say i enjoyed very much back then. so i did what anyone else that was bored enough to do with stepmania and some music i started stepping. i had no idea about anything so all my first couple files were stepped at 60bpm with ctrl R rofl. it wasnt until i got my internet back that i downloaded some sm packs and opened up files in the editor to learn the basic. that with google searches is how i started stepping. i never really talked to any stepartist or try to imitate anyones stepping style i sorta grew from nothing really lol.

would you say you have your own style?
considering what i mentioned in the previous question i would say that i do indeed have my own stepping style. i like to think that my files now have a technical foundation on which i build upon based on how the song feels for me and how i feel i can best represent those feelings in stepfile form.

how much has your stepping/style evolved since you started?
my stepping hase greatly evolved and i feel it continues to evolve as my thoughts on stepping change and as i try new things.

[Gundam-Dude]

Who has influenced your stepping style and why?
Kommisar, Puppet and moches.
I loved the technical structure of Kommi files—they were simple, yet very effective and fun. I loved Puppet's choice of thinking to go outside the norm and experiment with all kinds of layering techniques whilst completely ignoring technicality at times (similarly to kil). moches is my twin brother and we basically set the standard for modern day colour theory usage in addition to growing up together as striving simfile authors. In a way, moches and I both fed each other but ventured into different pathways which would be called our styles.

Would you say you have your own style?
Very much so. Although my style is basically a bastardized child between all three of the people above, I still have my own unique way of layering that is completely different from everybody else. Many people have mimicked my style today (RE: Kommisar, Niko, Detrimentalist, and others) but none of them can even come close to matching the way I think and perceive songs—I will always do it differently. I also did establish and refine the "IOSYS vocal theory" standard that Puppet played around with in the past but never quite got it just right.

How much has your stepping/style evolved since you started?
Exponentially. I'm constantly changing the way I step—I'm one of those people that gets tired of recycling the same technique over and over again. I'm also a brave soul that isn't afraid to experiment with completely out of the norm and unconventional techniques. Being a creative thinker as a designer, I usually think way outside the box, which I also do apply to SM to some degree—I'm not bound by conventions or technicalities and will often completely break apart from them as a creative solution.

[00Razor00]

I'd have to say Spitifre and Rebound really taught me the ropes on what's what when it came to charting.

Having your own style is good, and I totally think I have that.

After being a complete scrub at charting stuff, I've definitely evolved and explored nearly all kinds of techniques to chart stuff.

[Wayward Vagabond]

glad this thread is getting some responses. ive always been curious about this

[kommisar]

The entire reason for my simfile style is Tsuka. He taught me how to make files before the Dark Chancellors and gave me the simfile making bible which was only passed on to people worthy of knowing how to make good files.


I'd say I do have my own style, but it reflects Tsuka's old-school simple structure.

I've experimented with a few other styles (as GD mentionned) but my files always end up having my stamp all over them. Since 2008, my files have gotten better structure wise but more or less always followed the same principle, back then we called it Kil's Bedtime Story theory.

I can't say I revolutionized StepMania by adding new techniques or doing radically different things, but I'm the only person to implement rolls instead of gay 32nd walls in keyboard charts.

[iironiic]

Who has influenced your stepping style and why? As a stepartist, ~Zero~ definitely initiated my desire to step files. Currently, I don't think anyone has contributed to my stepping style (which is probably why I suck at it xd). I have always seen stepping as a way to interpret music, which is something I enjoy doing. I don't think much of my interpretation has changed.

Would you say you have your own style? Generally speaking, yes. However, my style isn't highly noticeable since I either did not step enough files, or that no one particularly enjoys or complains much about my files as a whole.

How much has your stepping/style evolved since you started? I remember going through the "extremely technical" phase at one point during my stepping journey. Ever since that, I have been trying to make files more fun which is something I haven't gotten a handle of completely.

[Charlo]

Who has influenced your stepping style and why?
Skorpion9x was my biggest influence, as Emerald Sword is the end-all be-all of metal simfiles. SulferDragon also had an effect on the way I step.

Would you say you have your own style?
Yes. "Old-School", with no hands and plenty of sixteenth-note runs.

How much has your stepping/style evolved since you started?
Not very much actually. I do more layering and pitch-relevancy, and I am more technically accurate when stepping guitar solos, but otherwise I've stuck with the same formula for my entire "career".

[ScylaX]

Oh that thread is going to be fun reading the aspiration of everybody.
Who has influenced your stepping style and why?
Zaghurim. Blurk. Kil. Kommisar. Gundam-Dude (lately) Patashu. t0rajirou. Nietzsche and Heidegger.
WHY ?
BECAUSE. LOL.

Zagh was THE stepman back in my young days. Blurk too but that was for technical reasons, I found Blurk's files to be technically impressive for the time.
Kommisar because his files are the archetype of what a simfile is meant to be : fun, technically good, theorically genius, perfect execution of ideas, no major awkwardness. Gundam-Dude because he cumulates innovation and good ideas with a nice technical execution.
Patashu because his files are fun and stable and I like very much because his theory has kept being consistent. Just like the iPhone needed minimal improvements since its first version. Yeah.
t0ra because I like how his files are somehow super OUT-OF-THE-LIMIT and a huge variety of ideas.

And Kil.
Because **** you.
Don't bother that guy with theories or technical bullshit. He doesn't need that and I mean it. Kil's files are mystical, they're beyond any sort of rationnal interpretation. It's like the steps are just meant to flow with the music, it's a certain execution ; a certain absolute point of view.

Would you say you have your own style?
How can you seriously answer that. I guess the view I have isn't the one from the people who I acknowledge to have influenced me so I guess RIGHT.

When I step I'm looking for a sufficient technical consistency and exactitude while keeping in mind the idea of steeping the music and not the note (this is a great influence of kommisarism there !!!), I want to make people FEEEL DA NOTE DAMNIT. Being on a rationnal base and innovating from this!!!

How much has your stepping/style evolved since you started?
MY first files sucked because I only played bad pad files. The keyboard collaboration submitters's styles were so ****ing archaic and irregular I couldn't properly know how to step a file actually, I needed a solid rationnal basis that lacked at the time of these packs.
My first files weren't quite good, nor fun, I wasn't even conscious that a song had four beats in a measure.

God I had an enormous blind spot about what actually made a file worthy.

I think it's more a matter of how clear stepping became to me. If you play that pack zebdal and I made it's a pretty good example of my second "era", my file in FFRCP2 too. Then I went to Xoon and improved continually. I kept a very "hard" stepping since I wanted to be the MOST accurate possible in my layering.

Then progressively, say, since last year, I became to evolve a bit, thinking about the romantic impact of a song, of how you could view it and emulate your style from that. And I evolved since that foundation since then.

[megamon88]

who has influenced your stepping style and why?
I don't really have anyone specific who influenced my stepping style. Starting out, I really didn't know what I was doing. I tried out different things to see what was fun, but I didn't really have much technical knowledge. I stepped things the way I heard them, which seems to be a bit different than other people. I guess I was somewhat influenced by FFR's files, but I can't really name a person.

would you say you have your own style?
I guess I have a style, but I don't really think it would be recognized by people if a file of mine got released and they didn't know it was me stepping it. I notice that I tend to use more jumps than other people though.

how much has your stepping/style evolved since you started?
I've definitely improved over the past few years. I started out not getting anything into FFR, and now I have over 20 files in-game. My style has changed a decent amount too, though I don't know if anyone else would have noticed.

[FFR4EVA_00]

who has influenced your stepping style and why?
my stepping style is influenced by whoever made those black anothers in dj troopers and skrillex

would you say you have your own style?
sure as heeeeelll do

how much has your stepping/style evolved since you started?
i started off bad
i am still bad
nothing much has changed
jk i ****ing rock