File review's

[dragonmegaXX]

I really am not sure how where to post this.... So move it or delete it if it's in the wrong place/ breaking some rule somehow.

Anyways, I've wanted to step songs for like, forever. So I finally learned to the basics of DDream, and started trying a few things.
I've just got 3 files that Ive made in the past month that I'd like anyone willing to look at to give me some tips or tell me some things I did well.

I know Im not great yet so dont tell me I suck because I wont really care.

In each file is the mp3, .sm, and .ds

Rainbow Tylenol- http://www.mediafire.com/?133bkqk61yl8mh2 (9 on the FFR scale)

Destination of the Heart- http://www.mediafire.com/?2vw3chazm32w2qb (high 10-low 11~)

Stamp on the Ground- http://www.mediafire.com/?2grvivz3ivd31be (High 8-low 9~)

Again, I would love any and all comments so please do a developing stepartist a favor <3

[who_cares973]

rainbow tylenol is fun
destination of the heart is fun(even more fun on rates!!)
stamp the ground is a bit lengthy because of how it repeats but also fun

all these files are MA files

[dragonmegaXX]

Also note I want to submit rainbow and destination to the next batch potentially o.o I want a file in game :3

[who_cares973]

if you want to submit those file then take down these links

[PrawnSkunk]

another Rainbow Tylenol *shudders*

there's already two of those in this batch o.o;

[dragonmegaXX]

Originally Posted by who_cares973

if you want to submit those file then take down these links

Ok never knew that lol

Just play the one that's left then.

Ill make some more stuff soon. This is fun.

[ninjaKIWI]

Originally Posted by who_cares973

if you want to submit those file then take down these links

Nobody really cares anymore. I brought up this in another thread exactly like this one, and bmah said it didn't matter IIRC.

[who_cares973]

if thats the case im submitting all my sm releases that i have permission for on ffr weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[bmah]

Just to clarify, it's fine to have people review your files in public on a casual basis and is encouraged. Said files don't guarantee they'll be in the game anyways.

It's the availability of your files -after- they're in the game that it becomes a concern. Main reason is that you don't want the whole public to download your file for SM practice then apply it to FFR. Actually, to be safe, don't hand out your files if they become accepted into the queue. But the accessibility of files aren't much of a concern prior to the judging process.

How else would you get easy feedback? You want a file that people (and yourself) like. It's no different than people temporarily placing their soon-to-be-submitted files on team engines to have them reviewed by others.

[dragonmegaXX]

Thanks <3
Links reposted in a second

[buizel8888]

I'll point out every tiny detail wrong with them as soon as I get home from work. Stay tuned.

[Shikari]

korygon pr0 h9r


I"ll do the same once I get home tho

[buizel8888]

Meh I had a few minutes before I had to leave

Destination of the Heart:
- The pitch relevancy in the beginning sticks out ridiculously. Please fix that.
- between m25 and 27 you have all these hands with barely an audible sound. They only need to be there on the cymbal crashes
- Inconsistency of placement of the hands. There are a lot of ignored cymbal crashes in the sections other than between m25 and 27. I mean I guess if you're intentionally TRYING to dumb down the file that's one thing, but yeah
-m29, the pitch relevancy of the jumps in this section could use a lot of work
-m42.25, you have 16ths going 1 2 3 4 2. The last yellow note, the right arrow, is unneeded.
-More pitch relevancy issues in the single notes
-m46 you have a 3, then a 3 16th note pause, then 2 1. There should be another 16th note before that down arrow.
-m75, pitch relevancy needs help in that section
-m84.75, that very last section should just go 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 12.

overall I'd give it a ?. It has potentially, but these things really need to be fixed up.

k that was a quick look-over of that one. I'll do the others later.



YOU BITCHES SHALL ALL REGRET KICKING ME OFF THE JUDGING TEAM.
</butthurt>


Oh, and I might as well do Stamp on the Ground now.
- It's not gonna happen. Song is too repetitive to make a good file out of. I quit out when you started stepping the vocals at m49. Makes the file completely inconsistent. But yeah, I'd say sit this aside and focus on the other 2.
- Also I'm preferenced to the joke pad file I made out of this hehe. my legs will never be the same.

[dragonmegaXX]

Originally Posted by buizel8888

Meh I had a few minutes before I had to leave

Destination of the Heart:
- The pitch relevancy in the beginning sticks out ridiculously. Please fix that.
- between m25 and 27 you have all these hands with barely an audible sound. They only need to be there on the cymbal crashes
- Inconsistency of placement of the hands. There are a lot of ignored cymbal crashes in the sections other than between m25 and 27. I mean I guess if you're intentionally TRYING to dumb down the file that's one thing, but yeah
-m29, the pitch relevancy of the jumps in this section could use a lot of work
-m42.25, you have 16ths going 1 2 3 4 2. The last yellow note, the right arrow, is unneeded.
-More pitch relevancy issues in the single notes
-m46 you have a 3, then a 3 16th note pause, then 2 1. There should be another 16th note before that down arrow.
-m75, pitch relevancy needs help in that section
-m84.75, that very last section should just go 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 12.

overall I'd give it a ?. It has potentially, but these things really need to be fixed up.

k that was a quick look-over of that one. I'll do the others later.



YOU BITCHES SHALL ALL REGRET KICKING ME OFF THE JUDGING TEAM.
</butthurt>


Oh, and I might as well do Stamp on the Ground now.
- It's not gonna happen. Song is too repetitive to make a good file out of. I quit out when you started stepping the vocals at m49. Makes the file completely inconsistent. But yeah, I'd say sit this aside and focus on the other 2.
- Also I'm preferenced to the joke pad file I made out of this hehe. my legs will never be the same.

Wasnt planning on submitting SotG, just wanted to step it xP

[buizel8888]

Ah. Cool beans then. I'll get to Rainbow ***s in a few

Rainbow Pride in my Anus:
- One of 2 things: you either missed a good amount of notes between m9 and 25, or you were really inconsistent going back and forth between stepping both the foreground and background, or just stepping one at a time.
- Pitch relevancy is better in this file. Still not great, but better.
- m29.25 should be a quad...or at least a hand.
- the color notes in m30 are a bit off. slow the music down and check the sync again
- after m29, a lot of the jumps you have are unneeded. step the percussion as jumps, not the slow parts of the foreground music
- section after m29 also missing notes..or you're ignoring the percussion randomly
- color note section at m36 is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY off. check that shit man
- section after m49 still missing notes. same deal

Give this one a ? as well. Another file that has potential, but seems purposely dumbed down. Easier files are one thing, but you shouldn't severely understep a song to make a file easy. There are plenty of songs that just plain make easier files.

[TC_Halogen]

Originally Posted by buizel8888

Meh I had a few minutes before I had to leave

Destination of the Heart:
- The pitch relevancy in the beginning sticks out ridiculously. Please fix that.
- between m25 and 27 you have all these hands with barely an audible sound. They only need to be there on the cymbal crashes
- Inconsistency of placement of the hands. There are a lot of ignored cymbal crashes in the sections other than between m25 and 27. I mean I guess if you're intentionally TRYING to dumb down the file that's one thing, but yeah
-m29, the pitch relevancy of the jumps in this section could use a lot of work
-m42.25, you have 16ths going 1 2 3 4 2. The last yellow note, the right arrow, is unneeded.
-More pitch relevancy issues in the single notes
-m46 you have a 3, then a 3 16th note pause, then 2 1. There should be another 16th note before that down arrow.
-m75, pitch relevancy needs help in that section
-m84.75, that very last section should just go 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 12.

overall I'd give it a ?. It has potentially, but these things really need to be fixed up.

Quoting this review because I want to point out a few things that you should know before going out and making vast changes to your file.

Being that you're only starting with simfiling, pitch relevancy is something you shouldn't be inclined to know right away. In addition to that, pitch relevancy is and always be relative - with only four keys, the only way you will ever get proper pitch relevancy is to create a song and assign arrows to particular notes within a melody (etc). With that being said, pitch relevancy is always different based off of the player, and there's no truly perfect way to do things properly.

Typically, the best pitch relevancy is a set of patterns that can account for the a certain riff/melody without boring the player. Pattern experimentation is a huge deal, and every simfile artist has to learn how to manipulate structure in an effort to get a high level of technical correctness while still offering a high amount of replay factor. Use notes of pitch relevancy with caution - if you really aren't sure how you want to go about representing something, take a look at files from other well known simauthors on FFR or SM and see how they go about doing things.

The next thing I want to point out is the note of triples only being needed on cymbal crashes.

From my SM/FFR experience, I've that files can generally be divided into two styles -- an accent-oriented style, which captures the overall feel of the song by giving dominant song instruments more precedence, and a keysounded-style (akin to keysounded games like Pop'n/IIDX/etc.), where you chart based off of the number of coinciding sounds for a specific section. How you want to chart a specific song is entirely dependent on what it has to offer. Typically, a song that holds a fairly constant line, whether it's percussion or melodic, will not make for a great direct layering chart. In this case, saying that triples should only go on cymbal crashes is probably correct. I remember there being a fairly high amount of cymbal crashes at the end of this song, so choose your patterns carefully.

Finally, if you receive advice to change any sort of patterns without any true objective reasoning, then it typically isn't a mandatory change. Often, you'll see simfile artists get notes for moving steps in a particular section because they force unnecessary mini-jacks, or cause really uneven bursts, or, you'll see notes from people telling you to slow down/speed up patterns (trills/jacks).

In any case, a lot of people have been going around giving a ton of subjective notes for files, and while it is good to see reviews with subjective notes to nail fun factor, the game will never be fun with constraints on how you should do things.

$0.02. Let me know if you want me to take a look at this.

EDIT:

but you shouldn't severely understep a song to make a file easy. There are plenty of songs that just plain make easier files

This is also entirely up to you - if you want an easier file for people to enjoy, then that is entirely up to you. Absolutely no one has the right to tell you to beef up a song if you don't want to.

[dragonmegaXX]

Originally Posted by TC_Halogen

Quoting this review because I want to point out a few things that you should know before going out and making vast changes to your file.

Being that you're only starting with simfiling, pitch relevancy is something you shouldn't be inclined to know right away. In addition to that, pitch relevancy is and always be relative - with only four keys, the only way you will ever get proper pitch relevancy is to create a song and assign arrows to particular notes within a melody (etc). With that being said, pitch relevancy is always different based off of the player, and there's no truly perfect way to do things properly.

Typically, the best pitch relevancy is a set of patterns that can account for the a certain riff/melody without boring the player. Pattern experimentation is a huge deal, and every simfile artist has to learn how to manipulate structure in an effort to get a high level of technical correctness while still offering a high amount of replay factor. Use notes of pitch relevancy with caution - if you really aren't sure how you want to go about representing something, take a look at files from other well known simauthors on FFR or SM and see how they go about doing things.

The next thing I want to point out is the note of triples only being needed on cymbal crashes.

From my SM/FFR experience, I've that files can generally be divided into two styles -- an accent-oriented style, which captures the overall feel of the song by giving dominant song instruments more precedence, and a keysounded-style (akin to keysounded games like Pop'n/IIDX/etc.), where you chart based off of the number of coinciding sounds for a specific section. How you want to chart a specific song is entirely dependent on what it has to offer. Typically, a song that holds a fairly constant line, whether it's percussion or melodic, will not make for a great direct layering chart. In this case, saying that triples should only go on cymbal crashes is probably correct. I remember there being a fairly high amount of cymbal crashes at the end of this song, so choose your patterns carefully.

Finally, if you receive advice to change any sort of patterns without any true objective reasoning, then it typically isn't a mandatory change. Often, you'll see simfile artists get notes for moving steps in a particular section because they force unnecessary mini-jacks, or cause really uneven bursts, or, you'll see notes from people telling you to slow down/speed up patterns (trills/jacks).

In any case, a lot of people have been going around giving a ton of subjective notes for files, and while it is good to see reviews with subjective notes to nail fun factor, the game will never be fun with constraints on how you should do things.

$0.02. Let me know if you want me to take a look at this.

EDIT:

This is also entirely up to you - if you want an easier file for people to enjoy, then that is entirely up to you. Absolutely no one has the right to tell you to beef up a song if you don't want to.

This was good for me too see.

But yeah, if you have time I would love for you to look at them ^^

[buizel8888]

AJ once again having no idea what he's talking about.


Going to that accent thing...this mean I can step a song in all quads? I'm just accenting the sounds with quads after all. Under your reasoning, this is a perfect file and will get accepted no problem.

[who_cares973]

Beep boop I'm a robot

[TC_Halogen]

Originally Posted by buizel8888

AJ once again having no idea what he's talking about.


Going to that accent thing...this mean I can step a song in all quads? I'm just accenting the sounds with quads after all. Under your reasoning, this is a perfect file and will get accepted no problem.

Kory, you're allowed to preach and I am as well. I'm not saying anything you're saying is wrong, I'm saying that he should solicit advice only when necessary.

And believe me, I'm fairly certain I'm well enough established as a simfile artist to know that my style works just as well as anyone else. There's a reason why people enjoy my files.