Re: A ton of terms to define charting mentalities
3/3
NP (Nihilistic Physicalism) - Think of an oldschool DDR chart from the late 90s or the early 2000s. How do you remember seeing the arrows coming up? You may see a sequence of two-note gallops, random jumps and freezes that don't seem to go to anything, random slowdowns and pauses for no reason other than to fuck up your score ("Chaos" from DDR SuperNOVA is filled with pauses, for example), the "main part" of the song that most people think should be focused on is swapped out for a weird crossover pattern...but to be fair to files like MAX 300 and Paranoia Survivor MAX, I thought they didn't ruin the feeling of the file at all some parts were accurately stepped. (There are several charts from DDR 1st Mix to DDR Extreme, and even several that still exist today that qualify as an NP chart.)
Q (Quantizing) - Putting all the notes of a segment of a song, or the entire chart to the nearest x of a measure (Usually 16th or 32nd). There was a time when this was extremely popular to do. Back in 2005 simfile authors would quantize the hell out of their files, but occasionally there was that one simfile author that put in rainbow notes every once in a while. It's basically what Arch0wl said.
Nowadays quantizing isn't that big of a deal. There are some simfile authors that quantize
RN (Rhythmic Nihilism) - This is a different mindset that some people who are just getting started with Stepmania have; it involves the belief that the ups and downs of the song do not matter to them and just instead step what they hear, as opposed what most other players would hear. IMO this is a bad mindset to have when making a file. Honestly, why would you step the vocals and only the vocals throughout the entire duration of the song when there's so much more going on with every other instrument (Going back to Sonic the Hedgehog songs, "His World" has a simple 16 measure guitar solo without vocals. Even if the BPM and syncing were spot-on, it would be really awkward to have all the notes in the chart go to the vocals and not have to hit anything during this solo.)? A good example of an RN chart would be that one Rogdor reviewed.
AN (Arrhythmic Nihilism) - Short Answer: Not even trying to make a decent file by many players' standards...not just those on FFR, but those on Stepmania.com and many other Stepmania-based gaming websites (ThirdStyle comes to mind) as well.
Long Answer: Not only do the ups/downs of the song not matter, not only do the rhythms of the song not matter, but the BPM and beat synchronization of the chart in relation to the song no longer matter with this mindset...which, in my and many others' opinion, is a terrible mindset to have when making a file. Some of the worst simfiles in history have a tendency to be this, as most people don't have the ability to figure out or even approximate the BPM of the song and if it was 188 BPM on the dot (Which this song is), then Arrythmic Nihilistic simfile authors would tend to step it at a BPM well out of the song's range, poorly sync the vocals (for example, the Sonic Heroes chart in SS Sonic Style goes at 150 BPM, which the uploader of that file points out). If the song (or audio clip if you prefer) has no discernible BPM, then Arrythmic Objectivism (or Arrythmic Subjectivism, if you want) would come into play here if you're still willing to step it accurately despite this (rare example of either AO or AS being Wayward Vagabond's "Classical Guitar Solo" from FFRCP2). I guess one technique for an AN chart is to put a random quad or quad hold that may or may not go to anything directly at the end of the file.
I don't know what you guys think, but for me, any and all AN charts have no purpose being showcased here (Seriously, Youtube "Stepmania (whatever song you'd like to put here)" and chances are you'll likely find either an RN chart or an AN chart).
So there are my thoughts on how people make files, and perhaps the one or two letter abbreviation can help us to determine the quality of the file. I can understand if you're going to put a long stream of 8th notes...someone might like that, but if you're not even going to try to match up the BPM or if you generally have no rhythm, then I believe that Stepmania note-charting is not for you.
AND THAT'S ALL I'VE GOT GO NUTS EVERYONE
3/3
NP (Nihilistic Physicalism) - Think of an oldschool DDR chart from the late 90s or the early 2000s. How do you remember seeing the arrows coming up? You may see a sequence of two-note gallops, random jumps and freezes that don't seem to go to anything, random slowdowns and pauses for no reason other than to fuck up your score ("Chaos" from DDR SuperNOVA is filled with pauses, for example), the "main part" of the song that most people think should be focused on is swapped out for a weird crossover pattern...but to be fair to files like MAX 300 and Paranoia Survivor MAX, I thought they didn't ruin the feeling of the file at all some parts were accurately stepped. (There are several charts from DDR 1st Mix to DDR Extreme, and even several that still exist today that qualify as an NP chart.)
Q (Quantizing) - Putting all the notes of a segment of a song, or the entire chart to the nearest x of a measure (Usually 16th or 32nd). There was a time when this was extremely popular to do. Back in 2005 simfile authors would quantize the hell out of their files, but occasionally there was that one simfile author that put in rainbow notes every once in a while. It's basically what Arch0wl said.
Nowadays quantizing isn't that big of a deal. There are some simfile authors that quantize
RN (Rhythmic Nihilism) - This is a different mindset that some people who are just getting started with Stepmania have; it involves the belief that the ups and downs of the song do not matter to them and just instead step what they hear, as opposed what most other players would hear. IMO this is a bad mindset to have when making a file. Honestly, why would you step the vocals and only the vocals throughout the entire duration of the song when there's so much more going on with every other instrument (Going back to Sonic the Hedgehog songs, "His World" has a simple 16 measure guitar solo without vocals. Even if the BPM and syncing were spot-on, it would be really awkward to have all the notes in the chart go to the vocals and not have to hit anything during this solo.)? A good example of an RN chart would be that one Rogdor reviewed.
AN (Arrhythmic Nihilism) - Short Answer: Not even trying to make a decent file by many players' standards...not just those on FFR, but those on Stepmania.com and many other Stepmania-based gaming websites (ThirdStyle comes to mind) as well.
Long Answer: Not only do the ups/downs of the song not matter, not only do the rhythms of the song not matter, but the BPM and beat synchronization of the chart in relation to the song no longer matter with this mindset...which, in my and many others' opinion, is a terrible mindset to have when making a file. Some of the worst simfiles in history have a tendency to be this, as most people don't have the ability to figure out or even approximate the BPM of the song and if it was 188 BPM on the dot (Which this song is), then Arrythmic Nihilistic simfile authors would tend to step it at a BPM well out of the song's range, poorly sync the vocals (for example, the Sonic Heroes chart in SS Sonic Style goes at 150 BPM, which the uploader of that file points out). If the song (or audio clip if you prefer) has no discernible BPM, then Arrythmic Objectivism (or Arrythmic Subjectivism, if you want) would come into play here if you're still willing to step it accurately despite this (rare example of either AO or AS being Wayward Vagabond's "Classical Guitar Solo" from FFRCP2). I guess one technique for an AN chart is to put a random quad or quad hold that may or may not go to anything directly at the end of the file.
I don't know what you guys think, but for me, any and all AN charts have no purpose being showcased here (Seriously, Youtube "Stepmania (whatever song you'd like to put here)" and chances are you'll likely find either an RN chart or an AN chart).
So there are my thoughts on how people make files, and perhaps the one or two letter abbreviation can help us to determine the quality of the file. I can understand if you're going to put a long stream of 8th notes...someone might like that, but if you're not even going to try to match up the BPM or if you generally have no rhythm, then I believe that Stepmania note-charting is not for you.
AND THAT'S ALL I'VE GOT GO NUTS EVERYONE
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