Pulsen

[ddr_f4n]

Originally Posted by Kibblre

How long until people rechart Pulsen songs for SM and distribute them for free?

I just feel like SM is always going to lead the pack, and Pulsen is just going to slowly fade away.

It's p.much what's gonna happen, not gonna lie.

Granted, I remember Akstylish does charts for this too, but he's friends with ddrXero (mr. hey-lets-sell-simfiles plan guy), and the fact that they're trying to sell the files is kinda not worth it, since it's p.much SM5 but with a stylish skin (new theme and noteskin...though the noteskin is pretty barbaric).

Knowing Akstylish's files from Vocaloid Party Pack...I'm not looking forward to it if it's still the same quality in all honesty. And the trailer doesn't help. File looks...off.

[rushyrulz]

So it's a glorified version of stepmania with pad charts only that you have to pay to play and it's for PC? No thanks. Get a machine and maybe I'll try it.

[who_cares973]

i might try it out because im curious

[rushyrulz]

Originally Posted by Saturn2888

Pulsen is free.

So is runescape, but that's not fun until you pay. The lack of content on the F2P side is stunning, which I fear to be the same for Pulsen. What does Pulsen (the free section) have that Stepmania doesn't?

[ddr_f4n]

Originally Posted by Saturn2888

Since Pulsen is free, you can go ahead and give it a shot yourself. If you get to play the Secret Bonus Nyan Cat song, I think you'll be impressed with what Alex is capable of.

Any syncing issues with the pre-trailer video would most-likely be the fault YouTube and Flash.

I saw a video of it, it's a decent use of mods, but nothing TOO spectacular compared to what I've seen from others (WinDEU, CondorTalon whom I go to school with, heck even Oni). Chart by itself is decent though, but there are some minor double stepping errors and jump/up-down step ambiguity that it suffers a bit.

Also, mods with that noteskin makes it unnecessarily hard.

Just my 2 cents

[Saturn2888]

Originally Posted by rushyrulz

So is runescape, but that's not fun until you pay, but the lack of content on the F2P side is stunning. What does Pulsen (the free section) have that Stepmania doesn't?

Depends on what you're looking for. Pulsen changed a lot of things and has many technical features StepMania does not which you'd really appreciate if you're into that kinda stuff.

As Jason might chime in on this, Pulsen drove the development of some features people might take for granted in StepMania 5. I'll let him elaborate on those features though.

It's not so much what Pulsen doesn't offer as much as what it already has and what it will in the future.

[YoshL]

Originally Posted by Saturn2888

A bit of a snarky comment here, but StepMania's not very good until you pay for it.

how is this true at all.

[Kibblre]

From what I understand, Pulsen is aimed towards the more casual pad players and the more hardcore pad players will not find a challenge here. Then, this leads me to believe that people who are serious about SM and games like it, including Pulsen, will just stick to SM and download much harder files. As for the more casual players, I think the easiest "all-in-one" option (as I believe I've read you state somewhere that is what Pulsen is aimed to be, Saturn) would be to just get a home version of DDR/ITG, or just dowonload DDR/ITG packs for SM.

[rushyrulz]

Originally Posted by YOSHl

how is this true at all.

Originally Posted by Saturn2888

In the Groove.

How is that at all a legitimate answer to that question?

[TC_Halogen]

Because ITG and Pump it Up: Pro are both heavily based off of StepMania, and they get large crowds/tournaments and events.

Pulsen might not be the most ideal situation for the hardcore player, but it can definitely get a crowd going because it looks like a whole new game. Pulsen is doing what Mungyodance did a few years ago, and you, like other people had the same question: why am I going to play this instead of StepMania? While Mungyodance was actually free, it's still the same concept.

[ddr_f4n]

Originally Posted by TC_Halogen

Because ITG and Pump it Up: Pro are both heavily based off of StepMania, and they get large crowds/tournaments and events.

Pulsen might not be the most ideal situation for the hardcore player, but it can definitely get a crowd going because it looks like a whole new game. Pulsen is doing what Mungyodance did a few years ago, and you, like other people had the same question: why am I going to play this instead of StepMania? While Mungyodance was actually free, it's still the same concept.

Big difference being that it's free, but yet I never even played Mungyodance. Closest I did was play the packs/songs in hacked ITG cabs.

But ITG/Pump and Mungyodance brought new things and ideas to the table that hasn't been presented before, which made them all unique in itself, exception being Pro maybe, but I would say that is because it already carries the legacy of being worked on by most that worked on ITG already.

[Kibblre]

Originally Posted by Saturn2888

Hmm, I wouldn't quite say that. Pulsen's definitely a lot harder and more challenging at lower difficulties than other similar games. This doesn't mean it's going to be impossible, just less simplistic and less repetitive.

Difficulty-wise, only 6 of the 30 songs in Pulsen: Ultra I would be referred to as easier songs on the high-end of the spectrum.

That Nyan Cat bonus chart itself is quite the challenge. As of right now Steel Monster's Adamantium chart from Ultra I would take the position of hardest chart in the game; although, there's already a harder one in a later pack.

I'm curious what you'd refer to as hardcore players though. Maybe our definitions don't match up and that's where the confusion is coming from.

Hardcore players as in that Nyan Cat chart would be an easy SDP on pad. If that's one of the more challenging files on Pulsen, I would dare to say that Charlene on ITG is harder than that file, and the pad players I speak of have no problem with it. Similarly, I think there are even harder files on ITG 2.

[Saturn2888]

Originally Posted by ddr_f4n

But ITG/Pump and Mungyodance brought new things and ideas to the table that hasn't been presented before, which made them all unique in itself, exception being Pro maybe, but I would say that is because it already carries the legacy of being worked on by most that worked on ITG already.

Well if you're talking about new things in charts, then Pulsen definitely brings a lot to the table:
- Lifts
- Fakes
- Warps
- Attacks
- Scroll Segments
- Speed Segments

And there's more which others could better elaborate on.

If you're talking about the technical side of things, just opening the game and maximizing it should be enough to reveal those differences.

[hi19hi19]

Originally Posted by who_cares973

i might try it out because im curious

This.


Except that I'm almost certainly not going to pay for it, why pay for something I can make myself in a few hours -the way I enjoy it most- thanks to Stepmania being free?

Not everyone can make 4-key charts as fast as I do and that's cool, I guess if you see a market with new pad players, then more power to you to capitalize on it.
Either way new rhythm game \o/


p.s. not gonna lie, the chart on the left looked pretty bad in that trailer wow. like, early-DDR-official-chart-from-1999 quality (or lackthereof)

[Wolfman2000]

First, I will ask if someone can please remove "Rip off" from the topic name here.

Originally Posted by Saturn2888

As Jason might chime in on this, Pulsen drove the development of some features people might take for granted in StepMania 5. I'll let him elaborate on those features though.

It went both ways here. A number of metrics and lua features that were requested for Pulsen got placed in mainline SM5. As far as what Pulsen got back:

Originally Posted by Saturn2888

Well if you're talking about new things in charts, then Pulsen definitely brings a lot to the table:
- Lifts
- Fakes
- Warps
- Attacks
- Scroll Segments
- Speed Segments

And there's more which others could better elaborate on.

I thank you for letting me reveal this feature. Split Timing. Steel Monster is one of those songs that takes great advantage of it. Speaking of...

Originally Posted by Saturn2888

That Nyan Cat bonus chart itself is quite the challenge. As of right now Steel Monster's Adamantium chart from Ultra I would take the position of hardest chart in the game; although, there's already a harder one in a later pack.

Ah yes, the one chart that kicks your butt regularly. What do the rest of you guys think of that chart, or the other charts in the game anyway?

But now to address one other quote.

Originally Posted by ddr_f4n

But ITG/Pump and Mungyodance brought new things and ideas to the table that hasn't been presented before, which made them all unique in itself, exception being Pro maybe, but I would say that is because it already carries the legacy of being worked on by most that worked on ITG already.

Technically, Pump Pro brought in the original form of checkpoints that mainline StepMania had. It went through another revision before settling on the #TICKCOUNTS tag we have now. Of course, if the Pump Pro behavior for checkpoints is requested, it's only a metric change away (in Mainline, not in Pulsen).

[JenovaSephiroth]

I really don't know how I feel about this, haha.

On one hand, lol paid stepmanias, on the other hand, wait I make pad files where do I sign

[NeoMasterPie]

i play c975 distant on stepmania so it's really hard for me to say what speedmod(s) i would want in pulsen. that's kinda way out there lol

[00Razor00]

ITT: Saturn and Wolfman are Pulsen salesmen.

[NeoMasterPie]

oh and i don't really play pad so i guess my speedmod input doesn't matter xd

[Kibblre]

Originally Posted by 00Razor00

ITT: Saturn and Wolfman are Pulsen salesmen.

We already knew that.