Evolution of FFR

[choof]

A while back, I made a thread in Chit Chat about a journey through levelranks. I had planned on going through the game in sequential order, but scrapped the idea because, tbh, I was stressed out and didn't feel like putting that much time and effort into it.

BUT NOW THAT I'M NOT, LET'S DO THIS SHIT.

The aim of this project is to play every song in FFR, in sequential order, and detail how things have changed. Things like different "eras", simfile approach, music choice, etc. Aside from the possibility of this being a detriment to my health (at some point I'll have to play Moogy files, wughurhughruhgu), I feel like this project would be beneficial for the site, for a number of reasons.

As a seasoned player, an avid simfile artist, and as... a forum personality (welp), this project will give new and old players some insight on how the site progressed. Old players have returned to the game, only to be put off by the newer files. They're too hard! They're too technical! Too many colors! New players have tried to play old files, and are put off by how bland they seem in comparison. They're not interesting enough! I don't know what this is going to! Why does the music suck so much! WHY WAS PANTS ACCEPTED IN THE FIRST PLACE. This project will also potentially draw some attention from old-school players, simfile artists, and retired staff. It would be really interesting to hear from people like Shash, Arch0wl, Xelius, Nestlekwik, etc.

At some point in FFR's history, there was a paradigm shift. We can already assume when it happened, but I'd like to find out how and why it happened.

Files

Files 1 - 13
Synthlight Files

I can't remember where I heard it, but these files had to be placed into the game by hand? That's interesting, because the files play like ctrl+r files (for those that aren't aware, ctrl+r in the sm editor plays the current selection and allows for inputs (an example of this can be seen in Reach's Tamayura Beginner)). No structure at all, it seems like these files were created to test out the engine and nothing more. Another interesting note is that a Tonedeff song was used, but Tonedeff's music wouldn't be used in the game again for another 9 years.

File 14
Mega Man 2 Wily's Theme - Nestlekwik

The jump from Legend of Zelda Remix to Mega Man 2 is notable in the fact that Mega Man 2 very obviously had a structure to it. Jumps have two notes on the same frame, as opposed to Synthlight's files, where jumps were, more often than not, gallops.

Files 16 - 22
Structured Synthlight Files

The same structure that was seen in Mega Man 2 can be seen in these files as well. Perhaps this is why Nestlekwik became an admin? Starting from this point, files became infinitely easier to play.

File 23
HELLBEAT - Hyrogashi

The infamous Hellbeat. This file was a HUGE jump in difficulty, with the second highest file being LoZ Remix, at a 24. This file is also notable because, iirc, it was created in notepad. This would remain the hardest file in the game until Caprice and Revolutionary Etude, with Revolutionary Etude remaining the hardest file in the game for years to come.

File 24
Stay With Me (Unlikely) - Synthlight

This file is notable because, at the time, it was arguably the largest artist featured on FFR.

Files 25 - 26
ROCK MUSIC

Two rocks files, one geared for newer players, were put into the game. The most accessible music in the game thus far.

Files 28 - 31
CLASSICAL MUSIC

Two more Hyrogashi notepad files, a Nestlekwik file, and Arch0wl's first file in the game. It might be interesting to note that Arch0wl's first file in the game was a classical piece. Maybe it was stepped to compete with the three classical files that came before it. Revolutionary Etude would remain the hardest file in the game until perhaps the addition of Crowdpleaser.
Files 32 - 40
More of the same

A small influx of easy files, and the home key files (that have been deleted).

File 45
Flight of the Bumblebee - Arch0wl

This quote explains why files such as Caprice, Revo, FotBB, etc, were created.
In particular,

FFR would still exist without BMR, except you likely wouldn't be nearly as good as you are now.

this part of the quote marks a bit of a shift in simfiling, and would even be seen immediately in files such as Beethoven Virus and Emotions, both by bemaniruler.

Files 46 - 68
BIG ASS UPDATE (scroll down to "Finally")

Contradistinction and Beethoven Virus, both files by bemaniruler, have a release date of 8-21-03. One Minute Waltz, Spazzbite's first file in the game, was released a day later. There would be no more new files until 9-22-03, when nearly 20 files would be put into the game at once. The largest update FFR had seen at that point, with a wide variety of difficulties for players of all skill levels. Fett's Vette was the first of the "Secret" files, files that require you to hold a certain amount of credits to play.

File 69
Falling Into You - Square Bear

lol square bear stepped his own song and submitted it to FFR. First instance of this happening?

Files 71 - 84
spoopy ghosts

71 and 81 are two more bemaniruler files, set to SGX music, who had been used frequently in FFR already and would continue to be a large part of FFR. What's more interesting about this stretch of files, however, is that 72 - 80, and 82 - 84 don't show up in the FFR song list. Was there a news post about these charts? Curious as to what happened to them.

Files 85 - 99
dats a lot of music

This stretch of files has a fairly high average difficulty level, indicating that the average skill level is slowly increasing. Party 4u v2 is the first file in FFR to be purchased with credits.

File 100
Runny Mornings - Arch0wl

The 100th file on FFR. 1.5 years, 100 files.

Finally nearing the end of the blue note era. Files are becoming far more structured, overall skill level is increasing, and more people are sending in files for FFR.

File 101
She Bangs (William Hung) - Jello

There's gotta be a story behind this file.

Files 102 - 110
The Final Blue Files

The last stretch of blue files, finally ending what we could call the "Blue Note Era."

Blue Note Era Summary
- Engine was still fairly rough around the edges
- Song choice was not very broad, with a portion of the music being made by people who actively played the game
- Simfiling was simple, theory hardly existed. Most files post-Nestlekwik had an easy-to-follow structure, even with some of the harder files.

With how files were created at the time, it's hard to say if there was any quality control at all. I don't mean that the files were bad: on the contrary, some of these files have stood the test of time, but I can't tell if Synthlight put every file he recieved into the game. Did rejects exist? How many people participated in the contest held by Synthlight?

This 1.5 year stretch was a much simpler time. FFR would soon get a huge following in the years to come.

[choof]

Files 1 - 13
Synthlight Files

I can't remember where I heard it, but these files had to be placed into the game by hand? That's interesting, because the files play like ctrl+r files (for those that aren't aware, ctrl+r in the sm editor plays the current selection and allows for inputs (an example of this can be seen in Reach's Tamayura Beginner)). No structure at all, it seems like these files were created to test out the engine and nothing more. Another interesting note is that a Tonedeff song was used, but Tonedeff's music wouldn't be used in the game again for another 9 years.

File 14
Mega Man 2 Wily's Theme - Nestlekwik

The jump from Legend of Zelda Remix to Mega Man 2 is notable in the fact that Mega Man 2 very obviously had a structure to it. Jumps have two notes on the same frame, as opposed to Synthlight's files, where jumps were, more often than not, gallops.

Files 16 - 22
Structured Synthlight Files

The same structure that was seen in Mega Man 2 can be seen in these files as well. Perhaps this is why Nestlekwik became an admin? Starting from this point, files became infinitely easier to play.

File 23
HELLBEAT - Hyrogashi

The infamous Hellbeat. This file was a HUGE jump in difficulty, with the second highest file being LoZ Remix, at a 24. This file is also notable because, iirc, it was created in notepad. This would remain the hardest file in the game until Caprice and Revolutionary Etude, with Revolutionary Etude remaining the hardest file in the game for years to come.

File 24
Stay With Me (Unlikely) - Synthlight

This file is notable because, at the time, it was arguably the largest artist featured on FFR.

Files 25 - 26
ROCK MUSIC

Two rocks files, one geared for newer players, were put into the game. The most accessible music in the game thus far.

Files 28 - 31
CLASSICAL MUSIC

Two more Hyrogashi notepad files, a Nestlekwik file, and Arch0wl's first file in the game. It might be interesting to note that Arch0wl's first file in the game was a classical piece. Maybe it was stepped to compete with the three classical files that came before it. Revolutionary Etude would remain the hardest file in the game until perhaps the addition of Crowdpleaser.



Will continue later today, but I have a few questions for anyone can answer them:
How were the original Synthlight files created?
What did Nestlekwik being to FFR that caused him to become staff?
Were Hyrogashi's files really made in Notepad?
What was the goal of Arch0wl's Revolutionary Etude file?

[Wayward Vagabond]

I forgot who told me this but the jumps being gallops was intentional and was because of a limitation of the engine and not so much because synth just sucks at making files.

arch's revo etude was a competition between three people(him included) to try and make the hardest file to be accepted into the game.

[Zapmeister]

i heard somewhere that in the distant past, [12] jumps were rendered as [14] jumps making certain jump-heavy patterns much harder than they ought to be, e.g. the end bit of revolutionary etude and those 0-framers in party 4u -holy nite mix-

edit: also as a result of this there shouldn't be any [12] jumps in any of these songs

[hi19hi19]

Files in this era that were added with a converter (I believe HELLBEAT was the first?) suffer from a converter error where [13] jumps become [14] jumps.
This leads to the infamous Runnymorning jack, the Party 4u v1 0-framers, and further perverted Revolutionary Etude (which contained a handjack section intentionally, but it was made much harder because of the error screwing up otherwise symmetrical patterns)

[Fission]

the responses here lead to another question: how the fuck was the converter so broken? by extension, why were said files left alone when they are obviously not even close to the original files?

[choof]

Originally Posted by hi19hi19

Files in this era that were added with a converter (I believe HELLBEAT was the first?) suffer from a converter error where [13] jumps become [14] jumps.
This leads to the infamous Runnymorning jack, the Party 4u v1 0-framers, and further perverted Revolutionary Etude (which contained a handjack section intentionally, but it was made much harder because of the error screwing up otherwise symmetrical patterns)

haha holy shit
so hellbeat shouldn't have any [13]s?

edit: actually hellbeat does have [13]s but no [12]s

[hi19hi19]

I know Runnymorning, Party 4u v1, and Revolutionary Etude don't have any [13]s
Not sure when the converter started being used and when it got fixed.

Originally Posted by Fission

the responses here lead to another question: how the fuck was the converter so broken? by extension, why were said files left alone when they are obviously not even close to the original files?

.dwi files are kinda annoying.

[Zapmeister]

goddamn it hi19hi19 you posted the exact same thing at the exact same minute as i did and you got quoted even though i posted before you

also it's definitely [12] not [13]. revolutionary has a [13] at 906 combo and party 4u v1 has one at 42 combo

[hi19hi19]

Originally Posted by Zapmeister

goddamn it hi19hi19 you posted the exact same thing at the exact same minute as i did and you got quoted even though i posted before you

also it's definitely [12] not [13]. revolutionary has a [13] at 906 combo and party 4u v1 has one at 42 combo

lol my bad then



EDIT- lol I went digging to find this again:
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/page/138/
Read about the comeptition to step Dendrite and SkellyBones.

Quote from Synth about one of the winning files:
"Everyone who submitted seemed to have problems with the last half of Skellybones due to the BPM changes. So we took it upon ourselves to consider it a challenge to the player when trying to hit some off those off beat arrows near the end. A very good effort and a good addition to our easier levels."

Ahhh, being praised for bad sync... it was a simpler time.

[smartdude1212]

Cheers,

Synthlight

[Trumpet63]

Keysmashers Documentary
Coming Spring 2015

[choof]

Files 32 - 40
More of the same

A small influx of easier files.

File 45
Flight of the Bumblebee - Arch0wl

This quote explains why files such as Caprice, Revo, FotBB, etc, were created.
In particular,

FFR would still exist without BMR, except you likely wouldn't be nearly as good as you are now.

this part of the quote marks a bit of a shift in simfiling, and would even be seen immediately in files such as Beethoven Virus and Emotions, both by bemaniruler.

Files 46 - 68
BIG ASS UPDATE (scroll down to "Finally")

Contradistinction and Beethoven Virus, both files by bemaniruler, have a release date of 8-21-03. One Minute Waltz, Spazzbite's first file in the game, was released a day later. There would be no more new files until 9-22-03, when nearly 20 files would be put into the game at once. The largest update FFR had seen at that point, with a wide variety of difficulties for players of all skill levels. Fett's Vette was the first of the "Secret" files, files that require you to hold a certain amount of credits to play.

File 69
Falling Into You - Square Bear

lol square bear stepped his own song and submitted it to FFR. First instance of this happening?

Files 71 - 84
spoopy ghosts

71 and 81 are two more bemaniruler files, set to SGX music, who had been used frequently in FFR already and would continue to be a large part of FFR. What's more interesting about this stretch of files, however, is that 72 - 80, and 82 - 84 don't show up in the FFR song list. Was there a news post about these charts? Curious as to what happened to them.

Files 85 - 99
dats a lot of music

This stretch of files has a fairly high average difficulty level, indicating that the average skill level is slowly increasing. Party 4u v2 is the first file in FFR to be purchased with credits.

File 100
Runny Mornings - Arch0wl

The 100th file on FFR. 1.5 years, 100 files.

Finally nearing the end of the blue note era. Files are becoming far more structured, overall skill level is increasing, and more people are sending in files for FFR.

Questions:
What happened to the deleted files? Does anyone remember what they were?

[smartdude1212]

Some of the 'deleted' files I imagine are the secret ones (In Da Club, Afronova, some DJ Kankaoh cock blast, etc.) since they're all part of the blue note era.

[choof]

For those that aren't aware, in the older engines, you could press the home key to access to a secret box. You typed in a code, and it allowed you to access some secret files. I don't remember specifics, because I wasn't really active until 2005-ish.

[hi19hi19]

[jewpin] - Dynamite Rave long ver
[kankaoh] - Pwnd!
[larpus] - Mr. Larpus
[afro] - Afronova Primival
[dub] - Dub I Dub
[breakdown] - Break Down!
[50] - In Da Club

EDIT- also [fotbb] for Flight of the Bumblebee but that was legit added to the game after the competition

[Coolboyrulez0]

lmfao i remember playing in da club

superb project choofman, reads like this are always fun.

[hi19hi19]

Full list of files that have been added to the game then removed at some point:

Synesthetic (FFR Edit) [old version], Chrono Trigger, FF7 Battle, Dub-I-Dub, Break Down!, In Da Club, Afronova Primeval, Dynamite Rave, Put Your Faith in Me, Pwnd!, FFR Special Mix, Mr. Larpus, Genesis One, Captain Jack, Let Me Be Your Pirate, *Winning*, {Lazy Summer Days} gamma, Variations 2 gamma, Guitar Sounds gamma, Speedcore 300, Grist gamma, Undiscovered Colors [old version], Whimper Wall (Unreal Superhero #2), Gigadelic

Anyone remember anything else?

EDIT What was the name of Jae's marriage proposal song? Forgot about that one

[choof]

I thought Captain Jack was just disabled and re-enabled for the anniversary of his death. RIP

I remember stargroup had a file deleted of his, he mentioned it in a skype chat and I was able to play it like once before it was removed.

[MyNameIsNothing]

Originally Posted by hi19hi19

EDIT What was the name of Jae's marriage proposal song? Forgot about that one

Miles Away by Years Around the Sun

This is a cool project, I look forward to seeing the updates.