Playing Routines (In-Depth Guide)

[Dynam0]

This is a lengthy post so if you aren't a serious player, don't bother reading this, there is no tl;dr version, sorry.

Not to be confused with "weird routines you have while playing", like setting up your lucky troll next to your keyboard. I'm talking about developing a strict routine that allows you to get warmed up for the kind of performance you're looking for.

I'll start with the basics; in order to perform at your maximum for ANY discipline in the game, you must ensure you've gotten a reasonable amount of sleep and have eaten something nutritious and thus have both the mental and physical preparation needed for awesome playing. Common sense but some people don't think about this sometimes.

Now, I'll also say that this guide will not be the magic formula for every SM player, but I'm hoping it can help some players out so they can develop some kind of routine to follow and keep things balanced. If any other players would like to toss their knowledge in, it would be much appreciated and help make this 'guide' more complete.

The big question you need to ask yourself before playing is:

What kind of files will I be playing today and which skills do I hope to develop?

I'm positive that most players don't even consider this before they open SM (after all this game is just for FUN), but for serious players it's important to think about since playing the same file a few times every day can present mind-blocks very quickly. In terms of the skills you aim to develop, I divide them into four main disciplines: Accuracy/Control, Speed, Stamina, and Vibrating. Although I am not an expert, other skills could be reading and mine avoidance (dodgeball), however I didn't include these since I dislike mines and I think serious players are already very proficient in reading patterns.

I'll now attempt to give insight on the best ways to warm-up and go about improving in these areas:



Accuracy/Control:

This is a crucial skill that every player -even the fast ones- need. Although you can separate the two since accuracy is essentially MA and control is the ability to not cb-rush or develop mind-blocks/nervousness, I put them together because the routine required to improve these is the same.

Experienced players will agree, your accuracy will always get better and will only worsen when going on a hiatus or breaking from the game for a while. Even then, upon returning to the game, your timing should naturally come back rapidly. Control, specifically of your mind, is difficult to improve and requires patience if anything. Simple rule of thumb is to not be frustrated; the second your mood starts declining, your scores will see a similar fate and you should take a break. You NEED to be confident and thinking positively in order to achieve the best results.

Warming up to improve accuracy and control is simple and the least stressful in my opinion. Start with simple files that you can AAA with ease, this will loosen the fingers up and allow for proper technique. Playing files that are too hard early will force you to tighten up and technique will be sloppy. Only move to trickier files if you think you're ready for them. The rest is easy as well, just practice practice practice. Many players will train using a higher judge since this allows them to receive feedback even when they would normally get a marvelous. Control can refer to tricky sections or difficulty spikes where small bursts or quick sections require steadiness. My experience with this is that you want to attack these files shortly after you've warmed up. Playing StepMania for over an hour or so leaves your hands/fingers too tense/strained to perform quick bursts with proper technique. If you are training for control of burst-type patterns, you shouldn't play warmed up for longer than an hour. There really isn't a specific time limit when you train for accuracy, simply STOP playing when you notice the caliber of your scores start to diminish. You'll find that even if you work on the other disciplines (save for vibrating), your accuracy and control will also improve slightly.

In short, take your time warming up and make sure you don't play easy songs with difficulty spikes too late into your session. Practice!!




Speed

Most players (myself included) strive to increase their raw finger speed. Of course all of these disciplines are connected in some way and there are grey areas between them. Stamina is related in that it is essential for maintaining speed, so perhaps it would be wise to alternate between a speed building session and a stamina building session. Speed has been derived from fast execution of patterns in a variety of forms; streams, jacks, trills, jumpgluts, jumpstream, handstream, etc. Really though, there are only two basic motions that define finger speed: Alternating notes on one hand (one handed trilling), and repeating notes on one hand (jacking). The combination of those two motions on one hand and performing them in concert with both hands simultaneously defines overall speed. Finger speed in addition to coordination is what gives raw speed in StepMania.

Warming up to build this skill can vary largely depending on the person (experts help here). I like to start out simple to allow the hands to loosen up and fall into proper technical form. From there it's just a matter of increasing the difficulty one step at a time. Once you are warmed up and your finger speed is optimal, this is where the tricky decisions come in. Do you play files more suited to build one handed trilling or do you play files that test your abilities with repeating notes (jacks)? My experience has always been that you will be able to one handed trill more effectively with relaxed hands. Everyone knows that wrist-jacking forces the fingers to tense up. Once the fingers are tense, it is very difficult to return them back to a fluid, relaxed state which is why building speed and accuracy in the same session is problematic. Many players will practice building speed by using higher music rates. This allows them to gauge their improvement, for example last week you were only able to AA Quasar 1.7x but this week you managed to AA Quasar 1.8x. Staiain has suggested that when you reach pinnacle playing speed to increase your speed mod slightly as well (I have yet to try this but it works for him).

My advice is to warm up quickly while keeping the hands relaxed until you've reached your optimal finger speed. Play files that are prone to one handed trilling early in your session with files that require jacking later on. Alternate this speed building session with a stamina building session on every other day in order to maintain your speed over longer periods. If you notice your hands becoming too tired and your level of play is slipping, simply end your session or play easier files. You don't want to cause damage, this is important for stamina training as well.

I don't consider myself an expert with speed so hopefully others can give pointers that I can add.




Stamina:

~Coming soon



Vibrating

~Coming soon









I've been writing up this post for over an hour and need to go to bed now...I won't be able to finish it until tomorrow night or so. Sorry! Feel free to suggest things and discuss what works best for you.

Routines are extremely important for optimum performance and I encourage everyone to try and develop their own. Peace!

[xferrarix]

I can tell you a minor note from my +4 years of playing around in the Stepmania scoring scene

You really don't build speed out of nowhere over night. Most of the time you're playing a few set of files over and over and eventually it'll click to you. I've noticed that drinking something that gives you more energy (energy drinks obviously, sodas, sugary drinks), warming your hands up, and your overall mood can effect your scores.

Speed files are VERY hard to build up to. Out of all 4 categories you listed, I could say that speed is the hardest part of Stepmania to get better at (fast streams, jacks). There's no REAL way of getting better at it without consistently practicing on it. Accuracy imo can come naturally and over time by practicing the other categories. I used to not ever work at MA and in '08 (I call my ~top Stepmania year~) I was SDP'ing and getting teen DDPs on a lot of the files I played. However, my speed really lacked, so I couldn't play anything above around 210BPM~

[SasHiiiii]

*BUMP*

I feel like reviving this thread, cause I think it might help some people with improving their skills

@Dynamo, finish the vibrating section... I need it, haha

Anyway, since Dynamo covered the MA and speed sections a bit, I'll write something about MY stamina routine

--------------------

First thing is, keep in mind that stamina won't come over night. It's a long term process, but it's worth it.

First, the most important thing. DO A WARMUP. Believe me. Do it.

The stuff that works best for me is, to play long or marathon songs. Especially stuff with long jump- or handstreams. Icy's Nuclear Blast packs are pretty decent for this. In general, play something that makes you really tired, but don't overdo it. Every day you can't play, is a lost day. If you did, rest until you can go ham again (no, not on the same day you ******). In the meantime, play easier songs and work on your MA :P

But since I'm lazy, I combine speed and stamina training. That means, I play longer songs on a higher rate. That always worked for me.

Anyway, as I said, this is MY routine so don't take it as THE way to improve

[EzExZeRo7497]

Yeah, this would definitely help out a lot of players who are into competitive Stepmania.

I'm not much of a MA player, speed player or stamina player myself, but I can give some tips on speed and stamina I guess.

Speed:
For speed, I tend to warm up with files that loosens up your fingers, such as stream. More specifically, slow (200-220) stream that rarely form two handed minitrills and usually runningmen and lasts for more than say... 30-45 measures? There are multiple files like this, especially in pad packs. This would usually warm you up better than files that are bursty or is filled with jumpstream, at least for me. If that doesn't loosen you up, you might want to get a stress ball that isn't too hard to squeeze, but not that easy either. It loosens muscles quite well if you squeeze the ball fast enough (that's what she said), but I wouldn't recommend doing only this for warming up, do some streamy warmups as well. There are a couple of others who try absurdly hard files that they can't even pass (without mashing) to warm up, it works for some people but I haven't tried this yet. Isaac did recommend this to me once when I was complaining about my hands being too tense while playing, I think Mina did this as well?

Once you're done warming up, think of the files you're going to play. Are they more wrist jacking based (ones with minitrills, runningmen that go 3231323132 or something similar, trills that require two hands in general) or more one hand trill based (Most handstream and jumpstream files tend to have one hand trills in them)? Try to do ones that require one hand trilling earlier in your session than ones that require wrist jacking. For most people, it becomes more difficult to do files with one hand trilling after a wrist jacking file, since their hands are tensed up. I find it a little easier to one hand trill with tensed hands personally, but it's all about technique. If you find it easier to OH trill with tensed hands, do wrist jacking-based speed files earlier in your session.

When it comes to speed files that are a little above your skill level, think of what kind of player you are. Are you a player that mainly relies on reading or are you a player that just looks at the receptors and try to hit everything as fast as possible? If you're the former, lower your speed mod. If you're the latter, increase your speed mod. I'm the former, so I decrease my speed mod. (770 -> 755)

Once you realise that your scores are slowly declining, stop your speed session or play easier files.

It goes without saying but speed doesn't come by overnight. That's why it's more of a routine, you wouldn't be able to improve speed if you only do this once or twice.

Stamina:
Stamina goes hand-in-hand with speed. Most players who are speedy tend to have a lot of stamina as well, some more than others, of course. You can do the same warmup as what you did for speed, but instead of doing speed files, do stamina files such as Gate Openerz, We Luv Lama, or if you're fast enough already, Abyssal and Thru Our Scars.

You might want to lower your speed mod while playing stamina files, as it'll cause less strain in reading, but you'll take a hit in accuracy. You can only improve stamina if you actually get tired in the file. If you're not tired from the file, play it on a rate or play a harder stamina file. Don't overexert yourself and play files that are extremely stamina draining that you have to resort to mashing to even pass. Although it'll still improve stamina, it's an inefficient way of improving stamina and besides, you're better off improving both speed and stamina in the session anyway. There are some players who play an extremely difficult file that's also very fast (Let's say, Blue Planet 1.1) so that the next files they play (which are obviously easier, like We Luv Lama Oni 1.1 or Gate Openerz 1.2) would not be as difficult and stamina draining. This works for only a while, but it's more of a muscle memory trick more than anything.

Like speed, stamina doesn't come overnight. You have to play A LOT to have ridiculous stamina and it's even more difficult to maintain compared to speed and accuracy. If you don't play for 3 days or even less for others, you'd notice a very significant amount of stamina depleted. To maintain your stamina, just try the occasional stamina draining chart once or twice in a session when you're not practicing stamina or speed.

I would really want to see a vibrating guide, as far as I know, you can't improve vibrating speed, but you can improve vibrating consistency.

ps HawkE post scores

[V-Ormix]

related to speed and stamina, some things that have always helped me are technique/muscle memory/reading.

Technique: with the bottom of your rist parallel to the tops of the keys and your fore arms relaxed play with the very tip of your fingers keeping them curved at all times and try to use as much finger control as possible with out relying on brute arm force. another few things that really helps is to play with arched rists and finally one of the bigger ones I think is to NEVER shake... thats right play the speediest most arm crushing stuff but your rists, arms, and hands should stay perfectly still but if your going to rist jack try to keep your arms from moving. also I play with my thumbs relaxed and planted if that helps anyone.

Muscle memory: I found that playing things on a low rate WITH out actually playing the file but keeping your cmod exactly the same and tapping it out on your desk at its new reduced speed can help your muscle memory and reading. Reading because rather then having the rates be lower and the mod higher thus more space in between the arrows its good to see the natural density of your mod slown down. muscle memory cause its actually piss easy to comprehend at that speed so tapping it on the desk gives you a good indicator of what your fingers need to "do" to hit complex patterns ect.

Finally, Reading: following arrows with your eyes from the mid section of the screen till half way over the receptors (every individual arrow) is great for speed in terms of level of focus but if you want better accuracy (psh like I know how to get accuracy) focus more towards the top or even on the receptors themselves.

edit: another cool trick is to rotate your thumbs well playing, this can ease the tension on your rist and fore arms for optimal stamina and generally just tap keys lighter.

These are tips that have helped me advance gradually but happily.

editv2: yeah I know this is a routine thread but I think these are things worth thinking about or at least trying in the process of playing things on rates or higher judgement :V but yeah starting your session out with some thing stamina grooling can do the trick (although for me at least, its scary playing we luv lama first play of the day)

[Kepogata - YUP]

What's going on in this forum?

[EzExZeRo7497]

the fuck it's kepogata

[Sakish]

@Eze: You can indeed improve vibrating speed. With enough control you can vibrate everything from 170-205 and after 205 it really depends on how long the jacks are in order to how much you can hit.

Stamina. I know a great deal about this, because I used to have one of the best stamina out of the players in that time. I for one WONT be writing a stamina guide, instead i'll just say this: Play vibrating stuff for 3 hrs a day for 6 months or even longer, I know it sounds insane but thats what I used to to lol..

[Tyson ultima]

Originally Posted by Kepogata - YUP

What's going on in this forum?

This *****....

[SasHiiiii]

@Eze, I couldn't keep up anymore, haha. So I'm just playing occasionally these times

@Isaac: You can improve vibrating speed ? Tell me. I was pretty much stuck at like 180 bpm or something and wasn't able to get any faster

[EzExZeRo7497]

Originally Posted by SasHiiiii

@Eze, I couldn't keep up anymore, haha. So I'm just playing occasionally these times

@Isaac: You can improve vibrating speed ? Tell me. I was pretty much stuck at like 180 bpm or something and wasn't able to get any faster

Yeah, I've noticed that you've been playing every now and then. Uploading scores into the SM Wiki and all, haha.

I also want to know how to improve vibrating speed though, I've been stuck at 180-185 for some time as well.

[Sakish]

It's like you guys havent been playing this game at all, you keep asking "how to do x"
In this game, improving ANY ability has the same method as the rest. Play for an obnoxious amount of time and voila, eventually it'll improve. It's not everyone that can try vibrating for the first time ever and pass mihc (lolkidding thats how i did it) but for most guys it takes a while to learn.

[SasHiiiii]

And I thought there was a secret on how to get faster, haha. I invested many hours and the result was, that I nearly vibrate equally good with both hands without getting much faster. I guess I'll give vibrating another shot and see, what I can do about it

[Dynam0]

My vibrating speed was solely dependent on the keyboard I was using, although it did get slightly faster after doing vibro shit for days and days on end.

Thx hawke for digging this up...I'll try to finish this up/add other ppls comments in and maybe make a wiki page

[Shadow_God_10]

I find that consuming alcohol improves.....well... EVERYTHING. For some fucked up reason I'm more accurate. I have more speed and a LOT more stamina. maybe because of my body temperature raising in an attempt to sweat out the liquor? My keytaps are also a lot quieter O.o