Critique my simfile?

[All_That_Chaz]

I've had a number of friends and acquaintences play this, my first simfile. They all say it's pretty good and spectacular for a first simfile. I think they're just being nice. I want some solid critique so I can improve.

I've emailed the artist for permission to submit this to FFR. I probably won't ever hear back though. That site is many years old. Who knows if the artist uses that email address anymore. The song's got a really nice eurobeat feel to it. Reminds me a lot of AKHT.

Author: hito-ookami
Song: Flame of Agnus
Link: http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...p?songid=23490

[ducky285]

My review

- There are no 12ths in this song, so why are they all over the place? Dotted eights work in pretty much every spot with 12ths in it.
- Some of the 24ths made no sense.
- Too many empty spots. Understepped. Needs freeze arrows if you're planning on using it for SM.
- Patterns are too screwy for pad play and too bland for keyboard. It's caught in limbo.

[All_That_Chaz]

Thanks for your review!

- There are most definitely 12ths in the song. This is my first time using the step-editor so please elaborate on what you mean by dotted 8ths. If you mean holding an 8th, it's pretty obvious that I purposefully avoided holds. And if that's the case the notes would have been coming in too early. There are times when they were closer to 16ths and I made them such.
- There are only a couple spots with 24ths. The ones that are in there are either with the melody or later with the drum beat. Maybe I'm just missing your point. Please clarify.
- I'm not planning on using this for SM. I was planning this song to be about a very difficult FFR song because I prefer FFR to SM. Which parts are understepped? Sometimes I think the end is understepped but it's kind of an anticlimactic song and I didn't want to fabricate steps that weren't there. Any ideas?
- Not meant for pad play. Elaborate on why you think the patterns are bland. They're just patterns that come naturally - trills, rolls, etc.

[bluguerrilla]

He means most places where your steps go red-purple-purple-red it should go red-yellow-blue-red.

Slow it down in the editor to like .5x and turn on tick assist to hear what we mean.

It seems like the stream is forced and that the synth is understepped because of the lack of layering.

Maybe it's just the song choice, too repetitive to make a really good sim.

Edit: Although, better than many first tries I've seen, can't really comment on sync since I just watched it in resonance...

[foilman8805]

It's your first simfile - it's really good for a first simfile. I still stand firm in saying I enjoyed it.

[All_That_Chaz]

Originally Posted by bluguerrilla

He means most places where your steps go red-purple-purple-red it should go red-yellow-blue-red.

Slow it down in the editor to like .5x and turn on tick assist to hear what we mean.

I used .5x to help sync it. There are points that work better with each of those rhythm patterns. I'll double check to make sure they're right. I'll check out tick assist too.

Originally Posted by bluguerrilla

It seems like the stream is forced and that the synth is understepped because of the lack of layering.

Maybe it's just the song choice, too repetitive to make a really good sim.

Edit: Although, better than many first tries I've seen, can't really comment on sync since I just watched it in resonance...

There's definitely a lack of layering that I did to make the song easier. I wanted it to be about an 8 difficulty. Instead of layering I jumped from rhythm to rhythm. That definitely could have made the couple times I threw 16th streams in there seem forced but that's really how the song is. If I layered the synth in there it might seem less out of the ordinary but it would be difficult to say when I should lay off the 16ths to keep the song from being one big stream.

Thanks for your thoughts!

[ducky285]

Originally Posted by All_That_Chaz

Thanks for your review!

- There are most definitely 12ths in the song. This is my first time using the step-editor so please elaborate on what you mean by dotted 8ths. If you mean holding an 8th, it's pretty obvious that I purposefully avoided holds. And if that's the case the notes would have been coming in too early. There are times when they were closer to 16ths and I made them such.
- There are only a couple spots with 24ths. The ones that are in there are either with the melody or later with the drum beat. Maybe I'm just missing your point. Please clarify.
- I'm not planning on using this for SM. I was planning this song to be about a very difficult FFR song because I prefer FFR to SM. Which parts are understepped? Sometimes I think the end is understepped but it's kind of an anticlimactic song and I didn't want to fabricate steps that weren't there. Any ideas?
- Not meant for pad play. Elaborate on why you think the patterns are bland. They're just patterns that come naturally - trills, rolls, etc.

dotted eights - a duration that lasts the same amount of time as an eighth plus a sixteenth. In SM terms, they're notes that are three 16ths away from each other.

Some of the 24ths either went to nothing or to sounds that weren't prominent enough to warrant putting steps to.

If you're making this for keyboard, layer it a bit more to at least make it fun for people who are somewhat skilled. It's way too easy and boring as a result. Use some pitch relevance and some layering.

And seeing as you're having difficulties with the permissions, I would suggest revising for SM. Not to offend fans or devs, but SM is SO much better than FFR.

[All_That_Chaz]

I'm looking at those phrases with the 12ths to make sure I timed them right, but I really think I got them.

I'll remove any superfluous 24ths I find.

As to the difficulty, I made it as easy as it is because I wanted it to be that way. If I want to make a harder version, I will. I understand where people are coming from when they say sm is better than ffr, but I prefer ffr for whatever reason. I do have some pitch relevance but I'll see if I can't modify it to get more in there and fix incorrect places. Same with layering.

[AsphyxZero]

For the life of me, stop posting.

[All_That_Chaz]

lol bot bump. Was wondering why someone would bump a thread for a simfile on a non-existent database...