What makes a good step file?

Phrekwenci · Administrator Joined: 27 Feb 2002 Location: New York, NY

With TournaMix 5 coming in a few months. Let's start the discussion with what you people think makes a good step file.

Song: Obviously, if you don't have a good song, you probably won't have a good step file. I like to choose a song with a lot of elements to it. Something has musical change in it to keep players interested.

Working code: If DWI crashes before I play it, I don't want to try and fix it usually. The author should test his DWI and also read his own code to make sure the code is as correct and doesn't produce errors.

Now on to steps.

Steps Synched: Sometimes it's hard to tell if the arrow should be a 16th or not, I like to slow the song speed down and hopefully find out that way before I test the play. Also, sometimes there parts with two types of beats, I live to stay away from the 8th note run as much as possible. It's too generic, but sometimes you just need to put it in.

Step Placement: I think this is most important part. Let's say a song, have a piano as the steps you are making arrows to. If the piano scale goes up, I'd like to make the step sequence go:

4286 or 6284

I probably wouldn't do something like:

4242 or similar combinations.

Gimmicks: Halving or doubling the bpm I wouldn't do if you want to make it as close to a DDR song as possible. Stops (coded as #FREEZE), are less taboo. Unless you want to do a song like Moogle Hunter (a la Stoic, QQQ, Quasar), and make it very intricate it gimmicks. Just make sure it's on beat, it's very easy to screw up the code and beat using gimmicks.

Comments?
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Mikeh · Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2004 3:44 pm Post subject:

You probably summed up what a good stepfile should have. But I want to add a few.

Song: It depends. If you can come up with steps as soon as you hear a song, then maybe it's a good idea. Other times, it's not. I am entering DDR OSC 2 (original step contest) and for the song I picked, the beat is pretty slow (127BPM) but it still sounds upbeat. BPM changes in the song is good, but too many (Like Seven Eleven by Mindless Self Indulgence. I wonder how long that guy who made the steps took to just figure out the BPM) is not that good either, and gets too repetitive. But for real, having a higher BPM song is better than a slow one. At least you don't have to go through all that 16th note coding.

Steps: Before making any steps, make sure that the song is synced very well. I didn't trust my syncing once because I messed up on the coding and every single arrow turned into a 1/16th note. Just play the song to a bunch of left arrows will probably get the song synced.

And about 1/16th notes, I usually use a speed mod (2x or 3x) and see if it really matches. Most misplaced steps can be caught while playing the song on a speed mod. But most importantly, play the song yourself instead of putting it on Auto-Play and just stare at it. You can't trust your eyes; trust your rhythm.

Step Patterns: I thought I was very limited when it comes to step patterns, since I don't want any awkward double-stepping in my stepfile (although I put in a few). I put the arrows according to how high the note is in the music, and other times, I just put them in for the smoothness of it.

For example, if the background music is playing all these high shrieking noises, I would put in a stream of up. But the music/vocal is just flowing, I will just put in 1/8 streams.

Jumps are great, but not when they are overused. Just because you can hear the beat, doesn't mean you have to put in a jump like in DXY!. Use jumps sparingly and when only it's needed there to make a point, or when the only sound is the beat. I see too many "jumpy" songs that they are not fun anymore.

Eh. I am not helping.

[S4U] Evo · Trick Member Joined: 21 Oct 2002 Location: El Paso, Tx

also

unless the steps are REALLY good (see pulse by BMR) long songs 6,7 minutes and over are just plain boring

if you DO ever try a song that lenght, make sure the song sounds good and not plain and try to put interesting steps in it or the player will just get bored of the same stuff and quit it

hope ppl agree with me
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Phrekwenci · Administrator Joined: 27 Feb 2002 Location: New York, NY

Mikeh · Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2004 10:07 pm Post subject:

Personally, I hate any song that are over 3 minutes long. I get impatient myself playing those songs, even if the steps are superb. Even if the song is different the whole way, I would still dislike it; it's the same song, it will have the same theme.

But good luck on coding your new long version, Phrekwenci. I wouldn't mind cutting down music, but have fun coding 5 minutes of music.

Phrekwenci · Administrator Joined: 27 Feb 2002 Location: New York, NY

Slowpoke · Trick Member Joined: 28 Oct 2003

One thing I don't like is when the actual difficulty of a song doesn't correspond with the stated difficulty level. Makes me think the person who designed it is out of step with the abilities of everyone other than himself.

Nima · Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2004 10:09 am Post subject:

onsync, fun to play? (dunno what that means lol)

NAOKi SYNDROME · Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2004 11:15 am Post subject:

Generally, a good step file has a lot to do with the perception that DDR has given us already and the quality of music.

Long versions tend to bite, unless the song has a lot of changes within the music. I've seen some underground long versions with stepfiles are monotnous, but the music itself repeats so you can't put too much blame on the creator.

Synch is of course, the greatest of all stepfile to-do's...

However, I've noticed one thing... that Sakura is a good example for a fairly simple but good stepfile. A great and killer gimmick is the slowdown arrow that people miss alot, another slick gimmick is Tsugaru's "fake air"

Any stepfile that requires studying to AAA is usually one worth playing, assuming the basics are held down...
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PxDnAkumA · Trick Member Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Location: Paducah KY

it took me .... maybe 2 years before I noticed the fake air in tsugaru.
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Phrekwenci · Administrator Joined: 27 Feb 2002 Location: New York, NY

Phrekwenci · Administrator Joined: 27 Feb 2002 Location: New York, NY

Here's a question.

When is it ok to make a double step run? Most patterns will want a continuous flow of arrows, usually without a double step. But when in a song, or even what type of song should allow these?
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Mikeh · Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2004 8:11 am Post subject:

Put them at the transitions of one stream to another, like in A oni, where it is...

6868686842424242

And you probably have to Double-Step the 84. It's nice to have a DWI without any Double-Stepping, but that just makes it boring.

NAOKi SYNDROME · Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2004 8:37 am Post subject:

Oohoohooh! I have a good one... Really good stepfiles should have at least 2 difficulties (Especially if you're going mono-maniac). One to satiate the feet and one to stuff the fingers, so that everyone is happy.

It really bites when there's a cool song but the steps are far from do-able because the steps are designed for finger players. I'm sure that finger players also hate steps that are too easy, so it works vise versa as well.
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