My critiques: [QUOTE]Banner: 10 pts Should match song's mood, be clear and easy to read, no artifacts, include artist and song name BG: 10 pts Should match song's mood, be clear and easy to read, no artifacts, include song name Music: 20 pts Should be high quality, properly tagged, of appropriate length and "feel" for DDR Light: 5 pts Verify that they exist, are reasonably appropriate, and line up right Std: 5 pts Verify that they exist, are reasonably appropriate, and line up right Heavy/Challenge: 20 (whichever is better) Most grading goes here. Step pattern should be interesting, varied, appropriately rated (up to 10 feet for Heavy, keyboard allowed for Challenge), and on sync. The better rated chart will count towards the overall score. Tacking on an awful chart will affect /Tilt/ and /Other/ negatively. Sync: 20 pts Song should have proper gap, proper BPM, be free of blue and yellow arrow syndrome, and have sensical and predictable pauses. I should be able to acheive an SDG on any 9 or less on a controller. Other: 5 pts Items score + or - points, up to +5 or down to 0 -1 wrong artist -1 wrong song name -1 no BG -1 no banner -1 missing expected chart (Light, Standard, Heavy) -1 really crappy chart +1 barebones readme +1 for each additional stepchart (Challenge, Beginner, Double, Solo) +1 BGAanimations +1 properly tagged & named music file +1 lyrics +2 readme +2 for quality Heavy AND Challenge charts +2 strikingly good BGAanimations +3 detailed readme Others may be added at my discretion Tilt: 5 pts 5 points to give or not at my discretion Total: 100 pts [b]I Forgot to Sleep With You[/b] Banner: Not bad, but the banner gives emphasis to the "With You" part, which seems a bit unbalanced. 08/10 Background: Here it's clearer that it's just a photo, tinted and with text. Doesn't work as well as the banner IMO. 06/10 Music: Not a bad tune, but it's a bit mellow... it doesn't have the energy I usually like to see in a DDR song. 15/20 Heavy: Not bad... there were a few parts that I thought didn't follow (the gallops and sixteenth sets, notably), but for the most part it worked. Again, I didn't really feel the energy from the tune to quite get into the steps though. 17/20 --- 272/72/5/0/0/0/20 (too busy trying to read the lyrics) Standard: Pretty good... a few parts are a bit hard for Standard (double-taps). 05/05 199/39/2/1/0/1/4 (slacked off) Light: You had me (despite massive run-around-the-arcade time) until those jump-eighth combos... NO on a 4. 04/05 175/27/0/0/0/0/2 AAA Sync: Very good. 19/20 Other: +1 beginner +1 lyrics +4 whopper of a readme +1 properly named/tagged MP3 05/05 Tilt: I just can't get into the song... it's too mellow, but the file is definitely a quality effort. 04/05 Total: [B]083/100[/B] [b]LSD[/b] Banner: Too busy... don't really know what to make of it. 7/10 Background: Blurry, and again busy... little more than a PS filter, it looks like. 6/10 Music: The rhythm seems a bit subdued, and the song feels a bit "generic techno" to me. It could also stand to be shorter. 15/20 Heavy: First off, this is a 10. Second off, you have yellow arrow syndrome, but you're consistently off, meaning right BPM, wrong gap, so it's almost forgivable. However, had you gotten the gap right, you wouldn't have needed those nasty 32nds and 64ths on what should probably have been triplets, and instead you end up with rainbow arrow syndrome as well. Combine that with the fact that this chart is so busy that it just isn't fun, and you have all the trappings of mediocrity. 10/20 --- 448/90/19/1/0/0/13 Challenge: Insane... way too twisty for pad... wasn't fun on a controller. [8/20] --- 449/128/33/3/1/5/23 Standard: On the flip side, ignoring the gap for an issue, this was actually really fun. Stick one (and only one) gallop in those initial runs (X-X-X-X-XX--X, if that helps), fix the gap, cut out the last 20 or so seconds and put it as Heavy and you're looking at probably an 18/20 or better. 05/05 --- 307/42/1/0/0/0/54 Light: Not bad, but more chaos than I like in light (gap notwithstanding). 04/05 --- 154/28/2/0/0/0/58 Sync: I'm going to be generous here, since technically the song is synched for the most part. However, the beats are supposed to fall on the reds, not the yellows... and when you mess this up, you can't use 12ths where they need to be, instead falling back on 32nds, 48ths and 64ths to try to make it up only to end up slightly offbeat. 13/20 Other: +1 challenge +2 readme 03/05 Tilt: There's a good simfile begging to be released in here, if only you'd drop the uber-hard uppercharts and fix the gap. Until then, no soup for you. 02/05 Total: [B]065/100[/B] [b]Magic & Sword[/b] Banner: Feels about right for the song. 09/10 Background: Again, fits the song very well... although I'd hate to have to play on the 2P side. 09/10 Music: The song, while not bad at first, gets repetitive and annoying after a while. Should have been cut a bit shorter. 15/20 Heavy: Pretty good karaoke, but longer than I'd like to see... looks incredibly tough on a pad (but probably easier than the MAXes), but definitely not a challenge on keyboard/controller as advertised. 16/20 --- 449/79/5/0/0/0/0/30 Challenge: Too many fast turns, spins and double-steps for a nine, despite the combo. Also suffers from the same repetitiveness as Heavy. [15/20] --- 384/74/7/0/0/0/0/33 Standard: Good enough... still repetitive. 05/05 --- 286/43/1/0/0/0/33 Light: Ditto. 05/05 --- 195/30/2/0/0/0/29 Sync: Very good. 18/20 Other: +2 readme +1 challenge 03/05 Tilt: Here's the only place where I can rightfully excise my pound of flesh for the random BPM tag... why? Aside from that, the song's fun at first, but too long and too repetitive. 02/05 Total: [B]082/100[/B] [b]Mental Fusion[/b] Banner: Pretty cool, but the "for DDROSC2" seems out of place. 08/10 Background: The center isn't bad, but the outside looks kinda icky. 06/10 Music: Kinda cool at first, but ridiculously repetitive. 13/20 Heavy: While I commend you for trying to overcome the repetitiveness of your song, you did it in the most random way possible. The result is a ridiculously difficult file that is inconsistent and doesn't flow. Flow is crucial - remember that. 06/20 --- 369/70/7/0/0/0/20 Standard: Better, but too hard for Standard (especially when Challenge is open and Heavy is so ungodly), and the freezes to break up the monotony only increase it. 03/05 --- 314/40/0/0/0/0/20 AAA Light: Definitely the easiest chart of the bunch, but 441 steps on Light = NO. 01/05 --- 316/41/3/0/0/0/14 Sync: Fine 19/20 Other: +2 readme 02/05 Tilt: Bland and psychotic. No thanks. 02/05 Total: [B]060/100[/B] [b]Moonlight Densetsu[/b] Banner: Appropriate enough... I assume that's an SNES rip there, which explains the low color depth and pixellation. 08/10 Background: Actually looks rather cool, pixels and all. 09/10 Music: I'll be perfectly honest here: anime themes are not my thing, and this goes double for Sailor Moon, but I'll do my best to not let that interfere... too long though, despite otherwise near palatability 15/20 Heavy: Karaoke, which might have been pull-off-able, were it not for massive offbeatness (see Sync). A bit better than Cannabis, but not much. 02/20 Standard: Still off - sorry. 01/05 --- 288/53/2/0/0/1/54 Light: Ditto. 01/05 --- 241/30/6/0/0/0/56 Sync: Simple little hint: before you start laying down steps, go into the editor, lay a few quarter notes (red ones) down, turn on the assist tick, and play. If they don't start at the right time, change the gap until they do. If they start lined up but finish off, tweak the BPM until you get it. Perfect sync is hard, but in the ballpark would be nice. Remember: only you can prevent Yellow Arrow Syndrome. 0/20 Other: +3 detailed readme +1 lyrics +1 properly tagged & named music file 04/05 Tilt: No sync, no tilt. Sorry. 00/05 Total: [B]041/100[/B] [b]On a Night Like This[/b] Banner: A little plain for my tastes. 06/10 Background: Ditto on the still... plus she looks older than in Love at First Sight (not your fault ;-)). The video worked well though. 8/10 Music: A little softer and more subdued than I'd like to see... like the rest of this bracket, the energy is missing. Not a bad choice, but something a little more driving would've been nice. 16/20 Heavy: For the most part, really nice steps. Some of the eighth sets that ended in crossovers that carried over are a bit much, as were some of the gallops. Edging slowly towards a nine due to pattern complexity. 18/20 --- 372/82/8/0/0/0/4 Standard: Felt like a definite 6 to me... with a large little gap (a la Matsuri Japan, I think it is) in the middle. A little dry but not bad. 05/05 --- 264/64/1/0/0/0/15 Light: 04/05 --- 192/37/1/0/0/0/16 Sync: Very good 19/20 Other: * readme +2 * music video +1 03/05 Tilt: Overall a pretty good file - no glaring mistakes - but it's missing just a little something. 04/05 Total: [B]083/100[/B] [b]Stars[/b] Banner: Plain, and I don't really like the font that much. 07/10 Background: The same objections here. 07/10 Music: Pretty cool song, although the part in the sample is a bit lackluster... I'd have cut the slow part in the middle or out entirely myself. 18/20 Heavy: Except for a few parts of pretty high density, quite fun. Would have been better if the cut allowed the slow part in the middle rather than the tail, but that's a nitpick. 18/20 --- 357/49/0/0/0/0/41 - AAA Standard: Good. 05/05 --- 265/27/1/0/0/0/24 Light: Except for one part where I had to turn around on freezes (lost my AAA), good. 05/05 --- 188/14/0/0/0/0/31 (one NG) Sync: Excellent... I want to say something about it being an eighth note or so off after the slowdown, but it doesn't affect anything at all here, and since everything else is of such high quality, I'll let it slide. 19/20 Other: +2 readme +1 properly tagged & named MP3 file 03/05 Tilt: Very well done. 05/05 Total: [B]087/100[/B][/QUOTE] Overall rankings: 1. Comic Bakery - 96 pts 2. One Fine Day (mine) - 93 pts 3. Starship - 89 pts [b]4. Stars - 87 pts[/b] 5. Eternal Star Trance - 86 pts 6. Jamboree - 84 pts [b]7. On A Night Like This - 83 pts[/b] [b]8. I Forgot to Sleep With You - 83 pts[/b] [b]9t. Magic & Sword - 82 pts[/b] 9t. Magic Fly - 82 pts 9t. Level One - 82 pts 9t. TetraQ - 82 pts 13t. Circuit Girl - 78 pts 13t. May I Dream - 78 pts 15. Lost in Love - 76 pts 16. Just Can't Get Enough - 73 pts 17. Dejiko to Gema - 71 pts 18. Saltarello - 68 pts [b]19. LSD - 65 pts[/b] 20. Love Tropicana Deluxe - 65 pts 21. Love is in Danger - 64 pts [b]22. Mental Fusion - 60 pts[/b] 23t. Are You Ready for This? - 58 pts 23t. Make a Difference - 58 pts 25. Under Control - 56 pts 26. Power - 54 pts [b]27. Moonlight Densetsu - 41 pts[/b] 28. Cannabis - 23 pts