Items which SHOULD be included will lose points at my discretion, and may not cause the category score to drop below 0 for omission. Items which MUST be included will lose a predefined number of points and may cause the category score to drop below 0. Note that the genre penalties are labeled as MUSTs - this is for simplification only. Art 15 Points -------------------------------------------------- Banner: 5 pts * Should match song's mood * Should be clear and easy to read * Should be free from compression and other visual artifacts * Must include artist (-2 penalty) * Must include song name (-3 penalty) * Must have some non-trivial change from background image (-2 penalty) * Must be a PNG file (-10 penalty) * Must not be diagonal format (-10 penalty) BG: 10 pts * Should match song's mood * Should be clear and easy to read * Should be free from compression and other visual artifacts * Must not include artist, except as copyright notice (-3 penalty) * Must include song name (-3 penalty) * Must be a PNG file (-10 penalty) Music 15 Points -------------------------------------------------- * Should be reasonably high fidelity * Should be free from compression artifacts * Should be normalized or at the appropriate volume * Should be properly tagged if possible * Should have correct name and artist * Should appropriate length and style for DDR * Should have no noticeable editing residue * Must be 96kbps or greater bitrate (-10 penalty) * Must be MP3 or OGG format (-10 penalty) * Must be 1:00 to 4:00 in length, inclusive (-10 penalty) * Must not be from any DDRei TournaMix (-5 penalty) * Must not be a the same cut as featured in another music game (-5 penalty) * Must not be from FFR (-5 penalty) * Must not be entered in the contest by anyone else (-5 penalty) Steps 60 Points -------------------------------------------------- Light: 15 pts * Must be present (automatic 0 penalty) * Must be appropriate for difficulty (no catas) and for song (-5 penalty) * Must be properly rated (-2 penalty) Std: 20 pts * Must be present (automatic 0 penalty) * Must be appropriate for difficulty (no 10-footers) and for song (-5 penalty) * Must be properly rated (-2 penalty) Heavy: 25 pts * Must be present (automatic 0 penalty) * Must not be a keyboard chart (automatic 0 penalty) * Must be properly rated (-2 penalty) Basic step guidelines: * Should follow the music in some fashion * Should have sensible patterns and avoid randomness * Should avoid excess repetition * Should be fun to play Tilt 10 Points -------------------------------------------------- To be awarded at my discretion, for whatever reason I see fit. Subtotal 100 Points Extras 67 Points (57 max for any one entry) -------------------------------------------------- CDTitle: 2 pts * Must either represent the chart author or the album from which the music derives * Must work in both SM and DWI * Must not be obtrusive (-5 points) * Must not be an eyesore All criteria must be met to receive the points. DisplayTitle: 1 pt * Must contain a PNG image of the song name * Must contain character PNGs for SM, if applicable * Must have working DWI #DISPLAYTITLE * Must have proper SM #TITLE and #TITLETRANSLIT, if applicable All applicable criteria must be met to receive the points. DisplayArtist: 1 pt * Must contain a PNG image of the artist name * Must contain character PNGs for SM, if applicable * Must have working DWI #DISPLAYARTIST * Must have proper SM #ARTIST and #ARTISTTRANSLIT, if applicable All applicable criteria must be met to receive the points. AVI Animations: 10 pts * Must work in DWI and SM (automatic 0 penalty) * Should enhance the quality of the file * Should not feel completely out of place (i.e. doves flying with death metal) SM PNG Animations: 8 pts * Must work in SM (automatic 0 penalty) * Should enhance the quality of the file * Should not be distracting * Should not feel completely out of place (i.e. doves flying with death metal) DWI PNG Animations: 5 pts * Must work in DWI (automatic 0 penalty) * Should enhance the quality of the file * Should not be distracting * Should not feel completely out of place (i.e. doves flying with death metal) Lyrics: 2 pts * Must be correct lyrics * Must be properly timed * Must actually be lyrics (-5 penalty) All criteria must be met to receive the points. Beginner: 2 pt * Must be present * Must be appropriate * Must follow established Konami guidelines (no freezes, no corner jumps, all quarters, consecutive quarters on the same foot) All criteria must be met to receive the points. Challenge: 4 pts * Must be present (automatic 0 penalty) * Must be harder than Heavy or special in some way (automatic 0 penalty) * May be a keyboard chart Chart will be judged similarly to Heavy Doubles: 14 pts * 3 points possible for L/S/H, 4 for C * Since I can't play doubles, these are just scanned to make sure they aren't autogens and not ridiculous patterns Solo: 15 pts * 3 points possible for L/S/H, 2 for B, 4 for C * Beginner chart must only use UL, UR and D panels (automatic 0 penalty on that chart) * Since I can't play solo, these are just scanned to make sure they aren't autogens and not ridiculous patterns Readme: 3 pts * Must be present (-5 penalty) * Must contain song title, artist, step author, graphics author, and contact info (-5 penalty) * Must contain substantial content to receive bonus points Penalties: 0 pts * Must be less than 10 MiB (-1 penalty for each 500 KiB over) * GAP must be correct (-5 penalty) * Must not hide BPM (-3 penalty) * Must not force SM or DWI to display in red or flashing (-3 penalty) +-Back in the UK | BG: 8 / 10 | Neat, if simple, font work on neat, if abstract, BG. | | Banner: 2 / 5 | BG crop up 'n move. | | Music: 12 / 15 | Scooter is insane. It's a decent enough song for DDR, as | parts of it are very high-eneryg, but parts of it are a bit | dry, and it runs a bit long, so a few | points off here. | | Heavy: 17 / 25 | A lot of simple running back and forth across the pad... | I tend to prefer some motion to my steps during runs. | That said, the runs were the best part of the song; | the middle and end sequences were rather boring. | The first of the sixteenth notes made a *really* awkward | sequeqnce. The steps ran too far into the fadeout. And | the song repeated itself, leading to repetitive steps. | | Standard: 5 / 20 | Half the heavy chart is still intact, unedited, including | some things that are definitely not standard material. I | believe the rules stipulate three unique charts, and if not, | I do. (See supplemental graphic A) | | Light: 8 / 15 | The eighth notes in the beginning are highly inappropriate | for light. Even without 'em, this is a 4 due to the high BPM. | Light steps end way too early as well. | | Tilt: 2 / 10 | That copied standard left a real sour taste in my mouth. | | Extras: +2 | > CDTitle 2 / 2 | | Other: | Sample isn't timed right. Readme is teensy. | +-----------+ | 056 / 100 | +-----------+-------------------------------------------------- +-Boundary | BG: 6 / 10 | Holy color clash, Batman. Reds, blues and yellows. | | Banner: 2 / 5 | BG crop up 'n move. | | Music: 10 / 15 | Sparker is Slake, and Slake is to music what Vogons are to | poetry. At least this is only 22DUNK bad and not, let's say, | Cloudy Music bad. | | Heavy: 17 / 25 | A big ol' NO to those BPM changes. During the first speedup the | rhythm goes completely wacky, making the steps feel a little odd. | Then the doubling at the end was really, really unnecessary. | During the normal parts of the song it wasn't too bad though. | | Standard: 14 / 20 | That lead synth is a mile off the beat, making the steps to the | beat feel ridiculously odd. Although it's the song's fault, I do | have to hold you to it as well. Aside from the music, they were | technically fine for a hard Standard. | | Light: 11 / 15 | Same basic criticism - decent but confusing steps to an odd- | rhythmed song with no discernable beat. | | Tilt: 6 / 10 | Again, I point to the music - it's just not suited for this. | | Extras: + 14 | > Solo Heavy: 3 / 3 | > Doubles Light: 3 / 3 | > Doubles Standard: 3 / 3 | > Doubles Heavy: 3 / 3 | > CDtitle: 2 / 2 | > AVIs: 0 / 10 | No DWI script. | | Penalties: -5 | From IIDX (-5 penalty) | +-----------+ | 075 / 100 | +-----------+-------------------------------------------------- +-Canon (kanon euro mix) | BG: 7 / 10 | The background pattern is pretty neat but the text work | leaves something to be desired. | | Banner: 3 / 5 | Whee. Not a crop. Kinda neat, but again the text is lacking. | | Music: 12 / 15 | Song was a bit generic but not bad. It's too long though. | | Heavy: 10 / 25 | The last thirty seconds was absolutely unnecessary, and it | should have been cut before that anyway. All the patterns | lacked flow, with a heavy amount of double-stepping in the | sixteenth runs. All in all, long, frantic, repetitive, and | not very fun at all. Also, leave some lag time on freezes | so people don't get all kinds of NGs. | | Standard: 10 / 20 | Again, freeze-jump ending has to go. More crossovers than I | like to see on standard, and that's not even counting the | double steps. As with heavy, I see the same few patterns | every other measure. Definitely needs work. | | Light: 11 / 15 | Still see the same basic patterns over and over again, but | that's excusable on Light. The end still needs to go, but | otherwise the Light chart's okay. | | Tilt: 3 / 10 | Ugh. Work on your patterning... a lot. | | Extras: +6 | > Singles Beginner: 1 / 2 | Freeze arrows and corner jumps aren't allowed on real | Beginner charts. | > Singles Challenge: 3 / 4 | Decent keyboard chart, but it suffers from the same | problems as heavy if intended for feet. | > CDtitle: 2 / 2 | +-----------+ | 062 / 100 | +-----------+-------------------------------------------------- +-Chariot | BG: 8 / 10 | Definitely a little busy but not bad. | | Banner: 3 / 5 | Not a crop. Font work leaves something to be desired. | | Music: 13 / 15 | Rather like era, this song sounds deceptively ambient until | you listen to it. | | Heavy: 20 / 25 | Most of the runs were really complex crossovers, which is | fine. There were still a decent number of double-steps in | there though, and a relatively large amount of sixteenths | and taps for a 180 BPM song, but they're bearable. The | consecutive sixteenths during freezes, even at 90 BPM, is | hard to do on foot. The one other thing that got me was the | one long section of only sixteenths - I didn't see a reason | for that. Still a pretty solid chart though. | | Standard: 16 / 20 | There were a few too many pseudo-double-steps - patterns | that have gaps in them to allow time to adjust feet but | still break the natural alternating-foot order. That and a | relatively high tap count for a Standard song. | | Light: 13 / 15 | The one thing I have to nitpick about is the one freeze | crossover, which is too much for Light, even at 5 feet. | | Tilt: 7 / 10 | An overall solid package, although not particularly | exceptional. | | Extras: +8 | > AVIs: 8 / 10 | Cool looking at times, but suffers from the dreaded | "spastic flash" that makes gameplay that much harder. | +-----------+ | 088 / 100 | +-----------+-------------------------------------------------- +-Dolawa (From Club DJ Vol.2) | BG: 6 / 10 | Default PS textures and filters. The bevel on the fonts is a | bit much. | | Banner: 3 / 5 | Looks like an edited crop, so I'll spare you the automatic | 2/5... yet the glow on Dolawa makes it hard to read. That, | and if you're including characters for the title, make the | banner include those characters and not the translit. | | Music: 12 / 15 | The song wasn't as energetic as I prefer, but it was | definitely workable. | | Heavy: 20 / 25 | The first file in this bracket that understood the concept | of "flow," although one run in the middle was lacking it. | It would be nice if some of the crossovers went from right | to left, rather than the same two foot motions throughout | the song. That said, it wasn't a bad chart at all. | | Standard: 14 / 20 | Simple or not, there were way too many crossovers for a | Standard song. Most notable was cross over, tap on the | crossed foot, and cross back - a little technical for a 5. | | Light: 15 / 15 | Can't think of anything wrong with it. | | Tilt: 7 / 10 | As with the last file, a solid package. | | Extras: 0 | > DisplayTitle: 0/1 | Includes neither character PNGs nor translits for SM. | | Other: | The SM file didn't work for some reason... unless I find out | that this is widespread, I won't hold it against you. | +-----------+ | 077 / 100 | +-----------+-------------------------------------------------- +-Dragostea Din Tei (DJ Ross Remix) | BG: 7 / 10 | A bit plain (the posterization filter is kinda neat though), | and the blurry text kinda hurts my eyes. | | Banner: 3 / 5 | The pieces are moved around, so no crop penalty. Still, the | fonts kinda jut out too far to the edges and get a bit cut | off. | | Music: 13 / 15 | Kinda catchy, with a good beat... yet the vocals irk me for | some random reason. | | Heavy: 23 / 25 | Great chart. The only nitpick I can make is the one part | with four repetitive crossovers, but that's trivial. | | Standard: 19 / 20 | Again, absolutely minor nitpick on the final crossover. That, | and it's my policy to allow one point as "room for | improvement" unless the chart blows me away somehow. | | Light: 14 / 15 | And this completes the package. | | Tilt: 9 / 10 | Thank you for restoring my will to judge. | | Extras: +2 | > Readme: 1 / 3 | Some artist info, which was nice. | > Lyrics: 1 / 2 | The lyrics clear too fast in SM; you should split them | up, even if into very short lines. | | Other: | "Unless you don't actually live in Europe, it's impossible | not to have heard this song - it has to be the most | overplayed song of the year!" | I'd venture a guess that over 80% of entrants into OSC3 | aren't European... and I manage to avoid most popular | American music simply by not listening. So... shot down. :p | +-----------+ | 090 / 100 | +-----------+-------------------------------------------------- +-Dreaming of you | BG: 9 / 10 | Pyschedelic thing and neat fontwork. I like it. | | Banner: 2 / 5 | Crop up 'n move. | | Music: 13 / 15 | Nice and appropriate. | | Heavy: 21 / 25 | Rather repetitive, due to the same few sections of the song | repeating over and over again. I liked the gallopy section, | but the freezes weren't so great, and the runs were a bit | awkward at times. Still rather nice. | | Standard: 18 / 20 | The rhytmic taps were a bit dense for a Standard but not | horrible. Otherwise the chart is fine. | | Light: 10 / 15 | The eighths and the freeze spins are too much for light, | even if it's a five-footer. | | Tilt: 8 / 10 | A rather nice package overall. | | Extras: +3 | > Beginner: 1 / 2 | Eighth notes, appropriate or not, and consecutive steps | on different feet are against official beginner rules. | > CDTitle: 2 / 2 | +-----------+ | 084 / 100 | +-----------+-------------------------------------------------- +-Geisha Dreams (Harmonic Radio Edit) | BG: 7 / 10 | I like the fontwork, but the rest of it's rather simple and | the geisha just looks slapped on (with cutting artifacts). | | Banner: 3 / 5 | Not a crop 'n move (as far as I can tell) but the lower font | is hard to read - you should have double-stroked it too. | | Music: 11 / 15 | A little softer than I'd like but it works. | | Heavy: 19 / 25 | The first slowdown didn't warrant the step intensity that | accompanied it. Most of the patterns were good, but it's | hampered a bit by the song. | | Standard: 14 / 20 | The sixteenth notes are appropriate speedwise but pose a | reading challenge for Standard challenges. There's also some | double-stepping. | | Light: 14 / 15 | Appropriate. | | Tilt: 7 / 10 | Solid file but nothing that stands out too much. | | Extras: +11 | > Beginner: 1 / 2 | Freezes and consecutive different-foot arrows aren't | allowed in beginner charts. | > Lyrics: 1 / 2 | Don't use "smart" apostrophes in lyrics. | > AVIs: 9 / 10 | Music video. | +-----------+ | 086 / 100 | +-----------+-------------------------------------------------- +-HAMMER TO THE HEART | BG: 9 / 10 | Awesome graphics as always, Rage, but I do want credit for | finding that font for everyone. :p Wish it were at 640x480. | | Banner: 5 / 5 | Definitely not a rip, and also really nice. | | Music: 12 / 15 | Same ol' generic dance I've heard four times already in | this bracket. | | Heavy: 14 / 25 | Uhh... this is *not* an 8. The beginning was all double-steps | within sixteenth notes spurts (unappreciated in and of | itself), followed by sixteenth-note step-jumps (keeping in | mind that sixteenth taps are really hard at 125 BPM, and | a faster song combined with jumping does not make for fun). | Then sixteenth note step-jumps while holding a freeze (no | lag time left). Sorry, but this is incredibly ugly and I'll | have no part of it. | | Standard: 13 / 20 | Step-jumps make it a definite 7. Aside from that, the | beginning lacked flow - a notable chunk being a run ending | with the left foot on down, then starting a run expecting | the right foot to be there. | | Light: 14 / 15 | Appropriate. Thanks for ruining my SDP with that slowdown. :p | | Tilt: 6 / 10 | Sorry, but that heavy chart is just... ugh. | | Extras: +6 | > Readme: 2 / 3 | Actual detail... nice. | > Beginner: 2 / 2 | Finally legit beginner steps, although they should be 1 | foot based on the BPM, and I worry about that long jump | sequence at the end. | > CDTitle: 2 / 2 | +-----------+ | 079 / 100 | +-----------+-------------------------------------------------- +-Joe Joe (Speedy Mix) | BG: 7 / 10 | Incredibly plain, and a bit of color clash. | | Banner: 3 / 5 | Not a rip, but looks almost the same anyway, so same | criticisms. | | Music: 12 / 15 | There's something a little odd about this song, even for | Jenny Rom. And after hearing it I'm pretty certain it's | "Jew Jew" and not "Joe Joe." | | Heavy: 20 / 25 | Overall it was good, but it was fairly repetitive - I'd | suggest shrinking the song a bit, and turning away from | karaoke steps a little more often. | | Standard: 16 / 20 | Definitely a 6 due to the high BPM. I can think of a few | things I'd have done differently, but only one of them is | major: the middle had a massive drop-off in difficulty for | about 20 seconds; a break is okay but that's pushing it. | | Light: 13 / 15 | Two complaints: one place with a forced crossover freeze; | and between that, the eighths (which are fine in and of | themselves) and the high BPM, this should probably be a 4. | | Tilt: 7 / 10 | Not a bad package. | | Extras: +6 | > Readme: 1 / 3 | Minor detail. | > Challenge: 1 / 4 | I thought this was a little familiar, so I fired up the | stepchart generator and, sure enough, measures 14 to 46 | just didn't change, in addition to sporadic other measures | throughout. Too bad too - the parts that you did change | were actually rather fun. | > CDTitle: 2 / 2 | > Lyrics: 2 / 2 | +-----------+ | 084 / 100 | +-----------+-------------------------------------------------- +-Million Miles From Home | BG: 7 / 10 | Decent, albeit blurry still. The outer glow and soft bevel | don't work well on the font. | | Banner: 4 / 5 | Better. Nice galaxy. The outer glow still looks out of place. | | Music: 13 / 15 | Pretty good choice, but could use a slightly stronger beat. | | Heavy: 22 / 25 | Definitely a little fast and technical for an 8. Classic | Nifta though. I'm certain it's alternatable, but a few parts | eluded me on the first play. Other than that, excellent. | | Standard: 18 / 20 | Might be pushing a 7 due to the high speed and vague | resemblance of Cartoon Heroes Standard (a far superior chart | to its Heavy). Still a pretty nice chart. | | Light: 14 / 15 | No complaints. | | Tilt: 9 / 10 | It's no Comic Bakery or even Lemmings but it's a real nice | file as always. | | Extras: +22 | > AVI: 9 / 10 | Music video; doesn't interfere with play. | > Doubles Light: 3 / 3 | > Doubles Standard: 3 / 3 | > Doubles Heavy: 3 / 3 | > Lyrics: 2 / 2 | > CDTitle: 2 / 2 | +-----------+ | 109 / 100 | +-----------+-------------------------------------------------- +-Otherside | BG: 8 / 10 | Nice still... I'd like to see the text not jump out quite so | much though. | | Banner: 3 / 5 | Well, you're clever, I'll give you that. The green and the | plain font on RHCP I don't like so much. | | Music: 15 / 15 | OMG OMG OMG YES OMG LOL | | Heavy: 20 / 25 | This should almost certainly be a six, save that last | handplant which is better suited for Challenge than Heavy | anyway. This is a really solid easy chart, which is nice, | but yet I'm disappointed that there isn't a harder chart | anywhere in the file when I'm certain it could be done | rather well. | | Standard: 19 / 20 | Really nice Standard chart though. No complaints. | | Light: 12 / 15 | With the eighth note taps I'd make this a four just to be | safe. Other than those few parts it's pretty solid. | | Tilt: 6 / 10 | As mentioned in my little rant up there, I'm a bit | disappointed in the lack of a tougher set, one way or | another. | | Extras: +17 | > AVI: 9 / 10 | Music video. | > Lyrics: 2 / 2 | > Doubles Light: 3 / 3 | > Couples Standard: 3 / 3 | +-----------+ | 098 / 100 | +-----------+-------------------------------------------------- +-Red Sun | BG: 8 / 10 | Neat picture... the bevel on the font was unnecessary. | | Banner: 3 / 5 | A little more chaotic and hard to read than the BG. | | Music: 12 / 15 | Not a bad song at all, although a bit simplistic. | | Heavy: 19 / 25 | The speedup was kinda cool, but the song was way too long. | It was definitely pushing an 8, and also started to get | repetitive after a while. Some of the twelfth notes in the | middle felt a bit out of place too (I think they should be | eighths and sixteenths myself since they aren't evenly | spaced). | | Standard: 17 / 20 | Fine, although fast enough to be a 6, easily. | | Light: 13 / 15 | Seemed fine to me. | | Tilt: 7 / 10 | Again, solid but not breathtaking. | | Extras: +25 MAX (44 earned) | > Readme: 1 / 3 | Some detail. | > Singles Beginner: 2 / 2 | > Singles Challenge [ItG]: 4 / 4 | Difficult for difficulty's sake, but that's fine on | Challenge. Mines and handplants seemed forced though. | > Doubles Light: 3 / 3 | > Doubles Standard: 3 / 3 | > Doubles Heavy: 3 / 3 | > Doubles Challenge: 4 / 4 | > Solo Beginner: 2 / 2 | > Solo Light: 3 / 3 | > Solo Standard: 3 / 3 | > Solo Heavy: 3 / 3 | > Solo Challenge: 4 / 4 | > AVI: 9 / 10 | Live performance. | > CDtitle: 0 / 2 | It's huge. | > DisplayTitle: 0 / 2 | SM translit and characters not included. | > DisplayArtist: 0 / 2 | SM translit and characters not included. | +-----------+ | 104 / 100 | +-----------+-------------------------------------------------- +-SEPTEMBER | BG: 10 / 10 | Yeah, that's cool. | | Banner: 2 / 5 | Crop up 'n move. | | Music: 10 / 15 | Ugh, those vocals are horrid, and the song itself is rather | bland - although it has energy, which is one thing a lot of | the other songs are lacking. Still - ugh. | | Heavy: 20 / 25 | On the positive side, I really liked the steps during the | verse - they were nice streamy steps to get the adrenaline | flowing. The beginning and end were a cut and paste though, | and I didn't much care for the jumpy part (although, again, | the pivoty runs were nice). I'd probably call it a low 9 | though. | | Standard: 19 / 20 | No problems. | | Light: 13 / 15 | Should be a 4, easily. Fine aside from that. | | Tilt: 7 / 10 | It would be among my favorites if not for the song. | | Extras: +6 | > CDTitle: 2 / 2 | > Beginner: 2 / 2 | Should be a 2 based on BPM though. | > Lyric file: 2 / 2 | +-----------+ | 087 / 100 | +-----------+-------------------------------------------------- +-V3 Beethoven Unleashed | BG: 7 / 10 | Kinda plain, and that line's kinda jaggety. | | Banner: 2 / 5 | Crop up 'n move. | | Music: 13 / 15 | Good classical speed is always appreciated. | | Heavy: 18 / 25 | The little slowdown ended early (annoying). Right before it | there was a freeze that was a 64th beat long - absolutely | useless, shows a lack of polish and needs to go. There was | quite a large amount of double-stepping in the runs too. Too | bad because otherwise it could have been a rather fun chart. | | Standard: 12 / 20 | Let's see... crossovers, Afronova turns, and double-steps. | I don't care if it's a 7 or not, you save the last two for | 8-foot Heavies and up, and even then you have to use them | very sparingly, especially at 180 BPM. Not cool. That and | the slowdown's still irritating. | | Light: 11 / 15 | I'll allow all the eighths because it was a 5-foot chart. | However, the freeze-forced spin is not - it's still LIGHT. | Two sets of the midget freezes showed up in this one as | well. And I still have to dock you for that slowdown | speeding back up to early. | | Tilt: 6 / 10 | It's a shame... it could have been so much better. | | Extras: +9 | > CDTitle: 2 / 2 | > Beginner: 1 / 2 | Not a valid beginner chart - eighths and different-foot | consecutive steps. | > SM Animations: 6 / 8 | A neat, cheap little effect. | +-----------+ | 078 / 100 | +-----------+--------------------------------------------------