StepCon 2022

[gold stinger]

Re: StepCon 2022

The First Public Voting Period has Begun!

During this time, all participants (including and especially people not participating in the event), can vote for songs submitted for Round 1 of StepCon 2022. No further submissions for the event will be accepted at this time. You can re-visit the Google Form link in the future to change your votes (until the end of the Public Voting period), and you can vote for multiple options across all Classes (Pick any & all that you like!).

You may fill out the form at https://forms.gle/DftMGziGYWPG7gkY6 to submit your votes.

Please be advised, participants CANNOT vote for their own Class. Votes for that class will not count for said participants.

https://www.flashflashrevolution.com/batch_submission/engine/r3.stepcon2022.xml
If you navigate to your 'Options' in your FFR Engine, navigate to 'Miscellaneous' settings and click the drop-down for 'Engine Playlist', you should see this at the bottom of the list:



You will get this pop-up:



If you Copy the above XML URL and Paste it there, and click 'Add Engine', you should be able to view/play/observe songs from StepCon 2022. If you do not want to play the song, you may preview the song by right-clicking the song of choice in the song selection menu and selecting 'Play Chart Preview' in the right click menu.

Everyone will have until the end of Thursday, April 21st, 11:59PM SERVER TIME to complete voting and submit their forms at the above google link.

Furthermore, discussion is allowed in-thread during voting. But please do not deliberately attempt to sway votes/vote brigade particular submissions, and treat your fellow Stepauthors with respect. People of all skill levels participate within this event, and there is going to be good/bad matchups for people's skills and preferred genres. Keep it civil and respectful. There's also the #events channel in FFR's Official Discord for discussing the event as well!

[Elite Ninja]

Re: StepCon 2022

I'll probably play these tomorrow as I'm too sleepy right now to do so haha. Hopefully people enjoy my file. Good luck to everyone~

[flat chest choof]

Re: StepCon 2022

Anyone Wanna Trade Aha? :]
sorry for missing this but I seriously could not come up with anything that I liked, real charters block
will check everything out today and give thoughts

[xXOpkillerXx]

Re: StepCon 2022

Played through all charts. Approached it with a "1st and 2nd" system. Keep in mind that this is just my opinion. I think there was a lot of quality stuff overall, which is really nice to see.

Legend:
OO = 1st
O = 2nd


Bubbles:

1. O
- Very solid, flows well
- Would've liked something to match the difficulty of the intro jacks
- Lovely anchor choice at the end

2.
- This is a bit heartbreaking. See other notes
- The chart flows very nicely, and it's fun to play physically
- However, the layering is just too confusing. There are a lot of ghost notes in various song sections with different intensity. Because of that, it makes that layering choice feel repetitive and bland despite how good the patterns are. Promising stepartist I think if they work on that aspect.

3. OO
- Super good chart here too
- A bit inconsistent maybe with the slow 8ths parts w.r.t. the 8ths jacks
- Great patterning

4.
- Good flow and patterns
- Sadly not a fan of the layering; it's too empty at times when similar intensity song sections were significantly more fully layered
- Needs a bit more polish



If You Can't Hang:

1.
- Storn is that you from the other class? Long anchored jacks, dicksync'd vocals, etc hahaha
- Super solid chart
- A bit repetitive I think because of a possible lack of memorable bits/sections

2.
- Sweet chart
- Suffers the same symptom as #1 but a bit more
- Bass kick layering and patterning feels a bit inconsistent (8ths minijacks or not)
- 2 or 3 instances of a missing 16th in the streams iirc

3.
- Pretty fun chart overall
- First half overlayering doesnt fit the rest of the chart
- Breakdown sections seem underlayered
- Nice jump/hand gluts patterns

4.
- Cool attempt at a lower difficulty layering
- 16ths minijack into jumps are by far too spiky for the chart
- Needs polish on the vocals sync, felt a bit too far off the actual timing on some notes
- Good consistency in general

5. OO
- Wow that's pretty solid
- This is (imo) a very good example of the layering following the intensity of the song while still providing variety in similar sections.

6.
- Interesting take on the no-vocals layering, fun to play overall
- Lacking variety because of the layering though; the jumptrills become repetitive quite quickly
- Important to note that (12)(34) stuff is Not equivalent to (14)(23), especially with minijack transitions out of them
- Consistency is great

7.
- Well that was tiring to say the least hahaha. I'll assume it's all fully thought through anyway.
- Although the layering matches the intensity relatively well overall, the patterning is too abrasive. There are unnecessary 16ths minijacks in the 32nds js.
- Lacking memorable bits/sections, too repetitive

8. O
- Very solid chart
- Similar thoughts (pros and cons) to #1 really, not much else different to say.



Koneko's Cafe:

1. OO
- Very cute and fun chart
- Solid flow of the patterns and low intensity layering
- I'm not entirely sure if I like that 32nds rolly usage, feels a bit generic maybe? Although the patterns used in those are still pretty fun. Just a preference thing

2.
- If the song was that single cut, I'd seriously want it ingame because it's well done
- Sadly, this cut definitely misses out on the full song, which is full of fun stuff to chart/play

3.
- Fun chart overall
- 32nds full on trills are a bit too spiky for the rest of the chart
- Layering could use a little polish
- Flows pretty nicely

4.
- Cool low difficulty approach
- Layering decisions make the chart a bit bland when you consider what's going on in the song, especially the use of the 24ths
- Great PR and patterning overall, fun to play

5.
- Good chart with nice ideas here and there
- The two colored jacks are quite memey; they dont really fit the low intensity of the sounds they go to
- 32nds trills in first half are pretty generic and bland, even wrong at one part, but in the second half they're much more fun and varied
- Has good potential, but needs polishing

6. O
- Very well executed low difficulty chart, good job
- Not my preference in terms of how much potential of the song it uses, but I totally wouldnt mind seeing this ingame



I'm The Boss:

1.
- Interesting vocals-only chart
- The coloring's purpose is clear, but I personally think it's a crutch to make the parts seems more interesting and distinct despite the generic layering
- Great PR overall
- The mix of grace notes in the hand jacks is a bit spiky

2. OO
- Very solid execution
- Nice memorable parts (that includes that silly 1 (12) (123) (1234) hahah)
- I'd say the first half is a bit underwhelming relative to second half in terms of difficulty
- Great flow and PR

3. O
- Nice flowing chart
- The layering choices makes it too generic for me, especially with no cut it gets quite repetitive
- PR is good outside of long js

4.
- Pretty good execution overall
- The consistency is solid throughout
- Color usage feels a bit overdone in parts, especially the denser ones where it becomes a non-negligible spike
- I'm not sure what to think of the 32nds mini bursts being the global difficulty of the chart

5.
- Good simple chart
- Similar thoughts as #3.
- Bit of inconsistency in PR within the js at the end vs the other js sections (see the "very very sorry..." parts)

6.
- Fun low difficulty chart
- Consistency is good throughout
- Weird coloring on the various "I'm the boss" lines?
- Bit too generic overall too, doesn't reflect the big differences in song sections. That's mostly due to layering decisions

[AAAorQUIT]

Re: StepCon 2022

cant wait to play these when i head home from school. good luck gamers!

[ToonE156]

Re: StepCon 2022

"If You Can't Hang 7" jesus christ

[Psychotik]

Re: StepCon 2022

Here are my notes. No voting results or anything but you can sorta infer what way I voted based on my impressions. I voted for 3 Koneko's, 2 If You Can't Hang, and 1 for the other two.

Boss 1 - If you're going to recolor all of the notes to match very specific elements, better make sure it's consistent.
Definitely there are times where it strays.
Even then I think it's a little overkill and not necessary to adhere to a strict color-coded policy.
This also leads to issues with layering where I thought some parts were too spiky considering the overall difficulty of the file.

Boss 2 - Pretty fun, mostly consistent layering, if maybe a little heavy at points for my tastes.
Also decent patterns that flow pretty well. I do wish the song had a more natural end to it, but that's mostly personal preference.

Boss 3 - This song really needs a cut more than the others just due to the very repetitive nature of it.
There were some inconsistencies in jump usage I noticed during the rap verses, so I wasn't exactly sure what they were following.
Also noticed some missing notes perhaps on my first run through.
Overall it makes sense and flows well, it's just too long for me.

Boss 4 - Oof, almost everything in this chart is defined by OHT transitions and patterns with almost no respite.
This doesn't help conduce a feeling of variety and ease of tension in the hands.
Mix that in with all vocals being stepped as jumps but avoiding gluts just makes it even more trilly. Not something I'm very fond of.

Boss 5 - Plays very well in terms of patterning.
The layering leaves more to be desired though.
The chorus is very dense compared to all the verses, which leads to an imbalanced feel.
I think you could have gone heavier with the jumps in those verses.

Boss 6 - The foundation is there. Like 3, the song really needs a cut due to its repetitive nature.
I didn't really see a point to the BPM changes, since the tempo didn't really change.
Pitch relevancy needs the most work, specifically during the verses, as right now patterning feels a little haphazard.
Noticed some ghost notes going to nothing in particular and some missing notes throughout. It's not a bad start, just needed more polish.

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

Koneko 1 - Not too bad. PR felt decent and patterns were comfortable to play.
Felt a little underlayered at points and I think it could have had some sections a little more filled in.
My biggest qualm I guess is I think the 32nds all being rolls feels a litte too safe and boring. I wish there was a bit more variety.

Koneko 2 -

Koneko 3 - Basically takes what I like from Koneko 1 with some interesting patterning for the 32nds.
I even like the 24th in place of the 32nds for the more muted sections, works quite well.
I do think there's one 32nd trill that's a bit spiky, one of the longer ones.

Koneko 4 - Love the layering and patterning in this.
Very clearly subdued in ways that feel organic, nothing feels really out of place.
Only gripe I guess would be some of the jumps feel inconsistent, but it's pretty minor.

Koneko 5 - Some of the 32nds drills are very hard to hit compared to the rest of the file, and could have been toned down a bit by changing up the patterning.
Same with some of those jack transitions, they felt awkward to hit.
Some jumps I couldn't really make out what they were following. The flams around 150 appear to be the wrong quantization.
I think overall it didn't a little more polish.

Koneko 6 - Possibly the most polished and technically accurate and fun to play patterns of the bunch.
I just wished the burstier musical moments were at least achknowledged by something in the chart.
It's basically the identity of the song and it isn't present in the chart, even in a subdued way.
Mostly just a personal gripe, but there are more interesting ideas personally to me in a few of these other charts.

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

Hang 1 - Very fun patterning, good cut. Maybe a little too heavy on the jacks, feels like they could have been toned down a bit.
There were also some chords I'm not too sure what they were going to. Still good though.

Hang 2 - Not a bad easier interpretation of the song.
Biggest gripe for me is just the PR felt a little too rigid, leading to a lot of left hand bias at points.
And the ending stream felt like a little much.

Hang 3 - This is a chart with an identity crisis.
It's very inconsistent in terms of intensity.
Some more quiet parts feel overlayered with chord jacks and bursts but then powerful verse or chorus sections then feel underwhelming with simple jump-step patterns.
It just delivers a confusing play experience for me.

Hang 4 - Good use of BPM changes to denote tempo.
I liked the minijacks motif to the pretty face lyrics. The rest needs more work.
There are moments were the notes just don't correctly match up to the rhythm it's following, the pitch relevancy is barely there, and you got difficulty spikes with the minijacks at the end of the 16th note rolls.
Sorry if it's a little harsh. It just needs more polish and sounder structural foundation.
Keep it up though.

Hang 5 - Really good. Reminds me of an easier version of Hang 1.
Structure is very explicit and consistent. Pattern are fun. Yeah not much to gripe on this one.

Hang 6 - Really missing out on a lot of variety by omitting the vocals.
That with most of the percussions being stepped by jumps makes this quite repetitive.
I'm also not too crazy by the anchory patterns to being with.

Hang 7 - This chart fucked my wife.

Hang 8 - This is so similar in structure to 1, but lacks some of the polish and pizzazz personally.
There were some anchor-y patterns I didn't really care for all that much, but overall it was fine I think.

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

Passing 1 - Unfortunately the file is just fundamentally flawed as the incorrect quantization is used.
It is not 16th/32nd notes but a mix of 64th note and 12th/24th note swing, for the most part.
Besides that, there are some difficulty spikes with the 32nd one handed trills that burden the enjoyment of the file.

Passing 2 - Structure is pretty explicit and consistent. Unfortunately most of the swing at the start is 64th note swing, not 24th.
Overall I think PR can be a little better. Patterns flow smoothly in the second half, even a little too smoothly, where I wish there were some minijacks or anchor to spice things up.

Passing 3 - The overall structure I think is sorta confusing.
I'm not entirely sure what the jumps are following explicitely, after a few plays.
Again, the swing at the start is 64th swing, not 24ths.
There's also a moment around 1050 where I don't quite follow what rhythm it's following exactly.

Passing 4 - Very good. Patterning makes sense with accurately quantization as far as I can tell (without being very nitpicky anyway).
Structure is consistent throughout. Fun, I like it.

Passing 5 - Most of the swing at the start and end should be 64ths, not 24th, which is a shame because you actually start at the correct quantization.
Besides that, the patterns are inoffensive. I think PR can generally be a bit better.

Passing 6 - A pretty good and fun dumpier chart.
Not exactly to my tastes at all, but I can see people liking it.
Kudos and having proper quantization throughout.

[revolutionomega]

Re: StepCon 2022

I had a lot of fun, thanks to all who submitted!

[AAAorQUIT]

Re: StepCon 2022

very fun playing these

[gold stinger]

Re: StepCon 2022

Videos for the StepCon are out (in-case you don't want to play them/open up FFR):

CLASS A - I'm The Boss:

CLASS B - BUBBLES:

CLASS C - Koneko's Cafe:

CLASS D - If You Can't Hang:

CLASS E - Passing You By:

[M0nkeyz]

Re: StepCon 2022

Decided to post my notes, I feel most people have voted at this point and you can't exactly infer what I voted for from my notes since I voted for multiple entries in all groups.

BUBBLES 1: The 1 note graces were pretty cool and the chart was pretty solid, I just wish you were a little more experimental in your approach. It felt a bit safe to me.
BUBBLES 2: Obviously a dump approach to the song, not sure if the dumped arrows represent the music too well in all spots, but the patterns were pretty satisfying to hit and the chart overall felt pretty solid. I think FFR in general doesn't accept charts like these too often but I liked it.
BUBBLES 3: This was great all across the board, there may have been some technical inaccuracies(hard to tell without opening up the file really), but this is just super satisfying to play. Great job!
BUBBLES 4: I feel this chart could've paid a bit more attention to the drums. There were some interesting rhythms you could've highlighted here. Nonetheless like most of the charts in this group this was pretty solid.

If You Can't Hang 1: Very enjoyable, especially the anchors with the jumps. Nothing negative to say about this chart. My only small tiny complaint is that PR on the hands was a bit questionable and the usage of hands in general felt a bit aggressive, other than that tho, very nice!
If You Can't Hang 2: File felt a bit underlayered. I understand this may have been a concious decision, but it didn't feel appropriate for the song. I caught a couple of missed flams as well. I feel the energy of the chart kinda remained the same throughout and could've been a bit more dynamic.
If You Can't Hang 3: This file captured the rhythms of the song pretty well, but I felt some parts were overlayered in relation to the rest of the chart, especially in the beginning.
If You Can't Hang 4: The difficulty curve of this file is pretty weird. It has a minimalistic approach, but then you have these extremely fast jacks and super long trills near the end of it. I thought the syncopation with the 16ths didn't really work for the vocals. It just didn't capture the intensity of the music very well imo.
If You Can't Hang 5: This was a pretty safe approach to the song, I think one thing this file does particularly well is follow the intensity of the music, but it could've experimented with different patterns a bit more.
If You Can't Hang 6: LMAO, the patterns in this were unironically pretty satisfying haha, but man that was evil. This file definitely stands out, but the intensity almost felt dumpy. I think I would describe this file as overly aggressive, but satisfying at the same time.
If You Can't Hang 7: I'm all for well contructed dumps, but the intensity of the chart felt pretty random. And I feel the purpose of dumping is capturing the intensity and feel of the music, which this chart doesn't.
If You Can't Hang 8: Very solid, definitely one of the better charts in the group.

Passing You By 1: I feel there was a good idea behind this chart, but it lacked in its execution of PR/rhythms and difficulty curve.
Passing You By 2: Solid chart, a bit safe in its approach and I noticed some missed opportunities for jacks.
Passing You By 3: The patterns in this are pretty cool, PR was definitely a bit iffy at times and the middle with the 8th notes felt a bit off, but overall this was pretty enjoyable.
Passing You By 4: HOLY SHIT, this was good. One of my favorite stepcon files so far PERIOD. The intensity going up towards the end felt appropriate as well.
Passing You By 5: Very solid, really liked what you did with the 64th/32nd jacks.
Passing You By 6: Hardest entry for this song, pretty solid as well.

Koneko's Cafe 1: Cute song, cute chart, what more can be said? It dragged a little because of a lack in variation of patterns.
Koneko's Cafe 2: This certainly didn't drag, but if you're gonna submit a 0:22 second entry it better be flawless, unfortunately the anchors were too long and PR wasn't perfect. Submitting a short version isn't a bad idea, but it didn't really stand out for reasons other than the length.
Koneko's Cafe 3: Solid cut, some of the notes felt like ghost notes(this might just be my headphones tho), but the patterns in this were super satisfying to play.
Koneko's Cafe 4: I felt this chart wasn't really dynamic enough for my taste and because you nerfed the ''trilly'' sounds the song felt same-y. It could've benefited from a cut.
Koneko's Cafe 5: That was soooo good. Interesting patterns, good use of bpm gimmicks and just the right song length.
Koneko's Cafe 6: Can't fault you for taking a more ''easy'' approach to this song, but I felt you missed so many opportunities for cool rhythms. It played fine, but didn't really stand out to me.

[gold stinger]

Re: StepCon 2022

2 more days for voting, and then winners for each Class are announced, and the Final StepOff shall begin!

Reminder that the voting cutoff happens at 11:59PM SERVER TIME (overnight) from Thursday into Friday.


edit: there are multiple tie's that need to get resolved, get those votes in! Currently ties in CLASS A, CLASS C, and CLASS E within top 3!

[trumaestro]

Re: StepCon 2022

Discussion has died down, and if people are going to vote, they probably have already. I think I can post my notes without really influencing the outcome. Going to approach this as though I was judging these in batch but from a purely playtest POV.

Bubbles
[Song] It has a pretty wide set of viable methods/focuses for actually making a file. Making a good cut will be important. The song will probably push steppers toward a lower overall play difficulty(~D3-4ish imo), and good 4 minute files at this level are pretty rare. After a cut, some amount of gimmick might be needed to keep player interest.

1 - CR/FR. It can get there with some needed cleanup. Cut is pretty solid, some good ideas like the end anchor and touches of colour theory. Hard to get specific from a playtest, but definitely felt a few rhythm errors. One that could definitely get in game with the benefit of actual judge notes and touch-ups.
2 - Would reject. I don’t think the dump approach used here was effective as it seemed much too arbitrary. No cut and the relative lack of rhythm variety (all 20ths?) makes it pretty dull by the end too.
3 - Would accept. I like this one a fair bit. It’s one I’d like to look at in editor to help ensure general consistency but would be a fine addition to the game.
4 - One on the borderline between reject/min accept. The difficulty curve is not well matched to the music or the rest of the file broadly. Layering was a bit too much in spots while the jacks were pretty uncalled for (ohts would probably fit better). Another one that could work better after some proper judge notes.

If You Can’t Hang
[Song] Music of its era. I don’t overly like it personally but it makes sense that there are so many submissions for it. There’s a surprising amount of detail that can be highlighted in here. A good file for this song will probably need to bring out a bunch of the details in the music, and the struggle will then be keeping consistent.

1 - Would accept. Storn clone jokes aside, this is a solid file. All I can tell from a playtest is that the cut felt a little unnatural, and that this could maybe benefit from fine-tuning the layering.
2 - Would reject. The structure is too simplistic and reminiscent of the widget files of yesteryear. Too many missed opportunities to make this more interesting. An easier approach can definitely work but I would then expect a cut.
3 - CR/FR. I would probably need to give this a bunch of judge notes to help ensure layering consistency, but the bigger concern is the difficulty curve in spots. Felt the js in build ups a bit too much in comparison, but I guess I’m comparatively weak at js idk.
4 - Would reject. Similar to 2, too simplistic and so would expect a cut at this overall difficulty. The stream patterns ending in minijacks were one heck of a throwback to stepmania files from before this song was released. Wouldn’t surprise me if it were from one of the handful of people in this group from back then.
5 - Blackflagged this, 0/10. Would lean toward accept, but somewhat reluctantly. Very dangerous approach to be relatively easy; can quickly become widget-era-like if you’re not careful or don’t have a good cut. But it does have a good amount of detail in here like the vocal layering. I would be conflicted on this but would probably not have a good reason to reject.
6 - CR/FR. Focuses on a lot of -very- background detail in the chill parts which I’m broadly okay with but don’t feel it’s very effective. Love the jumptrill shenanigans in this but would give notes on which ones to nerf/rearrange.
7 - I’m not going to vote for it here, but if you send something like this to a regular FFR batch I would probably accept it.
8 - Would accept. Well executed cut, strong pattern choices, excellent difficulty curve. Probably from someone very experienced. Proud of myself for AAAing.

I’m The Boss
[Song] A cut is damn near mandatory here. While I like the song generally, I don’t think 5 minutes of this would be a good idea to use with its repetition. Wonder if anyone did some colour schemes to match the video…

1 - FR. Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhh I want to vote for this SO BAD. This is almost exactly how I would have approached this song. Vocal focus turns out to be a pretty wise decision with the somewhat repetitive instrumentals. The colour scheme matching the video is an easy A+ move in my book. It’s let down by a very sloppy cut and some sloppy patterns in spots. Fix those, and it’d easily be my choice.
2 - Blackflagged this, 0/10. Would lean toward accept, but somewhat reluctantly. It’s a serviceable file, but I feel it doesn’t do enough to stand out except for the 1[12][123][1234]. Awkwardly placed cut too.
3 - Would lean toward accept, but somewhat reluctantly. It’s a serviceable approach but the js buries more interesting elements. This is a problem that 2 had as well. Sometimes less is more, y’know?
4 - Would lean toward accept, but somewhat reluctantly. 2, 3 and 4 all feel very similar and none really stand out as superior to the others. This one has the best cut so far though.
5 - Blackflagged this, 0/10. Would lean toward accept, but somewhat reluctantly. Y’all know there are other ways to do those sections than jumpstream right? …Right? 2, 3, 4 and 5 feel extremely similar. Feels almost like I played the same file 4 times in a row.
6 - FR. It’s really close. A good cut, some colour consistency tweaks and some miscellaneous judge notes and it’d be a really solid file. I hope to see some more files like this one (with suitable improvements) sent to the batch.

Koneko’s Cafe
[Song] Cute. Not sure whether folks will resist the urge to put in a pile of trills. Choosing which instruments to follow will be tricky, and consistency will be tested. A cut might help, but doesn’t seem overly necessary at a glance. One I’d ordinarily need to look at in the editor closely as a judge to evaluate consistency and sync/correct rhythms, and playtest for flow. Personally think this was the hardest song to step well in this competition.

1 - Would probably accept. This strikes a pretty good balance in its difficulty curve. Might need a couple of very minor tweaks, hard to be very specific without the editor.
2 -
3 - Would probably accept. It’s pretty much the file I expected to see from this group, and it’s pretty enjoyable if you can nail the trills.
4 - Would probably accept. I like the more laid back approach to this one. The colour scheme doesn’t make much sense to me but isn’t a limiting factor here. Pretty good.
5 - FR. What on earth were those jacks lmao. If it weren’t for those it’d be a clear favourite. It seems very well executed.
6 - Would lean toward accept, but somewhat reluctantly. A very straightforward approach, but ended up feeling very draggy. A back-to-basics idea that is better executed by 4 imo.

Will edit this post or post again after the voting period ends with notes for my group’s files.
Edit: Here ya go

Passing You By (my file is #4) Thanks for voting for me y'all
Not going to do the “as if I would judge it” thing here because I wouldn’t actually judge a song I stepped myself so…

[Song] I really find the last ~40 seconds of this song to be extremely awkwardly placed which is part of why I cut it out. It’s an unnecessary repetitive addition to what is a perfectly fine song up to that point. It reflects the 2 hour production time the artist mentions in the youtube description. I almost ragequit when I realized I had placed all the swing in the first section as 24ths when it’s actually 3-64ths. Imo, the buildup 12th section is the most important distinguishing factor, stepartists must navigate the slightly repetitive nature of it while not making something overly boring. My approach was to ramp up the layering, but there are many other valid approaches .I had to playtest my file a lot to ensure that my layering approach to this section felt more seamlessly increasing - harder to notice that you’re suddenly playing something more chordjack-y,

1 - While there are some clear errors (quantization, or choosing the more “correct” rhythms to use in the first sections especially. I got this wrong at first too!), this does show some promise. Some pattern choices are actually pretty suitable in a climax-y kind of way, but others (like those one hand trills) aren’t. Recommend this stepartist look at the other files and/or ask questions of the top 3, and don’t be afraid to send a different file into FFR for even more critique.
2 - Our files are somewhat similar overall. It’s very straightforward, and doesn’t take many opportunities to bring out more interesting elements. Definitely improvable. Would suggest including more notions of the end rolls so they don’t feel as spiky, or just nerf them to 24ths. I approve of where the file ends, but the actual cut (if there is one) is way too abrupt
3 - There’s a handful of little inconsistencies that would get ironed out with judge notes. Pitch relevancy is a little lacking. I like the change up in the ..first ending? Not bad at all, some touch ups and it’d be a really nice file.
5 - Intro and first main section are really good. PR is decent. Not sure what the white notes are meant to highlight, if anything (eg. feel slightly off in spots if following the piano). Pretty solid submission overall.
6 - Very different approach to all the others. Wouldn’t have minded if it went a little more/harder with the dumping in some of the more intense spots. Personally think also reducing some of what was stepped in the more chill parts of the song would improve the file, but suddenly that just turns it into my file lmao. This does a lot of things very right. I’m of course biased to prefer my own file, but this is a damn fine submission.

[FlynnMac]

Re: StepCon 2022

Should be able to finally play stuff today hooray! It'll probably be in an hour-ish when I can play so will edit with thoughts after I finish.

[revolutionomega]

Re: StepCon 2022

Discussion has died down, and if people are going to vote, they probably have already. I think I can post my notes without really influencing the outcome. Going to approach this as though I was judging these in batch but from a purely playtest POV.

Bubbles
[Song] It has a pretty wide set of viable methods/focuses for actually making a file. Making a good cut will be important. The song will probably push steppers toward a lower overall play difficulty(~D3-4ish imo), and good 4 minute files at this level are pretty rare. After a cut, some amount of gimmick might be needed to keep player interest.

1 - CR/FR. It can get there with some needed cleanup. Cut is pretty solid, some good ideas like the end anchor and touches of colour theory. Hard to get specific from a playtest, but definitely felt a few rhythm errors. One that could definitely get in game with the benefit of actual judge notes and touch-ups.
2 - Would reject. I don’t think the dump approach used here was effective as it seemed much too arbitrary. No cut and the relative lack of rhythm variety (all 20ths?) makes it pretty dull by the end too.
3 - Would accept. I like this one a fair bit. It’s one I’d like to look at in editor to help ensure general consistency but would be a fine addition to the game.
4 - One on the borderline between reject/min accept. The difficulty curve is not well matched to the music or the rest of the file broadly. Layering was a bit too much in spots while the jacks were pretty uncalled for (ohts would probably fit better). Another one that could work better after some proper judge notes.

If You Can’t Hang
[Song] Music of its era. I don’t overly like it personally but it makes sense that there are so many submissions for it. There’s a surprising amount of detail that can be highlighted in here. A good file for this song will probably need to bring out a bunch of the details in the music, and the struggle will then be keeping consistent.

1 - Would accept. Storn clone jokes aside, this is a solid file. All I can tell from a playtest is that the cut felt a little unnatural, and that this could maybe benefit from fine-tuning the layering.
2 - Would reject. The structure is too simplistic and reminiscent of the widget files of yesteryear. Too many missed opportunities to make this more interesting. An easier approach can definitely work but I would then expect a cut.
3 - CR/FR. I would probably need to give this a bunch of judge notes to help ensure layering consistency, but the bigger concern is the difficulty curve in spots. Felt the js in build ups a bit too much in comparison, but I guess I’m comparatively weak at js idk.
4 - Would reject. Similar to 2, too simplistic and so would expect a cut at this overall difficulty. The stream patterns ending in minijacks were one heck of a throwback to stepmania files from before this song was released. Wouldn’t surprise me if it were from one of the handful of people in this group from back then.
5 - Blackflagged this, 0/10. Would lean toward accept, but somewhat reluctantly. Very dangerous approach to be relatively easy; can quickly become widget-era-like if you’re not careful or don’t have a good cut. But it does have a good amount of detail in here like the vocal layering. I would be conflicted on this but would probably not have a good reason to reject.
6 - CR/FR. Focuses on a lot of -very- background detail in the chill parts which I’m broadly okay with but don’t feel it’s very effective. Love the jumptrill shenanigans in this but would give notes on which ones to nerf/rearrange.
7 - I’m not going to vote for it here, but if you send something like this to a regular FFR batch I would probably accept it.
8 - Would accept. Well executed cut, strong pattern choices, excellent difficulty curve. Probably from someone very experienced. Proud of myself for AAAing.

I’m The Boss
[Song] A cut is damn near mandatory here. While I like the song generally, I don’t think 5 minutes of this would be a good idea to use with its repetition. Wonder if anyone did some colour schemes to match the video…

1 - FR. Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhh I want to vote for this SO BAD. This is almost exactly how I would have approached this song. Vocal focus turns out to be a pretty wise decision with the somewhat repetitive instrumentals. The colour scheme matching the video is an easy A+ move in my book. It’s let down by a very sloppy cut and some sloppy patterns in spots. Fix those, and it’d easily be my choice.
2 - Blackflagged this, 0/10. Would lean toward accept, but somewhat reluctantly. It’s a serviceable file, but I feel it doesn’t do enough to stand out except for the 1[12][123][1234]. Awkwardly placed cut too.
3 - Would lean toward accept, but somewhat reluctantly. It’s a serviceable approach but the js buries more interesting elements. This is a problem that 2 had as well. Sometimes less is more, y’know?
4 - Would lean toward accept, but somewhat reluctantly. 2, 3 and 4 all feel very similar and none really stand out as superior to the others. This one has the best cut so far though.
5 - Blackflagged this, 0/10. Would lean toward accept, but somewhat reluctantly. Y’all know there are other ways to do those sections than jumpstream right? …Right? 2, 3, 4 and 5 feel extremely similar. Feels almost like I played the same file 4 times in a row.
6 - FR. It’s really close. A good cut, some colour consistency tweaks and some miscellaneous judge notes and it’d be a really solid file. I hope to see some more files like this one (with suitable improvements) sent to the batch.

Koneko’s Cafe
[Song] Cute. Not sure whether folks will resist the urge to put in a pile of trills. Choosing which instruments to follow will be tricky, and consistency will be tested. A cut might help, but doesn’t seem overly necessary at a glance. One I’d ordinarily need to look at in the editor closely as a judge to evaluate consistency and sync/correct rhythms, and playtest for flow. Personally think this was the hardest song to step well in this competition.

1 - Would probably accept. This strikes a pretty good balance in its difficulty curve. Might need a couple of very minor tweaks, hard to be very specific without the editor.
2 -
3 - Would probably accept. It’s pretty much the file I expected to see from this group, and it’s pretty enjoyable if you can nail the trills.
4 - Would probably accept. I like the more laid back approach to this one. The colour scheme doesn’t make much sense to me but isn’t a limiting factor here. Pretty good.
5 - FR. What on earth were those jacks lmao. If it weren’t for those it’d be a clear favourite. It seems very well executed.
6 - Would lean toward accept, but somewhat reluctantly. A very straightforward approach, but ended up feeling very draggy. A back-to-basics idea that is better executed by 4 imo.

Will edit this post or post again after the voting period ends with notes for my group’s files.

Summary - Would lean towards accept, but somewhat reluctantly :P