Questions for stepartists

[hi19hi19]

Re: Questions for stepartists

I enjoy stepping something challenging (and not just hard from a player standpoint, I mean hard from a simfile artist standpoint as well).

These two songs were recently recommended to me by various people:

If you want challenging to step...

On one hand Venetian Snares and Aphex Twin aren't exactly groundbreaking artist choices (lmao) but the songs are pretty interesting.
Both have sections that have no semblance of a consistent BPM, for starters... could also do the Bell Orchestre cover of Bucephalus Bouncing Ball, it's a little more consistent but still awesome.
Maybe we should collab or something (jk I never follow through on collabs because I'm a space cadet)

[Tidus810]

Re: Questions for stepartists

(jk I never follow through on collabs because I'm a space cadet)

ohi der. :P

[SKG_Scintill]

Re: Questions for stepartists

Lol I've tried to step Bucephalus Bouncing Ball like 5 times

[EzExZeRo7497]

Re: Questions for stepartists

Haven't really released or sent any files to a pack or anything but I do make files... so why not.

Who has influenced your stepping style and why?
A lot of people I guess. My style is something along the lines of "less technicality and more on consistent difficulty via layering", so I'd say people like IcyWorld or Metzger are my main influences (Not because it's mostly jumpstream, but they tend to layer a lot to make files difficult). I get influenced by Toph or Zaghurim because of consistent and straightforward difficulty.

If you just started stepping who do you look up to?
A lot as well. hi19hi19, Kommisar, Gundam-Dude, leonid, Wayward Vagabond (wc), DossarLX, just to name off my head.

[hi19hi19]

Re: Questions for stepartists

Lol I've tried to step Bucephalus Bouncing Ball like 5 times

Ya it's a doozy

[moches]

Re: Questions for stepartists

who has influenced your stepping style and why?
a lotta people. from 2006 to 2007, I was figuratively in a cave when it came to Stepmania: no contact w/the community at large. the first project I ever sent a file to was Keyboard Ultimix, where SulferDragon and Kommisar were judging (and Ben Speirs, hehu. hi, Ben!). only 2 files out of 20 got in, but I got a lotta feedback from both judges that gave me a pointer towards the basics of stepping, and over the period of working with that project, my files began to develop a structure of their own...

both Sulfer and Kommisar were the first two people in the community that I ever looked up to...and still look up to today.

2008 was just me messing around in Stepmania but not making anything worth much, lol. my files then were almost purely geared towards technical value, mostly influenced by the big influence of elitism in the community that make me feel like I had to follow "THE RIGHT STYLE OF STEPPING" or sth. didnt get much help from anybody, either.

I did meet a duder named Puppet when I submitted for the second FFR Community Pack who provided some very unique criticism of my submissions. his files were...unlike anything I had ever played before. I honestly feel that he was the Kil of his era: he messed around with things that most people never even thought about and broke ~stepping conventions~ of the time in the process. to this day, he remains a huge presence in my files, particularly in my mine and jack usage.

at the same time, the Xoon community provided a great place for aspiring stepartists like myself to flourish under the tutelage of one Mr. Kommisar. what made the community special was the relative lack of elitism among the authority figures: everybody's work was valued. ppl seriously underestimate the good a friendly, open community does to a collaborative game like Stepmania, but Bluexoon was to me what I'm sure SMGroove might have been to other big stepartists of the past.

even better, this was where I met Gundam-Dude for the first time while working on Xoon Finale/the infamous Drama Packs/Xoon 4. we rose together throughout our respective careers, and to this day I value his files very much. like he said in his answer to this question, we definitely fed each other but took off in different directions.

to sum up:

SulferDragon
Kommisar
Puppet
Gundam-Dude

if you just started stepping who do you look up to?
n/a

for the vet stepartists
would you say you have your own style?
every stepartist develops his own style with enough releases and influence from other artists' work. mine is mostly unique in the artistic usage of mines: if you look at files like Programmed World, I was one of the first people to use them for detailwork instead of difficulty. the other big thing is COLOR THEOREMS, which I first used in Balloon Park and developed from there. I especially love the 48th teal notes. they're beautiful.

judging from the amount of time it takes for me to still finish a damn file, though, I still focus a lot more on pitch relevancy than I probably should. my files also tend to be much much easier than those of most prolific artists: who knows why, really. I guess I've never really found a need to make a file more diffiult to better express the song.

honestly, CROQEL is probably a comprehensive summary of everything that makes my stepping style unique. call me arrogant, but I don't think anybody could have stepped that song the way I did. or even thought of the concept, hehe.

how much has your stepping/style evolved since you started?
it evolves all the time and I wouldnt have it any other way.

[samurai7694]

Re: Questions for stepartists

kommisar - amazing stream patterns. some people say it doesn't flow well...and I beg to differ. I sort of had it in me since stepping day 1 except my files sucked, but I try to make my stream patterns very comfortable now (with little to no one hand patterns and somewhat index-friendly).

gundam dude - playing his files sort of made me use holds more when making files for stepmania (except my first few SM files released had too much holds) as well as color theory which Byron showed me how to do

patashu - in a strange way got me more open to left hand jacks (Grist, J'ai, and stepmania file Jig) and also told me about percussion layering when judging my GENTLEMAN file a long time ago, and noticing some ghost notes (guitar feedback/sounds in Grist dafuq) which I sometimes do to be honest.

bmah - layering which would sometimes work out well with patterns such as at 747 combo in Necropotence and most of the jump heavy sections in Rock Rock Rock. I LOVE files like these)

[ScylaX]

Re: Questions for stepartists

the artistic usage of mines:

How could I forget that. It's like I forgot I put mines in my files since the beginning rofl

[Wayward Vagabond]

Re: Questions for stepartists

Another question for all you stepartists

What kind of songs do you seem to find yourself stepping the most? Has the type of song changed over the years?

[Elite Ninja]

Re: Questions for stepartists

What kind of songs do you seem to find yourself stepping the most? Has the type of song changed over the years?

At first I started with simple techno songs. Then started stepping some DnB. And a few other genres here and there. Guess electronic music is the main kind I step though.

I just recently finished stepping this song which was a lot of fun:

[kommisar]

Re: Questions for stepartists


What kind of songs do you seem to find yourself stepping the most? Has the type of song changed over the years?


welllllllllllllllllll





























chiptunes.

Started off doing songs I listened to on a regular basis, but as I started stepping more "steppable" material, I delved into Bemani tracks, chiptunes, vgmetal and often some sort of electro genre variation.

[moches]

Re: Questions for stepartists

What kind of songs do you seem to find yourself stepping the most? Has the type of song changed over the years?

i never really cared, but most of my songs are constant bpm since I never learned how to sync :3 after Programmed World I got into stepping kors k songs, which eventually evolved into a lot of Bemani songs. Serenade/Phlogiston are two other artists that I have constantly stepped. usually if I step one song by an artist/genre and it feels good, I step more songs from that artist/genre

and recently I have stepped a lot of pop music, starting with a 2NE1 file back in FFR Autumn 2011 and leading up to a couplea other files. seems to fit my style well

so bottom line is...Serenade, kors k, Phlogiston, Bemani, chiptunes, and most recently pop

[AlexDest]

Re: Questions for stepartists

What kind of songs do you seem to find yourself stepping the most? Has the type of song changed over the years?

I'm up for any kind of challenge really, it offers me a wide variety of ideas.

But, I do enjoy stepping anything that has a rough and fast-paced mood to it. Breakcore, IDM, DnB, etc.

[SKG_Scintill]

Re: Questions for stepartists

What kind of songs do you seem to find yourself stepping the most? Has the type of song changed over the years?

I've tried plenty of genres, but rock with interesting rhythms/time signatures always take the cake. (I don't even like the music, just for stepping)

When I started I DID step everything, which I wasn't good at, even though I thought I was.

[xferrarix]

Re: Questions for stepartists

What kind of songs do you seem to find yourself stepping the most? Has the type of song changed over the years?

VGM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and nop, every now and then i'll step a real song