Calamitous Strike

[Leorina]

I've posted this same topic on a couple other forums but I haven't updated them in a while so this one will be the one that I keep updating

I am creating a simfile pack called Calamitous Strike and, although most of the songs have been previously stepped, I am going to be making steps for all difficulties except novice/beginner (that is for idiots who don't feel like trying).

The list will be divided into sections and as they are completed they will be updated...there will be a few songs that will only have expert however because I decided that they would be like boss songs in my pack...any links to good music or music you may want to hear in my pack would be great...just keep in mind that I don't have a credit card and I don't like stepping longer songs because it takes too much time and I can't test them on the machine near me because it is r23.

Complete:

AA--DJ Amuro (-,4,7,9,11)(14)
Do It Like We Do--Plus System (-,3,6,8,9)

Working:

Empyrean (Instrumental)--Sonitus Vir (-,-,-,-,9)
Scatman (Remix)--Scatman John
Stunt Flying--Dr. Flowershirts (-,-,-,-,11)

Not Started:

Pokemon (Dance Mix)
Virtual Emotion--KaW
Millenium--Stratovarious
Among others

I've decided that if I am going to have a contest for BG's/BN's then I should list the songs that are going to be in the pack...unfortunately the pack is changing on account of I either don't like the song, I can't get good steps to it, or there are new songs so check in everyday to see if I've updated because I have a log of when I did at the bottom of my first post and I'm thinking of putting it in my sig as well.  Also my sig will only have the last 5 updates that I do.

Update: 9/28/08--Added expert difficulties for some songs and a hard difficulty
           9/30/08--Changed reasoning for song pack and added a few songs to Not Started
           10/5/08--Finished AA and have keyboard steps in the second parentheses
           10/14/08--Finished Do It Like We Do and working on a few new ones

[OmegaOmni]

KaW is Virtual Emotion

[Leorina]

KaW is Virtual Emotion

Ding ding ding...we have a winner...please choose your prize

[OmegaOmni]

I will take the cute puppy.

[Bobbias]

How difficult are you planning on making the steps? Unfortunately, since I have no adapter for my pad, I don't play pad steps in SM, and I'm always interested in more keyboard packs being release (because since a0.com imploded, it's been impossible to find many quality keyboard steps that aren't made by the ODI or smg cliques... Bemanistyle is practically useless since a HUGE portion of their database is made up of either poorly made pad stepfiles, or poorly made keyboard stepfiles, and there's no real way to discover new songs/artists/stepfiles other than wasting your time downloading and going through the trillion files that get uploaded every day.)

[Leorina]

How difficult are you planning on making the steps? Unfortunately, since I have no adapter for my pad, I don't play pad steps in SM, and I'm always interested in more keyboard packs being release (because since a0.com imploded, it's been impossible to find many quality keyboard steps that aren't made by the ODI or smg cliques... Bemanistyle is practically useless since a HUGE portion of their database is made up of either poorly made pad stepfiles, or poorly made keyboard stepfiles, and there's no real way to discover new songs/artists/stepfiles other than wasting your time downloading and going through the trillion files that get uploaded every day.)

Well I am thinking about making the edit difficulty the keyboard chart but I've never really been good at making keyboard charts because I like to play my steps rather than spazz out with them...I agree with you there are only a few charts on bemanistyle that are good...I actually have 9 on there myself.  Look up step artist ChaosDragoon...I worked on them (there are no BG's though).  It gives you an idea of what I make but I am always improving because of comments (I haven't had any comments though) and also on filefront I released a sneak peek into the pack under the name Kingston89...the songs that I am letting people peek at is AA, Do It Like We Do, and Empyrean (Instrumental).

As for the difficulty ratings I have decided that I will range it according to what songs I get and how I feel the steps should be to the music because I don't want like a 15 on a song like Coma (from MGD).  So as I update I'll post not only the file difficulties but also the pack range for each difficulty.  The average I'm looking at right now is 9-11 with a couple 12's and maybe a 13.

[Bobbias]

Not all keyboard steps are "spazzing out". IDM files, sure, but something like Shind Bad really isn't spazzing out.

I do think that in some ways it actually takes more thought to create pad steps than keyboard steps sometimes. With pad steps, you need to be a lot more conservative with which sounds you follow, whereas with keyboard steps, you can pick something, like the lead, and even layer the rhythm over it at times.

I haven't played many keyboard steps lately (well, i haven't really played any other than the steps in the DDR Supernova that I own), but I do remember my thoughts on some of the pad steps from officials. I always felt that they didn't follow the song very well at times on the easier difficulties. I doubt I could have made pad steps even if that was where my skill was at, because I just couldn't stand steps that didn't really follow the song perfectly.

So that's more or less my bias with stepfiles: they need to fit the song well, and not selectively follow a sound only when they feel like it.

However, I still think there is a limit. I can't stand the new ideology with keyboard steps that triples and quads should be used so often. I am a spread player and I still think that 95% of the new files use triples and quads WAY too much. I'm used to stuff like when Reach and HST and the guys around then were releasing files. Most of the files were still rather difficult (I still absolutely LOVE Reach's Air sim), but didn't abuse things like triples and such. A good example of someone that does that is Glove.

Anyway, to cut myself off here before this turns into a rant twice the size it is already, I may still check out your files, just to see if I can make any comments on them. Hopefully I can give you some pointers on how you can make some better keyboard files.

[Leorina]

I understand about all of that with the steps to songs perfectly...that's mostly the point as to why I chose a few songs that have already been stepped...they aren't with the song.

As for the triples and quads...I am not going to make another Necropolis or Atmos Break...they, to me, are just joke charts because I don't want to have to just jump around on my hands having to look up the entire song.  I may have a couple triples or quads but only when I believe neccesary (did I spell that right?)...so don't worry Bobbias...I believe that you will like this pack once I get it done.

I also just decided that this is also going to be a sort of contest...I have pretty much no skill in drawing but I would still like to have backgrounds for my songs...all you have to do is PM me drawings you have/made that include the song name/artist, whatever you think would be cool to look at while playing, and a little blurb somewhere saying who the art is by...if you forget to do that last part then you'll still get credit...just it'll be in the wordpad document along with the pack...aaaaannndddd BEGIN!

[Leorina]

Just wanted to remind those who are interested in this pack that there are no BG/BNs yet and I am having a contest so that when you PM me your art I may just put it into the pack.

All that is needed is:

1) Song Name
2) Artist
3) A Picture drawn by you
4) little signature somewhere indicating that you made it

Also with this I'll put each songs art creator into a little notepad that will come with the pack to give proper credit where it is due so pick up those pens/pencils and paper and make history today!!!!