[trumaestro]

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.