BEST-mix.net - DDR Simfile Tournament

I have a few quick questions for those still hanging around:

1) Did you read feedback about your file (from judges or PR) BEYOND simply looking at the scores you got?

2) Did you believe the feedback was accurate, or were they making crap up?

3) Have you ever used feedback from other tournament files you have entered to make your file better in ways you hadn't previously been aware of?

and the last one
4) Was there any feedback from this tournament you will actually use in making your next tournament file? - and if so, where did you get that feedback from?

Thanks guys!

1) Yes. I always do. It always helps me improve or think of something I can do next time.

2) I was happy with most of the feedback and I thought it was pretty fair.

3) Yes. I always try to remember feedback I got from other tournaments when making a file. Feedback from other people's files can actually help, too, if you're gonna do a similar type of song.

4) Probably. I know my artist logo on my banner was a little hard to read, so I plan on making a better Safri Duo logo next time I step a Safri Duo song (which I will, sometime in the near future). Also, I ditched the gross CD title for the final release of my file and will never make a CD title in that fashion ever again.

BLueSS wrote:I have a few quick questions for those still hanging around:

1) Did you read feedback about your file (from judges or PR) BEYOND simply looking at the scores you got?

2) Did you believe the feedback was accurate, or were they making crap up?

3) Have you ever used feedback from other tournament files you have entered to make your file better in ways you hadn't previously been aware of?

and the last one
4) Was there any feedback from this tournament you will actually use in making your next tournament file? - and if so, where did you get that feedback from?

Thanks guys!

1. Yes.

2. Accurate (other than saying it must be a joke file, wouldn't it have to be a joke song before it could be a joke file? I mean come on it was a mainstream popular song; although I admit that I did try to bring out the humor of it.).

3. No. Pretty much all my feedback amounts to, bad steps, bad song choice.

4. Nope. If I were to enter any tournaments, I would have continued to make bad song choices because to me they aren't bad songs, I don't see a need to add to this huge bemani / eurobeat / j-pop collection I have going on from everyone else's song choices.

I always read all my feedback. If anything, scores mean very little to me.

And while I've never gone back and tried to remake a contest entry, I do always take the feedback on my entries to heart for future reference. Of course, forgetting the subtitle on my graphics isn't something I'll do again any time soon, you can bet. I always pay a little more attention to specific feedback (i.e., that names measure numbers).

1. Yes, you can't really improve unless you look at the comments.

2. Most of the feedback for me was accurate, though some criticisms (not just for my file) seemed weird. Some of the ratings that were posted completely shocked me (how are you supposed to compare Cafe Cafe to Over 9000?).

3. Yeah, mainly some small things though. I improve mainly by studying traditions frequently used in my favorite public simfiles.

4. I won't be allowing the final phrase of my file to be overly "empty" (could've added in a few more steps, as Super_Ray stated).

1) See Hellrazor.

3) See above.

4) See above.

2) Judges: accurate. Public: talked complete gobshite.

Wellian wrote:gobshite

Long time since I heard that word!

But still,

1) Yes, surely that's the norm.
2) I didn't get my face kicked in after all, so to be fair, I couldn't care less.
3) I don't get the question...
4) Yes. All of the feedback shall be digested and crapped out into the form of my next contest entry. Hopefully, it won't be crap...

The feedback I got seemed fair. Although to me, it looks like the public favors simple straightforward charts over more difficult/technical charts.

1) Yes

2) Most of it. I'm still a little miffed about the "This felt like it came straight out of DDR, 6/10" review because my actual goal in making simfiles is to make stuff that feels like it came straight out of DDR.

3) Usually not files that I already made (the only one I can think of that I've updated based on feedback was Shake it Down) but I do use it for files I make in the future, especially if it's from people I know well.

4) Probably not, to be honest. I liked how my file turned out this tournament, I don't think I'd change anything about it.

Although I didn't get my entry done in time, I can still give some worthwhile answers to these questions, at least as far as competitions in general are concerned.

1) I do read all feedback given to my files in these tourneys. I even have text files stored on my computer containing copies of many of the reviews I've gotten for my entries.

2) Generally speaking, I do consider the feedback I've received to be accurate. I might not always agree with the reviewer, but I don't believe they're just "making up crap".

3 and 4) Yes to both. The whole reason I entered my first simfile into OSC4 was to ensure I got feedback on it, and all competitions I've entered since then have been primarily for the same reason. I've used the feedback I've received on all of these entries to steadily improve my creation skills. And as I still have alot to learn, I will continue to follow this idea for the foreseeable future.

Xythar wrote:my actual goal in making simfiles is to make stuff that feels like it came straight out of DDR.

AMEN

Jezendar wrote:3 and 4) Yes to both. The whole reason I entered my first simfile into OSC4 was to ensure I got feedback on it, and all competitions I've entered since then have been primarily for the same reason. I've used the feedback I've received on all of these entries to steadily improve my creation skills. And as I still have alot to learn, I will continue to follow this idea for the foreseeable future.

QFT

You get zero feedback just releasing things into the general population. Contests are the way to go, and further, I find I'm actually motivated to improve with each new entry.

1) Did you read feedback about your file (from judges or PR) BEYOND simply looking at the scores you got?

Yes!

2) Did you believe the feedback was accurate, or were they making crap up?

Judge #2 seemed to be way off

http://r21freak.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1630

3) Have you ever used feedback from other tournament files you have entered to make your file better in ways you hadn't previously been aware of?

No

and the last one
4) Was there any feedback from this tournament you will actually use in making your next tournament file? - and if so, where did you get that feedback from?

Not much. Even after doing really good with OSC5 ITG division, I'm still contantly experimenting differently and trying to see how will the community react when I make stepfile in different ways.

Experiment conclusions from previous contests:
-Live bagpipe bands (OSC2) = makes people's ears bleed, total hatred from Neko
-Live Chinese pop concert (OSC3) = not many people like this type of music, despite good steps
-My own remix of Jingle Bells with tons of BPM gimmicks (christmasmix): that alone killed the stepfile, and later release tamed down the gimmicks
-My own remix of a song from Doom (video game mix): surprising did very well.
-Black metal (OSC4 ITG): goes pretty well with people, although it's not really a genre that will become people's favorites
-The classic star wars theme song (TV and movie mix): Not liked by the public
-Cutie love anime song with challenging expert steps (OSC4 DDR): that chart alone bombed the whole stepfile
-The overstepped Emerald Sword (OSC5 ITG) with simplified steps and inconsistent rhythms: to my surprise this worked really well.
-Generic eurobeat with random rhythms in the opening/ending (OSC5 DDR): Only 2 judges, that don't really count (even if it did pretty well). Most of the PR's say that the synth sections' rhythms are too random, but Lilina (the one that gave my best-mix entry a 12/50) liked this one alot and gave me 9.5/10.
-My own composition (Stepmix #1): hardly any comments. BOO! How well did I compose the song? How well did I make steps to the song I composed?
-an o2jam song with 16th-filled expert (Late night love): that chart didn't quite work, and quality of my steps seemed to begin deterorigating. Since that chart is an extra, the rest of the stepfile performed decently.
-Moogleism-ed gothic rock (Rock mix): 10 foot expert steps = no go, although the rest did decently
-Power metal with messy 10 hard and 13/14 foot expert (Rock mix): didn't work.
-"Song of xxx" o2jam song with annoying girl (Cheesemix 4): People hated the song. Period.
-Fast anime ending featuring a DDR singer filled with heavy crossovers (best-mix #1): Half of the PRs didn't like it, the other half sort of liked it. Complete bomb by Lilina.
-Excessive handplants mixed with huge bunch of turns, and "made up rhythms" (r21fream pad comp #1): didn't work

Dark Luke wrote:-Live bagpipe bands (OSC2) = makes people's ears bleed, total hatred from Neko
-Live Chinese pop concert (OSC3) = not many people like this type of music, despite good steps

If you're talking about Tanzwut and Red Sun, I love the fuck out of both of those files, FWIW.

His OSC2 entry was Saltarello, actually. It's a live recording of a bagpipe-playing marching band, from what I remember. I'm not really fond of Red Sun, but it isn't bad, and Tanzwut is awesome! I'd also like to go on record as saying that Dancing in my Dreams was the first Initial-D-related simfile* that I found enjoyable, regardless of how iffy the synths might have been (can't remember the chart offhand).

* First Initial-D simfile that I know of, at least. I've neither played the games nor watched the anime.