BM 4 - RULES & SCORING METHOD

[will-i-am]

I did that for previous tournaments (MSPainted the text) and no one called me out on it

I'm afraid these tournaments are bit different.

SCORE CRITERIA: All scores must be whole integers between 1-max
/5 - Presentation (2 being "average")
/11 - Second Hardest chart (4-7 being "average" for a chart)
/11 - Hardest Chart
/3 - Tilt
--------------
Max of /30 points

The final round will be 1st round average + points added from a final poll using approval voting (value/weight TBD).

I don't think this method will work out, considering the differences in point value significance each judge has. I practically never give any charts anything below 50%, but a chart that I may have felt was a 65% (D- worthy) may get a 10% from another reviewer. Anything below 50% to me is probably a chart that would never fit into DDR/ITG, like if there were 24th steams of double-stepping death in an entry submitted to the DDR division or something. And I would probably change the "average" Presentation score to a 3. A 2 is like...ms paint gfx and no extra charts imo.

Also, considering you'll be able to judge 3 sub-brackets that don't have your file in it, and if there's strong files in the other brackets that you know might pose to be a hurdle in later rounds and you decide to make a public review of them...

I'm just sayin'. I think you're on the right track there, but the 1st round average should only be used in a tie-breaking situation, sorta like posing as a way to forever prevent stuff like a GIRLFRIEND/TSPW/WOW 3-way tie, because there's bound to be files that receive the same amount of approval votes in the final. Speaking of which, the 50% of files moving on to round 2 is definitely a +.

[Dark Luke]

I did that for previous tournaments (MSPainted the text) and no one called me out on it

I'm afraid these tournaments are bit different.

SCORE CRITERIA: All scores must be whole integers between 1-max
/5 - Presentation (2 being "average")
/11 - Second Hardest chart (4-7 being "average" for a chart)
/11 - Hardest Chart
/3 - Tilt
--------------
Max of /30 points

The final round will be 1st round average + points added from a final poll using approval voting (value/weight TBD).

I don't think this method will work out, considering the differences in point value significance each judge has. I practically never give any charts anything below 50%, but a chart that I may have felt was a 65% (D- worthy) may get a 10% from another reviewer. Anything below 50% to me is probably a chart that would never fit into DDR/ITG, like if there were 24th steams of double-stepping death in an entry submitted to the DDR division or something. And I would probably change the "average" Presentation score to a 3. A 2 is like...ms paint gfx and no extra charts imo.

Also, considering you'll be able to judge 3 sub-brackets that don't have your file in it, and if there's strong files in the other brackets that you know might pose to be a hurdle in later rounds and you decide to make a public review of them...

I'm just sayin'. I think you're on the right track there, but the 1st round average should only be used in a tie-breaking situation, sorta like posing as a way to forever prevent stuff like a GIRLFRIEND/TSPW/WOW 3-way tie, because there's bound to be files that receive the same amount of approval votes in the final. Speaking of which, the 50% of files moving on to round 2 is definitely a +.

I think you can add letter grades in additional to your numeric marks which can help clarify how good/bad a file is. For example, having things like "(4-7 being "average" for a chart)" might have letter grades corresponding to: (varies between reviewer)
Excellent:
A+: 11
A: 10
A-: 9
Good:
B+: 8
B: 7
B-: 6
Satisfactory:
C+: 5
C: 4
C-: 3
Marginal:
D: 2
D-: 1
Unsatisfactory:
F: 0

Or another example:
Fantastic:
S: 11
Excellent:
A: 10
Great:
B: 9
Decent:
C: 8
Way off:
D: 7
Miss:
E: 6
Fail:
F: 0-5

Anything below 50% to me is probably a chart that would never fit into DDR/ITG, like if there were 24th steams of double-stepping death in an entry submitted to the DDR division or something.

In your case, anything below 50% to you would probably correspond to an F grade. It'll vary by different reviewer however.

[Aki]

Stupid question incoming:

It mentioned that it's the 2 hardest charts that will be judged. In one chart, it has a Standard, Expert, and a Challenge. The challenge step is deliberately an extra on the author's behalf. Which will be judged then? Expert/Challenge, or Standard/Expert?

Or we can specify it ourselves?

[BLueSS]

Stupid question incoming:

It mentioned that it's the 2 hardest charts that will be judged. In one chart, it has a Standard, Expert, and a Challenge. The challenge step is deliberately an extra on the author's behalf. Which will be judged then? Expert/Challenge, or Standard/Expert?

Or we can specify it ourselves?

Expert and Challenge will be judged. If the challenge chart is an extra, it should be marked as an extra chart, which will not be judged.

[Lisek]

Just put the challenge on edit and it won't be judged.

[hellrazor]

Stepcharts - Required
- Judging will only involve the 2 hardest charts in the file (excluding edits)

I read through all the rules.

My initial thought is that the 2 hardest charts will be Single-Challenge and Double-Challenge. Or potentially Solo-Challenge and Double-Challenge.

Personally I don't have a problem (although I'm not that good at solo), I can play both modes in SM 3.9a and SM4.0, and my dance pads have 11 functional buttons each, so I could even play PIU charts, but I don't believe this is your intent and I'm not sure all persons judging files will agree to the same 2 "hardest charts in the file"...

Please clarify which 2 hardest charts (minus EDIT charts) in the file will be judged.

[BLueSS]

Please clarify which 2 hardest charts (minus EDIT charts) in the file will be judged.

Single Player charts only are judged in these tournaments. Solo and Double charts are bonuses only.

[Aki]

I'm afraid these tournaments are bit different.

If you still have Anything Goes 2, go check out what I did for Kumikyoku Niconico Douga

[t7r]

Since the files aren't anonymous anymore, how are we supposed to submit the files? Do we still PM them or we can upload them publicly?

[Juub005]

I was going to comment on this earlier, but I forgot:

Banner - Required
...
-256x80 px, or higher multiplier (RECOMMEND at least 512x160)

Often when I see 512x160 banners in Stepmania, they seem a little squished. That is, Stepmania resizes them back to a smaller size and it doesn't do the best job of it, so it looks kind of... jaggy? I don't know what the proper word is. Can anyone comment on why this might be? (Might it be just because the resolution I run Stepmania at isn't high enough?) If I had to make a personal recommendation I would say 320 x 100 at most, because for me if it's any higher, I end up with the above problem.

[Xythar]

I've seen that too, I think Stepmania just sucks at resizing if you're running at a lower resolution. I like 384x120 personally.

On a similar note, what's the ruling regarding video resolution? Are we still sticking to the 320x240 video size that was popular like 5 years ago when everyone ran the game at like 640x480 or what? I made a 320x240 and a 640x480 version of the video for Far Away and honestly, the 320x240 one looks pretty shocking these days, especially with Stepmania running at 1024x768 (which is about as small as you can get without it being ridiculously tiny when your desktop res is 1920x1080).

Given that they're almost the exact same filesize and the 640x480 one looks significantly better I'd rather include the higher res one, but not if it's going to get people complaining because it killed the framerate on their 5-10 year old PCs.

[BLueSS]

(Might it be just because the resolution I run Stepmania at isn't high enough?)

What resolution are you and Xythar running Stepmania at? I hadn't personally noticed this myself.

Re Video:
I have a couple year old computer that has always ran 640x480 videos fine as well. My opinion would be that if your computer can't smoothly run video and arrows at the same time, it might be time to upgrade.

[Xythar]

I used to see it when I ran at around 640x480 to 800x600. I'm not sure if it's still there now that I'm running at 1024x768 though.

OK, I'll throw in the 640x480 video with the submission and include a link in the readme to the lower res version hosted on my webspace.

[BLueSS]

OK, I'll throw in the 640x480 video with the submission and include a link in the readme to the lower res version hosted on my webspace.

That's a nice and easy solution.

[cpubasic13]

I was going to comment on this earlier, but I forgot:

Banner - Required
...
-256x80 px, or higher multiplier (RECOMMEND at least 512x160)

Often when I see 512x160 banners in Stepmania, they seem a little squished. That is, Stepmania resizes them back to a smaller size and it doesn't do the best job of it, so it looks kind of... jaggy? I don't know what the proper word is. Can anyone comment on why this might be? (Might it be just because the resolution I run Stepmania at isn't high enough?) If I had to make a personal recommendation I would say 320 x 100 at most, because for me if it's any higher, I end up with the above problem.

Most themes set the banner to 256x80 but changing the resolution will make that exact number different. Bigger resolution banners make the banner not blurry when the resolution is changed to be higher, but they will be resized down on smaller resolutions.

I don't tend to notice unless I am at a very high resolution and see blurry banners compared to the rest of the game.