RULES, SCHEDULE, FORMAT
RULES, SCHEDULE, FORMAT
NOTE: BLueSS reserves the right to change any part of the tournament at any time.
BEST-mix #6 is finally here!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm new here, what is BEST-mix?
With this contest, BEST-mix is the longest running custom simfile tournament series for PAD STYLE play.
Specifically, the focus is on DDR STYLE, PRE-DDR X STEP CHARTS. The goal is to have a fun and constructivly competitive simfile tournament where we celebrate old-school DDR. Entries are all judged, and you will receive criticism; but it's all in the hopes that you'll become a better simfile maker and stick around the community. The majority of the audience here are adults, who have had our share of drama over the years. The last time we did this was 9 years ago, and thanks to COVID we all found our way back together. Try making a sappy story about that, Hallmark Channel! (Is that channel even around anymore? I don't see it on my Netflix queue...)
Anyway, here are the important details!
RULES
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overview
- You may submit TWO songs, ONE in EACH in the following divisions:
#1 ANONYMOUS
#2 NON-ANONYMOUS
There will be a winner in each category, and the two categories will not compete against each other.
General Guidelines
- 50MB zip file size limit (yay for 2021 internet)
- .SM File required.
- All judging should be performed in Stepmania 5.x. This is for consistency of video/art/scripting experience.
- The simfile(s) you enter must be new for this tournament. You cannot use any simfile you have already released. Once the tournament is over, you may further publish and release the files.
- A readme file is required for files in both divisions. Obviously, don't say who you are in the anonymous division.
Stepcharts
- This is an old-school DDR Tournament. That means a couple things:
[1] Files can be rated up to 10 foot on a PRE-X rating scale. The file can be however hard you want, but it will be judged by PRE-X difficulty norms; not DDR X and newer charts.
[2] No Mines, Rolls, Handplants, shock arrows, etc.
[3] Fair warning: Do not make a chart that only follows the vocals in the songs, and do not make it an ITG style chart. Those will not be well received here.
- ONLY 2 CHARTS ARE REQUIRED - but more than 2 are always well received by the public.
- Judging will only involve the 2 hardest charts in the file (excluding edits, beginner, and basic charts. So you can choose either Medium / Expert combo, or a Expert / Challenge combo)
Song
- .MP3 or .OGG required. 128kbps bitrate or higher.
- 1:00-2:30 minute length. No long songs allowed.
- No song style or genre restrictions, with the following caveats: NO songs related to COVID, pandemic, medical sicknesses
Songs will be reserved on a first-come bases in the "Song Reservation" thread. (Note: Songs with excessive profanity or vulgar content are prohibited. This is at BLueSS's discression alone. If your song is questionable have BLueSS screen it in advance in case you need to find a different song.)
Banner - Required
- PNG at 512x160px or higher multiplier
- Must include Artist and Song Title
- AVI Banners allowed (Normal PNG Banner Must be included if using an animated one)
Jacket - Required
Yes, I know jackets only came about in recent DDR mixes. It's about accessibility no matter what theme we're all using.
- PNG at 512x512px or higher multiplier
- Must include Artist and Song Title (even if you're using official artwork. DDR X's lack of jacket consistency is annoying)
Background - Required
- PNG at 960x720px or higher multiplier of same aspect ratio (This is 4:3)
- Song Title required, Artist optional.
- Widescreen alternative backgrounds at 1280x720 or higher multiplier encouraged, but not required.
SCORING
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We're not going to break what's worked so well.
Round 1: Public Reviews (PR)
Files will be divided into any number of brackets.
For each bracket there will be a PR thread on the forum. All registered users (whether you entered or not) will be able to vote or judge the files based on choosing one of the 3 following options. No matter which option you chooise, you must equally evaluate all of the songs in a bracket to provide fairness. The reviews that take longer will grant more points to the files.
PR Option 1: Write a Complete Review of all songs in the bracket (assigning 25 points/song)
- Expert chart (10 points) Write a description of what you liked and disliked with the charts, explaining your score.
- Hardest non-Expert chart (10 points)
- Presentation (5 points) Write a description of what you liked and disliked with the artwork.
- Tilt / Preference (±1 point) for ANY reason, but you have to explain it.
NOTE: "Presentation" includes REQUIRED artwork as stated in these rules. Optional additions (videos, cd titles, etc) can only ADD to a score. You cannot take away points from a file because it didn't include enough extras compared to another file.
PR Option 2: Write a Partial Review of all songs in the bracket (15 points/song)
This is the same as above, but only for the EXPERT chart. This is NOT the "hardest" chart.
- Expert chart (10 points) Write a description of what you liked and disliked with the charts, explaining your score.
- Presentation (5 points) Write a description of what you liked and disliked with the artwork. (SEE NOTE ABOVE)
- Tilt / Preference (±1 point) for ANY reason, but you have to explain it.
PR Option 3: Approval Vote (5 points/song)
This is the quick route. You vote for as many songs from the bracket as you want.
Each vote = 5 points for each song you vote for.
Round 1 Scores will be calculated as follows:
Average of Complete Reviews
+ Average of Partial Reviews
+ Average of Approval Votes
= Final score for Round 1
The Top 50% move on to...
--------
Round 2: Possible Wildcard / SEMI-FINALS - TO BE ANNOUNCED (or skipped. This depends on how Round 1 goes.)
--------
Final Round: Approval Voting SHOWDOWN
All forum members (except newly registered voters with no posts) will private message BLueSS their vote for as many files as they want to win BEST-mix. Each vote is 1 point. You are not allowed to vote for your own file.
The winner is the file with the highest amount of votes.
HOW TO ENTER
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TWO METHODS OF ENTRY:
To enter ANONYMOUS - Private Message BLueSS on BEST-mix.net. I will share entry count, but I will NOT reveal the song list until the tournament starts.
To enter NON-ANONYMOUS - Post in the "NON-ANONYMOUS" Song Reservation thread on BEST-mix.net
Song reservation is a first-come/first-served basis.
Make a reply in the thread with the Song Title and Artist for your entry. You should read/search through all the previous posts to ensure nobody has chosen your song. If you want to change your song, make a new post and delete the previous one (or edit it blank). This will help to make sure there isn't a sneaky post edit.
To submit your file(s) Private Message me on BEST-mix with a link to your files.
SCHEDULE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EDIT: FILES DUE - Saturday, April 24th
Sunday - Week 1 - NON-ANONYMOUS BRACKET 1 released.
Sunday - Week 2 - ANONYMOUS BRACKET released
Saturday - END OF WEEK 2 - ALL PR for NON-ANONYMOUS BRACKET 1 due.
Sunday - Week 3 - NON-ANONYMOUS BRACKET 2 released / B1 scoring confirmed
Saturday - END OF WEEK 3 - ALL PR for ANONYMOUS BRACKET due.
Sunday - Week 4 - /Watch/This/Space / Anonymous bracket scoring confirmed
Saturday - END OF WEEK 4 - ALL PR for NON-ANONYMOUS BRACKET 2 due.
Sunday - Week 5 - FINALS WEEK with B2 scoring confirmed
Saturday - END OF WEEK 5 - FINALS WEEK scoring closed
Sunday - Week 6 WINNERS REVEALED
Post any questions / comments below!
Edit1: Change to final round voting, you cannot vote for your own.
Edit2: Pushing the deadline back 2 weeks to April 17th.
Edit3: Cleaned up the very messy schedule section.
Edit4: Revised Scoring.
Edit5: Pushed all scoring back 1 week, to give 2 weeks for PR for each bracket, and added one more week to the schedule.
BEST-mix #6 is finally here!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm new here, what is BEST-mix?
With this contest, BEST-mix is the longest running custom simfile tournament series for PAD STYLE play.
Specifically, the focus is on DDR STYLE, PRE-DDR X STEP CHARTS. The goal is to have a fun and constructivly competitive simfile tournament where we celebrate old-school DDR. Entries are all judged, and you will receive criticism; but it's all in the hopes that you'll become a better simfile maker and stick around the community. The majority of the audience here are adults, who have had our share of drama over the years. The last time we did this was 9 years ago, and thanks to COVID we all found our way back together. Try making a sappy story about that, Hallmark Channel! (Is that channel even around anymore? I don't see it on my Netflix queue...)
Anyway, here are the important details!
RULES
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overview
- You may submit TWO songs, ONE in EACH in the following divisions:
#1 ANONYMOUS
#2 NON-ANONYMOUS
There will be a winner in each category, and the two categories will not compete against each other.
General Guidelines
- 50MB zip file size limit (yay for 2021 internet)
- .SM File required.
- All judging should be performed in Stepmania 5.x. This is for consistency of video/art/scripting experience.
- The simfile(s) you enter must be new for this tournament. You cannot use any simfile you have already released. Once the tournament is over, you may further publish and release the files.
- A readme file is required for files in both divisions. Obviously, don't say who you are in the anonymous division.
Stepcharts
- This is an old-school DDR Tournament. That means a couple things:
[1] Files can be rated up to 10 foot on a PRE-X rating scale. The file can be however hard you want, but it will be judged by PRE-X difficulty norms; not DDR X and newer charts.
[2] No Mines, Rolls, Handplants, shock arrows, etc.
[3] Fair warning: Do not make a chart that only follows the vocals in the songs, and do not make it an ITG style chart. Those will not be well received here.
- ONLY 2 CHARTS ARE REQUIRED - but more than 2 are always well received by the public.
- Judging will only involve the 2 hardest charts in the file (excluding edits, beginner, and basic charts. So you can choose either Medium / Expert combo, or a Expert / Challenge combo)
Song
- .MP3 or .OGG required. 128kbps bitrate or higher.
- 1:00-2:30 minute length. No long songs allowed.
- No song style or genre restrictions, with the following caveats: NO songs related to COVID, pandemic, medical sicknesses
Songs will be reserved on a first-come bases in the "Song Reservation" thread. (Note: Songs with excessive profanity or vulgar content are prohibited. This is at BLueSS's discression alone. If your song is questionable have BLueSS screen it in advance in case you need to find a different song.)
Banner - Required
- PNG at 512x160px or higher multiplier
- Must include Artist and Song Title
- AVI Banners allowed (Normal PNG Banner Must be included if using an animated one)
Jacket - Required
Yes, I know jackets only came about in recent DDR mixes. It's about accessibility no matter what theme we're all using.
- PNG at 512x512px or higher multiplier
- Must include Artist and Song Title (even if you're using official artwork. DDR X's lack of jacket consistency is annoying)
Background - Required
- PNG at 960x720px or higher multiplier of same aspect ratio (This is 4:3)
- Song Title required, Artist optional.
- Widescreen alternative backgrounds at 1280x720 or higher multiplier encouraged, but not required.
SCORING
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We're not going to break what's worked so well.
Round 1: Public Reviews (PR)
Files will be divided into any number of brackets.
For each bracket there will be a PR thread on the forum. All registered users (whether you entered or not) will be able to vote or judge the files based on choosing one of the 3 following options. No matter which option you chooise, you must equally evaluate all of the songs in a bracket to provide fairness. The reviews that take longer will grant more points to the files.
PR Option 1: Write a Complete Review of all songs in the bracket (assigning 25 points/song)
- Expert chart (10 points) Write a description of what you liked and disliked with the charts, explaining your score.
- Hardest non-Expert chart (10 points)
- Presentation (5 points) Write a description of what you liked and disliked with the artwork.
- Tilt / Preference (±1 point) for ANY reason, but you have to explain it.
NOTE: "Presentation" includes REQUIRED artwork as stated in these rules. Optional additions (videos, cd titles, etc) can only ADD to a score. You cannot take away points from a file because it didn't include enough extras compared to another file.
PR Option 2: Write a Partial Review of all songs in the bracket (15 points/song)
This is the same as above, but only for the EXPERT chart. This is NOT the "hardest" chart.
- Expert chart (10 points) Write a description of what you liked and disliked with the charts, explaining your score.
- Presentation (5 points) Write a description of what you liked and disliked with the artwork. (SEE NOTE ABOVE)
- Tilt / Preference (±1 point) for ANY reason, but you have to explain it.
PR Option 3: Approval Vote (5 points/song)
This is the quick route. You vote for as many songs from the bracket as you want.
Each vote = 5 points for each song you vote for.
Round 1 Scores will be calculated as follows:
Average of Complete Reviews
+ Average of Partial Reviews
+ Average of Approval Votes
= Final score for Round 1
The Top 50% move on to...
--------
Round 2: Possible Wildcard / SEMI-FINALS - TO BE ANNOUNCED (or skipped. This depends on how Round 1 goes.)
--------
Final Round: Approval Voting SHOWDOWN
All forum members (except newly registered voters with no posts) will private message BLueSS their vote for as many files as they want to win BEST-mix. Each vote is 1 point. You are not allowed to vote for your own file.
The winner is the file with the highest amount of votes.
HOW TO ENTER
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TWO METHODS OF ENTRY:
To enter ANONYMOUS - Private Message BLueSS on BEST-mix.net. I will share entry count, but I will NOT reveal the song list until the tournament starts.
To enter NON-ANONYMOUS - Post in the "NON-ANONYMOUS" Song Reservation thread on BEST-mix.net
Song reservation is a first-come/first-served basis.
Make a reply in the thread with the Song Title and Artist for your entry. You should read/search through all the previous posts to ensure nobody has chosen your song. If you want to change your song, make a new post and delete the previous one (or edit it blank). This will help to make sure there isn't a sneaky post edit.
To submit your file(s) Private Message me on BEST-mix with a link to your files.
SCHEDULE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EDIT: FILES DUE - Saturday, April 24th
Sunday - Week 1 - NON-ANONYMOUS BRACKET 1 released.
Sunday - Week 2 - ANONYMOUS BRACKET released
Saturday - END OF WEEK 2 - ALL PR for NON-ANONYMOUS BRACKET 1 due.
Sunday - Week 3 - NON-ANONYMOUS BRACKET 2 released / B1 scoring confirmed
Saturday - END OF WEEK 3 - ALL PR for ANONYMOUS BRACKET due.
Sunday - Week 4 - /Watch/This/Space / Anonymous bracket scoring confirmed
Saturday - END OF WEEK 4 - ALL PR for NON-ANONYMOUS BRACKET 2 due.
Sunday - Week 5 - FINALS WEEK with B2 scoring confirmed
Saturday - END OF WEEK 5 - FINALS WEEK scoring closed
Sunday - Week 6 WINNERS REVEALED
Post any questions / comments below!
Edit1: Change to final round voting, you cannot vote for your own.
Edit2: Pushing the deadline back 2 weeks to April 17th.
Edit3: Cleaned up the very messy schedule section.
Edit4: Revised Scoring.
Edit5: Pushed all scoring back 1 week, to give 2 weeks for PR for each bracket, and added one more week to the schedule.
[I make the rules around here]
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Re: RULES and ENTRY DEADLINE - April 3rd
I'm very excited for BEST-mix #6, it's been a long time coming. Thanks for putting this together.
I have a question re: jackets:
If I used the official album cover containing my song choice as the artwork, but the song is not the title track of that album, should the jacket be edited to include the song title anyway?
Example: I choose the hypothetical song "Monster Bass" by the hypothetical artist "DJ Whatever" for the tourney. That song is from an album called "Bass In My Veins" and that's what is written on the cover. Should I edit the jacket to say "Monster Bass" instead of "Bass In My Veins" or would it be fine to use the canonical album art as-is?
Thanks for putting this together.I have a question re: jackets:
- Must include Artist and Song Title (even if you're using official artwork. DDR X's lack of jacket consistency is annoying)
If I used the official album cover containing my song choice as the artwork, but the song is not the title track of that album, should the jacket be edited to include the song title anyway?
Example: I choose the hypothetical song "Monster Bass" by the hypothetical artist "DJ Whatever" for the tourney. That song is from an album called "Bass In My Veins" and that's what is written on the cover. Should I edit the jacket to say "Monster Bass" instead of "Bass In My Veins" or would it be fine to use the canonical album art as-is?
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Re: RULES and ENTRY DEADLINE - April 3rd
For the sake of this tournament, you must include a jacket with the artist and song title, as the jacket essentially replaces the banner in the newer A based theme ui.
You may include the official album art as an alternative jacket.
You may include the official album art as an alternative jacket.
[I make the rules around here]
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Re: RULES and ENTRY DEADLINE - April 3rd
If a song that we have isn't normally under 2:30, are we allowed to edit cuts around the song? (ie. skip parts of the first verse and bridge or remove the second verse and chorus entirely) Or do we have to crop the song for a constant duration? (ie. Only play the song from 0:00 to 2:15 as the original song was structured)
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Re: RULES and ENTRY DEADLINE - April 3rd
ThreeFish wrote:If a song that we have isn't normally under 2:30, are we allowed to edit cuts around the song? (ie. skip parts of the first verse and bridge or remove the second verse and chorus entirely) Or do we have to crop the song for a constant duration? (ie. Only play the song from 0:00 to 2:15 as the original song was structured)
You are free to cut and slice the song in any way you'd like!
[I make the rules around here]
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Re: RULES and ENTRY DEADLINE - NOW April 17th ***
The initial timeframe of 3 weeks was too short.
I've pushed the deadline back 2 WEEKS to April 17th.
I've pushed the deadline back 2 WEEKS to April 17th.
[I make the rules around here]
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Re: RULES and ENTRY DEADLINE - NOW April 17th ***
BLueSS wrote:The initial timeframe of 3 weeks was too short.
I've pushed the deadline back 2 WEEKS to April 17th.
I'm down for this change. I feel any chart I make basically has to incubate for at least a week before I can smooth it out
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Re: NON-ANONYMOUS BRACKET - REGISTER HERE
RaverAce wrote:Song: Fly Away
Artist: Haddaway
This is not related but that php takes me back to the good times
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Re: RULES and ENTRY DEADLINE - NOW April 17th ***
Looking forward to the tournament! Couple of graphics-related questions:
I haven't created a jacket file before. Looking online, it looks like this is supported by .ssc files only? Does this mean we need both .sm and .ssc files included? Or is this the "CDTITLE" tag in the .sm file?
It's mentioned that widescreen backgrounds are encouraged. What's the format for adding a widescreen background if you already have a 4:3 background ending in "-bg.png"?
Thanks!
I haven't created a jacket file before. Looking online, it looks like this is supported by .ssc files only? Does this mean we need both .sm and .ssc files included? Or is this the "CDTITLE" tag in the .sm file?
It's mentioned that widescreen backgrounds are encouraged. What's the format for adding a widescreen background if you already have a 4:3 background ending in "-bg.png"?
Thanks!
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Re: RULES and ENTRY DEADLINE - NOW April 17th ***
shortysnmn2010 wrote:Looking forward to the tournament! Couple of graphics-related questions:
I haven't created a jacket file before. Looking online, it looks like this is supported by .ssc files only? Does this mean we need both .sm and .ssc files included? Or is this the "CDTITLE" tag in the .sm file?
It's perfectly fine to not use an .ssc file since SM5 will automatically pick up whatever ends in "-jacket" as the Jacket file.
shortysnmn2010 wrote:It's mentioned that widescreen backgrounds are encouraged. What's the format for adding a widescreen background if you already have a 4:3 background ending in "-bg.png"?
Thanks!
I'd name it "-bg-wide" or "-bg-alt" but I guess it's up to the author unless BLueSS says otherwise?
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Re: RULES and ENTRY DEADLINE - NOW April 17th ***
t7r wrote:shortysnmn2010 wrote:It's mentioned that widescreen backgrounds are encouraged. What's the format for adding a widescreen background if you already have a 4:3 background ending in "-bg.png"?
Thanks!
I'd name it "-bg-wide" or "-bg-alt" but I guess it's up to the author unless BLueSS says otherwise?
One trick I've seen/used lately is to create a single 1280x960 BG that, when center cropped to 1280x720, still has sensible composition - then stepmania will do the work for you, no need for a second file
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Re: NON-ANONYMOUS BRACKET - REGISTER HERE
So how's everyone's files going? Deadline is this Saturday yeah?
I'm just about finished with mine. Wish I had a little more time to test out the charts but hey, I think they turned out pretty damn good personally
I'm just about finished with mine. Wish I had a little more time to test out the charts but hey, I think they turned out pretty damn good personally
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Re: RULES and ENTRY DEADLINE - NOW April 17th ***
As of this post, I've received the following # of entries fully submitted:
Non-Anonymous: 6 out of 25 (24%)
Anonymous: 7 out of 15 (47%)
I'm going to be completely transparent that after many years of absence, I would much rather have one large tournament where almost everyone completes their entry and we have one grand time playing all these new files we've made and having fun as a community again. I don't want to just have a tournament sticking to deadlines for the sake of deadlines, leaving many of us watching from the sidelines. I've got some targets for completion percentages I'm hoping for before I officially close the deadline, so depending on where Saturday hits percentage wise, there may be another extension. We're not the young group of kids with tons of extra free-time like we used to be. And as a reminder, anyone who has finished may update/change or even replace their entries as much as you want until the final deadline.
Non-Anonymous: 6 out of 25 (24%)
Anonymous: 7 out of 15 (47%)
I'm going to be completely transparent that after many years of absence, I would much rather have one large tournament where almost everyone completes their entry and we have one grand time playing all these new files we've made and having fun as a community again. I don't want to just have a tournament sticking to deadlines for the sake of deadlines, leaving many of us watching from the sidelines. I've got some targets for completion percentages I'm hoping for before I officially close the deadline, so depending on where Saturday hits percentage wise, there may be another extension. We're not the young group of kids with tons of extra free-time like we used to be. And as a reminder, anyone who has finished may update/change or even replace their entries as much as you want until the final deadline.
[I make the rules around here]
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Re: RULES and ENTRY DEADLINE - NOW April 17th ***
Sent mine in
GET HYPED MY BREATHEN
GET HYPED MY BREATHEN
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