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In-depth guides on mapping theory?

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Topic Starter
SkullFull
Hi, I'm a shitmapper and I don't know anything about emphasis, structure, patterning, flow, gameplay and basically mapping. I need a guide so I'll stop making aberrations and start mapping decently. Please don't answer with shit like ''place the circles to the beat'', I know I have to place circles, I don't know how to place them. Thanks.
chainpullz
TL;DR:

Usually 4 beats in measure (sometimes 3 or 6) and each new measure is big white tick. Usually every 2 or 4 measures creates a phrase which will often repeat 2-4 times. On the 4th repeat often there is a slight variation transitioning into the start of a different phrase. Each phrase usually has a rising action and a falling action (often times split in half by these 2 actions) but the 4th repeated phrase might be all rising/falling action.

Loud sounds get larger spacing, soft sounds get smaller spacing. You can map 2 different sounds together a lot of times by using smaller spacing for one sound and larger spacing for the other.

If you don't want your map to look like shit then every object should be placed according to some structure (needs to fit well with other objects typically by forming some kind of symmetry or shape or making use of blankets).
Topic Starter
SkullFull

chainpullz wrote:

TL;DR:

Usually 4 beats in measure (sometimes 3 or 6) and each new measure is big white tick. Usually every 2 or 4 measures creates a phrase which will often repeat 2-4 times. On the 4th repeat often there is a slight variation transitioning into the start of a different phrase. Each phrase usually has a rising action and a falling action (often times split in half by these 2 actions) but the 4th repeated phrase might be all rising/falling action.

Loud sounds get larger spacing, soft sounds get smaller spacing. You can map 2 different sounds together a lot of times by using smaller spacing for one sound and larger spacing for the other.

If you don't want your map to look like shit then every object should be placed according to some structure (needs to fit well with other objects typically by forming some kind of symmetry or shape or making use of blankets).
Wow, thanks! Last question: what are blankets? I really don't know. :o
Endaris
t/441929
Map more and ask good mappers for testplays so they tell you the worst sacrilegs you committed in your map.
winber1
press 1, then left click.
Topic Starter
SkullFull

Endaris wrote:

https://osu.ppy.sh/forum/t/441929
Map more and ask good mappers for testplays so they tell you the worst sacrilegs you committed in your map.
Thanks again Endaris, always being helpful :)
gracefu
You want in-depth guides? Well there aren't any...

I will post here all the useful things I've found:

[Basic]

[*](Incomplete) Beginner's terminology guide
t/482554
Read this first to get it out of the way.

[*]Wiki
https://osu.ppy.sh/wiki/Main_Page
Read all the pages in the Beatmap Editor and the Online Editing and Ranking sections. You should know pretty much everything in here by now, but just in case there are any gaps...

[*]The Editor itself
Just click every button and menu item to see what they do =w=

[Intermediate]

[*]Music Theory
t/58959
This tells you how emphasis is USUALLY done in "normal" songs. However, the emphasis will always depend on the song itself! So after reading this, try to listen for which beats are more important than others in actual songs.

[*]Charles' Mapping Theory
https://osu.ppy.sh/u/85000
Goes into why certain patterns PLAY well. Not useful in itself, but very useful to keep in mind when analysing beatmaps.

[*]A trivial bit on aesthetics
t/465718
This tries to explore aesthetics and visuals a bit more. The gem of this post is in the discussion, definitely read this to the end!

[*]-Mo-'s Mapping Theory
t/479828
Personally don't agree with this, but it's good to keep these points in mind when analysing beatmaps.

[*]General
t/435458
This goes more into how to improve and practice mapping, less about any specifics.

[*]Raika's hitsound guide
https://osu.ppy.sh/s/224758
This one is a beatmap. Open this up in the editor to follow the tutorial

[*]Guide Compendium
t/441929
Actually mostly useless. But it contains a lot of links! Read them all because why not. This actually contains most of what I've posted above, but I think the ones above are the more important ones.

[Advanced]

Woops, sorry, there's nothing... Map more xP

But if you're here, re-read the first few guides I linked, maybe.

Edit: wtf formatting is fucking broken.
depzdai

gracefu wrote:

You want in-depth guides? Well there aren't any...
At least there is an in-depth guide for each issue.
Thanks for your effort, I'm finding some of these. :)
_handholding
watch pishifat's youtube vids
Pituophis

Kisses wrote:

watch pishifat's youtube vids
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL3az8F ... GGoLIrQtOx
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