The thought has occured that there are terms, be they from the DS games or born in the osu! community, that newcomers (or even more seasoned players) may be confused about. Some terms also have multiple alternatives or have never been given a name. Although some terms are defined in the FAQ and other places, I thought it might be useful to round up terms and their definitions here, and possibly include that (or a condensed form of it) in the osu! manual when it's made. Many thanks to LuigiHann, Echo49 and awp for helping me brainstorm terms to add to the list! Feel free to suggest additions.
Words in definitions that are also in the glossary are in red.
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100
A possible score one can get when tapping a hit circle slightly late or early, completing a Slider and missing a number of ticks, or completing a Spinner with the Spinner Metre almost full. A score of 100 appears in a green Score Star in the DS games. When very skilled players test a beatmap and they get a lot of 100s, this may mean that the beatmap does not have correct timing.
300
A possible score one can get when tapping a hit circle precisely on time, completing a Slider and keeping the cursor over every tick, or completing a Spinner with the Spinner Metre full. A score of 300 appears in an orange Score Star in the DS games. Scoring nothing except 300s in a beatmap will award the player with the SS or SSH grade.
50
A possible score one can get when tapping a hit circle rather early or late but not early or late enough to cause a miss, completing a Slider and missing a lot of ticks, or completing a Spinner with the Spinner Metre close to full. A score of 50 appears in a blue Score Star in the DS games. Scoring a 50 in a combo will prevent the appearance of a Beat! or an Elite Beat! at the combo's end.
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Abandoned Wasteland
A hidden sub-forum. If its name doesn't tell you all you need to know about it, the instructions to the moderators concerning it will: "Put stuff we don't really need in here." When a thread is "wastelanded", it is moved there.
AI Mod
A feature of the beatmap editor, activated by pressing ctrl, shift and A at the same time. AI Mod can identify common issues that might prevent a beatmap from getting ranked, so mappers and mods alike should consider using it.
Approach Circle
The outline of a circle that appears around Hit Circles and the beginning point of Sliders some time before it is time to Tap them (the easier the difficulty setting, the more in advance the Approach Circle appears), as well around Spinners as soon as they appear. The outline constantly shrinks, converging towards the object’s centre. With Hit Circles and the beginning of Sliders, the player should Tap the instant the Approach Circle overlaps the Hit Circle’s outline. In Spinners, the Approach Circle shows how much time the player has left to fill the Spinner Metre.
Approval
Used when a beatmap is technically unrankable due to some aspects (length, score etc.) but has been considered fine otherwise by BATs. Beatmaps that are approved have their own leaderboard, but scores from these maps will not be added to the Ranked Score. These beatmaps can be distinguised by having a "Flame" icon instead of a "Heart" icon.
Authentic
A word that denotes a beatmap that emulates in every aspect a specific stage from the DS games (song, settings, object placement etc.)
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Bancho
An easily expandable server coded by peppy, which replaces third-party irc servers in the management of all online content in osu!. Players automatically connect to Bancho when they start osu!
Banchobot
A bot (i.e. a set of commands with automated responses) programmed by Echo49 that can assists people in chat by displaying certain information and announcing game-related messages.
BAT
Short for the Beatmap Approval Team, a group of users whose responsibilities primarily focus on ranking or approving the beatmaps and that meet certain criteria.
Beat
Term that applies to the timeline in Editor mode. A period of time songs can be divided into according to their bpm. In correctly timed beatmaps, each beat corresponds to the song's rhythm. A whole beat falls between two white lines on the timeline. Depending on the position of your Snap Divisor, other lines dividing a beat may be visible: Red lines for half beats, blue lines for quarter beats, yellow lines for eighth beats and purple lines for third and sixth beats.
Beat!
See Katu.
Beat Spacing
A principle which states that Hit Circles and Sliders that correspond to parts of the song close to each other on the timeline should be close together on the play field, and vice versa. Simply put, "close in time = close in space". You can see some examples here. Consistent Beat Spacing is generally a requirement to rank a beatmap because it provides the player with a more intuitive experience, as he will learn to move his cursor along the screen at a constant speed. Placing objects closer than Beat Spacing would indicate tricks the player into clicking on them too soon, while placing them too far forces the player to race his cursor across the screen to click on them in time. A common exception to Beat Spacing is stacked Hit Circles. To ensure consistent Beat Spacing, turn the Distance Snap button on the right-hand side of the Editor screen on. Then, choose a Beat Spacing value by holding Alt and sliding the selector at the top right until you reach the desired value. The higher the value, the more difficult the beatmap.
Beatmap
Also called map for short. A game level in osu!, like each stage in the DS games. At their most basic form, beatmaps have a song and Hit Markers, Sliders, and/or Spinners placed according to the rhythm of the music, but they can also have a background image or video, or even a Storyboard. Creators of beatmaps are called beatmappers or mappers for short. Beatmaps are uploaded for everyone to see and play with using the BSS, and are then modded. If/Once a beatmap is deemed good enough, it is ranked or, in rare cases, approved.
BPM
Beats Per Minute. A number that shows how fast the rhythm of a song is. Some songs have more than one bpm value, as the music speeds up or slows down in certain parts. Songs performed live are in danger of having a slightly fluctuating bpm due to human error and are difficult to use in beatmaps. Finding the bpm value(s) of a song is one half of correctly timing a beatmap, offset being the other half.
Break
A part in a beatmap where no objects appear and drain in the Life Bar is temporarily halted. Breaks allow the player to rest his arm for a short while and reposition his input device. A break is also accompanied by a graphic illustrating whether the player is doing well (the Life Bar is over a certain point) or poorly (the Life Bar is under it). In the DS games as well as beatmaps with Storyboards, this graphic is accompanied by a fitting plot development. Roughly speaking, breaks should be placed, if possible, between every 40 seconds-1 minute and 20 seconds of playtime and last about 5-15 seconds, but according to the way each song is composed, possible break placement may vary.
BSS
Beatmap Submission System. An automated process by which one submits their beatmaps to the Beatmap Help or Completed Beatmaps forums for people to see, comment on, mod and rank. Allows for both Standard Submission and Full Submission.
Bubble
A stage in a beatmap's modding process where a MAT/BAT/GMT is satisfied with every aspect of the beatmap and nominates it for ranking. Denoted by a thought bubble graphic by the beatmap's thread title. The beatmap is then ranked if a BAT/GMT seconds that nomination. A bubble might be downgraded to a star under certain circumstances, but never removed altogether.
Build
A version of the osu! application. Each build includes improvements, additions and fixes of problems the previous one had. There are two kinds of Builds: the Test Build and the Public Build. One can download the most current Build by running the appropriate Updater.
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Changelog
The forum thread where peppy details the day-by-day improvements, additions and bug fixes made in everything concerning osu! You can view it here. Everyday changes are added to the Test Build and are eventually added to the Public Build.
Clap
A sound effect, part of a sample set, usually reserved for emphasizing and punctuating points in a song more in a different way than the Whistle and Finish. Its default form and icon in the Editor is that of two hands clapping.
Combo
The word "combo" has two meanings:
i)A set of Hit Markers and Sliders that come one after another, have the same colour and correspond to a specific part of a beatmap's song. The last object in each combo, if hit, provides the player with a boost to his Life Bar if he also achieves a Beat! or an Elite Beat!. Every Spinner is a combo by itself. Combos should be kept under approximately 20 objects, and even lower than that the lower the difficulty is supposed to be.
ii)The number of objects a player has hit without missing once. The number is displayed at the bottom left of the playing field. Each Hit Circle, beginning and end of a Slider, Slider Tick and Spinner that the player hits without missing in between causes the Combo to increase by one. When the combo passes certain numbers, Combo Fire appears and stars flash across the screen. A single miss causes the Combo to reset and Combo Fire to vanish. Combo provides a bonus multiplier to the score of everything the player hits except Slider Ticks, which are always worth 10 points each, and every level filled in the Spinner Metre, which is always worth 100 points each. Managing to finish a beatmap without missing once is called a Full Combo or FC-ing the song. This is denoted by the phrase "Perfect!" on the results screen and is a requirement to achieve S grade or higher.
Combo Fire
Called "The Flames of Encouragement" in the Ouendan games. Once the player achieves a Combo of 30 or higher in the game, flames appear from the bottom of the screen to represent the powerful fighting spirit he has built up. The height of the flames increases as the player passes combo milestones of 60, 100, 150, 200, 250 and finally 300x. The maximum height of Combo Fire can be tweaked in the options menu. It can also be turned off.
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Deathstream
A particularly challenging, often extra long stream whose objects follow each other in very rapid succession and/or in confusing patterns. To be used in beatmaps of a high difficulty level only.
Difficulty stars
A visual representation of a beatmap's difficulty level, a rating between (theoretically) 0 and 5 stars according to an algorithm. Osu! currently uses two different algorithms to calculate difficulty stars: peppy's, which determines the bonus difficulty score multiplier, and eyup's, according to which the difficulty tags are assigned. There is also Echo49's algorithm, which is not currently implemented. You can see a beatmap's difficulty stars when testing it in the editor or at its listing in the site.
Difficulty versions
A beatmap should generally have two to four versions of varying difficulty, so that both novice and experienced players can enjoy playing it. Some factors that affect a version's difficulty are the number of objects in the beatmap, whether a main or background (harder to hear) rhythm is followed for object placement, the length of combos, the Beat Spacing value, the drain rate, the accuracy limit the game requires to register a hit, the size of Hit Circles, etc. Difficulty stars are one way to gauge a version's difficulty level. The osu! website sorts difficulty versions into the Easy, Normal, Hard and Insane categories, but users can give custom names to the difficulty versions of their beatmaps.
Drain
The constant decrease in the Life Bar throughout playing a beatmap, except during breaks. Beatmappers can adjust the drain rate of their beatmaps in the Difficulty tab of the Song Setup dialog box in the Editor. The higher the drain, the more difficult the beatmap is. Drain is the main reason that Combos must not be designed too long, in order to provide a good player with Life Bar boosts frequently enough to counteract it.
DS games
Collective term for Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! (also called Ouendan or Ouendan 1), Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! 2 (almost always called Ouendan 2 instead) and Elite Beat Agents (also called EBA). A set of rhythm games, developed by iNIS for the Nintendo DS handheld video game system, which share a lot of gameplay and presentation elements. Osu! is mostly based on these games.
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EBA
i) Elite Beat Agents, one of the DS games osu! is based on.
ii) A collective term for the playable characters in that game, i.e. "The EBA" or "The Agents".
Elite Beat!
See Geki.
Etna Slider
Short, straight Sliders that are usually half a beat long and seperated by another half a beat. Etna Sliders are typically found in streams of 6 to 8 Sliders at a time. While Etna Sliders do not feature Repeats, the final slider of a stream may contain one such Repeat. The term originates in this beatmap, coined by this post, where such sliders fall at a point where the background video heavily features the Disgaea character Etna. This term was the inspiration for the creation of the Glossary.
Extended Chat
A mode, activating by pressing F9 in osu! where the Chat window is expanded with a list of user panels, sortable by various attributes. Only the users currently using osu! are displayed, not ones who are participating in chat from IRC. The user panels supply lots of information on each user if the mouse cursor is placed on them. The colour of the user panels indicates the user's current activity:
Dark Blue: Idle.
Grey: Playing a beatmap. If you have the exact same beatmap, you can click on that panel to spectate the player.
Light Blue: Spectating another player or viewing a replay.
Red: Editing one of one's own beatmaps.
Green: Modding a beatmap, i.e. looking at it in the Editor.
Purple: Testing a beatmap from the Editor.
Brown: In the multiplayer lobby or in a multiplayer room.
Gold: Playing in a multiplayer match.
Black: Away from keyboard (took no action during at least the last 2.5 minutes)
Light Green: Submitting a beatmap via the BSS.
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Finish
A sound effect, part of a sample set, usually reserved for emphasizing and punctuating points in a song more emphatically than the Whistle. Its default form and icon in the Editor is that of a cymbal clash.
Full Combo
Called "FC" for short. To clear a beatmap without having any Misses, thus maximizing score potential due to the ever-increasing Combo.
Full Submission
A way to submit a beatmap through the BSS system, making it available to the osu! community. Full Submission should be selected when the beatmapper has added or removed images, background video or sample sets. In all other cases, Standard Submission is preferrable.
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Geki
A term from Ouendan, called Beat! in the EBA games. A characterisation that appears when playing the last element in a combo in which the player has scored only 300s. Getting a Geki will give a sizeable boost to the Life Bar. It appears in a typically grander Score Star than those reserved for points. In the DS games, it is orange.
Grade
Also referred to as Rank, but renamed here to prevent confusion with other terms sharing that name. A letter that evaluates a player's performance when playing a beatmap. It accompanies the total score at the Result Screen and appears in all lists where scores appear. From lowest to highest, grades are D, C, B, A, S, and SS. In order to achieve an S, one should not make any misses when playing the beatmap and have at most a ratio of 1:10 of 100s to 300s. In order to achieve an SS, one must only score 300s. There are also the SH and SSH grades, which are, respectively, an S and SS grade achieved when playing with the Hidden mod enabled.
Grid Snapping
A button on the right side of the editor screen that forces every object the beatmapper places to fall on an intersection in a grid whose level of sparseness can be abjusted. Grid Snapping can help with aligning objects to each other and arranging them in patterns.
Graveyard
The Beatmap Graveyard. Beatmaps which haven't had any activity for one month are moved to this sub-forum to keep the other beatmap sub-forums from being cluttered. One can "resurrect" his beatmap from the Graveyard by starting to work on it again and notifying a moderator.
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Hit Circle
Called Hit Marker in the DS games. One of three objects the player interacts with (the other two being the Slider and the Spinner) and probably the one most commonly seen. It's a coloured circle with a number on it (depending on its place in a Combo) with the outline of another circle (Approach Circle) shrinking around it. Once the Approach Circle outline overlaps the Hit Circle's border, the player should Tap the Hit Circle, earning a number of points (50, 100 or 300) depending on how accurate his tapping was, and possibly scoring a Beat! or an Elite Beat! if the circle is the end of a combo. Tapping Hit Circles gives a very small boost to the Life Bar.
Hitsounds
See Sample set.
Hold Slider
A very short Slider that repeats a number of times, which can be cleared by the player simply placing his cursor anywhere on it and holding the button instead of following a path, as is usually the case. Hold Sliders are usually used for rapid rhythm hits in a song and can be substituted by Stacked Hit Circles.
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IRC
Osu! chat is commonly referred to as IRC (Internet Relay Chat) as this is the protocol it uses. Because of this, you can use your favorite IRC client to connect to Osu! chat without opening the game itself. Connect to irc.ppy.sh and you will auto-join the #osu channel.
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Jump
To place a hit circle or a slider that is close to another one of the timeline noticeably farther than Beat Spacing would suggest, forcing the player to "jump" from one point of the screen to another to tap it on time. More apparent in early beatmaps and even the first Ouendan game, Jumps can make a beatmap more fun and thrilling but should be used very rarely and only on high difficulty versions.
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Katu
A term from Ouendan, called Beat! in the EBA games. A characterisation that appears when playing the last element in a combo in which the player has scored at least one 100, but no 50s or misses. Getting a Katu will give a small boost to the Life Bar. It appears in a typically grander Score Star than those reserved for points. In the DS games, it is coloured green or orange depending on whether the Katu itself is a 100 or a 300.
Kiai
A term given to "special" timing sections to emphasize a part of a beatmap. A player can tell if a part of a beatmap has a kiai timing section by seeing added visual effects such as flashing beats, flying stars and fountains. Abuse of kiai can be disorienting, and thus beatmappers are advised to use it judiciously.
Kick Slider
A short Slider that the player can usually clear by placing his cursor roughly at the middle of the slider's path and keping the button pressed. Also see Etna Sliders.
kudosu
Named after a combination of the words "kudos" and "osu!". A rating system that rewards users that mod regularly. A mapper can award kudosu to a user making a constructive modding post. Accumulated kudosu can be used to increase a beatmap's priority rating. In depth information on the kudosu system can be found here.
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Lead-in
A time period of silence, up to three seconds long, which can be inserted before the beginning of a beatmap's song. Particularly useful if the beatmapper has placed objects right at, or very near to, the beginning of the song.
Life Bar
Also variously called Health Bar, HP Bar, Spirit Bar or Ki Bar. A bar at the top left of the playing screen which has a symbol moving along it. If the bar empties completely, the player fails the current beatmap (unless he has the Easy, Relax and/or No Fail mods enabled). The bar drains at a constant rate throughout the course of a beatmap, except during a break. A sizeable part of the bar is also depleted in case of a miss. The bar is replenished by the player Tapping Hit Circles, following Sliders and Slider Ticks, and spinning Spinners. The more accurate the tapping, the bigger the boost. The player also receives larger boosts if he achieves a Beat! or an Elite Beat! at the end of a combo.
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MAT
Short for the Mapping Assistance Team, a group of users experienced in modding. MAT members can mark beatmaps they approve of with a bubble, noting them as worthy of further consideration by the BAT.
Miss
Failing to tap a Hit Marker on time by a large margin, not holding the cursor and/or pressing the button at one or more Slider Ticks, or failing to fill a Spinner Metre within the allotted time. A miss causes a sizeable part of the Life Bar to be depleted, prevents the player from getting an S, SS, SH or SSH grade and resets the Combo, lowering the potential maximum score that can be achieved. Misses in the DS games are represented by a red X.
Mod
A word with many meanings:
i) Short for "Moderator", a person who is partly responsible for managing the site's forums and chat, assisting users, keeping discussions civil, modding and ranking submitted beatmaps. Depending on the focus of their responsibilities, moderators are either part of the Beatmap Approval Team or the Global Mod Team.
ii) Verb, i.e. "to mod", to perform modding of a beatmap.
iii) Short for "Modifier", optional modifications in gameplay the player can select. Some Mods lower difficulty in various ways and assign a score penalty by multiplying the final score with a modifier less than 1.00. Other Mods increase difficulty to provide a greater challenge, but also reward the player with a modifier greater than 1.00 to the final score. Of these, the Hidden Mod also gives the player the possibility to attain SH and SSH grades. Finally, some Mods can alter the gameplay experience without affecting difficulty (such as the No Video Mod, which disables any background video).
A detailed explanation of how each Modifier works follows:
Downloading and thoroughly checking another's submitted beatmap to evaluate it and identify any possible problems that could prevent it from being ranked. Anyone is free - encouraged, in fact - to supply suggestions, but only the modding of moderators affects how close a beatmap is to being ranked.
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Nuke
A beatmap which, for various reasons, is currently extremely far from getting ranked and needs a particularly large number of modifications before it's even presentable. Examples include not following even the most basic of guidelines, such as having completely incorrect timing or objects placed at random on the grid and/or timeline, but also extremely challenging or unconventional beatmaps (e.g. consisting of a single Spinner). The warning icon that accompanies Nuked beatmaps is the symbol for radioactive materials.
-O-
Object
Collective term for Hit Circles, Sliders and Spinners, the gameplay elements players of osu! and the DS games that the player interacts with. Also called "hit objects" or "elements".
Offset
The period of time between the beginning of a beatmap’s song file and the instant the first beat of the rhythm is heard, from which the position of the first beat is calculated. Measured in milliseconds (ms). Offset is one half of correct beatmap timing, the other half being bpm.
osu!
i) A rhythm video game for Microsoft Windows, based on certain DS games. Spelled with a lowercase "o" and an excamation mark.
ii) An informal greeting in the Japanese language, resulting from condensing the phrase "Ohayo gozaimasu!" (Good morning!) Pronounced with a silent u ("OSS"). Close English equivalents include "Yo!" or "Hey!". Read more about its meaning in Japanese language and culture here.
Ouendan
i) In Japanese culture, a cheer squad which, similar to western cheerleaders, rallies a sports team on using drums, horns, banners and yells of encouragement.
ii) The pair of Japanese DS games osu! is based on. Also sometimes used to refer specifically to the first of these games.
iii) A collective term for the playable characters in the aforementioned games, i.e. "The Ouendan".
-P-
peppy
First letter written in lowercase. The online alias of Dean Herbert, creator and primary (read: only) developer of the code and sprites that make osu! tick.
Public Build
A Build updated every once in a while (rarely more frequently than a week), including all working changes introduced in Test Builds between the previous Public Build and this one. The Public Build Updater is what most osu! players use.
puu.sh
A screen capturing and file uploading application developed by peppy and a sucessor of sorts to upppy. Commonly used to upload and share files in osu!.
-R-
Rank
i) Another word for a grade.
ii) A player’s standing in the online leaderboard (a.k.a Player Rankings).
iii) Verb, "to rank", i.e. to second another moderator’s nomination and include a submitted beatmap to the Ranked Beatmap list, making scores achieved by anyone playing it count towards each player’s Ranking. Getting their beatmaps ranked is a goal of every beatmapper.
Ranking
Alternatively called Leaderboard. A list which sorts members of the osu! community according to certain criteria. Can also refer to one's position in such a list. Osu! currently has three Rankings:
i) Player Rankings: the Ranking most commonly referred to, this list sorts players depending on their Ranked Score. Ranked Score is the sum of the highest score a player has achieved in every ranked beatmap he has played. Only scores achieved after the beatmap is ranked are taken into account. Only one score from each beatmap (the highest) is taken into account, regardless of how many difficulty versions it has.
ii) Beatmapper Rankings: This list sorts everyone who has created at least one ranked beatmap, depending on the weighted average of all the ratings given to their beatmaps by other players, multiplied by a bonus modifier that increases the more ranked beatmaps they have.
iii) Moderator Rankings: This list sorts moderators depending on how many posts they have made in the Beatmap sub-forums, i.e. how much beatmap modding they are doing.
Recalc
Recalculate Slider Lengths. A command under the Timing header of the Editor screen. Select it when a change in bpm is made after Sliders have been placed. This command will try to automatically adjust the length of every Slider in the beatmap to the new bpm. After choosing this command, especially if a large change in bpm has been made, it is important to check every Slider and adjust its length manually where necessary.
Resnap
A pair of commands under the Timing header of the Editor screen, one of which applies to the entire beatmap and the other to the current timing section (if the beatmap has only one timing section, both commands are the same). Select when there has been a change in offset and/or bpm after objects have been placed. This command will try to automatically reposition all objects on the timeline so that they fall on the closest beat division your Snap Divisor allows. After choosing this command, especially if a large change in bpm and/or offset has been made, it is important to check every object and adjust its position on the timeline manually where necessary.
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Sample Set
A collection of sound effects that are heard during gameplay. People can use custom sample sets for their beatmaps. Apart from the default sound made when tapping a Hit Circle, the most well known elements in a sample set are the Whistle and the Finish. Other parts of a sample set include the Slider Tick sounds and the sound made when filling the Spinner Metre.
Score Star
Every graphic that displays the score earned by the player when tapping on Hit Circles and clearing Sliders and Spinners, as well as when achieving a Beat! and Elite Beat! achieved. Named from the star shaped graphics in the DS games. Also called (score) explosion.
Skin
A set of graphics and custom sample sets that can be chosen to replace the default ones used by osu! in order to customise one's playing experience. Most of what you see and hear in osu! can be skinned. There is a sub-forum dedicated to skins.
Slider
Called Phrase Marker in the DS games. One of three objects the player interacts with (the other two being the Hit Circle and the spinner). It consists of two Hit Circles with a path between them, usually straight or curved. An Approach Circle is around the beginning Hit Circle of the Slider. Once it reaches its border, the player must tap the beginning of the Slider and then, keeping the button pressed, follow with his cursor a moving graphic (the Slider Ball) along the Slider's path until the end Hit Circle is reached. If there is a reverse arrow graphic at that point, the player follows the Slider Ball back along the same path and repeats as long as a reverse arrow graphic is visible.
Slider Ball
An graphic (ball-shaped by default) that moves along a Slider's path and on which a player must keep his cursor while pressing the button in order to successfully clear the Slider.
Slider Tick
Small circles that appear in regular intervals along a Slider's path. The player only fails to completely clear a Slider if the cursor is not on the Slider Ball and/or the button is not pressed while the Slider Ball is passing over a tick. Not keeping the cursor on the Slider or the button pressed at any other time during a Slider's path will actually not yield any penalty. Users can adjust the number of ticks on their beatmap's Sliders. More ticks make the Combo rise faster and thus offer the oppotunity for higher scores, but at the same time they provide more chances for the player to fail to clear the Slider. Each cleared Slider Tick is worth 10 points (regardless of Combo).
Snap divisor
A selector at the upper right corner of the Editor screen. Slide it to adjust the number of beat divisions visible on the timeline and thus the available positions in time where you can place objects. Available settings are 1/1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 (only use if you already have some skill as a beatmapper) and 1/3 and 1/6, which are more rarely used. While pressing Alt, the Snap Divisor is replaced with the selector for Beat Spacing value.
Song packs
Collections of ranked beatmaps that can be downloaded by file sharing services. Most song packs are sets of beatmaps that were ranked during the same time period, but in other packs contain songs of a similar style or theme. You can find song packs here.
Spectate
"Spec" for short. To watch another playing a beatmap in real time (approx. 500 ms delay). To spectate, open Extended Chat mode and click on a grey user panel. You need to have a copy of the exact same beatmap the person you wish to spectate is playing.
Spinner
One of three objects the player interacts with (the other two being the Hit Circle and the Slider) and probably the one seen least often. A Spinner is a circle that takes up the entire height of the play area and has a Spinner Metre on either side. A large circular outline similar to a Approach Circle appears on the Spinner’s border and gradually converges on its centre. The player should hold the mouse button down and spin in either a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction. As long as the mouse button is held down, the cursor is locked on the Spinner’s area, so the player need not worry about going outside it. The Spinner is cleared if all the levels of the Spinner Metre are filled before its Approach Circle reaches the centre. Depending on the difficulty settings of each beatmap, a different number of spins are required to fill each level of the Spinner Metre (worth 100 points). If the player fills the Spinner Metre before the Approach Circle reaches the Spinner’s centre, each additional spin before time runs out will award the player with 1000 bonus points (each receiving a bonus multiplier depending on the player’s current Combo). Spinning a Spinner provides a continuous minor boost to the Life Bar depending on the spinning speed.
Spinner Metre
A pair of bars on either side of a Spinner which typically gradually fill up with colour as the player spins the Spinner. In order to clear the spinner, all levels of the Spinner Metre should light up before the Approach Circle reaches the Spinner's centre. Each level that lights up on the Spinner Metre awards the player with 100 points (regardless of Combo).
Spinner Spam
To overuse Spinners in a beatmap. There are many kinds of Spinner Spam: Using very long Spinners (lasting more than 10 seconds or so), using a lot of very short Spinners (lasting less than 2 seconds or so) one after the other, or even worse, using a lot of regular sized or long Spinners one after the other. With the possible exception of some especially challenging beatmaps, Spinner Spam is to be avoided for the following reasons:
i) A Spinner is by far the gameplay element that causes the player the most fatigue, since it requires rapid, repetitive, vigorous motion. A lot of Spinners or even a single long one can easily tire a player’s arm.
ii) Due to the circular, often frantic motion required to clear it, after clearing a spinner the player’s cursor is often left at a random position in the screen, possibly far from an incoming Hit Circle or Slider. A multitude of Spinners will thus be particularly disorienting for most players.
Stacked
Objects that overlap each other in the play field. Most common in Hit Circles, less common with Hit Circles and the edges of sliders to be avoided with any other combination of objects. Stacking Hit Circles, while a clear violation of Beat Spacing, is nevertheless permitted if the Hit Circles are very close to each other in the timeline (half a beat or usually even less).
Standard Submission
A way to submit a beatmap through the BSS system, making it available to the osu! community. Standard Submission is the one used when first uploading a beatmap, as well as when updating with changes such as object placement, tweaks in timing, custom colour schemes, new difficulty versions etc. Every Standard Submission of a beatmap after the first is faster because only the changes are uploaded.
Star
i) A stage in a beatmap’s modding process where a moderator judges a beatmap to be on the right track but needing some improvements before he approves of it with a bubble. Examples include adjustments in timing, incorrect Beat Spacing in some areas, or creating additional difficulty versions. Beatmaps receiving a star are denoted by a star graphic next to their thread’s title. A star may be removed by another mod if he judges the beatmap to need a rather larger amount of improvements than expected.
ii) Can be used as an abbreviation of difficulty stars.
Storyboard
A set of still images, animated images and sound effects that tells a story during a beatmap’s course but especially before the beatmap’s beginning, during breaks and after the beatmap’s end. In the DS games, Storyboards concern one or more persons facing a difficult challenge or predicament which they then try to overcome whilst being cheered on by the player-controlled characters to the tune of a song. Therefore, a Storyboard can take various directions depending on the player’s performance. osu! storyboarding is supported through the use of a scripting language or the Storyboard Editor which can be accessed in Editor Mode under "Design". There is a sub-forum dedicated to Storyboards.
Storyboard Editor
Can be found under "Design" in Editor mode. As the name implies, storyboards can be easily created and edited here.
Stream
A long series of objects, not necessarily belonging in a single Combo, which appear in rapid succession. Also see Deathstream.
-T-
Tablet
A graphics tablet, an alternative input medium to the computer mouse. A tablet consists of a flat surface on which one can point and drag using an attached stylus. The image of the screen does not appear on the tablet, thus making it different in functionality from a Touch screen.
Tap
To press a button while the cursor is over a Hit Circle. Tapping Hit Circles at the right moment, as indicated by the beatmap’s music and the Approach Circle, is an essential part of osu! gameplay. There are many buttons one can use to tap: either mouse button, the z and x keys on the keyboard (see z/x), either button on a Touchpad, buttons on a Tablet’s pen, etc.
Test Build
A Build usually updated at least daily with up-to-date improvements in the osu! application. Its Updater is available to moderators and other willing beta testers upon request. All working changes in the Test Builds are eventually made available in a new version of the Public Build.
Tick
See Slider Tick.
Time signature
A musical term indicating how many beats are in each measure and what note value constitutes a single beat. Osu! offers two alternative time signatures, which can be selected from the Timing menu: 4/4, which is the one most commonly used, and 3/4, which is selected when the rhythm of the song is of, or similar to, a waltz.
Timing
Probably the most important requirement for a beatmap to get ranked, as well as the most difficult to accomplish. Timing a beatmap consists of determining the offset and then the bpm of the song it uses. On songs where the tempo changes, this needs to be done for every timing section. The timing process creates the timeline on which objects will be placed. Without perfect timing, or at least close enough that the human ear can't tell the difference, it is next to impossible to place objects to the rhythm of the music, which is the entire point of osu!
Timing section
A part of a song which follows a different rhythm than the parts preceding and following it. Many songs have a constant tempo and thus a single timing section, but for those which have more, the beatmapper needs to identify any areas where the song bpm and/ or time signature changes and find the timing for each one. Timing sections can also be used even if the rhythm of the song remains constant throughout the beatmap, for example in order to allow the beatmapper to assign different sample sets to different parts of the song. Those are called "inherited timing sections" and are identified by green lines.
Touch screen
One of the input mediums used by the Nintendo DS and the sole input medium for the DS games osu! is based on. Osu! supports Touch screen functionality, but the hardware required is generally expensive for the average player. A computer whose entire screen functions as a Touch screen is called a Tablet PC (Do not confuse with Tablet).
Touchpad
A substitute for the computer mouse found on laptop computers. A small rectangular area on which one can drag one’s finger to move the mouse cursor. Due to the way touchpads are designed, they do not work with a stylus or similar devices.
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Universal Offset
The time delay between a) the object graphics and sample set sounds associated with them and b) the point of the song where they should be heard. Universal Offset applies to all songs used in osu! and its value differs according to each system's specifications. After being determined, it doesn't need to be modified again. Incorrectly set Universal Offset causes timing problems in every beatmap played or edited. If everything sounds off to you while playing a ranked beatmap, try checking your Universal Offset. Universal Offset is set from the Options Menu.
Updater
The osume.exe file, which, when run, will check whether there have been updates to the Osu! Build you are using and download and install any such updates. There are two Updaters - one for the Public Build and one for the Test Build.
upppy
A fast and easy-to-use uploading service coded by peppy. If you want to share a file with the osu! community, forget about depositing it on Rapidshare, Megaupload, ImageShack and the like - put it on upppy and everyone's happy!
You can find it here.
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Whistle
A sound effect, part of a sample set, usually reserved for emphasizing and punctuating certain points in a song. Its default form and icon in the Editor is that of a blown whistle.
WIP
Acronym for Work In Progress, a beatmap that is, for one reason or another, deemed incomplete by its creator (e.g. incomplete difficulty versions, only one difficulty version, pending correction or suggestions on the timing etc.) WIPs can be submitted through the BSS to the Beatmap Help forum to get comments, feedback and help from mods and other users.
-Z-
z/x
To use the z and x keyboard keys to tap in osu!. A fairly popular alternative to the left and right mouse buttons. During gameplay, while z is pressed, the left mouse button will not work and vice versa. The same applies to the x key and the right mouse button.
Words in definitions that are also in the glossary are in red.
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100
A possible score one can get when tapping a hit circle slightly late or early, completing a Slider and missing a number of ticks, or completing a Spinner with the Spinner Metre almost full. A score of 100 appears in a green Score Star in the DS games. When very skilled players test a beatmap and they get a lot of 100s, this may mean that the beatmap does not have correct timing.
300
A possible score one can get when tapping a hit circle precisely on time, completing a Slider and keeping the cursor over every tick, or completing a Spinner with the Spinner Metre full. A score of 300 appears in an orange Score Star in the DS games. Scoring nothing except 300s in a beatmap will award the player with the SS or SSH grade.
50
A possible score one can get when tapping a hit circle rather early or late but not early or late enough to cause a miss, completing a Slider and missing a lot of ticks, or completing a Spinner with the Spinner Metre close to full. A score of 50 appears in a blue Score Star in the DS games. Scoring a 50 in a combo will prevent the appearance of a Beat! or an Elite Beat! at the combo's end.
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Abandoned Wasteland
A hidden sub-forum. If its name doesn't tell you all you need to know about it, the instructions to the moderators concerning it will: "Put stuff we don't really need in here." When a thread is "wastelanded", it is moved there.
AI Mod
A feature of the beatmap editor, activated by pressing ctrl, shift and A at the same time. AI Mod can identify common issues that might prevent a beatmap from getting ranked, so mappers and mods alike should consider using it.
Approach Circle
The outline of a circle that appears around Hit Circles and the beginning point of Sliders some time before it is time to Tap them (the easier the difficulty setting, the more in advance the Approach Circle appears), as well around Spinners as soon as they appear. The outline constantly shrinks, converging towards the object’s centre. With Hit Circles and the beginning of Sliders, the player should Tap the instant the Approach Circle overlaps the Hit Circle’s outline. In Spinners, the Approach Circle shows how much time the player has left to fill the Spinner Metre.
Approval
Used when a beatmap is technically unrankable due to some aspects (length, score etc.) but has been considered fine otherwise by BATs. Beatmaps that are approved have their own leaderboard, but scores from these maps will not be added to the Ranked Score. These beatmaps can be distinguised by having a "Flame" icon instead of a "Heart" icon.
Authentic
A word that denotes a beatmap that emulates in every aspect a specific stage from the DS games (song, settings, object placement etc.)
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Bancho
An easily expandable server coded by peppy, which replaces third-party irc servers in the management of all online content in osu!. Players automatically connect to Bancho when they start osu!
Banchobot
A bot (i.e. a set of commands with automated responses) programmed by Echo49 that can assists people in chat by displaying certain information and announcing game-related messages.
BAT
Short for the Beatmap Approval Team, a group of users whose responsibilities primarily focus on ranking or approving the beatmaps and that meet certain criteria.
Beat
Term that applies to the timeline in Editor mode. A period of time songs can be divided into according to their bpm. In correctly timed beatmaps, each beat corresponds to the song's rhythm. A whole beat falls between two white lines on the timeline. Depending on the position of your Snap Divisor, other lines dividing a beat may be visible: Red lines for half beats, blue lines for quarter beats, yellow lines for eighth beats and purple lines for third and sixth beats.
Beat!
See Katu.
Beat Spacing
A principle which states that Hit Circles and Sliders that correspond to parts of the song close to each other on the timeline should be close together on the play field, and vice versa. Simply put, "close in time = close in space". You can see some examples here. Consistent Beat Spacing is generally a requirement to rank a beatmap because it provides the player with a more intuitive experience, as he will learn to move his cursor along the screen at a constant speed. Placing objects closer than Beat Spacing would indicate tricks the player into clicking on them too soon, while placing them too far forces the player to race his cursor across the screen to click on them in time. A common exception to Beat Spacing is stacked Hit Circles. To ensure consistent Beat Spacing, turn the Distance Snap button on the right-hand side of the Editor screen on. Then, choose a Beat Spacing value by holding Alt and sliding the selector at the top right until you reach the desired value. The higher the value, the more difficult the beatmap.
Beatmap
Also called map for short. A game level in osu!, like each stage in the DS games. At their most basic form, beatmaps have a song and Hit Markers, Sliders, and/or Spinners placed according to the rhythm of the music, but they can also have a background image or video, or even a Storyboard. Creators of beatmaps are called beatmappers or mappers for short. Beatmaps are uploaded for everyone to see and play with using the BSS, and are then modded. If/Once a beatmap is deemed good enough, it is ranked or, in rare cases, approved.
BPM
Beats Per Minute. A number that shows how fast the rhythm of a song is. Some songs have more than one bpm value, as the music speeds up or slows down in certain parts. Songs performed live are in danger of having a slightly fluctuating bpm due to human error and are difficult to use in beatmaps. Finding the bpm value(s) of a song is one half of correctly timing a beatmap, offset being the other half.
Break
A part in a beatmap where no objects appear and drain in the Life Bar is temporarily halted. Breaks allow the player to rest his arm for a short while and reposition his input device. A break is also accompanied by a graphic illustrating whether the player is doing well (the Life Bar is over a certain point) or poorly (the Life Bar is under it). In the DS games as well as beatmaps with Storyboards, this graphic is accompanied by a fitting plot development. Roughly speaking, breaks should be placed, if possible, between every 40 seconds-1 minute and 20 seconds of playtime and last about 5-15 seconds, but according to the way each song is composed, possible break placement may vary.
BSS
Beatmap Submission System. An automated process by which one submits their beatmaps to the Beatmap Help or Completed Beatmaps forums for people to see, comment on, mod and rank. Allows for both Standard Submission and Full Submission.
Bubble
A stage in a beatmap's modding process where a MAT/BAT/GMT is satisfied with every aspect of the beatmap and nominates it for ranking. Denoted by a thought bubble graphic by the beatmap's thread title. The beatmap is then ranked if a BAT/GMT seconds that nomination. A bubble might be downgraded to a star under certain circumstances, but never removed altogether.
Build
A version of the osu! application. Each build includes improvements, additions and fixes of problems the previous one had. There are two kinds of Builds: the Test Build and the Public Build. One can download the most current Build by running the appropriate Updater.
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Changelog
The forum thread where peppy details the day-by-day improvements, additions and bug fixes made in everything concerning osu! You can view it here. Everyday changes are added to the Test Build and are eventually added to the Public Build.
Clap
A sound effect, part of a sample set, usually reserved for emphasizing and punctuating points in a song more in a different way than the Whistle and Finish. Its default form and icon in the Editor is that of two hands clapping.
Combo
The word "combo" has two meanings:
i)A set of Hit Markers and Sliders that come one after another, have the same colour and correspond to a specific part of a beatmap's song. The last object in each combo, if hit, provides the player with a boost to his Life Bar if he also achieves a Beat! or an Elite Beat!. Every Spinner is a combo by itself. Combos should be kept under approximately 20 objects, and even lower than that the lower the difficulty is supposed to be.
ii)The number of objects a player has hit without missing once. The number is displayed at the bottom left of the playing field. Each Hit Circle, beginning and end of a Slider, Slider Tick and Spinner that the player hits without missing in between causes the Combo to increase by one. When the combo passes certain numbers, Combo Fire appears and stars flash across the screen. A single miss causes the Combo to reset and Combo Fire to vanish. Combo provides a bonus multiplier to the score of everything the player hits except Slider Ticks, which are always worth 10 points each, and every level filled in the Spinner Metre, which is always worth 100 points each. Managing to finish a beatmap without missing once is called a Full Combo or FC-ing the song. This is denoted by the phrase "Perfect!" on the results screen and is a requirement to achieve S grade or higher.
Combo Fire
Called "The Flames of Encouragement" in the Ouendan games. Once the player achieves a Combo of 30 or higher in the game, flames appear from the bottom of the screen to represent the powerful fighting spirit he has built up. The height of the flames increases as the player passes combo milestones of 60, 100, 150, 200, 250 and finally 300x. The maximum height of Combo Fire can be tweaked in the options menu. It can also be turned off.
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Deathstream
A particularly challenging, often extra long stream whose objects follow each other in very rapid succession and/or in confusing patterns. To be used in beatmaps of a high difficulty level only.
Difficulty stars
A visual representation of a beatmap's difficulty level, a rating between (theoretically) 0 and 5 stars according to an algorithm. Osu! currently uses two different algorithms to calculate difficulty stars: peppy's, which determines the bonus difficulty score multiplier, and eyup's, according to which the difficulty tags are assigned. There is also Echo49's algorithm, which is not currently implemented. You can see a beatmap's difficulty stars when testing it in the editor or at its listing in the site.
Difficulty versions
A beatmap should generally have two to four versions of varying difficulty, so that both novice and experienced players can enjoy playing it. Some factors that affect a version's difficulty are the number of objects in the beatmap, whether a main or background (harder to hear) rhythm is followed for object placement, the length of combos, the Beat Spacing value, the drain rate, the accuracy limit the game requires to register a hit, the size of Hit Circles, etc. Difficulty stars are one way to gauge a version's difficulty level. The osu! website sorts difficulty versions into the Easy, Normal, Hard and Insane categories, but users can give custom names to the difficulty versions of their beatmaps.
Drain
The constant decrease in the Life Bar throughout playing a beatmap, except during breaks. Beatmappers can adjust the drain rate of their beatmaps in the Difficulty tab of the Song Setup dialog box in the Editor. The higher the drain, the more difficult the beatmap is. Drain is the main reason that Combos must not be designed too long, in order to provide a good player with Life Bar boosts frequently enough to counteract it.
DS games
Collective term for Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! (also called Ouendan or Ouendan 1), Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! 2 (almost always called Ouendan 2 instead) and Elite Beat Agents (also called EBA). A set of rhythm games, developed by iNIS for the Nintendo DS handheld video game system, which share a lot of gameplay and presentation elements. Osu! is mostly based on these games.
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EBA
i) Elite Beat Agents, one of the DS games osu! is based on.
ii) A collective term for the playable characters in that game, i.e. "The EBA" or "The Agents".
Elite Beat!
See Geki.
Etna Slider
Short, straight Sliders that are usually half a beat long and seperated by another half a beat. Etna Sliders are typically found in streams of 6 to 8 Sliders at a time. While Etna Sliders do not feature Repeats, the final slider of a stream may contain one such Repeat. The term originates in this beatmap, coined by this post, where such sliders fall at a point where the background video heavily features the Disgaea character Etna. This term was the inspiration for the creation of the Glossary.
Extended Chat
A mode, activating by pressing F9 in osu! where the Chat window is expanded with a list of user panels, sortable by various attributes. Only the users currently using osu! are displayed, not ones who are participating in chat from IRC. The user panels supply lots of information on each user if the mouse cursor is placed on them. The colour of the user panels indicates the user's current activity:
Dark Blue: Idle.
Grey: Playing a beatmap. If you have the exact same beatmap, you can click on that panel to spectate the player.
Light Blue: Spectating another player or viewing a replay.
Red: Editing one of one's own beatmaps.
Green: Modding a beatmap, i.e. looking at it in the Editor.
Purple: Testing a beatmap from the Editor.
Brown: In the multiplayer lobby or in a multiplayer room.
Gold: Playing in a multiplayer match.
Black: Away from keyboard (took no action during at least the last 2.5 minutes)
Light Green: Submitting a beatmap via the BSS.
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Finish
A sound effect, part of a sample set, usually reserved for emphasizing and punctuating points in a song more emphatically than the Whistle. Its default form and icon in the Editor is that of a cymbal clash.
Full Combo
Called "FC" for short. To clear a beatmap without having any Misses, thus maximizing score potential due to the ever-increasing Combo.
Full Submission
A way to submit a beatmap through the BSS system, making it available to the osu! community. Full Submission should be selected when the beatmapper has added or removed images, background video or sample sets. In all other cases, Standard Submission is preferrable.
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Geki
A term from Ouendan, called Beat! in the EBA games. A characterisation that appears when playing the last element in a combo in which the player has scored only 300s. Getting a Geki will give a sizeable boost to the Life Bar. It appears in a typically grander Score Star than those reserved for points. In the DS games, it is orange.
Grade
Also referred to as Rank, but renamed here to prevent confusion with other terms sharing that name. A letter that evaluates a player's performance when playing a beatmap. It accompanies the total score at the Result Screen and appears in all lists where scores appear. From lowest to highest, grades are D, C, B, A, S, and SS. In order to achieve an S, one should not make any misses when playing the beatmap and have at most a ratio of 1:10 of 100s to 300s. In order to achieve an SS, one must only score 300s. There are also the SH and SSH grades, which are, respectively, an S and SS grade achieved when playing with the Hidden mod enabled.
Grid Snapping
A button on the right side of the editor screen that forces every object the beatmapper places to fall on an intersection in a grid whose level of sparseness can be abjusted. Grid Snapping can help with aligning objects to each other and arranging them in patterns.
Graveyard
The Beatmap Graveyard. Beatmaps which haven't had any activity for one month are moved to this sub-forum to keep the other beatmap sub-forums from being cluttered. One can "resurrect" his beatmap from the Graveyard by starting to work on it again and notifying a moderator.
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Hit Circle
Called Hit Marker in the DS games. One of three objects the player interacts with (the other two being the Slider and the Spinner) and probably the one most commonly seen. It's a coloured circle with a number on it (depending on its place in a Combo) with the outline of another circle (Approach Circle) shrinking around it. Once the Approach Circle outline overlaps the Hit Circle's border, the player should Tap the Hit Circle, earning a number of points (50, 100 or 300) depending on how accurate his tapping was, and possibly scoring a Beat! or an Elite Beat! if the circle is the end of a combo. Tapping Hit Circles gives a very small boost to the Life Bar.
Hitsounds
See Sample set.
Hold Slider
A very short Slider that repeats a number of times, which can be cleared by the player simply placing his cursor anywhere on it and holding the button instead of following a path, as is usually the case. Hold Sliders are usually used for rapid rhythm hits in a song and can be substituted by Stacked Hit Circles.
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IRC
Osu! chat is commonly referred to as IRC (Internet Relay Chat) as this is the protocol it uses. Because of this, you can use your favorite IRC client to connect to Osu! chat without opening the game itself. Connect to irc.ppy.sh and you will auto-join the #osu channel.
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Jump
To place a hit circle or a slider that is close to another one of the timeline noticeably farther than Beat Spacing would suggest, forcing the player to "jump" from one point of the screen to another to tap it on time. More apparent in early beatmaps and even the first Ouendan game, Jumps can make a beatmap more fun and thrilling but should be used very rarely and only on high difficulty versions.
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Katu
A term from Ouendan, called Beat! in the EBA games. A characterisation that appears when playing the last element in a combo in which the player has scored at least one 100, but no 50s or misses. Getting a Katu will give a small boost to the Life Bar. It appears in a typically grander Score Star than those reserved for points. In the DS games, it is coloured green or orange depending on whether the Katu itself is a 100 or a 300.
Kiai
A term given to "special" timing sections to emphasize a part of a beatmap. A player can tell if a part of a beatmap has a kiai timing section by seeing added visual effects such as flashing beats, flying stars and fountains. Abuse of kiai can be disorienting, and thus beatmappers are advised to use it judiciously.
Kick Slider
A short Slider that the player can usually clear by placing his cursor roughly at the middle of the slider's path and keping the button pressed. Also see Etna Sliders.
kudosu
Named after a combination of the words "kudos" and "osu!". A rating system that rewards users that mod regularly. A mapper can award kudosu to a user making a constructive modding post. Accumulated kudosu can be used to increase a beatmap's priority rating. In depth information on the kudosu system can be found here.
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Lead-in
A time period of silence, up to three seconds long, which can be inserted before the beginning of a beatmap's song. Particularly useful if the beatmapper has placed objects right at, or very near to, the beginning of the song.
Life Bar
Also variously called Health Bar, HP Bar, Spirit Bar or Ki Bar. A bar at the top left of the playing screen which has a symbol moving along it. If the bar empties completely, the player fails the current beatmap (unless he has the Easy, Relax and/or No Fail mods enabled). The bar drains at a constant rate throughout the course of a beatmap, except during a break. A sizeable part of the bar is also depleted in case of a miss. The bar is replenished by the player Tapping Hit Circles, following Sliders and Slider Ticks, and spinning Spinners. The more accurate the tapping, the bigger the boost. The player also receives larger boosts if he achieves a Beat! or an Elite Beat! at the end of a combo.
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MAT
Short for the Mapping Assistance Team, a group of users experienced in modding. MAT members can mark beatmaps they approve of with a bubble, noting them as worthy of further consideration by the BAT.
Miss
Failing to tap a Hit Marker on time by a large margin, not holding the cursor and/or pressing the button at one or more Slider Ticks, or failing to fill a Spinner Metre within the allotted time. A miss causes a sizeable part of the Life Bar to be depleted, prevents the player from getting an S, SS, SH or SSH grade and resets the Combo, lowering the potential maximum score that can be achieved. Misses in the DS games are represented by a red X.
Mod
A word with many meanings:
i) Short for "Moderator", a person who is partly responsible for managing the site's forums and chat, assisting users, keeping discussions civil, modding and ranking submitted beatmaps. Depending on the focus of their responsibilities, moderators are either part of the Beatmap Approval Team or the Global Mod Team.
ii) Verb, i.e. "to mod", to perform modding of a beatmap.
iii) Short for "Modifier", optional modifications in gameplay the player can select. Some Mods lower difficulty in various ways and assign a score penalty by multiplying the final score with a modifier less than 1.00. Other Mods increase difficulty to provide a greater challenge, but also reward the player with a modifier greater than 1.00 to the final score. Of these, the Hidden Mod also gives the player the possibility to attain SH and SSH grades. Finally, some Mods can alter the gameplay experience without affecting difficulty (such as the No Video Mod, which disables any background video).
A detailed explanation of how each Modifier works follows:
Difficulty Reduction Mods
- Easy
A mode which decreases the difficulty of the beatmap by increasing hit circle size, decreasing the drain rate, and decreasing the required accuracy. This applies a 50% (0.5) multiplier to your
score. Inverse of Hard Rock mode. - Half Time
A mode which decreases difficulty by slowing down the speed of the song and beatmap (not literally by half). This applies a 30% (0.3) multiplier to your score. Inverse of Double Time mode. - NoFail
A mode in which the player cannot fail by reducing the life bar to zero. However, if the life bar remains at zero when the beatmap ends, the player will not pass. This applies a 50% (0.5) multiplier to your score. Inverse of Sudden Death mode.
Difficulty Increase Mods - Hard Rock
Named after the hardest difficulty of the DS game Elite Beat Agents, this is a mode which increases the difficulty of the beatmap by decreasing hit circle size, increasing the drain rate, and increasing the required accuracy. This applies a 106% (1.06) multiplier to your score. Inverse of Easy mode. - Sudden Death
A mode in which missing a single note will cause the player to fail the map. This does not affect the score multiplier, but can be useful when trying to full-combo a map. Inverse of NoFail mode. - Double Time
A mode which increases difficulty by speeding up the song and beatmap significantly (but not literally double). This applies a 112% (1.12) multiplier to your score. Inverse of Half Time mode. - Hidden
A mode which debuted in the second Japanese DS Game. In osu!, it increases difficulty by eliminating the approach circles and causing the hit circles to vanish shortly after appearing, forcing players to more or less memorize the timing and placement. Sliders do not vanish, but they too lack approach circles. This applies a 106% (1.06) multiplier to your score. - Flashlight
A mode which increases difficulty by shrinking down the visible area of the beatmap to a small "light" around the cursor. The light is becoming smaller the bigger the achieved combo is. This applies a 112% (1.12) multiplier to your score.
Special Mods - Relax
A mode in which you don't need to click. Simply hover your cursor over each hitcircle. Scores achieved with that mod activated don't take combo multiplier bonus into account and are not included in one's Ranking score. - Autopilot
A mode in which you don't need to move the cursor. Simply click at the right time. Scores achieved with that mod activated don't take combo multiplier bonus into account and are not included in one's Ranking score. - Auto
A mode in which you don't need to do anything! Selecting this mod will let you watch a perfect play of a beatmap. Obviously, scores achieved with that mod activated don't take combo multiplier bonus into account and are not included in one's Ranking score. - Spun Out
A mode in which you don't need to clear spinners. Whenever a spinner appears, the game takes over. Scores achieved with that mod activated don't take combo multiplier bonus into account and are not included in one's Ranking score. - No Video
A mode which prevents video from playing during gameplay. This doesn't apply to storyboarding, which will still play. This mode does not affect your score multiplier.
Downloading and thoroughly checking another's submitted beatmap to evaluate it and identify any possible problems that could prevent it from being ranked. Anyone is free - encouraged, in fact - to supply suggestions, but only the modding of moderators affects how close a beatmap is to being ranked.
-N-
Nuke
A beatmap which, for various reasons, is currently extremely far from getting ranked and needs a particularly large number of modifications before it's even presentable. Examples include not following even the most basic of guidelines, such as having completely incorrect timing or objects placed at random on the grid and/or timeline, but also extremely challenging or unconventional beatmaps (e.g. consisting of a single Spinner). The warning icon that accompanies Nuked beatmaps is the symbol for radioactive materials.
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Object
Collective term for Hit Circles, Sliders and Spinners, the gameplay elements players of osu! and the DS games that the player interacts with. Also called "hit objects" or "elements".
Offset
The period of time between the beginning of a beatmap’s song file and the instant the first beat of the rhythm is heard, from which the position of the first beat is calculated. Measured in milliseconds (ms). Offset is one half of correct beatmap timing, the other half being bpm.
osu!
i) A rhythm video game for Microsoft Windows, based on certain DS games. Spelled with a lowercase "o" and an excamation mark.
ii) An informal greeting in the Japanese language, resulting from condensing the phrase "Ohayo gozaimasu!" (Good morning!) Pronounced with a silent u ("OSS"). Close English equivalents include "Yo!" or "Hey!". Read more about its meaning in Japanese language and culture here.
Ouendan
i) In Japanese culture, a cheer squad which, similar to western cheerleaders, rallies a sports team on using drums, horns, banners and yells of encouragement.
ii) The pair of Japanese DS games osu! is based on. Also sometimes used to refer specifically to the first of these games.
iii) A collective term for the playable characters in the aforementioned games, i.e. "The Ouendan".
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peppy
First letter written in lowercase. The online alias of Dean Herbert, creator and primary (read: only) developer of the code and sprites that make osu! tick.
Public Build
A Build updated every once in a while (rarely more frequently than a week), including all working changes introduced in Test Builds between the previous Public Build and this one. The Public Build Updater is what most osu! players use.
puu.sh
A screen capturing and file uploading application developed by peppy and a sucessor of sorts to upppy. Commonly used to upload and share files in osu!.
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Rank
i) Another word for a grade.
ii) A player’s standing in the online leaderboard (a.k.a Player Rankings).
iii) Verb, "to rank", i.e. to second another moderator’s nomination and include a submitted beatmap to the Ranked Beatmap list, making scores achieved by anyone playing it count towards each player’s Ranking. Getting their beatmaps ranked is a goal of every beatmapper.
Ranking
Alternatively called Leaderboard. A list which sorts members of the osu! community according to certain criteria. Can also refer to one's position in such a list. Osu! currently has three Rankings:
i) Player Rankings: the Ranking most commonly referred to, this list sorts players depending on their Ranked Score. Ranked Score is the sum of the highest score a player has achieved in every ranked beatmap he has played. Only scores achieved after the beatmap is ranked are taken into account. Only one score from each beatmap (the highest) is taken into account, regardless of how many difficulty versions it has.
ii) Beatmapper Rankings: This list sorts everyone who has created at least one ranked beatmap, depending on the weighted average of all the ratings given to their beatmaps by other players, multiplied by a bonus modifier that increases the more ranked beatmaps they have.
iii) Moderator Rankings: This list sorts moderators depending on how many posts they have made in the Beatmap sub-forums, i.e. how much beatmap modding they are doing.
Recalc
Recalculate Slider Lengths. A command under the Timing header of the Editor screen. Select it when a change in bpm is made after Sliders have been placed. This command will try to automatically adjust the length of every Slider in the beatmap to the new bpm. After choosing this command, especially if a large change in bpm has been made, it is important to check every Slider and adjust its length manually where necessary.
Resnap
A pair of commands under the Timing header of the Editor screen, one of which applies to the entire beatmap and the other to the current timing section (if the beatmap has only one timing section, both commands are the same). Select when there has been a change in offset and/or bpm after objects have been placed. This command will try to automatically reposition all objects on the timeline so that they fall on the closest beat division your Snap Divisor allows. After choosing this command, especially if a large change in bpm and/or offset has been made, it is important to check every object and adjust its position on the timeline manually where necessary.
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Sample Set
A collection of sound effects that are heard during gameplay. People can use custom sample sets for their beatmaps. Apart from the default sound made when tapping a Hit Circle, the most well known elements in a sample set are the Whistle and the Finish. Other parts of a sample set include the Slider Tick sounds and the sound made when filling the Spinner Metre.
Score Star
Every graphic that displays the score earned by the player when tapping on Hit Circles and clearing Sliders and Spinners, as well as when achieving a Beat! and Elite Beat! achieved. Named from the star shaped graphics in the DS games. Also called (score) explosion.
Skin
A set of graphics and custom sample sets that can be chosen to replace the default ones used by osu! in order to customise one's playing experience. Most of what you see and hear in osu! can be skinned. There is a sub-forum dedicated to skins.
Slider
Called Phrase Marker in the DS games. One of three objects the player interacts with (the other two being the Hit Circle and the spinner). It consists of two Hit Circles with a path between them, usually straight or curved. An Approach Circle is around the beginning Hit Circle of the Slider. Once it reaches its border, the player must tap the beginning of the Slider and then, keeping the button pressed, follow with his cursor a moving graphic (the Slider Ball) along the Slider's path until the end Hit Circle is reached. If there is a reverse arrow graphic at that point, the player follows the Slider Ball back along the same path and repeats as long as a reverse arrow graphic is visible.
Slider Ball
An graphic (ball-shaped by default) that moves along a Slider's path and on which a player must keep his cursor while pressing the button in order to successfully clear the Slider.
Slider Tick
Small circles that appear in regular intervals along a Slider's path. The player only fails to completely clear a Slider if the cursor is not on the Slider Ball and/or the button is not pressed while the Slider Ball is passing over a tick. Not keeping the cursor on the Slider or the button pressed at any other time during a Slider's path will actually not yield any penalty. Users can adjust the number of ticks on their beatmap's Sliders. More ticks make the Combo rise faster and thus offer the oppotunity for higher scores, but at the same time they provide more chances for the player to fail to clear the Slider. Each cleared Slider Tick is worth 10 points (regardless of Combo).
Snap divisor
A selector at the upper right corner of the Editor screen. Slide it to adjust the number of beat divisions visible on the timeline and thus the available positions in time where you can place objects. Available settings are 1/1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 (only use if you already have some skill as a beatmapper) and 1/3 and 1/6, which are more rarely used. While pressing Alt, the Snap Divisor is replaced with the selector for Beat Spacing value.
Song packs
Collections of ranked beatmaps that can be downloaded by file sharing services. Most song packs are sets of beatmaps that were ranked during the same time period, but in other packs contain songs of a similar style or theme. You can find song packs here.
Spectate
"Spec" for short. To watch another playing a beatmap in real time (approx. 500 ms delay). To spectate, open Extended Chat mode and click on a grey user panel. You need to have a copy of the exact same beatmap the person you wish to spectate is playing.
Spinner
One of three objects the player interacts with (the other two being the Hit Circle and the Slider) and probably the one seen least often. A Spinner is a circle that takes up the entire height of the play area and has a Spinner Metre on either side. A large circular outline similar to a Approach Circle appears on the Spinner’s border and gradually converges on its centre. The player should hold the mouse button down and spin in either a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction. As long as the mouse button is held down, the cursor is locked on the Spinner’s area, so the player need not worry about going outside it. The Spinner is cleared if all the levels of the Spinner Metre are filled before its Approach Circle reaches the centre. Depending on the difficulty settings of each beatmap, a different number of spins are required to fill each level of the Spinner Metre (worth 100 points). If the player fills the Spinner Metre before the Approach Circle reaches the Spinner’s centre, each additional spin before time runs out will award the player with 1000 bonus points (each receiving a bonus multiplier depending on the player’s current Combo). Spinning a Spinner provides a continuous minor boost to the Life Bar depending on the spinning speed.
Spinner Metre
A pair of bars on either side of a Spinner which typically gradually fill up with colour as the player spins the Spinner. In order to clear the spinner, all levels of the Spinner Metre should light up before the Approach Circle reaches the Spinner's centre. Each level that lights up on the Spinner Metre awards the player with 100 points (regardless of Combo).
Spinner Spam
To overuse Spinners in a beatmap. There are many kinds of Spinner Spam: Using very long Spinners (lasting more than 10 seconds or so), using a lot of very short Spinners (lasting less than 2 seconds or so) one after the other, or even worse, using a lot of regular sized or long Spinners one after the other. With the possible exception of some especially challenging beatmaps, Spinner Spam is to be avoided for the following reasons:
i) A Spinner is by far the gameplay element that causes the player the most fatigue, since it requires rapid, repetitive, vigorous motion. A lot of Spinners or even a single long one can easily tire a player’s arm.
ii) Due to the circular, often frantic motion required to clear it, after clearing a spinner the player’s cursor is often left at a random position in the screen, possibly far from an incoming Hit Circle or Slider. A multitude of Spinners will thus be particularly disorienting for most players.
Stacked
Objects that overlap each other in the play field. Most common in Hit Circles, less common with Hit Circles and the edges of sliders to be avoided with any other combination of objects. Stacking Hit Circles, while a clear violation of Beat Spacing, is nevertheless permitted if the Hit Circles are very close to each other in the timeline (half a beat or usually even less).
Standard Submission
A way to submit a beatmap through the BSS system, making it available to the osu! community. Standard Submission is the one used when first uploading a beatmap, as well as when updating with changes such as object placement, tweaks in timing, custom colour schemes, new difficulty versions etc. Every Standard Submission of a beatmap after the first is faster because only the changes are uploaded.
Star
i) A stage in a beatmap’s modding process where a moderator judges a beatmap to be on the right track but needing some improvements before he approves of it with a bubble. Examples include adjustments in timing, incorrect Beat Spacing in some areas, or creating additional difficulty versions. Beatmaps receiving a star are denoted by a star graphic next to their thread’s title. A star may be removed by another mod if he judges the beatmap to need a rather larger amount of improvements than expected.
ii) Can be used as an abbreviation of difficulty stars.
Storyboard
A set of still images, animated images and sound effects that tells a story during a beatmap’s course but especially before the beatmap’s beginning, during breaks and after the beatmap’s end. In the DS games, Storyboards concern one or more persons facing a difficult challenge or predicament which they then try to overcome whilst being cheered on by the player-controlled characters to the tune of a song. Therefore, a Storyboard can take various directions depending on the player’s performance. osu! storyboarding is supported through the use of a scripting language or the Storyboard Editor which can be accessed in Editor Mode under "Design". There is a sub-forum dedicated to Storyboards.
Storyboard Editor
Can be found under "Design" in Editor mode. As the name implies, storyboards can be easily created and edited here.
Stream
A long series of objects, not necessarily belonging in a single Combo, which appear in rapid succession. Also see Deathstream.
-T-
Tablet
A graphics tablet, an alternative input medium to the computer mouse. A tablet consists of a flat surface on which one can point and drag using an attached stylus. The image of the screen does not appear on the tablet, thus making it different in functionality from a Touch screen.
Tap
To press a button while the cursor is over a Hit Circle. Tapping Hit Circles at the right moment, as indicated by the beatmap’s music and the Approach Circle, is an essential part of osu! gameplay. There are many buttons one can use to tap: either mouse button, the z and x keys on the keyboard (see z/x), either button on a Touchpad, buttons on a Tablet’s pen, etc.
Test Build
A Build usually updated at least daily with up-to-date improvements in the osu! application. Its Updater is available to moderators and other willing beta testers upon request. All working changes in the Test Builds are eventually made available in a new version of the Public Build.
Tick
See Slider Tick.
Time signature
A musical term indicating how many beats are in each measure and what note value constitutes a single beat. Osu! offers two alternative time signatures, which can be selected from the Timing menu: 4/4, which is the one most commonly used, and 3/4, which is selected when the rhythm of the song is of, or similar to, a waltz.
Timing
Probably the most important requirement for a beatmap to get ranked, as well as the most difficult to accomplish. Timing a beatmap consists of determining the offset and then the bpm of the song it uses. On songs where the tempo changes, this needs to be done for every timing section. The timing process creates the timeline on which objects will be placed. Without perfect timing, or at least close enough that the human ear can't tell the difference, it is next to impossible to place objects to the rhythm of the music, which is the entire point of osu!
Timing section
A part of a song which follows a different rhythm than the parts preceding and following it. Many songs have a constant tempo and thus a single timing section, but for those which have more, the beatmapper needs to identify any areas where the song bpm and/ or time signature changes and find the timing for each one. Timing sections can also be used even if the rhythm of the song remains constant throughout the beatmap, for example in order to allow the beatmapper to assign different sample sets to different parts of the song. Those are called "inherited timing sections" and are identified by green lines.
Touch screen
One of the input mediums used by the Nintendo DS and the sole input medium for the DS games osu! is based on. Osu! supports Touch screen functionality, but the hardware required is generally expensive for the average player. A computer whose entire screen functions as a Touch screen is called a Tablet PC (Do not confuse with Tablet).
Touchpad
A substitute for the computer mouse found on laptop computers. A small rectangular area on which one can drag one’s finger to move the mouse cursor. Due to the way touchpads are designed, they do not work with a stylus or similar devices.
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Universal Offset
The time delay between a) the object graphics and sample set sounds associated with them and b) the point of the song where they should be heard. Universal Offset applies to all songs used in osu! and its value differs according to each system's specifications. After being determined, it doesn't need to be modified again. Incorrectly set Universal Offset causes timing problems in every beatmap played or edited. If everything sounds off to you while playing a ranked beatmap, try checking your Universal Offset. Universal Offset is set from the Options Menu.
Updater
The osume.exe file, which, when run, will check whether there have been updates to the Osu! Build you are using and download and install any such updates. There are two Updaters - one for the Public Build and one for the Test Build.
upppy
A fast and easy-to-use uploading service coded by peppy. If you want to share a file with the osu! community, forget about depositing it on Rapidshare, Megaupload, ImageShack and the like - put it on upppy and everyone's happy!
You can find it here.-W-
Whistle
A sound effect, part of a sample set, usually reserved for emphasizing and punctuating certain points in a song. Its default form and icon in the Editor is that of a blown whistle.
WIP
Acronym for Work In Progress, a beatmap that is, for one reason or another, deemed incomplete by its creator (e.g. incomplete difficulty versions, only one difficulty version, pending correction or suggestions on the timing etc.) WIPs can be submitted through the BSS to the Beatmap Help forum to get comments, feedback and help from mods and other users.
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z/x
To use the z and x keyboard keys to tap in osu!. A fairly popular alternative to the left and right mouse buttons. During gameplay, while z is pressed, the left mouse button will not work and vice versa. The same applies to the x key and the right mouse button.
