I've just discovered a great application of this "slider leniency" for structure mapping. Because structure gets a bad rap for having "poor" flow--a sentiment which I find to be rather untrue when the flow's manipulated in ways which fit the music--I'm going to talk about slider patterns. In particular, moving between two sliders with spaced 1/4. Over time, my hope is to dispel some common misconceptions about the relevance of "iNiS style" to a game which is primarily mouse-based.
First, let's look at an example of an object following a slider directly.
I've seen some complaints about this sort of thing being bad, simply because the circle which follows the slider doesn't overlap or isn't stacked. Personally, I hate sliderend stacking, so I find the latter to be thoroughly out of the question. I also dislike objects overlapping, unless they're part of a tidy stream, so the former isn't a viable option for me. With regards to the gigantic followcircle, let's see how easy it is to get away with larger spacing.
You can see that, despite the larger spacing, the size of the followcircle allows the player to land directly onto the next object, before the slider's even finished. As an added bonus, I've illustrated how this pattern--something that looks incredibly angular--can easily play as one smooth curve. Don't be afraid to use sharper angles! Even if you're not aiming for sharp changes in direction, they can play extremely smoothly.
Note that this sort of thing can apply very well to even tighter angles. The following pattern might be dispelled as being stuck awkwardly between "flow and anti-flow," but look at the smoothness of the path which can be followed:
See? It's possible to have structure and "good flow." It just takes a modicum of consideration to how it will work in practice, as well as some attention during playtests. Of course, this sort of logic can apply to circle patterns on their own, especially when they're large like they are in the examples.
In closing, here are some even more angular patterns.
Using slider blankets to create effective zig-zags.While these sliders are pointing in opposite directions and seem like one would have to jerk up awkwardly, they'd only have to move in a swooping zig-zag. Hardly a scary thing to play. Of course, mixing up the flow with the illustrated oval flow adds plenty of interest as well.
I hope that this has enlightened some of you about structure mapping. Instead of flat-out dispelling the notion of mapping like this, try suggesting ways of improving the flow
when smoother flow is required.