Just my own notes made public about the things we should have to address in a revision anyways based on the input from several sides so far (+my own thoughts after hearing a few things):
Desperate-kun wrote:
All repeat arrows on sliders must be visible, excluding short repeating sliders. In those cases, only the first repeat has to be visible, since the other repeats are expected. Test play your map to confirm if repeat arrows are visible.
Should get a sentence explaining why this even is a requirement
Desperate-kun wrote:
All circles and slider heads should be snapped to distinct sounds in the music. Adding objects where there is no musical cue to justify them can result in confusing patterns and unfitting rhythms.
Instead of calling it confusing this should probably say something among the lines of inventing objects that contradict what the song offers goes against the basic intention of a rhythm game that follows a song
Desperate-kun wrote:
Avoid overlapping objects with other elements of the default skin. This includes elements such as the HP-bar, combocounter, progressbar or the score meter.
while it is already kind of hinting that it probalby only means skinnable elements i feel like this should include a list of things that are involved here, otherwise nobody knows how and what to check for in which resolutions whatsoever because it's a tad too vague
Desperate-kun wrote:
Avoid using high tick rates combined with low slider velocity. Receiving feedback from slider ticks that are not visible can be uncomfortable.
Would rather say that hearing ticking and not seeing anything that causes it is similar to storyboarded samples playing in the middle of something
Desperate-kun wrote:
Buzz sliders must have appropriate delay before the next note. 1/8 and 1/16 sliders should be followed by a 1/4 gap, whereas 1/12 sliders should be followed by a 1/6 gap. This ensures that the hit-window between objects is playable.
Guideline wording would suggest must -> should
Desperate-kun wrote:
Avoid excessive composition differences in similar sections of a song. The basic spacing and rhythm should be similar, while patterning can vary. This is to ensure players do not get confused when playing the same rhythm twice.
should rather say section and back this up that a composition of objects based on a song should not be vastly different if a repeated section is played as a more logical argument because most of the times this does not confuse players, it just does not make much sense from a game design perspective
Desperate-kun wrote:
Try to spread your object placement evenly across the playfield. Objects cluttered in one region of the screen can be uncomfortable to play when there isn’t clear intent behind their placement.
similar approach to getting rid of "uncomfortable": the composing area is an entire screen so it should be used for keeping placement balanced, unless the idea is to clearly do otherwise. If you randomly end up just being in the same place you could argue that you mapped yourself into circles and should attempt to balance your placement given that you have a ton of space left out.
also get rid of contraction "isn’t" -> is not