Greetings
[General]
- So for metadata people usually use the vocalist as the artist, so in this case the artist would be nomico. Refer to the official website.
- soft-hitnormal8.wav and soft-hitwhistle8.wav are unused. If you're not going to be using them I'd suggest removing them.
- normal-hitwhistle11.wav, soft-hitnormal3.wav and soft-hitnormal6.wav have >5 ms delays, might want to cut to where they start with something like audacity.
[Dance] - 00:09:904 (3,1) - Could keep this straight like the other streams were done for visual consistency.
- 00:09:733 (1,2,3) - Could also avoid this overlap probably, doesn't look very visually pleasing.
- 00:14:018 (2,3,4,10,11,1) - Is the spacing between streams consistent? Looks like these two are different despite the first circle being stacked here. If it's increasing in intensity then same should probably go for 00:15:904 (5,6,7,8) - or whatnot. tbh I'd just suggest for it to be the same, unless it's really noticeable there's no need to gradually increase the spacing like this, especially not for single instances.
- 00:20:361 (5) - Slider here seems strange, as nothing is really changing in the song compared to when it was just circles. Would just replace it with two circles to continue the pattern and avoid 00:20:447 - being skipped, as players are likely to just keep holding the key from that note on.
- 00:33:046 (1,2,1,2,1,2,1,2,1,2,1,2,1,2) - So I like the idea for these patterns but it would probably reflect the pitch better if 00:33:733 (1,2) - was the climax instead of 00:33:046 (1,2) - , as it's starting off weak.
- 00:42:647 (1,2,3,4,5,6) - I noticed a lot of these patterns aren't really straight visually. Pretty sure things would look neater and more structured if the circles held some linear relation to each other like most other things seem to do.
- 00:44:018 (1,2,3,4) - 00:46:761 (1,2,3,4) - Probably a good idea to keep spacing consistent throughout patterns like these. Especially considering how 00:46:933 (2,3) - is currently larger than 00:47:104 (3,4) - despite (4) having the vocal on it. Generally the less you space things like 00:46:761 (1,2) - , the more powerful actual jumps become in comparison due to contrast.
- 00:49:333 (8,1,2) - This looks a bit odd aesthetically, something like 00:50:704 (1,2,3,4,5) - looks a lot cleaner. Additionally, why is 00:49:504 (1,2,3) - so different from 00:50:704 (1,2,3,4,5,1,2,3,4,5,1,2,3,4) - ? The others seem to have a defined pattern but not this first one.
- 01:00:475 - There's something weird about the structure here. So considering that 01:01:675 (1,2,3,4,5,6,7) - is basically a flipped version of 01:03:047 (1,2,3,4,5,6) - , and that's a flipped version of 01:04:418 (1,2,3,4,5,6) - , I'd say 01:00:475 (1,2,3,4) - is what is out of pattern. Could solve that by flipping 01:01:675 (1,2,3,4,5,6,7) - over and then adjusting for rhythm, sort of like this. That way all repeating vocals here will be matched by a respective repeating pattern in the map.
- 01:07:675 (3,4,5,6,7,1,2,3,4) - So from here spacing is starting to get a little crazy. I realize intensity is getting higher in the background, and increasing spacing does make sense in that regard, but the way it's executed here kills the contrast that each jump should have in turn. Jumps like 01:08:018 (5,6) - are really large and basically overemphasize the sounds. Compare the spacing to something like 01:06:304 (2,3) - or 01:06:990 (5,6) - , which are stronger, for example.
This is recurring issue in the map as far as I've seen; individually, spacing is fine, but contrast suffers because of the way it's done as a whole. By increasing the base spacing this much, it's hard to differentiate weaker sounds from stronger sounds as easily, which is generally bad. Usually maps would have frequent smaller spacings in between to build contrast properly, for example for 01:06:475 (3,4) - or 00:59:447 (2,3) - . Anyway this probably mostly has to do with the constant beats that the song has, which, if focused on too much, makes things monotonous and jump-heavy. In worst-case scenario you'll also end up skipping distinct vocals that are off-beat, for instance. - 01:11:447 (1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) - So the first two combos and the other two, 01:14:018 (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1,2,3,4,5,6,7) - , are pretty different both in spacing and rhythm. Would be cool imo if parts like these would appear in the same sort of patterns and just vary slightly perhaps, like the other one mentioned.
- 01:17:447 - The way this is skipped, but 01:18:133 - is emphasized through the insane spacing at 01:17:790 (5,6,1) - , makes the emphasis feel a bit inconsistent. Could otherwise try something along the lines of 01:19:675 (1,2,3,4) - .
- 01:47:447 (1,2,3,4,1,2) - Would be interesting if the snares could stand out more in some way, maybe Ctrl G 01:47:618 (2,3) - and 01:48:133 (1,2) - . Additionally, could start the new combo on 01:47:961 - instead of 01:48:133 - , as 01:47:447 (1,2,3) - 01:47:961 (4,1,2) - are grouped in the song.
- 01:49:847 - This section is mostly following the drums which makes it a bit repetitive and monotonous in rhythm, could try following vocals at parts, like swapping 01:50:875 (5,1) - 01:56:190 (5,6) - rhythmically. Accentuating things like 01:52:418 - 01:52:761 - 02:03:390 - etc. There's no need to do so when a slider is followed by a stream, as ending sliders on strong beats can be used for switching instrumental layer. Just feels a bit unnecessary to do so when it's all just the same beat over and over. Atm it just feels like sliders and circles are switched between a bit randomly just to be there rather than to follow the song, even if the intention may have been different.
- 01:53:961 (1,2,3,4,1,2,3) - 01:56:704 (1,2,3,4) - 01:58:075 (1,2,3,4) - 01:59:447 (1,2,3,4,1,2,3) - These are overall pretty weak and makes 02:00:475 (3,4,5,6,1) - lose contrast, but I'm guessing it is to add variety. Only problem here is that they're a bit randomly placed on the timeline and they're not really following any pattern in that regard from what I can see. Later on they're used as triples as well without anything really changing in the song. Basically try arranging things in patterns rhythmically, so perhaps the first and third measures are identical but first has a triple and fourth has a longer stream, etc, just so things become a bit more recognizable and feel like it's actually meant to be there rather than just being added for variety here and there.
- 02:11:447 (9) - Could NC this to represent a transition.
- 02:54:904 - 1/4 is ignored here. Would turn 02:54:818 (2,3) - into a triple so it's presented differently from 02:54:647 (1) - in accordance with the song.
- 03:10:933 (1) - There's a bit too many different sliders going on here, would try incorporating this into 03:11:104 (2,3) - . Then NC the snares as to separate the groups.
- 03:50:533 (1,2,3,4) - 03:51:390 (5,6,7) - So from here on it's mostly just about spacing and contrast. If you're aiming to emphasize things like 03:51:047 - 03:51:733 - , spacing should preferably reflect that in some way rather than becoming lower. There's also the concern that things are getting more and more random as spacing increases. Preferably all objects should be visually supported and included in some kind of visual pattern or whatnot, but here circles are seemingly just placed after spacing and sharp flow than anything else. Even star patterns like 03:54:818 (1,2,3,4,5,6,7) - aren't balanced very well. This applies especially for 04:01:504 - .
- Things like vocals could be emphasized at 04:04:761 - etc. Think I've already mentioned most things so won't go into much more detail.
- 04:32:523 (2) - Over 5 ms unsnapped, nudge it a bit on the timeline and it'll snap into place.
So overall I think it would be great if some more contrast could be made so not everything is high spacing all the time. It'd be a good idea to make some parts lower spacing so that others can stand out more. Hardstyle and hardcore maps usually have strong and constant beats, but prioritizing them too much would make things repetitive in rhythm, so I'd suggest focusing a bit more on vocals and trying to make the rhythm more elaborate. For example swapping 04:12:990 (4,5) - rhythmically or accentuating 04:15:733 - more, not just having all sliders on white ticks.