The ranking criteria does not include any clause about how the layering (or deliberate patterning for that matter, but this is mostly irrelevant) scheme of a chart must be kept consistent unless there is a reason to deviate from the rules of a layering scheme. I have a document on layering if it is necessary, but I would like to see if the absence of such a clause is intentional.
That being said, grammatical errors aside, I do have further reservations with the ranking criteria:
RC:
@Feerum:
That being said, grammatical errors aside, I do have further reservations with the ranking criteria:
Patterns
- The description of "graces" refer to flams. Grace notes refer to the second (and/or) third notes of a flam.
- Trills refer to any set of notes (lasting three notes or longer) that alternate between two columns.
- The key component of "inverse" sections is that there is very little empty space (i.e. you're not hitting or holding a key) in that section. This means that the LNs must also be long enough to cover up near the entirety (90-95%) of the playfield. As it is, any section that is entirely made of LNs with short releases is considered an "inverse" section.
- The term "bracket" is only used in keymodes beyond 5K. Brackets refer to the alternation of three or more fingers (either 2 finger-1 finger or something similar) on the same hand. As it is, it refers to one-hand trilling as bracketing.
- Gluts can be better referred to as consecutive ("constant supply" in your case) chords. Jumpjacks/handjacks/jumptrills are all part of "gluts"; it's just that we refer to gluts as those aforementioned patterns when the gluts meet certain characteristics.
- Rolls are typically faster than the mode rhythmic density of a section.
Column: Columns are the lines in the editor where the notes get placed. The editor uses 0|1|2|3, but many modders prefer to use 1|2|3|4, which is important for modding in osu!mania. These numbers may vary depending on the beatmap’s keymode.- Minijack has no hyphen to it, and minijacks refer to 2 consecutive notes on the same column. The minijack itself has a faster "jack" motion than other patterns around it, but its rhythmic density is usually the same compared to other notes in the section.
Slider Velocity: For osu!mania, slider velocity adjusts the speed in which the notes scroll.
Teleports: A note whose motion is quick enough to skip any given location of the playfield instantaneously.
Mini-jack: A small number of consecutive notes in the same column, usually performed at a faster pace compared to surrounding notes.
Stream: A constant supply of notes with the same intervals that do not repeat to create a mini-jack.
Chords: Two or more notes performed at the same time.
Graces: Two or more notes performed in a quick succession.
Long note: A note that must be held and released in succession.
Release: The end of a long note which must be released within a certain timing window to score the entirety of the note properly.
Inverse: A type of pattern that replaces all regular notes with long notes in a given section.
Trill: Four or more notes that alternate within two columns.
Bracket: A pattern that uses alternating fingers to perform it correctly.
Shield: A note which appears shortly after a long-note.
Gluts: A constant supply of chords which do not repeat in all of the same columns.
Jumps: Two notes performed at the same time.
Jumpstream: A stream interlaced with jumps.
Jumptrill: A trill consisting of two alternating jumps.
Split jumptrill: A jumptrill which uses both hands at the same time to perform correctly - i.e two one-handed trills.
Hands: Three notes performed at the same time.
Roll: A variation of a stream consisting of notes that go from the first to the last column or last to the first column, usually done in quick succession.
- The description of "graces" refer to flams. Grace notes refer to the second (and/or) third notes of a flam.
- Trills refer to any set of notes (lasting three notes or longer) that alternate between two columns.
- The key component of "inverse" sections is that there is very little empty space (i.e. you're not hitting or holding a key) in that section. This means that the LNs must also be long enough to cover up near the entirety (90-95%) of the playfield. As it is, any section that is entirely made of LNs with short releases is considered an "inverse" section.
- The term "bracket" is only used in keymodes beyond 5K. Brackets refer to the alternation of three or more fingers (either 2 finger-1 finger or something similar) on the same hand. As it is, it refers to one-hand trilling as bracketing.
- Gluts can be better referred to as consecutive ("constant supply" in your case) chords. Jumpjacks/handjacks/jumptrills are all part of "gluts"; it's just that we refer to gluts as those aforementioned patterns when the gluts meet certain characteristics.
- Rolls are typically faster than the mode rhythmic density of a section.
RC:
Hard
- Certain sounds require the use of 1/8s, 1/12s and 1/16s to maximise the correspondence between an extant sound and the complementing note. I assume that that was an exception that was overlooked, for the reason for disallowing those snaps is that streams of that notation (at 150 BPM) can be excessively difficult.
- It is far better to establish a rule of thumb of maximum chord density (given a base of 150 BPM 1/4s) than to disallow chords altogether. Players at that level, however, should have little to no issue with 150 BPM jumpstream with doubles on every 2/1.
- Patterns per se are not "advanced", and the difficulty of the pattern is highly contingent on the speed of the pattern. It is better to establish a speed of the pattern that you are disallowing rather than disallowing the pattern altogether.
Guide:
- Players should be more than capable of hitting 16-note 1/4 streams at 150 BPM at that level. It would be better to use a higher BPM range (e.g. 200) instead or to remove the guideline altogether.
- Minijacks (2-note jacks) are not particularly demanding, for players can hit these minijacks at a tempo that is far slower than how fast the minijack is and still get good judgments. I would suggest removing this guideline.
- LNs per se are not difficult. Sinnoh brings up a good point of how the density of a section will affect the difficulty of LN releases. It is better to define the guideline further to avoid unnecessary misinterpretation.
Hard:Rules:
- Note snappings of 1/8 and above are disallowed. These can be too physically demanding for players of this level. An exception to this rule would be the usage of grace notes that are at higher-end snaps (1/8, 1/12 and 1/16) as they are only used to accentuate gracing sounds.
- Do not place any chords in the middle of streams.
- Inverse patterns must not be used. They are a very advanced type of pattern and that they require a lot of coordination to properly execute it.
Guide:
- Avoid 1/4 streams made of more than 16 notes. These can be too physically demanding for players of this level.
- Mini-jack usage is discouraged, especially on higher BPM. These can be too physically demanding for players of this level.
- Long notes should not be shorter than 1/4 in length.
- Certain sounds require the use of 1/8s, 1/12s and 1/16s to maximise the correspondence between an extant sound and the complementing note. I assume that that was an exception that was overlooked, for the reason for disallowing those snaps is that streams of that notation (at 150 BPM) can be excessively difficult.
- It is far better to establish a rule of thumb of maximum chord density (given a base of 150 BPM 1/4s) than to disallow chords altogether. Players at that level, however, should have little to no issue with 150 BPM jumpstream with doubles on every 2/1.
- Patterns per se are not "advanced", and the difficulty of the pattern is highly contingent on the speed of the pattern. It is better to establish a speed of the pattern that you are disallowing rather than disallowing the pattern altogether.
Guide:
- Players should be more than capable of hitting 16-note 1/4 streams at 150 BPM at that level. It would be better to use a higher BPM range (e.g. 200) instead or to remove the guideline altogether.
- Minijacks (2-note jacks) are not particularly demanding, for players can hit these minijacks at a tempo that is far slower than how fast the minijack is and still get good judgments. I would suggest removing this guideline.
- LNs per se are not difficult. Sinnoh brings up a good point of how the density of a section will affect the difficulty of LN releases. It is better to define the guideline further to avoid unnecessary misinterpretation.
Insane
- The latter rule is more applicable for 1/8 streams at 190+ BPM rather than 150 BPM. Most players are more than capable of hitting 300 BPM 16 note streams even with hard patterns.
- Minijacks (2-note jacks) are not particularly demanding, for players can hit these minijacks at a tempo that is far slower than how fast the minijack is and still get good judgments. I would suggest removing this guideline. Jumptrill to hand-based patterns should be assessed based on their suitability relative to the rest of the map (in terms of difficulty variance or musical relevance), and should not be discouraged completely.
- This guideline would be more applicable for 180-200 BPM 1/4 split jumptrills rather than 150 BPM.
Insane:- Players are far more than capable enough of hitting 1/8 streams at 150 BPM when they reach Insane level. It would be better to use a higher BPM range (e.g. 190) instead or to remove the guideline altogether.
- Avoid 1/8 streams made of more than 8 notes. Streams of this type of snap are harder to pull off than snaps at the lower end, and as such should only be used if the song warrants it.
- Avoid using split rolls or any kind of complicated 1/8 streams. These types of patterns are much harder to execute properly and shouldn't be used unless the song is abrasive enough to warrant that type of pattern. Use simple rolls as an alternative so it matches the intensity of that portion of the song without making it difficult to play through.
- Using jumptrills of any kind that lead to a hand is discouraged. This is if the genre of the map is not intended to be technical, as this pattern is difficult to hit at a moderate to high speed. For 4K, this creates a mini jack that drastically increases the pattern difficulty. If a hand is really necessary, delete the note before it that would create the minijack.
- Using split jumptrills / brackets is discouraged. These are much more physically exhausting, awkward and take more control to properly execute compared to the standard jumptrills that alternate hands. Do not use both of these as if they are the same unless they are shorter than 5 notes long. Rare cases that allow these to be used are if the music here is abrasive enough to warrant the physical exhaustion.
- The latter rule is more applicable for 1/8 streams at 190+ BPM rather than 150 BPM. Most players are more than capable of hitting 300 BPM 16 note streams even with hard patterns.
- Minijacks (2-note jacks) are not particularly demanding, for players can hit these minijacks at a tempo that is far slower than how fast the minijack is and still get good judgments. I would suggest removing this guideline. Jumptrill to hand-based patterns should be assessed based on their suitability relative to the rest of the map (in terms of difficulty variance or musical relevance), and should not be discouraged completely.
- This guideline would be more applicable for 180-200 BPM 1/4 split jumptrills rather than 150 BPM.
Expert
- Staccato LNs are not covered in the Expert guidelines (nor any of the guidelines for that matter); I assume that staccato LNs (extremely short releases) are permissible for Hard difficulties and above.
Expert:- The first guideline is too vague to mean anything.
- Keep hand balance concepts clear for higher difficulties. For example, a regular jumptrill plays way easier than a split handed jumptrill so you have to be careful on its usage for high BPM songs.
- Long note release timings should use similar snaps than their press timings. Long notes that are into more jazz rhythm should usually have 1/3 or 1/6 releases while more rigid songs might use 1/4 or 1/8 snaps. Combining LN snaps for releases is fine but do it with caution.
- Staccato LNs are not covered in the Expert guidelines (nor any of the guidelines for that matter); I assume that staccato LNs (extremely short releases) are permissible for Hard difficulties and above.
@Feerum:
Dump Charting
A semi-dump (as far as I've heard that you guys have defined it) is:
- A chart that uses ghost notes in a consistent and musically justifiable manner.
- A chart that deviates from a general layering scheme for reasons that go beyond reducing malignant difficulty variance. This is fairly vague however, and the idea of a "general layering scheme" is not established. The document I have gives a good idea of what "general layering rules" and "situational layering rules" are, but I do not know if it is worth it to cover them in the criteria.
You can include these rules:
- Under certain conditions (that pertain to the song, that is; e.g. the presence of both bass kicks and snares at a certain rhythm), you may use ghost notes for parts of the song that meet that condition. If you do use ghost notes in that manner, the use must be consistent. The level of rhythmic density created by ghost notes must be within reason (difficulty-wise), and the use of ghost notes must align with the music's intensity relative to other sections in the map and song.
- A high level of rhythmic density (e.g. a 1/6 or 1/8 stream) can correspond to a sound with a sustained peak period as long as the peak justifies that high level of rhythmic density (based on the intensity/volume of that sound). If you do ghost notes in that manner, the use must be consistent. The level of rhythmic density created by ghost notes must be within reason (difficulty-wise), and the use of ghost notes must align with the music's intensity relative to other sections in the map and song.
- Sections of a map that do not strictly follow the layering scheme established in the map are permissible if the map's intensity corresponds to the music's intensity relative to other sections in the map and song. This rule can only be reinforced if every note/chord in the map corresponds to sounds that are present in the song. (This may be exploitable however, which is inevitable for any ranking system that has no explicit quality control.) In hindsight, this rule is too exploitable for its own good. Overlayered charts have always been allowed as long as they were consistent, and overlayered charts that break away from their established layering schemes that were ranked did so because its difficulty variance might have been too undesirable otherwise.
Yeah, we have basically talked to allow some kind of "dumps" in Mania but as much as we tried we couldn't come to some proper conclusion to be posted with this here.This is not hard to do.
This does not mean we dropped the topic!
A semi-dump (as far as I've heard that you guys have defined it) is:
- A chart that uses ghost notes in a consistent and musically justifiable manner.
- A chart that deviates from a general layering scheme for reasons that go beyond reducing malignant difficulty variance. This is fairly vague however, and the idea of a "general layering scheme" is not established. The document I have gives a good idea of what "general layering rules" and "situational layering rules" are, but I do not know if it is worth it to cover them in the criteria.
You can include these rules:
- Under certain conditions (that pertain to the song, that is; e.g. the presence of both bass kicks and snares at a certain rhythm), you may use ghost notes for parts of the song that meet that condition. If you do use ghost notes in that manner, the use must be consistent. The level of rhythmic density created by ghost notes must be within reason (difficulty-wise), and the use of ghost notes must align with the music's intensity relative to other sections in the map and song.
- A high level of rhythmic density (e.g. a 1/6 or 1/8 stream) can correspond to a sound with a sustained peak period as long as the peak justifies that high level of rhythmic density (based on the intensity/volume of that sound). If you do ghost notes in that manner, the use must be consistent. The level of rhythmic density created by ghost notes must be within reason (difficulty-wise), and the use of ghost notes must align with the music's intensity relative to other sections in the map and song.