hi!
let's make a feel good post in mapping discussion for once, instead of a help thread or map request thread
one day I thought it would be a good idea, so I recently made a tierlist of my own completed maps without expecting much, and I enjoyed the process. so I wish to bring you through my journey of considerations in making it, the results, and my reflections and thoughts on what I've made so far. if you think it's fun too, then sure, go ahead and make one for yourself.
my goal with this tierlist was to, through an enjoyable activity, (1) look back on my nearing 4 years of mapping, and (2) organize my thoughts on my own maps. how much do I really like them? how good do I really think they are? am I actually a shit mapper all along, and can i find reasons why?... this activity will not be as harsh and objective as "what's the best map?" since we all have different mapping experiences. it will be reflective for the mapper themselves in nature, a sort-of self-analysis, a player-response criticism in the same lines of a reader-response criticism
if you want to try it out yourself, sure. just a few comments:
was I successful in attaining my goal? yeah, I think so
it was fun as well
would I do it again? maybe if I'm still mapping after a few years and my completed maps increase substantially
perhaps others would not consider my S ranks and A ranks there if given a chance to have my tierlist edited. that's fine. this is what I consider relevant to my experiences so far, and so can you
let's make a feel good post in mapping discussion for once, instead of a help thread or map request thread
one day I thought it would be a good idea, so I recently made a tierlist of my own completed maps without expecting much, and I enjoyed the process. so I wish to bring you through my journey of considerations in making it, the results, and my reflections and thoughts on what I've made so far. if you think it's fun too, then sure, go ahead and make one for yourself.
my goal with this tierlist was to, through an enjoyable activity, (1) look back on my nearing 4 years of mapping, and (2) organize my thoughts on my own maps. how much do I really like them? how good do I really think they are? am I actually a shit mapper all along, and can i find reasons why?... this activity will not be as harsh and objective as "what's the best map?" since we all have different mapping experiences. it will be reflective for the mapper themselves in nature, a sort-of self-analysis, a player-response criticism in the same lines of a reader-response criticism
if you want to try it out yourself, sure. just a few comments:
- I hope no shaming on others comes out of this as this is mostly just analyzing our own maps. in the same way, this is not really a promotion of my maps; I don't really care if that happens or not.
- feel free to use this post for your own self-reflection hahaha, or you can keep it to yourself
- this is better done if you have a considerable amount of completed maps (or mapsets, or topdiffs?) so although this seems fun, newer mappers might honestly struggle in making something substantial out of this. the exception that comes to mind would be an analysis or your practice maps so far. furthermore, having more maps usually means your standards towards yourself will be better.
(1) considerations on how I'll make the list
general comments
to make a cohesive tierlist of your own maps and not something dangerously terrible as a new mapper trying to rank their first map, we'll have to set some rules for ourselves. that will depend on you as a mapper, the nature of your maps, and other general facts about your style and your experiences thus far. considerations may vary from mapper to mapper
some context, this will be important for further considerations
I usually map 4-5 minute unconventional jpop songs from only 1 artist. so my maps are full of attempts to bring out concepts and flesh them out in the context of the song. there's more to it, but for the purposes of this tierlist, I will leave that out.
"what maps will be included?"
I chose to include only my completed maps. ones I can really call "projects." many of us create really terrible maps at first for practice. of course I won't include those, they didn't even finish.
in my case this turned out to be 19 maps. understandable, since almost none of my maps are 1:30
"criteria?"
I really just used criteria I was comfortable with in ranking my own maps.
however, I challenged myself to look from the view of a player. whether or not I accomplished that... I don't know.
considering the nature of my maps thus far, I considered two things, while in some sense looking from the view of a player:
PS. I'm not gonna talk about the rankability of my maps since I don't mean to rank all of them. I'm pushing for some, but not all. if you will include that in your own reflection, that's for you to answer
to make a cohesive tierlist of your own maps and not something dangerously terrible as a new mapper trying to rank their first map, we'll have to set some rules for ourselves. that will depend on you as a mapper, the nature of your maps, and other general facts about your style and your experiences thus far. considerations may vary from mapper to mapper
some context, this will be important for further considerations
I usually map 4-5 minute unconventional jpop songs from only 1 artist. so my maps are full of attempts to bring out concepts and flesh them out in the context of the song. there's more to it, but for the purposes of this tierlist, I will leave that out.
"what maps will be included?"
I chose to include only my completed maps. ones I can really call "projects." many of us create really terrible maps at first for practice. of course I won't include those, they didn't even finish.
in my case this turned out to be 19 maps. understandable, since almost none of my maps are 1:30
"criteria?"
I really just used criteria I was comfortable with in ranking my own maps.
however, I challenged myself to look from the view of a player. whether or not I accomplished that... I don't know.
considering the nature of my maps thus far, I considered two things, while in some sense looking from the view of a player:
- are the concepts used in the map bold and interesting, and is it distinguishable from my other maps?
- is the way the map is executed fun, in the way it is meant to be enjoyed?
PS. I'm not gonna talk about the rankability of my maps since I don't mean to rank all of them. I'm pushing for some, but not all. if you will include that in your own reflection, that's for you to answer
(2) making the list & results
tierlist was made into a canva link for viewing since I wanted someone else to look at this too. but it could be just made on ms paint or photoshop, doesn't really matter. here it is.
images taken were downloads of the square image on the beatmap listing page when clicking "my maps"
I gave the following descriptions to each tier:
images taken were downloads of the square image on the beatmap listing page when clicking "my maps"
I gave the following descriptions to each tier:
- S, if someone asked me what my style was, I'd send them these
- A, great ideas, would (personally) replay a lot, partially represents my style
- B, good ideas but average, would (personally) replay for the song
- C, bad but intentional, would play from time to time
- Plagiarized (A tier) (see comments below)
(3) reflections
and other things I noticed about myself. again, this will vary from mapper to mapper.I'm pretty happy with the results, not ranking everything on S means to me that I still have some level of self-criticism
my S rank maps were ones which I considered both great in concept and enjoyable. those were my maps of Yorushika's Haru Hisagi and a marathon of sections of Miraie & Milkoi's "Mi" Sisters songs. these two maps are actually what I'd consider pivot points in my mapping style, hence the description.
on the two maps as a whole, aside from being the type to map only long songs, it made me realize a few things about myself:
my B rank maps... there's two types of them. either (1) the concept was good for people who know the song but the playability is questionable, or (2) they're average/they're what you would call generic mapping. that's equal to my A rank maps in number, which is interesting as well.
my C rank maps... they're questionable to the average player's mind. there's a clear concept to both, but someone who has no idea of what the lore of the song is will not understand it.
the special map is what I'd consider a special A-tier map because it's execution and concept is great. that concept, however, is plagiarism. again, anyone who doesn't know the lore of the song will not get it. so I rank it as the average player D.
overall, this tierlist made me realize, aside from the points already made above, that:
now that I think about it, I usually like to play around with AR. but I never made a comment on it here. AR was even a key factor in Haru Hisagi, and yet no comment. weird.
my S rank maps were ones which I considered both great in concept and enjoyable. those were my maps of Yorushika's Haru Hisagi and a marathon of sections of Miraie & Milkoi's "Mi" Sisters songs. these two maps are actually what I'd consider pivot points in my mapping style, hence the description.
on each of the maps individually
the Mi sisters marathon is actually my 2nd completed map, so it's pretty old. it really just helped me concretize everything I've learned from my practice maps. the trio songs are very different; one was a piano melody, one was a sort of fast light tech song, and the last was a a slow heavy tech song. so I was able to really develop my preferences in mapping because of these 3 vastly different songs.
Haru Hisagi, on the other hand, helped me concretize my ideas on swing maps. although it's my 2nd swing map, the 1st one was more conceptual, but this is more liberal in the nature of the song. so I was really able to push myself in terms of sound prioritization (and sound skipping, actually) in swing maps. this map is also pretty old; it was around late 2020-early 2021? before I took an indefinite break.
I find both of these maps to be really fun, and the best among what I've created so far
Haru Hisagi, on the other hand, helped me concretize my ideas on swing maps. although it's my 2nd swing map, the 1st one was more conceptual, but this is more liberal in the nature of the song. so I was really able to push myself in terms of sound prioritization (and sound skipping, actually) in swing maps. this map is also pretty old; it was around late 2020-early 2021? before I took an indefinite break.
I find both of these maps to be really fun, and the best among what I've created so far
on the two maps as a whole, aside from being the type to map only long songs, it made me realize a few things about myself:
- contrary to what I believe, sliders and tech seems like a strength on my part. I never really considered myself a slider mapper (see comments on A tier), so for 2 of my favorite maps to be slider-heavy is quite surprising.
- hitsounding is fun but tiring. the 2 S-tier maps were completely hitsounded. the marathon was partially keysounded, and I added many unusual hitsounds as well yes, the marathon onii-chan hitsound was intentional. however, it really urges me to change how I hitsound, because I often put custom snares on drum-hitclap and kicks on normal-hitclap when the standard hitsounds are reversed. the sooner I get to practice that change, the better for me. the hitsounds are also where I got my stream hitsounding preferences, mixing up snares and kicks on the stream when there's a drumroll. it happens my other A-tier maps.
- I like editing my bgs. yes, those two bgs were edited by me.
- my piano instrumental style of mapping has been with me since the start. where I got it from, I have absolutely no idea.
- 3 concept maps heavily playing around gameplay concepts (angles, curved sliders, and inversed SV)
- 2 tech (1 is an instrumental)
- 1 pop-rock
- 1 special instrumental style which I don't really see others doing, perhaps because no one maps songs of those
my B rank maps... there's two types of them. either (1) the concept was good for people who know the song but the playability is questionable, or (2) they're average/they're what you would call generic mapping. that's equal to my A rank maps in number, which is interesting as well.
my C rank maps... they're questionable to the average player's mind. there's a clear concept to both, but someone who has no idea of what the lore of the song is will not understand it.
the special map is what I'd consider a special A-tier map because it's execution and concept is great. that concept, however, is plagiarism. again, anyone who doesn't know the lore of the song will not get it. so I rank it as the average player D.
overall, this tierlist made me realize, aside from the points already made above, that:
- damn, I was actually a much better mapper back then. my 2 S ranks are maps from a few years ago. 2 recent maps I placed on B tier, and 3 recent maps I placed on A. that's fine with me though, to be honest.
- I have too many concept maps, basically majority of the entire first half of the tierlist. understandable, given the nature of the songs and the purpose for which I'm mapping them which I won't expand on here. that's fine, but it seems like I do tire myself too much over those.
now that I think about it, I usually like to play around with AR. but I never made a comment on it here. AR was even a key factor in Haru Hisagi, and yet no comment. weird.
was I successful in attaining my goal? yeah, I think so
it was fun as well
would I do it again? maybe if I'm still mapping after a few years and my completed maps increase substantially
perhaps others would not consider my S ranks and A ranks there if given a chance to have my tierlist edited. that's fine. this is what I consider relevant to my experiences so far, and so can you