Don't get me wrong: I have a LOT of respect for the people who create songs and beatmaps for osu!, no matter the gamemode. But every time I try to sit down and make my own beatmap, it's... well, the title says it all. It's like I just threw my hardest right hook into a brick wall and broke my hand in the process.

I keep listening to songs in the FA section, but nothing really strikes a chord with me, and the ones that do just come off as WAY too hard to make a map for. Even when I do finally pick a song and try to map it, I just get gridlocked.

"Okay, let's start with... um... I don't know, slider over... where to put th- wait, I need to pick an SV. How about... wait, no that's way too fast for the intro... now it just looks wrong..."

It's getting demoralizing. Everyone else out there just... knows how to do it without a second thought, and I'm here tripping over my own insecurities.

Is mapping usually this hard for everyone, or am I just bad at mapping?

Think less and map more. If you need to answer questions like "which SV do I use?" then you should start by looking at other maps of songs similar to the one you're mapping.

Knowing music also helps. Once you have a solid understanding of music and how beatmaps are made, you should be able to map any song. The only limiter would be if you prefer certain songs over others, or have more fun mapping in a particular style that works better with certain kinds of music.

Look at anyone's first maps and you'll find most of them suck.
No new mappers know how to do it without a second thought, the only difference is that they place the objects anyway. Sometimes they think they made a perfect map, sometimes they know it isn't good.

You could always go about it like I do, and map without uploading unless you like the map enough, its not super rewarding but if you hate the map, uploading it isn't going to make it better. But the important part is that you keep trying things with many different songs and find what you like, as you map more you'll have experience to look back on and have a better idea of what works and be able to understand other mapper's maps better. And don't forget to get feedback from other mappers, mapping in a vacuum doesn't really get you very far. You need others to tell you the things you haven't ever thought about before - you don't know what you don't know.

personally the hardest thing about mapping is the social aspect of it, though that's probably just my social anxiety talking.

Though I will also say, it will probably get easier once you can play Insane difficulty maps and maybe pass Experts, I don't think most 7/low 6 digits really understand the game mechanics well enough to map yet as they haven't seen much 1/4 rhythm or hard slider patterns, so play a bit more too.

EchoInProgress wrote:

Is mapping usually this hard for everyone, or am I just bad at mapping?

to simply answer your question, mapping is hard for everyone. even experienced mappers might hit a sort of "mappers block" and not create maps they are proud of. as a new mapper myself, i dont publish most of the maps i've made because i simply dont like them (also because of upload limits. if u arent an osu!supporter probably dont upload most of ur maps)

mapping really changes how you listen to music forever, since you are looking for every instrument and vocal sound in the music. it's difficult to really develop music into a playable map since most people don't listen to music for it's individual sounds. honestly, it might take time before you get to develop skills to differentiate instrumental sounds and vocals in music. but that's ok, because everyone hears a little different! for example, multiple maps of the same song are mapped differently. each might focus on a different sound in the music, but also have some parallels when strong sounds occur. so, don't feel down that you're "bad at mapping", because everybody is similarly developing and finding what works for them in terms of music and the editor.

EchoInProgress wrote:

"Okay, let's start with... um... I don't know, slider over... where to put th- wait, I need to pick an SV. How about... wait, no that's way too fast for the intro... now it just looks wrong..."

It's getting demoralizing. Everyone else out there just... knows how to do it without a second thought, and I'm here tripping over my own insecurities.

i think ur overthinking a bit much. mapping is a joy! at such early stages of mapping, you want to be as experimental and vulnerable as possible so that you can take in user feedback and adapt accordingly. don't feel sad that big mappers know how to do it and get their maps ranked, because it took them years to get to where they are.

about map creation; to say "continue mapping" might be hard for you to do. as a new mapper, how can you continue mapping if you don't know exactly map songs? the editor can be confusing and is not adapted to suit newcomers very well. personally, the solution for me was learning a lot about the editor and mapping before i even entered the editor. you might find pishifat's videos to be insightful and encourage you to get in the editor. they are abt 3+ years old now, and some topics may be outdated (specifically guidelines on ranking criteria) but otherwise with map creation he still has solid advice on the editor and the mapping community as a whole

and if you seem to be stuck not mapping, it's always fine to take a break. let your mind flow with creativity as you passively listen to music (not on osu) and get back into the mapping scene when you have an idea that you want to run with!

this happened to me wtih aleph's songs
help

EchoInProgress wrote:

Everyone else out there just... knows how to do it without a second thought, and I'm here tripping over my own insecurities.

Is mapping usually this hard for everyone, or am I just bad at mapping?

It comes and goes. Sometimes I just breeze through song after song and churn out a bunch of maps I'm happy with, sometimes I map half a section and start second guessing whether what I made REALLY matches what I envisioned.

If featured artist songs aren't doing it for you, stop limiting yourself to them. There are no legal or moral issues with mapping an unlicensed song - those only apply if you upload the map - so find something that sounds mappable and just map it. You'll never make progress if you don't map.

most of what everyone said in this thread is good advice, so I'll try to look for something you can relate to more or some sort of practical stuff to think about

update: checked your profile from phone for a bit, and man do I see the connections even without seeing the beatmaps themselves

aside from the new mapper stuff, I see two walls you might be facing leading to that frustration



(1)

EchoInProgress wrote:

...but nothing really strikes a chord with me, and the ones that do just come off as WAY too hard to make a map for...

makes sense. you prefer Camellia-like stuff. Camellia is definitely difficult to map because of the overflow of sounds in his kinds of songs. even those from HyuN (iirc?) are pretty similar. I could go on about why Camellia is hard to map but that's useless and you can read it up in many places.

typical mapper would tell you to not map this artist. but okay, I leave to you the decision of whether or not to map Camellia or similar songs. but I want to give you a snapshot of what to expect. as a new mapper, I tried to map an Aspire song which had similar musical complexity to Camellia. here is how that turned out.



(2) checked your prof a bit more and I saw something weird. you... haven't played osu! in almost 1 year? and... before that, you only played one month? welcome back!

mappers with low playrate isn't unheard of, but that only happens when they start to grow inactive/when they start to map much more than they actually play osu!. in their active periods, they were still players. that's how they took influence and got an idea for the kinds of patterns and techniques they like go use. this will sound really weird as "map creation advice," but for your case, maybe try playing more? the tip can go really deep depending on the person, but that's too much explaining here on post

anything, anything will do at this stage. songs you like, songs you don't like, random songs from the recent ranked list, random unranked maps of songs you like... maybe try to get a feel for what other maps or mappers do. take note also of the maps you liked

I think that mapping easier diffs is a great way to start mapping in my opinion! I've been improving by a noticeable amount by mapping the easy difficulties, although I am a new mapper. The road to making your first map ranked is mostly gonna take a while. (Could be from hours to years..) But I think you'll get through the pain eventually! Don't give up! (Hell I haven't ranked a map yet lel xP!)

i think you should just fill the timeline with objects first,finish your first 10 maps,then you can second geuss your work,personally my first maps were pretty bad as well,alot of copy paste,inconsistent,not ''creative'' you may say,its all just a process really,and vibing with the song as well,thats important as well

Look up Pishifat on youtube, he has a good set of tutorials to beatmapping

ah someone bringing pishifat up again huh

contrary to new mappers belief, pishi videos (or any generalized guide in general) should NOT be your primary learning method unless it's about technical issues, such as timing or getting used to the editor. Such guide can be misleading, harmful even, if you don't have any proper context on your sleeves. Map a few proper maps first before even touch them.

just make sure u have fun when mapping and try not to overcomplicate things as a beginner

having fun = more likely to finish maps = reflect on mistakes = fix them and improve