i love controversial topics + clickbait titles

you know people say that beatmaps have an unsatisfactory quality to their standard, and in fact, i’m really eager to learn and hear what people define exquisite beatmap quality as, that is only if people are willing to share about it, though from what i recall, i rarely hear people’s presentation regarding beatmap creativity when it should be done initially, rather, it’s more of empty words without concrete examples, if we were meant to criticise, we must have convincing claims for others to concede our idea

this is basically a picture of human nature - we judge and project our opinions, solely because we don’t like what’s done by the other individuals, the bias and prejudice were programmed for us to subjectively perceive topics individually, and that’s the particular possible root cause for a disagreement and conflict between two parties with different and distinctive points of view. the typical way to solve this problem is to present your justification and supporting views to strengthen your point; whoever has the most inconsistent, volatile point proves there’s a flaw in your “concrete” argument. that’s where we were meant to have the value of “patience and understanding” in learning from people and your mistakes

that’s where i raise this question: if we were meant to judge on beatmap quality, shouldn’t you present your definition of “good beatmap quality” beforehand? with words, pictures, and examples?

what i am suggesting here is since it’s all about creativity then why don’t we all share our thoughts on the beatmap quality instead? we have very different definitions of that word, and that’s even a better reason for us to understand each other’s preferences and improve whether there’s a suitable take to it, after all we were meant to unite our ideas. i am not going to lie i’m very intrigued to see what you think of or define as good beatmap quality - of course, with examples to support your claim

all you have to do to express your concern regarding beatmap quality is simply make a post (or anywhere that fits you and i could find and read it), document every creative pattern or design you hope to share with everyone (with examples preferably), and promote its creative use. not only you’re helping out whoever’s struggling to find inspiration, you’re also helping me (and anyone that’s reading) to understand how you view things differently - it’s definitely a priceless, valuable insight to me, although how small it may seem. unfortunately people rarely have the intention to see the root cause and just go along with unproductive arguments like some shakespeare drama, it’s not that people blind their eyes, it’s just the human nature to sway away from possible causes or disinterested in doing so

what will this change? apparently rather than fighting over a subjective and unproductive argument on a creative topic, i believe it’s better to promote and share your use of creativity for anyone intrigued to derive your sense of art, there’s always people there to disagree in your ideas, making subtle comparison, that’s the point of “art gallery” after all - it wasn’t meant to impress everyone, it’s to capture the heart of the right person seeing it at the right time and right place - a fate. be understanding and respect people's ideas that they portray, you will find the value of it eventually when you gaze at its sense of expression, for they are the right people you find out.

if you have no idea where to start with, i’ll start with my post i made to share here,
community/forums/topics/2097529

i thought of making this post long ago but i was unmotivated to do so, like how i mentioned in my words “blind their eyes”. it’s a post for me to share the 4K VSRG ideas i’ve been tracking all along my mapping days, ultimately i came to a high dopamine, resulting in completion of the post, the point of the post i created here is not to talk smack or belittle/ devalue other people’s work, it’s the way i believe the use of these patterns is unique enough to capture one’s interest and will help whoever’s out there struggling to spark new ideas, if you think my patterns are horrible and did not live up to your standard, feel free to englighten me with your ideas! i’m being really honest here - to learn from your view, this is where i propose we should enlighten each other with solid examples, not some empty words like “i hate your idea because i dont like it (provided with no justification to show examples of your own claim, it’s far from constructive feedback)”

what’s the possible reason that i would want to make this post? it’s simple, to promote variety and creativity - versatility. in 4k mania, we all acknowledge and understand that the creativity MIGHT BE limited to basic patterning and c+v stream/ lightstream/ jumpstream/ handstream/ quadstream spams, the problem is that if i raise my doubts about it, i’ll need concrete ideas to support my claims (more of “what are your suggestions in making it better?”, i cannot express constructive ideas on people’s work WITHOUT backing up my claim. therefore i have to establish (justify) the way i manifest creativity in mapping differently to easily convey my ideas conveniently in enhancing their use of ideas, rather than c+v patterns, and the same could be said to you, present your ideas to solidify and justify your claims so we can understand your point, for it has a better reasoning to reject ideas than empty criticising words

here's a shitpost

yes jumpstream pic from here LMAO wiki/en/Guides/osu%21mania_mapping_guide

i’ve typed enough so it’s really all about you to do what’s supposed to be done a long time ago, in fact, this was the ancient post used to promote creativity (credits to Riverism for reminding me that),
wiki/en/Beatmapping/Mapping_techniques

and it makes me wonder if the community will still be invested in doing this in this modern 2025 era. (i remember there’s an osu slider art gallery for ideas but i’m not positive whether it’s still up to date and active)

if you really hate what’s so defined as the beatmap quality to you, show what your ideas you think should be implemented, don’t just make it an unknown solution to everyone, and eventually you will realise it’s only fair to give everyone the chance to express every kind of creativity by each distinctive individual

i’m positive i cannot be absolutely correct about my words, it’s more of a suggestion of what community should peacefully share about rather than counterproductive arguments, well honestly i doubt my words will change anything lol, but better late than never

tldr conclusion of this post:

1. “beatmap quality” is a vague statement, elaborate your suggested ideas with fitting examples, don’t criticise with empty words
2. do not reach a conclusion solely because it does not fit within your scope or preference - justify your own claims as to why you don’t see it fit provided with examples
3. show the definition of how you view things, what you perceive as good - there’s no right or wrong in creativity after all
4. blaming is only a way to push responsibilities away, in fact, YOUR responsibility
5. creativity is a subjective take and always will be due to its distinctive nature in terms of expressing
6. the outcome is simply understanding everyone will express and view things differently and it’s only fair to accept the diversity rather than applying limitations
7. you cannot promote creativity without documenting your way of creative thinking, let alone pushing or enforcing it
8. if you are eager to disapprove the current state of beatmap quality, share what beatmap quality means in terms of creativity in your own words, with supporting examples
9. the reason i promote variety in terms of creative use is because of constantly overused c+v jumpstreams/ handstreams in 4k mania - it’s not a way to enforce, but to spark inspiration for anyone who struggles to find ideas
10. i’ve made a post to share my ideas of 4K VSRG about what i think could be used to improve your uniqueness and spark ideas, and i’m encouraging you to do the same in sharing your ideas too if you think my ideas did not live up to your standard - i’m eager to learn from you, i really am
11. let’s be peaceful, can we? and be understanding to each other? truce is the ultimate goal i want to achieve here

wow whats this? philosophy of psychology????? bro thinks hes a journalist writing a whole paper to present at a conference

I agree that there are myriads of approaches to mapping. For mania I lean towards rice and one-note-per-sound and others will deal heavy LNs and dumps. For taiko I imitate Taiko no Tatsujin while many will gratuitously deal finishers at the end of 1/4 or faster n-plets or streams, and people have all sorts of ideas on how to color notes. I will just gratituously accept the differences and won't yell in modding.

But I do want to rant about a specific already ranked std map's guest diff when we talk about quality control:

1. 00:04:576 - Why aren't you mapping this sound? I prefer your approach at 00:01:495 (1,2) - than this
2. 00:11:305 (4,5) - (problem) While these are weak distinct sounds, the choice of this instead of the two sounds before that you mapped to with sliderends just feels really awkward. (Especially with lazer from the future where you can expect no one to be able to 300 these two notes reliably. But its a future thing so :shrug:)
3. 00:51:278 - the HD player in me prefers moving 00:51:440 (2) - here and 00:52:737 (6) - to 00:52:576 - for lead
4. 01:06:035 (2) - move to 01:05:954 - that sound is stronger. position also needs a change
5. 01:16:413 (4) - similar to above, move to 01:16:332 - and afterwards the stack would look slightly weird, you need to rearrange the visuals too
6. 01:20:630 (1,2,3) - imo add one more reverse to 01:20:630 (1), move 01:20:954 (2) - to 01:21:116 - and delete 01:21:440 (3)
7. 01:27:603 (2) - a bit of an odd choice, would prefer just make it circle and move to 01:27:765 -

I work with two definitions

there's the one where you judge how well a work of art accomplishes its goals using the concepts it relies on

and there's the one where I think all maps should be judged as rhythm game levels in the specific context of the ranked section, because functionally the only point of ranking a map is to push it to the awareness of the playerbase as a part of the official level catalogue, enabling players to compete on the map's leaderboard and maybe even climb the global rankings by using the map to further prove their skill

1. does the map make effective use of its chosen gameplay elements and how players generally interact with them to create a cohesive video game level, with a discernible logic to how it tests the player's skill and enough depth/variety to be an engaging challenge?
2. does the map engage in dialogue with the song, complementing its musical patterns and structure with its own as well as highlighting elements the mapper finds particularly cool or important within the song?
3. is the map designed with the awareness of what type of player is likely to want to play it and what kinds of challenges and other elements those players will find engaging? what are they used to? what would be a fun subversion and what would just betray expectations?

these standards are the product of having spent quite a lot of time playing both osu! and other cool rhythm games, as well as thinking about how cool maps/charts come to be and trying to make them myself. first and foremost, they stem from my desire to have fun in video games. the first two in particular are the basis of how I map and look at other people's maps

haven't posted in forums in a longggg time but i wanted to share some thoughts!

i'm gonna be mostly talking about what i think distinguishes a great map from a decent one, rather than what distinguishes a decent map from a bad one, since the latter can be mostly explained with basic mapping theory

i think the best maps in the game for me are maps that have a strong, unique identity. maps where if you give me the name of the song i can immediately think of what the map is like. that's part of why ixcors's circus panic is my favourite map in the game - it gives a feeling that no other map can emulate exactly. cocoyu's bite! (top diff) is another example, the 1/6 cutstreams and the sliders make the map memorable.

i think the two most important things that allow a map to have this sort of strong identity are creativity and execution of its concepts.

and some other qualities i find cool in maps (doesn't have to exist for a map to be among my favourites but compared to the general community i think i disproportionately value these):

1. visuals. there are many ways to achieve this (whether it's slider tech or just nice use of spacing), but it improves the overall 'quality' of how a map feels to me.
2. symbolism. mizunashi akari's seiza ni naretara (tv size) is my favourite example, and i've been using symbolism more often in my recent maps as well (such as sliderart greenlights serenade and combo colours/sword slider in dear the night i loved). i think symbolism is one of the ways that a map becomes memorable, as it uses the inherent characteristics/context/lore of the song itself to represent the music beyond just rhythm.

nominomu wrote:

haven't posted in forums in a longggg time but i wanted to share some thoughts!

i'm gonna be mostly talking about what i think distinguishes a great map from a decent one, rather than what distinguishes a decent map from a bad one, since the latter can be mostly explained with basic mapping theory

i think the best maps in the game for me are maps that have a strong, unique identity. maps where if you give me the name of the song i can immediately think of what the map is like. that's part of why ixcors's circus panic is my favourite map in the game - it gives a feeling that no other map can emulate exactly. cocoyu's bite! (top diff) is another example, the 1/6 cutstreams and the sliders make the map memorable.

i think the two most important things that allow a map to have this sort of strong identity are creativity and execution of its concepts.

and some other qualities i find cool in maps (doesn't have to exist for a map to be among my favourites but compared to the general community i think i disproportionately value these):

1. visuals. there are many ways to achieve this (whether it's slider tech or just nice use of spacing), but it improves the overall 'quality' of how a map feels to me.
2. symbolism. mizunashi akari's seiza ni naretara (tv size) is my favourite example, and i've been using symbolism more often in my recent maps as well (such as sliderart greenlights serenade and combo colours/sword slider in dear the night i loved). i think symbolism is one of the ways that a map becomes memorable, as it uses the inherent characteristics/context/lore of the song itself to represent the music beyond just rhythm.

Might be the best definition for "high-quality" maps I've ever seen one. What's the point of over-representing the song if it comes off as non-memorable, oversimplify if it comes off as generic? Making an identity for the song as a map is the appropriate way of mapping ngl.

Sorry if I come off as a weirdo, but how do you judge a mapping in mania, taiko, catch where the visual element isn't there unlike std?

Sophie Twilight wrote:

Sorry if I come off as a weirdo, but how do you judge a mapping in mania, taiko, catch where the visual element isn't there unlike std?

For mania and catch, the visual aspect is still there, though you are slightly more limited in the use of symbolism -- you have to make sure it don't play too bad for mania (the O2Jam Hangul jacks are definitely a no-go imo), and the second axis is fully removed in catch. Taiko is the only mode that leaves you with the rhythm aspect only here.