23 Oct 2023
Beatmap Spotlights Season 10: Autumn 2023
by Venix

Beatmap Spotlights Season 10: Autumn 2023

by Venix

You heard it right, the Beatmap Spotlights are back with its 10th Season! With how moody autumn days can get, you can fix that by competing on the best beatmapping creations of last months right now!

After taking a brief pause to address some of the management challenges surrounding Beatmap Spotlights, we'd like to announce that we are back with the 10th season of Beatmap Spotlights. With Autumn 2023 season commencing, we'd like to thank you for staying with us through the many iterations over the years of playlist-oriented history of Beatmap Spotlights! Even though this season's playlists will remain rather regular, we are preparing some bigger-scheme changes for the next ones, so stay prepared for that!

If you just can't wait to try everything out, the Beatmap Spotlights lobbies are open for play NOW on osu!(lazer), so go get involved and start setting scores.

If you still don't have any idea about what this Beatmap Spotlights thing could be, just read on below to find out how to jump into the world of playlist-oriented competition now:

How do I participate in the Beatmap Spotlights?

To participate in the Beatmap Spotlights, go grab yourself the latest version of the osu!(lazer) client from this download page.

Once you're done installing and logging into your account, head on over to the playlists tab in the play section and find the Spotlights lobbies, denoted by a little pink bar. You can also toggle the filter to show only the Spotlights playlists in the top-right corner.

Changing game modes is as simple as clicking one of the four mode icons at the top left of your screen — and it'll be whatever game mode you played last on osu!(lazer) by default.

Updates

The end of the gimmick era

After some of successful gimmick season runs, we decided that it's time to move on as they became too limiting or challenging to implement for certain game modes. Rather than forcing new and unimaginative themes, we would like to make a return to the good ol' classic three-playlist format filled with great beatmapping creations testing a wide variety of skills and fitting to all kind of niches.

That being said, we are planning to experiment a little with the shape of Beatmap Spotlights as is, so take this rather as a tactical step back to prepare for a big step forward coming along with the future seasons!

Beatmap of the Season: Results

As always, we would like to introduce you to the best maps of each game mode according to the spotlights competitors of Spring Season 2023.

The creator of each winning entry will be awarded with 3 months of osu!supporter for their hard efforts.

A big thanks for each of you that put a hand up to help with selecting those!

osu!

After a long and fierce battle, osu! ended up with a tie. Therefore, we've got two winners for this particular vote!

Caramell - Caramelldansen (Speedycake Remix) [LESJUH DIFFICULTY], mapped by Lesjuh
primarily suggested by Zelq
described by Venix
amazing lyrics provided by courtesy of Ephemeral

Did somebody mention the word nostalgic? Couldn't go further than this one certain LESJUH DIFFICULTY.

Despite its technically perceived age, Lesjuh's creation aged like fine wine and remains vital, hooking, and a significant achievement both gameplay- and mapping-wise with its timeless flow and rhythm usage, all coalescing into a drowning and challenging experience.

13 years down the line, one couldn't tell it's really that old if not for the eccentric song choice, taking us straight to a different era. Let's all dance together to the rhythm of Caramelldansen!

I wonder, are you ready to join us now
Hands in the air we will show you how
Come and try, Lesjuh will be your guide
So come and move your hips sing oh-wa-ah-ah
Look at Spotlights clips do it la la la
You and me can play this classic beat

Hatsune Miku - With a Dance Number [0108 style], mapped by val0108
primarily suggested and described by Nowaie

This absolute classic may not be the most stellar piece of mapping execution-wise these days but the fun aspects of the map still hit a relatively strong home run after 12 years.

Handling the speed of the guitar solos and Miku spitting some bars may still not be for the faint of heart but val0108's distinct mapping style still manages to make this challenge a fun ride for any player at any skill level. This map is jam-packed with alternating patterns and crazy sliders while being as approachable as possible. So take a stroll down the memory lanes and have some fun, with a dance number.

osu!taiko

Camellia feat. Nanahira - POLKAMANIA (Faputa) [BLACK'S MUZUKASHII], mapped by BlackBN
primarily suggested by [Zeth]
described by meiqth

This season, our players decided to nominate BlackBN's simple mapping of Camellia feat. Nanahira - POLKAMANIA as their favourite.

When the harder difficulties on this set prove too difficult with their interpretation of the song's complex rhythm, this Muzukashii provides a light at the end of the tunnel by keeping all the song has to offer at a manageable difficulty for our learning players. Finding a solid balance between uncommon rhythm and the players' intuition, this map follows the song's offbeat and varying rhythms in a sense that'll give a fun and unique playing experience to an inexperienced player!

osu!catch

Halozy - Genryuu Kaiko [Distorted Scythe], mapped by CLSW
primarily suggested and described by SadEgg

Truly a spectacle of a map, Genryuu Kaiko comes to mind to many as one of the many greats of osu!catch. Whether you're a rookie or a fruit catching veteran, you've probably heard about this map before. 8 years after its original release, this map has become a staple among profiles past and present and for the advancement of catch mapping overall. Whether it be streams, anti-flow, wiggles, or hyper chains, this map has it all without making it seem too out of place. Every section flows as smooth as water dripping off of a distorted scythe.

Boasting the history of catch over its shoulders such as the catch pp record multiple times, CLSW created a fruitful masterpiece that this game mode has come to love and enjoy.

osu!mania

Seiryu - Critical Crystal [[4K] Another], mapped by Sandalphon
primarily suggested and described by Antalf

Critical Crystal having won may not come as a surprise for many of you, as this timeless piece is for sure in your folder whether you're a new player or one of the oldies!

This map could be considered the cornerstone of some modern jumpstream maps within the osu!mania community itself. It features intense jumptrills and smooth jumpstreams for a very well rounded experience!

Even after a whopping 8 years of this map being submitted, it's still played and loved by many, seen as a comfort map to return to when the grind becomes exhausting. If you haven't played such an iconic map yet, I encourage you to go ahead and play a piece of osu!mania's history!

Full Players' Pick voting results

Check out each respective game mode's player voting results:

Season schedule and leaderboards

Event Time
Season start Oct 23, 2023
Playlist lobby: Playlist A Oct 23 – Nov 6, 2023
Playlist lobby: Playlist B Nov 6 – Nov 20, 2023
Playlist lobby: Playlist C Nov 20 – Dec 4, 2023
Playlist lobby: Playlist A Dec 4 – Dec 11, 2023
Playlist lobby: Playlist B Dec 11 – Dec 18, 2023
Playlist lobby: Playlist C Dec 18 – Dec 25, 2023
Season conclusion Dec 25, 2023

The Autumn Season 2023 leaderboard will be available over at the Beatmap Spotlights Autumn 2023 wiki article once the first batch of lobbies conclude in the coming weeks.

Rewards

Badges Bracket tier Placement
Rhythm Incarnate The best of the best
Diamond 3%
Platinum 3% – 10%
Gold 10% – 25%
Silver 25% – 50%
Bronze 50% – 70%
Copper 70% – 95%
Iron 95% – 100%

The percentage values may vary a little depending on the game mode and/or participant counts.

The Rhythm Incarnate tier threshold is picked manually based on the season's participant count and general size of other tiers, though it is an absolute number that ranges between top 2 and top 50 in most cases.

Autumn Season 2023 first playlists

osu!

osu!taiko

osu!catch

osu!mania

Inside the Spotlights Team

This season was rather a calm one when it comes to amount of the faces swapping around, but we've got some huge qualitative-level changes to announce nonetheless!

Crumpey, after long years of involvement in the Beatmap Spotlights as an osu!mania team leader, will be taking an official manager position from now on, helping the project achieve its long-term goals. meiqth will additionally take over osu!taiko team leadership, replacing Hivie on that position.

We will also be saying farewell to Axer, who served as a dedicated and passionate osu!taiko curator for the past 2.5 years. Thank you for your hard efforts!

The future

What do you want to see happen for the next season? What needs to be fixed? What are your opinions on the current system? You can voice out all your opinions in the osu! community Discord server (#beatmap-spotlights channel) and we will keep note of every suggestion, so please let us know how you feel about things.

We do hope you enjoyed the Spring Season 2023 Spotlights, and, of course, we do hope that you'll enjoy the Winter Season even more!

See you in the upcoming lobbies!


Join us over at the osu! community Discord server and assign yourself a role to keep up with Spotlights changes and announcements, or visit the osu! development Discord server to help us push this project even further!

You can find out more about the Beatmap Spotlights on the osu! wiki.

—Venix

Comments12

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LET'S GO 🎉

Congratulations on winning the player's pick, Lesjuh! Enjoy the 3 months of supporter!

doin the caramelldansen boogie rn >o<

tf's lesjuh gonna do with 3 months of supporter LMAO

YOU MEAN WE DIDNT HAVE TO WAIT TILL WINTER FOR SPOTLIGHTS TO RETURN, REAL????? 🥶🤯😱🥹📈💯🔥🔥🔥💯⚠️😁💵👍😳😳😳😧 SPOTLIGHT PLAYERS EATING GOOD TONIGHT 🗣️🔥🔥💯💯📈📈🥶

holy shit, it's finally here

gogogog

Gg

LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

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LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO