22 Dec 2023
How Advances in Technology Affected the osu! Community
by 0x84f

How Advances in Technology Affected the osu! Community

by 0x84f

Let's take a stroll through the past 15 years of osu!, and see how various new technologies affected the game and the community.

Every now and then there's a new piece of tech that's slated to change the way games are played, whether it be a new input device, a new way to squeeze more FPS out of your PC, or a whole new way to experience games.

While the osu! community has managed to stay unswayed as innovations such as virtual reality, augmented reality and cloud gaming cropped up due to them being inapplicable to osu!, there were still some that changed the way the game is played, or at least challenged the views on the most optimal way to play it.

With the chit-chat out of the way, let's start from the beginning and talk about the first example of an alternative input device reaching mass adoption, and work our way up from there.

Graphics tablets (2007)

osu! originally started out as a PC clone of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, which was a game exclusive to the Nintendo DS with gameplay using a stylus pen. When peppy released osu!, it was only natural for players who already owned a graphics tablet to try it out in the so far unheard-of osu! context, and since the get-go it was considered a commodity input device that would more closely replicate the original Nintendo DS experience.

Playing with a tablet is a completely different ball game compared to the mouse. Although it's a direct upgrade in some aspects, namely by eliminating mouse drift with absolute positioning of cursor input, it brings up new challenges and questions regarding optimal usage. Some players remain on the more intuitive and familiar mouse, perhaps to avoid the initial learning curve, while tablet players are left to figure out playstyle specifics like ideal pen grip or tablet area and deciding on whether to drag or hover the pen.

Over the years, many top players and regular players started switching over to tablet in order to avoid issues associated with mice. Still, there has always been both mouse and tablet players who would compete at the very top of the leaderboards, as both peripherals are considered viable for competitive play, each with its own upsides and downsides.

A great video by Willy outlines all the above and more regarding the usage of tablets as input devices for osu!:

Gaming mechanical keyboards (2010)

Mechanical keyboards have been a thing for decades. However, after Razer put gaming and mechanical switches into a compelling package, it launched the chain reaction that resulted in the mechanical keyboard market we know of today.

By 2010, osu! players were already shifting away from clicking circles with their mouse to mashing with their Z and X keys, so it would make sense as these new mechanical keyboards were getting easier and cheaper for players to adopt them into their setups. While there's nothing stopping anyone from playing osu! with membrane keyboards, benefits such as N-key rollover, along with better physical and audio feedback upon clicking, have led to the community at large guiding the newer players to purchase a mechanical keyboard, and it's considered essential for osu!'s rhythm-based gameplay.

The mass adoption of mechanical keyboards was not just limited to the osu! community, but in the gaming community in general, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a gaming setup without one of these smack-dab in the middle of the desk nowadays.

High refresh rate LCD monitors (2012)

Around the middle of 2012, the first LCD high refresh rate monitors were released with refresh rates of up to 144 Hz. Even before LCD monitors were a thing, CRT monitors had the capability of refreshing up to 100 Hz in most cases (and even higher for high-end models). However, with the introduction of high refresh rate LCD panels this technology slowly became much easier to adopt, and is now a staple of any modern gaming setup.

As osu! is a game with high amount of moving elements no matter the game mode (as shown below), high refresh rate monitors quickly became the next most sought-after commodity piece of gear. While being an objective upgrade to the regular 60 Hz monitors, some people swear by high refresh rate monitors helping them read higher approach rates and scroll speeds. Still, this didn't prevent players who could not afford them from rising through the ranks and some of them even becoming top players, such as FGSky, regardless of monitor.

Touch screen's rise and fall (2015-2017)

The earliest mentions of using touch screens as an input device came as soon as the game was released, again due to osu!'s roots as an Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan clone. Back then, touch screens on PCs were not as prevalent, and most touch screen devices were "Tablet PCs", i.e. laptops with a keyboard that could be rotated, folded, or outright detached.

It would take many years for the community to see the true potential of using touch screens in osu!, but starting in 2015 we began seeing glimpses of this with Kuvster, and eventually the peak of the play style in 2017 with Freedomdiver.

Kuvster (2015)

In 2015, Kuvster had a unique opportunity to snag the performance point (pp) record under a very specific set of circumstances. Back in the day, "TAG4" maps were approved, hence you were able to gain pp by playing them. They weren't really supposed to be played solo, but if you owned a touch screen and were apt with it, you were eligible to grab the pp record, which is exactly what they did:

The 577 pp record was short-lived though, because after this all "TAG4" beat maps were exempt from giving pp, and in 2019 they were moved to the Loved category. This however is not the event that "killed" the touch screen meta, as its demise would come only 2 years later.

Freedomdiver (2017)

Freedomdiver joined the osu! community in May 2016, and started as your average player, up until the moment they realised they can play osu! with the touch screen on their laptop.

They quickly surged through the ranks after realising that gaining pp by playing jump maps with a touch screen was simply easier given the ability of using two hands. That however, did not just slip through without gathering negative attention from the community. The player base had turned against them, using them as a prime example of why touch screen was just unfair. However, it wouldn't be until November 2017 when freedomdiver decided to push touch screen to its limits, siding with the community and using actions instead of words to call for a change.

The community somewhat sarcastically rallied around freedomdiver during one night in November, as they proceeded to break the pp record 3 times, all on the infamous Yuima-ru*World TVver. map. Hundreds of players spectated freedomdiver as they broke the pp record, and thanks to CPUGeek you can experience a snippet of the atmosphere surrounding the play:

A month later, on December 15th, touch screen scores had their performance points reduced along with an introduction of the brand-new "Touch Device" mod, which would reduce the amount of pp gained from jumps on any map when osu! detected touch screen being used as a gameplay device.

In the end, tapping and aiming with two hands isn't the only way to use a touch screen. Some players use them exclusively as aiming devices, while still tapping to the beat with their good ol' keyboards. You can look at bonk and their first-person live play to see what it looks like.

Rapid trigger (2021)

"Rapid trigger" is a new keyboard software feature first implemented by Wooting, a mechanical keyboard manufacturer. Its analogue nature made possible by the Hall effect allows users to modify the position of any key's actuation point, or go beyond the need for a static actuation point altogether. The animation below (by Wooting) visually represents how it works:

This has caused quite the turmoil amongst the community, as some believe this greatly reduces the skill required to be considered "good at speed", and lowers the skill ceiling quite significantly by allowing players to be less precise with their technique, but still not miss inputs or break combo as often. The other side of the community argues that this is only beneficial for players who "mash" keys instead of trying to accurately hit notes.

The arguments are still a topic of countless heated debates, but if you want to get an opinion of a pro player, look no further than BTMC's video on the rapid trigger feature:


This is a fascinating way to look back through the ages and remind ourselves of a different, simpler time, when the community did not have to worry about the best keyboards and tablets to use to become the best player instantaneously, and just enjoyed osu! for what it is — a rhythm game with an amazing community creating and playing awesome beatmaps.

Or just maybe... I am an angry old man yelling at the clouds... I'll let you be the judge of that.

Special thanks to Tanza3D for creating the banner artwork.

—0x84f

Comments131

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727

Interesting :o

Replacing a monitor with a higher refresh rate is indeed a way to improve yourself, the most significant improvement in a higher refresh rate is the ability to read images, especially in mania mode, but it may take a long time to get used to, I have been using a 60HZ monitor before August last year, and then I changed to a 240HZ monitor, and it is true that my reading ability has been greatly improved, but the accuracy has plummeted, and until now my accuracy is not as good as when I used a 60HZ monitor before.If you don't know if it's right for you, you can try using a friend's or someone else's before deciding if you want to switch to a monitor with a higher refresh rate. However, higher refresh rates will be the trend in the future, and higher refresh rates will also have a significant improvement in other games, such as FPS games. I think this tends to be something to consider, after all, monitors with high refresh rates aren't cheap even now.

giahuy KrNEKO

after i switch 60hz to 144hz monitor, i can feel smooth gameplay, so yeah

KrNEKO giahuy

That's a good result

This was a great read! This coming from someone who rarely reads blog posts. Props to the author!

0x84f lOmaine

ty

i can say yes all of the graphics tablets, mechanical keyboards, 144hz monitors, now the wooting is agreed that we found ways to either make a improvement but i will always stand by the thought that its all the prefrence that makes you improve not the follow up with new innovations. just putting this out for players with negative mentality. Just keep playing and see what habbits needs to be changed for you to improve or as everyone says "play more"

Also improving mouse sensor technology (for mouse players)
We're up to 650 IPS, 50G acceleration, and 8K polling rates.

No matter what I will always use my CRT monitor! I also have 8 pp in osu!mania.

next episode:
AI generated map with AI generated song ranked by AI BN

Miosha Drum-Hitnormal

XD

lmao

okey

ok

Love the article

Really nice post! I learned a lot

I love these types of content, thank you!

banger article

that video on freedomdiver was hilarious

Nice post! I enjoyed learning a little more about the history of osu

meanwhile me, stuck at the traditional setup cheap mouse + cheap keyboard 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️

Houraisan47 Houraisan47

i think i am still stuck at the bronze age

Skyminev Houraisan47

nah you just built different

nice post

Where gamma

Houraisan47 MasterAnimit

would be an honorable mention cuz i abuse low gamma every time i play

Avery MasterAnimit

gamma correction is just part of how your screen works and has been for a long time before osu

Napstab Avery

he prolly meant abusing gamma for removing the darkness on flashlight back then.

We need better performing tablet, very urgent

jano TsukiMa0

The big change for tablets is increasing the polling rate to 4k. It should come eventually now that more mouses are adopting the option.

minipad supremacy

I like to see this kind of post in osu!news :3

cool article

what is the news tho?

im here in BTMC's video holy shit congrats

hashiresori yo

where tf is gaming chair

goated mapper here

Setsuwa hehe

the only reason why im not top 1 is because i dont use a gaming chair

true... where is it????

really pleasant post, thank you for the recap :)

i wonder what's gonna be the next innovation? feel like it's more likely to be in terms of aim devices than tapping devices

jano diamondBIaze

4K polling rate tablets.

Isshiki Kaname diamondBIaze

low latency audio ;)

Nightzaza1 Isshiki Kaname

I don't think this will make an impact, if you want better acc, you have to play more and get your hands and minds in rhythm

semaphoredeleted
pacmanmania semaphore

😔

ayLeon semaphore

tapx goats

0x84f semaphore

as a 2016-spawn i wouldn't be aware of that unfortunately :(

bonk is cracked wtf

w read

bmc

Sorry for being annoying but the TD mod was introduced around 4 or 5 days before December 15, 2017, it just wasn't applied to older scores immediately. Everything else seems accurate and this is a good post :)

0x84f goink

I took a look and it appears to be as follows:

  • TD implemented to cutting edge on 22/11/2017
  • on 15/12/2017 score adjustments were rolled out
    I also spoke to peppy and he seems to think stable received TD mod the same day score adjustments started (so 15/12)

The convo is here on the osu!dev server
https://discord.com/channels/188630481301012481/1003689172420276246/1188083826849742858

goink 0x84f

Thanks for responding. The first time I noticed that a score I did was worth less than expected was on the evening of December 11th, and at the time I thought the score didn't submit. It didn't give pp because it was worth less than a different score on the same map. The same thing happened to freedomdiver 2 days later. I'm not sure if these were done in cutting edge or if that matters, but the nerf was implemented in some capacity before the 15th.

Below is the earliest proof I have of the mod being implemented, shown on a discord bot before it was visible in-game or on the website (the pp values in this image are incorrect, as a result of the nerf).

bmc

GSK Scoptic

bmc

Hoping peppy adds asio audio out, to use professional audio gear for low latency audio ;)
Possibly a thing in lazer already

Linux low latency audio is pretty goated already

luckysage Isshiki Kaname

might already be in lazer! I play on linux & I have to positive offset literally every song.
That auto-offset calculator (and the graph) is a god-send. Such a good feature.

Isshiki Kaname luckysage

nah, lazer still has forced 10ms latency.

Discord was right, this is a fun read

this is really cool lol

Aranel Aranel

Any thoughts on buffing the TD's pp system?

cool cool

And we players blame technology for our lack of skill 😔

vepply DAAnN

The freeking polling rate on my keyboard bro!!

BlueTrain vepply

1000hz vs 30hz affects my skillcap i can feel it

BlueTrain vepply

i am using a 30hz keyboard dont complain

It's wooting time

nerfing touch device is just so biased. you clearly never used one.

Nitobliss kohada

Very apparent you never played before 2018 if you think it was a biased decision. Aim was insanely overweighed until 2020

kohada Nitobliss

did you read? i was talking about TD. not aim in general. try again.

Nice post

Gotta get my hands on that rapid trigger.

good post, love OSU history

Cool post! You could also mention the BFKB113PBK which become super popular as a keyboard for Taiko players. Pretty much all Japanese players as well as many top players use this keyboard despite it being a sort of office/membrane/gaming keyboard? And it is only available in Japan too (I had to make an Amazon Japan account to get one). Pretty cool stuff :)

-Aku Skidooskei

i bought one and used it for standard, it's really good for that as well.

0x84f Skidooskei

i had no clue, that's really interesting... however that's not really a shift in technology it just happens to be a keyboard that really suits taiko players

this is true, although I do believe it has seen more attention more recently at the very least

cool banner graphic btw

meanwhile taiko: 60hz + laptop keyboard

Anyway, I think people with high-value devices can easily get into the rankings. And what I admire more is the players who use ordinary equipment. Today, even using the mouse to play osu, has become easier, thanks of course to wireless module technology updates. But no matter what device you use to play the osu, everyone here is focused on pushing their technical limits. The osu community is still the best gaming community I've seen so far. Keep going osu ! And better in the new year.

/

Anyway, I think people with high-value devices can easily get into the rankings. And what I admire more is the players who use ordinary equipment. Today, even using the mouse to play osu, has become easier, thanks of course to wireless module technology updates. But no matter what device you use to play the osu, everyone here is focused on pushing their technical limits. The osu community is still the best gaming community I've seen so far. Keep going osu ! And better in the new year.