So.. rhythm games. Niche? Maybe, but a lot of fun both modding and playing! I decided to challenge myself by trying to make a map in two different rhythm-based games. Various games have different challenges in how to get started in mapping. Why have I chosen these two games? Except that I play these a lot, they are so different, both in aesthetics and gameplay, but the core is the same. See a note? Hit it in time!
The Results
Clone Hero
I fought a lot to get this song done. The editor made me feel like I was fighting it to finish the song, rather than having it help me along the way. Instead of doing mistakes, I found myself working around mistakes before they were made. A mistake in charting a song could cost you a lot of work being made for nothing besides a valuable lesson. One of the reasons was that you had to be very precise in setting up the right BPM (Beats per minute) of the song, or else your notes wouldn't line up with the reference points in-game. I could fix this by readjusting the BPM to match the lines as you go but it would look wonky. Notes would skip a line or be in between lines for no reason. But in the end, I enjoyed my result!
Osu
The mapping was a lot easier even if I was overwhelmed at the start. As soon as I could put my visualization of the map in the game, it went smooth to finish up the song. The editor was super sympathetic against smaller mistakes. If you put your notes on the map, you could move them around however you wanted. This made fine-tuning a blessing to work with. I wasn't scared of making mistakes anymore, and I learned faster than ever. The map itself still needs a lot of work, and I can improve in so many aspects. But this is a great starting point and I am happy with how it turned out.
Final words
This experiment of charting/mapping was really enjoyable. It opened doors I never knew existed. I could play these games with a different perspective and appreciation to the work done, but also pick any song I enjoyed and make it my own and play it for myself. There's still a lot to learn, this is just the tip of the iceberg. I've realized that making your chart or map, is putting your personality into a way of playing the game. Do you like a certain pattern of notes? Make the song based on that pattern! The main objective in charting/mapping is always to make it fun to play for you or your audience, and I had a blast.