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Laura
April 30, 2011, 11:55:49 AM - ORIGINAL POST -
S.P.E.R.G.I.N.:  Stepcharts Produced by Enterprising Rhythm Gamers In the Northwest
Brought to you by Laura (Laura) and Ben (sfxazure)
With help from Jonathan (BlueSS)
4 June 2011/16 July 2011
Entry Fee: $5.00 if you preregister, $10.00 at the door.

Ben (sfxazure) recently moved to this area from the East Coast, and introduced me to several stepcharts from a tournament called D.O.W.N.S. (Dancing Over the Weekend to New Stepcharts) in which local players had a certain amount of time to create their own charts, which were then compiled into a tournament pack by the organizers.  Information on D.O.W.N.S. can be found here.

Ben and I have decided that we absolutely need to give a tournament like this a go on the West Coast.  I even managed to clear us a Saturday date this summer for the actual tournament - July 16th.  But, in order to make this happen, we need YOU!  


Phase One: Preregistration and Stepchart Submission
Due Date: 4 June, 2011

Preregistration will begin immediately and will run until the end of Phase One.  Attendees who preregister will pay a discounted rate ($5.00 instead of $10.00.)  Preregistration will be handled through PMs to Ben/sfxazure, who will accept payment through Amazon Payments, PayPal, or in person.  To keep things organized, please use the title “SPERGIN Preregistration” for your PM.

You will have from today until June 4th to submit up to three songs (one stepchart each) to be included in the tournament pack. Please use this submission form, and make sure to identify yourself by name/forum name somewhere in the file.   We encourage you to create and submit new stepcharts, but any are fine as long as you had a hand in their creation.  Submitted songs/stepcharts will be rejected if they do not conform to the following rules:

1. The chart must be to a song no longer than three minutes and thirty seconds (3:30) in length.  There are many reasons for this, including but not limited to the fact that we have to keep the tournament moving and the fact that 3:30 is ACME’s cutoff for a “long song.”  We don’t want people to have to pay more to practice some charts than others.

2. Songs must be appropriate for play in public venues such as ACME Bowl.  Please avoid profanity or find some way to work around it (clean versions, comedic censoring, etc.)  Any content deemed inappropriate for a public venue will be rejected.

3. Songs must be ITG Arcade Ready.  Details for preparing your songs can be found here.  If your song is over 2 minutes, DO NOT .OGG PATCH IT. Also, it is recommended that you test your file on Acme’s ITG machine before submitting it, as different machines have different syncing.

4. Stepcharts must have at least 50 hittable arrows.  We are all for exploring a wide range of difficulties, but please no “Beginner mode.”  While there may be ways to make an interesting chart with under 50 steps, it would increase the likelihood of ties and slow the tournament down.


We also reserve the right to reject a stepfile for unusual reasons, such as the file crashing StepMania.

Note:  If a song is rejected for any reason, you may submit a replacement; cleaned-up versions of rejected submissions can be submitted, as well as completely different songs/charts.  After a song has been accepted for the pack, it is finalized and can not be replaced or modified.

As soon as a stepchart is accepted into the pack, it will be made available for download at the bottom of this post.  This is because Ben and I will be entering the tournament ourselves, and we don’t want to gain an unfair advantage by viewing songs before they are released publicly.

By submitting charts to the tournament pack, you agree to enter the tournament.  While people who have not submitted stepcharts may enter, those of you who submit stepcharts must enter.  Because of this, we will not begin to evaluate stepcharts from any given entrant before they have preregistered for the tournament; consider your entry fee a form of collateral.  


Phase Two: Practice

During this period of time, the organizers will combine your charts into a pack.  If the organizers feel that there are not enough new stepcharts on which to run a tournament, we will find some quick hack to fix this issue.  This should take about a week.  After this, the pack will be released and installed on the ACME machine, so that you may practice these charts at your leisure.  This should take about a month.


Phase Three: TOURNAMENT!
16 July, 2011, start time TBA
Please note:  You will see the phrase “Because this is not intended to be a serious tournament...” many times.  This is because this is not intended to be a serious tournament, and is supposed to be for fun!   Please, then, do not get too caught up in minor details.

This will be a double elimination event with room for up to 32 entrants.  Only songs from the S.P.E.R.G.I.N. pack will be playable in this tournament.

Seeding:  Because this is not intended to be a serious tournament, seeding will be random.  If you complain about this, we will make fun of you on the internet.

Matches:  High seed gets first choice of machine side or pick order.  The other choice goes to low seed.  Each player will then pick one song of their choice to play against the other player.   Whoever gets the highest percentage (as calculated by the machine) on a given song wins that song.  (You know how this works by now.)  If both players are tied at the end of two songs, a third song will be chosen from the S.P.E.R.G.I.N. pack by way of the ITG machine’s “random” function.  If both players are still tied, another random tiebreaker will be chosen until the tie is broken.  

Song Selection:  Each player may only use a song as their “pick” once over the course of the tournament.  Because this is not intended to be a serious tournament, either player may fail any song throughout all tournament rounds with no additional penalty - once you fail, your percentage is “locked” as your score.  

Level Caps:  Because this is not intended to be a serious tournament, there will be no level caps. Any chart may be picked at any time in the tournament, regardless of difficulty (or opponent, since seeing is random.)  

Prizes:  Once preregistration ends and we have a better idea of how many entrants we will have, we will determine a prize structure based on 90% of the entry fees.  The remaining 10% of the cumulative entry fees will be donated to the Seattle Asperger Support Network.

Please note that although the “IN” in “S.P.E.R.G.I.N.” does stand for “In the Northwest,” out of state players are still more than welcome to participate and submit stepcharts.  It is our formal policy to welcome out of state players with open arms.  

Be assured that we have thought these rules through very carefully and have consulted competitors from D.O.W.N.S. to see what went right/wrong.  If you have any complaints regarding our rule-set, please refer to our FAQ infographic here.

EDIT: Files are now available for download HERE as they are submitted!

IMPORTANT EDIT 2:  Due to June 4th coinciding with the end of finals week (among other things,) we are giving everybody an extra week to submit charts; charts are now due by Midnight on Saturday, June 11th.  Additionally, each participant may now submit up to four charts.  

« Last Edit: November 23, 2011, 08:14:42 PM by BLueSS »
 
tadAAA
Read July 17, 2011, 01:18:17 PM #151
Glad I could contribute to the EPIC POKEMON MATCH. Cheesy

As for the rules, I would definitely vote that you have to pass the song to win as far as future tournaments go; I understand the lack of that rule was to make the tournament more fun, but it was abused pretty badly; picking a song with the intent that you can just outlast your opponent, as well as other predatory stuff like that is not very fun for the other player.

Maybe as a compromise, we could say that you have to get over a certain percentage if you fail in order for it to count as a win, say, 70% or so, forcing you to play most, if not all of the song, though passing with a lower percentage still counts as a win as long as you scored higher than your opponent.

Or possibly having to win by a certain margin if you fail--say, 25%, forcing you to play on for a bit and not be allowed to give up right away just because your opponent did.

« Last Edit: July 17, 2011, 01:22:23 PM by tadAAA »
 
Happy Redneck
  • 35 Male Olympia, WA
Read July 17, 2011, 01:47:35 PM #152
Quote from: ancsik on July 17, 2011, 07:45:20 AM
I will say that I was not too appreciative of being sucker punched by an opponent picking Cleaner/Cupcakes and quitting after getting a slight lead over my failed score, especially with it happening 3 matches in a row.
yeah tuan, you dick, lol
 
sfxazure
Read July 17, 2011, 02:04:38 PM #153
Quote from: Black Gallagher on July 17, 2011, 01:47:35 PM
yeah tuan, you dick, lol
To be fair, Tuan and I both did that during the tournament.  I'd rather not dwell on it too much, since it wasn't supposed to be a serious tournament.  That said, I can see why people would be upset about it.  Maybe a "Pass or win by X%" rule wouldn't be so bad next time.

« Last Edit: July 17, 2011, 02:09:35 PM by sfxazure »
 
NSX
Read July 17, 2011, 02:12:51 PM #154
Quote from: ancsik on July 17, 2011, 07:45:20 AM
I will say that I was not too appreciative of being sucker punched by an opponent picking Cleaner/Cupcakes and quitting after getting a slight lead over my failed score, especially with it happening 3 matches in a row.
I do apologize for picking those songs against you and not playing through the whole song (though I could have) but the rule didn't apply at the time so I thought it was okay to do so without looking like a total asshat. : ( Me and Ben had to do some cleaning with the cleaner =P

I do like the idea of passing a certain percentage of the song in order to get the victory.

Quote from: ancsik on July 17, 2011, 07:45:20 AM
Also, Tuan and I are still way too evenly matched.
Yeah... It's always been like this : )
 
Laura
Read July 17, 2011, 05:05:24 PM #155
"You Pick It, You Pass It" is a must-have for big tournaments, but I still don't think we needed it at SPERGIN.

My honest opinion as an organizer is that when you're the guy that gets through the whole winner's bracket, "You Pick It, You Pass It" isn't there to protect you.  The point of that rule in my tournaments has always been to keep players who are just starting out from being cheapshotted or epically crushed on 13s by the highest seed, who could beat them on any song anyway.  

To contrast, hat Tuan and Ben did was strategy; they played against Tony's weakness because they had to, since he's such a strong timing player.  

Tony, I don't think it's fair to accuse them of cheapshotting you when they basically had to pull out the "big guns" to beat you.  We're all friends here and I really don't think either of those guys would do something like that with the intention of being poor sports.

« Last Edit: July 17, 2011, 05:32:22 PM by SomeLauraChick »
 
tadAAA
Read July 17, 2011, 05:58:54 PM #156
Playing weaknesses aside, one thing I noticed and liked about this tournament was that everyone was at about the same skill level--there were very few clear-cut matches, and I really didn't know ahead of time who was likely to be in the final match, unlike many other tournaments, where there was a tier of 4 or so "uber" players out of which two were going to be in the final match, guaranteed.  I say this even despite not placing near the top, to a certain person's chagrin.
 
xenonscreams
  • Ke$ha Swag
  • 34 Female
Read July 17, 2011, 06:19:41 PM #157
I'm really sad that I didn't get to finish playing because I really wanted to win that Justin Bieber bracelet.

Quote from: Dr.Z on July 17, 2011, 08:41:02 AM
Have to say, I enjoyed the competition too. Talia has quite impressive timing ._.

Thanks! Unfortunately I lack the quite impressive ability to hit four arrows at once.

« Last Edit: July 17, 2011, 06:29:01 PM by xenonscreams »
 
Suko
Read July 17, 2011, 07:48:36 PM #158
Quote from: xenonscreams on July 17, 2011, 06:19:41 PM
Thanks! Unfortunately I lack the quite impressive ability to hit four arrows at once.
If I had known this, it could've made all the difference in the world for my matches. =D
 
xenonscreams
  • Ke$ha Swag
  • 34 Female
Read July 17, 2011, 08:22:33 PM #159
Quote from: Suko on July 17, 2011, 07:48:36 PM
If I had known this, it could've made all the difference in the world for my matches. =D

Yeah, then I would've beaten you on random instead of in two songs  Tongue
 
Laura
Read July 17, 2011, 09:59:35 PM #160
Quote from: xenonscreams on July 17, 2011, 08:22:33 PM
Yeah, then I would've beaten you on random instead of in two songs  Tongue

Sick burn!  :O
 
Dr.Z
Read July 17, 2011, 10:36:30 PM #161
Interesting gameface goin on



No, really. Photo actually made me think of that ; D
 
ancsik
Read July 18, 2011, 10:57:28 AM #162
Quote from: SomeLauraChick on July 17, 2011, 05:05:24 PM
"You Pick It, You Pass It" is a must-have for big tournaments, but I still don't think we needed it at SPERGIN.

My honest opinion as an organizer is that when you're the guy that gets through the whole winner's bracket, "You Pick It, You Pass It" isn't there to protect you.  The point of that rule in my tournaments has always been to keep players who are just starting out from being cheapshotted or epically crushed on 13s by the highest seed, who could beat them on any song anyway.  

To contrast, what Tuan and Ben did was strategy; they played against Tony's weakness because they had to, since he's such a strong timing player.  

Tony, I don't think it's fair to accuse them of cheapshotting you when they basically had to pull out the "big guns" to beat you.  We're all friends here and I really don't think either of those guys would do something like that with the intention of being poor sports.

First, I don't fault Ben or Tuan for acting within the rules and I don't feel bitter about the outcome (on the other hand, I might have been a little bitter if I hadn't gotten a chance to redo Defiance, since arbitration was accidentally left out of the rules and Tuan and I both suggested a redo in the end).  I feel that the finals were a bit anticlimactic as a result of Tuan's picks, but we all know that I will do what I can to bend the rules to my advantage and they did the same.  It is a matter of strategy, and we do agree there.

Second, I don't fully agree with regard to the intent of the rule.  Protecting newer players from unnecessarily harsh picks was a key point in support of the rule, but another point that was put out there is that it was there to keep a player from trying to edge out any opponent by simply surviving a few steps longer.  I don't remember anyone coming out in support of this strategy, so, to me, it gets lumped in as additional justification for the rule.

Overall, I can accept your assessment of the situation, I just don't fully agree.  I did note that I was trying to avoid keeping players from playing particularly hard or gimmicky charts than might have been submitted, which is why I made a point of saying that that modification on the rule would be a good idea for a tournament of this nature, whereas I advocate the unmodified rule in a more serious tournament.

With regard to modifying the rule, one idea I've been thinking about is being required to cover half of what your opponent couldn't.  If they fail at 50%, you need to fail with 75%+ (or pass with 50%+); if they don't bother trying you need to break 50%.  As mentioned, I don't fault Tuan or Ben for resorting to harder songs, but given that I cannot pass them, I had no reason to even bother hitting the arrows, which interferes with the fun of a fun tournament.  If instead, I could have still pressured Ben or Tuan by getting as far as I could, I would have played those charts past the 10-15% that it took for them to get a 2% lead on me.

Do I think I would have won with such a rule in place? Probably not - hell, I likely would have worn myself out and made more mistakes on subsequent songs.
Do I think they would have still picked such songs with a rule like that in place? Probably.
Would I have actually tried to get reasonably far into those stamina charts with such a rule in place? Yes.

Basically, the modified rule isn't likely to change the outcome of those matches - cheapshotting an opponent in a late round is a privilege that comes with stamina - but would have encouraged me to actually play those picks, rather than conserve my energy, would have required my opponent to play more of the song, and would have led to there actually being something for the audience to watch, which is definitely enjoyable for them.  The only situation it would discourage is picking a chart because you are sure you can make it a few steps further than your opponent and can edge them out by a fraction of a percent as a result, and that's a situation that doesn't really come up in tournaments, because it's a pretty dumb strategy.

« Last Edit: July 18, 2011, 11:00:33 AM by ancsik »
 
tadAAA
Read July 18, 2011, 11:05:29 AM #163
Quote from: ancsik on July 18, 2011, 10:57:28 AM
With regard to modifying the rule, one idea I've been thinking about is being required to cover half of what your opponent couldn't.  If they fail at 50%, you need to fail with 75%+ (or pass with 50%+); if they don't bother trying you need to break 50%.  As mentioned, I don't fault Tuan or Ben for resorting to harder songs, but given that I cannot pass them, I had no reason to even bother hitting the arrows, which interferes with the fun of a fun tournament.  If instead, I could have still pressured Ben or Tuan by getting as far as I could, I would have played those charts past the 10-15% that it took for them to get a 2% lead on me.

That sounds to me like a very good fusion of having an absolute percentage quota and a win margin quota; someone has to play at the very least half (most likely more) of the song step-wise, and win by a significant margin.
 
Gerrak
  • Puttin' that rage on the stage...
    •
  • 38 Male Frazier Park


  • Achievements:
    • 1st Place Sakuracon 2011-2013, Try to Quad 1-2Location RaterFrequently Updates: Acme BowlFounding Member of the U.S. Power Squadron Dragonforce Anti Canadian Tyranny Brigade4-Panel Dance Games MasterEverybody move it 'n groove it just like thatTournament OrganizerChampion of Pendulum
Read July 22, 2011, 08:14:36 AM #164
Quote
Unfortunately I lack the quite impressive ability to hit four arrows at once.


I already got you covered friend Smiley
http://www.pnwbemani.net/articles/dance-game-techniques/bracket-quotstompingquot-how-to-hit-hands-without-your-hands/54


As I gather it this tournament needed a you pick it you pass it and, in my opinion, maybe a "you can't pick your own submissions" rule. You know, so people don't submit a song or two ridiculously more difficult than people can handle and way more difficult than the other songs and just use them to try to win. Just my 2 cents, I wasn't there though obviously...
 
ancsik
Read July 22, 2011, 09:40:39 AM #165
People picking their own songs wasn't that much of an issue, actually.  Ben was the main source of hard charts, and he only picked one of his own.  I probably could have caught somebody off guard with La Locura, and the same for other players picking their gimmicky charts, but few people really picked their own charts unless they were fairly straightforward.

Personally, I try to write a very natural chart to a song that seems like it would yield a fun chart rather than pick a song and force certain things into it, and what feels natural can easily go against what I'm good at - Oh No You Didn't had to have a quad at the end to fit with the ridiculous of it all, and missing that quad cost me the song against Tuan (12e 1m v. 25e).  I know my personal habits don't necessarily carry over to the rest of the chart makers out there, but it is worth noting that we don't all write nigh-identical charts tailored exactly to our strengths like Flash does.

Most importantly, the pack was posted pretty far in advance (and individual files were posted as they came in) - when we ran the custom tournament in 2007, the pack wasn't shared until a week or so before the tournament and there were no limits on submissions by a single player, so picking your own stuff was a huge advantage, since most people hadn't really seen most of what was there.

Overall, I think a softer version of "you pick it you pass it" like I proposed, combined with the 3-4 song per person limit, is enough to balance the advantage of submitting excessively gimmicky or stamina-oriented charts while still letting players have their fun.  The top few players started getting pretty competitive, but I don't think it really prevented us from having a fun tournament as originally proposed, even with some of the biased picks.
 
tadAAA
Read July 29, 2011, 08:37:02 PM #166
Maybe I'm being nitpicky, but this isn't an upcoming event anymore, contrary to what the announcement says.
 
BLueSS
Read July 30, 2011, 10:34:14 AM #167
News removed, and tournament achievement applied to Tuan's profile!
 
 
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{Tournament} S.P.E.R.G.I.N. - June 11, 2011 / July 16, 2011
 
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