Length

2021-06-18

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ensP6ecPGns full version of this song is kinda cool I'm just hesitant to map it due to how complex the rhythm is

music videos btw relate very well to song length theory in osu (in particular when you're mapping longer songs with multiple choruses, bridge, etc)

in music videos you should notice how the video director arranges the video in such a way that the different parts of the song have differences but share similarities at the same time

this is just one example of an idea in osu mapping that applies to other fields as well

more on song length theory: when you're mapping a shorter song it's easier to throw experimental patterns at the player since it's easier for them to retry

for longer songs that test endurance you generally want to be more consistent so the player doesn't lose combo at 748x

longer songs can still be hard of course they just tend to be consistently hard so players of that skill level aren't greeted by a difficulty spike 4 minutes in

in my unbreakable machine doll set I mapped the diffs in such a way that the probability of the player losing combo increases as the map progresses (thus rewarding players that actually fc it)

in other words, difficulty progression as a mapping technique

when a song is shorter there is less room for difficulty progression, but when a song is longer, you can do more interesting things as the player progresses through each chorus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhUgBUHCYJk here is another example of a music video that demonstrates this

put another way: it's easier to listen to music that makes you uncomfortable for 30 seconds than it is to listen to that same music for 4 minutes (talking about the "experimental patterns in shorter maps" idea)

of course you can still make longer maps with experimental patterns but those tend to get less plays unless they're genuinely fun to play (more so than being a pain for the player)