Mentoring

osu lazer editor

I started mentoring in 2019. I am a proud mentor of the following mappers: (bold = graduates)

In 2021, I was a mentee of Halfslashed for Cycle 18 of the mentorship program.

3rd Generation (February-April)

I am looking for 3 mappers to mentor from February to April. You should know how to use the editor and want to improve your mapping to a point where you're able to compete with mappers that win mapping contests.

What does this mean?

"Rankable" isn't enough. From here on out, all your maps will be judged based on the community mentorship program judging criteria:

  • Structure (10 pts): Points will be assigned based on how well the map is internally designed (consistency, concept introduction, etc.)
  • Creativity (10 pts): Points will be assigned based on how the submission uses creative and fitting elements to make itself stand out.
  • Relevance (10 pts): Points will be assigned based on how well the rhythm, emphasis and intensity reflect the song (how well the map fits the song).
  • Judge Impression (5 pts): Points will be assigned based on what the judge thinks about your submission (other more subjective factors not covered by the above).
  • Hitsounding (5 pts): Points will be assigned based on how well hitsounds reflect the song.

Total points: 40

For high profile contests such as Pending Cup and Monthly Speedmapping Series, the following criteria is used:

  • Expertise (40%): Expertise refers to how well the map was executed to reflect the elements of the music. This reflects the technical skill of a mapper, judging the map as a whole.
  • Creativity (40%): Creativity refers to how reasonably outstanding the map compared with the current mapping meta. A generic map with the current mapping meta or copy paste the concepts from other "famous" maps is discouraged. Winners of these contests should guide the mapping meta instead of following it.
  • Judge's Impression (20%): Extra points are rewarded or deducted based on how a judge feels about your entry. The default is 10 points.

Total points: 100

Do not ask for feedback on incomplete maps since it's impossible to tell how you'd map the rest of the song. Even if you think your map sucks, finishing it is the most important thing.

If you can't finish your maps, then map shorter songs. You'll eventually get to a point where you're able to map longer songs.

Compatibility check

To make sure that we're compatible, here's a few characteristics about me:

  • I'm a big fan of female vocal music and prioritize mapping independent artists and unknown artists with ~2,000 subscribers or less.
  • I believe the combo colors you choose helps define the theme of your map since different colors make humans feel differently (color theory) and thus how mappers map and players play your map.
  • The background you choose is important since it influences the color scheme of your map. Certain colors are more playful than others, encouraging different kinds of mapping styles.
  • As a mapper, I like creating sets that all play styles can enjoy, including those that full mod low diffs, those that SS maps, and those that only play top diffs, which is why I strive to map ENHIX for all my sets.
  • I also believe that mapping all difficulties shows mapping expertise since not all mappers are capable of mapping all difficulties.

Additionally:

  • I am a big fan of the culture behind songs. What's more important than song choice is the significance of the song you chose from a cultural point of view (e.g. is it the artist's prized work? does the song carry a significant meaning to you or other people?)
  • I like it when mappers map songs they understand since it feels like they're mapping the song to its fullest potential. In contrast, someone that doesn't know English but tries to map an English song may create a rankable map, but the mapper wouldn't be able to express the song like someone that knows English could.
  • I enjoy mapping with video enabled. With a video that changes in the background, you have to think more creatively about how you're going to place the objects since a regular "rankable" pattern may not go well with the video and thus require you to come up with different patterns.

I am hoping that the 3rd generation is the most successful yet. I haven't decided if I want to mentor for another cycle yet, so expect to learn a lot within the span of 3 months.

Becoming a mentee

I am looking for the following traits in a mentee:

  • You like making full spreads (ENHIX)
  • You like creating new and unique content for osu!
  • You want to participate in mapping contests, and
  • You prioritize mapping to the song as a whole and introducing changes in your maps based on the lyrics of a song.

The following attributes are a plus:

What to expect as a mentee

My mentorship focuses heavily on music appreciation and artistic expression. With that in mind, here's what you can expect as a mentee:

  • You should be interested in the songs I map since my music lessons are based on the songs I actually map (bonus points if you map songs similar to the ones I map)
  • You aren't satisfied with "rankable" and want to create maps that other mappers look at and go "wow this is lit"
  • You don't mind doing non-osu! stuff in order to understand certain concepts I'm trying to teach you (such as studying digital art)
  • You want to create GDs for my sets (I will rank your GDs, assuming they're actually good)
  • You should focus more on mapping theory and "making your maps better than everyone else's maps" than getting feedback on any particular map

What does this mean?

  • Although I can feedback your map, you'll improve at mapping faster if you understand why other maps are better than yours and apply those concepts to your own maps
  • This is more useful than looking at a flawed map and trying to fix it, since you're actively looking at actually good maps and understanding why your map is considered less interesting in comparison

Remember that although it's possible to improve a flawed map to something decent, a more experienced mapper should be able to create an even better map with no mods in all cases.

Requirements

As a mentee, it is expected that you participate in mapping contests so you can get feedback on your maps from other (good) mappers and not just me.

You won't improve at mapping unless you actually map, so try to finish at least one map every 2 weeks (for a total of 6 maps minimum) during the course of mentorship.

The maps you make can be any difficulty and any length, the important thing is that you're actually mapping and finishing stuff.

Note that there is a 2 week grace period where you can stop being a mentee if things don't work out. After 2 weeks you should aim to complete the rest of the cycle.

Chat rules

As a mentee, you are able to participate in discussions with other mentees. Some of these mentees may be younger than you, so it's important that you avoid using profanity or anything else that younger people would get in trouble for.

Mentees should be well-behaved. When in doubt, the osu! rules apply, including the Code of Conduct for Modding and Mapping. We are here to have fun mapping the songs we like after all.

Class assignments

Throughout mentorship you will participate in various class assignments with your fellow mentees. Here are some of them:

1. Mapping discussions

The purpose of mapping discussions is to introduce mentees to new ways of thinking about mapping. Mapping discussions can range from fundamental mapping concepts such as structure, map design, etc. to specifics such as "What makes an Easy difficulty?" or "Why are certain jumps harder than others?". We will also cover music concepts in-depth to explain why we use certain mapping patterns in the first place.

2. Map analysis

The purpose of map analyses is to have mentees understand what kind of mapping decisions were made in a beatmap and why. Map analysis is when we look at a map in detail to understand what a mapper did and why. Most map analyses will occur during informal discourse, although there will be some assignments where you have to perform a formal map analysis on your own.

3. Mapping assignments

The purpose of mapping assignments is to have mentees practice mapping. Even if you know the theories behind mapping, you still need to practice mapping in order to understand how things work. Throughout the mentorship, mentees will be required to make maps of varying difficulty depending on past mapping discussions and/or what the mentee struggles at. Mentees will have the option to pick what they want to map, but for simplicity it should be trivial to time (single bpm) or already timed.

4. Modding assignments

The purpose of modding assignments is to have mentees practice looking at and improving other people's maps. Mentees will practice modding both new and experienced mapper maps. The first mod by the mentee will be done with in-depth feedback, then future mods will be done independently as homework assignments.

Availability

My timezone is Eastern Standard Time and group activities such as mapping discussions will take place on weekends.

Schedule

As your mentor, I will schedule activities in advance so you know what to expect. These activities may change based on what I think everyone needs to improve at the most, although we should have discussions and other group activities at predictable times.

For mapping discussions specifically, you can participate with confidence knowing that each discussion won't last longer than 2 hours.

Final project

Although the goal of my mentorship is to make you good enough at mapping that you're able to compete with the best of the best (and develop a love for music and art in general), it's kinda cool having your own mapset that you can rank at any time.

For this reason, the final project consists of making a solo ENHIX spread of a song you like. GDs aren't allowed since the final project tests if you're capable of mapping all difficulties at a decent level.