Aspire 2018 Begins

osu!'s premier everything-goes beatmapping contest is back at it again for 2018, featuring perhaps the most challenging track to have ever graced the contest! Can you stand toe to toe with Culprate's sound and emerge victorious?

For those unfamiliar with the contest, the Aspire beatmapping contest began way back in 2014, and has since produced three outstanding beatmaps that have broken all the molds as to what makes a beatmap a beatmap, and pushed some of our most talented players to their absolute limit in their efforts to conquer them.

These three Aspirants, namely Charles445 with LeaF - Evanescent, Monstrata with IAHN - Transform (Original Mix) and ProfessionalBox with Helblinde - The Solace of Oblivion took the beatmapping world by storm, and enshrined their names in osu!'s history forever for their efforts.

We now arrive at the time where a fourth may join them, or perhaps one of these vaunted three may rise to claim another Aspirant title over the others.

Think you have what it takes?

Show us.

This year, the song choice is Acid Rain from Culprate.

Hearkening back to the earlier song choices from the contest's roots, Acid Rain is all about variation and exploration, jumping from one musical theme to the next.

Featuring heavy syncopation and rapidly evolving melodies and synthlines all linked back to central motifs, Acid Rain provides a huge amount of space for mappers to lay out their creative enterprise - but beware, for that same space also allows competing mappers to flex their creative muscles!

The true test of this track is to simply keep up with it. Can you keep your map continually evolving to match the sound, or will you get left behind?

We'll see.

The rules for this contest are as follows:

• This contest is for osu! (standard) mode only.
• The osu! Ranking Criteria DOES NOT APPLY to this contest.
• You may submit ONE single difficulty to the contest. This may be of any difficulty tier that you wish, though Aspire contests typically attract Expert (5.25+) and above.
• The map itself must be able to be passed, with mods or otherwise. Maps which autofail (defined as immediately failing at the end of the map when played by Auto) will be disqualified, no questions asked.
• Any entries with additional resources (hitsounds, storyboards, etc) must be submitted in .osz format. There are no size restrictions this time around, but if your .osz file does not get accepted by the contest system for being too large, PM Ephemeral via the forums for assistance.
• The drain time of your entry must be at least 70% of the song's total length. Basically, you have to map at LEAST 70% of the song. I recommend you map all of it.

All entries will be judged by a panel of expert community members selected from across the beatmapping scene and reduced to roughly 12 in total before being put up for community voting after a stream feature. The winning sets will then be decided based on a combination of double-blind community voting and blind scoring from the panelists.

Given the rising presence of "spectacle" entries into the Aspire contests, we will also be introducing a new scoring category revolving around visual impression, aka, spectacle.

Each set will be awarded a visual spectacle score by the panelist judges that is completely separate from all other scoring, and the set with the highest spectacle score at the end of judging will receive a special prize. Anything that influences how the map visually appears (aka, storyboarding, art, hitsounds) will count towards this score.

Visuals will remain an important aspect of Aspire, but this new scoring should allow for more focus on the beatmapping aspect of creativity for those not so aesthetically inclined. The super-high achievers among you may also note that the winning entry can also conceivably score 1st place in the normal criteria, and also win the spectacle voting for two prizes in one.

The prizes are as follows:

• 1st place: 6 months of osu!supporter, unique Aspire 2018 profile badge, osu!news showcase featuring their winning entry and an Elite Mapper: Aspirant forum title (or special incrementation if they already have an Aspirant/Elite Mapper title), mapset enshrined forevermore as an "Aspire" class Ranked map.
• Most Spectacular: the set assessed to have the highest visual spectacle score by the panellists will win 3 months of osu!supporter, a mention in the announcement post for the results, and a unique profile badge.
• Honorable Mentions: any standout entries as judged by the panellists will receive 1 month of osu!supporter, and a mention in the announcement post for the results, plus a profile badge detailing their triumph.

Entries will remain open for the next 32 days from the date of this post. Consult the contest listing for a countdown timer if you're unsure.

Use everything you've got. Storyboarding, hitsounding, timing points, if the game can do it, it's yours to use - this includes editing beatmap files directly via a text editor, if you have the knowhow!

This is no ordinary beatmapping contest, and you will need every advantage you can get in order to wow the crowds and panellists both in order to win.

Download the pre-timed contest .osz file here and get started!

Enter your creation over at the contest listing now!

—Ephemeral