Aspire V - A New Format

Welcome to Aspire V! The wildest beatmapping event on osu! returns with a new host, a new format, and limitless possibilities.

The Aspire contests are all about breaking the bounds of conventional mapping. The ranking criteria is completely dropped and beatmappers are encouraged to map in any way the editor allows them to.

Aspire first began with LeaF - Evanescent by Charles445 back in 2014, and since then we have seen several more maps rise to become Aspire class beatmaps, such as IAHN - Transform (Original Mix) by Monstrata, which blew the contest away with its animated shapes.

Although the road for the Aspire contests has not always been smooth, they have never failed to become a hot talking point amongst the community. Now it is time for the Aspire contests to reform, and we believe this new format will make Aspire what it always should have been: creating whatever you want, however you want.

This iteration of Aspire comes with two major changes:

Firstly, the contests are no longer limited to a single song that we pick out for you. This time, we are allowing you to pick (almost) any song from the featured artists listing. Being restricted to a single song can put limits on what styles one may apply to the beatmap, and Aspire is definitely not about limits.

With well over a thousand individual tracks across dozens of genres from incredibly talented artists available via the Featured Artist project, variety is now the name of the game, and we can safely say that there should be something for almost everyone.

The second change comes with who wins the Aspire contest. Instead of just having one single grand Aspire champion, there will be several categories of entries and a winner for each. During the judging phase, the best entries will be placed into categories with a common theme. For example, we may have a category for beatmaps that use storyboards, and another category for beatmaps using “2B” overlapping objects.

These categories will be defined by the judges during the judging phase so that we don’t end up with any oversaturated or unused categories. However, we believe this change will encourage the “however you want” aspect of Aspire. Although you are free to push the beatmap editor to the extremes to create near game-breaking experiences, do not feel that this is now the only way to win.

For those ambitious enough to aim for the very top, the Grand Aspire award will also be available, awarded through a second phase of voting amongst the top entries of each Aspire category. Entries gunning for this category should pull out all the stops in order to wow the crowd.

With so much freedom, it’s understandable to be lost for ideas. In case you are, here are a few maps to take some inspiration from:

A classic amongst the community, Graces of Heaven by rustbell mixes a variety of unrankable techniques, creating a unique and challenging experience!

Mayday by Voltaeyx combines a storyboard with overlapping sliders to create a visual spectacle that is guaranteed to blow any audience away, solidifying its spot as the most favorited Loved beatmap.

Breaking the bounds in a completely different way, Shiny Smily Story by Jerry uses a storyboard and skin trickery to create a completely different gamemode!

With song restrictions relaxed and even more ways to win, there is little reason not to give it a shot and see how far your creativity can take you.

Rules

The rules for this Aspire contest are as follows:

• This contest is for all game modes. Beatmaps of different game modes may be nominated for different categories.
• The ranking criteria does not apply to this contest.
• You may only map songs from the Featured Artists listing with the following exceptions:

  • You may not choose the following songs:

    • LeaF - Evanescent
    • IAHN - Transform
    • Helblinde - The Solace of Oblivion
    • Function Phantom - Algebra
    • OISHII - ONIGIRI FREEWAY
    • Culprate - Acid Rain
  • You may not make any edits to the .mp3 files provided on the Featured Artists listing.
  • You may not choose any songs that have been added to the Featured Artists listing after 9 April 2020.
• Your entry does not need to be passable, however, your entry may be ineligible for certain categories or prizes if it is not possible to be passed by a human player.
• You may only submit one beatmap containing a single difficulty.
• Your entry should not be uploaded to the osu! website via the Beatmap Submission System (BSS).
• Your entry should be submitted in .osz format.

Any entries that break these rules may be disqualified from the contest.

Judging and Voting

The contest will rely on a panel of judges to first categorize the entries before allowing the community to vote for the winner of each one.

After the entry phase of the contest closes, entries will be anonymised and the panel of judges will view each entry and place beatmaps into categories of no more than 5, all sharing a common theme. The way these beatmaps will be categorised will be based solely on the opinions of the judges, they will not be asked to give a score to each entry. Not all entries may make it into a category.

After the judges have completed their work, the categorised entries will be released to the public for the first round of voting, and members of the community will vote for their favourite entry of each category. Voting will be open for two weeks, during this time users are encouraged to download and play each entry in each category.

Once the results of the categorised voting concludes, phase two of voting will begin. Only the top two maps of each category will make it to this stage. Voting for this stage will be open for one week, after which the Aspire V grand champion will be crowned.

If you are interested in being a judge and categorising the entries, please contact -Mo-. Please note however that judges cannot participate in entering the contest.

Prizes

The prizes for this contest are as follows:

Grand Aspire Award - Awarded to the winner of the Grand Aspire category.

• “Elite Mapper: Aspirant” title (or special increment for existing Elite Mappers)
• “Aspire V Grand Award” badge
• 1 year supporter
• Entry added to Loved category*

Aspire Award - Awarded to the winner of an Aspire V category.

• “Aspire V Winner” Badge
• 6 months supporter
• Entry added to Loved category*

Runner Up - Awarded to the runner up of an Aspire V category.

• “Aspire V Runner up” badge
• 3 months supporter
• Entry added to Loved category*

*Beatmaps which are impossible to pass may be ineligible for Loved.

When you are ready to submit your entry, please head over to the contest listing. The contest will be open until 12 May 2020.

Best of luck!

— -Mo-