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8 Sep 2020
The Mappers' Report: August
The Mappers' Report: August
Another month, another Mappers' Report! Bringing you all kinds of news about all mapping and modding related topics, 100% fresh and vegan!
This month's issue of the Mappers' Report contains following topics:
Ranking Criteria Changes
As every month, we're here to show you the latest changes to the Ranking Criteria.
All Modes
- Add spoiler tags to maps: This change requires mappers to add a spoiler warning into the beatmap description should any content used in a mapset contain spoilers.
osu!catch
- Remove "clear dashes" guideline on Platter difficulties: This guideline aims to remove some pattern restrictions in Platter difficulties.
Open Ranking Criteria Proposals
As there weren't many Ranking Criteria changes this month, we would like to list some open Ranking Criteria proposals which are waiting for more contributions. Feel free to head over and state your thoughts in the proposal threads!
All Modes
osu!
osu!taiko
osu!mania
Within the Beatmap Nominators and NAT
BN Additions
Do you want to see your own name on this list? Do you like modding and helping other people with their beatmaps? If your answer to both of these questions is "yes", then you can also become a Beatmap Nominator! The applications are always open.
Head over to the Beatmap Nominator website and apply today!
BN Departures
Mappers' Showcase
It's time again for the Mappers' Showcase! Similar to other months, we would like to present you some lesser-known mappers which are doing great content!
As we have now finished the first cycle with all modes and the Storyboarder showcase, we're going back to the beginning, starting again with the osu! game mode.
Thanks to Pachiru and hypercyte for the selections of this month.
Scyhei
Hidden in the shadow, Scyhei has been in the mapping scene for a few years already and has been constantly improving and innovating their mapping over this time. Despite having a lot of unfinished or unpublished sets, their mapping mastery in the wide panel of song-style and mapping style is what gives them a lot of potential to stand out in the mapping scene.
They proved their ability to map without high-slider velocities or high difficulties, and juggle between voice and background beats with their maps of School Food Punishment - in bloom or Sonoko Inoue - Kotonoha no Omoi that remains fun and consistent during the entire map. Their expertise doesn't stop here, they also handle rhythm exploitation at high BPM perfectly with their Suzuki Konomi 'n Kiba of Akiba - Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaete mo Omaera ga Warui or MEMAI SIREN - image _____.
If you enjoy clean beatmap structure and a balanced amount of circles and sliders with slight slider curves, Scyhei's maps are definitely made for you!
pocket-
Moving on to another mapper who also has been mapping for a while but deserves more attention, pocket- has made some really amazing maps over the years! Although pocket has just one ranked map, that one ranked map is nothing to scoff at as it leaves most mappers and players alike in awe!
pocket's ranked map of Sakuzyo - I am "End" manipulates slider velocity, shapes and patterning in a way that reflects the song's vibe to a T. Not only is the map a delight to watch in the editor, it's also a joy to play and I highly recommend giving it a try (like right now, do it! You can continue reading this afterwards). pocket- is also currently a member of Team UK for the osu! Beatmapping World Championship 2020 to no surprise, and the team would not be the same without them!
pocket- mainly maps songs from other rhythm games, and similar to the map mentioned above, they are really interesting maps to experience. So if you're interested in that, go check out pocket's pending and graveyard maps!
Mapping Contests
This past month we've seen results for Aspire, another unique month of the Monthly Beatmapping Contest and another round concluded in the osu! Beatmapping World Championship! It's a lot of big events, and we'll be sure to fill you in on the details that you may have missed!
Monthly Beatmapping Contest
August's contest has just come to a close, with information about September's installment to come soon!
July's contest has also released its results this past week. Congratulations to xbopost who not only won overall, but also won the screening crew's favorite, and with those points, xbopost has now achieved the second tier MBC profile badge! It's well earned as the map made excellent use of the CS 0 limitation, so be sure to check out their entry here!
View the latest information regarding MBC in the wiki article.
Aspire V
One of osu!'s biggest mapping contests around has come to an epic close, with not just one but two winners earning grand prizes!
Winning the Community Pick Grand Award, Mr HeliX stunned the community with their excellent use of time travelling shenanigans in their beatmap of KNOWER - Time Traveler. It's essential to play this one with the storyboard enabled to get the full experience!
Next, taking the Mappers' Pick Grand Award is fanzhen0019's rendition of Frums - XNOR XNOR XNOR which comes together as an epic marathon brimming with secrets. Right now its addition to the loved category has been delayed due to the map needing some debugging first, but we look forward to seeing it added to the category soon!
Both winners have been awarded with the esteemed title of Elite Mapper: Aspirant and we hope to see their awesome works inspiring current and future mappers alike!
osu! Beatmapping World Championship 2020
The osu! Beatmapping World Championship is still underway! With each month we're getting closer to the end, and right now the competition is in the semifinals stage! You can view the results so far for the elimination rounds here.
Quarterfinals Results
| Team 1 | Team 2 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| France | 1 | 6 | Argentina |
| Vietnam | 3 | 4 | Brazil |
| United Kingdom | 7 | 0 | Australia |
| South Korea | 3 | 4 | Russian Federation |
Semifinals Match-ups
| Team 1 | Team 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina | vs. | Brazil |
| United Kingdom | vs. | Russian Federation |
Do you know about mapping contests going on, or being announced soon? Then please let us know! We love to share contests with the public so that more people can enjoy them together. All contests welcome, even mode and language specific ones. You can find our submission form for contests over at the main forum post!
Around the Community
We're back with the "Around the Community" section, this time with an interesting project for all the modders! Should you have something worth including, be sure to let Feerum or Noffy know about it! We're happy to give it more attention in our news post!
Modding Mentorship
The Modding Mentorship is a group of Beatmap Nominators, former Nominators and experienced modders from all modes which are looking toward creating a nurturing environment for new and upcoming modders and to teach them how to become better at modding!
The project is quite simple. Teach those that are new or in need of guidance that the team of mentors pick from. This is done in a similar fashion to the Mapping Mentorship Project that some of you may be familiar with, but with the main distinction being that there are no cycles. Applications towards becoming a mentor or mentee will be open for the most part.
The goal of this project is to improve upon the community for all modes and to create more clarity, coherence and understanding towards mapping and modding in general. As a small addition, we hope to pave the way toward more potential Beatmap Nominators as well.
The programs timeframe is going to be as following:
- Initial list of mentors will be announced on the 7th September.
- Mentee signups will begin on the 14th September, staying open for one week and close on the 21st September.
- The program will officially begin on the 4th October.
Important to mention is that mentor signups will always be open and we will be releasing full lists of mentors in the program periodically.
Additionally here are some words from the captains of every game mode:
- For osu! by Cheri:
We see fellow osu! modders across the globe struggling whether to figure out what to say on a mod post or is feeling rather unconfident if anything they say will be meaningful, etc.
Regardless of reasoning, this program will help guide you to dedicated mentors that will help train you to become a great modder one day!
We are hoping to make the modding discussion a more welcoming place for new upcomers as well as train those that are still unfamiliar with the ropes with whatever they desire to improve on. - For osu!taiko by radar:
From the osu!taiko side of things you can expect dedicated mentors whose main goal is to help you become the best taiko modder you can be! With the mode on the rise for some time now, there has been a greater need for new modders than ever. We aim to take aspiring modders/bns and bring them into tip-top shape so they can achieve whatever goals they set out for! - For osu!catch by Baron:
The osu!catch team is looking for some new and existing modders to break out of their shell and dive deeper into the intricacies of modding. With well known experienced modders and BN's you can be guaranteed the best learning experience and take your modding to the next level. - For osu!mania by Davvy:
osu!mania has recently been seeing a steady increase in new modders, mappers and Beatmap Nominators alike, and it is time to take that to the next level. With the start of this project we're looking forward towards helping osu!mania mappers become proficient modders in any key mode of their wishes. Our mentor team will be able to handle every aspect of modding such as SV, layering, patterning, spread, timing and whatever else is relevant.
With that being said, we hope to create a new series of great modders helping out to raise the overall quality of maps out there. osu!mania definitely needs it, especially for the unpopular key modes.
Have we got your interest? Or do you have more questions regarding the project? Then please do not hesitate to join us at the Modding Mentorship Discord server.
The osu! Map Cast
Mentioned previously in the Mappers' Report, the osu! Map Cast has recently concluded its first season with a whopping 23 episodes in total. This podcast hosted by Bailie (previously known as Cinnabun) features conversations with a wide variety of figures in the mapping and modding community, such as mappers both old and new, BNs, NAT, and recently even Ephemeral! The podcast series cover a huge variety of topics, both within and outside of osu! mapping- there's even an episode about Beat Saber in there! If you want to learn more about the osu! community, its members, or just want a chill podcast to listen to in the background, be sure to check out the full episode listing on their forum post!
And with that, we conclude the Mappers' Report for this month. Again a bit of a read but we're happy you made it until here.
As always, if you have anything noteworthy we could include in the next issue of the Mappers' Report, please do not hesitate to tell Feerum or Noffy. You can as well join us in the #mappers-report channel on the osu! Community Discord Server.
Hope to see you there soon, thank you for reading and stay safe and healthy!
—Feerum, Noffy, Teky, hypercyte, Pachiru and Davvy
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