StepMania

StepMania

Advanced rhythm game
A screenshot of StepMania 5.0.5 gameplay
Original author(s)	Chris Danford
Initial release	2001
Stable release	5.0.12 / August 30, 2016(2016-08-30)
Preview release	5.1 beta 2 / July 24, 2018(2018-07-24)
Repository	github.com/stepmania/stepmania
Written in	C++,Assembly,Lua
Operating system	Windows XPor later,Linux,Mac OS X 10.6or later
Type	Rhythm video game
License	MIT
Website	www.stepmania.com

StepManiais across-platformrhythm video gameandengine.It was originally developed as a clone ofKonami'sarcade gameseriesDance Dance Revolution,and has since evolved into an extensible rhythm game engine capable of supporting a variety of rhythm-based game types. Released under theMIT License,StepManiaisopen-sourcefree software.

Several video game series useStepManiaas their game engines. This includesIn the Groove,Pump It Up Pro,Pump It Up Infinity,andStepManiaX.StepManiawas included in a video game exhibition at New York'sMuseum of the Moving Imagein 2005.

Development

StepManiawas originally developed as an open-source clone ofKonami'sarcade gameseriesDance Dance Revolution(DDR). During the first three major versions, the Interface was based heavily on DDR's. New versions were released relatively quickly at first, culminating in version 3.9 in 2005. In 2010, after almost 5 years of work without a stable release,StepManiacreator Chris Danford forked a 2006 build ofStepMania,paused development on thebleeding edgebranch, and labeled the new branchStepMania4 beta. A separate development team called the Spinal Shark Collectiveforkedthe bleeding-edge branch and continued work on it, branding it sm-ssc. On 30 May 2011, sm-ssc gained official status and was renamedStepMania5.0. Development on the upcoming version, 5.1, has gone cold over the past few years after a couple of betas were released over at GitHub.Project OutFox(formerly known asStepMania5.3, initially labeled asFoxMania) is a currently closed-source fork of the 5.0 and 5.1 codebase originally planned to reintegrate in StepMania, however further in development, it was decided to become an independent project due to its larger scope of goals while still sharing codebase improvements to future versions of StepMania.These improvements include modernizing the original codebase to improve performance and graphical fidelity, refurbishing aspects of the engine that have been neglected, and to improve and expand its support for other game types and styles.

Gameplay

The primary game type features the following game play: as arrows scroll upwards on thescreen,they meet a normally stationary set of target arrows. When they do, the player presses the corresponding arrows on their keyboard ordance mat.The moving arrows meet the targets based on the beat of the song. The game is scored based upon how accurately the player can trigger the arrows in time to the beat of the song. The player's efforts are given a lettergradeand a number score that tell how well they have done. An award of AAA+ (triple A plus, formerly AAAA or quadruple A) is the highest possible award available on a standard installation and indicates that a player has triggered all arrows with "Flawless" timing (within 0.0225 seconds under officialsettings) and avoided all mines and completed all hold (freeze) arrows. An E indicates failure for a player to survive the length of the song without completely draining their life gauge. Default scoring and grading forStepManiais similar to scoring inDance Dance Revolution;however, timing and scoring settings can easily be changed.

During a song, if the player successfully triggers all arrows with "great" or better timing, the player will receive the message "Full combo" alongside their grade. Players can also achieve "Full perfect combo" for completing a song with all arrows triggered with perfect timing or better, and a "Full flawless combo" if all arrows are triggered with "flawless" timing.

StepManiaallows for several input options. Specialized adapters that connect console peripherals likePS2andXboxcontrollers or dance pads to one's computer can be used. Alternatively, thekeyboardcan be used to tap out the rhythms using arrow or other keys. Many song charts designed for keyboard are unable to be passed using a pad. In addition, the game possesses the capability to emulate other music games, such asBeatmaniaitself, o2Jam andDJMax's 7-key arrangement,Pump It UpandTechnoMotion- scoring however, remains similar to old DDR-style play by default (i.e. more weight is given for later notes).

Features

• Custom Songs ( "Stepfiles" ) also known as "Simfiles": StepMania allows users to create their own custom dance patterns to any song in.oggor.mp3format. The program includes a comprehensive Step editor to aid the creation of these stepfiles. Many Simfile websites exist where users share and distributed Simfiles for songs. Additionally, officialDDRandIn The Groovesongs with their original steps are commonly available for StepMania.
• Backgroundanimations:Support for many types of animations behind the arrows onscreen, including sprite-based animation sequences, a single full-motion video or multiple FMV visualization overlays but are disabled if the song contains exclusive video.
• Modifiers: Visual mods that affect the scroll of arrows and either increase or decrease difficulty. StepMania includes multiple modifiers featured in Dance Dance Revolution as well as dozens of additional modifiers created exclusively for StepMania, including custom SPEED options.
• Multiple arrow types:
  • Mines ( "Shock" arrows inDDR X): An object that scrolls onto the screen along with the arrows. If a player triggers the mines, they will be penalized by having their dance gauge reduced and, customizing a theme, breaks the current combo chain that the player had going. However, the mines inStepManiaare different from the Shock Arrows inDDR X in that the latter also turns the notes invisible for a brief period of time and breaks the current combo chain that the player had going. This step type was developed for theStepMania-based arcade gameIn The Groove,and was ported intoStepManiaitself during development of that title. There are several variations of these objects that effect scoring in different ways.
  • Holds (also called Freeze Arrows): A long arrow that requires you to keep your feet or finger on the corresponding panel for its duration.
  • Rolls: A special hold arrow which requires a rapid tap on to keep alive. This step type was developed for the sequel toIn The Groove,In the Groove 2.
  • Lift: a special type of arrow (colored Gray by default) which requires the key (or panel) to be held downbeforethe note passes and released when the note passes the target arrows. This is different from freeze arrows in that the timing of the press is not important, only when the note is released.
• Multiple game types, including partial simulation of other rhythm games likePump It Up,ParaParaParadiseandbeatmania IIDX.
• Real-time lyrics, which display on the opposite side of the screen for stepfiles that haveaccompanying lyric data.
• Custom themes: users can create their ownskinsforStepMania.Themes can vary from simple replacement of images to drastic changes that can be implemented by scripting itsLuabackend.
• Dancing characters: 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional character models that dance in the background according to a pre-defined routine.
• Infinite BPMs: an official implementation inStepMania4 of a bug in the 3.9 series that could be exploited to create "warps" in stepcharts using negative speeds.
• Network play: support for lobby-based online play, dubbedStepMania Online.Typically, users connect through theStepMania Onlinecentralized server. Support for network play was added to theStepManiatree in 2005 and is available in all later builds. All players must have a copy of the song chosen by the host in order to play.

Availability

StepMania-based arcade machine in a Chinese amusement park

Some versions ofStepManiawill run on most common operating systems (Microsoft Windows98/Me/2000/XP/Vista/7/8,Linux,FreeBSD,Mac OS X), as well as theXboxconsole. It has also been used as the base engine in a variety offree softwareandproprietaryproducts for various platforms.

Use in products

SeveralStepMania-based commercial games have been released due to its open nature:

• In the Groove(ITG) is an arcade dance game series developed by the coreStepManiadevelopers, and is based on 3.9 and a CVS build of StepMania often known as version 3.95. To preventunauthorized copying,StepManiawas re-licensed under a more permissive license (changed fromGPLto theMIT Licensewith the agreement of all coders, in exchange for their names appearing on the ITG credits screen), not requiring source code to be published on derivative works, and thus allowing ITG'scopy controlto remain proprietary andclosed source.
• Pump It Up Prois a spinoff of thePump it Upseries headed by former ITG developers and musicians. The game utilizes a build of StepMania 4 for its engine, which also led to improved Pump support inStepManiaitself.
• Pump It Up Infinityis another spinoff of thePump it Upseries aimed primarily at North American audiences. Unlike the Pro series, however, it is managed directly byAndamiro.The game is based onStepMania5.
• StepManiaXis a spiritual successor to In The Groove, with the addition of the Center panel and other features.

StepMix

StepManiadevelopers conducted StepMix contest for step builders to create stepcharts/stepfiles that can be played usingStepMania.StepMix 1, 2, 3, and 4 were run successfully. Participants need to have a song to be used in the stepchart/stepfile. The song must be under a compatible license for distribution or be authorized for use in StepMix 4, or the entry is automatically disqualified.Additionally, if the graphics used in the entry are found to have been copied from another artist and used without their authorization (as happened once in StepMix 2), the entry may be disqualified.

The scoring is determined by the overall quality of the song, steps and graphics.

Reception

StepManiabecame a quite popular free software game; the game was downloaded alone overSourceForgebetween 2001 and May 2017 over 6.3 million times.

See also

• List of open source games
• PaRappa the Rapper
• Frets on Fire
• osu!
• UltraStar

External links

• Official website