Osu and Stepmania – Why Are Inputs Arrow Shaped in Music Games?
osustepmania
In many rhythm games (like step mania, Osu! mania, etc.), the inputs are arrow shaped. Where does this "standard" of rythm/music games come from ?
Best Answer
I can't speak for Osu!mania directly, but Stepmania was based on Dance Dance Revolution (DDR), which had a pad below the player with the 4 directional arrows, which the player had to step on in time with the music. Stepmania was meant to be an open sourced clone of DDR, so many of it's original mechanics and design would come from the DDR franchise mechanics.
The "step" in stepmania is a reference to how Dance Dance Revolution (and clones like Stepmania) are supposed to be played. By stepping on the corresponding arrows at the right time to the beat.
As far as I'm aware, with Osu!mania there are just some maps which have this arrow layout. Wikipedia's page on Osu!mania says:
osu!mania is a game mode which consists of a piano-like style of clicking notes to the beat, similar to the Beatmania IIDX series. The number of keys ranges from 1 to 9, with 4 keys and 7 keys being more popular among players.
So Osu!mania is more of a direct clone of the Beatmania series, which doesn't use the dance pads like DDR was designed for. I assume that some Osu!mania tracks that only have 4 keys (which it says is a popular format) often map those keys to arrows, so that it resembles the traditional beat games like DDR and Stepmania.
As far as I can tell, the standard of using 4 arrow keys to represent the inputs is because Stepmania is directly based off Dance Dance revolution, and because 4-key Osu!mania levels sometimes pay homage to DDR and Stepmania, as the gameplay is similar.
I believe it's centred on precisely when the approach circle touches the hit circle or slider. There is a window on either side of that time where you can hit it and score 300. Without mods, this will range from 19.5 ms to 79.5 ms on either side. This gives a total window of 39 to 159 ms. A full chart is available on the osu! wiki.
It's actually possible to enable a view to show this more immediately in-game. In the options menu, set the Score meter type to Hit error, and a bar will appear at the bottom of your screen that reflects your most recent hits, relative to perfect timing.
Note that the precision required varies by the map settings (specifically, the OD or Overall Difficulty), and that sliders are more forgiving than hit circles in terms of timing precision.
Best Answer
I can't speak for Osu!mania directly, but Stepmania was based on Dance Dance Revolution (DDR), which had a pad below the player with the 4 directional arrows, which the player had to step on in time with the music. Stepmania was meant to be an open sourced clone of DDR, so many of it's original mechanics and design would come from the DDR franchise mechanics.
The "step" in stepmania is a reference to how Dance Dance Revolution (and clones like Stepmania) are supposed to be played. By stepping on the corresponding arrows at the right time to the beat.
As far as I'm aware, with Osu!mania there are just some maps which have this arrow layout. Wikipedia's page on Osu!mania says:
So Osu!mania is more of a direct clone of the Beatmania series, which doesn't use the dance pads like DDR was designed for. I assume that some Osu!mania tracks that only have 4 keys (which it says is a popular format) often map those keys to arrows, so that it resembles the traditional beat games like DDR and Stepmania.
As far as I can tell, the standard of using 4 arrow keys to represent the inputs is because Stepmania is directly based off Dance Dance revolution, and because 4-key Osu!mania levels sometimes pay homage to DDR and Stepmania, as the gameplay is similar.