StepMania
Stepmania is a freeware DanceDanceRevolution Clone. It allows users to completely customize the interface and make their own songs to play with their friends in a variety of modes. I started making songs out of a peaked interest and eventually revised it into my own edition with contributions from others from our school! Below is an example of my work on the project. However to be specific I programmed in the steps and timing to the songs as well as worked in Photoshop to create and import backgrounds as well as modifications to the in game interface (these modifications were artistic in style as opposed to programming)
In the following video’s I used Photoshop to edit and create new backgrounds as well as cleared up the interface making much of the unused space transparent particularly around the score and health bar areas. In order to make the music work properly I had to go though the following sequence.
Load Music into a BPM analyzer to estimate the beats per minute.
Edit the sample to constrain it to DDR time table standards, so that each track lasted approximately 1-2 minutes and contains no “boring” or slow and uninteresting parts of the song.
Upload the music into the program. Refine the BPM timing to ensure full synchronization with the application program in all of the steps synced to the beat and or melody of the song, making sure that they don’t cause an inappropriate left/right crossover. (This occurs when the arrows are placed in a pattern that causes the player to cross his or her legs unintentionally. An example would be Left, Right, Up.) This process is repeated for all three difficulty levels, balancing the steps (arrows) for players in those skill categories.
Then find or create backgrounds and edit them to fit the 4:3 ratio and resolution limits as well as create a banner for the selection screen.
YouTube Video of Finished Product Examples these are being played on maximum difficulty. They all have medium and easy difficulty as well. Further more feedback from the players at UAT they are just about right difficulty wise if maby a little on the easy side… Dispite how hard they appear in the videos. You can download the game and mod (at the bottom) or simply play along with the video on your keypad.
Download Stepmania: Here
Download the mod pack: UAT Mix (this includes the old client the mod was intended for)
