#people who played osu might know the song

[omo321]

HI NI YAKARE TSUKI GA TERASU

[shiningliive]

Live Emotion Tap Spaces

A too long post on the Live Emotion preview clip only having two touch icons:

I've seen mixed reponses. Some people are happy to see a more accesible layout that is less likely to cause hand and wrist damage from long/frequent play sessions, and some are dissapointed and fearful that it might be too slow or too basic.

I'd take an educated guess that what we're seeing in this clip is an 'easy' difficulty, with higher levels hopefully having at least a faster speed. When comparing this clip to the easy difficulty of Shining Romance on SL, both are nearly identical with 11-12 taps within 8-9 seconds.

It's hard to say how I feel about it so far without seeing more footage. Personally, I think at least 4 would be ideal but I can't say until more footage is revealed. It's certainly possible there are more tap spaces in higher difficulties, or the higher speed and potentially more gesture options would make up for it.

Here are some other rhythm games with similar amounts of touch spaces. I've tried to link higher diffulty levels to show the potential:

Love Live All Stars - Very similar layout to Live Emotion with two tap icons, however there are also some notes that have to be swiped in the direction indicated which I think could be implemented in higher difficulties in LE. Also has a mode with less distracting bg visuals (that is customisable with unlockable backgrounds) which I am also currently hoping to be a toggle in LE.

Aikatsu - This I believe is a two player mode that is being played solo, but it does show another example of a 2 touch icon UI. I think it's also played with a controller, but its easy to imagine the arrows as directional sliding gestures as well. Aikatsu has a slightly younger demographic, so it makes sense if the beatmaps skew a bit simpler.

Idolish 7 and I-Chu - Both with four tap icons.

Then of course you have games like Bpro and SIF that have a similar high amount of tap icons to Shining Live. There are also some with similar functionality but different look, like Show By Rock, D4DJ, Project Sekai, and Hypmic.

And for more varied rhythm gameplay styles, but to highlight the potential of different gesture types, you have:

King of Prism - Tapping and making certain swipe gestures as they skate through hoops. This and some others linked also have segments where you trace shapes on the screen at certain parts of a song, or whena gauge fills up.

Te to Te Connect - Arcade game with beatmaps that encourage copying the movements on screen. These sort of swiping and tracing shape movements are especially interesting to me but I dont know if we'd see something like that in LE.

Muse Dash - A different style of rhythm game to what we've seen so far from LE, but there may be something in there to inspire you.

Fit Boxing - Again very different and doesnt really translate to touch screen, but while holding a joycon the player does different types of punches and movements corresponding to the icons.

Osu - A classic, with its icons taking up the screen in various patterns rather than staying in set positions, this is also something I dont expect to see in LE, but is a fun gameplay style. Osu also has a large spinning wheel that shows up occasionally for a short period of time, and has to be spun in circles very quickly.

All that to say, who knows what we're in for. I would prefer a few more touch icons, but even if harder difficulties still only have 2 I think its possible to get a fun and difficult game out of it if theyre fast enough, and have various tap gestures to keep it intersting and engaging (tap, hold, spin, multi-tap, swipe up/down/left/right etc).

Lets wait and see what the next game reveals showcase.

[lacey-lamb]

About Me Tag

Tag at least 10 people you want to get to know better. I was tagged by @rosey-ballerina. You don't need to do it if you don't want to but feel free to join! I highly reccomend anyone to follow the blogs listed, as most if their quality is similar to mine both aestheticly and shitpost wise. Have fun!

@floconsugar

@therainbowapocalypse

@sunfowa

@c2-x

@peach-orange-juice

@osu

@shiimada

@angelic-remedy

@multicolouredfairylights

@swirlix

@shiromari

@mariko-san

@doki-dolly

@flutt-rshy

Name: Jamie

Star sign: Cancer

Height: 5'4

Middle Name: Pamela

Shuffle your music and write 4 songs that come up: Galaxy Hide and Seek from Lovelive, Party like its your Birthday by Studio Killers, Andromeda by Gorillaz, Romeo cover by Hello Happy World

Ever had a song or poem written about you?: My ex wrote me a song

When's the last time you played a guitar?: 6 years ago

Whos your celebrity crush?: Rihanna and Chris Hemsworth

A noise you hate + one you love?: I hate high pitched scraping noises and love the mmrp chirp cats make when they notice you.

Do you believe in ghosts?: Yes, I'm a very spiritual person and grew up with a religious family.

What about aliens?: The universe is far to big to think we're alone out there.

Do you drive?: Yes I'm one of the rare gays that does drive. I have my learners right now but I'm taking lessons soon for my road test!

What was the last book you read?: Cry Wolf. It was an old thriller book about a werewolf pack and a couple caught in the middle.

Do you like the smell of gasoline?: Nope.

Worst injury you've ever gotten: well I was technically dead for about a minute when I was a kid from a drowning accident but they managed to resuscitate me. Not sure if that counts? If not, I accidentally swallowed a piece of a broken champagne glass which got lodged in and cut up my asophogus something fierce. Had to get emergency surgery to get it out.

Do you have any obssessions right now?: I'm replaying the mass effect series right now so my love for Garrus has rekindled. But I'm playing Bandori a lot now too and I am so incredibly gay for Kaoru.

Do you hold grudges?: I usually forgive but I never forget. When the ball is in my court, depending on how badly I was treatetd, I might be a bit petty about it tho.

Are you in a relationship?: I'm not sure tbh. I was kind of seeing this girl but I'm not sure she's into me anymore.

[yumikoflare]

wowie this is a loooong meme - thanks for the tag @wildricebear more like wild loser bear...........

Rules: Answer all questions and tag 20 people. (putting it under the cut bc it’s 100+ questions!)

1. What is your nickname? i go by yumi! my rl nickname has the same amount of letters 🤔

2. What is your zodiac sign? aqua sun / scorp moon

3. What is your favorite book series? not gonna lie i havent read any book series in a looong time but my fav manga series is fukigen na mononokean!

4. Do you believe in aliens or ghosts? ofc, i believe in both!

5. Who is your favorite author? errr i honestly don’t have one ahaha but sunrisesongs has some reaaaally nice poetry if that counts

6. What is your current favorite song? rn i’m a huuuge fan of kenshi yonezu’s suna no wakusei, namely the soramafu cover!

7. What is your favorite word? uhh don’t have one.. but the word ‘warmth’ has always struck a chord in me?

8. What was the last song you listened to? i think it was ra ra rasputin b/c someone at band was playing it on his phone LOL

9. What TV show would you recommend for everybody to watch? i don’t watch tv oops  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ can’t think of anime recs either smhhh

10. What is your favorite movie to watch when you’re feeling down? i don’t watch movies if i’m feeling down but i remember enjoying the intern?

11. Do you play video games? mmm a little bit.. i play overwatch and sometimes osu and ive played a couple of mmorpgs here and there 

12. What is your biggest fear? losing my purpose and passion

13. What is your best quality, in your opinion? i’m a good friend! i think that counts

14. What is your worst quality, in your opinion? my lack of patience and intolerance to trials

15. What is your favorite season? winter!!!!!!

16. Are you in a relationship? nah

17. What is something you miss from your childhood? honestly? i don’t miss much in particular from my childhood other than that Sweet Naive Bliss™ because things have been getting better in my life since then so

18. Who is your best friend? nizh, swirl, mari, gil, noah, sam, laura, kayla come to mind

19. What is your eye color? dark brown

20. What is your hair color? dark brown

21. Who is someone you love? all my friends...........

22. Who is someone you trust? the friends i listed earlier!!!

23. Who is someone you think about often? honestly as of recently myself bc im working on bettering myself LOL but other than that, i think of noah kinda often?

24. Are you currently excited about/for something? uuuuhhhh not particularly

25. What is your biggest obsession? currently overwatch

26. What was your favorite TV show as a child? probably spongebob aldsakdsla

27. Do you have any unusual phobias? mmmmmm not sure but my anxiety makes a lot of small things scary so

28. Do you prefer to be in front of the camera or behind it? both!!!!

29. What is your favorite hobby? honestly not sure... i like writing but recently i’ve been very into photo and video editing so!!!

30. What was the last book you read? probably the hiding place

31. What was the last movie you watched? goosebumps i think? watched it at home w/ my mom bc she hadnt seen it before

32. What musical instruments do you play, if any? [[[the sound of me, panicked, aggressively slamming my mallets into a timpani can be heard in the distance]]]

33. What is your favorite animal? dogs.... i love dogs

34. What are your top 5 favorite Tumblr blogs that you follow? hm i rly like yamiiino, kaiami, tofuvi, star-plasma, and zandraart!

35. What superpower do you wish you had? healing factor!!!

36. When and where do you feel most at peace? idk, whenever really, surrounded in my closest friends; either that or doing something i love alone

37. What makes you smile? my friends...... also getting praised......

38. What sports do you play, if any? FUNNY JOKE i cant sports

39. What is your favorite drink? hell....... i love lots of different types of teas (black, green, jasmine, honey, etc) and im also a sucker for matcha... and i also like ice blended drinks... and (virgin bc im underage) mojitos.... and smoothies.......... fdgkjkdf i love drinks a lot ok

40. Are you afraid of heights? yes 10000%

41. What is your biggest pet peeve? close-mindedness and intolerance to other ppl/ideas/etc + having to waste resources

42. Have you ever been to a concert? only one! was a mayday parade concert earlier this year

43. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? like everything LOL a singer and an author were prob my biggest ones tho

44. What fictional world would you like to live in? HONESTLY the fukigen na mononokean world would be cool to live in... 

45. What is something you worry about? i simultaneously really like and dread band asdlsakdas

46. Are you scared of the dark? yup orz

47. Do you like to sing? heck yea!!!! singing is so good.....

48. Have you ever skipped school? no bc im a goody two-shoes™ 

49. What is your favorite place on the planet? i dunno! i don’t have one! the world’s so big there’s so many places i still have yet to go!!!

50. Where would you like to live? honestly idk i’m happy with where i am now LOL

51. Do you have any pets? i wish......... i want a doggo so bad but my sister and i are allergic

52. Are you more of an early bird or a night owl? i don’t feel like either but i’m closer to a night owl

53. Do you like sunrises or sunsets better? both..... the sky is a goddess and im in love with her.....

54. Do you know how to drive? i’m an anxious minor who is too afraid to get near the wheel LOL

55. Do you prefer earbuds or headphones? headphones bc earbuds always fall outta my ears and its a Pain

56. Have you ever had braces? nope B)

57. What is your favorite genre of music? ummmmm i don’t have a fav bc i’m kinda flexible but i like alt rock? and j-rock/j-pop?

58. Who is your hero? to be completely honest idk if i have one LOL im my own hero™ B))))

59. Do you read comic books? nah

60. What makes you the most angry? probably the same as #41 as well as like myself?? bc i get frustrated with myself v often and that concept makes me angry asdsa;ldas

61. Do you prefer to read on an electronic device or with a real book? nizh wrote “i like real books but i’m so lazy that i’m more likely to read digital” and i am in agreement

62. What is your favorite subject in school? errrrrrrrr i suppose la? but i’m abt to enter some new classes and learn under totally new teachers so idk it’s bound to change!

63. Do you have any siblings? ye, one older sister

64. What was the last thing you bought? a flowy cardigan from yesterday!!!! im lov it.... i might post a pic of it

65. How tall are you? 5′1′’ and 3/8 sdfkjsdijeiwjeje

66. Can you cook? yo i wish..................

67. What are three things that you love? my friends, music, food/drinks LOL

68. What are three things that you hate? same as #41 and a third thing would prob be conflict?? idk

69. What is your sexual orientation? as far as i know i experience no sexual attraction (asexual) and i experience romantic attraction to anyone and everyone (panromantic) so!

70. Where do you currently live? socal

71. Who was the last person you texted? probably nizh

72. When was the last time you cried? mmmm maybe a week or two ago... i cant recall exactly when so thats good

73. Who is your favorite YouTuber? oooohhh.. im super mainstream but i love arikadou LOL also zylbrad, seagull, and etika

74. Do you like to take selfies? i do! i usually only take selfies like every once in awhile when im feeling cute and when i do i take A Lot

75. What is your favorite app? i lov line camera?? also google photos makes things mucho convenient

76. What is your relationship with your parent(s) like? tbh i find my relationship with my parents to be closer than a lot of my friends’ so :0

77. What is your favorite foreign accent? i dunno! french accents are pretty cool

78. What is a place that you’ve never been to, but you want to visit? japan! also the philippines

79. What is your favorite number? idk but i like 5 and 8

80. Do you find outer space of the deep ocean to be more interesting? both freak me out but the ocean is pretty interesting

81. Do you consider yourself to be a daredevil? not in the slightest LOLOL

82. Are you allergic to anything? intolerant to eggs, pretty allergic to any type of nuts so that sucks, n i got those Seasonal Allergies

83. Can you wiggle your ears? NO I HAVENT READ HARRY POTTER

84. How often do you admit that you were wrong about something? umm idk how often LOL whenever i think im wrong..?? which is somewhat frequently?

85. Do you prefer the forest or the beach? forests are lovely

86. What is your favorite piece of advice that anyone has ever given you? honestly idk......... i remember my dad said smth about how you don’t always have to forgive everyone and by saying ‘it’s okay’ permits the other person to repeat the same action, so i choose my words rly carefully now bc of that :o

87. Are you a good liar? kinda half n half... depends on what i’m lying abt

88. What is your Hogwarts House? iiiiii forgot but it was either ravenclaw or hufflepuff... mightve been the former

89. Do you talk to yourself? YEAH especially when i’m practicing music or video editing

90. Are you an introvert or an extrovert? introvert

91. Do you keep a journal/diary? as of very recently yes bc my therapist recommended me to do so :0

92. Do you believe in second chances? usually in most circumstances

93. Do you believe that people are capable of change? oh yeah definitely, anyone is capable of change, it just depends on their attitude towards it

94. Are you ticklish? yes i hate it

95. Have you ever been on a plane? yep, to san francisco and sacramento and i guess once to texas but that was before i could remember so

96. Do you have any piercings? nope and i don’t rly want any tbh

97. What fictional character do you wish was real? i have nooo idea there’s a lot of thought i’d have to put into this question LOL

98. Do you have any tattoos? nah but if i did they’d be veeeery simplistic

99. What is the best decision that you’ve made in your life so far? probably when i decided 1-2 years ago that i wanted to get my life back on track so i could become a person i could love and ive been making progress little by little ever since then

100. Do you believe in karma? mmmmm not reaaallyyyy..... like maybe a little bit but

101. Do you wear glasses or contacts? its ya girl almost legally blind and wearing contacts

102. Do you want children? not sure yet but probably

103. Who is the smartest person you know? no clue omg there are lots of smart ppl in this world

104. What is your most embarrassing memory? sometime in grade school i was sitting at the edge of a playground slide pleading for my friend not to push me down bc i rly had to pee but she did and i literally just pissed all over the slide and we just stared at each other for a long time and that was just........ Very Bad - I HAVE ANOTHER BAD MEMORY THOUGH it wasnt even long ago kill me??? i was at my friend’s house for dinner and her parents asked what my sister was studying and my sister just recently got into college and i had a veeeeeeeery vague grasp on what she was studying so i literally said ‘food and tectonics’ and i wanNA MCDIE BC I MEANT DIETETICS NOT T E C T O N I C S

105. Have you ever pulled an all-nighter? mmm not a real one.. most ive done is stayed up til 6amish with nizh before goin to sleep  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ like i’m definitely capable of doing it i just don’t want to

106. What color are most of your clothes? dunno? i have a fairly colorful wardrobe but i almost always wear something w/ black if i’m not going for an all light outfit

107. Do you like adventures? depends on where to bc im very cautious LOL

108. Have you ever been on TV? nope

109. How old are you? how old is ur moM!! dab dab haha xd

110. What is your favorite quote? one of my favs is “there are no happy endings, endings are the saddest part, so just give me a happy middle and a very happy start” by shel silverstein; i have a few others but thats the first that comes to mind

111. Do you prefer sweet or savory foods? savory tbhhhh

112. Have your friends ever badly disapponted you? umm not badly but ive been mildly disappointed by a few LOL

113. What is your favorite scent? that clean/fresh linen smell?? and also lavender and then light stuff like eucalyptus mint

114. Random fact you know? the duck-billed platypus can’t keep its eyes open underwater, so it finds its prey by using sensors in its bill that detect electrical impulses n then they strike! theyre pretty cool animals..

115. What is your opinion on long distance relationships? nizh said “hard. just, really hard. not sure if it’s worth it” and i also agree

IT IS OVER wow ok 20 ppl is kind of a lot and this is a loooot of questions so im only gonna tag a tiny bit of ppl (dont have to do it if u dont wanna!): @dunmerhealer | @aftertaste-of-memes | @inspiringnokias yeah that’s it LOL this is just Hella Long so idk how many ppl would be up for doin this so ye  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

[osuqat]

BN Test Review #2

Hello!

Our modding community has been hard at work for the past four months, pushing the quality of mapping forward every day in order to give the playerbase new and exciting content to enjoy. For those that want to go the extra mile and have the final say on what maps go on to become official osu!content, the Beatmap Nominator test is at the top of their to-do list. Through tribulation to eventual triumph, we are proud to again welcome a new batch of promising modders from osu!taiko, osu!catch and osu!mania to the Beatmap Nomination Group! As always, information on what makes up the Beatmap Nominator test and selection process can be found in this thread, but if you want to see the nitty gritty details on all the applicants, responses and results, then look no further!

Additionally, the test creators will again share their insight on the creation and testing process, noting what people excelled at, and what people should brush up on for future tests. If you’re considering an application for the BNG in the near future, be sure to give this a read and prepare yourself for the trials ahead!

So without further ado, let’s get right into it!

osu!taiko (by OnosakiHito)

Total # of candidates: 19

Passing candidates: Arrival, Doyak, Jonawaga, Kin, Skylish, Stefan, Surono, thzz

While the outcome of this test could have been different at any time, I would say that everything was according to the Keikaku. In the last months and years, since the new evaluation system kicked in, we had the chance to observe and gain data from the past Taiko BN Tests which showed a very high fail rate. I was always wondering why that is, until I actually took one of these tests by myself and noticed how hard they really were. I can’t say if it was intentional, but there were many points I had to think about twice or thrice for myself whether they were an issue or not, and that made me actually realise how much of a problem for a fresh modder it could be to take these tests in Part B and why the fail rate might have been that high.

According to this knowledge, we changed the difficulty to make it closer to what we expect for entry into the BNG. That’s why Part B contained mostly basic issues, like for example excessive overmapping, two notes at one spot, broken Slider Velocities or just very poor flow. The thing is, being a Beatmap Nominator is also a learning process that doesn’t end with passing the Test. It’s a process that goes far beyond that and which actually forms a Nominator over time. This is what made us reconsider the current structure of the Part B test - modders should prove that they know at least the very basics in modding and have the possibility to prove themselves as BN later on through their additional suggestions.

Now I can say that this change has obviously given us some fresh air in the Taiko ranking process, as we got seven new BNs which I want to congratulate at this point. Overall, most of applicants did pretty well on Part A, as the average score was 32.3 points, demonstrating that they had a good knowledge of the Ranking Criteria, or know where to consult it.

As for Part B, the average score was 25.6 points. While we have seven new BNs, most people still missed a few crucial points which must have not been ignored. For example, only 4 out of 19 people managed to find the broken barlines / Slider Velocities in the test, despite these being very obvious errors noticeable by simply test playing the difficulties. Others ignored the metadata checks, or simply the fact that we were using too quiet volume samples (only 6 out of 13 noticed this!). Another problem area we observed was with the modding itself: Some people lost impression points by simply not explaining or giving reasons why they suggested a certain change. Sometimes the mods contradicted themselves too, by criticizing a single pattern as being overmapped, while suggesting a whole new part on another place which is much harder. What worried us the most though was the suggestion to disable widescreen support. I will disable everyone who writes that again! This has no effect when unticking, aaaaaah!

On a more positive resonance, most people actually know a good portion of the basics in Taiko, such as having lower SVs rather for lower difficulties on high BPM songs, or not using ¼ beat snap in these. Also when thinking about certain pattern constellations like oddly placed finishers or the very obvious overmapping In the Inner Oni difficulty, nearly everyone found these out.

Overall, I’m fine with the outcome of this month’s test and will wait and see what is going to happen in the next weeks and months. The BNs have overcome their first hurdle. Now the real work begins!

osu!catch (by JBHyperion)

Total # of candidates: 8

Passing candidates: Benny-, F D Flourite

For my second round in charge alongside Deif It was great to see a few more applicants, but I still hope to see further improvement in this area ready for the next cycle, since in my opinion our gamemode is lagging behind osu!taiko and osu!mania quite considerably in this aspect. Overall I have to draw on the positives though: we might have lost one BN in Electoz, but we have gained two more this cycle, so we’re at least moving in the right direction.

Overall, all candidates demonstrated a reasonable to good understanding of the Ranking Criteria, with an average score of 37.4 on Part A, which was a slight improvement over the previous round of tests. Candidates were on average, more knowledgeable regarding spread management and metadata. Additionally, custom skin elements were handled rather well in contrast to the previous test cycle. On the other hand, questions related to the nomination process and consistency of settings (e.g. widescreen support, combo colours, etc.) were handled poorly overall, with correct use of timing points appearing to be a noticeable deficit in knowledge.

Despite a lower score on Part B of 29.4, I found that the modding section was generally handled well, especially when compared to results of the previous round where many marks were lost on fairly obvious unrankable issues. In contrast to the previous test cycle, the spread used in this round was Salad-Overdose, with modders performing best on Overdose and especially Platter difficulties. This was nice to see, considering the Platter difficulty caused modders a number of problems in the previous test. In general there were fewer obvious mistakes or unrankables missed this time around, though some that persisted included failure to identify insufficient note-to-spinner spacings, poor flow between regular dashes and hypers, and strangely, unfitting overmapping / undermapping. Additionally, many instances of only “partial” marks were awarded where candidates failed to fully explain the problem in question, such as not actually highlighting the location of unsnap errors reported by AIMod, or clarifying the BPM condition for hyperdash rankability. Remember to explain each issue in as much detail as possible, and then provide an explanation as to why exactly the presented solution resolves the issue. Lastly, it should come as no surprise, but the position of Beatmap Nominator is one of great responsibility, and as such the test should be taken seriously. Memeing on the test will ensure your application is taken about as seriously as you expect - that is, not at all.

Both our passing candidates have already received their feedback review and are preparing to dive into the world of nomination at their leisure. As always, we’ll be working closely with them over the coming weeks and months to help them settle into their new role, answer any questions they may have and hone their skills to keep striving for ever-higher standards of excellence. To those who were unsuccessful in the test, we encourage you to review your performance also so that you can overcome the mistakes and limitations of this round to succeed next time around. Even if you didn’t meet the required activity threshold but feel like you’d be a good addition to the team, you’ll get another chance to apply in a few months, so be sure to keep modding regularly, helping others in the modding and mapping community, and most importantly, gaining experience to polish your own skills. Maybe we’ll be celebrating your victory sooner than you know it!?

To conclude, many congratulations once again to our passing candidates, and good luck to everyone applying next round - I hope we get can along well both now and in the future, to keep developing our beloved game mode for even more people to enjoy!

osu!mania (by Feerum)

Total # of candidates: 11

Passing candidates: Julie

As you’re probably already aware, we only got one new BN this round, so please give a warm welcome back to Julie! This was a bit of a surprise following the last test where seven people passed! We didn’t expect people to find the test so hard this time, maybe it’s because 7K+1 is a mode which rarely gets mapped, but we wanted to try something different this time around. The song we used for this round was “Saiyajin”, from our Featured Artist, Thaehan.

The average score is 29.9 for Part A, which was quite a reduction compared to last round. This indicates that many people’s knowledge in the Ranking Criteria is lacking, with questions about spread, skinning and metadata getting a lot of missed or wrong answers. It wasn’t all bad though, as most people managed to get a good score on the timing, guest mapping and nomination rules questions.

Part B’s average was 23.5 though, which was really disappointing. We had 3 people which got over 60 Points in total and, sadly, only one over 70. The EZ and NM difficulties featured some bad patterns and were overall not very consistent between same sections. We are still kinda surprised that a lot of people missed hitsound issues over these difficulties. This was very noticeable in the MX difficutly, but thankfully most of the other problems in this difficulty, like broken SV changes and difficulty spikes were detected by most people. The difficulty that affected the results the most was the HD however. This difficulty had a huge number of errors, such as unbalanced patterns, hand bias, up to wrongly snapped notes and placed notes which didn’t follow any kind of specific sound at all.

Whilst I am sad that we only got one new BN this round, there’s no need to be disappointed - we are sure the next round will end better, so good luck to everyone next time too!

~

With this, I would like to conclude our recap of the latest BN applications for osu!taiko, osu!catch and osu!mania. Hopefully you were able to take some information away from this, whether in preparation for your own Beatmap Nominator test in the future, or just as a casual observer interested in the development of the BNG and ranking process. Of course we couldn’t cover every tiny detail in this review, so if you have any questions, please feel free to ask! For those of you who are planning to tackle the next round of BN tests, either as a new or returning candidate, think hard about the test creators’ comments and try to apply them to your own modding. We all wish you the best of luck in your endeavours and will be eagerly awaiting even more success from osu!taiko, osu!catch and osu!mania modes in the next round of tests.

—JBHyperion

P.S. To anyone who is awaiting responses to your questions in the “Ask Me Anything” feature, I’ll be answering them in the next issue of The QAT Gazette (general update article) to avoid cluttering these focused articles too much, so please wait patiently!

[flauntpage]

The Heisman Race Is Saquon Barkley vs. One Other Guy

I’ve seen at least 10,000 promos for tomorrow night’s Penn State/Michigan game featuring that terrible “Walk on Water” song by 30 Seconds to Mars. It’s almost as bad as the Hyundai “Sweet Caroline” commercial.

But don’t be deterred by ESPN’s horrendous song choice, because this game is gonna be a banger featuring college football’s most exciting player. It’s not John O’Korn, it’s future 49er Saquon Barkley, who can put a Ted Nugent-style stranglehold on the Heisman Trophy race with a winning performance in Happy Valley.

College Gameday comes to Penn State as the Lions try to avenge last season’s 49-10 road loss. Barkley only ran for 59 yards in Ann Arbor last year and will match up this time against a Wolverine defense that ranks top-10 in almost every single meaningful category. They’re allowing just 85.8 ground yards and 14.7 points per game. Penn State has pretty much clobbered five of six opponents this season, so something has to give on Saturday night.

Barkley’s main competition for the Heisman is a west coast running back, but let’s start by eliminating four other contenders:

Baker Mayfield (Oklahoma QB)

Heisman trophy winners don’t lose at home to Iowa State. Mayfield did go 24-33 for 306 yards and two touchdowns in that game, but he was disappointing in the second half. Still, he’s got a 17 to 1 touchdown/interception ratio and will keep himself in the conversation unless Oklahoma loses at Oklahoma State or at home the following week against TCU.

Mason Rudolph (Oklahoma State QB)

He’ll be overshadowed by Mayfield the rest of the way. The early loss to TCU also took the Cowboys out of the national spotlight. They probably won’t win Bedlam, which might be a Heisman elimination game for Rudolph and Mayfield.

Plus, Big 12 defenses blow and I’m highly cautious in overvaluing quarterback play in that conference. That’s why I really can’t get behind Mayfield or Rudolph.

Jonathan Taylor (Wisconsin RB)

A phenomenal freshman runner (and South Jersey native) who doesn’t catch the ball. He’ll be an early favorite for next year’s Heisman.

Lamar Jackson (Louisville QB)

An elite talent who has had to do it all himself this season. Someone give him some help.

Anyway, Barkley’s competition for the Heisman is this guy:

Bryce Love (Stanford RB)

Let’s start with his season stats. The Cardinal running back is averaging 10.3 (!) yards per carry and is on pace for a 2,000 yard and 18 touchdown season:

Love is just nasty on the ground. He’s a burner with next-level speed and the ability to blaze through holes. He ran for 263 and 301 yards in back-to-back games. Those are video game numbers.

Most of Love’s game film is him showing patience, following great blocks, and then bursting for big gains. At 5’10”, 196, he’s not going to break a ton of tackles, but you’ll see him easily shrug off arm tackles with his downhill speed. He won’t jump cut like an elite NFL runner, but he’s quick enough laterally to take the ball outside for big gains.

Love’s offensive line is one of the best in the country. There’s a reason Stanford has sent 10 O-linemen and tight ends to the NFL in the past five drafts.

Stanford is always a disciplined and focused pro-style team in a conference that features a smattering of spread offenses. I’m not surprised when I see clips like this:

Love’s main weakness is that he’s basically nonexistent in the passing game. He has four catches for 19 yards this season. He also doesn’t feature in the return game, which is Cameron Scarlett’s territory. His skill-set is narrow in that regard, but he absolutely excels at the one thing he’s asked to do.

I don’t know what his NFL draft stock looks like, but Love would be a 100% perfect fit as a scat back in the New England Patriots’ system.

Saquon Barkley

His pure numbers are not as flashy as Love’s:

Barkley doesn’t have nearly as many carries as his Stanford counterpart for two reasons:

PSU has only played six games (no duh)

The Lions have killed every opponent except for one. Barkley ran it 28 times in the comeback win against Iowa.

I don’t know how many times he carries it tomorrow night. Michigan’s run defense is excellent, which means he might have to do more damage in the passing game, like he did in last year’s game (5 grabs for 77 yards).

Let’s start there.

Barkley has incredible hands and has put up some receiver-like numbers as a running back. His route-running is excellent. He went for 94 yards in the Iowa win and ripped off gains of 46 and 36 against Pitt and Indiana. He also returns kicks and took one 98 yards to the house against Indiana. Compared with Love, he’s obviously the more versatile player when it comes to all-purpose yardage, which I think carries more value overall, especially when viewing him as an NFL prospect. For that reason alone, his overall touches eclipse Love’s, even with one fewer game played.

Specifically, Barkley is so good at cutting, stopping, and restarting. His side-to-side movement and balance are second to none and he compiles more highlight-reel clips than anyone else. Those things go a long way in the optics department for casual fans who don’t watch a ton of college football (i.e. most NFL fans on the eastern seaboard). He’s got 30 pounds on Love, so you’d think Barkley might not be as shifty, but I don’t think that’s the case at all.

Barkley’s offensive line is not as good as Love’s. He’s not going to get gaping holes to run through. While that limits his yardage and his overall statistical numbers, you do get to see more of those Barry Sanders-esque evasive movements.

I also don’t know if Barkley has “elite” speed, but it’s not like he’s lacking in that department.

  Two more things to consider

It’s probably going to come down to these two guys for the Heisman race if they continue to play at their current levels.

These intangibles might come into play:

Strength of schedule: I think they’re almost identical. Penn State played cupcakes early but won at Iowa. They host Michigan before going to Ohio State and Michigan State in consecutive weeks. If the Lions run that gauntlet unscathed, Barkley wins the trophy. He’d just be padding his stats at home against Rutgers and Nebraska before the season finale at Maryland. I don’t think it even matters what happens in the Big 10 title game if they get there. For what it’s worth, Barkley had 100 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns against Wisconsin last year.

Stanford doesn’t have it easy though. They had a nice win at #20 Utah but lost at USC and San Diego State (they’re good this year). Love still has to run it against three top-15 teams in Washington, Washington State, and Notre Dame. Stanford might be 7-5 or 8-4 at the end of the year, which might make it tough to keep Love in the conversation. Penn State probably goes 11-1 or 10-2 because I just don’t see how they can get it done at OSU and MSU in back-to-back weeks. I still think Barkley can win the trophy even if the Lions hit a bump or two in the road. Love has less wiggle room in this area.

East coast bias: Fewer people see Pac-12 games because they’re in bed or out doing something else on Saturday night. Stanford’s upcoming national TV game against Washington doesn’t even start until 10:30 eastern. Barkley has more eyeballs on him because he gets those east coast noon and primetime games. It’s a really underrated topic. Think about Chip Kelly drafting all of those Oregon players for the Eagles. How many of those guys were you really familiar with?

I think Barkley is the better player overall, but don’t sleep on Love, who puts up ridiculous numbers behind a greatoffensive line. If the Lions slip up in these next two weeks, knee-jerk America might start to sour on Saquon as we get closer to the December 10th Heisman ceremony.

Both players are incredible talents, but it should be clear to anyone who watches the film that Barkley is the superior player.

Saquon Barkley will go really high in the draft #PennState http://pic.twitter.com/In9QAWjSE3

— John Middlekauff (@JohnMiddlekauff) October 18, 2017

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