StepMania
Encyclopedia
StepMania is an open source
and cross-platform
rhythm video game
and engine
. It was originally developed as a simulator of Konami
's arcade game
series Dance Dance Revolution
, and has since evolved into an extensible rhythm game engine capable of supporting a wide variety of rhythm-based game types. Released under the MIT License
, StepMania is free software
.
Video game series In the Groove
and Pump It Up Pro
, among others, use StepMania as their game engine. StepMania was included in a video game exhibition at New York's Museum of the Moving Image
in 2005.
ed Stepmania 4 Alpha, calling it sm-ssc. sm-ssc added more features and made many bug fixes. In Mid-2011 sm-ssc merged into official branch of StepMania and thus, The alpha development stage of Stepmania 5 ended. Development of Stepmania 4 beta also discontinued.
s scroll upwards on the screen
, they meet a normally stationary set of target arrows. When they do, the player presses the corresponding arrows on his or her keyboard or dance mat. The moving arrows meet the targets based on the beat of the song. Stepmania strongly utilizes a player's sense of rhythm in its game play. 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 awarded by letter grades
and a number score that tell him/her how well they have done. An award of AAAA (quadruple A) is the highest possible award available on a standard installation and indicates that a player has triggered all arrows with "marvelous" timing (within 0.0225 seconds under official settings) and avoided all mines and completed all hold arrows. However, a patch is available that provides "ridiculous" timing (within a window of 0.01125 seconds, or half the timing of marvelous) and a top grade of AAAAA (quintuple A). An E indicates failure for a player to survive the length of the song without completely draining his/her life bar. Default scoring and grading for Stepmania is almost identical to scoring in Dance Dance Revolution; however, timing and scoring settings can easily be changed.
StepMania allows for several input options. Specialized adapters that connect console peripherals like PS2 and Xbox
controllers or dance pad
s to one's computer can be used. Alternatively, and most popularly, the keyboard
can 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 as Beatmania
itself, o2Jam
and DJMAX
's 7-key arrangement, Pump It Up
and Techno Motion - but scoring however, remains identical to DDR-style play, although some have found a way to change the scoring method to a Pump it Up style.
98
/Me
/2000
/XP
/Vista
/7, GNU/Linux, Mac OS X
), and has also been used as the base engine in a variety of free software
and proprietary
products. It has also been ported to several platforms including the Xbox
, iPod
(running Linux) and cell phones.
The scoring is determined by the overall quality of the song, steps and graphics.
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
and cross-platform
Cross-platform
In computing, cross-platform, or multi-platform, is an attribute conferred to computer software or computing methods and concepts that are implemented and inter-operate on multiple computer platforms...
rhythm video game
Rhythm game
Rhythm game or rhythm action is a genre of music-themed action video game that challenges a player's sense of rhythm. Games in the genre typically focus on dance or the simulated performance of musical instruments, and require players to press buttons in a sequence dictated on the screen...
and engine
Game engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...
. It was originally developed as a simulator of Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
's arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
series Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution, abbreviated DDR, and previously known as Dancing Stage in Europe and Australasia, is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, Dance Dance Revolution is the...
, and has since evolved into an extensible rhythm game engine capable of supporting a wide variety of rhythm-based game types. Released under the MIT License
MIT License
The MIT License is a free software license originating at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . It is a permissive license, meaning that it permits reuse within proprietary software provided all copies of the licensed software include a copy of the MIT License terms...
, StepMania is free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
.
Video game series In the Groove
In the Groove (series)
In the Groove was a series of music video games that used a four-panel dance pad. The series was first distributed by Roxor Games during a time when four-panel dance games in the arcade market were on the decline...
and Pump It Up Pro
Pump It Up Pro
Pump It Up Pro is a series of Rhythm games produced by Fun in Motion and published by Andamiro. The product is a spin-off of Pump It Up, and is developed separately from the main series...
, among others, use StepMania as their game engine. StepMania was included in a video game exhibition at New York's Museum of the Moving Image
American Museum of the Moving Image
The Museum of the Moving Image is a media museum located in Astoria, Queens on the former site of the Kaufman Astoria Studios. The museum originally opened in 1988 as the American Museum of the Moving Image. The museum began a $67 million expansion in March 2008 and reopened in January 2011...
in 2005.
Development
StepMania 4.0, based on a 2006 CVS build of StepMania, better known as 3.95, was in the beta stage of development. Shortly after the announcement of StepMania 4 beta, StepMania's CVS/SVN fork has been unofficially branded by the StepMania community as version 5.0. A separate development team called the Spinal Shark Collective forkFork (software development)
In software engineering, a project fork happens when developers take a legal copy of source code from one software package and start independent development on it, creating a distinct piece of software...
ed Stepmania 4 Alpha, calling it sm-ssc. sm-ssc added more features and made many bug fixes. In Mid-2011 sm-ssc merged into official branch of StepMania and thus, The alpha development stage of Stepmania 5 ended. Development of Stepmania 4 beta also discontinued.
Gameplay
The primary game type features the following game play: as arrowArrow (symbol)
An arrow is a graphical symbol such as → or ←, used to point or indicate direction, being in its simplest form a line segment with a triangle affixed to one end, and in more complex forms a representation of an actual arrow...
s scroll upwards on the screen
Display device
A display device is an output device for presentation of information in visual or tactile form...
, they meet a normally stationary set of target arrows. When they do, the player presses the corresponding arrows on his or her keyboard or dance mat. The moving arrows meet the targets based on the beat of the song. Stepmania strongly utilizes a player's sense of rhythm in its game play. 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 awarded by letter grades
Grade (education)
Grades are standardized measurements of varying levels of comprehension within a subject area. Grades can be assigned in letters , as a range , as a number out of a possible total , as descriptors , in percentages, or, as is common in some post-secondary...
and a number score that tell him/her how well they have done. An award of AAAA (quadruple A) is the highest possible award available on a standard installation and indicates that a player has triggered all arrows with "marvelous" timing (within 0.0225 seconds under official settings) and avoided all mines and completed all hold arrows. However, a patch is available that provides "ridiculous" timing (within a window of 0.01125 seconds, or half the timing of marvelous) and a top grade of AAAAA (quintuple A). An E indicates failure for a player to survive the length of the song without completely draining his/her life bar. Default scoring and grading for Stepmania is almost identical to scoring in Dance Dance Revolution; however, timing and scoring settings can easily be changed.
StepMania allows for several input options. Specialized adapters that connect console peripherals like PS2 and Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
controllers or dance pad
Dance pad
A dance pad, also known as a dance mat, dance platform, or jiffer deck is a flat electronic game controller used for input in dance games. Most dance pads are divided into a 3×3 matrix of square panels for the player to stand on, with some or all of the panels corresponding to directions or actions...
s to one's computer can be used. Alternatively, and most popularly, the keyboard
Keyboard (computing)
In computing, a keyboard is a typewriter-style keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches...
can be used to tap out the rhythms using arrow or other keys. Many song charts designed for keyboard
Keyboard (computing)
In computing, a keyboard is a typewriter-style keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches...
are unable to be passed using a pad. In addition, the game possesses the capability to emulate other music games, such as Beatmania
Beatmania
is a rhythm video game developed and distributed by Japanese game developer Konami and first released in 1997. It contributed largely to the boom of music games in 1998, and the series expanded not only with arcade sequels, but also moved to home consoles and other portable devices, achieving a...
itself, o2Jam
O2Jam
O2Jam is an online casual rhythm video game developed in South Korea by O2Media. At present there are agencies in many countries and regions.-Gameplay:...
and DJMAX
DJMAX
DJMax is an action-rhythm video game series created by the South Korean company Pentavision Entertainment which belongs to Neowiz holdings. Games feature mostly experimental music and visual art from Korean DJs, artists and composers...
's 7-key arrangement, Pump It Up
Pump It Up
Pump It Up, commonly abbreviated as PIU or shortened to just Pump, is a music video game series currently developed by Nexcade and published by Andamiro, a Korean arcade game producer. The game is typically played on a dance pad with five arrow panels: up-left, up-right, bottom-left, bottom-right,...
and Techno Motion - but scoring however, remains identical to DDR-style play, although some have found a way to change the scoring method to a Pump it Up style.
Features
- Custom Songs ("Stepfiles") also known as "Simfiles": StepMania allows users to create their own custom dance patterns to any song in .ogg or .mp3 format. The program includes a comprehensive Step editor to aid the creation of these stepfiles. Despite copyright concerns, many Simfile websites exist where users share and distributed Simfiles for copyrighted songs. Additionally, official DDRDance Dance RevolutionDance Dance Revolution, abbreviated DDR, and previously known as Dancing Stage in Europe and Australasia, is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, Dance Dance Revolution is the...
and In The Groove songs with their original steps are commonly available for StepMania.
- Background animationAnimationAnimation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
s: 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.
- 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.
- Multiple arrow types:
- MinesLand mineA land mine is usually a weight-triggered explosive device which is intended to damage a target—either human or inanimate—by means of a blast and/or fragment impact....
: 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. This step type was developed for the StepMania-based arcade gameArcade gameAn arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
In The GrooveIn the Groove (game)In the Groove is the first game in the In the Groove franchise, published and developed by Roxor Games, and first released in video arcades around August 30, 2004.-Gameplay:...
, and was ported into StepMania itself during development of that title. A derivative of these mines, known as "Attack Mines" or "Mod Bombs", force a modifier change on the player when triggered instead of diminishing the dance gauge.
- Holds: A long arrow that requires you to keep your feet on the corresponding panel for its duration to pass.
- Rolls: A special hold arrow which requires a rapid tap on to keep alive. This step type was developed for the sequel to In The Groove - In the Groove 2In the Groove 2In the Groove 2 is the sequel to Roxor Games' 2004 arcade game In the Groove. It was released to arcades officially on June 18, 2005. It is available as an upgrade kit and as a dedicated cabinet developed by Andamiro...
, and was ported into the StepMania 4.0 development builds.
- Lift: a special type of arrow (colored Gray by default) which requires the key (or panel) to be held down before the 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 dance games like Pump It UpPump It UpPump It Up, commonly abbreviated as PIU or shortened to just Pump, is a music video game series currently developed by Nexcade and published by Andamiro, a Korean arcade game producer. The game is typically played on a dance pad with five arrow panels: up-left, up-right, bottom-left, bottom-right,...
, ParaParaParadiseParaParaParadise, often abbreviated PPP, is an arcade and PlayStation 2 dance game made by the Japanese company Konami and released under the Bemani moniker following the booming Para Para fad....
and EZ2DancerEZ2DancerEZ2Dancer is a series of dance video games developed by the Korean video game company Amuseworld. The gameplay of the series is similar to other dance simulation games, but unlike most games of their genre, EZ2Dancer incorporates both hand sensors and foot sensors into gameplay.-Gameplay:The core...
.
- Real-time lyrics, which display on the opposite side of the screen for stepfiles that have accompanying lyric dataLRC (file format)LRC is a computer file format that synchronizes song lyrics with an audio file, such as MP3, Vorbis or MIDI. When an audio file is played with certain music players on a computer or on modern digital audio players, the song lyrics are displayed. The lyrics file generally has the same name as the...
.
- Custom themes: users can create their own skinsSkin (computing)In computing, a skin is a custom graphical appearance achieved by the use of a graphical user interface that can be applied to specific software and websites to suit the purpose, topic, or tastes of different users....
for Stepmania. StepMania themes can vary from simple replacement of images to drastic changes that can be implemented by scripting its Lua backend.
- 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 in StepMania 4 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, dubbed StepMania Online. Typically, users connect through the StepMania Online centralized server. Network Play is only available with StepMania 5.0 builds or alphas. All players must have a copy of the song chosen by the host in order to play.
Availability
StepMania runs on most common operating systems (Microsoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
98
Windows 98
Windows 98 is a graphical operating system by Microsoft. It is the second major release in the Windows 9x line of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on 15 May 1998 and to retail on 25 June 1998. Windows 98 is the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid...
/Me
Windows Me
Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me , is a graphical operating system released on September 14, 2000 by Microsoft, and was the last operating system released in the Windows 9x series. Support for Windows Me ended on July 11, 2006....
/2000
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
/XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
/Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
/7, GNU/Linux, Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
), and has also been used as the base engine in a variety of free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
and proprietary
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...
products. It has also been ported to several platforms including the Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
, iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
(running Linux) and cell phones.
Use in products
Several StepMania-based games have been released due to its open nature:- In The GrooveIn the Groove (game)In the Groove is the first game in the In the Groove franchise, published and developed by Roxor Games, and first released in video arcades around August 30, 2004.-Gameplay:...
(ITG) is an arcade dance game series developed by the core StepMania developers, and is based on 3.9 and a CVS build of StepMania often known as version 3.95. To prevent unauthorized copyingCopyright infringement of softwareCopyright infringement of software=The copyright infringement of software refers to several practices which involve the unauthorized copying of computer software. Copyright infringement of this kind varies globally...
, StepMania was re-licensed under a more permissive license (changed from GPLGNU General Public LicenseThe GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
to the MIT LicenseMIT LicenseThe MIT License is a free software license originating at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . It is a permissive license, meaning that it permits reuse within proprietary software provided all copies of the licensed software include a copy of the MIT License terms...
with 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's copy controlCopy ControlCopy Control was the generic name of a copy prevention system, used from 2001 until 2006 on several digital audio disc releases by EMI Group and Sony BMG Music Entertainment in several regions...
to remain proprietary and closed sourceClosed source softwareClosed source is a term for software released or distributed without the corresponding source code. Generally, it means only the binaries of a computer program are distributed and the license provides no access to the program's source code. The source code of such programs might be regarded as a...
.
- Pump it Up ProPump It Up ProPump It Up Pro is a series of Rhythm games produced by Fun in Motion and published by Andamiro. The product is a spin-off of Pump It Up, and is developed separately from the main series...
is a spinoff of the Pump it UpPump It UpPump It Up, commonly abbreviated as PIU or shortened to just Pump, is a music video game series currently developed by Nexcade and published by Andamiro, a Korean arcade game producer. The game is typically played on a dance pad with five arrow panels: up-left, up-right, bottom-left, bottom-right,...
series 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 in StepMania itself.
StepMix
StepMania developers conducted StepMix contest for step builders to create stepcharts/stepfiles that can be played using StepMania. 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.