4x4beat - my jubeat simulator

[Jeff Paine]

Cross-posted from the Other Simulation forum, posted here for more exposure (because nobody reads the Other Simulation forum). If the mods feel this shouldn't be here, go ahead and delete.

Website: 4x4beat
Gameplay video (prerelease): YouTube - 4x4beat - jubeat simulator - beta gameplay

Now, as a disclaimer, I've never played jubeat, so I'm going by YouTube videos and the jubeat website for information. I don't think there's any songs in the actual game with BPM changes or stops, but I'm including them anyways, just in case. The timing, grading, and scoring systems are likely way off from the actual game, but there's not a whole lot I can do about that (I can't find any information on that stuff)

The game is controlled with the 1-9, Q-R, A-F, and Z-V keys, which isn't an ideal solution but there really isn't a better one right now (Windows 7 will support multitouch so if that gets more widespread that would be a better solution)

I wouldn't expect too many massive updates in the future, unless the simfile format is updated. It's really meant more as a "starting block" so (hopefully) more talented and experienced programmers can take up the task of making a better sim.

The sim comes with one simfile (the shitty song in the video), and the website has details about the file format on the sim's website once it's finished.

edit: lol 573rd post, how appropriate

[uguisumode]

as far as the video i would say well done!
it is finally the first simifile for Jubeat.
just hope it could get better soon

[Patashu]

Should there be any special visual indication for multiple notes coming onto the same square in quick succession?

E: Or maybe make them change colour once they go from incoming to outgoing? Or maybe an ultra brief flash or some kind the instant they're on beat. When you've got a top-down format for a rhythm game it's tricky to make things intuitive to sightread. I had problems in Elite Beat Agents where I had to memorize the flow of every pattern in songs I had never heard before, and if I started messing up it was difficult to know, at a glance, how to get back on track.

[Jeff Paine]

Originally Posted by Patashu

Should there be any special visual indication for multiple notes coming onto the same square in quick succession?

E: Or maybe make them change colour once they go from incoming to outgoing? Or maybe an ultra brief flash or some kind the instant they're on beat. When you've got a top-down format for a rhythm game it's tricky to make things intuitive to sightread. I had problems in Elite Beat Agents where I had to memorize the flow of every pattern in songs I had never heard before, and if I started messing up it was difficult to know, at a glance, how to get back on track.

The actual jubeat doesn't do that as far as I can tell (but then again the actual jubeat rarely has anything faster than 1/8 note) so I didn't think to implement anything like that, but I'll keep it in mind for a future release.

[Patashu]

Yeah, jubeat doesn't do it now, but rhythm games inevitably experiment with ways of making charts faster, harder and different; just look at ddr or beatmania or anything. (Additionally, ouendan-likes already have 'jacks') Implementation of additional note-types and features should be secondary to making it functional but still kept in mind for later

[Jeff Paine]

Yeah, I'm working on an update now that will tentatively add modifiers (hi- and low-speed mods and random/mirror mods) and a separate note type (the "bar" type that starts at the bottom and fills up to the top)

I have finals tomorrow and Thursday and then I'm taking a weekend trip to Miami so it might not be out for a week or so, though

[delrio]

Jeff, this looks pretty badass.

Two questions though... would a Linux version ever be available? I'd love to play this myself, but Linux is really my only operating system (I'm not paying for Windows).

If not, I'll see if Wine will work with it in a while.

Also, would it be at all possible to take MIDI data in, so that this could be played with something like M-Audio's Trigger Finger controller? I could see that being a great way to play.

[Jeff Paine]

Originally Posted by delrio

Jeff, this looks pretty badass.

Two questions though... would a Linux version ever be available? I'd love to play this myself, but Linux is really my only operating system (I'm not paying for Windows).

If not, I'll see if Wine will work with it in a while.

Not likely, unless I rewrite the whole thing (I did it in Visual Basic because, well, I've been using BASIC since before I can remember so that was the quickest and easiest way to do it. That turned out to be a pretty bad idea once I found out that the geniuses at Microsoft removed the ability to have transparent controls after VB6, hence the square notes rather than the circular ones jubeat uses by default, and the white strips on the judgements)

I'm not extremely well-versed with WINE (I usually use Parallels or just boot into Windows on my Mac) but if it supports the Windows Media Player DLL (to play music) and .NET then it should work.

Let me know if the only problem is you need a lower .NET version, I believe Visual Basic can compile projects for older .NET versions

Originally Posted by delrio

Also, would it be at all possible to take MIDI data in, so that this could be played with something like M-Audio's Trigger Finger controller? I could see that being a great way to play.

Looks like it can, I'll look into it (probably not in the next release though)

[Molotov Cupcake]

This is so impressive! Wish I had the real thing!

[BLueSS]

Awesome job getting momentum going on a sim like this!

It comes up with a couple errors on Vista (bad image - Exception Processing Message 0xc000007b).

The animations for the notes seem to be faster than the note/square animations in the game. By how much, I can't tell from online videos, but the default notes also have a circle that grows out (instead of in), which i guess is a little easier to see when using a short time. The notes just seem super quick... although it doesn't matter much right now as it's not really playable by the simulation yet.

[Jeff Paine]

Originally Posted by BLueSS

It comes up with a couple errors on Vista (bad image - Exception Processing Message 0xc000007b).

I'll be upgrading to Windows 7 soon so I'll check that out as soon as that's finished.

Originally Posted by BLueSS

The animations for the notes seem to be faster than the note/square animations in the game. By how much, I can't tell from online videos, but the default notes also have a circle that grows out (instead of in), which i guess is a little easier to see when using a short time.

I noticed that too, right now the notes are displayed 1/8 note before and after you're supposed to hit them, but it looks closer to 1/4 note in jubeat (or maybe it's based on a fixed time period rather than in relation to the BPM of the song, but that would require rewriting a lot of code and I'm too lazy to do that >_>) Also, it seems like it's easier to react by pressing onto the touch screen than pressing a button on the keyboard nowhere near the screen, so that could hinder performance too.

The next release will definitely include a lo-speed mod that should help things, as well as hi-speed for you sadistic types, as well as a couple other mods

[「dj.TK」]

If you could use mouse clicks also, then people with tablets and such could use it this way as well.

[Jeff Paine]

Yeah I'm gonna implement mouse clicks and just assume that multitouch will work by pretending it clicked in both places at the same time

Hopefully I'm right because then I won't have to figure out how to implement proper multitouch support >_>

Anyways, I upgraded to Windows 7 now and I'll resume work in a few days once I redownload and reinstall everything that was on there before (I upgraded from x86 to x64 so I had to do a clean install)

[Jeff Paine]

v1.0 r1 released!

This version introduces a few minor changes and bugfixes and adds the following mods:

Speed mods - x0.25, x0.5, x1, x2, x4

Flip, H-Flip, V-Flip, Clockwise (rotates notes clockwise), H-Clockwise (H-Flip then Clockwise), V-Clockwise, Counterclockwise, H-Counterclockwise, V-Counterclockwise, Random, S-Random, Samurai S-Random (those last three operate exactly how they do in IIDX)

New note styles - Bar-U, Bar-D, Bar-L, and Bar-R (instead of a box coming from the center, instead this note style will expand a bar in the direction you choose

Custom note images

You can choose to save your settings individually for songs. This will place two hidden files in the folder containing the JBT file. You can uncheck this option if you just want to temporarily change your settings, or if you don't want those files to be created.

[Catastrophy]

Got any sample JBTs to test it with?