Creating a chart pack for XDRV is a goal of many XDRV charters, and for good reason! In games which support them, chart packs offer a more cohesive experience than standalone charts. It can be tempting for many custom charters to jump into creating a chart pack early on because of this. While conceptualizing and even gathering necessary materials for a chart pack is relatively easy, the process of creating a full chart pack is much harder. Chart packs in any rhythm game, including XDRV, require a large amount of involvement and commitment from its creators. Therefore, it’s important to gauge when you (and any potential collaborators) are ready to take on the challenge of making a chart pack.
As stated above, the first part of creating a chart pack is determining if you are actually ready to create a chart pack. An important part of this is determining what your goals are. Are you charting for lower and upper difficulties, or are you only doing HY and EX charts? Are your charts going to have elaborate mods, simple lighting events, or no mods whatsoever? Is there a specific style of patterning that you want to utilize in your charts, or are you varying the style per song? Are you aiming for the whole chart pack to receive leaderboards? How many songs do you want to include in the chart pack?
From these questions, you can determine if you are reasonably ready to commit to a chart pack by asking yourself one cumulative question:
Have I successfully accomplished all of my goals for the chart pack in a standalone chart?
If the answer to this question is yes, then you are probably ready to take on a chart pack. If the answer is no, then I recommend you fulfill these goals with an individual chart before committing to a chart pack. For example, if you want to make a full-difficulty chart pack with mods and leaderboards, it is highly recommended that you have one solo chart that covers 3 or more difficulties, has mods, and has received leaderboards.
Another question you can consider prior to committing to a chart pack is:
Have I created enough solo charts to have a solid grasp on the chart-making process?
Whether you read all of the articles within this guide, the best way to learn the rules of XDRV charting is to make XDRV charts. If you want to make a chart pack with 6 charts, the process will be easier if you have made 2 or 3 solo charts first. Neither this or the previous consideration are hard rules, but they are meant to keep your best interests in mind: avoiding overcommitment too early on.
If you believe that you are ready to begin creating a chart pack, then your first step will be to finish conceptualizing it. You should put together a list of songs, some basic metadata, and the number of separate difficulties that you intend to make per song. It is okay to change your song selection, difficulty spread, or any other elements of your chart pack concepts later.
Once you have done this, you may need to reach out to artists to receive permission to use certain songs. This could take some time, so it is ideal to include at least one song (if not more) in your chart pack with general permissions. That way, if you have to wait some time for song permissions, you can still work on content for the chart pack in the meantime. If you need to get a lot of song permissions, you should allot yourself a good amount of time to do this–potentially as much as a few months.
From here, your step is to create the actual game content–charts and mods. A lot of work will be required for the entire chart pack, so one of the most important things to remember is to pace yourself.
There are a number of different means of pacing yourself through the creation of a chart pack. If you pace yourself well, you’ll be able to move through chart pack development in a way that feels rewarding and healthy. If not, you may experience burnout, resulting in large delays. Here are some good practices:
There are a variety of different chart packs that you can make for XDRV. While no formal definition exists for the types of chart packs, this list includes a few types of chart packs that are common in XDRV and other rhythm games. In no way are these categories firm or independent; a chart pack can easily fit into multiple or no categories.
Base-Game Style
A chart pack of this type is intended to match the quality and style of XDRV’s base-game content in a number of ways. Besides purposeful exceptions, all charts in the pack are controller-friendly, have multiple difficulties, and use an appropriate amount of mods. The charts in these packs, as they meet the general guidelines, aim to receive leaderboards as well. Examples: TBSHG
Challenge Pack
A chart pack of this type sticks to 1-2 high difficulties for each song included, only using HY, EX, and potentially OV difficulties. The difficulty floor of these charts is 12/13, while the average difficulty is around 14. Challenge packs may or may not include mods and may or may not be controller-friendly; regardless, the goal of charts in the pack is to test the skills of experienced players.
Beginner Pack
A chart pack of this type provides a full set of difficulties for each song included. The difficulty ceiling of high-difficulty charts is 11/12. Beginner packs may or may not include mods, but they are more likely to be controller-friendly in order to accommodate more playstyles. The goal of charts in the pack is to provide new players with approachable custom charts.
Modchart Pack
A chart pack of this type attempts to create impactful and tricky mods for each song included. Typically, each chart has a singular, upper difficulty. Despite having only one difficulty per song, each chart requires meticulous planning and thorough coding, making this type of chart pack uniquely challenging to create.
This article is not meant to dissuade charters from committing to or actually creating a chart pack. However, it’s important to remember that making a chart pack is a much bigger commitment than one might initially expect. For those committing to a chart pack, I wish them the best of luck!