Gear Patterns

Recommended Precursors:

Finished set up for a .xdrv chart (file organization, metadata, and timing)
Started patterning for a .xdrv chart
Informed of general charting principles, including essential charting
Informed of common tap & hold note patterns

This article talks about many base game charts in XDRV, including some that need to be unlocked or are hidden. Spoilers ahead!

One of the distinguishing features of XDRV’s gameplay are its left and right gear notes. Although their input and timing is similar to that of the game’s tap notes, there are two key differences that make them unique. First of all, the default control scheme for controllers requires that players flick their left or right joystick to hit left or right gears. Secondly, all gears are composed of head and tail inputs. The player must perform one input at the head and one input at the tail. Charters need to consider these quirks when adding gears to their charts.

Use Cases for Gears

Gears can be used to accomplish various different things in charts. While there are some generic patterns that can incorporate gears, gears create some additional relationships between notes that clever charters can capitalize on. One of the main factors of consideration for gear usage is that they increase keyboard and controller difficulty to a different degree.

Gears in Sample Charting

As with tap and hold notes, left and right gears can be used to capture a specific sound. In many charts, for example, gears are used for kicks, snares, or crashes. The head and the tail of your gears can be used to represent different percussion without requiring different inputs. For instance, in songs that have kick-snare patterns, many charts have the head of gears represent the kick and the tail of gears represent the snare (or vice versa). Gears can also be used to represent a unique synth from the melody, while tap and hold notes are reserved for it. This separation of inputs is very straightforward, making for fun and dynamic charting when used. All and all, gears can be used to emphasize key sounds in a chart’s music.

While gears can be great for representing specific sounds, they can also be used to represent the main melody in combination with taps and gears. Typically, however, their use is typically done with purpose. Many charts use the duration of a gear to represent a long synth sound, rather than having a hold note be there. This opens up the duration of the gear to another pattern (often being tap notes / chords) while still representing the synth’s sustain. Gears can also be used to represent regular notes of the synth, often composing a larger stream.

Left-Right Gear Balance

Gears contribute a lot to the visual and feeling and balance for a chart. While using only left or right gears for a section can make for an interesting or meaningful gimmick, using left or right gears to an extreme majority can easily make the chart feel skewed to one hand. This effect is exacerbated for controller players, where the movement from tap notes to gears is more draining. Often, the easiest way to resolve this issue is to mirror sections where a lot of gears are on one side.

Controller Alternating

Alternating is the process by which controller players move their thumb from an inner lane input (tap/hold notes 3/4) to one of the two gear inputs to hit an upcoming gear. As this movement requires quickness on higher speeds and lower subdivisions, patterns where an inner lane note is placed close to a gear (both before and after) are more demanding for controller players than keyboard players. With that said, there is nothing wrong with requiring the player to alternate between gear and inner lane inputs at a fast speed–many base game charts do this. What matters is that this difficulty is purposeful and reasonable amongst the rest of the chart.

You may wonder if it is possible for a controller player to hit an inner lane note and a gear on the same side simultaneously without cheesing the pattern. The answer is that, in many cases, it is! This note combination called a crossgear, and many of XDRV’s harder charts mess around with the mechanic. With that said, not all combinations of notes can be hit by controllers. This concept will be elaborated on in [24] Charting Crossgears.

Gearjacks and Geartrills

Gearjacks and geartrills are gear-specific patterns that many charts use in unique and interesting ways. These patterns can do quite a lot for a chart’s expressiveness, but it can also create a considerable disparity in difficulty between controller and keyboard. Keyboard gearjacks and geartrills are functionally adjacent to other jacks and trills, just on the outermost finger. Controller players, on the other hand, have the added issue of waiting for the joystick to return to the deadzone before doing the next input. While some players can flick back and forth to pass through the deadzone and create an immediate second input, this behavior is inconsistent without careful configuration. As a result, gearjacks and geartrills especially are harder at high speeds for controller players than keyboard players. With that said, these patterns can still be used in charts without ruining the experience of controller players; charters just have to implement these patterns fairly.

Common Gear Patterns

Gears can be incorporated into a variety of classic tap and hold note patterns to create patterns that feel more individual to XDRV’s playstyle. Here are a few of these patterns and their appearances in base-game charts:

Gearstreams Streams with gears placed at certain intervals. The chords are typically placed to the rhythm of percussion, distinct synths, or some other sounds of emphasis. Also does not take any specific shape. Considerably harder than normal streams for controller players, but only a bit harder for keyboard players. Use Examples: CANDYLAND EX

Geartrills Trills which alternate between gears and notes or gears of opposite sides. Typically, for geartrills alternating between gears and notes, the gears and notes are on opposite tracks. Use Examples: valor/starcross EX, UTF-8000000000 HY

Gearjacks Jacks the notes are two gears, requiring repeated and swift input of the gear’s key / joystick. Almost exclusively reserved to two gears on the same side. Use Examples: City in the Clouds EX, Wonderblossom

Gearchords Chords where at least one of the notes on the line are gears. Can consist of two gears on both sides with or without additional notes, or one gear with at least one additional note. One side of the track can either have just a gear, just notes, or a combination of the two, provided that said combination does not violate crossgear rules (see [24] Charting Crossgears). Can use hold notes instead of tap notes, which can be more readable than tap notes on top of gears. Use Examples: Wonderblossom HY, Fly Wit Me EX, IGNITED EX

Geargallops Gallops where one of the two notes (or potentially both notes) are gears. Can be on the same track side or on opposite track sides. Use Examples: valor/starcross EX

LN Charting + Gears Patterns that utilize hold notes and gears simultaneously. Sometimes, a gear is placed at the end of a hold note. Other times, gears must be hit in the middle of a hold note. Often used to create crossgears with clear indication (see [24] Charting Crossgears). Use Examples: Luminous Race HY, Cosmogyral HY, FREAK*TEK EX

All and all, gears are one of the most unique elements of XDRV patterning and should be utilized by charters for optimal results. It can be hard for new charters to sufficiently implement gears into their first charts, which is completely normal. Over time, though, charters can grow familiar with the abundance of use cases for gears and choose the best one for a given section. Charters using gears should consider the ways that keyboard and controller players experience patterns differently, paying specific attention to any difficulty disparities. While all charts using all of XDRV’s mechanics will have some difference in difficulty between playstyles, charters can ensure that this difference is not unfair or unintentional.

As alluded to many times in this article, gears can be used in a mechanically special combination of notes known as a crossgear. At the same time, however, mindless usage of gears can create note combinations that are impossible or impractical to hit on a controller. The next article will cover how to use this mechanic and avoid incompatible note combos.