QUICKSTART: Patterns

Recommended Precursors:

• Experience charting for another VSRG (Vertical scrolling rhythm game)
• Basic understanding of common VSRG patterns

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If you want to quickly translate some of your charting skills from another rhythm game to XDRV, this article hopes to aid in that process. This QUICKSTART will be composed of brief write-ups on each component of charting for XDRV, giving more time to the more unique elements.

General Charting Practices

The general means of charting notes to songs in any VSRG can be transferred over to XDRV with relative ease. Typically, a quality chart in XDRV fulfills three principles:

• Music sync / representation
• Visual appeal / balance
• Fun

While some of these qualities can be somewhat subjective, there are some general practices that charters can follow to achieve all principles. An important factor to consider when charting for XDRV is hand balance. It is important to ensure that the number of tap notes, hold notes, and gears is roughly equivalent for both hands. Otherwise, your chart may favor a certain hand dominance.

Despite the playfield of XDRV being split into a left and right track, it is better to think of this space as continuous rather than isolated. For the majority of patterns, you should place notes across all 6 lanes. Meaningful exceptions can be made in which tracks or lane usage are limited. Groupings of notes restricted to the left or right track can result in more technical patterns. Alternatively, limiting the number of lanes you use in a section’s patterning can be great for expressiveness and difficulty control. The most common lane limits are 1-3-4-6 and 2-3-4-5, each resulting in 4K-style gameplay.

For both difficulty control and pacing, syncopation is a common tool used in XDRV charting. Most charts include syncopation by omitting notes where a song’s rhythm is of the least emphasis. In XDRV, it is also important to not chart every instrument in a song. With some exceptions, the most that charters can get away with charting before making a section feel dense or overcharted is two different parts of the composition (i.e. lead synth + percussion).

Tap & Hold Note Patterns

If you are familiar with the essential patterns of most VSRGs, then you will be largely familiar with the common patterns present in many XDRV charts. These patterns can be incorporated into charts easily. With that said, over-reliance on these patterns can result in your chart feeling unoriginal. Mixing in classic patterns and more original patterns is a great means of compromise for charting. These original patterns can be created through many means, including the splicing or combining of two different classic patterns.

Hold note usage in XDRV operates similarly to hold note usage in other VSRGs. However, one key difference is that XDRV’s hold notes do not have release timing. This permits charters to use releases in a more expressive manner without meaningfully increasing the chart’s difficulty.

Gear Patterns

Gears are one of XDRV’s most creative gimmicks, but they have a number of limitations that add character to their use. First, all gears are composed of a head and a tail, requiring two separate inputs. In turn, each gear placed must correspond to two separate, but fundamentally connected inputs. As with tap and hold notes, gears also need to be properly balanced between left and right gears for the sake of visual balance and fun.

Controller players have additional limitations when it comes to hitting gears. On a controller, players need some time to move between the inner lane note (3-4) and the gear note, as both inputs are hit by the thumbs. In turn, charters should give controller players ample time to make this movement. Otherwise, chart difficulty can vary by playstyle. Some charts purposefully lean into the requirement for movement between gear and inner lane to create dynamic patterns. Additionally, as controller players must input a flick rather than a tap for gears, trills and jacks composed of gears can be more exhausting to hit, especially at higher speeds. Therefore, charters should be mindful when using these patterns.

As previously alluded, all gear patterns are functionally tap / hold noted patterns with gears thrown in. Gears enable charters to create patterns more unique to both XDRV and their own creations.

Crossgears

A crossgear is a combination of notes where either thumb is unable to hit a gear due to being occupied with an inner lane tap or hold on the same side, requiring the thumb from the opposite hand to reach across and hit it. This gimmick is a result of controllers needing their thumbs to hit both inner lane notes and gear notes on each side.

Crossgears can be used in a number of different ways. Typically, controller players need some amount of time to prepare for and make the movement to hit crossgears. Crossgears are best implemented when an inner-lane hold note starts before the gear and ends after it. If indicated via note placement, crossgears where an inner lane and gear input are required simultaneously can also be fun, though careful indication is required to avoid requiring unreasonable movement from charters.

For crossgears, alternating the side on which gears spawn vs having some consecutive gears on one side can result in very different effects. If you have a controller, it is best to feel out how different crossgear patterns feel. If you don’t, you’re best bet is to either mimic the motions or look at base game charts that use gears.

Drifts

Drifts are a highly unique and stylized gimmick to XDRV. Unlike other inputs in the game, they do not require an exact timing. Rather, the player must be in the drifting state prior to the region’s start. Additionally, drifts do not contribute their own score or EX. Instead, they amplify the score and EX given by other notes or gears in the duration of the drift (includes the start beat of the drift, not the end). If no combo is earned during the duration of a drift, then the player does not need to hit the drift.

Drifts are best used to represent sustained or dense songs in the music that would not be reasonably represented with input notes. This can include sustained harmonies, short synth movements, effects, risers, and percussion loops. While there is a lot of potential for expressiveness with synths, there also some technical rules that charters should follow for proper functionality:

• In most cases, you should have more measures without drifting than with.
• All drifts in a direction must be resolved with a tail, ending the drift.
• Successive drifts in opposite directions should be given at least 2 beats of space between them (more at faster BPMs).
• Successive drifts in the same direction should be given at least 8 beats of space between them (more at faster BPMs).

Lowdiff Charting

Creating lower difficulty charts is a great way to make you chart sets more accessible to a larger number of players. The goal with lower difficulties is slightly different than upper difficulties, however. For BEGINNER charts, patterning is mostly based on the idea that the player is limited in their ability to read and hit patterns. In turn, charters aim to create simple patterns that support the development of these skills. For NORMAL charts, patterning falls somewhere in between simplicity and representativeness, as players are no longer as restricted in skill. A common tool used by charters to create easier lowdiffs (lower difficulty charts) is syncopation.

While the types of difficulties can be split into certain goals, nuances exist across the numerical ratings given to each chart. The best way to familiarize yourself with this gradient is to do the following:

1. Create a document or text file.
2. Choose a random chart of Difficulty 2, and play through it.
3. On the document / text file, take notes on stand-out decisions that the charter made for the chart. This could include where notes are placed, how note types are used, and how rhythms are used.
4. Either select a new chart of the same difficulty or a chart from one difficulty up. Then, progress forward.

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This covers much of XDRV’s charting style. If you would like to see a more in-depth analysis of any of XDRV’s note or pattern types, you might want to consult one of the more in-depth articles of the Patterns section. Regardless, the process of creating charts for XDRV will come easier to you as you spend more time working on it.