Preview of a couples pack that a friend and I are releasing!

[Gloves]

Hi everyone, I haven't been terribly active here for a while now, but over the last few months I discovered something that rekindled my love for ITG and brought me back into the r21 world, couples charts!

A friend and I started writing and playing them together at our arcade, and it really took off. Our charts got better and more complex, other people started playing with us after watching, to the point where some people started to learn doubles just to play with us. Somewhere along the way we decided that we should release everything we've written, and the pack was born.

So coming soon from us will be a pack of all the couples files we wrote over the past few months! Neither one of us had played a couples chart until a few months ago, and as we wrote new files they reflected what we learned as we pushed ourselves to try more complex patterns. Difficulties range from 8 to 13, and we hope that the pack will enable players to learn gradually and become comfortable with a style of play that's definitely not widely used.

All of our files are made up entirely of rolls and holds, with the idea of one person taking an arrow type. The patterns are designed to naturally work around each other. We've been playing for a few hours each Saturday, so although some files may look daunting, most of them are really not so bad. We've found the experience incredibly rewarding and fun and we hope there are other first time couples players willing to give it a try!

Here's a video of us playing one of our favorite charts in the pack. For perspective, we rated this a 12. It's not the hardest song in the pack, but it's up there. There are plenty of easier charts, and even this song has a hard chart rated a 9. So if you play ITG with friends, we hope that you get pumped for these files, and have as much fun as we have over the past few months when they're released!

Check it out and get excited!

When the pack is released, it will be posted in a separate thread. While we don't have a specific release date, but it will likely be a couple weeks, in early to mid January.

[Psychotik]

Oh damn tha gloves is back.

[Telperion]

Couples? I'm sold.

Now to find somebody local to play with :/

[ashtonkutcher]

Woooow Gloves I'm impressed, that chart is amazing. Great song too, love the truth breaks. What's the purpose of the pause at 1:49, to give you guys some breathing time? And you don't memorize all your movements, right? I don't understand how you look at the screen and just know if you're supposed to move to the other side of the pad or who's hitting what, is it a learned skill or do you guys have some sort of agreement before you get on? Thanks.

[Gazebo]

Holy groove that looks awesome

[TYLR]

This will be going straight onto our machine.

[mute]

So did you basically just make one player's notes regular holds and the other player's notes rolls to distinguish? That's a great idea. Chart looks pretty bitchin' too.

[Gazebo]

Yeah that's what he said. The noteskin in the video makes it a bit hard to read, but I have to assume that it's much easier to follow on the ITG noteskins.

[Derkomai]

I know that some people from Hong Kong that make couples charts for X2 use the whole Normal Arrow/Freeze Arrow thing to distinguish who gets what. So this style isn't new to me.

Looks interesting though. Will check it out when you release it.

Also, Game Underground has an ITG option on their SN2 machine?

[Gloves]

Woooow Gloves I'm impressed, that chart is amazing. Great song too, love the truth breaks. What's the purpose of the pause at 1:49, to give you guys some breathing time? And you don't memorize all your movements, right? I don't understand how you look at the screen and just know if you're supposed to move to the other side of the pad or who's hitting what, is it a learned skill or do you guys have some sort of agreement before you get on? Thanks.

The small break at 1:49 just goes with the song dropping out for a moment. It wasn't specifically put in to give the player a rest but it does end up being a nice time to re-orient yourself. As for memorizing movements, that's sort of yes and no. Obviously after playing the file over and over you start to know when different transitions are approaching, but after playing this style of chart for a while you just get used to recognizing what sort of transitions are possible and picking them out on the fly.

The first time we play any chart it's usually just us bumping into each other a lot and looking awful. There is a bit of learning necessary for each file, but it's not memorizing each and every transition. A big trick is just being able to shift your weight the correct direction when you're passing in front or behind, and as you play the songs more you start to remember what it feels like.

As an example, the jumps from 1:05 to 1:12 are something we had to really look at before we played and realize what we'd be doing because the movements are so extreme and we're so close to each other. Likewise, for the stop at 1:14 we had to agree on who would go in front and who would go behind. Those are song specific bits that I keep in mind every time I play it. Many of the other transitions throughout the song though, especially from 1:49 to the end, are easily read on the fly. As long as I'm used to reading where to shift my weight, it's nothing I have to plan ahead for.

The noteskin in the video makes it a bit hard to read, but I have to assume that it's much easier to follow on the ITG noteskins.

Yes, it is much easier to read with the ITG noteskin, the rolls really contrast with holds nicely.

Also, Game Underground has an ITG option on their SN2 machine?

We usually take out DDR and put in ITG for Saturday nights (Couples night!)

Glad to see people are interested! I'll keep everyone posted on the eventual release!

Also, fun fact: Even though we look super awesome playing this, we had around 30 misses on this run. There are some sloppy moments, and you can even see that I totally miss the 1p up arrow at 1:55 when I jump for it (I'm in the long pants).

[Kyzentun]

Now to find somebody local to play with :/

Yeah, this is the problem I have. 2 of the other local doubles players suck at playing no bar, and the other one is too large for couples charts to be practical.

[Slayer³]

Looks great Gloves!

Remind me of routine mode in pump.

[OnlyOneDaki]

Hello! I'm Daki, the other person playing in that video and the author of that chart.

Thanks for all the comments! I'm glad to see that other people are excited about this kind of thing. Gloves and I have put a ton of work into the pack we're making and we're super excited to release it. It's great watching people who have never played in this style before try it out and enjoy it. Personally I think it's fun to have challenges of reading a chart like that and moving your body while thinking about the other player.

@Derkomai, I didn't know other people were doing these kinds of charts too. That's cool! I guess that means more people like it than I thought

@Gazebo I use that noteskin when editing in stepmania. I find it easier to follow than ITG style arrows since those are all silver but if others prefer the ITG style then that's even better . I with there was some equivalent to the Pump style couples colors. It's actually a bit restrictive since only one person can have holds (and therefore hands or forced double stepping).

[A2Z]

Finally, a good challenge on couples. And here I was thinking that this style of play had almost completely died out. It's very exciting to hear of a pack with fresh, challenging couples charts is going to be released in the future. From that preview it looks superb. Good luck with the rest of the pack

[Slayer³]

Hello! I'm Daki, the other person playing in that video and the author of that chart.

Thanks for all the comments! I'm glad to see that other people are excited about this kind of thing. Gloves and I have put a ton of work into the pack we're making and we're super excited to release it. It's great watching people who have never played in this style before try it out and enjoy it. Personally I think it's fun to have challenges of reading a chart like that and moving your body while thinking about the other player.

@Derkomai, I didn't know other people were doing these kinds of charts too. That's cool! I guess that means more people like it than I thought

@Gazebo I use that noteskin when editing in stepmania. I find it easier to follow than ITG style arrows since those are all silver but if others prefer the ITG style then that's even better . I with there was some equivalent to the Pump style couples colors. It's actually a bit restrictive since only one person can have holds (and therefore hands or forced double stepping).

I can't wait for this to be released!!