Dark Luke Moved to Retired Staff

[sssmsm]

Today marks the end of an era, when all of the original staff members aside from myself (Dark Luke, MacGravel, Blue Chaos and Ike Pie) are no longer active staff members here at r21freak. With Dark Luke moved to Retired Staff, that makes all of the other current Staff members ones who earned their rank through consistently posting awesome files and demonstrating a high level of step rhetoric competence, in addition to being highly active members on the site.

Interestingly, many members have questioned Dark Luke's qualifications to be Staff in the past. For me however, he was a solid choice when I picked him to be one of the originals, and he has remained strong with the files he has produced, albeit often stepping in non-mainstream genres in non-mainstream ways. At the time when I first chose Dark Luke to be Staff, his Emerald Sword was one of the most popular r21s, and his I Sawed the Demons was one of the most creative 13's I had ever seen. Plus he was one of the very few step artists at the time who stepped a good amount of Doubles charts, something that only Ike Pie in the original Staff Members also did, and something I believed was important to make necessary for the site.

As the site progressed past its founding, stepping fads and styles came and went, but Dark Luke kept his style consistent. I felt that his extreme non-mainstream stepping style added color to the site, giving it a special flair for people who were also searching for very different charts, or charts to the kinds of music he stepped. And, when Ike Pie was removed, Dark Luke was the only active Staff member to have a good amount of Doubles charts. Charts of his like RosEHolic, Luna Clock, and Slip & Slide that Dark Luke made for site events allowed him a chance to step outside of his normal music selections, and produce amazing files in the process.

Unfortunately, life eventually catches up with people, and Dark Luke became less and less able to produce files for site events, let alone outside of site events. And, when his last isolated releases received such a less than lukewarm response, I knew that it was time to start making room for the next generation of Staff members.

Though Dark Luke will be moved to Retired Staff, I have his assurances that he, like mattatdi and MacGravel, will stick around the site and still be a part of the community, occasionally releasing stuff in his Retired Staff section or for sitewide events. Though many people may not appreciate him for more than his ridiculously unique sense of humor, I'd say that if you haven't by now, then you should download some of Dark Luke's files, or at least take another look at the stuff he made for the r21freak packs. Though a lot of his stuff represents stepping styles of a bygone era, they are still a blast to pad every now and then, keeping the genres of files varied, and reminding us of the very important belief that just because something isn't what we're used to, that doesn't make it bad by any means.

[Dark Luke]

Please unlock my main thread in my section so I can update my stepfiles in the future.

The closure of the arcade near my university was a really terrible thing to happen, which is a terrible sign that the dancing games scene (DDR and ITG - PIU never went anywhere at all) are dying in Toronto.

I will be continuing my support for my Stomp Exceed pack whenever I have time though.

[PUMA.Hamtaro]

Bye dark luke

I still play Slip & Slide all the time, too.

[NIQ9]

This saddens me. Back when I used to play technical files all the time, I loved your simfiles. I still play some of them once in a while. Sims like Cantara, Tanzwut, Children of Decadence, Malina, Zos Kia Cultus, Saltarello (dead can dance), and Wytches 2002. Even though I don't pad them too often, I still love playing them on stepmania.

[Dark Luke]

Bye dark luke

I'm still here. Just this title better reflects my "semi-retired" state which has been for many years already.

[Psychotik]

I still play Lord of the Dance quite often. One of my favourite files.

[Monst3rjoe]

Quite sad. But times come and go. At least Dark Luke has not left us, and will still be able to release a file here and there whenever.

[joe#2]

I Sawed The Demons is still pretty sick nasty.

[RODD]

-throws a fit-

We'll miss you, sir Dark Luke

[Insane Steve]

I still really like RoseholiC double a lot. It was by far the best dx chart in the comp it was in but lol playing each file on pad once before judging. Luna Clock was pretty beast too, even if it's not actually a 14

[shadowobsessed]

I love RosEHolic and Malina. You will be missed as a staff member, Dark Luke! Good thing you're sticking around, though

[Gloves]

Slip & Slide is one of the coolest gimmick files on r21freak. It's really sad about your arcade, but thanks for doing your part to keep the scene alive by putting out all the files you did.

[Professor Raine]

Your charts and song choice will remain as one of the more unique and interesting stepper here while still providing fun charts.

awesum job :3

[RODD]

I just Dl'd Slip and Slide and it's an awesome file! How'd I miss it???

I might download a bunch of Dark Luke's files since he moved to Retired Staff

[Dark Luke]

Here comes my first "post-retirement" file!


Pulse In Opus - RedPulse
BPM: 135-175
Single: 3/4/7/9/11
Double: 5/7/9/11

This is an o2jam remix of Edvard Geieg's In The Hall of the Mountain King, Op. 23. One main feature a gradual accelerando to a very fast tempo. Uncut with BPM gimmicks from the original o2jam version intact.