Submit About

Tournament Structure

Like the first Stamina Showcase, there will be two separate rounds: the Qualifying and the Final Round. After submission deadlines are closed for a round, the files will be independently judged with the results being posted on this site when ready. The structure of each round is as follows:

Qualifying Round

This is the initial round, which is open for submissions from anyone. From the announcement of this tournament, there will be a roughly one-month submission period (ending 10/31/2020 at 11:59:59 PM PT) in which any time before the deadline an entrant can submit simfiles anonymously. The amount of submissions is limited to two files with a minimum of one. Submission requirements regarding multiple submissions can be found towards the bottom of this page. Each file will be judged independently of one another and submitting more than one file will not give the entrant an advantage other than having a second chance to impress the judges. After judging is finished, scores will be weighted with the highest scoring file earning the maximum amount of points, 100, and the results will be posted on a new page on this site after the verification of the identities of those who submitted files. Prizes for this round will be distributed immediately after judging is finalized for this round.

Final Round

The second and final round for the tournament will consist of the top 25% scoring entrants (Maximum 10) from the qualifying round. The top 25% entrants specifically refers to the individuals submitting the files, not the files themselves. If an entrant had multiple files in the top 25%, their highest scoring file will be taken into account and the others will be removed from consideration until the top 25% of individuals are chosen. In the case of a tie score on the cutoff of the qualifying round, the dropped score from the 4th judge will be used to determine the person who advances. For the final round, the entrant must submit two files anonymously obeying the rules regarding BPM tiers present in the qualifying round with the additional requirement of one file being at 200 BPM or above and one being at 199 BPM or below. The points scored by judging the final submission will be weighted out of 100 like the qualifying round, on top of a 20% weight of the entrant’s highest scoring qualifying round submission. For example, an entrant who scored 60 points in the qualifying round after weighting and a 100 in the final round will receive a 92 (60*0.2 + 100*0.8). This is to encourage high effort files in both rounds.

In both rounds, failure to identify your simfile after the judging period will result in the disqualification of the file. If foul play is involved e.g. submitting more than two files and only claiming two at a later date, the entrant involved will be permanently banned from all future events.

Grading Structure

The files will be judged individually by the judges, with no communication with each other about individual scores until the final score tally. Files will also be anonymized before being sent over to minimize bias. The files will be judged on the following criteria:

Patterning - 25 Points

As these are stamina files, patterning in streams is incredibly important to a file's success. Fun may be somewhat subjective, but many traits such as consistency, relevancy, and comfort can be objectively scored. When scoring your chart, the judges will ask the following questions for this category:

  • Consistency - Do the patterns remain similar for parts of the song that sound similar?
  • Creativity - Did the step artist use all the tools that they had to their disposal?
  • Fun - Is the patterning comfortable? Would someone enjoy the streams?
  • Musical Justification - Does the patterning go to the music? the drums!
  • Progression - Does the patterning reflect the build-up of the song?
  • Unique - Does this patterning stand out? Does it stand out in a matter than doesn't sacrifice the above?

Chart Presentation - 15 Points

This involves the structure of the chart. Good patterning is necessary for a good chart, but a file is more than just how it is patterned. The whole package needs consistency, passion, and a look/feel of professionalism. When scoring your chart, the judges will ask the following questions for this category:

  • Consistency - Are streams consistently placed based on the music? (i.e. if one section is stream are similar sections stream)
  • Correctness - Is this chart free of double-steps and/or any other glaring flaws?
  • Creativity - Does the overall chart showcase creativity? Not just in the stream patterning.
  • Fun - Is the entire chart fun? Does one get bored playing it? Are there elements (e.g. excessive 24th bursts) that ruin the chart?
  • Replayability - Is the chart overall structured for replayability? Would someone enjoy this chart more than once?
  • Pacing - Are there significant gaps between streams or into the first stream? Are the breaks well placed and stepped well?
  • professionalism - Was there an effort put into the non-stream sections? Does the chart overall look professional? Is it synced well? Is it rated correctly?

Value - 10 Points

A chart may be good for certain reasons and still only be marginally valuable to the community. If it doesn't bring anything new to the table, if it doesn't provide content for a group of players, could the time spent stepping be of better use to the community elsewhere? While song choice will not be harshly judged, it is impossible to determine a file's quality without taking it into consideration. A 21 minute dump file to the My Little Pony soundtrack may have good patterning and structure, but that will most likely still leave something left to be desired. Song choice will be severely judged if a file already has popular steps (e.g. a Sharpnel file). When scoring your chart, the judges will ask the following questions for this category:

  • Commonality - Is this genre/artist or BPM commonly stepped?
  • Effort - Was there significant effort towards the the file's creation? (e.g. a 2 minute file at 200BPM vs a 18 minute mini-marathon mixed exclusively for SS3)
  • Musical Flaws - Are there any objectively bad/unfitting elements of the chart? (e.g. 16 minutes of yodeling , TV Show theme song 380 BPM dump file, a terribly cut song)
  • Unique - Is this something we've seen many times before? Is this chart unique in the content it provides?

Bias - -3 to 3 Points

We've enacted steps to remove bias, however there will be always be some intrinsic bias as long as the judges are human. In cases of negative bias towards a chart a judge can reward extra points to counteract said bias. The opposite is also true. When scoring your chart, the judges will ask themselves the following:

  • Does the judge like this type of music?
  • Does the judge like this specific song?
  • Does the judge often step this song's genre or artist?
  • Does the judge typically play files at this difficulty?
  • Does the judge typically play files at this BPM?
  • Does the judge typically play files of this length?

Miscellaneous - -2 to 2 Points

Even with all of this criteria, sometimes what judges want to express regarding a chart can't be classified into one of the above categories. The judge can award or remove a small number of points as they see fit.

  • Is there anything else that should be accounted for that couldn't be above?

The lowest out of the four judges’ scores will be dropped, leaving the final total point value before weighting to be 150. Judges are allowed to submit, but they must give their own files a 0/50 during the judging process, effectively dropping their own scores. With the possibility of adding points, there is a ceiling regarding the scores at 50 points per judge.

Submission Guidelines

Previously Stamina Showcase has used requirements per BPM to determine whether or not a file is stamina. As stamina has increased in popularity, the need for specific requirements seems less necessary as both entrants and judges are most likely comfortable determining what is and what isn't stamina. Therefore, this event has no requirements outright for a file except that it needs to be a 13 or higher on the standard ITG difficulty scale. There is no upper or lower BPM limit, but we recommend not having files under 120 BPM. Judges can still come together and contact the event organizer (@@) if they view a file to be problematic (i.e. not stamina) and specific action can be taken in those special circumstances.

In the event that a file is non-maliciously rated incorrectly and does not meet the requirement above, we will use our own discretion on how to proceed.

There are new requirements regarding multiple submissions to Stamina Showcase 3. Previously there have been no additional rules regarding multiple submissions to the event, however we are requiring for Stamina Showcase 3 that if one were to submit an additional file, it must be At Least Two BPM Tiers Different from their first submission. BPM Tiers are 10 BPM blocks ranging from 0-9 (e.g. 140-149, 200-209). This is to encourage participants to explore charting out of their comfort zone if they were to gain the advantage of multiple submissions and to allow for the charts featured in the event to have a higher amount of variety. An example for this is as follows: If someone were to submit a file at 175 BPM, this falls under the 170-179 BPM block. Their second submission would have to be in the 150-159 BPM block or lower or the 190-199 block or higher. A second submission that is 138 would work, as would a submission at 270 BPM. In the case of someone submitting a second file one BPM tier away or less from their other file, THE HIGHER SCORING FILE will be disqualified. Files that are multiple BPMs should treat their BPM tier as the highest BPM in the song with significant run. With this new system in place, we understand there are questions. Feel free to message the event organizer (@@) or any of the judges if you have additional questions regarding the submission requirements.

Furthermore, this event requires original work, specifically the entrant's original work. This means that any file submitted must have not been submitted to any other public pack or tournament previously. The chart can also not copy or borrow any of the patterning from previous charts released to the public, nor should the participant ask for feedback from anyone involved or not involved with Stamina Showcase 3. This includes general chart feedback as well as syncing help for a file. Passing off someone else’s chart as your own will cause your file to be disqualified. Collaborating with another entrant and submitting work on behalf or in collaboration with them will result in disqualification of both entrants submissions. In the event that metadata is spoofed in order to meet the requirements above, the file will be disqualified.

Finally, we'd like to reiterate that this is a stepping competition, therefore we will only be judging the steps. Criteria such as graphics, preview music, and other extraneous criteria will be scrubbed prior to judges seeing the files both to remove bias and to remove the idea that these are meant to be judged as part of the competition. Ideally the editor is the only place the judges actually do the judging of files. Non-singles charts are not permitted and only one chart (expert) per submission.

More information on the actual submission process can be found on the submission page.