Creator's voice: Ctymax (English) (原文)

1. How did you get interested in charting?
   I start having an intention to make fanmade charts (of some 4Key mode rhythm games) in 2014. At that time, I just wanna play some songs which I like but are not available in official games, so I have to make the charts by myself. However, I think my motivation was not so enough at that time. Finally, I made my first completed fanmade chart in 2015.

2. What is your most favorite chart that you made? What specifically do you like about that chart?
   In Phigros, I’ll say 'mechanted (IN)' or 'TECHNOPOLIS 2085 (IN)', I thought both of them combine comfortable playing experience、simple line performances、some creative fun gimmicks. They can show my main ideas of chart design.
   In DanceRail series, I’ll mention 'Pulsation', a set of charts which I made in 2018. I tried many speed changing gimmicks for that, which is a little crazy, even out of my style, but I still like it.

3. What are you most careful about when you chart a song? Is there any note arrangement you avoid?
   When I make an usual chart (not special charts like April Fool's stuff), I care about 'playable' and 'chart structure' at most, then I care about 'creativity' and 'performance'.
   About note arrangement I avoid, I think it really depends on what the game is. For Phigros, an important tip is: we need to avoid 'a tap closely follows after a flick without horizontal movement'.

4. What are the charters that you personally admire?
   It’s hard to say. I think many creators can be my teachers, so I can not say a specific one.

5. In some occasions, you charted your own song such as ‘Cipher : /2&//<|0’ in Paradigm:Reboot. How does it feel like to chart your own song? Was anything you were able to do in addition because it was your song?
   Compared to chart for other songs, I usually spend less time in charting for my/my collaborative songs, since I’m more familiar with them.
   When I chart for my/my collaborative songs, I may think of some special ideas which other chart designers may not think of. However, these ideas are usually related to note combinations, and they are not easy to be directly noticed, so I don’t have much to say here.

6. Since the chart is what the player actually plays, there must have been some criticisms to the charts you made. What were your feelings when someone criticized your chart?
   I think the criticism is very usual and common for design works (like music、artworks、articles etc.). Since everyone's likes and hates are different, we can not make a chart which can satisfy 100% of players.
   After I meet criticisms, usually I distinguish them to several kinds. For those criticisms point concrete problems with proper words, I respect them. Although I do not agree some of them, I still keep the respect.
   However, for those criticisms with bad words or even insult… They are often annoying. It’s too fake if I say I never feel sad when I meet this kind of criticisms, but I usually try not to take them too seriously. I recommend to only take some useful info if it exists, and to forget the useless bad words as quickly as possible.

7. Like ‘Ctymax in a volcano, very delicious’ for Volcanic in Phigros, players love these unique charter names. How do you come up with these names?
   It’s a fun question! I usually get ideas of chart designer names from song names、memes around me, or even Internet memes.
   For example, my nickname 'Ctymax' is usually called as '村头鱼(Cūn Tóu Yú)' by my friends and many players, while these 3 Chinese characters mean 'village head fish' in English, sounds like a dish???
   When I made the Volcanic IN chart in Phigros, I combined my name meme and the song name together, so it became ‘Ctymax in a volcano, very delicious’!
   When I made the Ark IN chart with 阿爽(ArennSaki) in Phigros, I thought of a chart designer name '阿爽 eat Ctymax', which is a sequel of the Volcanic one. ArennSaki and me are good friends in the real life, and we often use our names to joke, so this weird designer name appeared!

8. Are there any tips you can give to all the beginner charters?
   I really recommend beginners to check the tutorials on Internet (if they exist), and watch enough official charts before starting make a chart.
   I also recommend beginners not to start charting with a very hard level, it’s better to do it step by step.

9. If you can be a charter of another rhythm game, what game would you choose?
   Not sure, maybe Lanota and TAKUMI³? I usually play these games, and I’m also more familiar with the gamemode of these 2 games, compared to other rhythm games with very creative gamemodes.

10. Please give some final message to the readers.
    I hope everyone: eat well, drink well, sleep well, play well, have a good health.
    After doing these, you will be a great great designer! Really? Maybe no, but please stay healthy!