This week’s profile is of the mapper that doesn’t think of himself as a mapper but he’s a wall-mapping wunderkind – SpookyGhost!
- Mapping since: March 2019
- BeastSaber Profile
- BeatSaver Page
- Discord Tag: spooky ghost#6666
Q. Which music genres do you prefer to map?
A. Doom, metal
Q. What inspired you to start mapping?
A. Flashy light shows! I definitely remember Aalto and Skeelie, they were the main reason I started mapping.
Q. How did you get from “flashy light shows!” to epic wall maps?
A. I am always on the search for the next cool effect one can create inside Beat Saber, so I started messing around with walls from the beginning. Looking at my Discord history, the first message I posted in #mapping-discussion was”
“does someone has tips for manipulating walls? i’ve seen some crazy shit like them being only 1 layer thick or coming crazy fast. how do people do that?”
Of course, that first map featured hyper walls and fake walls (and in a really bad way). And after that, every map I ever worked on had some tricks with walls. On a side note, how could I not love walls from the beginning? They are so fucking cool!
Q. Are there other things you’re involved with in the Beat Saber community besides mapping?
A. I am the creator of Beatwalls, a tool used for some of those flashy wall maps.
Q. Wait, you’re THE Beatwalls guy? Your scripts have helped to really elevate wall mapping to the next level, and some of the best wall maps Beat Saber has ever seen are partly thanks to you. What inspired you to spend so much time and energy on this project?
A. One big aspect is that this is my playground in the world of software development. It allowed me to learn a bunch of stuff useful for bigger projects, while still being very fun to work on.
I originally started working on Beatwalls back when no editor supported Mapping Extensions. There were some mappers already working with it and I always wanted to create cool effects. However, I hated messing with the JSON, math and BPM changes myself so I wrote a small script to handle that. I quickly noticed how I used the same patterns a bunch of times and only changed some aspects, so I turned it into a general purpose tool.
Back then nobody but me really used it, but I created Sky Fracture VIP with it and the feedback was very positive. After that I just kept making wall maps and since I always wanted to create the next big thing, my program also needed support. And so I kept working on it and wrote a bit of documentation. Some other people chimed in and helped me here and there. A big shout out to Checkthepan who helped with some math and lolpants who put a lot of stuff out there i could take inspiration from. Fast forward today and suddenly there are other mappers using it for awesome maps. And seeing people use this, engage with it and give me feedback really gets me motivated to continue its development.
Q. Do you have any advice to mappers that have mastered the basics principles of mapping, and are ready to set up their game by getting into wall mapping?
A. I think following these three points will make you the next big thing.
- Don’t take this lightly and invest some time. You will not create a complete wall map in a few hours (or even weeks) and you should not go in with that mindset.
- Read all the documentation there is. I am talking mainly about the docs for BSMG Wiki, Noodle Extensions, Beatwalls (and also dive in a bit in the JSON structure)
- Ask Questions! The BSMG discord has the channel #mapping-discussion where a bunch of wall mappers usually hang around and will answer any questions.
Q. What does your mapping process look like?
A. I only wall map, so here is how I do it… I use fancy zones to split my monitors into four different sections:
- A text editor to write the walls
- A terminal to see the output of the wall-creation program
- An editor to see the beats of the map, and play the music
- A modded copy of Beat Saber, to see the walls I’ve created live in an instant.
If you wanna learn how to set up Beat Saber for that, check out the extended mapping section in the wiki! Then I just go through the song part by part and create the walls.
Q. Which of your maps are you most proud of?
A. ENDGAME. First off, I designed the walls and colors, and then Excession did the rest. That said, this was my first map designed with Noodle Extensions and Chroma in mind. For those of you that don’t know, Noodle Extensions allows for rotated walls, and it can also utilise Chroma for colored walls. Together, they combine to create an immersive experience like nothing before, because you can literally build a world around the player with walls. I think I accomplished that pretty well. The map sucks you in and leaves you speechless.
Q. Do you have a “signature pattern” that you use in all/most of your maps?
A. I haven’t mapped any in quite some time, but I really like cucumbers.
Q. Is there a mapping practice that most mappers frown upon that you happen to think can be used really well in the right hands?
A. I often hear that people don’t like precision placement maps. I definitely love them and would love to see more!
Q. What, in your opinion, is the single most challenging thing for a new mapper to master in order to be successful?
A. As a new mapper, it’s very easy to just try out every crazy pattern you can think of. It’s best to hold back a bit and only innovate a bit every time.
Q. If you could go back in time and talk to yourself as a new mapper, what is the #1 piece of advice you would give?
A. Don’t overwork yourself. It can be pretty easy to start mapping many songs at once, and you’ll want to finish them all by next week. It is better to just focus on one map and writing the rest in your to-do list.
Q. If there was an Amazon.com-style “Recommended Mappers” section, who would your name show up next to?
A. CyanSnow and/or Core Pee.
Q. What style of maps do you most enjoy when you play Beat Saber for fun?
A. I dig every wall map. If you made one, please send it to me :). Also, techy maps are always fun.
The responses in this interview have been lightly edited to correct for grammar and spelling issues.
Thanks for reading! Have a question for Spooky? Hit them up in the comments!
Good evening,
I have been learning the Mixed Reality and love Beat Saber and I am not the typical player. Check me out and if you are fine with my flamboyant style then I would love to livestream some of your maps…Let me know what songs you would prefer i try to complete. Thank you and I look forward to trying some of your maps. My facebook name is the same as it is here “Ignatius Greengold”