TotalBS - Interview with Droobix
Whether you're new to the community or a seasoned player, you probably know of Droobix (formerly known as TheGoodBoi) for their classic Up & Down Noodle Extensions map which had garnered over 13,000+ upvotes by the time of this interview!
They also have a new version that they collabed with SuperMemer417 which has received over 1,700 upvotes!
Check out a preview of their new version of Up & Down!
Interview with Droobix
Q: Tell us who you are! Your name, how long you’ve been playing Beat Saber, what got you started playing, what got you started modding, hobbies, etc.
A: Hiii!!! I'm Droobix, formerly known as TheGoodBoi.
In late 2018 I saw PewDiePie play some custom songs in this virtual reality game called Beat Saber, and I was instantly hooked. I first played the game on Christmas of that year, where I got the original Oculus Rift as a present. Me, at an age younger than what was probably healthy to be using VR, had no idea how to properly use a computer let alone how to mod the game.
It wasn't until summer of 2019 where I figured out how to install mods and custom songs. I believe that finally figuring it out and being able to play Believer mapped by Rustic for the first time was one of the happiest moments in my life LOL.
Also, if you're asking about pets, I have a dog. She's cute.
Q: Where else do you participate in the Custom Beat Saber Community? Mapping? Ranking? How long?
A: Honestly, I'd say that mapping is the only part of the community I actually participate in. I don't mod, rank, curate, support, commission, review, develop, organize, staff, or even really talk in servers all that much anymore. I obviously want to change that, but I'm abysmal at starting conversations. (Please @ me I'm always up for hearing your positive and negative thoughts about my stuff thx)
Q: When and why did you start coding?
A: I first used the block coding website Scratch in fourth grade, played around in Roblox Studio in mid 2020, but only seriously decided to learn to code in late 2021. I got into JavaScript specifically to make a better Noodle Extensions map than Up & Down. I learned a lot to make The Glorious Octagon of Destiny, and it's essentially what got me into actually coding. Since then I've slowly kept improving. The minimal programming skills I gained from map making have expanded into a few other practical and entertaining parts of my life, so it's been pretty sweet!
Q: What mod(s), websites, tools, etc. have you made or contributed to for the Beat Saber community?
A: Not much, unfortunately. Back in 2019 I helped with the BSMG wiki a little, and I have a GitHub repo with some JS and RM functions I've used in NE maps, but that's about it. Hopefully I can get more material out there, like map source files and such.
Q: For you, what was the most interesting or exciting part behind Extra Sensory I (Noodle Extensions)? What is your favorite Noodle Extensions map?
A: Since I didn't participate in Extra Sensory I, I was really just astounded at the possibilities the maps presented. Everything about them was super cool, and while I never thought I would have ever been able to create anything like them at the time, I still felt a rush of inspiration and opportunity. It's still completely crazy to me how I went from that to actually working on Extra Sensory II!
Choosing a favorite Noodle map is hard, but I'd have to go for Mawntee's map: DJ TECHNORCH - Love Love Love You I Love You (Eye's by Eyes Remix). The effects and notemods are insane and are extremely visually pleasing and fun to play. Capone - Oh No (instrumental) also by Mawntee is a close second though. Creative idea, fantastically executed, and super hilarious.
Q: How did you get involved in TotalBS?
A: After I uploaded Up & Down and thought that my few days of fame were up, I received a DM inviting me into a private Discord server. That seems to be how everyone else got in too, just randomly being recruited when one's skills would show enough potential in modcharting.
A fun fact about when I first got into the secret TBS club is that there was a double-secret TBS club, the place where first talks of a sight-read tournament were happening. Me eventually getting into double-secret status felt like finding out your friend group had a separate and more active group chat with everyone except you. Good thing this hierarchy doesn't exist anymore! At least I think so, perhaps there's a triple-secret I don't know about, hmm…
I got involved in the EXSII event specifically when I was teaching myself Vivify and sharing some progress with TotalBS when I could. The tournament was a great source of motivation for me to keep working on all the new modding stuff.
Q: What was your role in Extra Sensory II?
A: I made two maps for the event, one of which was used heavily in advertising the event, which is sick. For development help, I guess you could say the maps I made introduced and revealed quite a few bugs to fix. I also tested and gave feedback on several maps made by others, and I even made most of the EXSII banner logo used for the event:
When making my maps for EXSII, I tried to keep up with HR/Mawntee's soft deadlines the best I could, but I think the hardest part was getting everyone else involved to do the same. Something that got people moving at one point was the announcement of "Alright guys we're making the trailer" which I found to be pretty funny.
A huge positive part of the process though was getting to share work-in-progress stuff then getting a wave of compliments and feedback about my silly ideas. The Breezer map I made for the event was originally intended as a small side project to put together a joke I had in mind a few months before, but after sharing a video of the map with the group, the concept was liked so much that it was chosen to be the teaser and first map in EXSII. With the help of other members it was developed to be an actual modhcart with a neat gameplay gimmick, something that would've never happened without the back-and-forths with TBS.
Q: What was the most challenging part of getting this together?
A: For me, it was making the maps while Vivify was being developed. There were multiple times I had to reinstall Beat Saber, change my Unity project file's version, fix prefabs, swap out plugins, update my shaders, etc. It got incredibly tedious at times; in fact, my project file in Unity was named "Aero sux" because of this. Thankfully, Aeroluna and several other TBS members were very willing to help out with any issues and confusion I had.
Q: For someone who doesn't know anything about coding, where and how do you recommend they get started? Do you have any role models in the community?
A: I mean hey, if you wanna do what I did, go ahead and watch freeCodeCamp.org's 3-hour JavaScript course on YouTube. That got me most of the way there!
I definitely have to highlight Mawntee as a role model in coding and modcharting in general, with all the meme songs and notemod-focused maps he's made, I can only dream of being as talented as he is lol.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share about the project?
A: I'd like to mention that participating in this event got me to learn the basics for a bunch of different things related to digital art. These mainly being Blender, 3D modeling and simulations, Unity, and shaders. Shaders are definitely the most fun and interesting to me out of these, and have actually given me a real-world use for stuff like trigonometry and matrices I've learned about in school, which I think is pretty neat.
Also, please go support all the mappers and members of TBS who made the EXSII event possible. It all comes from volunteer work!
Q: Is there anything else you'd like to share in general?
A: I think that a common mistake I make in several places in my life is thinking that I'm too late to something, when really I'm not, because I couldn't have been. It's almost always never too late to get in on something. I certainly thought this after playing the original Extra Sensory maps, bummed that I was automatically way behind everyone else who had participated in making them. My point is, if you played EXSII and think there's no point in trying to catch up with the maps it has, you're wrong. All of us are still learning and exploring the limits of this mod, if there even are any. Even if you're reading this years later, you can still come up with creative new gimmicks and environments no one has seen before, because everyone has their own different style. TotalBS still regularly recruits members who make cool stuff, no matter when they started playing or creating on Beat Saber. Just read Mawntee's status on Discord lol. You got this!!!
And one last thing as a farewell: Have a great rest of your day! :D
We'd like to thank Droobix for taking the time to answer our questions! Be sure to check out the interviews with the rest of the team!
*This interview was lightly edited for spelling, grammar, formatting, and clarity.