If releasing your beatmap to the public, make sure that you have all the appropriate licensing needed or the legal right to use the music. You could reach out to either the artist or the record label to ask for permission to use the song. Some companies will let you use their music freely, while others are more stringent. If the record label or the artist does not give you permission, you can find freely-licensed music on the Internet, or you can make your own music. Or you can see if your use of their music would qualify as “fair use” or “fair dealing”. Since licensing can be a very complicated issue, it would be best to get a qualified copyright attorney to help you.
Use an Excel or Google spreadsheet to record all the timing information and the beats of the song, unless if you have a program that can make beatmaps. You may also want to include quarter beats as some music heavily utilizes eighth and sixteenth notes. Name the A column “beats” and the B column “timestamps” in row 1. Fill the “beats” column with 0, 0. 25, 0. 5, 0. 75, etc. Leave the “timestamps” column empty for now. This assumes that you will be including quarter beats in your beatmap. You may need to make multiple tables, especially if the song changes BPM multiple times.
You can use dimensional analysis to aid with the conversion. For example, to determine the number of seconds needed between beats for a 120bpm song, use 120beats1min∗1min60sec=2beatssec{\displaystyle {\frac {120beats}{1min}}{\frac {1min}{60sec}}=2{\frac {beats}{sec}}}. So, for a 120bpm song, you need to have two beats every second, with each quarter beat spaced 0. 5 seconds apart. Once you have calculated the distance between beats, you can use a formula to help you fill in the rest. For a song that starts at 0:00:01. 2423 with 120bpm, type the following in cell B2: =1. 2423+A20. 5. Then drag the cells down by placing your cursor over the corner of the cell and dragging downward.
For a 4/4 song, highlight each fourth cell in the table, including the “zero” cell.
Restart the “beats” column at zero and recalculate the distance between beats using the formula above. Number up using the same scheme as before. Highlight the new lead beats in your spreadsheet.
If you are using a level editor, you can skip this step.
For community-driven rhythm games like osu!, consider how ranked maps differ from some unranked maps. Maps that are ranked are both fun to play and do not violate the rules of the rhythm game (i. e. no two notes on the same timeline tick for osu!std). Different creators have different standards for beatmaps, so ask the game community for help or view their ranked map guidelines.
Easy difficulties should not use rapid-fire objects like streams. They should be easy enough that even a beginner can pass the beatmap. Normal difficulties could use rapid-fire, but they should not use them for prolonged periods of time. Average players should be able to pass them. Hard difficulties are for the above-average player. They should be difficult, but not impossible. Streams, including 1/8 streams, can be used to test how fast the player can click hit objects. While there are no hard and fast rules for what can count as “easy”, “normal”, and “hard”, consider that beginners are not likely to keep playing if they are unable to work up their skill to an advanced level.
