Note: This is a pretty awesome (but harsh) mod post. Opinions are expressed, take what you want from it. Don't be offended please.
[General]
Consider using custom combo colours.
[SleepDancer]
00:15:078 (1) - Move up, it's slightly below the rest.
00:25:028 (1) - I'd add another repeat to this slider.
00:59:091 (4) - Move 1/4 earlier?
01:00:091 (6) - Move 1/4 earlier, extend by 1/4.
01:42:080 (8) - New combo?
Let's be brutal here. I didn't like this map. A large chunk of it was just the song; it's very difficult to map anything that is intuitive, easy, and fun to play. In fact, it's very difficult as a whole to map the song intuitively at any level, which causes frustration.
Another part though, was that the beat placements seemed too formulaic, in a way, while chaotic at other times. (note the 1/4 changes above). The more formulaic approach makes the beatmap very predictable, boring, and square. After the intro, the beatmap essentially becomes a 1/1 stream that sometimes switches to the offbeats, with an occasional (very short and repetitive) slider or spinner (both of which are exactly 4/1 long, and one of them to end the song).
As well, the fact that this needs to be an easy difficulty means that there'll end up being a lot of space. Space management in Easy becomes a big deal because as a rhythm game, you play both for the music and to hear yourself within the music. Thus, if there's a lot of gaps, it sounds very...empty. It feels more detached from the game, and more like iTunes, while you tap your finger on the table to the beat.
I recommend more sliders, and possibly longer sliders. Not too long, but they certainly fill space better, and have potential for creativity.
Break up the streams more, and arrange it in some different pattern than just normal rectangles. Make it seem interesting, at least.
If you run out of ideas, pick a reasonable section and just stick a break into it. Nothing too wrong with that, and you don't bore the player.
[Dance of the Dead]
You have unsnapped notes; snap them.
Preview point not set.
Inconsistent spacing throughout the map: 00:31:028 (3,4,5) as an example.
Also very rectangular.
Spinners are often used inappropriately; I recommend using them only when there is a long sustained note, or a build-up to a moment of intense epicness, or the end of a section (thus leading into a break or the end of the map). For example, 00:04:040 (1) could be replaced with a more skillful mapping of the actual tune.
As well, a kitten dies whenever you stick a note 1/6 after the end of a spinner, especially when the music it corresponds to was totally unpredictable (the sudden drumming at 00:07:040 (1,1))/
As I've said before, this song is very hard to read, and chaotic in nature. A beatmap like this, while it may "work" for a more consistent song, will definitely not work here. This means you should have more sliders. (huh, did I mention that before? XD) As a whole, even with repeats and things, sliders force you onto the beat, while still maintaining that sense of "busy-ness", and you can make sliders go fast too, to stick with the harder difficulty. My first attempt through this was miserable, and marked by tons of 50s and misses because it was simply unreadable, although very little fault should go on the beatmap itself, but how the beatmap was made towards the song it backs up. Once you enter a seciton that is easily predictable, or repetitive, then you can return to this style of note placement, since the player already knows what to expect. For example, this part 00:26:090 (1) was pretty nice, it's consistent, and predictable. But then...00:32:078 (3,4). Ouch. Because of the repetitiveness, you expect these beats to be later, and probably will ignore the spacing anyways. Dang. (and just to spite you, the next 2 combos go back to the original beat pattern)
In general, music won't do one thing and never do it again. (although this song might). So if it does something twice, you can do the same thing twice, to ease the frustration of the player initially trying to read it. Don't repeat the pattern too much though, or it'll get boring.
Consider adding jumps. On a hard map, jumps keep the player's mind sharp, while giving his button-pushing hand a break. The mouse-moving hand should get some challenges too.
The section starting on this note: 00:58:054 (1) is such a nice section for sliders, possibly even with jumps. With a rare opportunity for long, held notes like that, don't waste it on more streams; at least map the beginning half of the section with jumps/sliders as a primary focus.
By around here: 01:14:054 (1), the original pattern starts getting a bit old. With a new section of the song, even if it's very similar to what's been repeated before, try changing it up, repeat a new style for a bit.
I got bored, decided to try something out. Didn't turn out as well as I had wanted it to, but here's a 4-second example of what might be more interesting. (although it's more of a showcase of how my mapping style isn't very good with this kind of stuff)
Sorry for the wall of text, good luck with the map!
Download:
Crazy Voltage - Dance in the Nightmare (deadbeat) [Example].osu
