Audition Online (Korean:
오디션 온라인), also known as
X-BEAT in Japan, popularly called
AyoDance in Indonesia, is a downloadable multiplayer online casual rhythm game produced by T3 Entertainment. It was originally released in South Korea
in 2004, but it has been localized by various publishers around the
world. Audition Online is free to play but it earns its revenue by
selling virtual items such as clothes for the player's avatar.
In South Korea, PSP (called Audition Portable) and cellphone versions were released on June 1, 2007 and June 4, 2007 respectively.
On June 12, 2008, Season 2 was first officially released in Korea.
Currently, Korean Audition, China Audition, Thailand Audition,
Indonesian Audition, AuditionSEA, AuditionEu, Vietnam Audition,
Philippines Audition, North American Audition, Brazil Audition, X-BEAT
have updated to Season 2. Audition Season 2 features a new interface,
sound system, expressions, and many new features.
During Fall 2008, Audition 2, the sequel, was discovered to be in the
making. On April 28, 2010, closed beta has officially begin.
Audition's popularity began in South Korea and global versions of the
game. In 2008, Bugs Corporation discontinued the server. Noticing the
increasing popularity of the game, T3 Entertainment and Yedang Online
began localizing it in other regions including China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, North America, Thailand, Taiwan, South East Asia, Vietnam, Brazil, United Kingdom, and Remaining European Countries. The Asian and North American versions remain the most popular, with millions of members registered.
In the Philippines, the game's popularity has given rise to the term
audista to refer to frequent players.
Gameplay Features
A player is allowed to create a room or join a room. The 'DJ' (the
player who creates the room) is given power to choose songs and settings
for the room. The DJ also has the power to kick people out of the room
and close the dance floor off however; this cannot be permanent. The
song's BPM (beats per minute) usually will determine the song's
difficulty and speed(with certain exceptions e.g. beat up mode).
The basic game is played by pressing the arrows displayed on the
screen (with the exception of red Chance arrows, which the player must
do the opposite of) and pressing spacebar or the control key on every
4th beat of the song. The more accurately the spacebar or control key is
pressed, the higher the score, "PERFECT" being the best, "GREAT" and
"COOL" still counted as good enough, "BAD" you will get very little
score, and for "MISS" as the worst one, no score. If you get a "MISS"
you will not get the chance to play for the next move. The player
currently with the most points during the game will have their character
in front and the most visible part of the stage.
A special move during most gameplay modes is the "Finish Move", can
be said the hardest move. If a person does not miss the move before it,
they have the option to do the "Finish Move". Finish moves issue a lot
of points and can often be the key to success.
When a player does 2 or more PERFECTs consecutively, he will get
bonus points for doing so. These PERFECT combos (or "Perfect chains")
enable players to interfere with the opposition. A blue circle indicates
that you made a PERFECT in your move, and acts as a shield. When a
player performs a PERFECT X1 (or perfect X2 in some cases) they will
make either the player ahead or behind them receive a yellow circle.
While under the yellow circle, points will not be given if that person
does not achieve a PERFECT (in a finish move it reduces a percentage
rather than the whole move). In addition, players can increase their
points by playing 'chance'. This can be activated by pressing the delete
key or the . key on the number pad whereby red keys appear and players
have to press in the opposite direction of the red keys. At the end of
the dance battle, the person with the most points is the winner. Each
player will receive experience points and Den/BEATS according to what
position they finished in.
If a single/group game (not including NPC, One-Two Party and Beat Up
modes) is full, while also having the music set to random, a random
event (also called a mission) will occur. This is where bonuses are
given if you accomplish a certain challenge. Examples are not getting a
specific beat judgment (e.g. no COOLs or no BADs), getting perfect
combos (e.g. PERFECT X3), or getting a standing (e.g. getting number 1).
The music can be random, random(new), or random from any range of
tempos.
Chance levels (not available in all versions)
There are chance levels from 1 till 6. With the addition of Chance
levels, the DJ can now set a standard number of red (opposite keys)
arrows a player will face when they use the chance mode. The choices
range from 0 to 6. Alternatively, the DJ can select the free chance mode
which will allow players to cycle through the levels at their leisure,
or random level chance where a random amount of red chance keys appear
per move (ranging from 1 to 6). The more red steps a player clears, the
more points they will score. The ability to choose your own level of
difficulty adds a new level of strategy and can greatly stratify scores
between weak and strong players. In addition, whether or not players are
using chance and their current chance level are displayed next to
player scores during the game. There is also a random chance option,
which gives you a random amount of keys with chance on a turn. When
random chance is on, it gives no indication on the sidebar or on the
screen which keys will be chance in the next turn or currently.
New chance system (not available in all versions)
Korean Audition has expanded the original Chance system with three new
Chance Modes for normal room. These are: Double chance (Certain notes
double, up to 6, display as Yellow notes), Bomb Chance (Bombs appear
between notes, players are not allowed to make mistake as one wrong
press will cause the bombs to explode, resulting instant miss) and
Perfect chance (Scoring Perfect will reduce notes in the move, up to 3).
Dynamic Chance is also available to every mode instead of only Crazy-9
like before. As of March 8, 2012, Redbana Audition now also has these
three chance modes.
Insane system (not available in all versions)
This feature will add another Judgment, the Insane Perfect. The Insane
Perfect gives approximately 3x higher score than Perfect and it'll give
you a Score bonus. The score bonus depends on the judgment "blocked"
after each insane perfect. Once the Insane is activated, the score bonus
will set to +50%, but you will be blocked to achieve BAD judgment
anymore, thus you'll miss. After getting a judgment higher that BAD
except Insane Perfect, the score bonus is will set to +100%, but this
time, you can't achieve COOL judgment too anymore, and after that, +200%
score bonus in exchange of GREAT judgment, this will be the time that
you'll need to have Perfect/Insane Perfect or you'll miss automatically.
Misses gained from Insane's fault will still be counted but you'll be
able to dance instantly after the miss, unlike regular miss that you'll
have to wait 1 move bar to dance again. If you missed because of Insane
in the Finish move, you'll won't miss it but there's no score. The key
to success in Insane Mode is to keep your Insane Time as long as
possible: Passing block-requirement with lowest result will advance to
the next block-requirement, but if you can hit Insane Perfect, it stays
back (Say, when the block-requirement is BAD, you hit Great and it
advances to COOL, but if you hit Insane Perfect, the next one will still
be BAD). There is also a bug from some servers that allow players to
enter Insane Mode if they just ignore the key note and time their Space
to hit Insane Perfect Point (Which resulting in MISS, but it still
activate Insane Mode). Insane System is also known as "The Killer of Old
Replays", which rendered all older replays saved before Insane Update
corrupted. Older replays can still be viewed, but the players won't
dance and always score Insane Perfect without hitting any notes (Even
though the final score board still displays real result from that
match). This bug has never been fixed, and players unaware of it have to
accept that they lost all old replays, unless they record videos for
them first.
Microphone function (Korean Audition)
There are designated servers that allow players to interact within the
game using a microphone. Settings are available for the player to set
whether he/she wants to be muted or adjust the volume.
Auto-Repairing client (Korean Audition)
To help foreign players dealing with client damaging, accidentally or
deliberately, Korean Audition has offered Auto-Repairing Client, which
is upgraded from the old Data Fixing feature introduced in Season 2.
Whenever a new patch arrives and is completed, a repairing client will
come up. The Auto - Repairing Client button is not on the patcher
anymore.
Second Password (PIN) (Not available to all versions)
Due to HTTP login system in Korean Audition, there is now a second
password (PIN code) in-game to help protecting players' account. Upon
starting the game, players will have to enter a 6-digital PIN code using
on-screen keypad. If a player did not create PIN code, the same keypad
will appear prompting him/her to set up PIN code.
Server-side exclusives
Different Audition Online servers around the world have their own unique
features added-in for gameplay modification and visual enhancements:
- Korea, Indonesia, China and Vietnam - Lyrics, Commercial Stages
- Korea, China - In-game text fonts
- Vietnam - Playing Time Limitation System
- America - EXP x3 and BEATS x3 cards
Updates
Because the Korean Audition is developed by a Korean company, it is
updated more often and is the first to see new features. The server
currently has more features, like cellphones, exclusive events, or micro
function - some are unique and not available in any other servers like
the Commercial Stage Basic House and Lafesta Audition Guinness Event.
The bonus options were designed due to high demand. However, the
gameplay features (dance moves, songs, modes, etc.) are regularly added
based on updates. Depending on the update rate as well as the size of
the update, different versions will have different number of gameplay
features.
Window Mode (Not available in Chinese Classic)
Originally, Audition did not support window mode to prevent hacking
tools and bugs that could crash the game. However, this feature was
highly requested by Audition players and many tried third-party programs
to force the game into window mode. When Season 2 was released, it also
featured an official window mode. Hack prevention programs and
functions are also implemented to prevent hacking tools from being used.
Ctrl + Tab (not available in all version)
Previously belonged to Korean Audition only, this feature is now slowly
available on popular servers. During any time while playing or viewing
Replay, players can hit CTRL + TAB to hide everything off the screen, so
there is only characters dancing on the stage. This makes snapshot,
dance route demonstrations, chroma keying... much easier and nicer to
make - however, some servers don't hide all stuffs when using CTRL +
TAB. For example, HK Audition still has song name, time and time bar on
screen and Vietnam Audition still displays Global Announcement. Newer
Game Modes like The Fiery Concert and Space Pang Pang also don't support
CTRL + TAB.
Real-Time Song Download function (Korean Audition)
As of the patch on January 8, 2009, Korean Audition now uses a new
method for players to receive the song files. Songs are no longer
included in patches and the songs that come with the installation has
been reduced. The songs are now downloaded from the server when you play
the song. Once a song is automatically downloaded, it will not be
downloaded again except old songs in ABM format that requires redownload
every time you play it. An exception is the newly released Guitar Mode,
which requires two separate TBMs per song. One is the original music
and the other is a guitar solo beat. The songs' notes are linked with
these TBMs, so whenever a song gets updated, players will need to
redownload the two TBMs again. Also due to being integrated all songs
into an AMP file, this feature became big problem with players using
unstable connections. This is because once a downloaded song became
corrupted somehow, you can never play it, and since the game doesn't
have option to force song redownload, the only way to fix broken song is
deleting music.amp, meaning you will have to wipe out all working songs
to just fix some broken songs.
Fast room-making (Korean Audition)
This feature is actually used to introduce new game modes rather than
the old "New" sign when making room. Instead, player can click an icon
at the Channel select screen, then the game will process to enter a
channel, make the room for them to play in just a moment.
Best Friend Forever event (Korean Audition)
A long-time event that's exclusive to Korean Audition, allowing two
players to pair up and train their Best Friend Forever (BFF) levels to
earn cash (in-game money), by playing and leveling up their character.
Each level requires different amount of matches played and in-game hours
spent, and once the requirement is meet, the two players will receive
Event cash and process to the next level. BFF level can be upgraded
alone but two players playing together will make it faster to process to
the next level. As of May 16, this system has been changed because the
cash given out is too high that many players try to cheat/auto to abuse
this system. Now, BFF contains only 10 level and will reset 10 times
before players can no longer earn any cash (The maximum they can get now
is 397000 cash). In addition, both players are required to play in same
room to add the last 10% progress. Every time players reached level 10
BFF, both will get 5% EXP/DEN bonus for 30 days. After maximizing BFF
level, both players receive 50% EXP/DEN bonus for 90 days.
Daily Mission (Korean Audition)
This is a sub-section of the Big Game and Story Mode, currently only
available in Korean Audition. Like many RPGs, there are two missions
everyday that players can complete to earn x2 EXP card and a random item
- the condition is somewhat similar to Big Game and Story Mode (Winning
in a full room, playing a specific mode with three or more players...),
but there is no in-game indication that a player has completed the
mission or not, they have to check the calendar using the Thumb-Up
button while in the Lobby. If a player completes all the missions in one
month, they will receive a random Pet or DJ booth.
Time System (Korean Audition)
New feature updated in Korean Audition recently, this system keeps track
of how long a player has been playing since the moment they logged in.
The more time players spend in game, the more level it will advance (Max
level: 13) and they can exchange their level for gift boxes or discount
card. If the player gets disconnected, he/she then has 10 minutes to
login before the system is reset. Once players exchange their level, the
Time System will also reset.
Triple Mission Pack (Korean Audition)
This is a series of Missions given to newbie players (Level 10 or under)
in order to encourage them to play Audition and make friends. The first
mission requires players to play in 21 days, after each 7 days they can
receive a gift (30% discount card or Exchange card). The second mission
requires players to play 100 rounds (excluding Tournaments) to receive a
gift (30% discount card or Exchange card). The third mission requires
players to add 10 friends (Each one will show up as an emoticon in the
mission report page to receive a gift (30% discount card or Exchange
card)
New Macro System (Not available in Chinese Classic)
The macro system was altered to make it simple to change even for new
players. The player now has the option of manually editing the file from
the macro.txt document in their Audition game folder or simply by going
into the messenger options and changing it through there. The new macro
system also allows players to save their macros to the server's
database and allow them to use them on another computer.
New Emoticons System (Not available in Chinese Classic)
One of the best thing for chit-chat, the Emoticons System, has been
updated in Audition Season 2. The players can now select various
Emoticons to enter with chat text, by either hitting CTRL + E and pick
the Emoticon manually, or use short-cut text-to-emoticon conversion
(I.E ;kiss, ;win...) The text-to-emoticon conversion also affected room
name and players' name, so new players can enter prefix with his/her IGN
in order to display as Emoticon in Lobby / Ranking Board User List.
Players can also buy new Emoticons Set at Fashion Mall for more
personalize exposing, but these sets are not sold for infinite time
usage. There is also Motion System that's available separately from
Emoticon System, which requires players to buy each icon from the mall
and then use the "M" button to choose and express that icon. The motion
icon will display above character's head.
New Dress Room System (Not available in all versions)
A mini wardrobe is now available in game room, allowing players to
change their character's clothes without having to go to Fashion Mall.
Instead, just click an Icon near ATV Icon and Clothes Wardrobe will open
up. While picking new clothes, a small Dress Room shows up at the
players' position and disappears after he/she made choice - new clothes
are now changed! You can also change Accessories and Guitar inside the
dressing room (Not available in all versions).
New Big Game System (Not available in all versions)
Upgrading from the old Big Game feature, now random events are viewable
and limited to "Missions" like Story Mode. Not only Normal Dance, Big
Game now applies to Beat-Up, One-Two Party and Beat-Rush and the players
can press F10 to see Big Game Status Screen or display Big Game
Condition if occurred during the match. However, some of the Big Game
Conditions are way ridiculous and close to impossible to beat (i.e. 0
great, more Bads than Misses [Beat-Up]...). The Hidden missions will be
unlocked after succeeding the requirement given (e.g. unlock story 1,3,7
and 9). Those Requirements are in patters like Page 1: X pattern, Sides
pattern and Cross pattern. The hidden mission bar can be seen in the
User info inside the room. Some of the prices in Missions are Fam
Points, Dens/Beats, EXP and Bulletin Pts.
New Practice System (Not available in all versions)
Beside the old Practice Mode available only in Novice Channel for lv 1 -
lv 5 players, Clubaudition now implemented a new Practice System for
almost all modes. When players join a room and choose to "Watch", they
are also given the notes / rhythm bars to practice pressing 'n' hitting.
Their result won't be logged to replay, but they can earn up to 200 DEN
/ Beat for each practicing.
New Playlist + BGM Playlist (Not available in all versions)
Every Audition Players have their own Favorites Song Lists, and playing
Random would be too boring if they want to pick their songs that way. So
the Playlist is now available, allowing each players to save their own
Favorites songs into a Mini Album, so they can choose it quickly (Up to
100 songs). Also, the old BGM Playlist has been upgraded: Players can
now play, pause, stop, choose next/previous track, or jump to whatever
songs in the list. The BGM song will also continue to play when players
go to Shopping Mall or create/join room instead of changing to next
track like the old BGM Playlist. Another welcomed feature is that
Audition Players now have the option to make their own BGM Playlist - it
works just like the official Playlist, but the songs are picked as
players' favors, up to 30 songs. This update eliminates client-sided
THDs for Lobby songs, so Private servers can no longer steal new songs
from Official servers.
Master Ranking Record (Not available in all versions)
Considered to be the first online scoreboard in Audition, Master Ranking
Record keeps track of players' result in The Fiery Concert mode as well
as determining TFC players of the month. In order to compete in Master
Ranking Record, player must join the Guitar Master channel (Vary depends
on servers) and play with at least 2 other players in same room. Doing
so will let Audition log their TFC result and sort their ranking on the
scoreboard. Master Ranking Record resets each month, and top 3 players
will randomly earn one of the nine prized Guitar (Mostly the Angel
Guitar).
Matching card (Not available in all versions)
A.k.a. Personal card or similar, this feature let players create their
own "Personal card" with various options like Age, Nationality, Blood
type, Hobbies, Favorite Dance mode... so that they can find friends
based on matching information. After setting the card, players can then
point the mouse to any channel to see a percentage of matching dancers
(Boys, girls or both, user-define) in that channel. When in the room,
players can press "Confirm matches" button and, if another player
matches the player's card, a messenger saying "Matching" will display
above their head. Players can also compare card with other players in
room via right click menu.
Club Dance 3 Matching Card Feature (Korean Audition and AuditionSEA)
In Club Dance 3, in the start when you choose your couple, they'll be a
card on the bottom of the avatar, there will be information containing
on your Matching Card. If you didn't apply for a Matching Card, no
information will be shown.
New Love Party (Not available in all versions)
There is a small upgrade for the Love Party mode recently - while making
room, the boy has an option to write a letter for his girl using the
Envelope icon, and it will be displayed upon successfully passed Love
Party. In addition to the Ballroom outfit set reward, the couple can now
earn three new items: Red Rose Basket, Red Love Wings or Red bouquet of
Rose, depends on how many attempts they spend to pass the Love Party.
Instant Matching Card (Removed)
This is a new feature that allows players to quickly find friends with
same gaming hobby. As soon as players enter the game, they can click the
button in top-left corner and choose a mode (Choreography 4k/8k, Crazy
4k/8k, Beat-Up 6k and TFC) as well as random BPM they want. The game
will process to look for existing room - once found, players will be
transported in there within 10 seconds. The room is created by system,
so there is no DJ (It will start automatically after 60 seconds) and
everything is set to default (In normal room, the default map is HipHop
Avenue and Chance Reverse level 3). After entering the room, players can
talk with each other or if they don't like the room, they can leave and
try again. The room will be kept open as long as there is one player
inside. As of Korean Audition Update #6995(10-18-2012), this feature has
been removed.
FAM
A fam is a function brought along with the Fam Office. It works very
similarly to guilds in other games. In order to create a fam, the
creator must meet the requirements of Lv. 21 or greater, and 1,000,000
DEN/Beats (not the same on all versions). The leader may then purchase a
variety of Fam Office-based items including a home, clock, notice sign,
and a forum ranging in price from 100,000 DEN/Beats to 2,000,000,000
DEN/Beats. If the leader wishes, he or she may add members to the fam
that would then be permitted to donate DEN/Beats, and assist in earning
Fam Points.
The fam leader is given the ability to purchase a channel for gaining
Fam Points (which determine the ranking of the fam). He or she may pay
100,000 DEN/Beats for 2 hours of channel time, 200,000 DEN/Beats for 4
hours, and 300,000 DEN/Beats for 6 hours. The amount of DEN/Beats and
time may vary depending on the server. When creating a game in the
purchased channel, any fam member will receive 1 Fam Point per person in
the room, therefore a total of 6 per full room. A fam room is indicated
by a green FAM icon beside the room name.
There are three classes/rankings in total: Fam Leader, indicated with
a red title, Fam Mod/Secondary Owner, indicated with a blue title, and a
regular member, indicated with a green title. Promotion can only be
done by the fam leader.
Fam Battles are started when a leader creates a fam battle room and
waits until 3 members out of two different fams enter the battle room.
The team then challenges one another to a regular game, with rules set
by the fam with the DJ member.
Family
The mini-section of FAM office, allowing dancers to create their own
"family" with a maximum of 10 players, divided into 5 couples. There are
two families with three ranks: Father / Mother, Son / Daughter and
Grandson / Granddaughter - the 2nd-generation links the two families
together. Family Studio is available for the Family to take pictures
with every members have their specified position in the Studio.
Shopping Mall
Like many microtransaction-based
online games, Audition features a shopping mall in which players can
customize the look of their character. Players may choose from a variety
of hairstyles, shirts, pants, shoes, faces, and miscellaneous items.
The game uses an in-game currency called Den or Beats, depending on the
version.
In addition to Den and Beats, players can use the Cash system by
purchasing it through the publisher's website. Different forms of
payment are used to obtain cash, including PayPal, M-Payment, and various prepaid cards. Cash can be used to purchase a wider variety of items from the mall, such as pets, DJ stands, guitars, emoticons, fonts, accessories, and far more clothing.
Couple shop is the special section in Audition Mall, allowing only
dancers that have married to enter and both must be logged in the same
channel. This shop sells special couple clothes and pets that are not
available in normal shop, but only up to 30 days because couple might
not last forever. In addition, new rings, love licenses and couple rooms
are in stock here, though the couple might need proper couple level to
purchase some items.
Game Mode
Audition has many game modes you should try out
Normal
- Choreography 4key, 8key and Expert (Mixed 4key and 8key)
- Crazy 4key, 8key, 9key (9key not available to Chinese Classic)
- Freestyle 4key, 8key
- Crazy Freestyle 4key, 8key
- Dynamic 4key, 8key
- Dynamic Crazy 4key, 8key
- Space Pang! Pang! (Not available to Chinese Classic)
- Fashion Week
- Battle Party
- Random Mode
- Coin collecting Mode
Beat
- Beat Up 4key, 6key
- Team Beat Up 4key, 6key
- Beat Rush 4key, 8key, Heart and Random (Not available to Chinese Classic)
- Beat Up Battle Party
- Beat Rush Battle Party (Not available to Chinese Classic)
Couple
- Couple Mode
- Couple Mode 31 Hearts
- Club Dance I
- Club Dance II
- Club Dance III
- Wedding Mode (Exclusive to Couples, Need to buy a Wedding Ticket)
Team
- Choreography 4key, 8key
- Crazy Choreography 4key, 8key
- Crazy 4key, 8key, 9key
- Dynamic 4key, 8key
- Crazy Dynamic 4key, 8key
- Union Battle Party
- BBoy Battle
- BBoy Battle S
- Night Club
- Block Beat
- Boys & Girls
Other
- The Fiery Concert (Guitar Mode) (Not available to Chinese Classic)
- Story Mode
- One Two Party
- Rhythm Holic