the experimental themes series
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
/ Table of Contents
 1) The Experimental Themes Series
  1.1) All Purpose Test Theme | AJ 187
  1.2) the Proof of Concept Theme | AJ 187
  1.3) emit | spinal shark
  1.2) Stupid Gun Game [Proof of Concept 2] | AJ 187
  1.4) stepman online hax | AJ 187
  1.5) smTunes | AJ 187
  1.7) LabsTheme | KKI Labs
  1.8) Proof of Concept Theme 3 | AJ 187
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) The Experimental Themes Series
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Unless otherwise noted, all themes are for StepMania 4.0 CVS)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.1) All Purpose Test Theme by AJ 187 | earlier than September 25, 2007
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
All Purpose Test Theme is possibly the most amazing theme that's never been
released today! Originally meant to test out designs, it later expanded to
testing 3D models, being the testbed for and birthplace of many KKI Labs
inventions, and much more.

All Purpose Test Theme is the volatile sandbox, continually being updated
with new features and tests.

A list of technologies developed and/or tested in APTT:
* "a simple little thing called love" (IIDX-style judgment count display)
* NAKET Coder Evolution's lifebar
* Toasty meter
* Reverse Grade
* CustomSpeedMods
* EnvUtils2
* UserPreferences
* ProTiming
* DebugConsole
* Mission Mode
* FileWriter
* squares (bganimation)
* digital waves (bganimation)
* project zuma (Custom Menu using a scroller and Codes)
* soma (a scroller displaying SortOrders; could be used for cooler sort changes)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2) the Proof of Concept Theme by AJ 187 | December 02, 2007
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The very first theme that could be considered experimental to my knowledge
is the Proof of Concept Theme, a theme meant to turn StepMania into something
else entirely.

It used Codes to control Link on the screen using pseudo-tile-based movement,
allowing for 4-way directional movement and jumping. In the second revision,
jumping while holding left or right (simulating a running jump) was supported.
The movement engine from the first version would later be used to power the
second Proof of Concept Theme, Stupid Gun Game.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.3) emit by spinal shark | December 07, 2007
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
emit was billed as "an experimental entry in the e-Series," proving to be a
proof of concept for user customization in StepMania, previously achieved by
k//eternal and AJ 187 as PARTICLE for some IIDX-based theme in the PROJEKT
series for StepMania 3.9.

Using the code from AJ's Dance With Intensity theme on SM4 related to file
access along with a carefully crafted ScreenSelectMaster, spinal shark was
able to create a rudimentary user preferences system that was portable
between all versions of StepMania 4. (PARTICLE, in contrast, was written in C#
and was not cross-platform.)

Curiously, the readme states that emit "is not meant to be released
to anyone except the top echelon of StepMania themers who don't get paid for
theming."

The list, comprised of "luminaries and upcomers" included:
* AJ 187
* GRIM
* Midiman
* shakesoda
* Tweak
* vdl

In addition, there was a list of people whom emit should not be distributed to:
* k//eternal [competing PARTICLE product]
* Themers from Latin/South America (Daisuke Master, et al) [only support 3.95]
* die Katze 88 [need I say more]
* Chris Danford, Glenn Maynard [they can figure this out for themselves]

Granted, these decisions were made in the mindframe of 2007, and if asked today,
I'm sure spinal shark (if he were around) would grant access to the Latin/South
American StepMania theming community, who have as of late, increased quality
output in all fields of SM4 customization. Likely, the others would remain.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.4) stepman online hax by AJ 187 | April 11, 2008
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
stepman online hax, also known as "SMO HAX", appears to have been forked
from All Purpose Test Theme. Its only function was to test if changing the
timing values via MESSAGEMAN in-song would trigger StepMania Online's
automatically added TIMING mod to any posted scores. Since it did, the theme's
lifespan ran out and is now more of a novelty.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.5) Stupid Gun Game [Proof of Concept 2] by AJ 187 | April 11, 2008
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first of the Experimental Themes series to get released to the public,
Stupid Gun Game (either subtitled "the kyle ward episodes" or "SPACE BATTLE
OPERA in STEPMANIA LAND" depending on which version you had access to) built
off of the Proof of Concept Theme's movement engine, producing a rudimentary
gallery shooting game with tile-based movement.

Two versions were produced, one for private consumption ("the kyle ward
episodes"), with a public release ("SPACE BATTLE OPERA in STEPMANIA LAND")
shortly after. The two versions differ in name and content, as you shoot
bullseyes in the public version. In the private version, the subtitle is
taken literally, as you shoot a picture of Kyle Ward. The two versions'
readme files differed as well, with The Kyle Ward Episodes having a much
more casual and hilarious tone.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.6) smTunes by AJ 187 | April 12, 2008
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Second publicly released theme in the series, smTunes was the first to act
like a normal StepMania theme, with one catch: ScreenSelectMusic was replaced
with an iTunes-like interface.

smTunes is meant to be an example of how to use Lua files for MusicWheelItems,
as well as dealing with SetMessage, which is called quite often on
ScreenSelectMusic.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.7) LabsTheme by KKI Labs | June 19, 2008
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LabsTheme was originally made to have a clean slate for testing out/creating
various things in a highly controlled environment. The same day the environment
was set up, UserPreferences v1.0 was created. It's also the current home of
ScreenEnvList, which was originally featured in the dubaiOne debug menu.

As of recent, LabsTheme has been stagnant, with All Purpose Test Theme getting
the major attention when it comes to new features (DebugConsole and mission mode
being prime examples).

LabsTheme defined a mission script style in November 2008, which was later
adapted for the implementation in APTT, with small changes. Currently, the
mission mode in APTT does not implement all of the tags laid out in
LabsTheme's definition of a mission file.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.8) Proof of Concept Theme 3 (SM4SVN) by AJ 187 | July 1, 2008
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Never fully completed, Proof of Concept Theme 3 (abbreviated PoC3) was meant
to simulate Taiko no Tatusjin/Taiko Drum Master in StepMania's dance mode.
The main gimmick was to be sideways scrolling, figured out by Midiman and
AJ 187 a bit earlier during dubaiOne and SM:Strike(?) development.

PoC3 was to include the xon licensing system, jointly created by AJ and
richard ix (lowercase; pronounced "icks"). Only the C# keygen was ever
finished; xon.lua in the Scripts directory is more comment than code.