Hey Dancers! 

If you've been grooving along with us to Just Dance 2023 Edition, you might have noticed that shaking your stuff feels a little different to how it did in previous Just Dance games. Our special guest today is here to talk you through what's new, Brahim! He's the Lead Level Designer on Just Dance, managing a team of 12 Level Designers.

Their goal is to make sure your gameplay is fun, functional, and accessible for all, no matter your experience with Just Dance. His team help with getting the dances in-game by anticipating technical issues and making sure everything is in tip-top shape to be played! Here's what Brahim has to say:

Brahim: Hello, everyone!

With Just Dance 2023 Edition being a complete refresh for the series, we wanted to take this opportunity to update the scoring. With a new game engine and refreshed UI (User Interface), we wanted to update how the game goes about scoring you.

Our priority with this game was to offer fair scoring over easy scoring. In previous titles, you may have been able to achieve a high score by simply shaking the controller. We've made efforts to minimise this by adjusting how you score across the different platforms; the movement detection is tighter on both the Joy-Cons and the mobile app (but you still may get varying results due to the different accelerometers found on different devices!).

In other words: we aimed to provide a score that reflects how accurately you match the moves, and we're continuously improving this!

If you're a player that knows the choreographies and can keep up with the coaches, you won't see as much of a difference between Just Dance 2023 Edition and previous games. But, for other players, your score will be more consistent with your level. This may be discouraging to those that are used to previous games, but we hope this helps you achieve your desired scores through practice and have more fun - that's what matters!

We've not had this big of a shake-up to the system for a while, so allow me to talk you through Just Dance's history with scoring:

From Just Dance - Just Dance 2017, there were only 4 'feedback' responses to the player. X, meaning a missed move, OK, Good and Perfect. At 'Good', an 'On Fire' streak would start, and your score would multiply with every 'Good' or 'Perfect' move, anything lower and your streak would end.

When Just Dance 2017 first released on Switch, scoring may have felt easier as the detection was designed for the Wii Remote in mind and not the Joy-Cons.

From Just Dance 2018 to Just Dance 2022, we added the feedback 'Super' for more granular scoring, but the threshold to activate the 'On Fire' streak remained at 'Good'.

This led to the game being very permissive for players who did not exactly match choreographies, because the 'On Fire' boost was triggered at a low threshold and cancelled at an even lower one. On the Switch, the scoring was also still set to the Wii Remote, which is a much larger device than a Joy-Con, distorting the direction and the required energy for movements.

Since we were moving to a new engine with Just Dance 2023 Edition, we addressed all of these concerns in one go, which may be why it feels like the scoring is vastly different, but it's just been tweaked to reward accuracy. We adjusted the 'On Fire' boost to be triggered at 'Super' instead of 'Good' and adjusted it to decrease by one level on a 'Good' move, but end if you hit 'OK'. This means that your streak multiplier increases with every 'Super' or 'Perfect' move. We also updated the directional detection to be fairer, as Joy-Cons and mobiles now score with the size and accuracy of the Joy-Con shape rather than that of a Wii Remote. We also decided to remove the 'On Fire' streak from appearing on-screen, as it could be frustrating for players to see their streak broken by moves that they didn't perform - the focus stays on having fun!

When we bring old maps into Just Dance 2023 Edition with Just Dance+, each map goes through rigorous testing and the scoring is updated to reflect the new system. This may not be perfect for every map, but our new live model allows us to adjust maps on-the-go, so we can rectify this! It takes time to pinpoint the tweaks and get them in-game, but we always appreciate when you let us know what you want to see adjusted in the game.

That's all from me, see you on the dancefloor!

Thanks, Brahim! We hope this helps paint a clearer picture of the image we have for Just Dance - we'll be building a better experience together for years to come! We're constantly evolving the game and, as we push to bring you the best beats and bops, we need extra time to make sure everything vibes how it should with our new systems!

We've also gathered some tips from the team that work on the scoring that may prove helpful:

• The level of a map matters! If you're playing for fun, be sure to enjoy all the maps, but maps that are stated to be more challenging require you to dance with more accuracy.

• The Pictos are only there to remind you which move to execute at which moment, not all of the info about a routine is shown on the Pictos! If you're looking to bump your score, try learning choreographies by following the coaches and playing the maps multiple times.

• It's very important to consider the energy, wrist rotation and direction of the hand holding the controller. All of these are tracked and can affect how you're scored!

• Move with purpose! Have confidence in your moves; the stronger you execute a move, the more accurate you'll be.

• When you hold the Joy-Con or your phone, firmly grasp it for the most accuracy, pictured below:

Of course, we're always committed to keeping the game accessible to all dancers. You can read more about how we did this in Just Dance 2023 Edition here.

Thank you for all your continued support on Just Dance and for letting us know how we can make this the best experience for you! Keep the party going with us on TikTok, Twitter and Instagram.