Why I Haven't Calculated The Most Time-Efficient Song in Project Sekai

Back when I did my blog post discussing optimal energy use, I teased the possibility of going over a proper calculation of the most time-efficient song in the game. I never ended up doing that post because I wasn't able to find the information I wanted to do it properly. This is both an explanation and a call for help if anyone has any information that I can't find.

What I wanted to do with the song efficiency post was have an actual real-world scenario to calculate from rather than relying on metadata. The problem is that, while we know what influences score (song length/note count, area items, difficulty level, etc.), I can't find any concrete information on exactly how it's influenced by these factors.

One alternate option would be to play songs and collect data myself. However, I'm not a skilled enough player to play consistently well enough to gather any meaningful data. There would definitely be a significant margin of error in my numbers.

Currently, the accepted logic is that Hitorinbo Envy is the best song for multiplayer and Melt is the best for single-player. Given that people smarter and more skilled than me are looking into these things, I'm guessing that's correct. With that said, I'd still love to go further in-depth and explore things more thoroughly.

So, this is something of a cry for help. If anyone has any concrete data, or even solid estimates, of how score is calculated in Project Sekai, I'd like to talk to you about it. I'd love to dive a bit further into the weeds of how Project Sekai works and what makes it tick.