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A jam submission

Requiem - You Aren't the Hero AnymoreView game page

Appease the restless soul of the past heroes, for GWJ #33 themed 'You aren't the hero'
Submitted by Carras — 3 hours, 28 minutes before the deadline
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Requiem - You Aren't the Hero Anymore's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Originality#14.6544.654
Audio#14.5004.500
Fun#133.6543.654
Overall#143.6373.637
Graphics#203.7313.731
Theme#343.6923.692
Accessibility#352.7692.769
Controls#582.4622.462

Ranked from 26 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Godot Version
3.3

Wildcards Used
Fully Immersed

Source
N/A, proprietary

Game Description
Musical game that controls the vocal to match the notes and the final score is calculated by the harmony of voices.

Discord Username
Carras#0001, xehnida#5557

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Comments

Submitted

I think I'm not very good with this (maybe because I'm not good at playing music?), I only was able to play a very short first line, but it's a very interesting and experimental game. :D

Submitted(+1)

Once I got the controls down this was really fun to play! Making this epic sounding chorus (requiem) and letting me decide how long to hold each note for made me keep playing. I loved the audio, you did a really good job on that this whole game wouldn't have worked without it.


What it needs is a tutorial. I had duplicated the tab so I can have the controls on one monitor and the game on the other to see what I was doing, and I'm still not quite sure how score is given. The green bar and red bar seemed to fill up kind of randomly. I don't know how to harmonize, but it was fun to experiment with the different key combinations.


Good job!

Developer

Thanks for trying out the game!
The tutorial was on the plan but regrettably I have to remove it due to the time constraint. :(
So I tried to explain as much as I can after the submission trying to hijack the jam rules
I also designed the controls in a way that is easy to memorize even though the design is unorthodox.

I think you don't have to over-optimize the green and red bars as long as you are conscious that you should not hold the red bar too long.
Red bar actually boosts the speed of green bar filling. 

Submitted(+1)

This was fantastic. I have absolutely no idea what the keys and arrows meant, and it was still immensely fun. Managed to put the hero to rest, with 105 points, which I don't know if it's good or bad. Great job!

Developer

105 points is considered a very high score! Congratulations!
My scoring system is not very well tuned so sometimes you may need to hold a button too long which does not sound interesting.
Thanks for trying the game. ^_^

Submitted(+1)

Very interesting! The unique presentation and gameplay really helps this entry stand out from pretty much everything else. Nicely done!

Developer

Thanks! I personally do not play rogue-like or platformer much unless it is puzzle related. It seems that not many people in this game jam do music or rhythm genre so I will try to be the one!

Submitted(+1)

Very clever game! It took me a little while to figure out the controls but once I did it was really enjoyable and satisfying. I thought that was a really original interpretation of the theme. Nicely done!

Developer

Thanks for trying the game!
It took me awhile to twist the theme to a musical genre game too. I am glad that it is enjoyable.

Submitted(+1)

Awesome game! I found it to be very fun once I figured out the control scheme. I was very impressed with how the game sounds, it can get quite regal and quite melancholy depending on how the player starts and steps with the controls. I would have loved to see the code behind your music generation, it sounds really nice. Great job

Developer(+1)

Thanks for liking the game!
Unfortunately I cannot share the source codes but I can share the idea of the generation.
Below are the high level descriptions of the generation procedures:

  1. Preparations: 
    1. state machine of the chord progression that is commonly used in baroque/classical period (I simplified them a bit in this game)
    2. defines all the intervals of different church modes (I only use a subset of them)
    3. determine a key as the base key for the chord progression.
    4. define different cadences e.g. authentic, half, plagal
  2. Generate random chord progression for different cadences as candidate phrases.
  3. For each phrase, create a melody line and properly distribute the melody line over the chord progression of the phrase.
  4. When a chord is changed during the gameplay, change the church mode that matches the chord and interpret degree of steppings according the scale of the current mode.
  5. For simplicity, the bass line is always in root position (no inversion) as I am running out of time to include this part.
Submitted

Very cool, thank you for the insight! Procedural music is something that I have always wanted to dabble in, but so far haven't really focused on just yet

Submitted(+1)

controls are hard to memorize. but still a good game.

Developer(+1)

Thanks for trying it out!
I agree that the learning curve for the controls is a bit high. I may consider to introduce key rebinding in the future updates.

Submitted(+1)

Pretty hard to learn, but pretty satisfying when you pull off some hymn without too much thinking :)

Developer (1 edit)

Thanks for dedicating time to learn it! (just like any musical instrument) And I hope you enjoyed it.


Going to drop a spoiler here:

Pro tip:
You may actually purposely fail the patterns to reset for more freestyle hymn and perhaps getting higher score!
Most players will not notice that if they tend to rush all the patterns and get a 0 score in the end.
Submitted(+1)

I noticed that while playing! And sometimes I could hold a note after failing and still get bonus points. No rune would light up but as I held down the keys the green bar filled anyway :D

Submitted(+1)

Very nice and original idea. Loved it

Developer

Thanks for reviewing the game!

I am trying to explore more possibilities in music, rhythm and puzzle genre thus I prefer to invent a brand new gameplay mechanism.

Submitted(+1)

I had no idea what I'm doing and made it nevertheless. :'D Very original concept and also the audio is really epic and kept me playing. But as a musical layman I had the feeling that I missed something to understand it completely. I also asked my girlfriend, who plays the piano, if it's a system that she knows. But she said that she does not get it. So I kept smashing the buttons as the instruction said. :D

I liked the feeling that I have to focus on something new and to learn something. Nice game concept after all! :)

Developer(+1)

Thanks for playing the game!

One of my objectives is actually to let layman experience part of the musical world. I actually tried to simplify a lot of terminologies so that layman can understand them easier. Even a musician not necessarily needs to learn advanced music theory or composing in order to play a musical instrument well.

Submitted(+1)

Original and intriguing like your previous game! Easier to understand too and more gamey.

Btw is the “best” harmony to get the highest score for each note just unison or are we supposed to achieve specific intervals?

Developer(+1)

Thanks for reviewing and streaming the game!

I think unison and perfect fifth will be the fastest to fill the harmony bar. Additionally if they are reducing/resolving the tension bar, the harmony bar will fill up even faster.

There is still a huge room of improvement that I can fine tune the system but it will just take up too much time.

Submitted(+1)

Still it’s interesting to see music theory-based games. I’m not an expert of the subject but I know some.

I have a friend who’s a big music theory nerd though, like he writes his own theories about it. He’ll probably be interested in your games so I’ll share them to him!

Developer

Thanks! I hope that he won't laugh at them 😂

Submitted(+1)

Wow, after memorizin the controls this was an amazing experience. Very original idea, too!

Developer(+1)

Thanks for taking the time to learn the controls!

I don't want to use the conventional control which is similar to a piano as pc keyboard is not extended like the real piano. I borrowed the design of a string instrument instead where your left hand controls the pitch and right hand holds the sound.

Submitted(+1)

Hey there,

The controls just needed some getting to used to but when you are able to memorize it, it is really harmonious. Loved the audio for the game.

My only concern is that there may be a need for an control instruction in game, kept playing and abandoning the game on my first tries.

Great work on the submission, Cheers!!!

Developer

Thanks for trying out the game!

If I have enough time I will definitely do an in-game tutorial to guide the player to slowly pickup the controls. 

But ultimately the player should memorize the controls so that the player can focus on the voices instead of simply matching the symbols.

Submitted(+1)

OK. Very Clever!
That was fun, interesting and very challenging.
Only note: I wish I could re-view the controls during game play.

Developer(+1)

Thanks for reviewing the game!
The "button controls" section in the game page may help in explaining the concept of the key combinations.

Submitted(+1)

This is a very original take on the theme, and very original game overall.

The game is satisfying when you manage to understand the controls, but I think displaying the controls directly next to the grave would have helped a lot of us !

Congratulations on your submission !

Developer (3 edits)

Thanks for trying it out!
I am aware of this problem too. My decision of not showing the key combinations during the gameplay is that it will distract you realizing the melody change.
This is analogous to platformer where we do not normally show the direction, attack and jump keys on the screen because they are responsive enough and having static finger placements. Maybe it is that my idea is very original so people need sometime to get used to it (me too).
the whole list of controls is too long as well as you can see in "How to Play?"

Submitted (1 edit) (+2)

This is really cool! A very unique take on the theme and I'm always a friend of musical games. The controls definitely need some getting used to until your brain makes the whole connection between symbol, key and sound. Maybe having the option to show them on screen while playing would be nice? I also have no idea how the points work and when I'm doing well. But that hardly matters to me anyways, I had fun singing the requiem to a fallen hero.

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

Thanks for supporting! I will prioritize music/rhythm genre in the future gam jams as always.
For the scoring part, green bar (harmony) will gain you 10 points/bar and red bar (tension) will reduce 5 points/bar.
Actually the final score does not matter much, the experience during the gameplay is much more important. 

Submitted(+1)

Oh boy, i spent like 5 min trying to learn the controls and then mastering them, but it was worth it, really cool and quite addictive for your first play.
Now i dont know if it is a bug or it was intended, but if you see that your note is getting the green bar, you can just hold the note till it reaches the end and get points. 
All in all pretty fun.

Developer

Thanks for spending time learning the controls! 
Regarding the green bar, it is just an incentive system to encourage people to hold the note when it sounds right (or else nobody is going to hold any note).
On the other hand, if you try to hold the note that fills the red bar and you will notice the dissonance from the voices.

Submitted(+1)

I really liked the idea of playing the death song for the dead hero.

The notes on the gravestone were very well made and added to the whole tone of the game. The tutorial helped a lot.

Developer (1 edit)

I am glad that you like the idea!

Most of my time spent on designing the generation of the notes on the gravestone that is why you can see my menu and other screens are a bit lacking.

I was initially afraid that the key combinations are too overwhelming but once you got the idea it should be easy to memorize.
The key combinations are intended to mimic the way you play an instrument other than a piano, e.g., a guitar where your left hand controls the pitch and right hand fires the notes.

Submitted(+1)

A tad too difficult for me, but I liked the idea.

Developer

Thanks for trying out the game!
For beginner, it is better to memorize only one key combination for leaping up and leaping down so that the controls are not too overwhelming.