there's really not much things to say, (you can see you are the most rated game and I think that is not "by chance", totally deserved) I hope I don't repeat things from previous comments!
First things first: the menu theme is a banger, great track, really, I love the way it breaks. from musician to musician: congrats.
Second: the sfx are just right on time and pitch, very sweet.
Thrid: reeeally rewarding with the "perfect" sounds, and specially the ending screen with the leaderboard and what you achieved in the run, it makes you feel like it was worth it, and most importantly: it makes you feel you can do better, and I think that was your intention all along, so, mission accomplished. (I'll ask you about the leaderboard, I'm really curious about it)
I think you are a team that works together just fine. you can see you made a whole "product" where everythings rows in the same direction.
And to finish, as an "things to improve" or whatever you may call it:
I didn't feel that music was "scaling" with my combos further than the sound of the combos itself, ,there was times that music had more layers or suddenly it became more "quiet" but I don't know if I can atribute that to my "performance" that was unclear to me, and I didn't feel that "complexity" being achieved by maing it better.
Also I felt like every note I hit was a whole note (a black one, I'm bad with the names in English XD), I didn't feel like there was "different rythmic patterns", or crazy syncopation (again don't know if this is the word).
Aaaannd to finish, and I think this is more important the rest of the stuff: you are giving the most gentle and kind comments to everygame, and you can see you are taking the time to play and feel those games. Really really appreciate that level of personal kindness. I hope you end up really high in the Jam leaderboard!!!
See you in the arcades!!
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I am going to write something far more substantial soon for you Mr Pistacho, but I just want to acknowledge the incredible amount of effort you’ve put into writing a single comment on our page. What a guy! And of course you deserve a full response in kind. But I’ll need a moment first!
Couldn’t just let this sit here unaccompanied. You’re a legend! Expect to hear from me shortly.
Cheers for such a thoughtful comment mate, honestly. It means a lot that you took the time to write all that out. From one musician to another I really appreciate you noticing the little touches in the sound design and the music. Hearing you enjoyed the menu theme and the way the SFX land bang on time is especially nice, because those are exactly the kind of things I spent ages tweaking. Feels brilliant knowing that effort comes across.
On the music scaling side of things, you are spot on with what you picked up. Right now it is not the actual track that shifts, but the combo FX. Every streak you build pushes the motif up one step in the scale, and when you hit the top multiplier of five it resolves neatly at the peak. Everything is tempo locked, so you are right that you do not hear syncopation out of those FX. The system is designed so the combo only keeps alive if you are tight on the beat, which is why it always stays steady and on grid.
That said, you are right to want more variety and complexity. Fresh and I have already chatted about ideas where the gameplay track itself evolves as you go. Imagine hitting 50, 100 or even 200 notes in a row and suddenly a new layer of percussion or texture kicks in, then drops out the second your combo breaks. That sort of reactive layering would create the kind of growth you are describing, where the whole tune feels like it is building with you. We have also talked about messing with the FX so they are not always straight whole notes, which could bring in more interesting rhythms. Your feedback gives us even more reason to push further down that road.
I am also glad you mentioned the leaderboard and the mission accomplished vibe at the end of a run. That was exactly what we were going for. We wanted players to feel properly rewarded for a run, but also walk away with that itch to beat their score next time. Hearing you say that shows we managed to land it. And your point about us rowing in the same direction is spot on too. It was just the two of us, Fresh handling all the core design and myself on the audio, but we really did put our heads together to make it feel like one complete product. Lovely to hear that comes through.
And just to add, your kind words about how we chat with the community are hugely appreciated mate. For us the jam was never just about throwing a game together, it was about connecting with people who love games and music the same way we do. Knowing that comes across in how we talk to everyone really makes it all worthwhile.
So yeah, thank you again for the encouragement and the constructive bits alike. Both are massively valuable to us. We share your excitement for giving players more control and influence over the music, and it is an area we are keen to keep building on. Hope to see you climbing those leaderboards again soon!
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this <3 the feedback especially is most welcome.
I definitely wanted to switch things up with more complex patterns like half beats but I ran out of time and didn’t want it to feel half baked. Stuff to work on after the jam, including your other comment about scaling! Right now it is indeed limited to the combo noises as you pointed out.
As for the leaderboard, it’s a lot simpler than you’d think! We used SilentWolf, which is free and has a Godot plugin, although limited, I may not use it for future projects.
Thanks again :) I feel really lucky to have gotten such awesome responses so far. Best of luck to you as well!