Thanks for checking it out and the input, really appreciate feedback.
It is a rhythm game so not listening to audio is definitely going to work against you. Learning when to click consistently using any and/or all of the three guides (Audio beat, visual beat, bpm count) is part of the learning process as there are obstructions at later hearts that will disrupt players from using the visuals or audio to keep the rhythm, leaving them having to rely on one of the other cues.
Would you mind expanding on what was awkward about popping hearts and why you felt keeping the beat was inconsistent?
Viewing post in Lub-Dub | A Heart Pounding Game comments
popping hearts was kinda weird because this game was looking so simple and silly until i popped a heart and it exploded in a lot of blood before another one spawned, that felt kinda weird (but tbh you don't need to change that, it's more my opinion). And as i wasn't listening the audio, i needed to tap at fixed intervals using only the heart itself as a guide to when to click, but the more i clicked right, the faster i needed to click, but it was getting faster slowly and sometimes trying to focus on the click pattern distracted me to the heart beating animation, and as i would need to click faster and faster, i was losing the streak several times lol.
Edit: i popped 2 hearts now, on the third one, sometimes the borders of the screen would go red, and i didn't understood why. Is this the defib mentioned?
I'm glad to hear you gave it another go!
Honestly, it's quite possible to get used to the rhythm after some repetition of playing. Being a man with no rhythm personally, I sucked at it to start but hours of playtesting it during building allowed me to reach the 9th heart (the basic win heart before the evil final challenge).
Just to confirm how it works, the heartbeat gets quicker with each 'in time' click you perform or slower with mistimed clicks, requiring you to adjust your speed accordingly. The BPM doesn't change at a linear rate, it changes by 10 up to 100bpm, then by 5 up to 140bpm, after that it only changes by 2 per click. So you do need to slightly adjust your rhythm as you reach those markers. With each new heart the max BPM increases by 10 too, which is when the heart pops.
That is the defib, yes, it's present on certain levels. It 'charges' when you go over 140bpm (you'll hear it with audio) and if you mess up it'll zap the heart and lower the bpm back to 120. You'll need a consistent click rate to progress.
I'm not that keen on the blood to be honest, it was originally just sparkly particles but I got experimenting and just left it in.