Hey, awesome! Thank you :)
To be honest, I'm also a bit basic at digital art (I do all the lines on paper still).
I'm glad you got the feeling of making music from it :) That was one of the main things I was trying to do~
Oh also, I don't know if you saw. But if you're interested, I have a 6 level demo available here until July 11th~
Hey thank you, that’s great to hear! :)
So I’m not sure at which stage you are at making lo-fi music, but first things first, I think it’s best to start with a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). I have a Mac so I use Garageband. I’ve tried a few other things over the years but that was the easiest for me to use (+ it’s free and included with the computer). If you have windows I think Ableton live lite is probably the best option, you can get that for free here :)
If you decide to use Garageband, I found this tutorial video super, super helpful. I used it to help me build my first lo-fi tracks~
After you have a DAW, I would recommend getting a midi controller (basically a mini piano you can plug into your computer). I have this one. I think it's one of the cheapest options. If you want something with a bit more features, I've heard this one is good. Or if you decide to use Ableton, this one is made to work well together with that.
If you don’t have access to a computer, you can use Garageband on iOS. (I haven’t had much experience with that though). I’m not sure there’s a good option for Android yet.
In terms of learning how to make music itself. I'm not sure what the best way of doing that would be. I think probably the best way is to first make a drum beat (try to recreate a similar one to a track you like), they are usually fairly simple to figure out, just listen to where the kick drum, snares and hi-hats appear. Then adding 3 or 4 chords over that (I'd stick to just the white keys to start with) then loop melody ideas over the top with different instruments, again just using the white keys. That is kind of a simplified version of the process I go through.
I would say it helps to listen to what is happening in songs you like, like drum patterns or instrumentation and trying to add these elements to your tracks~ Or maybe even trying to rebuild tracks in order to practice.
I know a lot of people use samples to build beats, I haven't had much experience with that, but that could also be a good way to get started. Also in general there is a lot of good information on youtube, so I'd recommend looking stuff up there frequently.
Hope this is of some help to you :)
Hey, thanks very much :) I'm glad you're able to keep playing it! I'm working on a longer version of the game at the moment. This version most likely won't get any new levels but I will keep it up to date with gameplay updates. I'm hoping to get the full version finished around the end of this year~
Hi, thank you for the feedback~
Could I ask you a few questions to help me improve the game please? I'd like the game to be accessible as possible, so I'd like to know whether some things are unclear in the game, or where there might be problems for newer players.
The rhythm part is a really important part of the game, so I don't think it would work with it being skippable. But I'd like to make sure it's still easy enough for new players.
Hey, thanks so much! :)
Thanks for letting me know about the bass, when I have time I'll try to mix everything so that you can hear the bass well too, it might be tricky to balance it for headphones and speakers but I'll see if I can find a way.
In my experience people tended to find the bell and the guitar difficult in level 3, but I haven't heard that much feedback on the drums. Was it the drums on the first level that were difficult, or all of them? Also by difficult, do you mean difficult to find or to play? Thanks for your feedback~ :)
I meant to play and I found it a bit harder than the rest compared to the other instruments on each level, not only on level 1. Level 3 I did find that the difficulty went up by a bunch, but seeing that it's only the three levels for now, I think it's very much okay. I would put a level or two when adding the new ones between the actual Level 2 and Level 3 that exist right now, or tone the Level 3 difficulty down a bit (haha get it? tone down? sorry).
Also, about the bass, just a bit louder should be fine (or its frequencies enhanced and the other instruments lowered on those freqs when the bass appears). My speakers are usually okay with low frequencies and I could hear it, but it just got overridden by any other instrument very easily.
Thanks for getting back to me :) Ah ok that's interesting about the drums. I have some ideas for improving the difficulty curve slightly, so hopefully that should be resolved soon :)
I know what you mean about the bass, I'm not that experienced with mixing so I would like to spend some time on that when the game is a bit further along in development.
(also thanks for the pun, was much appreciated~)
Hey thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed the game :)
Thanks for the feedback on the bell, that's really useful to know. I'm thinking of ways to smooth out the difficulty a bit more. I have an idea for dealing with it so hopefully I'll be able to get that done soon~
Great! I'm happy to see this game's getting bigger. I missed the event where the newest level was showcased, So I'll just wait .
Oh, by the way. You probably saw a reply on one of my comments but I speak both english and brazillian portuguese. So if you want the game to be translated I could maybe help!~
Hi, thank you so much! :)
That's all very kind of you to say, I'm glad you appreciated it! It's a bit of long term project, but I'm slowly but surely making progress on the full version~
Hey, thank you that's great to hear! :)
I'm trying to get a bit more feedback from first time rhythm game players. What did you think of the difficulty? What was the reason you would score it a 7/10? What would you like to see changed to score it higher?
Don't worry about giving in depth answers or anything, I was just curious to get a bit more feedback to help me with development~
oh, I only gave it a 7/10 because it wasn't the best game ever, it was just very good.
Hi, thank you! I'm not quite sure how to answer that, but I am working on a beat making mode at the moment, so you'll hopefully be able to try making some music yourself :)
I would like to publish the songs, the plan is that I will arrange all the tracks and publish them when the full game comes out (around the end of next year).
Hi, sorry to hear you're having problems with the key mapping. I believe if you use the Azerty mapping, you should be able to play the rhythm game using AZER instead of QWER (even though the key images don't change). Let me know if that works out for you. If not, I'm planning to work on adjustable key bindings in the near future, so I'll reply to this post once that's added to the game.
Hello again!
Sorry… If I play with a QWERTY mapping, only E and R are responsive (Q and W don’t work).
And, if I try with an AZERTY mapping, nothing works :(
There are no issues in game. If u want a tester u can dm me on discord. my id and # is Alphanaplys#6233
Hi, thanks! I'm glad you liked it :) The music won't be available for a while, but I have one track from room 3 full arranged available here. I'm working on a ~15 level version of the game for the end of next year, I'm planning to release all the tracks at the same time as that.
yes, i tried it. i didn't put it in the video because i'm really bad at it. but i still try it sometimes for fun.
Hi, thanks so much! That's very nice of you~ I'm glad you found so much you liked in the game :)
oh yay!! It got filtered into spam but I see it now -_-;
Gameplay video coming your way :)
Thanks! If you sign up to be a playtester you can try 9 levels right away~ Here's the sign up form there's only a couple of play test keys left.
Hi, thanks for letting me know~
Could you let me know a couple of things to try and find what the problem is?
1. What browser are you using?
2. Does the game crash or just look strange?
3. At what point does it happen, when you complete level 2 or some other time?
I'm not sure I'll be able to fix it, because it looks more like a rendering/unity webplayer problem. But maybe I'll be able to find out why it's happening.
Thanks~
Hi, thanks for letting me know~ Yes, the game doesn't work with AZERTY keyboards properly yet. For now, the best way to get it to work is to add the QWERTY keyboard mapping and switch to that for the game. (here's instructions on that). I'm planning to make the keys remappable in the future, but that'll still take some time.
Hi, thanks for asking! So for making the beats I usually use the default instruments in garageband. I also used the drum samples linked in this video:
I use the izotope vinyl plugin on some of the electric piano + guitar sounds to give it a lo-fi feel. I once wrote a long reply on how I think people can get started making lo-fi beats in general. If you're interested you can read that here! I think I'll expand on that and turn it into a longer devlog at some point.
Hey I just wanted to Comeback and tell you thank you for showing me this videos as I just released a Lo-Fi EP on Youtube and this helped me a lot. Thank You!
Hi, thank you! :) There will be more levels, the plan is to release a full paid version of the game with ~15/20 levels by the end of this year (if everything goes to plan). I have 9 levels completed so far.
You can sign up to be a playtester here. The next round of playtesting will probably be in spring when I have a few more levels finished, so if you sign up you'll have the chance to try out the new levels then.
Hi thanks! If you're interested you can sign up to be a play tester here and you can try the new levels when I next play test it. (Probably late Spring 2021)
Hi, thank you :)
There will be more levels for sure! I have ~10 finished so far in total, if you want the chance to access them early you can sign up to be a playtester here . The plan for the next round of playtesting will be around Springtime~
Hi thank you! If you're interested you can sign up to be a playtester here, and you'll have a chance to try the new levels when I next do playtesting (maybe some time this spring?)
Hi thanks for taking the time to take such an interest in the game :) I’m glad you enjoyed it so much! To answer your questions:
Hope that answers your questions~
Hi, thank you~ (Maybe you saw already but you can sign up to be a tester here), with the next playtest being sometime in Spring.
Thank you! :)
You might have seen this already, but you can sign up to be a play tester to try new levels here. I'm planning to do the next playtest around Spring.
Hi, I see what you mean. But I'm pretty sure they're legit, at least as far as I know~
Hi thank you! :) And thanks for the feedback. I've heard that a few times, but I'm not sure when that is happening. Could you answer a couple of questions to help me figure out whats going on please?
1. Are you playing on Windows, Mac or in a web browser? If you're playing in a browser, which one?
2. Did the looping problem happen while the game was in the background (i.e. open in another tab while you were doing something else)?
3. Did the problem happen on any specific room or all of them?
4. Does it only happen when you complete all the instruments or is the loop imperfect when only a few instruments are completed too?
Thanks!
Sorry late reply, I'm not that active on Itch
here's my answers:
1.) I play on chrome browser using a windows laptop
2.) It happened while I was playing.
3.) All rooms
4.) while I was still on the phase of finding the instruments, the looping is fine and continuous but after I found them all and I'm listening to the final product, there's a bit of a break in between loops
Thank You and I love your work!!
Ok thank you for getting back to me, that's really helpful!
I will put it on the list of things to look into, I've heard people mention this problem a few times but I haven't managed to see it myself yet. It's a hard problem to find and because of the way I do the looping, I think it might be hard to fix too. Having said that, hopefully your answers will help point me in the right direction! :)
Thank you! :) You probably saw, but you can sign up to be a playtester here and you'll have a chance to try the new levels earlier. I'm planning on doing the next play test probably late spring, early summer.
Hi thank you! And thanks for giving a bit of feedback on your experience! :)
I was wondering if I could get a little more information on how it was difficult to get used to? I'm trying to make the start as friendly as possible so any extra information you have on that would be helpful. :)
(Also I guess you might have seen, but you can sign up to be a playtester: here. If you do that, you'll have the chance to get early access to new levels. I'm planning to do the next playtest sometime in late spring).
Hi, thanks very much! :) You might have seen already but you can sign up to be a playtester: here. If you do that you'll have a chance to try new levels early, I'm planning on doing the next playtest around late spring I think.
Hi swoopie :) Thanks very much! Also thanks for the suggestions~ I kind of like having the non instrument things as fun little bonuses, so I don't know if I'd want to attach them to the gameplay too much. But if you have any other feedback or suggestions please let me know. (There's also a discord, with a feedback channel if that's more convenient: https://discord.gg/7acATbT )
If you're interested in what the next steps for the game are you can see the list at the end of this blog post. Also you might have seen this already but you can sign up to be a playtester to have a chance to see the new levels early: here.
Hi, I'm glad you liked the game so much! Thank you :)
You might have seen this already, but you can sign up to be a playtester and have a chance to see the new levels earlier here.
Hi, thanks very much! I'm glad you liked it :)
Also, the game jam I originally made this for ended over two years ago! I've been working on the game on and off since then. If you're interested, this was what the first jam version of the game was like~
Hi, thanks so much! If you haven't already, you can sign up to be a playtester here and you'll have the chance to get early access to the new levels.
Hi, thanks very much :) I already have ~10 levels completed in total, so they will be coming in the full release~ If you want the chance to try the levels earlier than that you can sign up here for the chance to be a playtester.
Hi, thanks very much :) I'm glad you enjoyed it! If you're interested in trying new levels you can sign up to be a playtester here and you'll have a chance to try the new levels early.
Hey, thanks very much! I'm glad you didn't find it too hard, I spent quite a bit of time trying to make sure the difficulty was ok, so I'm glad that it worked well for you :)
Haha, thanks! No worries. Oh btw you probably saw already but you can sign up to be a playtester here and you'll have a chance to try the new levels earlier, I'm planning to do the next test ~late Spring.
Thank you :) I'm still working slowly towards a full version of the game, but if you want the chance to try new levels early you can sign up to be a playtester here~
Oh that's strange, which browser you are using?
Could you also check whether you can update your browser version please?
Hey, thanks for asking! No don't worry about it, it's good for me to hear when people have the same problem again. It helps me know what priority to put it at. Unfortunately I'm not sure I'll be able to include it in the next update, but definitely the one after that.
In the meantime, if you want to try the game, you could add a QWERTY keyboard layout to windows so you can swap between the AZERTY and QWERTY layouts easily. (Then you'll be able to play with your AZER keys). Here's a link on how to do that.
Let me know if you have any problems with it (or if you use a different OS let me know and I can try and link you how to do that in there).
Hi thanks very much! If you want the chance to be a playtester and try some of the new levels early, you can sign up for that here.
Hi, thanks for letting me know! I think the cpu + gpu problem should be solved in the next update~
Hi, thanks very much :) New levels are definitely coming! if you're interested you can sign up here for the chance to be a playtester and try the new levels early. The next playtest is planned for ~late Spring.
Hi, thank you! I'm glad you liked the game, thanks for giving your feedback.
I already have around 9 levels total made (I don't want to spoil it but you do leave the room) you can sign up to be a playtester here and you'll have a chance to try the new levels early. I'm planning to do the next playtest some time in late Spring, if everything goes to plan :)
Hi, just wanted to say. Thanks so much for making a video of the game! It's always super cool to see people play it, and it's really helpful for me figuring out which things come across well/badly etc. I'm glad you enjoyed the game so much :)
You might have seen this already but you can sign up to be a playtester here and you'll have the chance to see new levels early when I next do a playtest (the plan is to do another playtest around late spring). However, I do ask playtesters not to stream the game, so maybe you'd prefer to wait for the final release.
Thanks again for making the video~
ooooo yesss going to sign up that sounds like lotsa fun. I’ll keep any of the play testing to myself no biggie :D how cool XD
Hi, thanks very much for leaving your feedback :) Even though it wasn't your type of game, I'm glad you appreciated how it was put together~
Hi, thank you. If you're interested you can sign up to be a play tester here and you'll have a chance to playtest new levels early. The next playtest is planned for ~May.
Thanks! If you want, you can sign up to be a play tester here and you'll have a chance to playtest new levels early. I'm planning the next playtest to be ~May.
Hi, sorry to hear that. Could you explain the exact problem are you having please? When I click the link https://discord.gg/7acATbT the invitation still seems to be valid. If you click "Accept Invite" what happens?
Hi thank you! you probably saw already but you can sign up to be a playtester here and you'll have the chance to try new levels early. I'm planning to do the next playtest around May.
Hey thanks very much, you might have seen already but you can sign up to be a playtester here and you'll have a chance to try the new levels early. I'm planning on running the next play test around May~
Haha, thanks. If you're interested you can sign up to be a playtester here and you'll have a chance to try the new levels early. I'm planning to do the next one around May.
Hi, thanks! Thanks for letting me know about the latency problem, can I ask were you playing the downloaded version or the browser version? The download version has some performance problems that should be solved in the next update. I'm working on some other updates to the beatmaking too, so I hope you'll try that out again when that's released.
Thank you! In case you're interested this post explains what I'm planning to do with regards to downloading the tracks. Hope that makes sense~
Hey, thank you! Do you mean the beats you can make in the beatmaking mode or the beats in the 'story' mode?
'Downloading' the beats you make yourself should be coming in the next update (at least for the desktop version), and for the 'story' beats I'm planning to arrange all those beats into short tracks like this one and release that 'album' along with the full game.
Obrigado! Na próxima atualização, você também pode jogar usando as setas do teclado. (traduzido pelo google)
I'm not sure which instrument you're missing, but as a guess I would check the desk in the bottom left corner~
Hi, thank you! Maybe you've done this already, but you can sign up to be a playtester here and you'll have a chance to try the new levels early. The plan is to do the next playtest around May :)
Also there is an update to the demo coming in a couple of weeks, but there won't be any new levels in it, just lots of system updates.
Hi thank you! I'm glad you liked it :) You might have seen already but you can sign up to be a playtester here and you'll have the chance to try the new levels early. The plan is to do the next playtest in May sometime~
yes! i already signed up. Im sharing this to my friends, good wishes on your project <3
Hi, thanks for asking! To clarify, there are 3 levels available to everyone for free. I'm also working to make a paid version of the game with around ~15/20 levels and I've finished about 10 of those levels. I also do closed playtests of the new levels sometimes, (I've only done one so far). I'm planning to do the next one of those in May. You can sign up for the chance to be a playtester here and I'll send out game keys to the people who are selected in May. (I'm not sure I'll be able to do everyone this time, as more people have signed up than I expected), but you'll still have a really high chance of getting a key.
I'll do a few playtests throughout the end of the year as I add new levels and tweak stuff. I'm still kind of focused on improving the core gameplay at the moment so I haven't done many playtests yet, but I'll most likely do a few more in the second half of the year.
Hope that makes sense~
Thank you, because I was really enjoying the game so I wanted to feel it at its full potential and I'll be looking forward for more levels and the full game (I'll definitely pay for it because of the relaxing vibe) so thank you so much love ur work and keep it up and take as much time as needed.
P.S. I've played the demo so much and find it fun still that's how you know it's a good game.
Hi, thanks so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it! You might have seen already but you can sign up to be a playtester here and you'll have the chance to try new levels early :)
Hey, thanks very much! :)
If you're interested in seeing more of what the game might be like later, you can sign up to be a playtester: here and you'll have the chance to try new levels early. The next playtest is planned for sometime in May. There's also going to be an update coming to the demo in a couple of weeks or so~
