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Music Game Jam 2018

Hosted by Xavier Ekkel · #MusicGameJam

1,196

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A jam submission

Rhythmic RiverView game page

Paddle along the river. Try to find the rhythm.

Submitted by HangarSeason (@HangarSeason) — 1 hour, 14 minutes before the deadline

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Rhythmic River's itch.io page

Results

Criteria	Rank	Score*	Raw Score
Visuals	#15	3.667	3.667
Innovation	#22	3.222	3.222
Overall	#32	3.111	3.111
Music	#45	2.778	2.778
Fun	#49	2.500	2.500

Ranked from 18 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Please list any pre-made art/music/other assets you used.
None

How many members in your team?

Team of 1

List your team's social media / website links!
https://seansoraghan.github.io/
@HangarSeason

Anything you want to say to players before they play?
Use a and d or the arrow keys to move left and right.
Use the pulsing moon to guide your rhythm.
If you move in time to the music, it will gradually build, with new layers being introduced as you go.
Turning for longer will give you more force. And will allow you to hear the music correctly.

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Comments

Jupiter_Hadley5 years ago

Nice world. I included it in my compilation video series of the Ludum dare 42 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look :)

FlederedSubmitted5 years ago

Simple and beautiful.

Submitted

ItoohSubmitted5 years ago

The two main difficulties I had was understanding that I had to hold the keys, and that I could not press consecutively the same key twice). Once that assimilated, it was a really pleasant experience! The music evolving through progress was really enjoyable! And the mechanics itself felt forgiving enough to me. The visuals are also really cool (even though it's weird to see chunks of the river appear at the last second). Good job!

Submitted

MetaBitlySubmitted5 years ago

Hey! I just wanted to let you know that a video of one of my playthrough/reviews is up and you're a part of it!
Take a look here:

Submitted

HangarSeasonDeveloper5 years ago

It's very kind of you to take the time to go through every single game, I hope you had fun!

MetaBitlySubmitted5 years ago

I did, I always like to give feedback =D It's important for growth, especially if you can try to find something productive to say!

Lytesander5 years ago

I think most of the "jarring" complaints are related to the second layer. Softening that a bit or choosing a less harsh tone (since its ever-present and high in pitch) might help. By the fourth layer I was really getting into the grove of things but around a certain point I just majorly crashed and burned. Some second chance mechanic would be good. Otherwise great game!

HangarSeasonDeveloper5 years ago

Thanks! Yes that musical layer could certainly be improved :P

MetaBitlySubmitted5 years ago(+1)

I'm kind of torn on this one. I think you'll see in the video, as I started to progress and the layering started to happen, I got a huge smile on my face, which instantly and irrevocably melted away with trying to manage the boat and rhythm together. It just seemed overly difficult for how chill and relaxing the atmosphere was. It was really frustrating having to go back to the beginning of the song ever time I missed a beat or tried to help correct my boat. I would suggest an auditory cue for hitting the buttons... I'm personally not a fan of visual cues for this kind of game... That or make the visual cue more clear, like giving us additional points of reference for beats. The river too, I think could load in more soon, to give it a more seemless look!

Great work overall though!

Submitted

HangarSeasonDeveloper5 years ago

I actually had the river loading in early, but then I made it load in "on time" so a new part of river will appear in time with the next beat. But yeah this kind of ruined the seamlessness ...

MetaBitlySubmitted5 years ago

Maybe there's a visually striking way of doing this, with some special effects that could maybe not be seamless but sort of interesting and fun. Like loading the water in before hand and having the landscape sort of animate in. There's a lot of room for fun here =D

HangarSeasonDeveloper5 years ago

Yeah! I agree, there could be lots to explore.

Daniel KimSubmitted5 years ago

Great submission! The visual looks pretty calming, and the overall feel felt soothing. I had trouble hitting the rhythm and making progress, and couldn't get to see the layering happening. Boat that might just be me!

Submitted

Lord KuroSubmitted5 years ago

The music was a little startling when it first popped up (maybe because it was starting off with a pretty sharp noise?), but that was a fun relaxing little game.

Submitted

IseeicySubmitted5 years ago

? I don't know why the others are saying that the sound was jarring, I found the whole experience pretty relaxing. Especially once it got to a point where I could navigate with my eyes closed, just by tapping in time with the music.

Submitted

Eternal September

HangarSeasonDeveloper5 years ago

Thanks :) I updated it since the initial feedback, so hopefully this is a sign it has become a bit more intuitive!

XzealioSubmitted5 years ago

This was very visually appealing. The sounds were jarring, mostly due to the repetitiveness and no smooth transitions.

I started trying to play it by tapping the keys in a rhythmic pattern which made it worse. Took me a bit to figure out I needed to hold the keys down.

Submitted

HangarSeasonDeveloper5 years ago

Thanks a lot. I'm working on making the mechanics clearer through visual indications, and smoother audio.

Aldas LenkšasSubmitted5 years ago

Sounds were a bit annoying. But the visuals, especially that water shader, were fantastic.

Submitted

HangarSeasonDeveloper5 years ago

Thanks a lot for the feedback. I've taken the advice about the audio and I'm trying to make it better/clearer :)