I'm wondering if Clicking and dragging count as 1 input, or if in the spirit of the jam they would count as 2 separate inputs? I ask b/c with a mouse I can trivially have mouse with dragging gameplay, but the same is not true for a spacebar.
100%. Probably the biggest theme I've seen so far is that the game would be vastly improved with some combination of a tutorial song/easy songs to ramp up. Plus I'd want to spend time in-game describing the hold time and turn length scores, since they're really important for scoring overall!
I dont think any of the feedback here is negative, it's quite helpful! I agree with alot of the points you bring up. I suspect we'll do a pass over the game to improve these points after the jam rating is over.
Regarding color blindness.... we did actually almost solve it. We had originally done guitar hero style notes with different shapes, but at the last second we had to change the gameplay, which unfortunately reintroduced this issue again.
LETS GO! I WAS WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO MAKE A PERFECT SCORE !
Now you're in the club with me. :D
Regarding note accuracy, yea how I approached the game data originally really bit me in the butt there, so it was hard to nail it down precisely. I got most of the way there but sadly I missed a few spots by the time the jam was up.
And yea the endings were abrupt unfortunately. There was more to the songs, but I had to cut it to submit the game on time. In an ideal world you wouldve played each full song
Thank you alot for playing! This comment is gold for me b/c of so much useful feedback here.
To address your points: * Tutorial: 100% agree: that seems to address the common thread among players so far. I honestly did not realize how hard I had made it, but like you said, once you get it, it really gets going. I think in the future adding a tutorial level will be the best remedy here.
*Fullscreen: My bad, I just realized I accidentally disabled full screen on the itch page. I just checked it on, so itll be available now.
* Bar on the left: That was a progress meter, kinda similar to guitar hero. It went along with score in the upper left and showed you visually how many notes you got. Probably need to improve that UI.
*Score: Yes, currently best % is beats. The hold time and turn length scores are "modifiers" to the beats % score if that makes any sense. I noticed during playtesting that beats by itself was too easy to cheat, b/c you could waggle away and get the majority of points that way. Those two modifier scores acted as a way to dissuade that (tho I agree I could have better enforced those rules in the game). The goal is to get the highest number of beats possible, while minimizing hold time (how long you hold your mouse down on the disc) and turn length (how often you turn the disc). Regarding aggregate score, that's a good idea, tho I'll have to sit down and figure out the math formula to doing that one correctly. All of this tho goes back to your other feedback point too, getting a good tutorial level.
* Pressure: Yep we'll need to add in some failure mechanics for sure. Atm it seems like it's mostly up to the player whether they go for 100% or not. If they do, the experience is difficult and fantastic, otherwise it's a little too lax. I need to study how other games do it.
*Songs too short: That feels like the best criticism ever. Song 3 was originally longer but I was kinda scared I made it too brutal at the time. Now it feels like I have permission to go in there and make it harder :D ... right after I get a good tutorial level working.
Just played your game too and it was really fun :D. Left a comment on your page.
The beatmap system was honestly pretty simple. Just an array of timestamps plus what color note to play. When the song timer reached a timestamp the note would appear and travel down the screen. I feel like the majority of the game design came down to how the disc handled.
This was my first forray into any kind of audio programming, so getting the gameplay to sync up correctly was hell. But I enjoyed making this game alot!
I love how we both had the same idea for a game but took it in wildly different directions. The game has a really simple design but it's really versatile! I like how the hand is directly involved in the action, not just for spinning the wheel. That's something I'll try and experiment in with my game too :D
Great job syncing the music with the game, I know your pain lol. That mustve been hard to setup correctly,
Also the tutorial level was a great idea, well executed in the song. Wish I had done that myself.
Note: it's available for both web and windows. If there are browser issues (such as crashes or audio sync) please do try the windows version instead. Please make a note if you do run into that issue, but otherwise for criticism focusing on the game's design is much appreciated!
I simplified songs 1 and 2 just recently so ideally they should be easier to play if you'd like to try again :) Song 3 will still be hard though.
Regarding feedback, I agree alot! The original plan was to include a hit sound effect when you hit the note correctly, but unfortunately the web audio didnt sync that sound effect correctly (it consistently lagged) and threw off the rhythm every time. It kinda works on windows, but there's some variance that's grating to the ear sadly. I'll try and see if I get any luck fixing this issue, but still glad you enjoyed your time playing the game!
It's not just you, for some reason the web build can get very inconsistent across multiple browsers. For some it desyncs the audio horribly, for others it works fine. Unfortunately it runs fine on every browser I've tried so far and it drives me nuts I can't reproduce the issue! I've also had folks try it on the browser of their mobile phone and it ran fine... yea this one's hard to track down.
Glad to hear the PC version of the game ran fine though! Happy you enjoyed it :D
Thanks for the feedback! I took your advice and simplified the first level quite a bit! It should also be in better sync with the song than before. Song 3 is still very hard tho, fair warning
Thanks for giving it a try! Just in the last few minutes I synced up songs 1 and 2 to their songs in a new build and simplified them if you're still willing to give that a go. Ideally 1 and 2 are the "easier" songs of the game... but song 3 will still be hard lol.
Very enjoyable experience! I'm thoroughly impressed with how fleshed out you made conversations here.
I could only imagine if games took the time to make basic conversation more engaging just how fleshed out they would be.
I plan on tackling dialogue sequences in a similar style presented here. This is a really good example of how to flesh out background characters in a game.
I like the art style quite a bit, I think it shows promise! Character's expressions show through clearly.
The premise is very interesting, and there are a lot of route choices, which is impressive to implement in 2 weeks. I kept dying alot on the bad end routes though (10/10 would play again)
I do feel that without audio a chunk of the experience is missing (or at least I didn't get audio when I played it). Of course, from my own fires, I know audio is really, really hard to do. My only advice then is to see if you can find atmospheric sound effects that can sell the effect of the moment decently enough.
