FoonLudum Dare ExplorerLD26 → Canon

Canon

By sparkleswirl

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CategoryRankScoreCount
Coolness1100
Innovation583.99
Theme824.13
Audio843.65
Mood1333.55
Overall1673.64
Fun2343.38
Graphics6152.95
Humor7561.96

Comments

saturnyn 2013-04-28 22:12

Hi, I love the concept, it's beautiful (but it is really really hard !)
Anyway, good idea and good work !

sparkleswirl 2013-04-28 22:22

@Saturnyn Thank you! Yeah it's pretty hard, even I have trouble beating it! =)

arkeus 2013-04-29 03:59

I really like the concept but I think that having to do it 3 times is a bit much. It's a neat idea and I like the difficult of coordinating the four sides, though. :)

mrexcessive 2013-04-29 04:03

Nice one... relaxing and stressful at the same time. very "gentle"

jesse111 2013-04-29 04:03

It gets extremely hard, as soon as the second block appears! I'm not complaining! Good job!

uberneen 2013-04-29 04:09

Brilliant concept and a solid implementation. It is hard, but it forces you to really break out of dull and mindless gameplay. It's a welcome change.

mark_hildreth_ld 2013-04-29 04:46

Really neat and fun, Font was a nice choice too. I had to give up on level 5. I think I would have preferred if the tone sounded when I jumped rather than land, though.

sparkleswirl 2013-04-29 04:54

@Mark: That's totally weird, because it's actually supposed to go off when you jump! I think it's another case of Flash sound lag, unfortunately. =(

daniel 2013-04-29 05:29

Clever game! Gets very tricky, I like :D

deadlyapps 2013-04-29 05:31

Really Hard... awesome game

soundboy 2013-04-29 05:32

Really smart and original concept, great choice of audio too. One of the best in the compo I've seen!

yajiv 2013-04-29 05:33

Love the idea, and it's surprisingly challenging! Nice job :)

bobo72a 2013-04-29 05:35

Difficult! But I like it.

raincole 2013-04-29 05:42

As hard as the first levels of superhexagon....

frr171 2013-04-29 06:16

Fascinating concept - I like it, but it's a bit too much for my reflexes, lol.

gizmo 2013-04-29 07:05

beautiful!

san 2013-04-29 07:18

Amagad, this is... waw, incredible, best atmosphere i've found yet in this LD!

gabehollombe 2013-04-29 07:24

Lovely sounds. Soothing, simple gameplay that is easy to learn and then rewards patience and practice. Very nicely done.

spierek 2013-04-29 08:17

Very unique, but horribly frustrating. It's hard to get into the proper rhythm.

omaromeir 2013-04-29 11:03

I absolutely love it, smart and minimal and challenging. It also has a relaxing quality :).

patrickward 2013-04-29 11:13

Fun game, but a little stressful. Too fast for me...I couldn't keep up in relaxed mode! I really like the game play though. The sounds are beautiful and the muted grey graphics are very appropriate. Very nice job.

charlesboury 2013-04-29 12:08

Ok, I give up ^^ But I will come back on this. I will win it !

chman 2013-04-29 13:04

Brilliant idea. It gets hard pretty quickly but it's fun !

jami 2013-04-29 13:23

Cool game! Really hard, I will come later to finish this challenge!

adventureislands 2013-04-29 16:31

Tricky and very challenging! Nice work, really original.

cosinep 2013-04-29 19:28

I like the minimalist sound effect style. It's also a very cool game, like how more cubes accumulate. Overall great.

orangepascal 2013-04-29 21:37

wow, that's difficult! :D very nice gameplay, wish it was slightly slower ;)

gertjohnny 2013-04-29 23:43

Neat concept - super hard to keep it going though. I wish I could rewind time slightly instead of starting from scratch.

aare 2013-04-30 00:36

Clever idea. My only complains is that the font might be a little better choosen. Somehow the current one doesn't seem to fit.

sparkleswirl 2013-04-30 00:50

@aare Yeah, I hear ya! I just got one of those "omg 5000 fonts" packages and I was dazzled, so I just picked some random ones and chose the best. Turns out having so many fonts isn't a good idea! Think I'll stick to the Fixel font next time.

mrhalfman 2013-04-30 02:24

Really nice game but a little bit too hard. Nice sounds :)!

daydalus 2013-04-30 02:43

Very original, but pretty tough. The collision was't very forgiving so died a ton. I did like the sound effects, how the notes would play a simple melody as you played the level. almost like Guiter-hero style rythm games. Nice work!

andrewshouldice 2013-04-30 02:45

Hypnotic and charming! A clever twist on rhythm games.

crazi456 2013-04-30 04:49

Very amusing game, kinda hard

emmelineprufrock 2013-04-30 04:57

Super beautiful.

cwilloughby 2013-04-30 05:24

I like it, kind of has some rhythm elements to it like mine. The level select screen was a little confusing - wasn't sure how to start. Audio and graphics are good.

qdowngames 2013-04-30 05:56

When I first played it I thought it was too dang hard; and then I realized I was on challenge mode - very fun!

sparkleswirl 2013-04-30 06:31

@qdowngames Challenge mode is actually "normal" since the game was balanced around it, but yes I found it too hard which is why I made "relaxed" mode. =)

@cwilloughby Yeah, I think the menu was the weakest part of the game. It was hard keeping it minimalist but also keyboard only. Definitely something I needed to spend more time on if I had more.

ncgames 2013-04-30 06:40

love it! glad I stuck with it

danielcmessias 2013-04-30 15:38

Hard game! Fits the theme perfectly, nice concept and well implemented! Great entry!

jlauener 2013-04-30 18:40

That a good idea and nicely implemented. Especially like how each dot correspond to a note.

But.. 1 block is ok. 2 block is well.. really hard!

jadams 2013-04-30 22:48

Once I got the hang of it I really enjoyed it. For me it was a strange mix of calming and intense.

lucasncv 2013-04-30 22:54

Charming. And challenging! Very challenging.

bloogloo 2013-05-01 03:44

Holy crap, that's really cool but really really hard lol. Honestly, it took me a minute to figure out where the heck the game was. Regardless, awesome idea. I just beat hop skip whatever, which was definitely the hardest so far. At one point, I tried being clever and used the same approach as in polarity, but that wasn't working that well for me! lol. anyway, awesome job! =D

fishbrain 2013-05-01 07:27

Original concept, well implemented. Tricky gameplay. Great work!

cherrynukacola 2013-05-01 08:08

Very clever idea and well executed.

syawqy 2013-05-01 13:43

simple, kinda elegant and a bit addictive

netmute 2013-05-01 19:17

At level 2 my hand-eye coordination basically stopped working ;) I very much liked the idea and the sound fit well.

GreyShock 2013-05-01 19:19

Great minimalism approach! It's a very interesting game mechanic that challenged my brain :P

enzo 2013-05-02 03:12

I kept trying to be frustrated, but because of the bells, I physically couldn't! Best sound design 2013
(I only switched to relaxed on the 2nd to the last stage, pretty proud of myself)

edocentrique 2013-05-02 10:17

Original gameplay !

metalcan 2013-05-02 10:47

Lots of fun, and really hard. Awesome use of sounds. It's all very fitting to the theme. Really cool idea, well done on making a very complete game.

keyboardthrashingfactory 2013-05-02 12:49

Man this game is hard. Great concept

thijsku 2013-05-02 19:57

Great game! I really suck at it though, so I didn't got far. :P Good job ;)

beldarak 2013-05-03 01:45

Definitely not my type of game, too nerve breaking. But the sounds are great and it really fits the theme. I would like to be more patient/skilled to heard how the game sounds at heigher level.

sparkleswirl 2013-05-03 03:27

@Beldarak Take a look at the gameplay video! That's why I made it. =)

zim-the-fox 2013-05-03 05:00

AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

I'm reminded of my violin classes. "You are getting ahead of yourself" the professor would tell me every single time xD

Boy, I need to go back to playing violin.

I had to give up at V. because my computer was starting to lag (too much stuff open) and it was throwing me off, but the game is perfect just as is. I'll try again tomorrow.

All fives!

zim-the-fox 2013-05-03 05:04

Adorable pony avatar, BTW :3

sparkleswirl 2013-05-03 06:20

@Zim: Thank you!

zim-the-fox 2013-05-03 18:09

And I finished challenge mode! That was amazing. Great job.

Perchance the most frustrating part was when I'd press a button one millisecond before the block fell down, so it wouldn't jump. But I guess that is my fault.

rafaelsales 2013-05-03 18:46

Really nice game. Very immersive and perfectly fits to the theme. Congratz!

sparkleswirl 2013-05-03 18:53

@Zim Yeah, the timing is really tight on the last three levels. That said, it *is* still possible to jump too rapidly.

granada 2013-05-03 18:57

Too hard too early. Great concept and very addictive. Great job!

zeelyndz 2013-05-03 20:22

This really neat, it get's really tricky really fast, which may be it's only downside.
(Also you tried to play my game but it was down, it's up now if you're interested!)

colapsydo 2013-05-04 11:44

I really love this game, it fits the theme, the sounds are nice, and the game is really challenging and even teach you coordination.
I spent more time on Mazurka than on Canonblat :)

First LD, I say "Congratulations!"

preordercancelled 2013-05-04 19:46

Excellent game - very difficult, but I really like the subtle musical theme that helps the player get the patterns down.

One of the best games I've played this Ludum Dare.

pabloalexandre31 2013-05-04 20:35

Very Hard, but a beautiful game. I really like the gameplay, yet more the sound effects. Great Job!

split82 2013-05-04 22:39

Extremely hard but nice :)

galman 2013-05-05 10:10

Nice game! Quite hard ;)

rujomarco 2013-05-06 15:29

artistic tiny game but so difficult! nice idea though

zkenshin 2013-05-07 01:12

Really nicely done. :) Longest time spent on a Ludum Dare game yet. ;P

sparkleswirl 2013-05-07 03:09

@zhenshin Hooray! With like 2000 games out there that's high praise! =)

moomoo112 2013-05-08 02:21

that's quite a tricky game to beat

catman 2013-05-08 06:34

Nice concept, very clever! Good job!

exclamation_mark 2013-05-08 10:55

Well done! Very nice take on the theme. Quite hard, but the challenge is fair and enjoyable. It's the good type of hard :) My only suggestion would be to add some sort of sound feedback when you are hit with an inactive (bright) block - that would help with getting in sync. Very good entry!

minionstudios 2013-05-08 15:05

Love this game! so simple and so challenging!

kill0u 2013-05-08 20:10

Nice game, too bad the difficulty get high so fast.

xanjos 2013-05-08 21:56

Really fun and challenging gameplay concept and the graphics and audio match the theme perfectly.

eatenalive3 2013-05-08 22:58

Amazing! I found it to be really fun trying to get into the perfect rhythm! I just wish you were able to make more difficult levels.

taro 2013-05-09 00:56

Reminds me a lot of Bit.Trip Core, easily my favorite in the series. Tough as nails, it is! Would be greatly enhanced if there were any background music to help sync with the beat (I even played it with the music "Control" from Bit.Trip Core just to make sure of it!)

sparkleswirl 2013-05-09 01:32

Thanks for all the feedback, guys!

@Exclamation Mark: That's a great idea! It makes perfect sense!

@EatenAlive3: You're the first person I've ever heard saying that! =D

@Taro Omiya: There were two reasons why I didn't put in a background music or at least a metronome. First was that there wasn't time. But the bigger issue for me is that Flash seems to like having music lag on slower computers (even now I'm hearing from people that the sounds don't play at the right time) and I really don't know how to deal with that. Making a game with in-synced background music is one thing I really want to figure out how to do though. :3

dmitrix 2013-05-09 04:13

Awesome. But it's soooo hard. XD

turbodindon 2013-05-10 13:51

I love the concept. The atmosphere is poetic and uncluttered.
Extremely hard, I'm very bad! x'D

milktoast 2013-05-12 01:48

OMG! My fingers are not up to the challenge!

madball 2013-05-12 14:50

You need to make slight background music, I often lose the rhythm. Other than that, the game is very nice. I liked the menu buttons.

ethankennerly 2013-05-12 17:03

Dodging blocks and playing musical notes interested me. If you continue to develop this, I felt awkward using arrow keys to perform a semi-musical task, and was wishing the interface were teaching me the mapping to playing the piano.

lightnarcissus 2013-05-13 16:19

Definitely not an easy game to play but I think you did a great job staying true to the theme.

sylvain-p 2013-05-15 16:15

It's distrurbing because the sound is relaxing and the gameplay is pretty hard and frustrating. But good work.

martin_monosys 2013-05-15 18:26

Uh, that was cool, but also quite hard... must try this relaxed mode... :)

mcc 2013-05-20 08:04

This was exquisite. I loved so many things about it.

I loved the help menu, right off the bat.
I loved how the board looked as an abstract symbol even before you started moving.
I loved how I couldn't play at first because I was much too busy just playing with the arrow keys trying to make tiny instrumental music.
I loved how the center block was just barely large enough to put all four "players" in your peripheral vision, meaning you couldn't rely on platforming and had to focus only on the rhythm. The block movement became a metronome.
I love how this is— seriously— as far as I can remember, the only rhythm game I've ever played that made me feel like I was playing a musical instrument. AND I'M INCLUDING HERE THE GAME WHERE THE CONTROLLER WAS A LITERAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.
I loved the "oh, heck yes" moment where I realized "how to beat" level iii-- a precise set of muscle instructions that allowed me to "play" the level on a groove-- and I loved the moment where I realized, after like 3 attempts to beat the level ended with me screwing up on the last jump attempt, that my level iii strategy derailed completely when the first block left the screen (thus putting a hole in the rhythm/groove I'd put myself in).
I loved how throughly the game resisted my efforts to put it down and do anything else.

My one frustration was how the jump was very small and the game was thus quite unforgiving, even more so than seemed necessary to keep the rhythm feeling consistent. I wished the squares' hitboxes were circles.

I got to level V and stopped there, exhausted and with aching fingers. I will be playing more of this. A lot more of this.

joshua 2013-05-20 10:21

Definitely one of my favourite entries so far. Good work!

jyrkface 2013-05-20 17:19

Wow, this is pretty fantastic. I feel like playing it a lot could actually help with rhythm/coordination for playing actual instruments :)