s-mol

veryeviltomato 2017-05-01 23:36

Didn't really understand what to exactly do but somehow I felt a lot of mood in the game, I liked it!

pickler 2017-05-02 02:34

Not sure how to play the game per say, but I did enjoy the melodies I was somehow generating! Nice mood!

baby-dino-herd 2017-05-02 04:39

Really innovative games that makes the most of such a small play area. The melody and rhythm are really nice. Got up to level four without really knowing what I was doing, and couldn't get past it. Was almost tempted to read the source to find out! Colours are really nicely chosen, too. :musical_note:

unless-games 2017-05-02 12:44

Glad you got what i was going for the most, which is the mood. I was thinking about ditching the puzzle/solution aspect completely, although if you click on the **?** icon in the left corner it unlocks all five levels and also disables advancing through them so you can just play around. Maybe I just needed to make that more visible, or give individual hints for levels. Not sure, since level 4 is the only one that is harder to solve so maybe I should just tone down that..

Thanks for trying and commenting!

connor-mcgrory 2017-05-02 17:02

Was confused as to what I was doing, but I loved the music it was making :D

steve 2017-05-02 20:22

An elegant and simple design, I like it! I also got to the forth level before getting stuck! :)

adcrusher 2017-05-15 03:51

I really like the idea of an audio puzzle, I never thought of that, pretty cool! That being said, I couldn't quite figure out what the puzzles were. I enjoyed listening to the music and figuring out which color was making what sound, but I couldn't figure out what the goal was. Got to the 4 square level and couldn't figure out what to do.

gamechoy 2017-05-16 21:09

Loved the concept. It was really relaxing to just mess around with the different shapes and see what tunes could be created. The puzzle elements were unique, I just wish there was more. Would be interesting if you expanded on this with different keys and puzzles. Nice job here!

tbaudon 2017-05-17 00:47

I had a hard time to figure out the puzzle logic, maybe it's because it's 3 am and i'm dumb as fuck. Once I got it i loved the concept nice!

ben-mceldowney 2017-05-17 02:10

Baffling but oddly relaxing. Would definitely have appreciated some sly hints.

blushine 2017-05-17 02:46

A very pleasant experience. I think this is the first time I've seen someone build a music puzzle game for Ludum Dare.

I never managed to figure out the 4th puzzle, so I just clicked the ? and skipped to 5. I think the game would have been just fine without the puzzle elements, but I also didn't really mind the puzzles until I got stuck. It might be nice if you start with all 5 levels unlocked, and completing the puzzle in each level unlocks a new musical element to use?

The aesthetic fit well with the music and the gameplay, although it felt a bit spartan. I would have liked to see some more visual effects. Make the squares jiggle, fade, bounce, emit particles, etc.

Doesn't seem like you really used the theme, but the game was enjoyable without it so I didn't mind.

endlessplumber 2017-05-17 03:06

Puzzles were a bit dense, but I (think) I figured it out. I beat the game, at least.

How I think it works: !> The goal seems to be to silence (or perhaps equalize) each puzzle. Each level had different mechanics that modified interactive elements (ex. the lights-out-esque level where clicking a colored block seemed to revolve the other blocks) or modified the audio tones (ex. the 4-square level where the yellow block is used to adjust the tone of each other block)

I kind of liked the lack of direction - it encouraged exploring the small game environment, and rewarded trying to tease out the patterns yourself. However, the relationships I noticed were a bit 'distant' from each other - I had to really look at some of them to determine if the effect I was noticing was actually related to the cause I thought.

I kind of got a Witness vibe from the obtuseness of some of the mechanics. I'm not sure that is a good thing - sometimes it means the player will just brute force a solution instead of understanding the mechanic you're introducing. If you revisit this game, consider holding onto a mechanic for longer than a level and tutorializing it a bit. That may make it more approachable.

Great music, puzzles were hard to decipher and may turn off gamers who don't really like puzzles. Overall a fun little experience. Would goof around with music again.

evan-minto 2017-05-17 04:02

I like this a lot. It fits the theme really well but in a unique, abstract way. I appreciate how minimalist it is, especially the way I'm encouraged to learn by simply playing with the elements until I figure it out. That said, it's a bit confusing, probably because it's possible to complete levels 1-3 by dumb luck and then not have any context for how to complete level 4. Despite that, this was a really cool, relaxing game to play. Good job!

doppelgunner 2017-05-17 05:16

Didn't get some of the puzzles. For me it doesn't fit well with the theme

randomhuman 2017-05-18 22:10

I had no idea what I was doing, but I enjoyed it thoroughly!