Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD39 → Till the last spin
By kiirohanabi
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 591 | 3.10 | 50 | |
| Fun | 620 | 2.83 | 50 | |
| Innovation | 137 | 3.60 | 50 | |
| Theme | 722 | 2.91 | 49 | |
| Graphics | 649 | 2.89 | 49 | |
| Audio | 391 | 3.04 | 50 | |
| Humor | 250 | 2.85 | 42 | |
| Mood | 322 | 3.41 | 48 |
A narrative DDR-like game ? To say that I was suprised would be an understatement ! :smile:
For what was supposed to be a compo entry, the game is really solid ! The narration is great and hits home (for personnal reasons). The DDR segment felt like a real chart and I cannot start to imagine how hard it was to compose the music and create the chart for it in so little time !
Overall a great demo for a neat idea, I hope too see a full fledged version in the future !
Pretty awesome result for the jam. I was not sure whether I hit the arrows or whether I just completely failed, so a hit indicator would have been awesome. Other than that I like the style you went for and I hope you will keep working on it.
Good rythm game ! An indicator would be great to know if you failed or not. Otherwise I liked playing it !
The story, graphics and everything was great and the rhythm mechanics were a nice twist.
I agree with the others, some visual feedback on whether you pressed the key in time would be nice. I found the song fairly hard too (as a bit of a noob) so an easier level or just a slower start would have helped quite a bit.
It's a solid entry and I could easily see this becoming something more :)
I really would like to see the game finished, as the message you try to communicate is beautiful. The narrative/rythm mixed style is a clever way to do that, but the rythm part lake feedbacks and is very difficult from the beginning.
You should indeed complete your game so we can all enjoy it powerful narrative dimension!
I love the effect when the arrows shift after you missed too many times! Its pretty hard though^^
I'll definitely complete the game later! I'm really glad that my first game jam entry has been well received and I'm motivated to do even more!
You're all right about the **indicator** and the **lack of feedback** when you hit the arrows. Some friends even told me before but it was too late to implement it for the game jam.
The **difficulty** of the song was intended to make the player feel **overwhelmed** the first night, not being able to control what's happening. Then, the player will understand and face death in the best way possible. But for the game jam realease it only looks hard, I agree.
I also planned a **directed graph** where the player would move towards different **death acceptance steps** each night and each step would be a different song.
I'll also improve my music and graphic skills!! The song I made here was a little crappy at some points :D
Thanks again!!
You used a great narrative story to bring the game play. Can improve sounds and add an effect like glow to show if you pressed the keys or not too combined with the screen effect. Other than that great game.
An uncanny combination of narrative storyline and rhythm mechanics, would definitely like to see this finished!
There's nice elements like the arrows shifting when you fail too many times, and the indication of a deeper storyline. Other than that, there's not that much else to say about it. Yet.
It's very short, and the gameplay is somewhat borked in the sense that it didn't seem to register my inputs at points when I had an arrow perfectly aligned. So as you go on about developing this, give some leeway on how exactly the arrow needs to be on top of the indicators to avoid input lag or other similar problems. Smooth gameplay is still the most crucial element, even with a good narrative. Also some clear visual feedback on when you've succeeded is a given.
With that, I wish you good luck and hope you finish what you've started!
Thanks for your detailed feedback!!
@devastus I totally agree with you about the gameplay being not as smooth as it should've been. I already added some leeway to not make it frame perfect but I think the major issue is that GameMaker tends to slow down the game instead of dropping frames which is annoying for rhythm games. There's ways to drop frames and avoid the lag but I didn't have enough time to work on it. Not trying to make excuses here, but this is recurring in GM. Visual feedbacks are essential and will be implemented.
Really well done ! I do believe it misses a few feedbacks to know actually WHEN to press an arrow.
Nice game) We had almost the same idea at the stage of inventing the concept))
I really liked this game, it was really fun. cool concept. Overall this is really good. You should be proud. Good Job!! :)
I like the rhythm DDR mechanics! What I found harsh is that I don't get any feedback on the keys pressed correctly, I was never sure if I was doing it fine. Maybe just adding an animation, or just making the arrow bigger and flashy during a few frames, in order to see that was hitted, would have improved the overall enjoyment. Or reusing the screenshake that you already did ;p
@finlal Really? I'd be interested to know what you planned to do! :D
@emery Thank you very much!
@pnkthrepwood I will add more feedback!! Reusing the screenshake is not a bad idea at all, I'll think about what I can do with it, thanks for the suggestion!
Original! You took the theme for the narrative and wasn't expecting at all to see a rhythm game here. I love how when you fail (80% of the time as you must be super good to do it perfect)arrows change place and rotate. It seems interesting. Like to see more!
I really liked the arrow rotation when you failed epicly. As other people mentioned, some sort of visual or audio cue for when you actually hit then notes correctly would have been helpful. I won't spoil them for other people, but some of the jokes in there were hilarious, especially during the beginning of the dream.
Fun game!, I really enjoyed playing it.
^Oh, and I forgot to mention, I don't think the options button works.
Feels different from every other game in the jam! Very unique, with nice sounds and graphics, and also it has a good story.
Such an interesting approach to the theme. Bold and original. Would definitely play a complete version of this!
@secondthread I'm glad you liked it! Actually...the Options button doesn't work because there's no option...yet!
I planned to add volume, audio delay (for the rhythm part) and language settings but didn't have the time to do so. I forgot the remove the button for the LD release but I guess I didn't sleep enough to think about this in time haha :D
Game seems like it could be really neat if it's completed, but the lack of feedback on the arrows as well as how precise it seems you need to hit the arrows really sets it back right now.
Whoa, the way the arrows bounce to the side is a little scary and challenging. Hoo boy! That'll keep you on your toes.
Definitely add some feedback for hitting arrows correctly. Otherwise it feels empty. Otherwise, cool start!
Hi! Really liked how you used the theme, instead of the usual "running out of some resource" mechanic :p
I'm not good at rythm games so I failed miserably, but like others said, feedback for correct hits would greatly help. Hope you get to finish the game!
I see what you were trying to do with the typing sound effects by modulating the pitch but the tone itself was pretty jarring. I also agree that some feedback for positive hits would help. The feedback for negative was cool, and I really like the shifting of the notes.
@mr-mcgibblets Thank you for your feedback! I heard all of you and the positive feedback version is ready, I just need to upload it!
It's an interesting point of view about the voices. I did randomize the pitch like you guessed, the purpose was to give some Animal Crossing voice vibe here, I'm sorry you didn't like it. If I find out how to make it better one day, I will!
I'll be frank, I had...no idea what I was doing, with or without the feedback version. The story seemed interesting, although I had some trouble following along once the dream sequence (?) started.
Still super polished, even if I had no idea what was going on.
EDIT: I suppose I should note, while I'm not a rhythm game expert, I'm also not bad at them by any stretch; I'm a Thumper veteran and used to play a lot of Bit. Trip Runner back in the day when Wiis were still a thing that people used.
I really love the framing of the game, and visually it looked very nice, very clean. I like the shifting rows of notes in concept, but I found that it only served to punish me when I missed notes, so that I kept missing notes, and they kept shifting, and so on.
@cliffracerx Thanks for your feedback! I'd like to understand which part you didn't get, the story in the dream part, the rhythm game, something else? If it is about the rhythm game maybe you don't know Dance Dance Revolution? The core gameplay comes straight out of it, to which I added a story and some special parts, like the arrow shifting.
@will-walters Thanks!! The shifting causes confusion to the player so they need to stay on rhythm the most they can to avoid that. Even if it's a cool visual and gameplay effect, it is a punishing one. More than just making a rhythm game and adding some difficulty by shifting arrows, I wanted to give a meaning to it :
> "You're in a dream, at the beginning of your journey towards death acceptance and you're expressing denial. The dreams you're gonna experience every night relate to some of your memories, but if you don't stay on the right track (aka stay on rhythm ;)) during the process, your dreams may turn into nightmares."
That's how I implemented arrow shifting as a way to lose control over what you're doing, like losing control in your life, your beliefs, your emotions, you faith, or anything that resonates for you. :D
Unlike DDR you don't have the arrows disappear after hitting them or have a visual effect saying how good the hit was. I couldn't enjoy the game without any of the visual cues. At first I tried using the arrow keys, thinking they failed I tried using the wasd keys, giving up I then viewed this comment section. Also you have no visual effect for when you miss a note, however you do have one for when a note leaves the screen if you missed it.
Here is a question to think about: what is the point of a game without indicators of how good the player performed?
@timeracers When I was adding feedback to the updated version, I asked myself about adding what you're talking about. The "Good", "Bad" or even "Perfect" little text above the arrows which say how good the player is.
But I didn't want to use the same method, this is how DDR gives feedback but my game is setting quite a different atmosphere. To respect that atmosphere I wanted to give feedback based on feelings and pressure. And since I didn't want to rush that part, I haven't implemented it yet :D
When I'll find some tricks that please me and give quality feedback I'll definitely use them!
Anyway thank you for your feedback, it helps to how to improve my game in a better way! :D
Wow, that was hard. But the idea is pretty cool. Quite a novelty. As many already said, a bit more feedback would be cool. Maybe something like changing the arrow images to more distorted versions when you fail or something like that. But I guess you are creative enough to come up with something a bit more practical.
Might I propose that you read up on the "Five Stages of Grief and Loss"? It is a (somewhat outdated, but practical to use) psychological model of how people try to cope with learning that they (or close friends etc.) will die. Denial is actually the first stage and acceptance the last one in this model, so it might suit your idea. (Unless that is where you got the idea from and this note is completely useless. Oh, well ;))
@mr-madcat Thanks for your feedback! I'm working on finding innovative ways to display the feedback needed. I already updated the game with the basic glowing arrows when you press them but I will add more, don't worry :D
Actually...yes ^^' My game is based on these five stage and it is the core part of the narration. Feelings of the patient will be showing during dialogues and you'll be able to see the progression and the different stages. The score of the rhythm game determine which stage the patient will have to go on the next day.
But thank you very much for advising me that since it would have been really useful if I didn't have the idea already :D
I'm not fan of this kind of games, but it is actually very nice work. Good job!
I loved the concept of your game, it really touched me! :cry:
Woah, that was a heavy experience if I ever had one... The rhythm component was fluid and masterfully done, yet I couldn't shake off that uneasy feeling I got from the storyline. So - props to the developer, your narrative design is awesome!
@deadlyalive I'm glad you got to appreciate a style you're not familiar to, thank you for your feedback, it is really important to know that!!
@edwingamedev @shess Thank you so much, I suppose you're the kind of person that are in my targeted audience, so it is absolutely amazing to see your feedback, it means I achieved my goal, transmitting you this strong experience. And it's only the beginning! :D
I would've loved to see what the game would've been when it was completed. The story sounds like a deep one and would be great. I also love how the blip sounds were low pitched blips done by voice
8/10
Great narrative! Really cool game, as many people pointed out, it needs more feedbacks though. Pretty solid entry overall!
Really cool artstyle - cool gameplay.