Ad Libitum by Igor KinGamer

[raw]
made by Igor KinGamer for LD32 (JAM)
Play Ad Libitum (hehe) to destroy robots who can't appreciate music :)
Robots want to stop you when you're playing piano because they hate music... So use it to destroy them!

---------- VERSIONS SUMMARY ----------

Original version: Lots of bugs, difficulty selection not working

Fixed version: Original with basic bugs fixed

Adapted version: Keys changed to satisfy other keyboard layouts, so you can use the keys in the bottom of the keyboard whatever is your keyboard layout, starting from left shift (or maybe the non-letter key at its right if there's one):
- - (Shift, W/Y/Z, X, C, V, B, N, M/Comma) for the white keys
- - (A/Q, S, F, G, H) for the black keys
Also, the keys sounds were changed from MIDI, so if you have problems with sounds (or just wanna check, it's a bit different, maybe better) try this version.

---------- INSTRUCTIONS ----------

Controls:
Z, X, C, V, B, N, M, Comma (bottom keys of the keyboard): Play white keys on screen
S, D, G, H, J: Black keys
- Keys positions in the keyboard are analogous to the piano
- For controls in the adapted version, read above
- Hint: Place left hand fingers on Z, X, C, V (C, D, E, F notes) and right hand ones on B, N, M, ',' (G, A, B, C), spanning this way all white keys (or one key to the left in the adapted version)

Objective:
Destroy the robots by playing the notes (or intervals) appearing on them

---------------------

So... This is what I was able to do in 24h... Not quite complete, [menu buttons have no effect (and right now, writing this, I realized why x.x)] (fixed), but... Well, for 24h, thats somewhat satisfactory :)

Everything has been made by me using Game Maker. I just didn't have time to go for the compo :( But, anyway, I'm happy to submit a game to my second LD ever ^^

Ratings

Coolness 51% 3
Overall(Jam) 2.60 973
Audio(Jam) 2.96 426
Fun(Jam) 2.38 933
Graphics(Jam) 2.28 905
Humor(Jam) 2.57 654
Innovation(Jam) 2.67 753
Mood(Jam) 2.48 869
Theme(Jam) 3.13 684

Feedback

sebasRez
21. Apr 2015 路 16:33 UTC
I don't know much about music so I wasn't sure which key was which :(
馃帳 Igor KinGamer
21. Apr 2015 路 17:00 UTC
@sebasRez Unfortunately, I didn't have time to even think about putting labels or something on the keys :( But thanks for playing!

If you're talking about the keyboard <-> piano mapping, (Z, X, C, V, B, N, M, comma) are the white keys and (S, D, G, H, J), the black ones, according to their position.

But if you're talking about the keys' names, C = do (first key to the left), D = re, E = mi, F = fa, G = sol, A = la, B = si.
ArcturusDeluxe
23. Apr 2015 路 17:34 UTC
Cute idea. I like music-based games and this was an interesting take on it. Would have been cool if the robots appeared in order to play a tune, rather than just randomness. Good stuff though!
peterfsat
25. Apr 2015 路 13:40 UTC
Cool to see something similar to my game! Even though I know music, the keys where difficult to map without a guide or some hint. Nice game though!
FeniX
25. Apr 2015 路 15:21 UTC
Yeah, more music games! :D

I think that on "very easy" you could display hints on the keys - the note name and the key on keyboard that triggers it. On "easy" difficulty you might display only one of those hints - only controls or only sound names. It might make it easier to remember the connection between sound, key on the screen and the key on keyboard.

In my game I decide to display the name of the string you should play and the number of fret you should hold while playing to not eliminate people who don't know what are the names of sounds.

And BTW, the movement of robots' hands gave me an impression that they're coming on the wheelchair. ^^
Lo-X
27. Apr 2015 路 11:18 UTC
I was happy to find another musicgame but sadly:
I dunno if it's because I play it on wine on linux but the game freezes each time I play a note.
The keybinding is not handy for french keyboard, not at all.
I have no sound, for a music game that's too bad :( Again this is perhaps because of wine. Tell me so I can adjust my marks.
SloZigec
27. Apr 2015 路 12:31 UTC
I wish I knew what keys to press. A few hints to help with it wouldn't hurt. The game looks fun though!
馃帳 Igor KinGamer
27. Apr 2015 路 14:32 UTC
@Lo-X It's probably because I used MIDIs. I will change that (but I can't assure it'll work) and the keybinding to one that satisfies more keyboard layouts, and post it when I have time (probably tonight).

@SloZigec There's a hint in the description, if that helps.
馃帳 Igor KinGamer
27. Apr 2015 路 14:33 UTC
And thanks everybody for the comments ^^
bace1000
27. Apr 2015 路 15:35 UTC
The controls were confusing. Nice concept though - it really fits the theme :)
LukuluK
29. Apr 2015 路 00:02 UTC
I really like the idea, but it was really hard to clean the enemies waves, even in easy mode. Perhaps you should have taken less time to make several difficulty modes ?
馃帳 Igor KinGamer
29. Apr 2015 路 02:10 UTC
Within 24h, less time is no time :P
In fact, the different levels are all defined in 22 lines of switches that sum up to 7 (one redundant/unnecessary) assignments (valor = ...;) and a lot of indentation. Making the right notes/intervals appear in the robots took more time. :S

Here are the differences, should anyone be wondering:
Very Easy: Only white keys | Easy: All keys | Medium: Also intervals (M2, M3, P4, P5) | Hard: All intervals | Very Hard: Same as Hard, but in higher difficulties robots have more lives (badly implemented though).

And I have made it so the time interval between new robots coming would be 1~3 seconds, but now, looking at the code, I see why they come so close toghether (until now I didn't notice it wasn't what I supposedly did). Let's fix that... tomorrow...
KirbiKaka
01. May 2015 路 19:05 UTC
I'm also not super familiar with piano keys. Though, the game doesn't really punish you for just spamming all the keys all the time (which is kind of what I ended up doing). I think it would be cool if you could only hit keys in time with the music (and that would make sense because it'd put rhythm into the gameplay). Though you already have a lot here, especially for just 24 hours! Nice work :]!
epiplon
01. May 2015 路 20:19 UTC
I could not play, I thought that the letter "E" on the robot meant the "E" key on the keyboard.
TeamFlare
03. May 2015 路 11:57 UTC
Nice :)
Megalink
11. May 2015 路 21:43 UTC
Great Job! I like how it focus's on music!