UPSHIFT by Jessica Hayley

[raw]
made by Jessica Hayley for LD35 (JAM)
Go up to win!

instructions:

arrow keys to move, you gotta hit them on the beat!

get to the green goal! you gotta be the same shape as the barriers to pass through

if you're having trouble, refresh the page


programmed by jenn kaplan (@jkap) and jessica hayley (@imjayhay)

composed by lena raine (@kuraine)

logo by erica lahaie (@aurahack)

Made with Phaser (also I'll say "HTML5", just so this appears in the keyword search for it)

Ratings

Coolness 62% 3
Overall(Jam) 3.78 121
Audio(Jam) 4.10 30
Fun(Jam) 3.62 155
Graphics(Jam) 3.39 512
Humor(Jam) 2.15 675
Innovation(Jam) 3.81 90
Mood(Jam) 3.56 217
Theme(Jam) 3.44 465

Feedback

XAND
18. Apr 2016 · 00:33 UTC
I like it, Id suggest some instructions so people know how to play right off the bat. :)
Hyoga-3D
18. Apr 2016 · 16:20 UTC
Sometimes it seams that the controls don't work, I don't if the game has a delay or what. Difficult to understand at first, once you get, it has a good gameplay.
JNI
18. Apr 2016 · 16:25 UTC
The game is good but you have to write an introduction.
AlexLamarche
18. Apr 2016 · 21:21 UTC
Unique. This could be a very nice mobile game!
MalyTimi
18. Apr 2016 · 22:07 UTC
WoW! Simple superfun idea and clean graphic. When you catch the beat this game realy gets you. 5/5
Arvydas
19. Apr 2016 · 04:07 UTC
Great game concept! Surely an alternative to Rock Band
rcrmn
19. Apr 2016 · 16:14 UTC
It took me a while to catch the beat. And you should find some way to avoid spamming the key (survived a couple of times thanks to that). Cool!
Le_Sarus
19. Apr 2016 · 16:14 UTC
When the beat kicks in I was immediately into this game, the controls seem to go a little out of time with the beat sometimes but I love the idea! Great potential.
samlo
19. Apr 2016 · 18:54 UTC
Controls seem to have a different amount of delay on different devices? Didn't work well on my laptop but worked fine on my computer. Great soundtrack!
ChummyWinds
19. Apr 2016 · 19:10 UTC
Wow honestly I really liked this game. It's pretty difficult, but really awarding when you get grooving. Very well done.
JALgames
19. Apr 2016 · 19:14 UTC
This game was really fun, although the controls sometimes felt unresponsive (I guess I was just not exactly hitting the beat, but it felt unfair) and I did not like that the game restarted completely each time. Apart form that though, it was a very nice game.
blinry
19. Apr 2016 · 20:12 UTC
Nice game! I also felt kind of hindered by the controls, but I loved the basic idea and especially the nice build-up in the music! I'd play more of this!
arzi
19. Apr 2016 · 21:21 UTC
It took me a while to figure it out, but after that it was pretty fun! Also, it seems I don't have that good a sense of rhythm :(
omlette.du.fromage
19. Apr 2016 · 21:56 UTC
Finally an original rythm game. Really good interpretation of the theme, really good music, immersive game.

The first issue that I recognized was that there is little to no feedback for when you get the beat right or wrong. It took me a bit to figure out the controls.

The second issue is that I think it's too hard. Allowing hits to be slightly more off beat would tip the difficulty balance right in the sweet spot. This way, players feel they're making progress, but at the same time they don't get it for free.

I've been playing this for the past 30 minutes and I love it. The way I found it works best is if I keep the tempo with the left hand while tapping the direction with the right.
🎤 Jessica Hayley
19. Apr 2016 · 22:24 UTC
Thank you so much everyone for playing and your comments! We definitely hear you about the keypress window needing to be a little more forgiving -- we really wish we had more time to polish that during the jam.

Also, if you enjoyed the music you can hear to the full version here: https://radicaldreamland.bandcamp.com/album/upshift

Thanks again <3
zwrawr
19. Apr 2016 · 22:58 UTC
My fav so far , great concept. I hope you develop this more!
Just Tom
19. Apr 2016 · 23:21 UTC
Once you get a feel for it, it feels great! I kept jumping in just to try and get further. The tunes are swell!
BrianSChung
19. Apr 2016 · 23:45 UTC
Favorite game I've played so far. Tight timing window but that makes it feel rewarding to learn to hit it consistently.
Sean
20. Apr 2016 · 00:00 UTC
Wow, this really took me by surprise! Definitely one of the best games I've played yet.

I agree with the other comments that there should be a bit more feedback so you know you hit/missed the beat, but other than that this felt really polished!
Rise and Shine Games
20. Apr 2016 · 02:24 UTC
Great job!
mennchen22
20. Apr 2016 · 13:18 UTC
Rly hard to get the beat , but nice Game. Pls make it more comfortable ^^
Larzan
20. Apr 2016 · 16:11 UTC
Wow, this was... it is... wow.
What an awesom idea for a rhythm game, this is the best game i have played so far (out of 35 or so).
Well done, gfx, sound, gameplay, idea, 10/10 !
+1 for using phaser, so 11/10 ;)
mooncalf
21. Apr 2016 · 06:15 UTC
Solid entry. Difficult to grasp what to do.
MightyToastStudio
21. Apr 2016 · 08:55 UTC
I really like it, but I can't contribute anything to improve it, when will the game on android? :3
Mixer
21. Apr 2016 · 11:41 UTC
This is a fantastic game, once you get the hang of it! It's very polished (I loved the level transition, shape tweening etc), and the music was perfect. Great work.
LandoSystems
21. Apr 2016 · 12:55 UTC
Very cool and surprisingly difficult! (Maybe that's just my poor rhythm)
Danoli3
21. Apr 2016 · 17:36 UTC
Great game! I love games utilising beat mechanics and sound!
ZeroFaction
21. Apr 2016 · 18:39 UTC
Great game! Timing the key presses to the max size of the shapes makes it work well, the audio seems just a micro bit off to me.
SHLFStudios
21. Apr 2016 · 18:42 UTC
I like it, but i dunno... maybe there was latency in my brainspace but I had a hard time matching the beat. feel like things were a bit out of sync. also, +1000 funpoints for the polish. it's a great looking game.
Roland M
21. Apr 2016 · 19:22 UTC
I like the idea, well done. =]
jonnopon3000
21. Apr 2016 · 19:28 UTC
I sometimes experienced an input delay making the second level very difficult! Great concept though, sounds great and looks great.
APantaloni
21. Apr 2016 · 20:49 UTC
This game confirmed what I always suspected: I have no sense of rhythm :) Very enjoyable and clever!
sepharoth213
21. Apr 2016 · 22:13 UTC
This game is great! I love the way it feels to play. I wish there wasn't so much latency with audio so that there could be some audio feedback when I move.
lightsoda
22. Apr 2016 · 11:19 UTC
Controls felt good, enjoyed the music build up. I kept losing the beat when waiting for pieces to pass through, maybe there was a way to keep going without pause.
unnamed1334
23. Apr 2016 · 00:17 UTC
Really cool game. I just wish it was a bit easier. To me, it looks like the game is suffering from desinc. After about 30 seconds, the music on the title screen was playing in between the visual beats.

Other then not being able to make a long run, the game is very fun. I ended up playing for a hour even with the bug.
gnerkus
24. Apr 2016 · 08:05 UTC
Moving with the beat is cool. Also, the art is simple and clean.

The controls were a little too slow. I'd also have preferred a little music to go with the pulsing shapes.
Roan Contreras
24. Apr 2016 · 12:43 UTC
That music caught my attention to keep on playing this game and keep advancing to get that awesome part of the tune. Really nice! Thank you so much for this game (I would play another round for the music LOL) :D
Odyssey
24. Apr 2016 · 19:28 UTC
Love the rhythm aspect!
Mr MadCat
24. Apr 2016 · 22:22 UTC
Really like it that someone did a rhythm game. Great soundtrack. :)
docteurSid
25. Apr 2016 · 07:08 UTC
Really nice game :)
I think the user interaction can be improved as it is quite hard to see the shape of the incoming border (with the superposition), but I have nothing to propose :(
okoto
26. Apr 2016 · 03:22 UTC
Lacks an introduction, and the time to change position could be a little more precise, forgetting that the game is well done.
shane1090
27. Apr 2016 · 23:31 UTC
Took me a while to get how to play the game and found it quite difficult to maintain the beat. I think a tutorial would have helped a maybe a slower beat to get used to the mechanics. Solid concept the presentation was very nice.
CaptainPilot
02. May 2016 · 21:18 UTC
Really cool concept, love the transition between levels, just remove the beat basic movement as it's more annoying than fun.
OnlySlightly
03. May 2016 · 02:19 UTC
Controls seemed unresponsive or a little off-beat, the music is absolutely amazing and beyond what I'd expect for a game created within a weekend. Sounds and rhythmic gameplay triggers for them are on point. Design is very clean and minimal, that's my joint
emmelineprufrock
03. May 2016 · 02:19 UTC
So awesome. Love the way this looks and the way it sounds. 100$ on feely-juiciness, etc.

SOOO good
kwmx
03. May 2016 · 22:43 UTC
Really cool game!
Brickkid512
08. May 2016 · 14:07 UTC
Overall, it's a really good game. The Music and gameplay really complement each other.
Kuupu
08. May 2016 · 16:18 UTC
Nice entry!

Looks like a over simplified version of Necrodancer! (not a bad thing AT ALL!)

I think it would play awesomely on a mobile device, consider it!

The transition animation are right in the point, not too fast, not too slow

the ONLY thing that bothered me is the fact that the game is about rithms and the music don't have a strong beat to follow