Very nice game, music is on point. The first time I played it I was worried about the difficulty, but the second time I was tottaly in with the music, great job!

I love the simplistic style of the game. Excellent way to convey controls and how to play without introducing a tutorial. I will say the first couple times it was difficult to judge which square was going to hit first, It may just be that im bad at rhythm games. Perhaps having a line attached to each square that went around the center so you could quickly eyeball its distance relative to other notes.

Fun facts:
- The assets contain only one sprite. Its size is 1x1.
- Part of the game is written in PHP - the web application "backend" - the API for leaderboard.
- Creation of the server instance and installation and configuration of the server software was started < 18 hours before submission deadline. (I had nowhere to host it so I ordered a VPS on Saturday. It took almost 2 days to get activated.)

Fun and challenging. Although the hard mode is way too challenging for me and my poor low quality keyboard! The music is great and the highscore server is a big bonus.

Not a rhythm game aficionado me, so I cannot offer many pointers, but I do agree with @boats on the timing problem. The blocks coming from the sides show up earlier than those from the top or the bottom even if they are going to arrive later. I think this is the reason for the issue. Maybe completely covering the sides with black would work.

Good work, have some :notes:

@j-hong, @boats, @huvaakoodia: Thank you for your feedback!

@boats, @huvaakoodia: I just fixed the bug with squares appearing "outside of the main game area" when playing in fullscreen mode on a non-square monitor. Thanks for reporting, I haven't noticed it since I only tested in Safari, which does not support fullscreen (at least for Unity WebGL games). The lifetime of all squares (from sides and from top/bottom) should be the same now thanks to you!

Super-groovy!

I didn't realize it was a rhythm game at first, but once I did, it really cam together. Great music and fun gameplay!

I love that the game only contains one sprite. It just goes to show you, graphics don't need to be sophisticated for a game to be fun.

tons of fun, it had some cool moments, some easy ones and some nigh impossible ones, music was very nice so kudos to @cheeslo for composing something so quickly, graphics are serviceable, the muted tones are a nice departure from most rythm games, tough some animation on colors might have spruced the playscape a bit.

The track (hard) was pretty challengign at first, then when I got used to it it felt pretty good, there were a recurring part that was a bit too much for me when squares come from all 4 directions and sometimes at the same beat. But overall it was enjoyable, tough once I missed a beat it was a bit hard to get on track because of the shaking.

And good work setting a leaderboard a definite plus! also props for taking proper care of the webpage and caring about performance.

Such a cool game. I managed to get the third rank in easy mode so I thought "hey finally I don't suck that much at rhythm games". Then I tried the hard mode and that was a complete humiliation ! But anyways, that game is really neat. I'd love to see more (easy) levels because it makes me feel like I'm good at it ! I liked the music a lot. Congrats.

Nice, pretty cool minimalistic rhythm game. One of my favourite games of LD38 so far. Not sure how well it fits the small world theme though. Well, the interpretation can be quite loose! :D

I noticed Unity WebGL builds work only on my laptop, but not on my PC. I wonder why that is.. Both have Chrome. t_t

The game is quite fun, even for someone who has never really played any rhythm games. I found the easy mode quite challenging, but in a good way. I sometimes found it hard to tell when there are more than two blocks coming in, which one is first. Another thing I didn't like was the screenshake, since it really threw me off, and I usually missed quite a few blocks, until I managed to recover.

Overall really cool game, that is very satisfying if you manage to pull off something hard

Cool small rhythm game! I like the screen shake when you fail. Did you use an perlin noise algorithm?
Minimalistic and fun :smile:

@samurai-spark: No, something even simpler - the simplest possible thing :smile:: adding a random vector (generated from uniform distribution) to a fixed position, with amplitude decreasing exponentially over time. This is what I have attached to the camera:
```
public class Shaker : MonoBehaviour {
public float amplitude = 0;
Vector3 originalPosition;

void Start() {
originalPosition = transform.position;
}

void Update() {
float diffX = Random.Range(-amplitude, amplitude);
float diffY = Random.Range(-amplitude, amplitude);
transform.position = originalPosition + new Vector3(diffX, diffY, 0);
}

void FixedUpdate() {
amplitude *= 0.9f;
}

public void AddShake() {
amplitude += 0.3f;
}
}
```

btw. if you (or anyone else) are interested in the complete source code, I will send it to you. :wink:

Really fun, my only gripe is that the squares sometimes didn't seem to completely line up with the beat sometimes, and I had to press the keys based on visual rather than auditory cues

Also, a hold down type square would be nice for the long chords

In terms of fun, you can't really go wrong with a rhythm game. I like the minimalist design as well. The music is good and the blocks line up well with it. I really suck at rhythm games, so your easy felt hard to me. :grin:

As for gripes, I don't see how it fits with the theme, and it doesn't seem especially innovative. Since the name is "Protect" I expected something more than just a slightly different way of thinking about failures at hitting the beats. The one idea that this game made me think of is a rhythm based tower defense. I don't know how that would work, but its just an idea inspired by your game.

Thank you all for your feedback!

@joyfired: Was that an inaccuracy of specific squares/notes or of all squares/notes at one moment? I was thinking about long notes you suggested during the development, but I wanted to keep it simple (especially from the design and implementation point of view: How would the scoring work? Would player get score at the beginning and at the end based on how precise he/she pressed/released the key or continuously while holding the key? What should it look like? One long rectangle? Would it have a different starting colour (e.g. dark square at the beginning, then pale rectangle)? I would need to change the internal structure of the code possibly breaking what was working...) I will keep it in mind and maybe implement it in the future.

@jushiip, @move127: **Regarding the not-so-good fitting with the theme:** I admit the game could adhere to the theme more than it does. The original idea was ~*DSP world*: the blue square in the centre is a sine wave generator, which needs to be protected from rough waves or noises (e.g. square/sawtooth waveform or "drum pulses") disrupting it (because those waveforms contain sudden changes, which are much more audible than a smooth sine). (Don't judge me, I wasn't fully awake at that time :neutral_face:). This is why @cheeslo used so "aggressive" instruments when composing the music to match the "enemies", which he captured really well imho. Because the original idea was too technical and kind of stupid or at least not understandable for most people (and because I didn't want to clutter the visuals with textures/sprites), I decided to keep it simple (to avoid forcing the theme into the game at all costs) and just stick to a simple description I have written in the main post under "Thought processes" as an explanation of how I got from the theme to the actual game. I believe this was the lesser of two evil, which isn't that bad after all. :wink:

@move127: Rhythm-based tower defence sounds great! I won't be able to fall asleep today... :smile:

Excellent - loved it. Rhythm games are all about the quality of the music and this one had a great music. I played it in chrome and was surprised how good the timing was. I tried in on android also in browser on nexus 7 and was surprisingly playable, but feels like if you are on touch screen you need to leave one side free for the players hand to not block the view. Also if you have a couple of quick ones for the same direction the overlap makes it hard to see them well so maybe make them narrower or something. Had a lot of fun, Great work.

@automatonvx: Thanks for feedback and testing the game on Android! I was thinking of adding a border or shadow to the enemies to distinguish them from each other. Thanks for the idea for a new approach.

Nice rythm game with good music. The easy mode was quite challenging for me but in the end I got a positive score :smiley:

The screenshake made me a bit motion sick (but I am prone to that sort of thing), maybe another type of visual feeback like changing the color of the blue block would work better?

Overall, I had fun playing your game.

It's a great game! The destruction of enemies is super satisfying with the screenshake! It was pretty difficult even on easy mode and I would add a proper lose condition (I couldn't find any at least). Other than that this is super fun to play!

So. Took me like, 30s to realize it was a rhythm game. When I did, I crawled out of my -55000 hole and ended with #16 on the leader board. That was a fun feeling but at the same time I think the 'easy' setting could be a bit 'easier' and not as long. I think 1/3 the length would be ideal for a first run. The current 'easier' setting would be a good mid-game difficulty. That being said, the controls felt 'right' and the music was good and not cluttered. Art was square on the blocks for what the game was trying to do!

Good overall 7/10.

Fun game, good music, easy mode was not quite so easy. Nice entry! (ranked #20 55,192)

I found this super fun! I love rhythm games like this, especially since it's usually pretty easy to tell which instrument to start tuning into when trying to hit the notes. They were pretty accurate too for the most part, so it was all the more satisfying! Easy was still pretty difficult (able to get to rank 3 though! Feels good), so I'm a little afraid to try out hard. One main criticism I have is that it is difficult and kind of frustrating trying to tell just how many notes were coming up in succession. The squares end up just becoming one big line, especially towards the latter half of the song, and I'm always a bit unsure as to whether it's two quick notes, three, four?

Overall very fun, and can be super addicting especially if there were more songs to play! Great job!

The music was good, and I like how it synced with the game itself. My main problem is that even easy is really hard. I'm not sure if it's just me, because I placed #25(I'm assuming this is bad). xD

Like other people have pointed out. It's a very challenging game, especially the hard mode. Music is great.

Really nice game! The fact that the objects came from 4 directions creates a different gameplay compared with Guitar Hero, for example. Good work!

Nice minimalistic rhythm game. Loved the music. :)

Yay it's a rhythm game, I played through a few times and put some numbers on the leaderboard :D

Nicely done with the original music! Producing decent-sounding music is quite difficult in a weekend so it's cool to see a game that focuses heavily on that aspect. The track you've composed is long and interesting enough to be fun for multiple play-throughs of the game.

Other things I particularly liked:

- The note patterns and arrangements vary between different sections the same way the synths provided varied timbres in different sections of the musical track. This felt good to experience
- The leaderboard is a nice touch
- Animations that are subtle but effective -- I like the screen shake. It's really important to give the player immediate feedback about what's happening in the game, and there's no ambiguity about when you're messing up :)

Most of my suggestions for improvement will be along the lines of this last point, because there's a bit more you could do to make sure players have a successful playing experience from their very first time opening up the game.

- Aside from the rather cryptic "Use arrow keys to defend!", there is no instruction to a player or indication about exactly *how* to defend with the arrow keys -- I think the mental mapping between "a square approaching from one side" and "I should press that key when it overlaps the square ring" is not as obvious as you think it is. For example, it'd be reasonable to guess at first that you as a player need to shoot the squares, or interact with them in some other way.

- This is exacerbated by the fact that the player is punished immediately for experimentally pressing keys by suffering a score deduction. This feels unfriendly at first.

- Once you figure out it's a DDR-like rhythm game, it's still ambiguous where exactly the hit targets are. Adjacent outside the ring? Inside the ring? On top of the blue dot?

- The very first non-trivial rhythmic pattern the player has to produce (the syncopated kick drum + hat pattern) is also one of most difficult ones to read, due to the syncopation. Straight eighth notes are easy by comparison.

Here are some possible fixes:

- Show the hit targets as four square outlines on top of the ring, where notes should be when you press the key. This eliminates positional ambiguity
- Light up the outlines when the corresponding key is pressed, to reinforce the correct mental model of how to play the game much faster
- Make mistakes trigger score deductions only in Hard mode
- I totally get that you want to discourage mashing. You're already scoring by timing accuracy -- I think you might be able to sufficiently discourage mashing by just making the hit window larger and giving very low scores for keypresses that are way off
- Give the player some easier note patterns first, before making them produce the more complex syncopated rhythm

Aside from that, the core gameplay is good! If you're looking for additional features, I think taking the "space defense" metaphor further might be interesting to explore. Equating the notes/steps with enemy ships, what kind of gameplay features would you expect to find in a space defense action game? Notes that move at different speeds from other notes? Notes that require multiple taps to destroy? There are tons of possibilities.

Difficulty levels have misleading labels... no, there's no such a thing as easy difficulty in your game :grinning: Anyway, it was fun experience with neat chiptune music!

A minimalist rhythm game! Here’s the quick rundown of my thoughts:

PROS
- Nice original music
- Controls feel smooth

CONS
- Lack of some quality of life things for rhythm games, like color coding the notes to show where on the beat they fall, or adding bar lines for easier reading (as is right now, it's a bit visually misleading)
- Overlapping notes with no way to tell how many there are is a definite no-no

For full criticism and breakdown of ranking, as well as candid reactions to gameplay, do check out the video~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61YB9mkYfW0

Very good music, and a simple but functional gameplay :) ! Everything is very minimalist but I like it, although I think colors could have been better chosen. Hard mode is really too hard for me, it would have been nice to have an intermediate level, but that's a detail. Nice !

My musical part of personality loved it!

I am a big fan of DDR, so it reminded me the good old times :)

It's pretty hard to read the tempo and which note is coming after another.

But still, great experience! And great song! I love games with custom music :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbi09HIq8YA

The hard mode is indeed... hard, wow. Nice incorporation of the music theme into the mechanics, pretty much first rhytm game I played that I liked.

The music was quite nice. The game itself was simple, maybe too much so. Some eye candy and juicing would be nice – like combos, better feedback for individual "notes", multiple types of notes, etc.

But well done, it's hard to make a playable rhythm game, even this simple :)

Great job! Probably the has some some of the best music so far in this Jam. I really dig the feel. The simplicity made it pretty easy to pick up too (though it was hard not to mess up). A song timer would be helpful, and although the screen shake was good, it hard to recover from mistakes due to the intensity of it. Well done, rhythm games are always neat!

Fun little game! I included it in my Ludum Dare 38 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8tza0thP_g

I would like to thank everyone for the feedback and many interesting ideas! I finally got around to rate all your games. Thanks for the patience :wink:.

https://www.myford-benefits.xyz

myfordbenefits us employee

myfordbenefits sign in
myfordbenefits online
my ford pay stub

my ford benefits a plan