gotta have respect for the 8-bit implementations. Fun idea combining both a top down driving game with a rhythm game. It was hard to pay attention to both halves at once.
I think I would have liked if the rhythm game and the music that was playing went together a bit more. But that's probably mostly a matter of time and of course game jams don't always afford that. Nice entry!

Phew, that was fun! I like games that force you to split your attention like that. The rhythm between the two halves gives some good opportunities to balance the two (i.e. I just left the boat running for a bit and paid attention to the rhythm, then checked back every now and then to make sure it didn't crash).

I agree with @candlesan that it would be nice if the music and the rhythm game matched more, since that would make it easier to get in a groove and play a bit more by instinct.

Visuals are great! Simple but very clear what's going on.

I agree with @candlesan too! If I do a post LD update I'll work on matching the rhythm and music better, it was a tricky thing that I ran out of time for :(

I like the idea but it's really hard to focus both on boat and rythm. Actually it's not challenging but not really satisfying. I think it would be better to draw upcoming buttons right in front of the boat at imaginary line. But I enjoyed playing it :) Nice job!

Finally a game that used pico 8 ! I hesitaded between tensorflowJS or pico 8 for my game. I think this tool works perfectly for the LD :).
Your game is really nice and it's a great usage of the theme. I think you manage to balance it correctly because it's difficult but not impossible with some focus. The fact that the game screen is small enough is good because we can see both the ship and the music part at once. After a few try I managed to complete it :)

Really good job for making a complete and fun game !

I love the pixel type art you made in this game its cool.

Great graphics and music ! But a bit slow in my opinion (i mean the boat is slow, the rythm is great !)

I liked it, however the boat was slow and its hitbox was not really permissive. The mix was nice however, would play again

Cool a pico 8 game! I really liked the pixel graphic and the concept was interesting. My only big gripe with this game is that the music and notes didn't really match but this was a fun game.

This requires some concentration to both steer the boat and get the the rhythm keys going for fuel. It was a good use of the theme and worked well. It would be cool to see maybe other ships that you have to navigate around as you complete the first couple of gem clears. Nice job.

It's a bit brain hurty doing both things at once.


I could not get 200 points. This game is surprisingly addictive. I found the arrow keys really hard, but the music is great and it totally feels like something that would become really absorbing once I practice a bit. One of my favs so far.

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Graphics
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For a pico-8 game with the limited palette, the use of colors was done really well. Graphically it was really cool.

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Audio
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Again, pico-8, but the sound was pretty cool. The music didn't get old quick, which was nice since it was short.

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Controls
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Having to control the boat moving and doing the rhythm part was fun and challenging. It was a great use of the controls for pico-8 and splitting it between two game styles.

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Gameplay
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I really enjoy rhythm games, and this was was super fun. This would definitely be one I'd be playing all the time if I had like a PocketChip or other handheld pico-8 device. Moving the boat and splitting that with the focus of ryhthm games was fun and challenging.

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Overall
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Overall this is a solid entry and I really enjoyed it. Makes me wish i did have a PocketChip to play something like this on the go.


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Highscore
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I got 380 for my highscore


Obligatory play / rate my game if you get a chance https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/slime-battle-royale

Hey dignz, i really dig in your game! I love pico-8 so, i had so much fun with it! You did a good job mixing the 2 genres and spliting the game screen. A thing you already know and i will appreciate is matching the rhythm and music better, i'll really love to play it again if you do so.

Oh I love those Pico-8 or TIC-80 games! :) Your entry is very cool and well done, i love the music and art, but the gameplay is very challenging (very hard to focux on both sides!).

Well done! :)

This was really cool! Having to control the boat while paying attention to the arrow keys was really challenging, and fun! I would love to see this expanded upon.

Wow, I'm bad at these multitasking games. And rhythm games. And apparently boating games :smile:

I liked the simple music loops and the controls were simple and intuitive. At first I thought it would be difficult to move the boat around, but about half way through the first game I got it. I think that the rhythm section has a really difficult jump going from the single to the double multiplier. Maybe just start with adding a single half beat every 4 instead of doubling the notes?

This game has a lot of charm. Great job!

EDIT - Oh, my top score was 180

I love Pico 8 engine games ! So charming : D
Quite hard game though ^.^
GJ

Really nice game! Splitting your attention is just challenging enough to be fun. The first time through I was avoiding the gems, felt pretty silly when I realized... Great job!

Damn, this is way harder than it seems ! It took me a while to fully grasp the controls, I'm veeeeery bad at multitasking. But when I started to get the hang of it, it feels super good. It's quite simple and short, but super fun and challenging to play. Congrats !

Great game! I must admit that being a Pico8 game this might have been double the effort. Congrats on that! The game is quite interesting, and although it doesn't seem like the rhythm of keys is perfect, it works nicely and it's a bold mix. Excellent work!

Ah this was great. I had to focus on the music part and the boat-agains-rocks-sound was really painful (in a good way). Good work! Oh, almost forgot. Nice water!

Great little game! I love having to concentrate on not running aground at the same time as trying to hit the notes, was very challenging. Got my hi score the first time I played, at 310. On a later playthrough I realized I could slam the arrow keys at the beginning and get to an immediate 3x multiplier, however then so many notes started coming down I lost immediately =).

This is BY FAR one of my favorite entries! Love the concept, love the aesthetics, and love the music!

I love to make and play rhythm games, and maybe because of that I found annoying the fact that the notes were a bit out of sync, but it's understandable, even with that this is still a really great game! Congrats!

Thanks for the great feedback. I'm going to make an updated version soon that syncs the music up better and a couple of other little tweaks. Had loads of fun for my first ludum Dare, already looking forward to the next one!