Synthætica by ixchow

[raw]
made by ixchow for Ludum Dare 47 (COMPO)

A music/time control game wherein you must come up with a series of actions (entered on the timeline at the bottom) to collect keys to free up your loop range to move to more of the timeline. Press space to play/pause.

The actions you select also correspond to how the backing music is mixed. So you might want to try to get to the end in a good-sounding as well as good-looking way.

ld_screen.png

Coded in javascript; uses WebGL, canvas, and no frameworks(!). Should work on Chrome and Firefox. Music created in Reason, graphics done in Inkscape, level design in Blender. Everything could be fancier, but 48 hours is 48 hours.

The current state of the timeline is stored in the URL. If you do something nifty, feel free to share in the comments or send it to me.

Ratings

Overall 133th 3.763⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Fun 155th 3.632⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 8th 4.474⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Theme 210th 3.816⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 454th 3.026⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Audio 9th 4.25⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Given 10🗳️ 6🗨️

Feedback

🎤 ixchow
04. Oct 2020 · 22:32 UTC
FYI, here's my solution to the game: https://ixchow.github.io/synthaetica/?ACAAiIiKmZnIjIgViJgI0OwscUTUzAAADAAMwNDVhZeZGJjIz7kIiMHN7AyIwMDAwESImYmRiIiYkYiImE3fz+zM
Jiri Hysek
05. Oct 2020 · 00:12 UTC
Awesome concept! I'm gonna play it more after some sleep but I love it already! Great interpretation of the theme! Great job, man!
aressler38
05. Oct 2020 · 00:39 UTC
I can't seem to get to the 2nd key that easily.
Samps
05. Oct 2020 · 01:17 UTC
Really imaginative idea. Only thing that bothered me was having to wait for the camera when trying to go fast, but the lenght of the game of course has to match the lenght of the tracks so not sure how I'd change it. Last key was tricky, but in the end I managed to grab it. I enjoyed the game a lot, haven't played many products of this jam yet but this is easily my favourite so far! Here's my replay: https://ixchow.github.io/synthaetica/?ACAJkJKZmZmZCSACCFXVjQkAINlQVVXVACWZmYjIAAAAIiIiIiINDQ0NAg0PD0/cBZCJiIgAmQkJAJCZ2dINkA0A
Squeed Fingars
05. Oct 2020 · 01:31 UTC
I had a similar problem that Samps had, the camera is a fickle thing, I had to just go ahead and guess where the keys were. Still, other than that I think this is a great game! This could easily be expanded upon if more time were put in, it's a great idea and fits the theme nicely. Just to put this thought out there as well, since I spent most of my time paused, as it helped me focus on where the vehicle was moving, I couldn't hear the beat I was creating until the very end, perhaps it could play softer versions of the audio as you scrolled through the meter while paused, something like that. The art fits nicely as well, even if that may be due to it being scarce as a whole. Last thing, at least for me it was difficult to tell whether or not the boost/blue ticks at the bottom were ticked, maybe they could change into a more contrasting shade when pushed in. Definitely a good game, I had good thoughts throughout.

Here's my replay, I thought there would be an ending at the end so I went as far as I could, haha.
https://ixchow.github.io/synthaetica/?AIjMiACYmZmZmclEVVVd1cVOROzMTGSZGZmJAN+JkABCEd3djQXA7FWbiYgKCJgwAIoIgIuLmJsgAMCI1c2YyQDc
Listonos
05. Oct 2020 · 02:22 UTC
The fact that you can extended the timeline with the grey box eluded me for quite a while so I was stuck on the second key. It would be nice to auto-extended it when you reach the previous key. Also a slow moving camera is a strange choice. But overall pretty innovative piece and the music is good.
Hanra
05. Oct 2020 · 08:29 UTC
Was late to work because I lost track of time playing this, absorbing and even failing is fun. Loved it :)
SinusQuell
05. Oct 2020 · 16:12 UTC
I like the concept, though I did have trouble getting to the second key :o
Dominic
05. Oct 2020 · 16:48 UTC
Really enjoyed this!

I second the comments about the camera, though perhaps a solution that doesn't require freedom of camera movement is to kill the player if they go outside the camera bounds.

Here's my replay - https://ixchow.github.io/synthaetica/?gACNAADMiMgAgAwIDAgMAAwAgpCQUFAN0ADZAMBcVVVVnJ2ZmZmZAABQ3d1AAABFnZmZAACZCYAJgJlM0s2YyJnd
dk5000p
09. Oct 2020 · 16:00 UTC
Really interesting concept but it was too difficult to play. The music was nice and was fun just listening to that.
Capt.Theo
11. Oct 2020 · 20:25 UTC
Very original game, Jupiter Lander meets Guitar Hero.
Neowedge
11. Oct 2020 · 20:40 UTC
Wow!!! Very original concept! And love you can choose the start and the end of the loop in order to construct the song and theway! Level disgn and feeling is awesome! Congrats!
sampadders
11. Oct 2020 · 20:55 UTC
Super fun game! Really enjoyed setting up the track to get to the end. Main issue that I had were the camera didn't just follow the ship/couldn't be controlled so sometimes it was off the screen getting a key. Also spent some time in the beginning understanding you had to track the track out to add more beats.

Really great game though. Spent ages getting through to the end and thought there was a way to finish the level so optimised the track a couple of times to hit into the star and get out of the space at the end. Had a fantastic time doing it though!
UkuleleFury
12. Oct 2020 · 19:51 UTC
Wow, this is so awesome! At first, I thought it was kinda tedious. But after I got the hang of it, it was really interesting to puzzle through, and I love the rhythm-based aspect!

Also, since it's such a creative experience, making it easily sharable is a huge feature!

:) Obligatory replay link:
https://ixchow.github.io/synthaetica/?wcmcDQmADMAAyADAAMgAyADIbMBO0QbU1ADUVFDNrpqJGYiNHa0InAAAAEDdTVTF/qjYmQCYgAjIgAjAmQzWnY0J
LeviDSmith
18. Oct 2020 · 20:55 UTC
Cool concept. It was a little hard figuring out what colored block does what, and then put that all together to move the little ship around.