A Rhythm-Based Shooter

It seems I can't open it on MacOS :C

I'll try again on windows when I can!

@sheinxy I don't have access to a mac, so I can't really help there. Sorry about that! I think I had this issue last ldjam too; still not sure how to fix it.

If anybody knows why a Mac build from a Windows computer wouldn't open, please let me know!

Great entry ! Just a slight issue for me with clicking not firing (even if i am on the beat). Anyway, excellent job there. (I looooooove the music !)

Like your little game ! And the beat, ho gods, mooore ! What did you use for creating your sounds, I really curious !

Nice game ! A simple idea well executed. It lacks maybe a bit of feedback when you kill enemies, to make it more satisfying. Congrats !

Nice game! It took me a bit to figure out that I could click and hold instead of trying to click on beat, but once I got that down it was great. Amazing soundtrack!

Very nice concept ! As a rythm game lover, i found your entry very inspiring.
It may be nice to add a score a the end of the run, or something indicating the progression of the player in music, because it fells like we have no point of reference when we die.
Also : nice music

This is by far the best game period I have yet to play. I love the fact that you made this a rythem game. The music was incredible, the art was good and not bloating, and just everything was great. In the future, perhaps there can be an upgrade system that makes your bullet fire in sixtheen notes, or 32nd notes, just as a fun little gimmic? I think that could be quite fun lol. But yeah great job!

Impressive entry! While simple in execution, it's nontheless charming and got me hooked right away. Between the music and the fact your shots sync with it, and the straightforward gameplay, it's a fun game with plenty of room for evolution.

One issue i do have is the way the stage shakes as the platform drills down, particularly. The movement isn't very pleasant to see for too long. A simple solution would be to lock the shaking to the Y or X axis, but that's just a nitpick.

Overall a great entry, and great job from you two!

Super punchy, great visuals + music. Not gonna lie, I'm not a rhythym game guy, so it might just be me, but I felt like the shooting in sync with the music was a bit broken. When I tried to click with the beat, it just didn't. I could get off the odd shot by spam-clicking though, but it didn't feel like it was aligned with the beat to me when I did.

I enjoyed the game vibe. I stumbled a bit before getting that you fire on rythm.

It took me a while to figure out, why I couldn't shoot sometimes, until I came to the idea that in a rythm game you obviously can only shoot on the beat. Really great idea! Talking about the beat, I absolutely love the music, and the graphics are really cool, too.

I had a fun time. The music kept me playing until I could beat it. I would have liked it if the music kept going even at the bottom. I enjoyed the dead animation with the headphones just being left behind.

Wow, y'all really rolled in all at once! Thank you for all the feedback!

@slavi My buddies made the music using Ableton Live, and I made the sound effects with SFXR (it's free, and it's awesome)

@reblys I definitely agree with you on that. There's a sound effect for killing an enemy, but it's too quiet, and I ran out of time to make sure it was the right volume. I also didn't have time to make an enemy death animation, which would have been a big improvement. It's a miracle the player death animation made it in :sweat_smile:

@toxiccomputer That's a good idea! I originally planned on there being multiple weapons (much like Downwell has weapon sidegrades), so some of them would have shot faster and slower. Then again, I originally planned on making multiple stages lol.

@mastoast Progress bar when you die, very good idea! I'll add it to the pile of "features to add if there's ever a post-jam version."

@martiniano-marelli I agree; the camera shake is a bit overtuned. I'd normally make that a setting so you can disable it, since screen shake makes a lot of people motion sick, but there wasn't time for a settings menu.

@phil-lesnar Thank you! I like the idea of letting the music loop at the bottom; I'll add it to the wishlist.

@wheybags @plomeg @yamzho @aidanmarkham @pd-dev Yeah, you have to be *really* precise if you want to click to shoot. I knew that was going to be an issue, but I didn't have time to rework the code to be more lenient. This is definitely first on the improvement bucket list.

I always love rhythm games in jams - especially when they do something new with it - and this is no exception! Having shots and enemy spawns sync up with the music really helped the game flow nicely, and it made the whole experience much more enjoyable. I loved the gradual increase in challenge too, with new enemies and obstacles coming in. It did feel slightly unfair at points, like when spikes appeared beneath me with almost no warning, or a flying enemy had an unexpected path through me, but it was nothing too bad. Another thing I would've liked is a bit more progression; the start of the game and the end feel mostly the same, and there's not much change throughout. Something like powerups, something changing in the background - even collectable score tokens or something - that might've helped make the game feel like it has more substance to it.

The artwork was nice, and it did a lot with the limited colour palette - I especially liked how the enemies, terrain, and player were all colour-coded separately. One thing I'd say though is that the graphics felt a bit noisy at times, like the background, which was kind of confusing to look at and distracted from the actual platforms. Another thing is that the bullets suddenly disappearing looked a bit unpolished, so maybe some little animation for them disappearing would've helped. The music was, of course, very good, and the way it worked within the game was also a great fit. The bullet sound, too, meshed nicely with the background music.

I really loved the concept here, and I think it was well executed, and you did a great job on the game! Well done!

@cakestorm Thank you for the feedback!

There was a lot overall that hit the cutting room floor that I wish hadn't. I wanted to make a little warning for the spikes, similar to the enemies but less urgent, and I wanted to briefly show the flight paths of the flying enemies. I also wanted at least 2 more enemy types, 2 more hazardous obstacles, and 1 more weapon (which I even made the art for). Heck, I originally wanted 2-4 stages, each with unique music and a different color palette. But this is Ludum Dare after all, and I only had ~6 hours to work on Sunday, so the scope just kinda shrunk over time. I was still making the level design an hour before the deadline lol.

I'd also agree that the background was a little unpolished. I wanted to give it another pass, making it look more like rock while also making it only use 2 colors so it would stand out less. The bullets would also absolutely have had impact effects. Again, cutting room floor.

Thanks for all of the complements! The feedback definitely helps.

Very good game ! The base mechanic is very simple, just shooting in sync with the music, but the feeling it gives is just incredible : it's so much fun to move around and to kill the enemies exactly in sync with the kick ! Really well executed. Also the graphics are really great and the inspiration from Exit the Gungeon is visible but very well used.
Overall, this entry is impressive, rated 4.5 :D

I like this game a lot, great game

The good
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* Music is on point. Really enjoyable track that does not get boring
* Graphics are nice, simple and consistent. Everything has the same feeling and nothing seems out of place
* Really cool concept of having a time based shooter
* Simple and easy to follow controls
* Nice vibe, it feels action-packed and fast paced (even though it is pretty chill)
* Nice warnings before enemies appear

The bad
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* Some times enemies bug out below the platform
* Spikes hidden before hitting you, and only visible for a small window of time before getting hidden by the platform. Not sure if this was a design choice, and I don't think it was actually this bad, since it could be intentional that they are hidden before they hit you and you have to remember where they were. However, some more space below the platform would be nice.
* Restart sometimes bugs out, and the platform continues after player has died
* Rythm-based shooter was a bit misleading. Initially I thought you had to click on the beat to shoot, however you can hold down fire and it fires on the beat. Could have a bit more clear instructions on that.
* Also, no point in not shooting, since you have no ammo. You could either make it fire by default, or have a penalty for spamming (ammo / reload / weapon overheating and becoming unoperable for a period of time)

Suggestions
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* Could add an easy mode with health pickups
* Could add an easy mode with spawnpoints, so you don't restart all over

Summary
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I really liked this game and especially it's music. I think it makes it so much better. The game itself feels fast paced and nice to move around and shoot stuff. The rythm-based idea is really good, but I think it was not used to its fullest potential. Could have the player click the mouse on the beat to fire, similar to what "Crypt of the Necrodancer" does with movement. It could also do with a bit more polish here and there.

Congrats on the game and keep up the good work.

@venitherich Thanks for the feedback!

Yes, there are a lot of features and bugs that I wish I could have added/fixed. Enemies spawning in walls and falling through the floor, not warning the player about spikes, and the platform moving after the player dies were all issues I knew about, but didn't have time to fix. Checkpoints were on the bucket list, so it's nice hearing that it would be a good feature to add. Using reloads (or making the gun shoot constantly) is a good idea; I definitely want to add that.

I'll pass on the complements about the music! I'm sure the musicians will love to hear it!

The idea is great, but the implementation is pretty rough around the edges. With some work you can turn this into something really fun.

some notes:
* The environment color palette needs more variation, maybe add another color or 2 because its difficult to differentiate the foreground from the background.

* the blob enemies are too short which makes it difficult to shoot them. You have to aim slightly down which is hard since the gun itself is very close to the ground. Long distance shots are really hard to land. Maybe add a visual indicator of the bullet trajectory

* The drill/platform should either be smaller/thinner, or it should be behind the hazards/spikes. Because its so big and slow, the spikes are occluded for way too long which makes it easy to forget where they're going to appear

* I don't know if the gun fits the rhythm of the song or not, but the first shot is always delayed which makes the controls feel unresponsive. Maybe let the player shoot as fast as they want but reward them for shooting in rhythm.

Obviously you guys didn't have a lot of time to play test the game, but hopefully you keep working on it because I think it has a lot of potential