Rhythm Castle - Platformer/Rhythm Game by GrizzliusMaximus

[raw]
made by GrizzliusMaximus for Ludum Dare 46 (JAM)

Lil Grizzly Embarks on a Rhythm Adventure and motivates the moles of the Blue Fortress. As Lil keeps the beat alive, he gains new powers that will leave him soaring through the skies!!!

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* I encourage constructive criticism to help me improve the game. I will definitely continue developing this game in the future so please follow me on Itch if you want to get updated. I also plan on sharing my implementations :) *

-Earphones Recommended-

UPDATE

  • fixed not able to play rhythm game at a distance
  • fixed beat lights not being obvious

Basic Controls:

  • WASD to move (W key is never used though)
  • K to Jump

[Controller support implemented but not tested. K (jump) is bottom button, L (glide) is right button]

Available Power-ups:

  • Run (Double tap A or D)
  • Double Jump (Double tap K)
  • Wall Jump (Press K on the Wall)
  • Glide (Press L while on air);

Features

  • Beautiful Light Shaders
  • 60 fps even on low-end laptops
  • Pumped up Music (continue playing the game and it gets better and better)
  • Large playable map that offers 30+ minutes of play time!
  • Only 5 MB

Tips

Rhythm Sections

  • You will know its a Rhythm section when you see one :)
  • During the Rhythm Section, Camera shakes means you got the timing wrong, hi hat sound means you got it correct
  • You will need to get the pattern correct two consecutive times for the moles to be pleased.
  • You have to be near the middle mole in the Rhythm sections. You will know you are not close enough if you dont see shakes or hear hi hats when you jump/crouch.
  • The Rhythm sections after the first one at the start of the game have a different beat patterns. To identify this, check when the the neon lights blink.

Platform Sections

  • No need to jump with the beat. Just move as you please like a normal platformer.
  • The starting controls may be limited but once you get double jump, things get really fun :)
  • Moving platforms give a tremendous boost in jump if timed properly.
  • Moving platforms are in sync with the music
  • For wall-jumps, if you put pressure on the wall, it will propel you further away.
  • Jumping next to the wall without pressing on it will propel you less, essential for climbing tall walls.
  • It is suggested to jump, glide, double jump when nearing the destination, then glide again for best results.

This game has been greatly inspired from * Celeste * developed by * Matt Thorson * and * Noel Berry *

Made Using * GameMaker:Studio * and * Waveform free *

Art, Music, Level Design and code made by * Chico Perez (GrizzliusMaximus) * Majority of the art and music have been made prior to the Game Jam. Graphics and Audio have been Opt-out

Ratings

Overall 635th 3.744⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1083th 3.386⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1486th 3.151⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Theme 2325th 2.884⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Humor 1008th 3.037⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Mood 910th 3.558⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Given 39🗳️ 57🗨️

Feedback

🎤 GrizzliusMaximus
21. Apr 2020 · 00:35 UTC
Developers First Record:! This shouldn't be to hard too beat :) ![Record.PNG](///raw/98b/f2/z/2f98c.png)
Samelgamedev
21. Apr 2020 · 00:53 UTC
Yo, your game looks great but it crashes on startup for me with this error:
___________________________________________
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in Vertex Shader compilation
ShaderName: shd_dust

D3DXCompile failed - result

############################################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
called from - gml_Script_SetupDraw (line 36)
called from - gml_Object_obj_setup_Draw_0 (line 3)
frances
21. Apr 2020 · 00:57 UTC
The game feels great. The music and sound effects fit the game. The platforming is a bit too hard for me, though (but I'm not good at platforming, so maybe I'm a bit biased towards things being easier than average). I wish the jump were a bit higher so that the game will be more forgiving. But overall, I liked it.
🎤 GrizzliusMaximus
21. Apr 2020 · 01:08 UTC
@samelgamedev I'm sorry about that. I did some research, it is possible that your DirectX driver is outdated. Are you running the game on an old pc? Thanks for your feedback
Samelgamedev
21. Apr 2020 · 01:16 UTC
I'm actually running it on a very new laptop. It's running DirectX 12. What's your DirectX version?
🎤 GrizzliusMaximus
21. Apr 2020 · 01:17 UTC
@frances There is a double Jump upgrade not so far in the game. I was inspired from Celeste which is super challenging. I knew people here may not be into difficult platformers so I made it easier than Celeste but I didn't want to make it too easy.
Samelgamedev
21. Apr 2020 · 01:37 UTC
Update: problem mysteriously solved itself after I deleted the game then downloaded it again.
🎤 GrizzliusMaximus
21. Apr 2020 · 01:43 UTC
@samelgamedev I'm actually using a pretty old laptop with only Intel HD graphics and Intel Pentium so I was a bit surprised when I saw that error. I don't think my laptop supports DirectX 12.
Maryush28
21. Apr 2020 · 03:01 UTC
It has very celeste-ish vibe, with original content of course. Big congrats for doing quality soundtrack, man.
Nice effect of "swooshing to side" thing, when jumping from under a platform. It makes big impact on quality of jumps and prevents from unnecessary edge-management.
However, beat syncing is little bit oddly made.
Soulcube
21. Apr 2020 · 03:05 UTC
Suuuper polished game! Very celeste inspired, nice work!
MikDionio
21. Apr 2020 · 03:55 UTC
Fun and unique platformer! Although I'm not a fan of the parts where you have to run from the previous section to the next in order to make the platform. Other than that, the music and graphics are great!
Wet_Band-Aid
21. Apr 2020 · 08:30 UTC
I like it but sometimes it feels like jumps should go further than they normally do.
DemKimos
21. Apr 2020 · 09:08 UTC
Seems pretty difficult. I don't know if I lost my sense of rhythm but I just can't keep up with the beats - unlike Patapon. Also, I don't know if something should happen after completing one set. The handling of controls were good, though. Graphics and music were nice. Loved the cute sprites. Good entry.
🎤 GrizzliusMaximus
21. Apr 2020 · 10:10 UTC
@demkimos Thanks for playing! I agree that the rhythm is a bit off. I'm guessing its something to do with input latency and framerate which is very crucial in rhythm games. There are 5 sets of rhythm games, each will give you a new power-up. The game is pretty difficult but I intended it to be that way. It can be accomplished. Check out my new Record![record.PNG](///raw/98b/f2/z/3153b.png)
itsandyjones
21. Apr 2020 · 12:03 UTC
This looks absolutely fantastic (however I can't unsee the moles looking like pidgeons.. sorry :p )

Obviously sounds great, an important part of a rhythm game but it also helped set the mood for the platforming parts nicely.

As with all game jam platformers, including my own, I think the control needs some tweaking, personally I'd like a slightly longer jump as I kept finding my self just short.

Overall the game was really nice! A great entry - thanks!
Torh
22. Apr 2020 · 06:39 UTC
Hi! Nice work! I want to make a video with the best games of LDJam46. Something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOdTsWE7iIk .
Can I find your game also on indiexpo website? The channel is linked with them.
🎤 GrizzliusMaximus
22. Apr 2020 · 08:00 UTC
@torh I have not uploaded anything yet to indiexpo. My games are placed on Itch. Do you wish for me to upload them to indiexpo?
Torh
22. Apr 2020 · 08:15 UTC
yes. It's like itch but only for free games. The youtube channel is linked with it, so we can add it fastly!
AdrianKrawczyk
22. Apr 2020 · 08:51 UTC
nice graphics
TeiNRee
22. Apr 2020 · 10:47 UTC
Good job! What i enjoyed the most was the start of this "true-metroadvania" level design, and the beginning of the game. So KEEP IT P U M P I N G! :D
isaque-picao-sanches
22. Apr 2020 · 10:48 UTC
super-tight juice and feel :) congratz, it's really fun
Bastienre4
22. Apr 2020 · 11:24 UTC
Good job! Really made me think of Celeste, as you mentioned :)
ZeGGamer
22. Apr 2020 · 16:01 UTC
Nice and clean game. Found it hard to navigate and some of the base movement options were hard to pick up on. Art was really pretty and the music was jamming.
The1
22. Apr 2020 · 16:38 UTC
Really good game! It has nice mood. Was it done in gamemaker ? :)
studioNOKOI
22. Apr 2020 · 16:47 UTC
absolutely incredible but i wish all the movement options were unlocked from the start. reminds me a lot of celeste in a good way, it isn't the exact same thing.
JulienLussiez
22. Apr 2020 · 16:49 UTC
There's a Celeste vibe to it !
Lewaro
22. Apr 2020 · 16:50 UTC
It looks awesome, and the sounds are great ... but like @demkimos i kind seem to find the rhytm :/ sort of kills the game ... seems to be a big point
Nefrace
22. Apr 2020 · 16:55 UTC
That's really awesome game! I love that rhythm based mechanics.
Ausstein
22. Apr 2020 · 17:24 UTC
Very nice platformer. Graphics and audio are nice. The rythm sectuins could have been a little clearer maybe play the correct rythm once when you enter the room? i found it hard matching the expexted rythm from just the visual indications but figured them out eventually.
Also i dont mind some hard jumps, but for my taste some of the jumos set you back way too much if you missed them.
🎤 GrizzliusMaximus
23. Apr 2020 · 02:01 UTC
@the1 yes. it was made in GameMaker:Studio 1.4

@lewaro @ausstein I agree that the rhythm parts are not well implemented. It is my first time ever making a rhythm game. One mistake I guess was not making an audio queue to the beat which really stops people from playing if they dont get it. Another would be a better visual queue. In most rhythm games, there's a "preparation" visual like a bar moving down or a ring shrinking down. This game lacked that. For the post jam, I do intend to fix all this. thank you for all your input!
AdamCYounis
23. Apr 2020 · 06:20 UTC
Hey there! Some great modern platform fundamentals on display here. I really like the sprites, effects and overall polish for this game. Really awesome stuff for an LD entry. I thought the beat mechanic was a nice take, but the implementation sometimes felt a little restrictive. There were definitely a lot of Celeste notes here, and I think it's hard when such a direct comparison exists, to appreciate your implementation under such time constraints, too. Overall, though, I willingly spent more time in this game than any other so far. I really enjoyed it and I hope you take it further. Good stuff!
VaizAragorn
23. Apr 2020 · 21:50 UTC
Well, I think I'm not good at music at all, those rythm things were hard for me. But I kinda get used to them after a while. Other than that, the way you use the theme is very good and original. Also player movement felt great. Keep up the good work!
Lexyvil
24. Apr 2020 · 09:33 UTC
This was interesting, though I couldn't get past the second beat minigame (SKKS). The ducking and jumping voice was funny though.
🎤 GrizzliusMaximus
24. Apr 2020 · 11:08 UTC
@lexyvil Yes. I notice that part is not intuitive. The beat is a bit different from the first. Check when the light turn white. I am currently making a post jam version that would add audio and visual cues. Thanks for playing!
fornaree
27. Apr 2020 · 18:34 UTC
I went into my first beat section(SKKS) and it felt way too hard. After a lot of trying I could consistently get the first two steps, but not the last two. Also, I felt like I was supposed to press the keys instantly when the feedback appeared, and not when they turned brown which would be more intuitive. The artwork and the sound is pretty awesome, and I'd love to be able to save all the dancing moles!
Le Don
28. Apr 2020 · 18:44 UTC
The game looks great and it also has a great concept, but I just couldn't get over the second rythm stage. Maybe the timing window is too tight.
hgcummings
02. May 2020 · 10:18 UTC
This looks awesome, like a cross between Celeste and Cult of the Necrodancer.

However, it didn't seem to quite work for me in a few ways:
- The fixed window size meant it didn't fit on one screen for me, so was split across two monitors
- None of the double-tap controls, or the double jump or glide seemed to work (I tried numerous variations of quick double taps, in time with the beat, etc., and never saw anything work)
- Nothing happened when I found other sleeping moles (were they supposed to be revived or something?)
- For the rhythm bit on the very first screen seemed not quite in time, the music graphics and control input all seemed not quite in time with each other. I got through it with some trial-and-error but it didn't "feel" right

I'd love to play this and see more of it. The concept is brilliant and I really like the graphics and sound.
🎤 GrizzliusMaximus
03. May 2020 · 03:49 UTC
@hgcummings The biggest issue with my game is the rhythm part. When you and complete a rhythm sequence, you will get a new power-up like double jump. Most people get stuck in the rhythm parts so they dont get the power-ups. You can press ENTER to cheat your way and have all the power-ups :). The game gets really fun when you have all the powerups and forget about the rhythm stuff. I wasnt very clear with the moles but just don't mind those roaming around. I just placed them cause they cute. There are areas in the game where there are lots of moles like the first area with the flashing sequences. There are five in total, each giving you a power-up except the first one which you see in the beginning of the game.

And yes, there is something wrong with the rhythm timing. I've been trying to fix it but it just doesn't work. seems to be an engine bug. I can't get it to be precise. This is my first time making a rhythm game but I've experience making platformers.

I'm annoyed that these flaws are big walls and don't allow the player to proceed until they understand how to overcome these flaws. Once you do, trust me, the game gets really good :) I apologize for the weird rhythm mechanics.
elysiagriffin
09. May 2020 · 19:38 UTC
Thanks for submitting your game for me to play on my livestream!

If you’d like to rewatch the playthrough, you can find it here:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/615937007?t=1h18m42s

Good luck on your ratings, see you next LD! :D

💜 Elysia Griffin AKA Button Feedback Lady

https://www.twitch.tv/elysiagriffin