Sing Deeper, Songsharks!!! by DwightDavis
The songsharks have been singing too high again. Thus, in typical songshark fashion, they've floated far up into the sky. It's up to you, a songseagull, to convince the sharks to sing deeper (and deeper). Reposition the songsharks so that you can reach the music note, crafting a beautiful song along the way!
Each level starts in Edit Mode, where you can click to reposition the sharks. Each row only has one shark, so you'll need to place each one wisely. Then switch to Play Mode to try and make your way through the level, platformer style! You'll need each shark to be in the perfect position in order to reach the music note.
As you play, the songsharks will sing for you. The further left they move, the lower their respective notes will be. When you advance to a new level, the previous level's melody will be incorporated into the song.
NOTE: The music is for flavor — it is not a gameplay mechanic! If I make more levels in the future, I'll likely add more of a rhythm element :)
This game was entirely made by a solo dev in 72 hours. Art, music, code, etc were all created by me. I may have had too much fun polishing, so the game isn't particularly long. It's the journey that matters, right? :)
| Download from itch.io | https://dwightdavis.itch.io/sing-deeper-songsharks |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/sing-deeper-songsharks |
Ratings
| Overall | 364th | 3.857⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 395th | 3.714⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 66th | 4.19⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1372th | 3.262⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 1019th | 3.595⭐ | 23🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 28th | 4.4⭐ | 22🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 175th | 3.816⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 500th | 3.816⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 10🗳️ | 13🗨️ |
A solo dev made this? Rather impressive, I'd say. It was a good, refreshing game. I go nuts for rhythm and musical games. I half expected this early on to just be a music toy (which, I was pleasantly surprised that it was also included as a completion reward), but instead it was a satisfying puzzle platformer.
A bit on the short side given the different mechanics and concepts that it incorporates, but it still served its purpose right. If anything, that means there's space for more levels and even more musical mechanics if you were to pic up on this project for future iterations.
I'm amazed that you made cute graphics, mechanics these uncommon and bopping sounds to boot. Love the concept and the setting of the songsharks and songseagull! Great stuff! :whale:
I almost got stuck on the first level and started questioning whether my goal was to get the musical note or not, so perhaps an easier first level would go a long way, maybe with a shark already placed. I also didn't know that I had to place the sharks at first (I know your LD text says so, which I noticed later). Probably the most important problem was that the rhythm/music, while being pretty cool, didn't really have any effect on gameplay. I could jump out of time freely which didn't sound as nice. This could easily have not been a rhythm game. So it would have been cool to see some timed gameplay elements that pushes the player to act in time, or some other way to tie the rhythm to the platforming.
Above all it's a pretty cool entry that I enjoyed experiencing, and you could build on this idea and take it far. Pretty unique! Nicely done.
The sharks and sounds were all really cute and I enjoyed it!
I think I placed my platforms really well, but some of the jumps were still rather technical for only having played the game for a few minutes at this point.
(I had to use dash a LOT on the first level, before I really understood it. Later on, I had to do several jumps that would not have been possible if I hadn't noticed that the dash also resets my falling velocity- these were very very tight).
I had fun! The aesthetic is super cute too.
Also, I wonder if you could make it an educational tool for learning music scales and modes.
Like for example: there could be a level that can only be finished when using C major scale etc.
Great work!
I really liked the art -- the 1-bit graphical style was cool, the singing sharks were cute and I like the little bird character. I wish the game had a few more levels to really sink your teeth into the mechanics, but I know how hard that kind of thing can be in a game jam.
Minor, but I kind of wish there was a keyboard button to switch back and forth between play/edit, since when you need to change something in the level it feels kind of weird to grab the mouse to click the edit button while you're still in 'platforming' mode, if that makes sense.
Overall I think this is really creative, and if you continue development I think you could end up with something really interesting!
One thing that did throw me was the dash, it took me a while to realize that I couldn't make the jumps because there was another ability I needed to use.
I'd definitely play more levels of this. Great job!
I was very confused when I first ran the program. It explained the WASD / shift / space controls, but I just kept falling off the bottom of the screen. I stumbled upon the fact that I could reposition the sharks but hopping on them didnt accomplish anything. Then I came back here to read the description and found that I am supposed to be trying to get to the music note.
After that I had no problem, and made it to the end. A couple more levels would have been really nice (some even simpler level to introduce the concept, and a couple more puzzle-like levels at the end)
But understandably time is short during LD.
I like the sound and animations for the sharks - they look so happy :)