Once I got into the swing of things, this was really cool! I absolutely loved the solo coming out of the arrow keys, I spent a minute jamming in the tutorial just to listen. Also, a tutorial! That was a really helpful thing to include, and impressive in the span of a jam game. It did seem that all of the enemies taking 2 hits was pretty hard since enemies could pile up a bit - maybe sprinkle some harder enemies among one-hitters since attacks only happen on a beat? Overall great entry, I enjoyed it :D
Play game
Down Beat Dungeon's itch.io pageResults
Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
Gameplay Innovation | #4 | 3.684 | 3.684 |
Audio | #10 | 3.474 | 3.474 |
Overall | #45 | 3.105 | 3.105 |
Fun | #47 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
Unexpectedness | #63 | 2.684 | 2.684 |
Visuals | #72 | 2.789 | 2.789 |
Ranked from 19 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Please list any pre-made art/music/code/other assets that you used.
None.
All assets are new and custom for this jam.
How many members in your team?
List each team member's role, along with their social media / website links!
Solo Dev.
Anything you want to say to players before they play?
WSAD Moves, Que Attacks with Arrow keys. Use your own rhythm to queue attacks, but you only strike on the down beat of the music. Dungeon is currently endless with no win state, more content to come after the jam.
Comments
The most experimental gameplay idea so far, promising but not yet smooth enough to make for an actually fun experience - I preferred to evade enemies (killing the whole point). Worth exploring more; maybe by adding a non-combo weak attack, an indicator of successfully queued attacks, and clearer beat distinction, this might just work! (https://twitter.com/smushyarm/status/1307597024481730561)
Thanks for playing and the feedback! I really appreciate the insightful comments and ideas! I plan to expand this game in the future, and will definitely be integrating a whole lot of the feedback people have had. I especially like the idea of non-combo weak attacks. It was the biggest problem with the game I think is that you can't easily attack without learning a combo. I watched the video of your twitch stream, and that was really awesome to see someone learn the game for the first time and all the pitfalls that are baked into the game currently. Thanks again for playing!
I'm a big fan of rhythm games in general and I loved the ideas that this game explored quite a bit. Props to you for getting procedural generation and pathfinding in the game, those are not easy things to implement (and get right) given the time constraints.
For a game with an emphasis on the down-beat, you might want to pick/compose a song with more of an emphasis on the down-beat itself. Additionally, having some kind of rhythm indicator would help too (i.e. Crypt of the Necrodancer has the bar at the bottom indicating the beat, Rhythm Heaven mini-games mostly feature characters that bop to the beat of the music). These are all not simple tasks (making a bop/indicator that feels right, syncing the animation to the BPM, etc.), but it might've been more impactful to the game than the pathfinding or procedural generation.
I like the idea of "combo"-ing arrow key inputs to make a directional attack. It just didn't make sense to me at first (why do I need to make three arrow key inputs to attack to the left instead of just pressing left?) Maybe it might make sense for a weapon like a mage's staff where the combos end up casting some sort of spell or what not? Another option would be to require players to make arrow-key inputs to a specific rhythm (maybe on the upbeats?), and then introduce different weapons (like bows) that require a different rhythm/combo.
It's also pretty hard to make a 2D tile-based rhythm dungeon crawler without making it just like Crypt of the Necrodancer. Regardless, good job getting all of the stuff you got in for the jam, it's not easy to make rhythm games functional within the timeframe.
I have to read the comment how to play, I wish was easier to attack, I died many times because my attacks didnt worked, maybe im just bad. I like those kind of games
I lover you have tried to make a rhythm/music game. I did not totally understand how I was suppose to play the game.
Thanks for playing JK! I think the biggest problem with the game is that attacking isn't intuitive and is hard to do until you learn the combos. The hardest part is that if you execute a combo successfully you still don't attack immediately, the attack happens in rhythm the on the next "down beat". I'm incorporating this kind of feedback into the next rev! Thanks!
That's a really nice game! It took me a little bit to understand what was expected of me with the attacks (and I even had a discussion with the dev about it haha), but for anyone who might be in the same situation as me: THE ARROW COMBINATIONS FOR THE ATTACKS ARE SHOWN ON THE SCREEN. Don't be me. Play the game right :"DD
After I was able to get past that hiccup, it was actually really fun! This game definitely requires some practice with the combinations. The addition of the tutorial where the monsters don't chase and don't hurt you was a really great idea. It allowed me to practice and memorize the combinations in a chill setting, which I really appreciated, because I panicked way too much in the actual level :"D
The music is very catchy! And I absolutely loved how the monsters were moving all at once, because it made it seem like we were all on a dance floor (a very deadly dance floor :pp)
And the fact that the levels are procedurally generated is very impressive to me! I've worked on some personal game projects, but I have yet to do anything with procedural generation. Very good work there.
I'm really impressed by how much you've been able to complete as a solo dev. The game is really neat, and you should be proud! Great job on completing this c:
A fun game! The attacks mechanic is interesting and challenging. Maybe add a tutorial for that - it’s quite hard to get used to in the real fight. Good job!
Está bastante entretenido el juego, y no me esperaba ese tipo de controles para hacer los ataques, y tampoco me esperaba que al presionar los botones de atacar estos hicieran sonidos que en serie quedaban bien y más con la música de fondo. Y la generación procedural de los dungeons está bien también. Es uno de los juegos más entretenidos que he probado de está Game Jam. Lo único malo es que a veces los enemigos se quedaban trabados algunas veces al ir al mismo cuadro del dungeon y también a veces se quedaban yendo de un cuadro a otro y se devolvían, pero ocurrió muy poco. ¿Vas a continuar mejorando el juego después de la Game Jam?
Thanks for your reply, I'm glad you liked the game! Sorry my Spanish is bad, I had to use google translate. I definitely plan on more improvements after the game jam. The enemy AI definitely needs some work, and the enemies do get stuck sometimes, but I definitely plan on more content. Thanks again!
Really like rythm games! The sounds of the attacks fits well, it was satisfying to press and listen to.
I struggled a bit at first because I don't have a QWERTY keyboad but I managed to pass a few levels so all good!
Good job 😄
Well done ! I like the design, and the attack on the music beat is a good idea !
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