Nifflas' Support Forum
Being Creative => Collaborations => Topic started by: Raicuparta on July 04, 2014, 11:36:47
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(http://i.imgur.com/p07GTlZ.png)
Update: The Android beta version for Circular is available now. If you wanna help me test this game, join this Google+ community (http://plus.google.com/communities/117451798912656897649) and then follow the instructions on this page (https://play.google.com/apps/testing/co.bravebunny.circular). If you don't like Google+, which is understandable, and want the .apk, send me a PM.
Play the Web version of Circular here here (http://bravebunny.co/circular). Use mouse left click, nothing else (optimized for touch screens).
Original thread:
Here is a very early version of the game:
--original link removed--
Click the screen or use Spacebar, you'll figure out the rest.
Every 30 seconds it will randomly choose a way to make it a bit more challenging (still only 3 of these variations). 30 seconds may be a bit too much.
Anyway, the music being used here is from incompetech.com and it is just perfect for this game. I was wondering if any of the talented musicians over here would be interested in collaborating with me on this game, making similar music or providing some that you may already have done that fit the game. Always with proper credit, of course.
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I'll check it out tonight. If the music style is up my alley I'd like to help you. :) Remind me if you don't hear from me early next week.
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Just checked it, but I don't get the game. I am unable to not die. Also in Internet Explorer the game goes much faster than in Opera, and the music is rather distracting as it is not in sync while the objects seem to suggest it. What am I doing wrong?
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Just checked it, but I don't get the game. I am unable to not die. Also in Internet Explorer the game goes much faster than in Opera, and the music is rather distracting as it is not in sync while the objects seem to suggest it. What am I doing wrong?
The timing is completely off in Firefox too, Chrome is the only browser it seems to be functioning in.
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Also, sometimes the music starts waay late, or not at all, and the counter just keeps counting. I can die, and technically the game thinks I'm not. Changes the visuals which are way too strong btw. Seems you haven't tested this thoroughly. I did start composing music for this though, but I do hope you will make it so the game runs fine in other browsers too so I can actually enjoy it myself. (no, I'm not going to install chrome just for this game)
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I should have been more clear, the link in the thread is for the very latest version I made at any point, which is why it barely works. I wasn't aware it wasn't in synch in other browsers. This will be a mobile game, so the browser thing is only a problem for test builds.
I'm very excited to hear LPChip is on board, can't wait to hear something :O
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At the time of the last post I was in a trip with a few friends so I had to keep it short, was posting from a phone.
What you guys tested is barely even a game, it's just the concept for it, I just wanted you to get what kind of game it is and what kind of music would fit there. That idea fails when the game isn't synced properly with the music, which is something I'm having some trouble with.
So please don't let these issues keep you from considering collaborating, if you need to I can make a video of the game working properly :)
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This game (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfwNsqXnnek) is vaguely similar to your concept, might provide some inspiration?
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You mean rhythm heaven in general or just that particular mini game? Not really seeing the similarities, but rhythm heaven's mini games have a lot of variety so there's probably one of two games that are similar to my concept.
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That one in particular. The similarity is in the shift between two states, which is triggered by holding down a button (or stylus). Both that game and yours use a low-pass filter style effect for one of the states, right?
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That one in particular. The similarity is in the shift between two states, which is triggered by holding down a button (or stylus). Both that game and yours use a low-pass filter style effect for one of the states, right?
Oh, you're right, couldn't quite hear it at the time (was on mobile with low volume).
I uploaded an .exe version of the game, would be cool if you guys could test if at least this version plays consistently and in synch with the music (it's never actually perfectly in sync but at least the visuals have the same tempo as the music). You can download it here:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8262744/win32.zip
Just extract everything and run circular.exe.
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How long should the music be? and should it loop?
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How long should the music be? and should it loop?
Not sure how I missed this post, sorry for the delay.
The music I have in the game right now is 2 minutes and 40 seconds long, and it already feels a bit too long, so anything below that is fine. Also, it is easier for me to make levels from the music if the beats are mostly constant, because I have to manually adjust the rhythm to the music.
I decided to make the game less random and make it actually follow the music. For instance, in faster parts of the music there will be more bombs to avoid, and in some transitions the game will rotate. I will make a video showing how this works in case you feel like making the music around this, but obviously you're free to make it as you feel and I'll work around that.
EDIT: Forgot to mention, no it doesn't have to loop.
EDIT2: Here is the video. At the 30th beat (17 seconds in) you can see the transition in the music that leads to the game rotating.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5jr2JtJieg
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What I have now is a tune that has a constant 4/4 beat going on. If the beat is not playing at that time, something else is at the 4/4 beat. I made sure because I already noticed this in your preview game. So only tune it so it matches the beat and you're set.
I currently have 2:40 of music (yes, its a coincident) but there is a lot of variety, so it shouldn't matter for the length. It doesn't end right now, but I'll make it loop so you can keep using it. How does that sound?
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Sounds perfect! I said it didn't have to loop because the one I have now doesn't, and I suspect it might be harder to make it sound good while looping (especially when starting the level), but if it loops that would make it possible to finish the level but continue playing for the high score, like in Super Hexagon, which would be pretty cool.
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Looping in this song really is easy. In fact, the total song length is currently: 3:12 and then it naturally loops. You do not have to restart the game at that time either, you can just continue and restart at any time you wish.
Here is what I have so far. I have to check things like mixing/mastering and errors that might not be like I want it, so it may be that I make small changes.
Also if you feel something is not right, let me know. At least that gives you a preview and something to work with.
I didn't know what file extension you need so I assumed .mp3. I can also give you an .ogg if you need that.
Link: http://mftp.lp1.nl/Straight%20Forward.flac.mp3 (older version)
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Awesome!
I'm not really familiar with the terms people usually use for describing music, especially in English, but at first it seemed like a bit too dark for the kind of game I had in mind, but after a few seconds I could see it fitting perfectly in the game, especially if I change the color palette up for each track. Gave me the idea to use different themes for each level, like caves, underwater, space, etc.
I'd love to start trying to make a level around this right away, but maybe I should try to polish the core game a bit and finish the level I have now. That should give you enough time if you feel like changing anything in this one :)
Thank you for this, now I can gloat about someone making awesome music for a game I'm making :P
By the way, this is exactly 120 bpm, right? Need to get this right so the game stays in sync.
EDIT: and about formats, I need both OGG and M4A to be sure it plays across all browsers if I'm to make this a browser game as well, but OGG is fine for now.
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Oh right... Its not exactly 120 BPM. But next time I'll export the song, I'll use modern tempo syncing so it will become 120bpm.
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New version up. This time an .OGG using accurate tempo setting, so it is 120 BPM.
I made some small changes in the song with regards to the violin melody line later in the song. It prepares better for the looping of the song.
Also, I used a wave editor to make sure the song properly loops now which causes a small "crash cymbal" sound at the start of the song, but it actually works there.
Link: http://mftp.lp1.nl/Straight%20Forward.wav.ogg
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Great, thank again!
Are you planning on making any more changes or can I start designing a level with it?
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You can definitely start designing a level with it. If I make changes, they'll be minor.
I might also look into making a 2nd song for when you hit an obstacle, and possibly also for when you start up the game but haven't yet played. :) It won't have a 4/4 drumbeat but more ambient.
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You can definitely start designing a level with it. If I make changes, they'll be minor.
I might also look into making a 2nd song for when you hit an obstacle, and possibly also for when you start up the game but haven't yet played. :) It won't have a 4/4 drumbeat but more ambient.
Really cool of you to do these things without even having to ask for them, you must really love doing it, thank you so much :) Those would actually be really useful, I'm making a menu right now.
The attached image is the menu I'm trying to make, but I'm not really sure how to pull off the rotating level selector with the tools I'm using...
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I made a second song. This song can also be played looped and is about 1 minute long.
Its a: game over/hiscore/main menu song and can thus be played when you die or when you first launch the game. (I made it with that in mind.)
Link: http://mftp.lp1.nl/Impact%20Restored.wav.ogg
I recommend controlling the music as follows.
- Both songs obviously should loop to the start when they reach the end of the song without any kind of gap.
- At game launch, "Impact Restored" starts playing at normal volume. When the user starts the game, this song is faded out before the game begins.
- When a level is played, "Straight Forward" starts playing at normal volume. When the user hits an object and the game ends, the song "Impact Restored" is played as soon as possible, no fade. The game visuals can then use whatever transition is necessary. The song "Impact Restored" starts with an explosion kind of sound.
Let me know what you think. :)
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As always, amazing.
Been playing with it for some time now, trying to set it as you suggested and tweaking it as much as possible.
Although there's something that might not fit your vision here: a few iterations ago I added sound effects to the game. For instance, when the ship explodes there's now an explosion sound, so the "explosion" part of your new music isn't really audible. But I'm still not really sure if I wanna use sound effects in this game, so I'd like to think how you feel about having them over your compositions.
As soon as possible I'll upload a video to show how it is being used currently.
EDIT:
Here it is:
http://youtu.be/9nto6HcetL8
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I'll check out the video when I'm at home.
As for adding sound effects, its your game. I just make the music. It isn't necessary, but if it works, it works. I'll listen and watch the video later and give a better response. :P
Glad you like the music. :)
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The music works as good as I expected. The sound effects are okay and don't mess with the song. I'd say, keep it as it is. :) I may or may not bring an update for the music. If I do it'll mainly be to improve the sound quality, but it seems pretty top notch already. :) Also matters how much time I can find to work on that, as audio engineering is not something I can do for a short moment. I need a bit longer to properly tweak things.
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I'm absolutely pants at rhythm games, so this project is nowhere near my alley... but I checked out the WIP video, and the music, and I just had to tell you both, your work so far looks & sounds awesome! I look forward to watching Let's-Plays of people with better reflexes than mine racking up high scores to the funky beats. :D
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Thanks the Jack. Although this is entitled as rhythm game, I would say it isn't. The game acts on the music, but you don't die or lose points for missing the rhythm.
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I've seen other games being called rhythm games where the player's actions aren't directly related to the rhythm, like bit.trip beat, Super Hexagon, Beat Hazard or even Audiosurf. But maybe that's never what a "rhythm game" was supposed to be.
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Bit.trip beat actually is a rhythm game. The action takes place at each beat. If you are not in the right spot, game over. Super hexagon definitely is not a rhythm game. Beat Hazard isn't a rhythm game either and neither is audiosurf.
These games cleverly do something with music, but that doesn't automatically make them a rhythm game. The idea of a rhythm game, is that the music and game work together in such that the music warns the player, meaning that if the music was disabled the game would become much harder.
A good example would be Nifflas' Avoid the evil space eel. The easy and hard modes are the same, with exception of the music.
But I guess it is in human nature to tell other people things are as such even though they do not fully understand the concept and as such spread the wrong info. I often have seen people call music a certain style while it really wasn't, but they just didn't know which style it was. Techno is a good example. That style has been really taken out of contest because people just started to call any dance music with a strong electro vibe techno while it used to be much more refined. I've also seen classical music being mistaken for New Age.
See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhythm_game
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But I guess it is in human nature to tell other people things are as such even though they do not fully understand the concept and as such spread the wrong info. I often have seen people call music a certain style while it really wasn't, but they just didn't know which style it was. Techno is a good example. That style has been really taken out of contest because people just started to call any dance music with a strong electro vibe techno while it used to be much more refined. I've also seen classical music being mistaken for New Age.
Or the way so many people -- native-English-speaking Americans, at least -- call all kinds of non-ironic things "ironic" ...though I think we can safely blame Alanis Morrissette for most of that. How she got confused about irony in the first part remains an open question, however.
Would you consider the one secret area in KU where the robots' movements / attacks are timed to the music a proper rhythm game? (I think the area I'm thinking of is called Neon Falls, but the lack of labeling in-game, along with the ridonkulous abundance of secret areas, makes keeping track of which one is which quite challenging!)
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Yes, I would consider those (there are more) areas to be rhythmic based. There are also the areas where you transfer between bob and mi automatically.
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(http://i.imgur.com/p07GTlZ.png)
The Android beta version for Circular is available now. If you wanna help me test this game, join this Google+ community (http://plus.google.com/communities/117451798912656897649) and then follow the instructions on this page (https://play.google.com/apps/testing/co.bravebunny.circular). If you don't like Google+, which is understandable, and want the .apk, send me a PM.
Play the Web version of Circular here here (http://bravebunny.co/circular). Use mouse left click, nothing else (optimized for touch screens).
The game includes two compositions by LPChip, one of them is the main menu theme, the other is the song used for the "Normal" level, and both of them sound really cool, so you should check it out :)
I really need to know how the Android version is working for everyone because of how vastly different all the Android devices are, so if you have one I'd be very grateful if you could give it a shot.
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Sadly, the game is barely playable on my Asus EEE Pad Transformer TF101 due to a low frame rate and input lag.
Also, as I was exiting normal mode, this happened:
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And that's a pretty decent device too, isn't it? Handles 3D games well and everything?
Honestly wondering if it's worth the effort to release an android version that will only work on a few devices or if I should release the desktop version only... Maybe I'll worry about mobile later...
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And that's a pretty decent device too, isn't it? Handles 3D games well and everything?
It's supposed to be, but it's kinda not. The framerate also drags on stuff like Chuck's Challenge. There's surely a way to optimise your game to run well on it, but it's beyond my level of expertise.
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And that's a pretty decent device too, isn't it? Handles 3D games well and everything?
It's supposed to be, but it's kinda not. The framerate also drags on stuff like Chuck's Challenge. There's surely a way to optimise your game to run well on it, but it's beyond my level of expertise.
Sergio, do you run any software on it to kill tasks? I know by experience that on most tablets, people tend to not close tasks properly and developers do not build in proper exit routines, as its supposed to be suspended in the background, but if you actually kill the tasks, the device speeds up dramatically, and lag problems vanish. I use System Monitor (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.p_soft.sysmon&hl=en) to close tasks I no longer use that can't be closed properly.
System Monitor also allows you to do close background tasks automatically which is a huge plus for me. Not all tasks should be closed though, but experience will tell you which one you should and which one you shouldn't. System tasks you shouldn't closed cannot be closed.
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My Android tablet died last year, but we decided to get me a new one, since our 'unofficial niece' who shares a birthday with me also needed a new tablet, & we found a good deal on NewEgg. It should be arriving later this week, at which point I'll be glad to do the LoCP-level beta testing for the game. It looks (and sounds!) great, even if trying to actually play it will probably not be my cup of tea. ;)
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The game has been published publicly on Kongregate. Click here to play. (http://www.kongregate.com/games/Raicuparta/circular)
This version lets you submit your score to the score board if you're logged in to Kongregate. Give it a shot!
It is still not final yet, but the main game is there. Still need a few changes to the layout and this whole thing with choosing where to start the song at after you die.
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Just saying, but the multiplier combo thing or whatever reminds me a lot of the one in GYRO (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pl.submachine.gyro&hl=nl), except a bit different. Is that a coincidence or...?
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Yeah, I think it is. Although I did play GYRO when it first appeared, really nice game. I just think it's pretty boring after a while, could have used the thrill of some rhythm related stuff in it :P But yeah, it's ridiculously addictive.
The combo being the way it is was just the first way I could come up with of adding that indicator without any other number cluttering the UI. That is also why the multiplier is shown in the background instead of a number in the corner.
I guess I should give it a play again some time to see if it helps me with keeping a clean style. I want to have the least amount of text possible in the game in the final version (think of Angry Birds, you don't need any text at all to play, everything is so obvious).
By the way, I have completely dropped development of the web version, so it will stay the way it is now (there was an update recently with links to the composer's pages, a settings screen and some other stuff). I am now remaking the game from scratch with Libgdx (http://libgdx.badlogicgames.com/). It's still not too low level programming, does a lot of the heavy lifting for me, but it's still the lowest I've ever programmed for a complete game, so it will still take some time. But I am really enjoying my experience with Libgdx so far, and the game is running really well on very sub-par Android phones, even though right now there isn't a lot of content. Also, with Libgdx I can easily port it to iOS, all I need is a device and a developer account.