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[superflat]

Hi there,

I've taken a break from my iphone game in an attempt to get some more finished projects under my belt.  I'm hoping to produce a game a week for this month...  So far, I'm on course, having finished 'Rockabilly Head' last night.  It took two days.



It's a rhythm-action adventure game.  There are four endings.

Anyway, looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this one, it's turned out slightly more interesting than expected.  The dancing is hard as hell, but it's meant to be.  Make sure you use your ears, not your eyes, 'cos there's not much of the usual fancy gui stuff.  Everything I added had to be done in 20 minutes or not at all.  Even the songs, and there's around five.  Of course some things did take longer, like certain bits of code and dialogue...  But all in all it went fairly smoothly.

EDIT:

There, I've done the separation, and the operation appears to have been a success.  Now you can download for (Intel) Mac or PC with Windowed and Fullscreen versions.  I hope it tickles one or two of you!

Here it is:

www.superflatgames.com/RockabillyHeadv0-991.zip

Keys: Left, Right, Z, and other keys for dancing you will be taught.

Take it easy, Tig-people.



Latest Update: v0-991

Small bugfixes, and one major one, which was two of the endings not having their music!  This kinda spoils them so if you downloaded the previous version, please try again... Thanks.

[fullspectrum]

That looks very cool, I'll be playing the hell of it once it's up.

[superflat]

Thanks little bro!  It's definitely influenced by some of the game-mechanics-as-storytelling-devices stuff I've been getting into, like Silent Hill 2, Gravitation, or some of Terry's amazing recent work (Steven Lavelle too...) I've tried to use the interactivity to my advantage, and make small things have consequences... A bit pretentious, I know, but hopeully it feels natural... not forced!

Also kind of inspired by Cactus' incredible lecture at GDC, especially the whole 'get it out, even if it stinks...' thing.

[fullspectrum]

'get it out, even if it stinks...'

you descibed that to me on the phone...I only just got it!

[superflat]

Well I got it out.  Let's see what you think...

[Peevish]

Oh, Intel Macs only. Might want to mention that. Pity...

[Fuzz]

Looks cool, downloading now.

[fullspectrum]

I'll be playing on my lunch break...can't wait to hear the music.

Edit: which i've now done, I loved it, like LOVED it all.  The music was better than I expected, and my expectations were very high.

I got tingles down my spine when it ended, i wanna be a Rockabilly. Now where did I leave my shoes....

Ahh man that was class, well done. There's so much scope to expand it if you wanted to.

[superflat]

Thanks Spesh, I'm really glad you enjoyed it man.  Which ending did you get, and what was your reading of it?  I think it helps to get through it a couple of times to get the full story.

@ Peevish

Unfortunately my old Powerbook bit the dust so I can't build for PPC Macs any more.  Will do if I ever have access to one!  I must say it's getting rarer to hear this though...

Edit: I've put up a new post on my blog about this and iLoveWar, my iPhone game.  Superflat World.

[fullspectrum]

I think I had a 'good' ending, it said 'I did the right thing'

The ending really reminded me of Spirited Away, the same setting and 'content sadness' as  the no-face on the train.

[superflat]

Ah yeah that was a good ending...  in my eyes, anyway. There's two, but it's very subjective.

Did you find the skinny guy?  Also I think the connection with Kaonashi (No-Face) comes from the fact that it ends on train with the blue skies behind?  I take it you only did one dance then?  You can do up to three... 

[fullspectrum]

Yeah I was so waiting to learn some new moves...but I loved that aspect of it, that I didn't get to. It seemed to represent what you were saying in the game.

To encourage replays, you could have a new mode unlock when you complete it - maybe the difference is just a pallette swap, but hopefully the player does things in a different order and discovers another of the endings.

BTW http://forums.sirlin.net/showthread.php?t=1821

Oh and, ''I'm dancing, I'm dancing!''   - you know!

[Hayden Scott-Baron]

Oh wow, that was weird! I really wasn't expecting that! Very weird indeed!

Love the art direction, although I struggled a bit with the action rhythm sections. There are quite a lot of English words for how you're doing, so if they were indicated of what level they were at it might be clearer. How about using one exclamation point for each level, so Rubbish! vs Amazing!!!!!... something like that?

Oh, the first guy was so annoying!! D: I can't believe you did that!

I agree that it would be nice to have some logging of endings. Unlocking some items in the inventory might be fun, or just saying "found 1/5 endings" to lure people into repeat plays.  I'm looking forward to going back

[Hayden Scott-Baron]

It's definitely influenced by some of the game-mechanics-as-storytelling-devices stuff I've been getting into, like Gravitation

[increpare]

I've only played it through once, but I liked it.  Style is great.

One thing: windowed-mode osx, on the ending screen I was on, I had to alt/apple/esc to quit.

[Terry]

Heh, this is pretty cool Are these the same filters from Soundless Mountain?

I had a lot of trouble with the actual gameplay, to be honest - I'm pretty sure my rhythm was spot on (and the first one seemed to go well), but everyone else told me I failed and that my moves were useless! *maybe* it's just me, I dunno, but it seems like the actual measurements were out? In any case, I got what seemed to be the worst ending

I like the idea behind the game a lot though, and the style and music is really cool!

Also:

I'm hoping to produce a game a week for this month...

Awesome!

[superflat]

Hi there,

Thanks for your feedback guys, I knew I could count on you!

The dancing sections you have to press <A> button on the 1-2-3-4 count.
Later on you might get other moves like <S> for 'King Point' and <D> for the
'Rockabilly Shuffle'...  I think it's easier to win the dancing without
looking, the GUI can actually make it more confusing.  From the feedback
I've had, I think making it easier would be good!

You do have to pay attention to the other guy's moves though.  If you have more than one, he will switch randomly usually at 4-bar intervals.  You gain more points for pulling the right move (there are two sets of ratings, depending on whether you're doing the same move as the other guy), but I find it's better to keep a steady rhythm than constantly hit the right one.  Switch moves when you're comfortable you can maintain the rhythm.  You'll be punished more for bad timing than the wrong move.


@Dock

Yes that Gravitation, of course haha.  I know the futile fetch quests were annoying, in fact a lot of the game was designed to feel like a pounding headache haha.  There's a reason for that without wanting to give too much away.  I like your idea of exclamation marks... Currently only the top level word had one, so you know if you're bang-on, but if not you can't tell how close you are.

I really like the idea of Ending Trophies or the like.  Although I think I'm the only one who can actually complete the dancing sections haha.  Seriously, I find it easiest to not even look the screen, except to check what move the other guy's doing.

@Terry

This leads me onto your point sir...  I know you're a 'proper' musician, so I'm surprised you had such difficulty with it - the fact that you felt you were pressing in time makes me think there might be some kind of timing issue with your machine?  What are you running on?

Basically the game is designed to work with vsync enabled, so that's the only thing I can think off offhand.  Hmmm.

Anyway, thanks for your incredible Pathways, I've been playing all your stuff round at Hayden's (having been offline for two months) and I think this game is the start of something really interesting.  I'd love to see more done with the concept.  Don't Look Back is also deserving of its praise, and gave me a one-more-go feeling I haven't had since Jet Set Willy!

@Stephen

I'm still hoping to see your job application land on the leads' screens here so I can put in a good word haha...  I keep telling them to 'look out for an application by...'  Anyway, about quitting this game, I think it's just a case of time - you can click Z or ENTER to quit from the ending, but have to wait a minute or two before you can.

I've given Opera Omnia a go, but, while I love the atmosphere and dialogue, I don't fully understand the mechanics...  So I'll have to have another go!

@Everyone

I'd also love to see anyone's interpretation of the ending if you have one.  I wanna know if I got across what I was trying... 

[fullspectrum]

Like all my favorite games and films, my interpretation was that I couldn't sum up in words exactly what the meaning was, just that I was feeling it. Like how I feel at the end of Bladerunner.

I'm sure with repeated play throughs I could piece together a story though, I'll get back to you.

[superflat]

I'm gonna just add a small spoiler, in case anyone didn't consider it: that on the train, at the end, he may or may not be asleep!

[CyanPrime]

Okay, good game, but there were some errors in the sprites, and I had to kill process to close the game down.