Inspiration and Postmortem

What I Wanted to Accomplish

After recently seeing the game Rhythm Doctor again, I was inspired to focus on a rhythm game that only used a single button for gameplay (though there is an additional button just to reset the level in the current iteration)!

Keeping this in mind, I thought about different instruments that only required one keypress. The longer I thought about it, the more I realized that the most fitting example wouldn't be an instrument at all, but rather to use a conductor as the player's character. This worked well with the single button, which I intended to use to make the conductor signify the beat by waving their baton. 

I was especially inspired watching the above video of Simon Rattle conducting, as there is an intensity in his motions that I wanted to capture in play. Seeing this intensity and the energy made me want to go for an intense, classical feeling piece of music for this prototype. 

Visually, I was more inspired by a rhythm game with more traditional indicators than Rhythm Doctor. 

The flow of notes in Taiko no Tatsujin Pop Tap Beat and the energy of some of the songs in this app also inspired this prototype. They have notes that progress across the screen, and this was something I intended to carry forth through my prototype. 

These inspirations all came together in this idea of having a rhythm game level that focused on classical music, and one button play, while keeping more standardized indicators for the player to play along with. 

Where I Succeeded

I think my greatest success in this prototype was in the song itself.  I wrote something that starts off slow, and then builds quickly into a much faster paced tune that peaks before coming to a slower close once again. While there isn't a full orchestra, I chose a piano since the notes ended up being more crisp. Additionally, I tried to keep in mind classical music that I like, such as Moonlight Sonata for the tone, and Paganini Caprice Nº 24 for the pacing and how certain sections are repeated.

I think the beatmap for this piece captures the intensity of the music quite well in the way the spacing of the notes is for the majority of the music. This took a lot of trial and error, as playing every note was too chaotic, but playing too few of them felt disconnected from the piece of music. I think I've achieved a good balance, using sustained notes only in the slower segments to emphasized the holds, and using transient notes for the faster sections so the player must accomplish more in that timeframe. In this, the player's pacing matches the song's pacing. 

I also think having the notes approach the conductor from the right was a wise choice, so their baton swings right near the notes themselves when they approach! It feels like a successful visual motif for gameplay!

If you'd like to hear the music on its own, you can listen to it here!

Where I Can Improve

My visuals are still very rough, for the sake of this prototype. They could use some polish to make things a little more crisp, though I would want to keep the 2D hand drawn style in the future. The conductor themself could use more of an animation to feel more lively, rather than just alternating between two static sprites to indicate motion and feedback to the player. 

Additionally, due to the short distance the notes travel, they feel slower than they actually are, and there is a disconnect between that visual speed, and the speed of the music (even though the timing is correct on the indicators themselves). I would made a wider level so the speed of the notes could be further emphasized through their visuals, rather than have the potential for crowding on the screen. 

While the one button was interesting to work with for this version of the prototype, it might be more interesting in the future to give the conductor character different types of cues. This could possibly extend to having multiple instrumental tracks, and emphasizing one instrument over another at the player's choice based on what type of cue they execute to the rhythm. 

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Here's a video of the prototype if you'd like to check out my attempt to play through the song!
(Though I'd strongly recommend you give the level a try first!)