The TL;DR version...

http://www.rvdleun.nl/rb

It's a game I'm working on called 'Rhythm Blade' which had best be described as "Guitar Hero meets the brawler genre". Mind giving some feedback on the concept? Still very early WIP.


The not-so-TL;DR version...

Right, so for the past few months, I've been working on and off on this little game idea that's been in my head for years. After experimenting with Unity and having some aspirations of designing indie games in my spare time, I started to work on the project.

As mentioned in the TL;DR version, the game is basically focused on being a rhythm game where you have to listen to the background music to time your attacks. By doing so, you'll unleash attacks to more easily kill your enemies. By the end of the song, you'll receive a rating based on your performance. Naturally, you'll be able to upload it to an online scoreboard to compare your skill to others.

Reason why I'm currently presenting this game is because I have some early stuff to show now. The website contains a youtube video demonstrating how the game currently plays, some concept art to demonstrate what I'd like the game to look like, as well as some general information on my plans for the game. At some point in the near future, I hope to upload a prototype demo which will have a three songs to play, as well as a tutorial. The latter is almost done, the first need some more work.

One thing that I will admit that is that I'm somewhat nervous about uploading this as well. It's a project that I've only mentioned to a couple of friends so far, and never really planned on going online with it until I had much more of a game to show. However, it's essentially a one-man(me) project and I suppose I want some more feedback on this, as well as see if there is anyone out there who'd be interested in helping me completing this project.

So I would also like to ask to not just critique the game concept, but the website as well. After browsing through it, do you think that you have a good understanding what the game is about? Is there anything in there that you're missing? Also, English is a second language to me, so are there some annoying grammar errors in there? Am I too verbose at times? Would love some feedback on that as well.

Once more, the website is: http://www.rvdleun.nl/rb

Hoping to receive some feedback. Thank you in advance
rvdleun

Quote:

Original post by rvdleun It's a game I'm working on called 'Rhythm Blade' which had best be described as "Guitar Hero meets the brawler genre". Mind giving some feedback on the concept? Still very early WIP.

It is certainly a promising concept, worthy of exploration. I did have one question - what happens if you attack out of time?

The only similar game which comes to mind is Def Jam: Icon, basically a wrestling game where strikes delivered on-beat do additional damage. A few other ideas which might be borrowed from this game include environmental damage delivered in time to the music (e.g. explosions and fire on the drop) and music-based special abilities (triggering rewinds, breakdowns etc.).

>This video shows most of these mechanics. Another (sort of) comparable game is Groov (on the XBLA indie section) which is a Geometry Wars style shooter focused on attacking in time to the music and also on creating music by destroying enemies.

Quote:

Original post by rvdleun So I would also like to ask to not just critique the game concept, but the website as well. After browsing through it, do you think that you have a good understanding what the game is about? Is there anything in there that you're missing? Also, English is a second language to me, so are there some annoying grammar errors in there? Am I too verbose at times? Would love some feedback on that as well.

The quality of English is generally pretty high, especially for a second language - yes, it's quite verbose but I like that style and often employ it myself. The first page gives a fairly good impression of what the game is about and coupled with the prototype video I'm not really left with any questions. There are a few grammatical niggles - for example you say "it's far more easier" ("more" is redundant here) and also "the players uses the attack button" ("players" is probably just a typo).

Good luck with your project.

Quote:

It is certainly a promising concept, worthy of exploration. I did have one question - what happens if you attack out of time?

You do a normal attack. The player's avatar walks up to an enemy and slashes/stabs once. Doing this three times on an enemy kills him. You can also 'charge' this ability by attacking different enemies per attack which results in being able to kill other enemies in one hit.

Overall, timing your attacks will lead to easier kills and a higher score, but I intend to develop these 'normal' attacks for when there is a lull in a song and give the player something to do.

Cheers on the Def Jam and Groov recommendation, I'll take a look at them. Thanks for the reassuring feedback on the website as well, and I'll remove those grammar errors as soon as possible.


Unfortunately, my Mac that I use for development crashed a few days ago(figures...), and will be in the repair shop for 3-5 weeks, effectively postponing any development. I'm not sure if it is against the rules, but would I be allowed to up this thread once I get my Mac back and be able to resume development?

Kind regards,
rvdleun