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MSS Testing - v0.09 BETA! (25 May)

5 years ago1,868 words

Here's an update to the Sindrel Song testing beta which includes some new mechanics, which emerged after engaging with feedback and discussions, and which I hope will address many of the difficulty concerns!

I meant to spent today replying to the feedback comments I've not replied to yet, but while I replied to the ones on the previous post, I've not yet got to the ones on the huge feedback post. It's because I got struck by a mix of inspiration and motivation and really wanted to use it to add to the game. So I did!

v0.07 BETA

In this version, there are a bunch of minor things I've added and can't remember (I did a lot of them days ago). Trivial things like the options menu that aren't interesting but still take time. I think one is a fix to the weird camera bugs at Memody's tent, so let me know if that's working now! You still can't exit songs from the pause menu though; that's on my to do list.

One of the biggest changes is note colours. Originally when I talked about this, I intended to use the colours to distinguish between the notes and help bind them to memory, but after playing around with it a bit, I found it garish using a rainbow of very different colours, and it didn't really help with memory (though it's hard for me to tell because I know all the songs off by heart already).



Since I'd already added the code for it though, I decided to keep it as an aesthetic feature, using a subtle gradient of colours - different ones for light and dark modes - which aren't very easy to tell apart, but that's probably for the best because they aren't supposed to be used as a memory aid here. I like how they look; I think it looks more polished and fancy now! Just changing the look of the buttons from how they looked on the very first day of development is something that makes me more excited than it should! Due to human nature, it being different to what you're used to might elicit a negative response, but play around with it a bit and see how it feels after a while.

I'm not entirely pleased with it - they don't look like light in just the right way that I'd like, and I think the dark notes from the player look like spiders or something - but I did just add it a few hours ago, so it's likely going to be tweaked at least a bit.

The other, more important thing is a tweak to the difficulty.

Someone in the comments suggested that the hearts - 'lives' - represent Memody's confidence, which depletes with errors but regenerates with successes. I like that, and I think I'll go with it as the in-game explanation; I'll add tips and dialogue text to that effect soon.

With that in mind, Memody now also has a panic meter, which builds due to failures. It's the 'eye' in the middle of the new UI (I replaced the dark/light 'bulb' because it was redundant information; it's already clear what mode you're in from the keys). It takes three failures to fill, at which point you enter 'panic mode', and you can no longer lose lives/confidence, essentially meaning that you're doing the current section on an unlosable loop in a way that's been discussed by me and others in comments previously. The panic meter resets whenever a section is completed.

The main aim of this is to remove the horrible feeling of being stuck at a wall. Some testers had these seemingly demotivating runs where they had a string of similar percentages in a row, before something clicked and they 'got' the bit they were stuck on and can continue. While some formal Practice mode might have resolved that, I feel that this solution is more elegant, and more video-game-y as well. The mode is only engaged when you actually need it, but it's of limited availability (you need more than three hearts to have enough to charge the meter from failures), which can be regenerated by playing well.

It's easier to play around with than it is to explain it, I think, so give it a go! I haven't had much time to test it properly myself, though, so I hope there aren't any horrible issues with it!

Oh, and that only applies to Challenge mode, of course (which still says it's 'how the game was meant to be played'; I've not changed that yet). During Casual mode, you repeat sections infinitely anyway, and in Expert, you're meant to fail after one imperfectly played section.

Also, importantly, tempo decreases every time you fail a section. It slows by 5% for each failure (originally it was 10%, but it ended up so slow that it was actually harder to remember the melody; I could tweak the numbers though if this reduction feels too subtle to be useful). It resets to 100% when completing a section, though I could change this so it restores gradually with each success if the sudden jolt back to 100% is jarring. Speed is represented by the radial bar surrounding the 'eye' (I've been trying to aim for minimalism with the UI).

There's at least one issue with tempo changing that I'm aware of, but I've only just added this so I'll fix it soon. It relates to how the notes are stored and created. For some instruments, each note is a separate sound file, but for others, they have their whole scale in a single mp3, with each note spaced some number of seconds apart. Rather than taking out the relevant chunk, the whole scale sound file is attached to the new note, and it begins playing at the position where the note starts. Normally the note fades away before it gets to the next one so you'd never notice, but if the tempo's slow and a note drags on longer than this limit, you'd hear the next note in the scale (though it wouldn't actually count as a note for gameplay purposes or anything). Similarly, the background pad notes have a limited length, so if the section goes on for a duration that exceeds that length due to tempo reduction, then the pad would cut off and there'd be silence. I'll fix these soon, and I've no idea where or if they'd actually occur, but this is an explanation for if you encounter them!

I'd still like to add some other things, like an indication of when you've played a wrong note, but they're still on my list.

I've barely tested this (and I need to sleep now), so if you encounter any terrible bugs, let me know and I'll fix them!



So yes, that's another update! I personally feel quite pleased with this as a solution to many of the difficulty issues, but I've not actually been able to make use of it myself because I'm unable to learn any of the songs (since I know them so well already). I'll be interested to hear how it works in practice.

Also, let's start using this post for feedback now! The other one's quite bloated with comments at this point! If you do have more feedback - and I'd love to hear it if you do! - it's best to post it as new comments rather than a reply to yourself, so then I can sort by Recent and see them more easily.

I'll check and reply to the comments on the other post though, when I get time. Hopefully tomorrow, but we'll see!

v0.08 BETA

Here's another quick addition to the 'panic' system described above.

In v0.08, the 'panic count' for each section is saved. That means that if, say, you fail repeatedly to complete a section, you'll enter panic mode after three attempts, allowing you to retry until you've got it. In your next attempt, however, you'll begin that section with the panic meter 2/3 full, meaning that repeated failures here will cost you fewer hearts. This 'panic count' depletes whenever you successfully complete that section, so doing good runs makes sections 'safer'.

So essentially it sets the difficulty of a section, as determined by the player's previous attempts.

I've barely tested it (I think it works though??) and I've definitely not used it while learning a piece because I can't really, but I'm curious to see if this will help at all!

It might not be of much help if your mistakes are fairly random and spread out, though. Perhaps lessening the effect of the reduction for successful completion could help with that? That is, instead of your 'panic count' for a section going down from 3 to 2 when you complete it, it could go from 3 to 2.5 or something, maybe. So that's an option if this doesn't make much difference.

It could even never deplete, meaning that once a section is rendered 'safe' by failing enough times at it, you won't be able to lose any hearts there again. That'd mean that you could 'brute force' even the most difficult of songs by rendering each section unlosable by failing at it repeatedly. It'd probably mean that going backwards progress-wise might be much more difficult, but it might also feel strange to be often in panic mode once you'd mastered sections or the entire song.

I also might have fixed an issue where you got a fail X grade as soon as the song started, if you were retrying without returning to the world map, but I'm not sure because I couldn't reproduce it in the first place, so I'd like to hear if it's fixed or not!

v0.09 BETA

Another update! In this version I've added the following:



* I've improved the look of the note 'pulses', and they're linked now by coloured lines. This was a suggestion I was curious to experiment with, though I don't know if it's a help or a distraction. They'll likely distract you if you've played the game without them, at least at first, but I wonder what a new player might think.

* Dolour's song is now different! I've edited a bit near the start, and the ABABCDCD bit is now compressed to AB-duet-CD-duet.

* Remedy's song now plays in Casual by default the first time, and Hammer explicitly introduces Challenge mode. He does so in a way that's in keeping with his character, but it might go against the whole point of giving the player an equal choice about which difficulty they choose, so hmm. I'll probably change that. Expert mode is unlocked when you finish the game.

* It now saves when you finish a song, not just when you return to the world map (no more lost attempts).

* When you play a wrong note, subsequent notes appear smaller.

* There are marks on the bars to indicate beats.

* The notes should bounce properly before duets now.

* Some smaller tweaks and fixes too.

I'm getting closer to having everything on my To Do List completed! I want to work on some script and animation improvements next.