From The Top!
ROLE
Lead Designer, Sound Designer, Programmer
DESCRIPTION
From The Top is a simple rhythm game prototype that experiments with the idea of getting the player to master short individual rhythmic phrases rather than grading them on their performance of an entire song. The core design concept that led to this idea was mastering the fundamentals of rhythm by starting simple and building on it.
This game is aimed at those interested in getting good at rhythm, but who may feel overwhelmed by the flashy inputs and unrelenting pace dominant in the genre. From The Top strips things down to their basics, with notes in the form of salient simple rectangles sliding left, and only one button to press. So that the player feels a strong sense of learning these rhythmic concepts, whenever they mess up a bar, that bar is repeatedly fed to them until they get it perfect. This uniquely applies control of the difficulty curve on a micro level - something more typical of abstract puzzle games - to a rhythm game context.
Game design, programming, and sound design by Oscar Newsome.
Voice acting by Corey Afeaki.
