Arco

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.50
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.35
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.52
Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.28
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.64
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.90
Humor★★★★★★★★★★1.82
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.42
Coolness★★★★★★★★★★59%
Arco is a very simple game with very simple sounds and graphics. It teaches you how to play and takes you on a short journey to a very simple ending.

Thank you for playing it!

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Made in C++ using GLFW and OpenAL. Sounds were made in Audacity and music in Otomata.
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I'm new to android dev so I'm not sure but I think anything 2.3+ should run it.
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The HTML5 port was made after the compo, but it's identical to the original game. Rewritten in TypeScript and Phaser.
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Comments52

Robert
Robert29 Apr 2013, 04:18
Yay you used Tau!
glbs
glbs29 Apr 2013, 12:24
You got a nice atmosphere there, the graphics are pretty and the mechanics neat. Though I really suck at this.. only 3rd level
rejooh
rejooh29 Apr 2013, 12:24
I enjoyed playing your game. The music and visuals, especially the colors, add up and make you want to keep on playing. I would love to play it full screen on my computer. :)
Xeke_Death29 Apr 2013, 12:31
Took me a few tries to figure out what I had to do. Then I had to close it before I lost too much time to it. The music is quite good, and it seemed to get more voices as I filled in spaces. That was a nice touch.
AnnaGavaldaKedavra29 Apr 2013, 12:57
Sympa. Assez difficile dès le deuxième niveau. Dommage que ça lag un peu.
Jarcas Studios29 Apr 2013, 15:28
Nice! Really tough but cool idea. I really like how everything is smoothly scaling and rotating the whole time. Gives a very organic feel to what would otherwise be very dull to look at.

I would also say that it doesn't quite do enough to teach you how to play. I tried clicking the X icon a few times at first before realizing it meant I should press a key. Then, I didn't understand what the object of the game really was. I was at my 5th try before I understood what I should do.
Lucas Tiridath
Lucas Tiridath29 Apr 2013, 15:28
Very clever idea and remarkably fun! I wasn't quite sure what to do at first either but it all became clear looking at the video you posted. Very effective, good sound, and a nice interpretation of the theme. I could see this becoming a real time sink ;). Well done.
Jonathan Whiting
Jonathan Whiting29 Apr 2013, 15:29
I found this frustratingly difficult so I didn't manage to finish. A beautifully realized game though. Really good for the theme.
lucasncv
lucasncvauthor29 Apr 2013, 19:20
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I tried my best to explain the controls as minimalistic and intuitive as possible! That's always a flaw of my games.
AlanBazan29 Apr 2013, 21:42
This game is hard huauhauha
But it's really good!!
garygreen
garygreen29 Apr 2013, 21:43
This is great. It took me some time to work out exactly what I was supposed to do, but when I did I found it fun. So quirky and abstract. Nice ambient sounds too. :-)
ilo29 Apr 2013, 21:46
Very elegant design, and fits the theme perfectly (in presentation, mechanics and controls). Well done!
lulzfish_430 Apr 2013, 02:41
Seems like a decent rhythm game, but I didn't feel any correlation between the music and the patterns.

I assume I won, since there weren't any more patterns.
IHateATMFees
IHateATMFees30 Apr 2013, 02:44
Wow, loved this! Full screen would be sweet
Idovoodoo
Idovoodoo30 Apr 2013, 11:51
Cool concept and lovely audio. Well done! :)
HelkeGames30 Apr 2013, 15:27
I enjoyed playing this game! Nice one ;)
Tater_hater30 Apr 2013, 20:07
The style of it kind of looks like tempest a long time ago.. really cool.
kreddor30 Apr 2013, 20:14
Nice little game, but it took me forever to realize I had to press x to start. I also liked the music and the simple graphics. I think it wouldn't hurt the game if it was slightly more forgiving when it came to the timing of the input :)
LeafThief
LeafThief30 Apr 2013, 20:22
I played this on a Nexus 7 and I have to tell you: I enjoyed this immensely. I love the simple touch controls and how effective you're putting them to work.

It's minimalistic yet very good game design and you have totally nailed the combination of color, shapes and audio.

There is one small thing I have to criticize: I would've appreciated if there was more feedback for beating a pattern - the thing that annoyed me most (but not much really ;)) about beating a pattern was that the music would stop.

Amazing and engaging!
lucasncv
lucasncvauthor30 Apr 2013, 20:25
Yay for playing it on a Nexus 7 :D Thanks for the kind comments, guys.
LeafThief
LeafThief30 Apr 2013, 21:15
Oh man, disregard my previous comment. I was too stupid to realize that you had to fill it up two times - there is proper feedback for winning. Haha. My bad I guess.

I could totally see you making money off of this.
lucasncv
lucasncvauthor30 Apr 2013, 21:25
You have to fully complete all the "slices", from the border to the center! :)
jadams30 Apr 2013, 22:25
Very nice well executed concept. Does the music beat match the game? Either way I'm finding it very hard to get around once. I've grabbed the .apk to try on my commute tomorrow.
sparkleswirl
sparkleswirl30 Apr 2013, 23:28
I really like this game! But then again I'm biased when it comes to simple rhythm games where you go around in a circle. =) Relaxing, endless, and I love the subtle cues you put in in terms of the speed of the sweeping arm when a level's about to start. I wish there was some audio feedback for pressing space though!
nddrylliog
nddrylliog1 May 2013, 00:25
Agree with the general feeling in the comments, a very enjoyable, slick-looking, smooth entry. I suck at it, though :)
ddionisio
ddionisio1 May 2013, 17:35
Nice elegant design and the shape looked lively. The ambiance music is really cool!

I have to admit, I kept losing after the 2nd beat, sometimes passing 3rd or 4th. I can't really figure out the timing.

Also, tried it on android :)
Sylvain.p
Sylvain.p4 May 2013, 04:11
Elegant and nice graphics but too hard for me.
mrzippycrow5 May 2013, 01:09
Fun once I figured out what to do. I had to look at your dev log to get a clue. Some sort of intro showing the circle filling up and the X key getting pressed would have helped.
SecondDimension
SecondDimension5 May 2013, 09:23
Took me a while to figure out how to play. It's a great game once you do, good use of the theme.
Cake&Code5 May 2013, 11:21
I am terrible at this game! I think playing rhythm games has taught me to anticipate the actual note by several milliseconds and it is killing me here where you need to do it on or after the visuals indicate.

Still, had a lot of fun playing and enjoyed the Otomata music in the background. Well done!
KEFIR
KEFIR5 May 2013, 11:33
This one have a great mood and sound! Not really intuitive at start though
Kerai5 May 2013, 13:30
Web version doesnt work:
TypeError: this._context is null
line 4989
alcazar5 May 2013, 15:11
It's just Awsome, a little hard, but awesome GG
TheR1otAct5 May 2013, 17:48
It is well designed, but unfortunately the lack of synchronization with the music makes it very difficult.
BrothersT
BrothersT5 May 2013, 18:59
Very minimalistic! I can see why others may have given up, but I am determined and stuck at it. I think the controls are forgiving enough to give a bit of a challenge. The music was fitting, and I liked how the rotation added an extra dimension to the simple rhythm game formula.

I'm just a bit unsure if I actually completed the game. I think I played 4 or 5 levels, and this was followed by a "level" where all parts of each segment were filled by the computer, after which nothing happened except for the continuing expanding squares.
Switchbreak
Switchbreak5 May 2013, 20:38
Interesting concept. The timing was tough to get, it seemed to always scan a bit slower than I anticipate.
lucasncv
lucasncvauthor5 May 2013, 21:30
Thank you all for playing and commenting. The game was not actually meant to be rhythm based, the music is there just to fill the silence! But I agree that it'd work much better if it were rhythm based.

@BrothersT, yes you completed it :)
psychomonster
psychomonster5 May 2013, 22:20
WTF... thats amazing :D high difficulty level for my fingers and my level of tiredness... but really nice minimalistic reaction game :D
MathiO7 May 2013, 22:07
Challenging and stylish little minimalist game. Nice! :)
dector
dector8 May 2013, 09:59
Good theme-related entry. Also thanks for Android version. Trying to win it. :)
Dining Philosopher9 May 2013, 09:03
It took me a long time to figure out what I had to do, but after that it was quite fun. :)
FREEZX
FREEZX9 May 2013, 17:41
I loved it. Simple and interesting.
Xanjos9 May 2013, 22:08
Took a while to work out what I was meant to do but the concept was really well done and matched the theme perfectly.
euwaku11 May 2013, 18:45
Simple concept, was actually fun to play. I'd love a sandbox mode where you can play your own music :)
BrothersT
BrothersT12 May 2013, 12:38
@lucasncv - I realise the gameplay wasn't timed to the music, but it was still a rhythm game, but the rhythm was dictated by the visuals instead :)
Sylvain.p
Sylvain.p14 May 2013, 03:03
Nice atmosphere, but a bit too hard, I have just finish the first level.
dremelofdeath
dremelofdeath16 May 2013, 07:19
Tried to figure out if sound was tied to gameplay, but it wasn't. Fun and definitely plays to the theme well.

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