The Paper Dance

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.76
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.04
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.79
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.85
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.50
Audio★★★★★★★★★★4.25
Mood★★★★★★★★★★4.21
Coolness★★★★★★★★★★100%
The curtains rise. A single spotlight comes into focus.
The lone dancer stands silent. Waiting.
Strings cry. Flutes flutter. Trumpets roar.
Her movement inspires.

A six minute interactive movement.

Choreography
ARROW - Movement (Adagio)
SPACE - Jump / Attack (Allegro)

A loving collaboration between the soon to be married Travis Chen (code) and Roxanne Young (art).

screenshot

Comments128

apiotrw8 Dec 2014, 11:09
Great visuals and great music. :)
dannyhodge
dannyhodge8 Dec 2014, 11:22
That is the best looking entry I've seen so far!
Gamepopper
Gamepopper8 Dec 2014, 11:23
Pretty good game, controls are a bit floaty but I definitely like the art style.
dekkuran
dekkuran8 Dec 2014, 11:24
Fantastic. Loved the way your fellow dancers follow you around the stage and how all the 2d cut outs flow to nicely. The black swan killed me... pretty quikly ;_;
Louisload
Louisload8 Dec 2014, 11:26
this is a very beautiful game and experience. The graphics are perfect, and the concept is just magnificent. congratulations on the marriage, I wish both of you much happiness together!
Wayward
Wayward8 Dec 2014, 11:30
Beautiful :)
Nuclear Napalm8 Dec 2014, 11:32
Great gra[hics, music and atmosphere, but I didn't figure out the goal. Is it just a game to enjoy movements?
olligobber
olligobber8 Dec 2014, 11:35
Looks, feels and sounds amazing. I love this game so much. It is so unique and... wow.
43iscoding
43iscoding8 Dec 2014, 11:36
Impressive work! Graphics look astonishing! Gameplay is too simple, but this one isn't about gameplay imo.
P.S. I still remember sitting for a few hours playing The Trader ^^
Aglavra8 Dec 2014, 11:38
Graphics and sound are really impressive. The only problem is, that there is no difference between player and other dancers, so it is confusing.
Jed T.8 Dec 2014, 11:39
Best beautiful looking LD game I've ever played. I don't know if I could consider it a game though because there is no clear goal at hand? or am I missing something.
Random Abductions
Random Abductions8 Dec 2014, 11:43
Very interesting good looking game. The gameplay is bare, which is bit sad. But the art direction is very nice to look at. I love the paper cardboard style and the vibe is very well pronounced. The game also looks fairly polished.
Tuism
Tuism8 Dec 2014, 12:50
So gorgeous! I really like the way the movement worked - it really looks like a dance! But it could be a little more sensitive to my input, it took a lot of getting used to the way it behaved, and often I still couldn't tell whether I was in control or not.

I also can't tell when the gam ended - did I hit something, or was it timed? Need more feedback on that.

Also the scoring, too.

Is the jumping good for anything besides looking pretty? If it is I couldn't tell.

Mechanically requires a bit more :) But so gorgeous!
nosfer
nosfer8 Dec 2014, 12:57
Nice graphics, floaty controls but made me play for a while and run away from black swan :)
Domicuc8 Dec 2014, 13:28
Man .. wow .. you make me a little bit cry.. this game have some magic..
TravisChen
TravisChenauthor8 Dec 2014, 18:22
Thanks all for the early feedback :D

We're making some gameplay / mechanic tweaks and should have the build updated before the deadline!
moomoomomoo8 Dec 2014, 20:11
wow. this game is beautiful!!! best entry by far!
Hellequin8 Dec 2014, 21:51
So nice!! I like the concept!!!!
OldPeculier
OldPeculier8 Dec 2014, 21:54
Sweet. As in "Ah, sweet." Very nice look.
lionroot8 Dec 2014, 21:55
Very cool. Started to get bored around 3 mins in, but it felt very moody. I wonder if there was more action farther in. Great music.
Kroq9Gar8 Dec 2014, 21:57
Great game, well done! Sliding a bit too much for my liking, put apart from that it's fantastic. And congratulations btw :)
Drtizzle
Drtizzle8 Dec 2014, 21:59
Superb graphics! It gets a bit boring after 3 minutes, but maybe thats just me ;)
hexagore
hexagore8 Dec 2014, 21:59
This is just so astonishingly beautiful. It is glorious. Thank you for making this.
Aevek
Aevek8 Dec 2014, 22:05
Absolutely loved it. When I started I immediately developed some complaints, but by halfway through I had completely forgotten what they were. Great gameplay, the slide-ey controls were perfect for this game, and the style and the visuals... Love it.
johnbrynte
johnbrynte8 Dec 2014, 22:06
It would have been interesting to add more dance moves and combination to the controls and to play with more enemies or events that mirror the song as it progress. In the end I just sat and watched the stage grow prettier. Beautiful!
Jadernak
Jadernak8 Dec 2014, 22:06
The flow, the art and the music are simply amazing.
cxsquared
cxsquared8 Dec 2014, 22:23
Awesome idea and sweet looking graphics. I loved the art style and music and how well they fit together. One of the best ideas I've seen. Great work.
K.Chplr8 Dec 2014, 22:25
Imaginative, beautiful and fun. An ecstatic demonstration of the most graceful roundhouse kick there is.
andrewkennedy
andrewkennedy8 Dec 2014, 23:16
I loved the music and the artwork. I did a theater theme too, but you definitely pulled it off waaaay better than I did haha. Really nice play on light and shadow. When the music picked up and the villain came out, it made me like, way happier than it should have.

Congratulations to the soon to be newlyweds!
AmyDee
AmyDee9 Dec 2014, 00:46
The aesthetics are lovely, and it's refreshing to see something like ballet appear in a game. The play itself seemed a little thin (pardon my language) and felt like it dragged on for too long. I enjoyed the ramping up of activity toward the end, and the overall concept was great.
jstzwd9 Dec 2014, 01:18
Great Great Game!!! I love this! The paper style is so so attractive!! By the way, I suggest you use firefox or safari instead of Chrome for our game, thank you for your feedback!
hissssssssss9 Dec 2014, 01:55
The only complaint I have is that the degree to which my dancer bounced off of obstacles felt a bit extreme. Other than that, everything about this was incredibly lovely.

Congratulations. :)
waveformmodulations9 Dec 2014, 03:24
Liked the paper cutout style. The controls were very floaty, fun to see something that looks so different.
GameDevKlingon9 Dec 2014, 04:50
Amazing experience, thank you very much for this, it was a pleasure from the beginning to the end. Thank you :)
2Bit9 Dec 2014, 09:03
Beautiful and executed extremely well. Should not have entered the Audio vote section though.
MurderSantaTeam9 Dec 2014, 10:07
interesting :)
the music is made by you o_O ?
MrBenjaminBowman9 Dec 2014, 14:47
Once I figured out that jumping kills the black girls, I quickly clustered up and spammed space the whole game. Huh.
shanageek9 Dec 2014, 17:04
WOW, this is amazing game with beautiful graphics and music!! I loved it :)
chamberlainpi
chamberlainpi9 Dec 2014, 19:49
loved the style. played once, won the first time, and almost feel like it told a story (the way the follower dancers came out, and there was one black swan, and then she came back with her troops of black swans! ATTAAAACK!) floaty controls, but overall cool idea!
Gins9 Dec 2014, 21:42
Now this is one of the prettiest games I've seen this LD.
Experience games aren't really my cup of tea, but for what it was, I enjoyed it :)
The music fits really well.
Geckoo1337
Geckoo13379 Dec 2014, 22:54
Poetry on classical music. I never thought taht was be possible to find this here. I like physics. Neat ++
Kep9 Dec 2014, 23:12
Wow, Mood++!
Very unique. Well done!
ENDESGA
ENDESGA10 Dec 2014, 03:02
Awesome game! I love it :D
Leaghorn10 Dec 2014, 03:59
wow. looks really nice. great graphics and lighting.
sharp91110 Dec 2014, 04:16
Interesting Concept. The music is good. The graphics ok. The controls are hard to get used to. Not bad :)
Pulsartronic
Pulsartronic10 Dec 2014, 11:13
Good work, original, i like the black and white theme
MrShoestore10 Dec 2014, 14:48
Lovely thing you have here. it's brilliant looking.
pjimmy
pjimmy10 Dec 2014, 22:51
masterpiece, encore :)
C63Industries
C63Industries10 Dec 2014, 22:59
I had a hard time figuring out what the goal of the game is. I could defeat the black dancers and collect the plants on the stage and this seemed to effect my score, but I just couldn't figure out how it was being effected and if I was even doing the right thing. Other than that issue, I think it was a really great concept.

Something that might be neat is the black dancers spawn out of the shadows of the other dancers.
Lynx
Lynx11 Dec 2014, 03:58
WOW! Stunning and beautiful! I will say though, that the movements seem a bit fast at first when you're first starting out...maybe start slower and slowly ramp them up as the player would get more confident with the controls
Bogden11 Dec 2014, 06:23
Amazing use of music to set the mood, tone, and gameplay at various times throughout the game.
Threstle11 Dec 2014, 20:40
Perfect mood. It's a very elegant game! Movement feels weird to me, but that's ok. ;)
OFF
OFF11 Dec 2014, 20:41
The graphics are simple but amazing.
Actually the idea is great but the game side with point is not perfectly integrated at a certain point we are not sure of who we are, and even why the points are groing.
The fight between the black and white dancers is a great idea, but i think that if the game was stayed in a paper cut style (no rotation) it would have been a better game.
But still one of the best mood that i have seen for now.
AdventureIslands
AdventureIslands11 Dec 2014, 20:46
6106 points! This was really creative entry, good work you two! maybe the lead dancer could be different color so she would be easier to see along the crowd?
sputnik
sputnik11 Dec 2014, 20:48
Superb visual.
Kuupu11 Dec 2014, 20:49
Simply beautiful

<3
Groydis
Groydis11 Dec 2014, 20:52
Beautiful.
SolomaZ11 Dec 2014, 21:13
Beautiful concept and execution! I didn't feel too graceful however slamming into trees over and over again. XP. Felt more like iceskating. A lot of potential here though!
bobombe11 Dec 2014, 21:18
The graphics and light effects are amazing !Even if it became a little boring at the end :/
Victory Garden11 Dec 2014, 21:32
This is so pretty... and congratulations! I really loved the look and feel of the game at the end, when the busyness of it really looked like the choreography of that portion of Swan Lake. Getting to dance with the corps de ballet was fun :>

Thank you for the game!
ljdp
ljdp11 Dec 2014, 21:38
Lovely game. Gorgeous style. Perhaps six minutes is too long?
Raxsus
Raxsus11 Dec 2014, 21:42
Very cool, nice music, and I can honestly say that I have never seen a game about ballet.
Night
Night11 Dec 2014, 22:01
One of the most beautiful game I've EVER see. Congratulations!
MaxguN
MaxguN11 Dec 2014, 22:02
A great experience, just a bit repetitve for 5 minutes but really enjoyable and beautiful. Congrats !
BoxedMeatRevolution
BoxedMeatRevolution11 Dec 2014, 22:13
Very creative and very nice graphics :D I ended up just mashing jump while doing figure 8s :)
indie4fun
indie4fun11 Dec 2014, 22:57
Wow, really beatufiul art, I love the paper style. And the music... :')
mathmadlen12 Dec 2014, 01:04
One of my favourites! Beautiful, great interpretation of the theme!
It truly looks like a labour of love - in more ways then one .) /sorry, I'm a sucker for romance in game development/
Otrora Games12 Dec 2014, 01:47
Art style got me from the start. You two nailed the mood there, but maybe you could tweak a bit the movement. It will remain difficult but be more enjoyable if it were a bit smooth. Other than that, a solid entry.
Devark
Devark12 Dec 2014, 04:24
Very polished and interesting idea - good job!
Kate Kligman12 Dec 2014, 06:44
This is beautiful and a lot of fun. Congrats on your engagement!
Demy
Demy12 Dec 2014, 07:54
Awesome mood and great idea! Just wow.
Simon12 Dec 2014, 09:51
This is absolutely fabulous. I loved it :)
farwyler
farwyler12 Dec 2014, 13:00
Wow! Great style!
Gluklichman12 Dec 2014, 15:36
Awesome game with awesome art.
intersectiongames
intersectiongames12 Dec 2014, 21:08
Nice. I liked this one. Controls felt a little cumbersome and I kept getting hung up on the scenery, and I forgot that I could jump, so the black dancers pretty much overwhelmed me until the very end. Really good interactive experience.
Crosstales12 Dec 2014, 21:37
Gorgeous graphics and sound - one of the nicest titles I've seen so far!

Great job and happy weeding day :-)
LukuluK13 Dec 2014, 01:16
A very beautiful expressive game ! I'm just a bit effraid that the gameplay's meaning would be understood as xenophobic.
Managore
Managore13 Dec 2014, 02:14
This is lovely! The paper cut-out style fits the game ridiculously well, and the trees and audience sets the stage (no pun intended) perfectly. The spotlight works very well, both to highlight the player and to cast shadows and add depth to the game. My only issue, and it is a small one, is that towards the end of the game it becomes very hard to see what's going on. Overall, a beautiful experience!
TheMeorch
TheMeorch13 Dec 2014, 03:19
This is ingenious. Using the spotlight to highlight the lead dancer is really smart, given the dance theme. A great, unique graphical style. Gret work!
ynots13 Dec 2014, 06:48
nice artwork..
Frozen Fractal
Frozen Fractal13 Dec 2014, 12:39
This is so hauntingly beautiful, I almost regretted that I was expected to do something, instead of just watching and listening.

I can tell this is going to be a great marriage. Congratulations!

I can't believe nobody asked yet, and I hope it's not because everyone knows: what's the music?
benmcnelly
benmcnelly14 Dec 2014, 07:46
Jammin, I played the whole thing! Well made!
aaronjbaptiste
aaronjbaptiste14 Dec 2014, 10:26
Very pretty, elegant and charming. Wasn't sure on the objective though.
Kuality Games14 Dec 2014, 13:49
I am truly impressed.. Wow, amazing job my friend. One of my (if not THE) favorites of this LD. 5 stars.
Kuality Games14 Dec 2014, 13:52
Wow, amazing artstyle. Liked it a lot!
AlbertoSM
AlbertoSM14 Dec 2014, 16:52
Really nice presentation, but it has some technical flaws, specially when dealing with a lot of stuff on-screen (dancers, particle systems and flowers), where the frame rate drops significantly. Plus the long lasting playthrough can get boring since nothing else happens during, other than having more dancers show up.
barryrowe
barryrowe15 Dec 2014, 03:47
Nailed it. This game looks, plays, and feels wonderful. The mood is perfect. The chosen music and the timing of the enemies is dead on. It's a nice take on a high score game. And the visuals are outstanding. Very good work.
ChuiGum
ChuiGum16 Dec 2014, 02:09
Graphics and Mood 5 stars! You should have let us rate audio! I would've given you 5 stars! Awesome job, loved the music and presentation. Well done!
savethejets116 Dec 2014, 02:28
Loved the paper theme, very beautiful. And the music too! :D Reminds me of Tengami. My friend says she would buy it if there was more.
SecondDimension
SecondDimension16 Dec 2014, 13:54
The style and mood are fantastic, a great experience.
asobitech
asobitech16 Dec 2014, 19:38
Beautiful, lovely idea.
MintArcade
MintArcade16 Dec 2014, 20:25
Amazingly beautiful. Fantastic game. Thank you.
LeReveur
LeReveur16 Dec 2014, 20:29
I'm speechless, too much emotions. This is not a game, this is a faerie dream.
JJEvil
JJEvil16 Dec 2014, 20:51
One of the best looking games of LD31. Controls are difficult, but you've created an excellent, beautiful experience.
Scam16 Dec 2014, 23:05
Not much a game here. This is more like a piece of beautiful art with some game elements. Still I liked it a lot.
yosh
yosh16 Dec 2014, 23:28
Really an excellent game. It took me some time to understand the fact that more white dancers = more flowers to collect.

This game was such a great experience, as the player, I was literally making the performance while still trying to score as much as possible.

Lastly, the game didn't even lag with all the characters and collectible and particles showing up at once... pretty impressive.
5 stars :)
tonypai
tonypai17 Dec 2014, 01:52
Good looking graphics! And the idea and mechanic are both awesome! Great job! :D
KyleDAudio
KyleDAudio17 Dec 2014, 01:59
Obviously beautiful! I particularly loved how well the mood of the music fit in every situation during the gameplay. Well done!

Also, just to let you know, I always score entries very strictly and fairly and this is the first-ever LD game I've rated 5 stars for every category available. :) <3
LTyrosine
LTyrosine17 Dec 2014, 02:24
Nice style, beautiful art! But somewhat limited gameplay. Movement/control could be more tuned with the rest of the game as most of time the dancer collide in the walls.

That aside, really impressive work.
el-pepi
el-pepi17 Dec 2014, 02:40
Nice graphics and music. But gets repetitive a little bit too fast for me.
Team Flashlight17 Dec 2014, 05:26
The concept is quite unique and your graphics is amazing! The game is so beautiful that it's a like enjoying an art work when playing the game. The control seems not very smooth but it can also be thought as a kind of style. Maybe you can have more hint or indirect control elements in the game telling the player what they should do? Or naive player may be confused on the objectives in the game.
dunin
dunin17 Dec 2014, 06:48
good mood.
Some more mecanics would be cool, six minutes is long...
JFern17 Dec 2014, 07:44
Wow, this was beautiful! I loved the graphics and atmosphere. Got stuck a few times on stage and it was hard to tell where I was sometimes, but definitely an interesting experience!
Yaroslav Kravtsov
Yaroslav Kravtsov17 Dec 2014, 07:59
Gorgeous! Concept are awersome.
You need to set more time to cooldown for jump. I jumped like a mad and made bloody massacre at the end :o)
Krunoslav
Krunoslav17 Dec 2014, 10:09
Very beautiful graphics and mood, i liked to play it.
Shimone17 Dec 2014, 12:03
One of my favorite jam entries so far!
Si1ver17 Dec 2014, 20:02
Fantastic style!
ArcturusDeluxe18 Dec 2014, 20:16
Very artsy! Fantastic graphics and sound, obviously. It would have been nice if you could have added some more gamey elements to it, but that's just my personal preference. It is what it is, and what it is is a rather nice interactive experience. Nice job!
zillix
zillix19 Dec 2014, 05:27
Beautiful. The spotlight and trail were well used to track the player, and seamlessly transferred to another character if mine was hit. I enjoyed the change of pacing with the flowers and enemies as the song went on, though 6 minutes still felt a little long. Fantastic work!
sebasRez
sebasRez19 Dec 2014, 16:24
This is a great game to be studied by game designers. At first the floaty controls of the ballerina made me question the direction but as she flowed across the screen it was a clear example of an excellent mix of game mechanics and theme. It was like looking at a game version of black swan which blew me away.
alyphen
alyphen20 Dec 2014, 16:08
This is very pleasant visually, but unfortunately the gameplay doesn't quite stand up to the mark. It needs... something more, a goal to work towards or something, otherwise it just feels lacking.
metalchouchen21 Dec 2014, 02:40
It's really great ! Some strange mix between black swan and a death core gigs :D Bravo!
Vandash21 Dec 2014, 12:01
Great idea great execution :)
Florent21 Dec 2014, 15:23
Very nice visuals !
alpha_rat22 Dec 2014, 13:43
I really loved it, but I wasn't even paying to the score whatsoever
alpha_rat22 Dec 2014, 13:43
I really loved it, but I wasn't even paying attention to the score whatsoever
Wiering24 Dec 2014, 01:57
Is that Tchaikovsky?
NicePenguins
NicePenguins26 Dec 2014, 16:34
I didn't play for the gameplay it was just beautiful to look and listen. Good artsy game :)
Erkberg
Erkberg27 Dec 2014, 23:37
Amazing job on the art and mood of the game. Gameplay is kind of not there and unfortunately it ran at very low fps on my laptop, still enjoyed this quite a bit. Good job overall!
camlang29 Dec 2014, 11:16
I love music, it's awesome! Super mood, great job!
pixelspirit
pixelspirit30 Dec 2014, 01:55
very beautiful (and fun)! glad to know it was a romantic collaboration - suits a game like this. well done.
Jungle
Jungle2 Feb 2015, 12:16
Very beautiful, but it is a bit boring.

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