Purgatory is a Music Store

Visually looks col. Checkout my game at https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/47/the-loopy-wheel

This is honestly one of my favourite submissions I've come across so far. Its something just so unique and out of nowhere. I booted this up thinking, its a game where you just play a bunch of notes? And I had my doubts when I realized there was no gameplay here besides pressing notes and listening to dialogue. But as I kept going I found myself kind of enjoying slamming away at my keyboard for no rhyme or reason. It can't be a coincidence that you chose a specific set of notes that blended so well with the song and jamming away felt so natural.

Great job Im actually blown away.

@jag thank you so much! ;o; We were really hoping the game would resonate with people despite not having very much in the way of gameplay.
Matt & Julian worked really hard to make the harmonies work and feel like you're really playing along to a song. I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

This game is /gorgeous/ I absolutely loved playing it holy moly!! It's so incredibly compelling, I'm so glad I played it.

Hi @rebecca-harrison you put me playing songs. Nice trick setting people to play a specific giving musical scale. Well done :)

I like your idea, I'm no music person I wish I had a note sheet or rhythm game style notes coming. Overall I think future games show promise for you.

An enjoyable experience. The art style is gorgeous and polished!
After finding something of a newfound hobby in creating my first thing I could call "music" for my jam entry, playing the instruments was fun! I would have liked some additional gameplay, which could have made the writing more interesting and rewarding, but it was deffinately worth playing!

1,3,4,5
1,3,4,5
1,3,4,5,3,2,1,3
3,3,2,1,3,3,5,5,6,4
3,4,5,3,1,2,1

I think that's how it goes. 😃

That was a wonderful time. It took me back to when I was a young boy playing music on my keyboard.

Fantastic!

especially your graphics and sound design is satisfying. congratulations :)

Amazing graphic and i like the sound design. Good job :)

Games that are very story-based like this one aren't my type of games. Still, I liked to play around with the different music instruments. The aesthetics were nice, and I think it's an interesting way to make use of the theme. Good job!

Love this! So calming, and a very cool interpretation of the theme! Mine is not nearly as beautiful, but maybe you could check it out? https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/47/loopys-run

Absolutely lovely game! I love everything about it - from the graphics to the music, and it fits the theme pretty well :) Good work!

very nicely composed game! the environment and music fit together so nicely, plus a lot of charm and a super unique take on the theme!

Just rated your game! Love the music and felt very wholesome :)
Can you rate my game also? https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/47/miner-malfunctions

lovely game! nice idea- something "fresh" and also you did great job with graphics. it's really nice game and could be even way much better after little upgrades - i feel like it could be better with whole graphic made like characters- more "blueish" lowpoly.

but amazing job, cheers! :heart:

it would be amazing if you could say something bout our game too- its our first try ever and we want to be way much better next time!

heck, this is kinda game I would love to see as winner! I'm a musician myself, and hell this is a clever idea! Just make player play on simple scale that will work anyway and (I assume) with slight delay to fit the chord to upcoming note... Or even if it's a mistake, I think it's very simple and clever idea, just jelous that I didn't come up with that =D Great visuals and overhaul such a nice and polished beautiful game! Very pleased, feels like I really jamming with friends - great feeling. I'll keep it on my PC and hope that it is not the end. I think it can became more than just this demo. And I definitely will be waiting for it. Best luck!

This was more of an experience than a game - not that that is a bad thing in the slightest! The story was super engaging and interesting, the audio was really well done and set the mood nicely, the game itself looks beautiful but *most importantly* it was so cool finding my own rhythm that matched up with the song. Solid, solid entry!

I had such a good time - who knew button mashing could make me a musician? (I may be slightly overstating how good it sounded.) Really well made entry!

This was really great! Nice mood with a little story. Was very relaxed and pleasant. good work :)

It's really magical how I played along and felt like I was being so musical. I love the story, reminds me of The Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask for the little stories when you listen to someone reflect on their life and find peace. It's emotional but still really uplifting (literally, haha!). I appreciated how genders were left ambiguous, I think that's great so the game feels welcoming and fitting for anyone. Overall a lovely experience, congrats!
Edit: Forgot to mention reminds me of Wandersong too, with the colourful music making (great!)

This game looks very cool, I would love to play it if you get a mac port

@chris-hay yeah very zelda mood in here.
nice little experience, pretty pretty good

Really enjoyable and cozy, with some nice insights on rumination and moving on, thank you for making this!

Nice musical experience and story. I feel there could've been clearer indication on *where* you interact with the instruments, instead of randomly wandering around them.

Good game, I liked it, but they take the tool away from me too quickly)

Very beautiful game. My first impression was that this game does not have much gameplay, but by playing it a bit I realized that it actually just has a very unique one. I'm sure you know already know that it's atmosphere and sound design is on a really high level, just wanted to mention this was a nice relaxation I stumbled upon while trying to rush through many jam games that reminded me to just slow down and enjoy it.

Had a great journey with your game, thanks for creating this experience! Made me think I can become a musician one day, the graphics remind me of Unravel a bit. Decent work overall!

Like always the visuals in your game is really good and interesting. But I wish the game had more gameplay. The story was okay, but I don't really see the dialog moving anywhere. The music in the game is really good, but playing with the instruments mixed badly with the music.

There is always something about your games that makes me want to love them, and there is always something interesting about them, but there has always been something that made it hard for me to like them as much as I wish I would.

I am sorry for this not very positive commend.

Really impressive graphics ! Lightning on Unreal Engine + good art style => Wow.

Wow, fantastic job! It was refreshing playing a game that's about creating something beautiful. Definitely needed during such chaotic times. The game is quite polished, props to everyone involved! Just a side note, I think it should be optional to move to the next instrument lol I really enjoyed playing the piano.

Every so often you just see a screenshot of a game, get an incredibly clear idea of its vibe, and know you just have to try it.

This absolutely brought my poor old laptop to its knees which made improvising a little tricky, but I loved every second of it anyway. The trumpet was maybe a little harsh and artificial for me, but I think you've got a great idea here. My previous LD game had a music improvisation mechanic as well, I'm always a sucker for being able to create like that in a game haha

Me: Plays horribly.
Her: You play so well.
Um... sure....
But really, a beautiful set and a good story. It was fun playing the different little instruments and trying to make something out of it.

Great job y'all! Top marks for presentation on all fronts :)

The art was lovely and I enjoyed playing the instruments. The piano :musical_keyboard: and trumpet :trumpet: were the best by far, I could really play something good and the accompanying music worked super well! The accordion sounded out of tune on a couple notes, but perhaps thats hows it meant to be. A very different entry and quite an experience, well done :thumbsup: :musical_note:

This game just felt great. Chilled me out over my lunch break and helped tone my day down a bit. Absolutely lovely experience that everyone should play to take a couple of minutes to clear your mind.

Will play again. You're all great.

I jammed hard - thanks for giving me the ability to do so without any musical knowledge :D a great experience, and a solid example of how games don't have to be shooting or "win lose", that they can just be a form of expression and tell a story that people will remember or reflect on (or both!).

very laggy on my pc :( any chance of a low spec build?

@indivicivet just for you, I just put version 1.3 out, which allows you to hit 'h' to automatically set the game's settings for your computer.

Let me know if that solves it for you. :)

This game is cute! It looks great, I love the character, the story line is pretty good, and I love how you simplified the instruments to play your hearts desire! You should think about taking it further, especially for kids as a mobile game!

@mattwoelk cool, that's much better! this was very cute and fun :)

now that I've had a chance to play it properly, I suppose my main criticism is that the theme doesn't really come across very well :( still, it was a pleasant experience ^^ toot toot

Thanks for submitting your game for me to play on my livestream!

If you’d like to rewatch the playthrough, you can find it here:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/767497194?t=10h19m58s

Good luck on your ratings, see you next LD! :D

💜 Elysia Griffin AKA Button Feedback Lady

https://www.twitch.tv/elysiagriffin

Wow this was beautiful. I love the concept and the implementation. I just think that, if you mean to develop this further (which I think you should) maybe work on getting the keys and sounds a bit more like the real thing. There are a few examples of virtual pianos and keyboards that I think did it well, you might like taking a look at those.
Other than that, did you really make all those assets in the 72 hours or were most of them like the background already pre-made assets from stores?
Great entry!

(edit: I regret saying that about the assets, I just saw Rebecca's devlogs, her art is amazing!)

I really like the concept, maybe more narrative context at the beginning would be nice to get in the mood :)

The art is really cute and the music works well!

Nice job!

I love music games in spite of having little skill. This is a fun game with a perfect mood. I would have liked a free play option to have more time to get a feeling for a tune.

Yes, yes, many times yes! Despite being a jam game it was able to bring positive emotions and a very nice relaxing mood with it. Amazing job, folks! The visuals, the storytelling, the atmosphere, the charecters, it all binds so well to create one of the better experiences I've seen in this jam.
And naturally +1 for an audio-centric game of course!

Quite a unique entry. The art was very beautiful and the music was wonderful but felt to be lacking in gameplay a bit. I get the point was to just noodle around on the instruments but Ii found it all a bit confusing. Did the dialogue and music start playing after I hit a certain sequence of notes? or just a certain number? Anyway I know you just wanted to make a fun space to play along to these songs and you did a good job of matching the scales to fit in with each song. Good job!

Great music (even when I was ruining it why my playing), great visuals, great writing. Solid entry.

Well done!

*watches Matt's keynote two weeks later* "I like this guys style, I wonder what game he did for LD47!"

Then realize I played it already because I know Rebecca who is amazing at art haha

@elysiagriffin hehe yeah Matt is awesome :) We all had chill vibes this year hence the chill game

Wow; obviously this is beautiful both aurally and visually; I'm actually finding it hard to find anything specific to comment on.

Playing multiple keys felt a little wrong? I think my input was registering correctly because multiple buttons appeared held down, but it didn't sound like they were played at equal volume. Also it would have been nice if you could continue to play with the number keys while the dialog windows were open, since the controls wouldn't conflict.

But these are very minor points; overall you've put together a wonderful little demo here. Amazing job!

Very high quality work. Visually and practically everything is well done in order to make the game process as convenient as possible. I also like the realism of the created platform, with which you can create and promote music. As a person who writes music in real life, at a certain stage I had difficulties with marketing. But then I realized that these temporary difficulties are just a lack of knowledge. On the Signalscv page, I found one of the most constructive and helpful articles, which talks about how to properly build a marketing strategy and how to effectively use SoundCloud for this.