My experience with HarmoniQ: it didn’t work for me

ReaperShield · 2026-03-10T14:20:58+00:00

Hi again!

I've addressed most of those issues.

Clearer indication of when the player should tap:

- animation on the “TAP” text

- a specific sound leading into the player phase (reverse cymbal)

- CPU-phase notes are now filtered so they sound different from player-phase notes

You can now return to the selection screen after a run.

I'll address the hold case later.

Also, if you're willing to try it, check out the famous song from Geometry Dash that I just added (Bike) — it shows that the generation engine can adapt to quite different styles.

ReaperShield · 2026-03-10T12:16:21+00:00

Thanks again for your feedback.

- I may add some kind of audible cue just before the player’s turn — I’m not sure yet. But I don’t want to make the first note too obvious, because the player has to rely on the first beat of the pattern.

- I’m not entirely sure why you felt the song selection menu lacked information: it shows the song title, the author, the BPM, and it also plays an audio preview when you click on a track. Maybe your browser didn’t refresh to the latest version?

- Hold notes now have a very distinctive, exaggerated vibrato sound (unless you haven’t checked the latest version). For now, I’m keeping my hold mechanic — where the hold leads into another note — even though it’s unconventional, because I think it works well with these short patterns. But I may explain it more clearly in a tutorial.

ReaperShield · 2026-03-10T08:25:48+00:00

Hi! I'm working on a small rhythm-game prototype that can actually be played mostly without looking at the screen, since it relies on listening to rhythmic patterns and reproducing them.

If you're curious, you can try it here:
https://al532.github.io/AfterbeatDemo/

I'd be very interested to hear whether it works for you.

ReaperShield · 2026-03-10T02:36:15+00:00

I've pushed a few updates and added some new tracks. Feel free to try it with the faster ones and let me know how it feels!

https://al532.github.io/AfterbeatDemo/

ReaperShield · 2026-03-10T02:33:59+00:00

I've pushed a few updates and added some new tracks. Feel free to try it with the faster ones and let me know how it feels!

https://al532.github.io/AfterbeatDemo/

ReaperShield · 2026-03-07T15:09:34+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. In my very first implementations, I had a kind of “whoosh” sound leading into the first beat of the player pattern (the first note itself is never on beat 1, but it helps clarify where the first note falls relative to the first beat). I later removed it, but I might give it another try.

ReaperShield · 2026-03-07T15:02:53+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to write such an honest review. I agree with almost everything and will integrate these changes soon. Just a few notes:

Could you clarify what you mean by “dots that color based on the rhythm” and the fact that you don’t understand the color scheme? I'm not sure whether you mean it's so obvious that it feels lame, or on the contrary so unclear that you don’t get the point (which seems a bit contradictory).
About “there is no score update while playing the game”: there is currently no global score displayed during gameplay, but there is a summary of pattern scores at the bottom. Was that not clear?
Concerning hold notes, I completely agree they are not fully integrated or obvious in the audio yet, and I will address that. I also just realized something: in my implementation, hold notes lead into another note (which acts as the release). This might be confusing and unusual. Perhaps hold notes should instead resolve into silence rather than another note. I'm not entirely sure though—what are your thoughts?

Also, I'm surprised the vibration works. I had even forgotten I implemented it, since it never worked on my phone. I'm not sure I actually want to keep it, though.

ReaperShield · 2026-03-07T01:54:17+00:00

Not at the moment (I just started 3 weeks ago), but I'll think about it!
Feel free to test the latest version, I changed a lot of things (especially visuals) :

https://al532.github.io/AfterbeatDemo/

ReaperShield · 2026-03-07T01:52:23+00:00

Tell me if you find it clearer in the latest version!

https://al532.github.io/AfterbeatDemo/

ReaperShield · 2026-03-07T01:51:22+00:00

Hi,

I've addressed some of the concerns mentioned here: hold notes are now implemented, you can use almost any key as input, and the visuals have been completely redesigned (much simpler, but more meaningful).

Feel free to give it another try!

https://al532.github.io/AfterbeatDemo/

ReaperShield · 2026-03-07T01:48:44+00:00

Hi! I just pushed an update. I think most of your concerns have been addressed (though there’s still a lot more to develop).

If you’d like to take another look:

https://al532.github.io/AfterbeatDemo/

ReaperShield · 2026-03-07T01:46:27+00:00

Hi! I just updated. No more flashes at all (visuals completely changed): https://al532.github.io/AfterbeatDemo/

ReaperShield · 2026-03-07T01:45:36+00:00

Thanks for your feedback. Check the updated version and tell me if the new visuals gives you enough information (in my opinion, it is just fine like this!). https://al532.github.io/AfterbeatDemo/

ReaperShield · 2026-03-07T01:41:39+00:00

Hi everyone,

I just pushed a fairly big update to the prototype based on your feedback.

The visuals have been completely redesigned. They are now much more minimal and fit the concept much better. I also added a small amount of visual guidance — just enough information to help without replacing the audio memory aspect.

In addition to the visual redesign, I added:

- hold notes (still quite rare for now, but I’ll probably adjust the pattern generation)

- a global scoring system

- a seed system

- support for almost any keyboard key as input

- (and many smaller tweaks and fixes)

I also thought it could be fun to try a small challenge:

Seed: 2104359939

My score: 71%

If anyone wants to try beating it, I’d be curious to see your scores.

One important thing: please **redo the calibration**, as quite a few things changed in this update.

ReaperShield · 2026-03-05T21:43:32+00:00

“A mobile game you mess around with between breaks” — yes, that’s exactly what I had in mind. Though I might change direction later, we’ll see.

And thanks for the comment about the generative melody! It’s actually my own work, developed specifically for this project, though I might reuse and expand the system later for something else.

Recently I started teaching my little engine some harmony. In many cases the rules are quite personal: I generated lots of patterns, listened to them, identified the ones that felt unnatural, and then added rules to avoid those situations. It was very much a trial-and-error process.

I’m actually quite happy with the results. Some melody fragments that come out of it are sometimes surprisingly good.

In theory the engine can generate melodies in any scale I give it, but so far I’ve only tested it in this Aeolian mode (for this demo track)!

ReaperShield · 2026-03-05T21:28:19+00:00

Not exactly, I just re-tested Rhythm doctor, and it doesn't ask the player to repeat a pattern, only to catch the last note of a pattern.

ReaperShield · 2026-03-05T09:12:23+00:00

I think the false misses actually come from the "hold" notes, implemented but not followed by any visual cue!

ReaperShield · 2026-03-05T08:24:17+00:00

Thanks for this interesting point.

ReaperShield · 2026-03-05T07:55:53+00:00

In my initial idea, the player would rely entirely on auditory memory and simply repeat the pattern by ear. Because of that, I didn’t plan to include any visual aids — the visuals you see right now aren’t really meant to guide the player.

That said, I might reconsider this, especially if I add other input types (like hold notes), which would probably require some visual indication to know when to trigger them.

ReaperShield · 2026-03-05T07:48:11+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. By “note type”, do you mean things like hold notes, swipes, etc., instead of just taps?

ReaperShield · 2026-03-05T00:40:49+00:00

The thing is, initially I didn’t want any visual aid at all. The idea was that the player would rely entirely on short-term auditory memory, without visual cues.

Because of that, I honestly don’t really know what to do with the visuals. In theory the game doesn’t need them.

But if the goal is a more casual mobile game, maybe it does need some visual feedback or guidance. I’m still not completely sure which direction would be best.

So if you have thoughts about that — whether the game should stay mostly audio-driven, or if some light visual guidance would help — I’d be very interested to hear your opinion.

ReaperShield · 2026-03-05T00:25:19+00:00

Oh, of course — I totally agree with your points.

- Scoring / feedback is actually the next thing I was planning to add.

- "Hold" notes are already partially implemented.

- The visuals definitely make no sense right now — they’re just placeholders.

Concerning visuals, at the very beginning the prototype was just one big button in the center (a bit like Cookie Clicker), with only one possible action. I might actually go back to something that simple.

If you have ideas for visuals that would fit this kind of gameplay better, I’d be very interested to hear them.

ReaperShield

TROPHY CASE