Development, web
Game
Global Game Jam 2025
Links
What is GGJ
Global Game Jam is an annual 2-day game development event. This year, I participated from the Okutama venue after a long absence. It’s been 10 years since my last participation!
This time, we formed a 4-person team and created a rhythm game! It became an icebreaker-style game that can be played by 4 people using smartphones.
Game Description
Tap to the music! The next person needs to remember how the previous person tapped!
When “Next Turn” appears on the screen, it’s time to switch to the next person!
The next person should tap the same way as the previous person! Tap the screen to start!
Repeat this process, and after 4 people have played, it’s over! The results will be displayed!
Additional Details
The game progresses with 2 measures of music repeating.
The first person thinks of their favorite rhythm during those 2 measures and taps the screen. In other words, they’re composing!
In the 1st turn, after the first person finishes composing, the music changes and the screen shows it’s time to pass the phone to the next person.
After passing the phone to the next person, tap the screen to start the 2nd turn.
In the 2nd turn, first tap the screen with the same rhythm that was composed in the 1st turn. When you do this correctly, the newt character gets happy!
While there were only 2 measures of music before, in the 2nd turn the song repeats twice. During the 3rd to 4th measures, the second person composes their own rhythm.
The 3rd person reproduces what the previous 2 people composed, then adds their own composition.
This continues until all 4 people have played.
Accessibility
Since it’s a music game, it can be played with screen readers at a basic level.
However, we couldn’t add alt text for some images in time, so there are some confusing parts.
For example, at the beginning, you start by tapping the logo displayed across the entire screen.
The numbers displayed during the game show how many mistakes have been made so far. This is explained with images, but probably without alt text, making it confusing.
If we had the flowing elements common in music games, people with hearing difficulties might have been able to play, but we didn’t have time to create those flowing elements, so you need to be able to hear the music. Sorry about that.
Behind the Scenes
What did I do this time? First, I built the foundation for the rhythm game. Since we decided to implement it on the web, I quickly built the initial foundation as someone who regularly creates web games. Partway through, I handed over the driver role to my teammate kuchiki-san, who implemented the game mechanics.
Meanwhile, sdhizumi-san created the music for us. On the first day, there was an Okutama tour where we visited Nippara Limestone Cave. The music incorporates sounds sampled from clapping hands there and effects that directly captured the reverb inside the limestone cave. It’s like… you know, picking mushrooms in the mountains and cooking and eating them that same evening?
For the art, minelo-san drew wonderful illustrations. They’re incredibly cute! Four newt characters appear, each in different colors with various expressions. The cuteness of the artwork was very popular during the demo time.
By the way, when the rhythm is correct, the newts get happy, and sdhizumi-san mentioned that he created their happy voices using his own voice late at night… or early in the morning?
Finally, here’s a photo of the beautiful starry sky in Okutama.
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